dwell," Col. i. 19. They thankfully adore the sovereign love of God, "who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Eph. i. 3. And reviewing the progress of the millions of the redeemed, increasing in numbers from age to age, they unite with the apostle, acknowledging to the Saviour's praise, "Out of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace," John i. 16.

All true believers ought to banish sor row from their hearts, and to rejoice in their exalted relation to the blessed God, as his beloved children; and considering their present dignity, their Divine security, and their inspiring prospects, their renewed souls, with all their powers, should flow forth in admiration, love, and confidence towards the gracious Redeemer.

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP regards all the saints on earth. All real Christians, as the adopted children of God, whatever be their ecclesiastical connections, are equally interested in the blessings of salvation they are fellow-heirs of eternal life; and "if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," Rom. viii. 17. Their affectionate regards are not confined to the limited circle of their personal friends. Cherishing" that mind which was in Christ Jesus," they feel a cordial interest in their common welfare, as partakers of the same grace. Sectarian prejudices sink or die, while they a. e prepared, with their whole hearts, to utter the language of the inspired apostle, in all its largeness of sentiment, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," Eph. vi, 24. Here we behold the dignifying principle, which originates all the associations tending to a grand EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. And this sacred principle is no less delightful than it is generous and noble. It is felt to be truly heavenly; the same that unites "the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven," Heb. xii. 23.

Real Christians constitute "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;" and meeting

| together from every region of the earth, however remote the places of their nativity, they at once find, that, though of different nations in this world, they have been born of the same spirit, and belong to one and the same blessed family, children of the same heavenly Father. And hence it is that vital Christianity, sanctifying, by its perfect moral principles, the operations of universal commerce, is doing more in the promotion of peace and friendship between different nations, who had for ages appeared as natural enemies, than the most profound projects of worldly statesmen: for even these are necessarily regulated and controlled, in a great degree, at least in Europe and America, by the upright, honourable, and benevolent maxims of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP includes even the blessed inhabitants of heaven: "Ye are come," says the apostle, in giving his instructions to the churches, "to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect," Heb. xii. 2, 3. It is agreed by all commentators, that the inspired writer teaches us here, that to this blessed society, believers on earth are even now nearly related; and that they have an equal interest with them in all the high privileges and immortal glories, which are to be eternally inherited in the kingdom and presence of God.

"We have here," says Dr. Owen, blessed, yea, a glorious description of the Catholic church, as the nature and communion of it is revealed under the gospel. We have a a clear prospect into this part of the invisible world, regarding the state of the souls of just men departed. They are in the presence of God. They are so in his presence, as to be in conjunction with the holy angels in the temple worship of heaven. They bear a part in the communion of the church catholic. Not as the object of the worship of men, nor of their invocation, nor as mediators of intercession for them: such supposi

tions and practices are injurious to them, as well as blasphemous towards Christ. But they live in the same love of God, which animates the whole Catholic church below. They join with it in the ascription of the same praises to God and the Lamb, and have a concern in the church militant, as belonging to that mystical body of Christ wherein themselves are sharers. All believers so come as to be admitted into, and to be made members of this heavenly society. The only means of an actual admission into this society, is Jesus Christ, in his person and mediation. For although angels are not redeemed and justified by him, as we are, yet their station in this society is from Him, Eph. i. 10.

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Commences on earth, to be rendered perfect and eternal in heaven. Hence Dr. Owen closes his practical remarks on this passage-regarding the blissful fellowship of heavenremarking, "The only means, on our part, whereby we come to this state and society, is faith in Christ alone. Hereby we come to him; and coming to him, he makes us free citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. He who is first installed by faith on the person and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ in this heavenly society, will be guided by the light and privileges of it, into such ways of Divine worship in churches here below, as shall cause him to improve and grow in his interest in that above. And he who is not admitted into this society, let him be in the bosom, or at the head of all the churches in the world, it will be of no advantage to him."

