Sketches of Country Life and Country Matters. By ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL. London: Rivingtons, 1840. Pp. 127.

THIS little work contains many sensible remarks and much good advice, and may be read with benefit by country gentlemen, and all who are connected with rural affairs. The author draws a pleasing sketch of the advantages and enjoyments of country life, and of that very respectable and useful body the country gentlemen of England. He gives his opinion freely, and the picture he draws of our landed proprietors displays both their merits and defects. Among the latter he mentions the growing evil of non-residence. This he ascribes to many causes-such as the changes which have taken place within a few years past, affecting the interest of country gentlemen of moderate fortune, and the hostility displayed towards the landed interest by the liberal party. He ascribes non-residence in some cases to the introduction of railroads. These, no doubt, have seriously injured property lying contiguous to roads now deserted-have cut up farms, and destroyed the beauty and convenience of many of our country mansions. On the other hand, the supposed benefits which a property derives from its contiguity to a railway, have induced many proprietors to encourage them; so that we should scarcely think railroads will have much effect in increasing the evil of absenteeism. Every one must agree in the author's opinion, that the residence of our gentry on their estates is of great importance both to their own interest and that of the country at large. A resident gentleman, who is attentive to the duties of his station, may be a blessing to the circle in which he lives. And it is only by a strict attention to these duties-by living on their property, and by endeavouring to improve the religious and temporal condition of their dependants, that our landed gentlemen can maintain their proper influence, and counteract the efforts of the party opposed to them.

The sketch of our peasantry is evidently drawn by the friendly hand of one sincerely interested in their welfare. Our author truly observes that agricultural labourers are by no means deficient in general useful knowledge, and are infinitely superior to the lower class of town mechanics in morals and religion. Our experience leads us to think, however, that the account of the religious and moral condition of the peasantry is rather overdrawn. The morals of this class have been greatly depraved by the beer-shops, and by the political agitation of the last few years; and much may be done for their amendment by the benevolent exertions of their superiors. Sound religious education, and an improvement of their temporal condition, may save this class from the demoralization which has spread so fearfully among the town population. The author advocates the allotment system, which we should be glad to see adopted in every village. We would recommend to the attention of benevolent landowners another subject connected with the comfort and morals of the peasantry -the state of their cottages, which too often contain only one comfortless bedroom, and are deficient in every convenience.

A Series of Documents and Authorities on the Duty, Advantage, and Necessity of Public Catechising in the Church. Collected by the Rev. JOHN LEY, M.A., Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and Curate of St. Aldate's, Oxford. London: James Burns. Oxford: J. H. Parker. 1840. Pp. 43. "Ir is, I think, a true observation," said Archbishop Tillotson, "that catechising and the history of the martyrs, have been the two great pillars of the Protestant religion.' "When catechising was left off in the Church," writes Bishop Andrews, it soon became darkened and overspread with ignorance. The Papists, therefore, acknowledge that all the advantage which the Protestants have gotten of them hath come by this exercise." The reason is obvious: catechising lays a good foundation. This is well expressed by Dr. South in his own quaint way. "For my own part, I never thought a pulpit, a cushion, and an hourglass, such necessary means of salvation, but that much of the time and labour that are spent about them might be much more profitably bestowed in catechis

And

ing youth from the desk; preaching being a kind of spiritual diet, upon which people are always feeding, but never full; and many poor souls, God knows, too, too like Pharaoh's lean kine, much the leaner for their full feed. how, for God's sake, should it be otherwise? For, to preach to people without principles, is, to build where there is no foundation; or, rather, where there is not so much as ground to build upon. But people are not to be harangued, but catechised into principles; and this is not the proper work of the pulpit, any more than threshing can pass for sowing. Young minds are to be leisurely formed and fashioned with the first plain, simple, and substantial rudiments of religion. And to expect that this should be done by preaching or force of lungs, is just as if a smith, or artist who works in metal, should think to frame or shape out his work only with his bellows."

