There is one remark which it is necessary to make before closing the notice of this volume. The reviewer cannot but think it extremely injudicious to press so much upon the word "protestant," and, in order to shew the excellence of protestantism, to extend its signification till it embraces not only the apostles, but our Lord himself, and the Supreme Being upon his throne. This is done by making it allude to "the protest of truth against error." It is clear that, under this definition, the most strict and zealous Romanist might grant that the apostles and our Lord himself were protestants; but what would be gained by that? If we retain the name of protestant without allusion to its first origin, or adherence to everything which that origin implied, and choose to generalize it for ourselves, we are at liberty to do so; but to force the definition till it embraces the Son of God, the Divine Redeemer upon the cross, and even God himself, seems to the reviewer to savour more of zeal for a word than of reverence for the great and awful Being whom we thus introduce. All that the protestant need do is, to shew that what he holds is conformable to that which the Son of God revealed, and his apostles taught, and the early church believed, and that what he rejects was neither revealed by Jesus Christ, taught by the apostles, nor believed by the early church. With this remark, which one is very sure Mr. Ingram will take in good part, because it would not have been made had not the rest of the work been of so different a character as to merit much praise, the reviewer leaves this volume, recommending it at the same time to all those who wish for a compendious collection relating to the early history of our church.

The True Strength of Missions. A Sermon preached before the London Association in aid of the Missions of the United Brethren, &c. By the Rev. E. Bickersteth, Rector of Watton. London: Seeleys. pp. 38. 1838.

THE portions of this sermon which depend on piety and religious feelings are, like Mr. Bickersteth's other works, highly creditable to him; but those which touch on church principles are not entirely in accordance with the notions of the reviewer.

Narrative of Henry John Marks, formerly a Jew, now a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, written by himself. With an Introduction, by the Rev. Charles B. Taylor, M.A., Rector of St. Peter's, Chester. London: Hatchards; Hamilton and Adams. Chester: Seacome. pp. 165. (Chester printed.) 1838.

THE reviewer knows nothing of the name or circumstances of Mr. Marks, except what he has learnt from reading this volume, but he can honestly state that he thinks it cannot be read without considerable interest. The subject of the narrative, from the account given of his marriage, appears to have belonged to a wealthy family of the Jewish persuasion. On his conversion to Christianity, and his baptism, they discarded him, he was thrown out of business, and, as far as all worldly

prospects were concerned, completely ruined. His family had desired that he might marry; and they thought that if his wife were of a strict Jewish family, it might be the means of preserving him from what they deemed apostasy, which they had some reason to fear; but in this instance they miscalculated. After many struggles, both he and his wife became Christians, and at first entered into communion with one of the Irvingite congregations in London, but after a time became convinced of the unsoundness of that form of Christianity, and their last child was baptized according to the rites of the church of England, at the Episcopal Jews' Chapel, Palestine-place. It is stated in the volume (p. 155), that Dr. McCaul and Mrs. M'Caul consented to become sponsors to this child,—a circumstance which is likely to weigh most highly as a testimony to the worth and trustworthiness of the author. The hardships, from poverty and illness, which he and his family underwent, in consequence of his change of persuasion, are most affecting; but throughout the book he expresses the most heartfelt joy and satisfaction at the change. The reviewer, as it was before said, knows nothing on the subject but what he gathers from the book itself, and offers no remark on any opinion which may be held by Mr. Marks; he simply speaks of the great interest of the narrative, as portraying the struggles of mind under which this great change was effected, and cannot conclude without expressing a hope that the sale of the work may contribute towards relieving the wants of the author and his family.

The Beauty of Holiness, and other Poems. By George B. Scott, Author of "Leisure Hours," 33 66 Songs for All Seasons," &c. London: Darton and Harvey. Small 8vo. pp. 157. 1838.