Happily this privilege is enjoyed by multitudes in our favoured country. The gospel of Christ has, to many, been made the power of God unto salvation to those believing. But still, many in our congregations are not united in Christian fel

WAITING WAIT patiently on God. It is becoming of a dutiful child, when he hath not presently what he writes for to his father, to say, "My father is wiser than I; his own wisdom will tell him what and when to

lowship. They assemble, and sing, and hear, with us, "the glorious gospel of the blessed God." They yield assent to what they hear; they approve the doctrines of salvation which are preached: but they are not decided in their convictions. They have not yielded their hearts to God. Such is the fact with regard to many of our dear children. They have been instructed in the "principles of the doctrine of Christ:" they have professed to approve of Christianity; and they have considered the claims of the Bible, acknowledging it to be a Divine revelation: but they are not numbered with the members of our churches: they have not been received to the enjoyment of Christian fellowship. The love of the world holds them in bondage of spirit: they are not weaned from its delusive pleasures; they are not "crucified with Christ," in dedication to God. Should they die in this state, and so be called into the presence of the "righteous Judge," persuaded, like King Agrippa, on hearing Paul preach the way of salvation, to be only "almost Christians," -how dreadful their future, their eternal state! As a father, the writer feels intensely regarding his own eight children, two of whom, these having attained their majority, have been admitted to the fellowship of the church; and for the hap piness of witnessing this, he desires to render unfeigned thanks to God by Jesus Christ. He prays for the conversion of the others, and not without hope; and he appeals to them to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." O that the Holy Spirit may graciously bless these thoughts to every reader; that a multitude may arise from their perusal, to give themselves unto God, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! Lewisham. T. T.

ON GOD.

send to me." Oh Christian! thy hea venly Father hath gracious reasons which hold his hands for the present, or esle thou hadst heard from him ere now. -Gurnall.

Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, Tweedale-court. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. "Struck with the light thrown on the character and history of Cromwell by the various documents which have issued from the press during the last few years, I felt a desire to publish in a Continental Review the result of my examination. But so great was the interest I found in my subject, that I have written a Work rather than an Article, and am now compelled to renounce my first intentions, and to lay this Historical Essay before the public in the form of a distinct work." These are the opening sentences of the advertisement to the volume before us. We quote them because they will make our readers aware of what they are to expect from the work. When we first saw the announcement of the intended publication, with mention made of "Original Documents," we looked forward to its issue with considerable interest. It was a satisfaction to us that an historian of Merle D'Aubigné's eminence had applied himself to the study of Cromwell; and we were in hopes he would put the world in possession of some new information regarding his great subject,-of some additional facts that would assist us in pronouncing on the Protector's extraordinary character. Such expectation, however, has not been realized. The work is not a History; but, as stated in the above extract, an Historical Essay. Intended as a Review, embodying the author's judgments formed, we presume, in the first place, upon Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, so nobly edited by Thomas Carlyle, we have here the article expanded, so as to present us in some sort with the grounds of those judgments. But though the present work is not an original production by the Historian of the Reformation, such as we hoped for, we do not, on that account, reckon it of little merit. It is a vindication of Cromwell, upon facts patent now to all the world. There are native writers who could have done the same thing equally con amore, and as well; but no English testimony would have been so free from suspicion,-so likely to tell for Cromwell among all the nations of Europe, and all classes of thinking men. Merle D'Aubigné is a foreigner: free, therefore, from those disturbing prejudices, political and social, so likely to be called into action in English minds, when they travel, though but on the page of history, through the

scenes of the Civil War, and the Commonwealth, and the Protectorate. He is a Presbyterian, and his judgment, therefore, will not be biassed by undue sympathy with Cromwell's Independency. He is an undoubted Christian; a brother beloved by evangelical men of all denominations; versed, moreover, in estimating the character of men who have left the imprint of their lives upon the times in which they lived: he will not, therefore, be attracted simply by the extraordinary, the great, the heroic in Cromwell's nature and actions.

Is it not much, then, that such a man, "submitting, after deep consideration, to the evidence of irresistible facts," says, without qualification, "I present Cromwell as a Christian to Christians-to Protestant Christians; and claim boldly on his behalf the benefit of that passage of Scripture, Every one that loveth God that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him?""

