if not purer, at least less repugnant to their taste, amidst the moonlight reveries of sentimental poetry, or the

"Storied windows, richly dight,

Casting a dim, religious light,"

and the awe-inspiring associations of medieval superstitions. Those who have never learned to wonder can scarcely be said to believe. A Christianity which professes to be so simple as to find little or no mystery, either in creation, providence, or redemption, can be little better than a lifeless form, and bears none of the marks of a genuine and living faith. And we are persuaded, therefore, that few accessions to our Evangelical literature are more desirable than works like the present, from those who have travelled for a time by moonlight, or sojourned in the wilderness; and, after trying vainly to satisfy the deep yearnings of the spirit by the imposing forms and venerable associations of a traditional and sacramental theology, have "at length, by break of cheerful day," attained a clear prospect of that good land of peace and liberty which spreads itself before the eye of the believer in the covenant of grace. It was one who had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of the strictest sect, who became the chief and foremost of all the apostles. It was one whose spirit had been crushed most deeply to the earth under the oppressive bondage of monasticism, whom the grace of God singled out for the first and noblest leader of the glorious Reformation. And we venture to hope, that, in our own days, the same principle of overruling wisdom will educe a real blessing out of the main temptation by which our church has latterly been assailed; and that minds trained for a season under the influences of a mediæval theology, and still clinging firmly to Christ in their inmost heart, shall prove, when their faith is increased, and fuller light is given, some of the boldest champions of the Gospel against the shallow worldliness and infidel delusions of these last days.

But we must give one or two extracts, which will shew the scriptural and spiritual tone of this little work, and shall then commend it heartily to those readers who wish for a thoughtful and loving exposition of the blessed privilege of this Supper of the Lord. Our first extract shall be a simple and striking passage on the receptive character of real faith.

"The Lord Jesus is God, and God is Love; and He delights to communicate Himself. It is His very Nature. And so our communion with the Lord in this Holy Sacrament is all by way of free gift on His part. It is not a work of our own. A preparation, indeed, of the heart, and mind, and affections, is required on our part. We are to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith,-abiding in Christ by faith,-not in word only, but in deed and in truth. But in the act of communion we are not workers, but receivers. Open thy mouth

wide, and I will fill it.' The Lord himself says, 'Take, eat.' It is not, Give, but Take. God says not, I am claiming something here, but, I am giving Life, take it as a free gift. In other words, Take, utters all the Gospel, that we have only to come as empty ones, not as givers, but as receivers, to be filled.

"Many seem to deprive themselves in a great measure of the fruit of the sacrament, by striving with violent effort to work themselves up to tears, or some other excitement of sensible devotion, or to testify extraordinary reverence by forced postures of body, instead of waiting, in a calm posture of body and soul, to receive the gift of God, as His gift. There is much of self in all our workings and strivings, but there is Faith in expectation and waiting upon God. Faith in itself is a calm principle of the nature of rest, for it is a reliance upon God and His Word. It is born from the breathing of the Spirit of God upon our freewill; and the Word and the Sacraments which Faith receives, are as a still small voice in the very centre of the soul. But they change all things to us and in us. Great excitement of feeling may follow, when the change is perceived; but the Life of Christ, His Cross, and Likeness in us, these are the results which prove that Faith is living, and that union with the Lord truly subsists. . . . . It is good to lose oneself in Him, 'who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. He is able, the first and the last, to those who put their trust in Him.' There is a sufficiency in Him which can never be exhausted; for 'in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' Therefore He is our Rock, the Rock of our Salvation. He is our Sun and our Shield. He gives both grace and glory; and we may and ought to apprehend in detail those good things which are already ours in Him, not only pardon for what is past, but peace, love, righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Resurrection, and Eternal Life."

Blessed be God, He who gives the gift, gives also the capacity to receive it. And when it is received, the living water itself enlarges the vessel into which it flows. To him that hath, and is faithful, more is given; and he hath more abundantly, because his heart is enlarged. This is the wondrous and precious effect of the presence of the Lord by the Spirit.