The importance of catechising seems to have become more evident to our Reformers as their work proceeded. In the Injunctions of Edward VI. in 1549, and in those of Bishop Ridley the following year, the Clergy are enjoined to examine in the catechism "once in six weeks at the least." Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions in 1559 require it to be done "upon every holiday, and upon every second Sunday in the year;" and the Canons of 1603 make it imperative on "every Parson, Vicar, or Curate, upon every Sunday and holiday" diligently to hear and instruct the youth and ignorant persons of his parish, and teach them the catechism set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. And "this kind of preaching" was as much esteemed, and, according to Archbishop Abbot, better observed by the Reformed Churches on the Continent. Of the opinions and practices of our most eminent divines Mr. Ley has given an interesting catena in the compilation from which the foregoing extracts are made.

The question, however, to be considered at the present day, is, how far the necessity of public catechising is superseded by the establishment of parochial, and especially Sunday schools. Archdeacon Bayley, whose charge in 1826 is quoted in p. 41, seems to think the latter anxiliary to the former, that "the children are to profess in the church what they have been taught in the school." And whatever superior convenience there may be in school catechising, it can hardly make up for the loss of the greater solemnity of the more rubrical practice, where the catechiser is always the clergyman, and the place the church. But one of the strongest arguments in favour of a return to the directions of the Prayer-book is that thus stated by Bishop Fleetwood. "That which should rather invite you to discharge this part of your duty to your parishioners is this-that the elder people, who have either never learnt or quite forgot the principles of their religion, will be hereby instructed or reminded of them. I never yet heard catechising in the church, where I did not see the oldest and gravest people attend as seriously as any else; and I dare say they were as much edified, and as much pleased to be so as the younger." It seems to have been with this view that the place of this portion of the afternoon service was removed from before the evening prayer, where it was originally enjoined to be performed, to after the second lesson where it stands in the present rubric. A boy may preach, runs the old saying, but to catechise requires a man: but where catechising is performed carefully and simply, we believe it would be quite as interesting to most congregations as preaching, and certainly much more instructive. We recommend Mr. Ley's compilation to all who feel an interest on the subject.

Ecclesiastical Annals, from the Commencement of the Scripture History to the Epoch of the Reformation. By FREDERICK SPANHEIM, D.D., Professor of Divinity in the University of Leyden. To which is prefixed a Geographical Description of Palestine. Translated, compressed, and illustrated with Notes, and Chronological Tables, by the Rev. GEORGE WRIGHT, Vicar of Nafferton, in the County of York. Second Edition, corrected. London: Rivingtons, &c. 1840. Pp. xx. 557.

THE first edition of this work appeared in the year 1829, and it was reviewed at

some length in our Journal. (Vol. xi. pp. 155, &c.) To the opinion which we then offered of the work as a perspicuous and comprehensive survey of the general history of the Church in the form of annals, we have nothing to add. But we are glad to see the work much improved in its second edition. The elements of Technical Chronology, which Mr. W. had translated from Spanheim, are now omitted, as not being necessary to a summary of Ecclesiastical History. By means of this omission, and by enlarging the pages, the volume has been compressed into a smaller size, and is sold at a smaller price. It is beautifully printed, and the author has added from Bishop Beveridge's invaluable Pandecta Canonum a neatly engraved plan of an ancient church. We hope it will have an extensive circulation.

1. The Mercy of God a Call to Repentance. A Sermon preached in St. John's Chapel, Hampstead, on the day appointed for a Thanksgiving to Almighty God for his late merciful Preservation of the Queen, &c. By the Rev. JOHN ÄYRE, M.A., Minister. London: Burns. Pp. 16.

2. The Affairs of this World all ordered with a reference to the Welfare of the Church. A Sermon preached in St. John's, Westminster, on Sunday, June 21, &c. By THOMAS STONE, M.A. London: Burns. Pp. 23.