THE task of writing sacred poetry must be one of extreme difficulty, for it is seldom performed with great success. Mr. Scott appears to be a man of piety and very good feeling, and fond of writing poetry on serious and solemn themes. Tastes differ so widely in poetry that no man can fairly decide for others; but the reviewer will merely say, that these poems do not appear to him to possess that high degree of merit which would entitle them to publication, while at the same time he thinks it probable that other persons might think some of them pleasing.

A new weekly sort of Penny Magazine, called, The Wonders of the World, in Nature, Art, and Mind, has been commenced, edited by Henry Ince, M.A. The tendency of those articles which the writer looked at appeared to be good.

Many books must stand over for this month. Jacobson's valuable republication of the Patres Rev. L. V. Harcourt's Doctrine of the Deluge.

Among them, Mr. Apostolici, and the

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CHURCH MATTERS.

DEAR SIR,-If you think that the following remarks accurately represent, what seems to me, our position of danger with reference to a most vital question, you will oblige me by inserting them: it may serve to rouse us to greater exertion, to see that, if we sleep, we sleep on a volcano. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, RUSTICUS.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

STATE OF THE QUESTION IN PARLIAMENT.

THE question of education has, for some time past, furnished matter for much idle speculation and vague declamation; but various circumstances have conspired to make it more than probable that it will take a definite shape in the next session of parliament. There are certain preliminaries by which a contest on questions of this nature are ushered in. Folios of inaccurate returns have been laid on the table of the House of Commons; dull speeches, founded on appalling statistical statements, have ended in motions for inquiry; select committees have sat, have collected masses of incoherent evidence, have reported, and come to no conclusion. "It is a dreadful state of things; really something must be done," says every third man, who has little idea of what are the real evils, still less of what is the remedy for them. But seeing that no two persons are agreed what is the something which must be done, the next step in order is, for several parties to agree to call into existence a new power, which will surely adopt or invent some plan, and then to toss up for whose plan it shall be.

It seems that the question of education has nearly arrived at this point; it will, therefore, not be without its use at the present moment to see how it stood at the beginning of the last session, and how it stands now. Those who read their newspaper hastily over the breakfast table, and measure the progress of mischief by the number of bills which pass a second reading, will probably be surprised to be told that any progress at all was made on the subject. Early in the last session there appeared three leaders on the subject of education,—each firmly persuaded that education is the cure for all evil, and that his own mode of administering it is the only one in which the present state of the patient admits of his taking the infallible specific with advantage.

Mr. Wyse, Lord Brougham, and Mr. Slaney, differ widely in their views, or at least think it expedient to express themselves very differently; and though no one of these gentlemen has any great train of followers, they represent in the main three classes of opinion, under one or the other of which all persons must fall, who agree in the fundamental principle of the nineteenth century-viz., "that the national church is not the educator of the people."

It is not pretended that all who hold this principle do so on the same grounds, nor that they are all equally attached to it. Some hold

it as a matter of principle, some as a matter of expediency, some only as a matter of fact. One class of persons desire a scheme of national education in order to prevent the church from having the power of educating the people; and this through fear that, in becoming good churchmen, they would cease to be good productive machines: others wish for a scheme of education on some new plan, only because they think that the perverse will of men, as a matter of fact, will set itself against what is established; and that the best way to educate a spoiled child is to humour it. But be the grounds of the opinion what they may, there is a large body of persons who are agreed that the national church of England either is not, cannot, or ought not to be, the educator of the people. To what body they are prepared to intrust the millions of souls of this country, for the training of their moral and intellectual being, will be seen when it appears to what point the three following plans converge.

The most summary method of dealing with the question is that proposed by Mr. Wyse. His plan, though he is ever endeavouring to disguise it, is nakedly this-namely, to avoid the difficulties which result from difference of religious opinion, by having no religious instruction at all, as such, in schools supported by government. He would establish in every district of England a schoolmaster of secular instruction, with an adequate salary secured to him by the legislature. Portions of the holy scriptures might be read in such schools, on the same footing as the beauties of the English poets, or the wise sayings of heathen moralists-that is to say, as specimens of literature, or as lessons of morality conveniently expressed for the purpose of teaching, but having no authority to enforce the precepts which they contain.

