Unto that Spirit which goes forth from Thee,
Strong and divinely free,

Bearing thy gifts of wisdom on its flight,
And brooding o'er them with a dove-like wing;

Till thought, word, song, to Thee in worship spring,
Immortally endow'd for liberty and light.'

We know not what to say of Mrs. Lawrence's poetical compositions. To bring them into immediate comparison with those of her accomplished and beloved friend, would be very equivocal kindness. The chief attraction of the volume, she seems to be aware, lies in the Recollections of Mrs. Hemans, contained in the Notes, which form a large portion of it, and for which we feel too much indebted to her to feel disposed to act the cold part of the critic on the present occasion.

Art. IV.-1. Pastoral Epistle from his Holiness the Pope to some Members of the University of Oxford. Faithfully translated from the Original Latin. 8vo. pp. 39. London, 1836.

2. Specimens of the Theological Teaching of certain Members of the Corpus Committee at Orford. 8vo. pp. 38. London, 1836.

THESE pamphlets afford a fresh and striking illustration of

the phrase we have recently had occasion to employ the Popery of Protestantism.' They shew that Dr. Hampden has been the object not only of a base persecution dictated by party-spirit, but of a theological hatred on the part of a nest of Papists, or semi-Papists, harboured by the University, who regard with infinite displacency the learned Professor's advocacy of the grand Protestant principle which recognizes the exclusive authority of the Scriptures as the Inspired Rule of Faith. We had long been aware that Popery lurks, like a malaria, in the marshes of the Isis; nor did we require, for our own conviction, this demonstration, that the Anti-Catholic politician may be a very Romish theologian; and that a jealousy and hatred of the Church of Rome may even be the stronger in those who are the most favourably disposed towards the creed of that Church. The High Church party have always been distinguished by their Papistical tenets and their hatred of the Papists, whose creed they naturally strive to make out to be as idolatrous as possible, lest its resemblance to their own should be detected. Aware, however, as we have been, of the character and tactics of Highchurchism, we were scarcely prepared for the undisguised AntiProtestantism of the Oxford Tracts. Nothing so unreservedly Popish in the whole strain of sentiment has, we apprehend, appeared, as the production of English theologians, since the days of Laud and Parker. What will our readers think, for instance,

of the following glowing ascription of celestial honours to the Virgin?

"But further, she is doubtless to be accounted blessed and favoured in herself, as well as in the benefits she has done us. Who can estimate the holiness and perfection of her who was chosen to be the Mother of Christ? If to him that hath, more is given, and holiness and divine favour go together, (and this we are expressly told,) what must have been the angelic purity of her, whom the Creator Spirit condescended to overshadow with his miraculous presence? What must have been her gifts, who was chosen to be the only near earthly relative of the Son of God, the only one whom he was bound by nature to revere and look up to; the one appointed to train and educate him, to instruct him day by day, as he grew in wisdom and in stature? This contemplation runs to a higher subject, did we dare follow it; for what, think you, was the sanctity and grace of that human nature, of which God formed his sinless Son; knowing, as we do, that what is born of the flesh, is flesh;' and that none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' . . As St. Paul himself said, that he knew no man after the flesh,' so his Saviour, with somewhat a similar meaning, has hid from us the knowledge of his more sacred and familiar feelings, his feelings towards his Mother and his friend. These were not to be exposed, as unfit for the world to know, as dangerous, because not admitting of being known, without a risk lest the honour which those Saints received through grace, should eclipse in our minds the honour of Him who honoured them. Had the Virgin Mary been more fully disclosed to us in the celestial beauty and fragrancy of the spirit within her, true, she would have been honoured, her gifts would have been clearly seen; but, at the same time, the Giver would have been somewhat less contemplated, because no design or work of his would have been disclosed in her history. . . . . But, further, the more we consider who the Virgin was, the more dangerous will such knowledge of her appear to be. Other Saints are but influenced or inspired by Christ, and made partakers of him spiritually. But, as to the Virgin, Christ derived his soul and body from her, and so had an especial unity of nature with her; and this wondrous relationship between God and man, it is perhaps impossible for us to dwell much upon without some perversion of. feeling. For, truly, she is raised above the condition of sinful beings, though she was a sinner; she is brought near to God, yet is but a creature; and, seems to lack her fitting place in our limited understandings, neither too high nor too low. We cannot combine in our thought of her, all we should ascribe with all we should withhold. Hence, following the example of Scripture, we had better only think of her with and for her Son, never separating her from him, but, using her name as a memorial of his great condescension in stooping from heaven, and not abhorring the Virgin's womb.' And when sorrow came upon her afterwards, it was but the blessed participation of her Son's sacred sorrows, not the sorrow of those who suffer for their sins."-Newman's Paroch. Serm. vol. ii. pp. 145—151.'

Well might Gregory XVI. address the learned Members of the University in the language of gratulation and approbation which is so appropriately ascribed to His Holiness in this Pastoral Epistle. And this is the uniformity of the Church of England!

Art. V.

The Christian Atonement; its Basis, Nature, and Bearings or the Principle of Substitution illustrated, as applied in the Redemption of Man. With Notes and Illustrations. Rev. Joseph Gilbert. 8vo. pp. 485. Price 10s. 6d. London, 1836.

By the

AMID the various accidents of authorship, a clear, determi

nate, and unhesitating grasp of the subject, is the one which least frequently gladdens the reviewer, hackneyed in the ways and wiles of writers and bookmakers. In the multitudinous collection of works, either embracing the entire circle of theological inquiry, or restricted to one or more of its segments, how few can be found that throw any real light on the matter in hand! Authors, in their long and lengthening array, march for the most part in Indian file,' treading in each other's steps or 'marking time' to the motions of those in front. Little wonder, then, that we are sometimes petulant; and less marvel still, that we are in high good humour when we fall in with an original thinker; with a reasoner who has fairly worked out on his own account, the problems which he professes to solve, and, even when he adopts the conclusions of his predecessors, does it because he has weighed and sifted for himself, the evidence, the arguments, the probabilities, which surround and affect the objects of inquiry.