The memory of Cromwell has been loaded with two reproaches, above all others,-hypocrisy, namely, and ambition. In regard to the first, our author observes, that "History was never guilty of a greater error." It is high time that Christians should awake out of their sleep, and cease to give in to the calumnies of men who make a mock at sin, and speak evil of those who cannot run to the same excess of riot with themselves. "If Oliver," it is well remarked, p. 68, "had been a gambler and a drunkard; if he had practised the perfidious art of seducing innocence; if he had taken part in jollities and excesses, it would have been all very well; he would have been a good Cavalier. These are the men whom the world loves, and for whom historians and romance writers keep all their favour. But he loved the assemblings of the saints, according to St. Paul's command. In his hours of repose, he delighted to follow the precepts of this apostle, 'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.' From that hour he was held a contemptible man, and for two hundred years all the servile imitating race of historians have continued to repeat the absurdity, not to say impiety. Contemptible, says Clarendon. It may well be so; but Cromwell is not the only man that has been undervalued for avoiding bad company, and for not having trod in the way of sinners. David, St. Paul, and all Christian men have been contemned like him, and for the same

reasons. But it is written in the revelations of God, Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.'"

With regard to Cromwell's ambition, our author's opinion is, that whatever disposition there might be in his mind to seize the loftiest object this country could present to him-the kingship,-there was a strong counteracting force in his Christian humility.

If the flesh lusted against the spirit, the spirit fought against the flesh." The only satisfactory explanation of Cromwell's career is in the fact, that, as Milton expresses it, "he pursued God's work." To call the Protectorate a usurpation, in any bad meaning of the term, is a style of speech, which can only betoken the anility of those who use it. There is no evidence that Cromwell planned and plotted a single step of his exaltation. He would not shrink, indeed, from the positions to which Providence successively called him, and to which he felt that he was competent; but "a crown had never been his aim. The object of his ambition was the liberty, peace, and glory of England. And he attained what he had so earnestly thirsted after."

It is a pregnant question which Merle D'Aubigné in one place proposes, "Where

is the statesman that has ever had in view nobler and more beneficent objects?" Cromwell had three great designs-the establishment of religious liberty, the strengthening the greatness of England, and the advancing the interests of Protestantism. And these are his all-sufficient vindication; these form a monument on which he will yet be set on high for the admiration of future ages. "Liberty of conscience," were his words, "is a natural right; and he that would take it ought to give it. Indeed, that hath been one of the vanities of our contest. Every sect saith, 'Oh give me liberty;' but give it to him, and to his power, and he will not yield it to any body else. Where is our ingenuousness? Liberty of conscience is a thing which ought to be very reciprocal." This liberty Cromwell granted to an extent unprecedented in the annals of history. Where he failed to grant it, he was obliged painfully to restrain the tendency of his own convictions, and to yield to the unpreparedness of his times. But surely statesmen have not been advancing during the last two centuries from the point to which he had attained. On the contrary, in the mass, they have gone away backward."

And whoever did more to advance the greatness of England? "His glory was not confined to Great Britain only: it filled Europe, reached Asia, and was re-echoed from the shores of America. A French writer, comparing Oliver with Napoleon, says, that the former was exclusively an English hero, whilst the latter carried his name into every

quarter of the world.' It is true that he did not launch his destroying legions into Spain and Russia, and even into Egypt. But it is a great mistake to suppose that his name was hardly known beyond the British Isles. So great was his renown that it extended even to the distant plains of Asia, where the descendants of Abraham, in agitation, inquired one of another, whether this was not the Servant of the Lord whom they were looking for, and the Branch promised to David. With his own name Oliver spread afar the name of England, which he was the first to engrave on the distant landmarks of the nations. It was he who opened to his people that path of glory and of power, which their ships now traverse in every sea. The life of Britain, which had lost all vigour under the Stuarts, was aroused, electrified, as it were, by the same principle which animated its chief, and once more was seen the accomplishment of the ancient promise, 'The Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.'"'