In short, in such schools the authority of the holy Bible would not be recognised as the rule of life. As a rule of faith it would be out of place, for as all systems of faith would be equally excluded, no test of their truth would be required. Of course, the clergy would be practically shut out from the ordinary business of the school, an arrangement by which it would be provided that, in the majority of the parishes of England, the one man in the place who has had a really liberal education would virtually be precluded from forming the minds

of others.

Any loss which may be felt from the absence of the clergyman is to be supplied by the itinerant visits of an inspector in the person of an assistant commissioner. This is the infallible expedient which modern science has discovered for working new plans. The first step is to remove all ancient feelings, all the checks and counterchecks of local knowledge, local attachment, and, if you will, local prejudices,-all the provisions, in short, which are implanted in our nature for the direction of the affairs of men in large societies; and when the ground has been thus levelled, the new building may be erected, the patent machine may be put up and nicely fitted, the work is done, and one thing only is required to keep the building in repair and the machine at workand that is, an assistant commissioner. Mr. Wyse's plan will, in all probability, never be adopted. The feelings of churchmen and dissenters would rebel against it; but as many more than might be ex

pected of those who hold strong opinions are inclined to agree with him, if only to save trouble, it is as well to remember that such opinions are broached in order that we may see whither we are tending.

Lord Brougham would fain be the Coryphæus of national education. He flatters himself that it is the subject of which he is master more than any other, and he evidently had bestowed some pains on the subject when, on Dec. 1st, he brought his bill before the House of Lords. He, too, has found out the one plan by which all difficulties are to be surmounted; and his scheme is on many accounts remarkable. In the intervals between his fits of spleen and jealousy against his old friends, he appears to have been reflecting much on the constitution of men and things; and in a green old age he has made a profound discovery, which he trumpeted forth in his speech with unusual self-gratulation; it is no less than this, that "if in propounding a system of education for a country like England, he had overlooked the various endowments, or voluntary societies,-the various opinions on matters of faith, or on systems of education, and if he had propounded one uniform symmetrical system, it might have appeared very philosophical, but it would not have answered in practice."

Truly it is a great thing to read Bacon's Novum Organum, and to be master of the inductive science; but his lordship seems to have stopped short in his studies, and to have forgotten that it is one thing to discover a principle, and another to know how to apply it.

His solution of the difficulties arising from varieties of religious opinion, which is announced as such a triumph of practical wisdom, and which is so beautifully to adapt itself to the various circumstances of various localities, is this, that it shall depend on a majority of votes out of a curious local constituency of Lord Brougham's invention, whether there shall be any school, and what system of teaching shall be pursued in the school if they determine to have one. This sounds very plausible, and as if his lordship really did mean that practical men on the spot might be left as heretofore to promote education in their own way, but that the public should assist them with pecuniary aid. But then comes this curious proviso, that if the local majority wish for exclusive teaching, that is to say, if they wish to have a school for teaching what they believe to be true, and are unwilling that every one else should have a right to come into the school to teach what its founders believe to be false; then, says his lordship, "they may subscribe on the voluntary principle; but they shall have no portion of the grant from parliament; they shall have no power to levy a rate in an unjust, exclusive, intolerant shape." In plain English, if the majority of the district wish for a latitudinarian school, the public shall pay for it-if they wish for a church school, they must do without it; one would think this latter alternative would appear not to be quite fair either to the majority or the minority. But his lordship remains satisfied with his scheme; he says, "why then, all that happens is, that the commissioners will say, there can be no school under the system; that is all." And this is Lord Brougham's great discovery ; this is the national education of which we hear so much.

VOL. XIV.-Nov. 1838.

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