The Author of the present volume is an investigator of this stamp. He has, manifestly, tested again and again, separately and in combination, every link of his argument. He never conveys the idea of a man feeling for his subject, and trying to get it into some shape or position that shall hide, rather than display, its difficulties. In parliamentary phrase, the question is never blinked, but that which is the most important of all the various subjects of human research, as well as the cardinal doctrine of Divine Revelation, is approached in a firm though cautious spirit, and exhibited with a distinctness that forms a gratifying contrast to those obscure and wavering views of scriptural truth which impair the usefulness of many a work otherwise of much value. In the present article, it will be our plan, as much as possible, to let Mr. Gilbert speak for himself. He gives little opportunity for dissertation, inasmuch as we seldom differ either from his argument or from the way in which it is enforced; and more rarely still dissent from his conclusion: we feel no disposition, in his case, to interpose between the Author and the reader, nor shall

we aim at any thing beyond such an exhibition of general character as may recommend the entire work to close and careful perusal.

'It is not a critical discussion on which we are about to enter, but an investigation rather of the genius of that scheme of recovery which we think to be clearly enough laid down in Scripture. Our inquiry is, What are the principles upon which it proceeds? what the objects it is designed to accomplish? whence its necessity? and in what respects, though purely a matter of revelation, it nevertheless may be shewn to be not repugnant to any of the dictates of enlightened reason?'

It will be seen by this brief statement, that not only the subject itself, but the mode of its exhibition, is most ample and important it is neither more nor less than a demonstration and vindication of that highest and most awful mystery-the actual and ultimate condition of man, as a moral agent, under the government of God. In the first or introductory Lecture, it is unanswerably shewn, that man is designed for a different end, and governed by a different law, from other creatures.

Happiness of a higher order than could be attained without intelligence and freedom, we must infer to be the end of his being; while suffering, never inflicted for its own sake, is but a stimulus to urge him onward to ulterior excellence and felicity. Such being his nature, and the nature of his superior happiness, he is wisely and beneficently placed under a system of government suited to his destiny,—a government not of physical impulse, but of interposing thought, judgement, and free choice.'

To us who have access to the holy Scriptures, a communication from our Creator himself, the problem arising from our present condition is sufficiently explained. The sacred volume not only informs us, but most powerfully impresses upon our attention, that we are by our Maker designed for a happiness nobler incomparably than any that animal gratifications can confer; and that this happiness is secured to us, not by any innate controlling principle of our nature, but by voluntary attention to a rule, which accurately measures both the state of mind, and the course of conduct, out of which it would certainly spring. By such an intelligent and free adoption of the course prescribed to us, only, we are assured, is it to be attained; and that without binding himself to employ his direct power to ensure this result, it is the will of our Maker that we should avail ourselves of the provisions with which he has furnished us for that end. He has "set before us good and evil, life and death," and he calls upon us "to choose life." This, -his method of treating us, as distinguished from the exercise of his immediate controlling power without the intervention of knowledge, reasoning, and free volition,-is denominated Moral Government.' pp. 17-19.

'Perfect love to God, and unmingled benevolence towards his creatures,' is the simple 'rule,' founded alike on the nature of things and the Divine command, and thus assuming the character and force of immutable law, by the observance of which the happiness and moral elevation of man are to be secured. The inflexibility of the law admits of no accommodation to human infirmity or perverseness; the standard is there, in all the unalterableness of its Divine appointment. But the heart of man is in the hand of God; and as with Him is the power to interpose, so also is the right to determine the circumstances and methods of his interposition. This unchangeable law of the Divine administration has been, as we learn from Scripture, in operation towards human nature in two different and even contrasted states;' the first, that of original uprightness, the second, that of moral delinquency; and to these opposite conditions of being, there must be an adaptation of the rule which has for its especial object to secure the happiness of the creature.

It seems entirely unimaginable, supposing life and happiness to be at all attainable in the lapsed predicament of our nature, that they should be suspended on the same precise conditions, as was the retention of privileges when already in possession. The rule of perfect humanity, indeed, as above remarked, can be susceptible of no change. We can conceive of no circumstances under which it could be otherwise than true, that an intellectual being, capable also of moral sentiment, would find his highest happiness, as well as the harmonious order of his powers and passions, in supreme love to his Maker, and entire benevolence towards his fellow-beings. But though in the nature of things this rule of perfection is immutable, yet that it can be the law of life, the condition by the fulfilment of which as a law, happiness is to be attained by those who commence their probation with a deranged system of powers, seems repugnant to every principle of reason.

The perfection of the first man, together with the happiness which such perfection ensures, might well, nay, they necessarily must have been dependent upon persevering adherence to that rule. But the same rule is applied too late for the securing of those blessings in that state of being, in which, no sooner is it understood, than it is known to be violated. Were there any method within our natural power of conception, by which creatures already morally imperfect, could arrive at a state of perfection and consequent happiness, it is obvious it must be some other than the rule of perfection itself under the notion of law.' pp. 22, 23.

From these premises, which have, in our exhibition, the awkward aspect of a condensation of that which is already vigorously condensed, Mr. Gilbert infers, on the authority of Scripture, the existence of a method of recovery,' involving the interposition of a Mediator, Deliverer, Redeemer,' having equal respect to 'the requirements of the Supreme Legislator, and to the wants and 'miseries of those to whom he bears the office of Saviour.' Of this VOL. XVI.-N.S.

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