London:

3. A Sermon on the Preservation of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, preached at St. Mary's, Ipswich, by the Rev. J. C. EEDEN, M.A. Longman. Pp. 24.

THESE are Sermons suggested by the occasion of the National Thanksgivingand such we believe it really was-for the Preservation of our Queen. They seem to have been preached in the ordinary course of pulpit ministration, and afterwards published by request, and are therefore scarcely fit subjects for criticism. The first contains a vigorous denunciation of national sins; the false liberalism of the day; the profligacy of the press; the prevailing spirit of insubordination; infidelity first levelling all religions under a show of liberality, and then breaking forth into all the abominations of Socialism; the neglect of establishing places of worship at home and abroad; and the wide-spread sins of Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, pride, covetousness, and luxury a picture which contrasts strongly with the blessings so bountifully bestowed upon our country, and calls at the same time for thanksgiving and repentance. The second is an able sketch of the great outlines of the world's history, showing how God has ever made human affairs work to one great purpose, the welfare of his Church. The third has certainly the recommendation of variety: for it treats of the advantages of hereditary monarchy, enters on a defence of the King of Hanover, and discusses the epidemic character of particular crimes, such as regicides, the nature of monomania, and the effects of what is specious and popular in education, general literature, moral and political philosophy and theology: but it says nothing, as the writer himself seems to lament, of "Jesus Christ and him crucified."

Ancient Models, containing some Remarks on Church Building, addressed to the Laity. By CHARLES ANDERSON, Esq. London: Burns, 1840. Pp. 126. THIS book is addressed to our lay brethren; but were the clergy in general half as well acquainted with our early ecclesiastical architecture as this Lincolnshire gentleman, we should not see the misdoings in stone and lime, which a word of advice from them might often prevent, where authority is out of the question. Mr. Anderson has composed an amusing as well as instructive little manual, replete with sense and good feeling; and his taste is generally rightly founded and pure. He writes with spirit; and in giving the heads of his sections we let our readers see that his treatise is not a dry article on architecture, smacking as if it were got up for one of the Encyclopædias of the day, for the subjects are, "Duty of Church Building, Church Architecture, Exterior of Churches, Interior Arrangement, Bells," and an "Appendix," comprising the dimensions of sacred edifices, both at home and abroad. Small and cheap as the book is, it is copiously illustrated with spirited cuts, and with

descriptive references to particular churches, which the author seems to have especially inspected. A plurality of his "ancient models" are derived from the town and village churches of his native county and its precincts, than which no part of the kingdom has more handsome examples. We borrow two specimens of the illustrations: the spire of "Louth, Lincolnshire," is almost too lofty to be delineated in so small a volume, but there is enough of it to evince the delicacy with which the peculiarities of the pointed style are pourtrayed.

Mr. Anderson's work should be in the hands of all who are about to build a church, for it is one of the most accessible store-houses of useful plans that we have yet met with. But this is far from its greatest praise. There is a high tone of church feeling in every part of it, which is worthy of a layman of the days of Isaac Walton. To this feature, which may be more and more traced amongst the lay sons of our church, we confess that we look as one of the most hopeful tokens in a sky in many parts dark with an almost unrelieved blackness. If the deep sores of our social and political system are of God's mercy to be healed, the work of healing must be wrought not by earthly schemes, but by that power of His grace which is stored up for a believing people in His church. The present book breathes the very spirit which we long to see pervading the laity; and as such good principles are often contagious, we earnestly desire to see it widely circulated.

A Sermon delivered in Trinity Church, Ipswich, on Sunday, the 12th July, 1840. By the Rev J. T. NOTTIDGE, M.A., Rector of St. Helen's and St. Clement's, Ipswich. Ipswich: Pawsey. London: Seeleys. Pp. 21.