The third of Cromwell's designs,-but the first in his own estimation,—was the promotion of Protestantism. He thus addressed the Lords in Parliament, in 1657, about the "two greatest concernments that God hath in this world. The one is that of religion; the other is the civil liberty and interest of the nation-the next best thing God hath given men in this world. Upon these two interests, if God shall account me worthy, I shall live and die." And this religious liberty, which he asserted in England, he vindicated as no statesman, no monarch, before or after him, did, for other nations also. The title, Defender of the Faith," had a meaning, as applied to Cromwell. It has been with some emotion of pride that we have read the passage (p. 290): "He zealously pursued the great cause of the Reformation in Europe and in the world, and thus assigned to England that station, as queen of the Protestant world, which has been, and ever will be, her glory and her strength, so long as she shall remain true and faithful to this great calling." But ever as we read it, the question quoted above about Cromwell and other statesmen, occurs painfully to our recollection. With profound truth is it said, p. 309, "That Cromwell was something more than the champion of an outward and official Protestantism." His religion was a reality: the truth was to him more than his life, and as he loved the truth so he loved those who held it. They were part of the same body with himself; what touched them touched him; and so the Pope, and the French and the Spanish Governments felt that his remonstrances against their persecuting fury were not so many words of course, nor so many official protocols; but the protesta

tions of a serious and earnest man, with whom, moreover, it was their best policy to keep on good terms. The Waldenses and the Huguenots looked to him; nor did they look in vain. Had the scenes, which have lately been transacted in Tahiti, flouted the moral sentiment of the world by their atrocity in his time, those poor Protestant islanders would have found in him a helper. But it is not the political ascendancy of this church or that; it is not liberal philosophy, nor adroit statesmanship, which will maintain Britain, the "queen of the Protestant world:" it is the power of vital godlinessthe energy of a religion learnt from the lips of Christ and his apostles, unpolluted by the admixtures of the Fathers, unpoisoned by the sorceries of Rome, animating the souls, actuating the conduct, of our rulers and our people.

We can easily understand how, with Cromwell for his subject, our author's article expanded into a goodly octavo volume. Most gladly should we continue our extracts and observations; but we have reached our limit. We expect, and sadly disappointed shall we be, if our expectation prove wrong, that "The Vindication" will be very widely circulated and read. It is a work for the times. It does justice to a distinguished name in history; it is calculated to do much good in the present days. Cromwell served well his country and generation. If by the present work, and other publications, his spirit shall be brought back among the English people, he will serve ours still better.

Touching are his words, which Merle D'Aubigné has taken as the motto to his volume: "I know that God has been above all ill reports, and will, in his time, vindicate me.' True faith never makes its possessor ashamed. At last we may hope Milton's noble Sonnet will have its full verification:

should detail the author's plan. Suffice it to observe, that it is highly scholarly and critical, its main object being to investigate all those passages in the Old Testament Scriptures, upon which differences of opinion have arisen among biblical students, as to the merits of the authorized version. With a becoming deference for that version, the author has honestly looked at all the lights which modern research has thrown upon the state of the Hebrew Text; and has rendered good service to the cause of Bible interpretation, by clearing up, or rather clearing away, many difficulties which have pressed heavily on the minds of intelligent persons possessed of but scanty libraries.

We are truly delighted to find that Mr. Barrett is proceeding vigorously with his undertaking, which is an expensive one; and we shall regard it as a good omen for the interests of biblical science, if he is encouraged to go forward to its completion. We are, indeed, sanguine that such will be the case; for it would be a grievous reflection upon the taste of our country if such a work were not to become one of the best copyrights of the age. We wish Mr. Barrett all the success which he can desire. Let him proceed upon the principle that the more perfectly his task is performed, the more sure will it be of ultimate success. We are gratified to be able to say, that the Third Part is fully equal in merit to the first.

The LANDS of the BIBLE visited and described in an extensive journey, undertaken with special reference to the promotion of Biblical research, and the advancement of the cause of Philanthropy. By JOHN WILSON, D.D., F.R.S., Honorary President of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Member of the Editorial Committee of the Asiatic Section of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen, Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, &c. With Maps and Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo.

White and Co., Edinburgh; and Longman and Co., London.

The well known ability of Dr. Wilson, the enthusiastic interest which he takes in subjects connected with Biblical Research, and the extensive journies undertaken by him, in "The Lands of the Bible," conspire to invest the work before us with more than ordinary interest. We have here the results of an amount of original, acute, and patient investigation, which it would be difficult to find in any single work on Palestine and the surrounding countries. Our author has availed himself discreetly of the labours of former travellers of note; but he has done