sion was not altogether so exact and literal as could be wished; and hence in the beginning of the sixth century a new Syriac translation was undertaken by Polycarp, at the suggestion and with the assistance of Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis. It is to this latter translation that the erudite labours of Dr. White have been directed. From its high antiquity, and the general ignorance of the Syriac tongue throughout Europe at large during the middle ages of theChristian church, scarcely any thing was known of the existence either of the Philoxenian or the Peshito versions for many centuries. In the twelfth, however, the former was revised by Dionysius Barsalibæus, bishop of Amida, but many parts of it were deficient. These deficiencies have been since supplied by the researches of other erudite travellers, and we have now a copy of it, as complete as we can ever expect to have it, (for it still breaks off suddenly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, at ch. xi. v. 27) produced from the Oxford press, much indeed to the credit of this learned university. To the Syriac text the professor has added a literal Latin version of his own; Greek lections in the margin, and Syriac variations at the bottom of the page and throughout the whole of this arduous undertaking he has proved himself highly worthy of the trust which was reposed in him; and reposed upon the express recommendation of that late very judicious and penetrative scholar bishop Lowth.

In Mr. Fellowes's "Guide to Immortality; or Memoirs of the Life and Doctrine of Christ," as he has entitled his work, with a quaint adherence to fashionable phraseology, we perceive much indepen

dency of spirit; much thirst after information, and much honesty and ingenuousness of heart. In one respect, however, notwithstanding all that has been offered upon the subject, the author appears to us to be strangely deficient in consistency of conduct: we mean, in continuing a member of the national church, and allowing himself to receive his proportion of the pecuniary means she has provided for the dissemination of doctrines, which both in the present and seve ral prior publications it is his avowed object to resist and exterminate. With so many examples before him of members who, from motives of conscience, have felt themselves compelled to relinquish their connexion with the establishment, and to resign, in many instances, the very considerable prefer. ment they had actually attained, and the well-grounded expectations of much higher and more valuable, rather than consent to act in open hostility to the doctrines of a church of which they were members, or because even in private they could no longer accede to those doctrines ex animo-we are astonished to find that this gentleman still resolutely continues within the pale of the building he is thus openly endeavouring to pull about his ears. Faith and practice should uniformly accompany each other; and if we acquit him, as we have no hesitation in doing, of improbity of heart, we can only do it at the expense of his judgment and understanding. There seems to be one very unnecessary alarm into which Mr. Fellowes has fallen in the course of his "Guide to Immortality," and that is the extreme austerity with which the sabbath is in danger of being observed in the present day; and which he

seems

seems to apprehend will shortly subject it to all the severities, and freedom from recreation as well as manual labour, of the Jewish sabbath. Taking a general survey of the Christian world in relation to this point, as exhibited in the present age, we confess we see no necessity for the apprehensions which are here so palpably avowed; and even admitting that among some sectarians there may be "a tendency observable to keep the sabbath with the same ceremonial precision with which it was observed by the Pharisees in the time of our Lord;" it does not bespeak much Christian charity in our author, nor, in our opinion, evince much knowledge of actual fact, to accuse these same persons of "hypocritical austerity" as well as "ceremonial precision." An arrow so poisonous ought not to have been shot at random: it is impossible there can be otherwise than hostility amongst the different communities of the Christian church, while this rankling curiosity is encouraged of peeping into each other's hearts, and endeavouring to develop their motives.

In professor Less's "Authenticity, uncorrupted Preservation, and Credibility of the New Testament," we perceive a work of far higher value in our estimation, and cannot but feel indebted to the translator of it, Mr. Kingdon, for thus presenting it to the world in an English dress. It constitutes, how. ever, a part only of Dr. Less's "Geschichte der Religion," or "History of Religion;" and we trust that the author of the present version will meet with sufficient success to induce him to naturalize the remaining portions of the entire work. The "Authenticity" is divided into two parts: of which the first treats of the authenticity,