Ir appears that this Sermon was delivered on the occasion of opening the Organ in Trinity Church, Ipswich. It concludes with the following extremely beautiful and felicitous illustration,-derived from the peculiar properties of that majestic instrument, of the harmonious unity which ought ever to be the glory of the Church of Christ :

The Spirit then must be continually sought, to dispose us to do good, and to prosper us in doing it. And in this view of the subject, the organ is suited not only to help your devotion, but to afford you instruction. There is something peculiar in the character of the organ, among the whole range of musical instruments; and it is that peculiarity which makes it so lively an emblem of the church of Christ; namely,

that it is one instrument, and yet a concert. Hence it is not liable to the many occasions of discord that may arise, where several performers are engaged each in playing his own instrument. In the organ, one hand tunes all the pipes and one hand makes them vocal; and these provisions being made, the mind and hand of one performer employs them all to one harmonious purpose, and whatever are the varieties that combine together or follow each other in the accomplishment of that purpose, the harmonious unity is never broken. The notes all swell or whisper together, all praise or lament together, all move rapidly or slowly together. What a beautiful and instructive emblem is here, not only of public worship, where "at once they sing, at once they pray," but of the whole conduct of the Christian and the church, the combined and individual proceeding of the community; the consequence of one Spirit animating one body! What a commentary is the organ upon, "be ye all of one accord, of one mind." How it illustrates the caution, that "no man think more highly of himself than he ought to think." Such a man, and they abound in the present day of high profession, is like a note in the organ, swelled to a disproportionate and discordant sound, and drowning the real music of the instrument. And it also illustrates, "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." The same result is produced in the church as in the instrument, because one Spirit creates, arranges, influences, and when requisite re-tunes the whole frame and each part of it.

And the same comparison teaches us what we should guard against. An indolent Christian is a dumb note, no praise to God, no harmony with his fellow-believers. Sin, especially enmity and want of christian love, is a discordant note, violating every law of harmony. How distressing is it to the ear of the Christian to hear contention, and how continually is he compelled to hear it; and if it grates on our ears, how offensive must it be to the great Head of the Church. And yet all contention, where it exists among Christians, will become worse and worse, more and more discordant, until those who are mutually offended, will pray with each other, or for each other, and persevere in praying for the return of the Spirit's power to tune their hearts in sweet accord, and excite the disposition of love, and produce an harmonious communication and cooperation. If, on the other hand, we consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, if we yield to the inspiration of the uniting, harmonizing Spirit, our skill in taking our part in the sacred concert will be more and more perfect, day by day, and year by year; and we shall continually be more prepared for the divine songs and heavenly affections of that world, where the harmony will be complete and uninterrupted for ever.—Pp. 18–21.

The Christian planted together with Christ. A Sermon, preached at the Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Brighton, on Sunday, July 26th, 1840, being the Day after the Funeral of Mary Sikes Wagner, the Wife of the Rev. Henry Michell Wagner, M.A., Vicar of Brighton, and the only Child of Joshua Watson, Esq., D.C.L. By the Rev. ROBERT ANDERSON, Perpetual Curate of Trinity Chapel, Brighton. Brighton: King. London: Hatchard and Son; and Burns. 1840. Pp. 35.

We have here a most touching and affectionate tribute to the memory of one whose conversation had been in heaven long before her pure and gentle spirit departed from the earth. These pages may, probably, meet the eye of some to whom the deceased was intimately known. And, if so, they cannot fail to be gratified and consoled by the memorial now before us. We are, naturally, slow to break in upon the sacredness of domestic sorrow. We hope, however, that we are guilty of no such intrusion, in expressing our confidence that the words of the preacher must drop, like balm from Gilead, into the wounded hearts of those whom she has left to mourn for her. We, ourselves, are able to testify that the following portrait of the deceased is executed by the hand of strict fidelity and truth:—

Were I asked to describe, in few words, the chief outlines of that character, I would say of her, in the words of St. Paul to Timothy, that she had "the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

She had the "spirit of power;" for, upon all occasions, and under all circumstances, she possessed her soul in patience and in peace; and it might be truly said of her, that, in the last mortal conflict, she "endured hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."