The following remarks on the Romish corruption of the sacrament will shew how firmly the writer now grasps one main truth of the Reformation; the same which our martyrs laid down their lives to maintain :

Obviously the application of the sacrifice is not the true and proper Sacrifice itself; and yet it may easily be made to take its place in the minds of men. The outward acts of the official priest strike upon the senses. Man naturally wants a religion, a priest and a sacrifice. Here his wants seem met and supplied; and his mind, being carnal, rests in the sign, instead of passing on through it to the thing signified. And, indeed, the original rite has been so disguised, both by doctrine and ceremonies, as positively to draw the mind aside to rest in the acts of the representative priest, instead of looking up through all to Christ. And so the weak in faith have been led to

put an earthly, official priest between themselves and the Lord, and to attach such a value to his offering as to make it a necessary condition of their partaking in the pardon purchased for them by the One Offering of our Lord, as if their acceptance depended upon the offering of Christ by a sinner like themselves, and as if the more times he offered, the more they were accepted of God. On the other hand, utterly carnal, worldly-minded, ungodly men, have been encouraged to hope that, by the offering of an earthly priest, they may be made in some sort partakers of the sacrifice of Christ without their hearts being really changed."

It was the sight and feeling of these evils which led our Reformers to judge the sacrifices of masses as "blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits." When the Lord has once for all given His life a ransom for us, it is sheer blasphemy to assert or imply that this sacrifice is not sufficient, but has need to be supplemented by fresh offerings of Him at the hands of earthly priests; and if the dogmatic assertion of this has been evaded by a dexterous use of words, the notion itself has been, to all practical purposes, implied to the minds and souls of men. All those usages, therefore, ceremonies, and ways of speaking about the Lord's Supper, which had become closely connected in men's minds with the notion of it as a sacrifice of propitiation, were rightly put away at the Reformation; for they were as much an abomination to the Lord, as was the brazen serpent, when it had been abused for superstition and idolatry.

In such a system, which supersedes the One Propitiatory Sacrifice, there is a show of religion: there is religion. Cain has his religion as well as Abel; and at this day there are in the world just these two religions, the religion of self and the religion of God, the way of Cain and the way of Abel. Blessed are they who have put away the way of Cain, that is, the way of acceptance by self, and by the fruits of the cursed ground of self; and who, with the confession of sin, and with faith, come to God only by the way of His promise, by the bruised seed of the woman, and his bloody victory, by the death and resurrection of the "Lamb of God."

The appendix on Transubstantiation touches on a subject of deep interest for thoughtful observers of the current of modern philosophy-the affinity between the doctrines of Rome and philosophical Pantheism. The falsehood which exalts the Virgin to a practical equality with Christ contains all the germs of that more consistent and extensive delusion, which confounds the creature with the Creator, and replaces the Holy One of Israel by a diffused Soul of the Universe. The doctrine of the Cross is the grand and impregnable bulwark against this deadly error, whether it assume its ecclesiastical or its philosophical form, and finds its consummation in Man-worship or in Mariolatry. The train of thought is one which would admit of large development.

But we forbear to enter upon a subject comparatively abstruse, though of high practical importance, and shall content ourselves with once more commending Mr. Knott's little treatise to our readers, as one which can scarcely fail to enrich their souls with deeper impressions of the grace of Christ, and the blessedness of that heavenly feast which He has provided for His people.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Essays on the Church. By a Layman. Seventh Edition. Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday. London. 1859.-We greet with pleasure the appearance of the seventh edition of this well-known work, first published about twenty years ago. The additional matter it now contains regards "the dangers of the church" from Liberalism, Rationalism, and Romanism. The powerful and yet easy way in which they are discussed, forms an ample apology for bringing a work already so popular, once more before the notice of our readers.