properly so called, of the New Testament; and the second, of its credibility. Its authenticity is attempted to be ascertained from its internal evidence of genuineness, and its external proofs, resulting from history. As fair, historic proofs, and amply capable of producing conviction, we are referred to the testimonies of the apostolic fathers of the first age, and especially Clement of Rome, Polycarp, and above all Ignatius; each of whom in their remains, which have reached us, expressly refers to various parts of the New Testament, and quotes the names of the respective authors of the parts referred to. These citations, however, it must be confessed, are not numerous; nor can they be expected to be so; for we have but few fragments of these proto-teachers in the Christian church that have actually descended to us. Yet when we enter the second century, we have such a variety of writers whose works have, to a considerable extent, survived the ruins of time, and who have quoted so largely and so definitely, both as to place and person, from the writings that at present constitute the Christian Scriptures, that we are able to substantiate very nearly the whole of them. Of the authors of the second century whose writings are still extant, Irenæus is by far the most important as to the point in question. He was acquainted with several of the immediate disciples of the apostles, and determines by name the writers of almost every book admitted in the Christian church, except the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which he can neither assent to ascribe to St. Paul, nor to regard as a book divinely inspired. From a consideration of the writers of the second, Dr. Less passes on to $ 3

those

those of the third century, whose works are extant, but to none of whom, excepting Origen, does he pay any stated or definite attention. He does not attempt to ascertain who was the author of the Apocalypse; though he thinks it probable that it was written by St. John; while he pointedly contends that it is very antient, and that it cannot be less than coeval with the end of the first or beginning of the second century. The arguments advanced in discussing the second part of this very valuable treatise, namely the credibility of the Christian Scriptures, are chiefly confined to a consideration of the characters of those who have written them, and the opportunities they possessed of, ascertaining the various facts they narrate. The whole is ably detailed, and well worthy of serious and attentive perusal. We have examined a part of the original German of this work; and so far as our comparison has extended, we have no reason to be dissatisfied with the version now offered.

In Mr. Tomlinson's "Attempt to rescue the Holy Scriptures from the Ridicule they incur by incorrect Translations, &c." we perceive little more than the attempt itself. His views are often confused, his fancy is permitted to rove too much at large, and simplicity is too generally exchanged for mystery. To explain the Scriptures where explanation is really wanting, is a most laudable pursuit: but how they are to be explained by unwarrant ed conceits respecting conversations between the Deity and Adam in paradise upon the supposed esoteric meaning of the holy cherubim, or by the use of such words as mincha for offering in Gen. iv. 3, 4. we confess we have not penetration enough to understand. The

mystagogue, of all descriptions of persons whatever, is the least qualified for being an expositor.

"Memoirs of the Life and Writ ings of the late reverend and learned Hugh Farmer, &c." Mr. Farmer was an excellent man, and an ornament to the dissenters: he has now been dead, however, for nearly twenty years; and unless it be supposed that the few and simple annals of his life were still sufficiently varied to excite much public attention at the time of his decease, and that his person and memory are still strongly impressed on the bo som of his friends, (of neither of which we can perceive proofs,) we are at a loss to conceive the motive for dragging him at this distance of time from the shades of oblivion, and presenting him to public notice. From a spirit directly the reverse of that manifested by the preceding author, Mr. Farmer, instead of hunting after some concealed and mystical meaning in the plainest language of the Scriptures, was for resolving a variety of their miracles, and other præternatural agencies, into the common laws of nature and we now particularly allude to his "Inquiry into the Nature and Design of Christ's Temp. tation in the Wilderness;" his "Es say on Demoniacs ;" and his "Treatise on the History of Balaam," as here presented to us for the first time in the guise of a fragment. It was the second of these works that attracted most attention from the world, in conse quence of a dispute in which he was hereby involved with Mr. Fell, another dissenting minister of no inconsiderable eminence in his day -and which, on the part of the latter, was conducted with an asperity by no means to be justified, and than which nothing could be