Speaking of Liberalism, the author says:—

"This popular creed, or rather abnegation of all creeds, is nothing more than a fashionable falsehood. It rests upon the assumption that there is no truth or certainty discoverable in matters of religion, -an assumption which many Liberals themselves would shrink from defending."

In regard to Rationalism, he observes :

"Apparently, the greatest peril which threatens the church at the present moment is that which arises from the spread of Rationalistic notions, chiefly among her younger members. Rationalism differs from Liberalism mainly in this, that it denies and corrupts the faith, which Liberalism merely treats with coolness and indifference. 'It searches, with curious and sceptical eyes, into questions from which the mere Liberal turns away in disgust."

Then, passing on to one or two Rationalistic publications which have lately appeared, and which at least served to expose the vanity and the profane presumption of their authors, our author alludes to one pertly talking of God's word in the following strain:

"We saw clear indications that the bible contains errors in history, in morality, and even in religion." . . . . "The bible furnishes us with religious instruction and hopes, which are, without doubt, wholly equal, if they are not in many respects superior to, the brightest excellences in the religion of Socrates."

Disgust naturally arises at such idle profanity; and as to its vanity, as the author observes, "the simile of a fly perched on the dome of St. Paul's, and there criticising the work of Sir Christopher Wren, falls infinitely short of the case." Philosophy has lately favoured her disciples with a theory which astonishes every one not sufficiently learned in the new school to have lost sight of common sense.

It is this: "That the bible is at once fallible, inspired, and the very word of God;" and from this theory the above conclusions are drawn.

The perils of the church from Romanism are exposed in a vigorous manner; and we have an extract from a Roman Catholic periodical, in which certain of the clergy of the church of England are spoken of as follows:

"With arguments drawn from the works of the Holy Fathers, of which they have already undertaken a new edition in English, they labour for the restoration of the ancient catholic liturgy, of the breviary (which many of them recite each day regularly), of fasts, of the monastic life, and of many other religious practices. They also teach the insufficiency of the bible as a rule of faith, the necessity of traditions and of ecclesiastical authority, the real presence, prayer for the dead, the use of images, the power of absolution in the priesthood, the sacrifice of the eucharist, devotion to the most holy Madonna, and many other catholic doctrines; so that but very little separates them from the true faith, and this little decreases every day."

The class of our clergy above referred to cannot but appreciate language so complimentary and encouraging, and at the same time so just and so well deserved!

We may add, for the sake of those who are not acquainted with the earlier editions of this work, that there is perhaps no point connected with the constitution, discipline, or present aspect of the church of England, upon which information conveyed in the most agreeable style, and yet by no means of a superficial character, will not be found here, within the compass of a small and cheap octavo. We should be glad to see it in the hands of all our young clergy, and of every intelligent churchwarden at least amongst the laity. Few of our lay friends will lay it down without feeling that their knowledge of church matters is extended, and their love for the established church increased.

Sermons for Sundays, and some other Holidays of the Christian Year. Vol. I. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. We cannot but observe with satisfaction the improvement which has taken place within the last few years in the character of the tracts and other publications of this Society. It is now as easy as it once was difficult to make a selection, for parochial or domestic use, of useful books, or tracts directly religious, which are at once instructive, interesting, and evangelical. The sermons in this volume, we are told in a short advertisement, "aim at setting forth simply, practically, and earnestly, the truth as it is in Jesus." And upon the whole, they fulfil the promise. They are composed by various hands; and some of the writers hold opinions on certain points from which we must claim the right to disagree. But it is, in justice, to be said, that few objectionable peculiarities, as far as we have observed, have found their way here. One or two of the preachers may speak of the sacraments, as we think, incautiously. But the subjects are not controversial. The sermons generally are warm and edifying, and often claim even higher praise; and amongst the contributors are the well-known and honoured names of Cunningham, Gurney, Bateman, Daniel Moore, and others; and they have given