further from all chance of producing conviction. Farmer, though in our opinion enlisted on the wrong side of the question, was a man of far superior talents to his adversary; and he felt no occasion, therefore, for the deadly weapon of acrimony in his replies. Yet it should seem that, if not convinced by the arguments of Fell, he was at least induced, from the reasonings of his own mind, to hesitate upon this and various consimilar subjects towards the close of his life, since it appears that "a second volume on the Demonology of the Antients" and "a Dissertation on the Story of Balaam," both prepared for the press, were either committed to the flames by his own hands, or those of his executors in consequence of his peremptory and dying injunction. Such having been the fact, we cannot justify the conduct of the present editor, Mr. S. Palmer, who was a particular friend of Mr. Farmer's, in introducing into the volume before us a fragment from the condemned and executed manuscript upon the subject of Balaam, from whatever quarter it may have been obtained. What the entire work niay have done we know not; but we are sure that the present detached and unsatisfactory hints will no more add to Mr. Farmer's fame, than the desultory hints lately offered upon the same subject by the venerable Jacob Bryant will add to the fame of the latter.

In the "Antidote to Infidelity, by a Lover of Divine Truth," we meet with a modest attempt to explain the prophecies of our Saviour on Matt. xxiv., Mark xiii., and Luke xxi., by selections from the writings of Doddridge, Gill, Whitby, Porteus, Nisbett and others; which, having afforded satisfaction to the

compiler's own mind, influenced as it appears at one time to havè been by the infidel strictures of Gibbon, he trusts may be of use to others labouring under a similar train of doubts and indecisions. The design is laudable, and bene ficial we hope will be its effect. We do not recollect having noticed the name of Cappe in the list of the expositors from whom the author has gleaned. He might have consulted him on several points with no small advantage.

"An Abstract of the whole Doctrine of the Christian Religion, with Observations, by John Anastasius Freylinghausen, of Halle in Germany," has been presented to the public by her majesty; superintended in its course through the press by the present excellent bishop of London, and printed as the first-fruits of lord Stanhope's improved process in stereotype. With respect to the typographic department, the letter is clear, and well defined, but the paper is by far too thick and woolly. In regard to the department of editing, the book is correctly printed; and, in relation to the doctrines it contains, the system is altogether and avowedly that of the Lutheran church. The shades of difference are not considerable, however, between this and our own establishment; and if, in reality, they had been so, it is scarcely to be imagined that a prelate so exalted in the hierarchy, and so attached to our national system, would have been prevailed upon to have personally engaged in the present undertaking. Those who are desirous of noticing the discrepancies which really exist between the two churches, have now a ready opportunity, and may consult the book with advantage. The most objectionable, and we had almost S4

said

said outrageous part we have met with in the course of a careful perusal, is the explanation of the doctrine of Christ's descent into hell; by which, we are told, is meant, "that soon after his resurrection, he repaired body and soul to the abode of the devils and the damned, both to show himself unto them as their conqueror, and to terrify them." It is added, however, that the proofs of this doctrine are obscure, and that "it will admit of different interpretations."Our own church allows of the same latitude and hence it is not to be wondered at, that the best prelates and expositors of our church articles have considerably differed from each other in their modes of explanation. From an observation introduced into the preface by the right reverend editor, we learn, that he has taken the liberty to omit certain passages of the original, which contained doctrines peculiar to the Lutheran church, and to render others more conformable to the tenets of the church of England. We have hence no doubt that the present interpretation is that of the bishop of London itself: but no man can give the slightest glance at it, and at the same time at the ingenious sermon upon this subject lately published by the present bishop of St. Asaph, without being astonished at the very wide and diametrically opposite differences which, in consequence, it is obvious, must prevail between the opinions of these two learned prelates of the same esta blishment. These opinions, indeed, seem to form the extremes of existing interpretations;-there are others which lie between them, and which are, perhaps, nearer to the truth than either. The most ab. surd and impious with which we are acquainted is that of Calvin

which, however, does not lie be tween them, but shoots off at a tangent equally distant and remote from both ;-and which conceives, that our Saviour not only went into the place of torment, but actually submitted for a season to all the sufferings that are there supposed to be inflicted on the agonizing spirits of the condemned. Mr. Lloyd, in his "Christian Theology; or an Inquiry into the Nature and general Character of Revelation," appears to have selected his subject as a kind of succession to the late archdeacon Paley's very valuable and ingenious "Natural Theology;" and although we cannot flatter him by asserting that his work contains an equal degree of fair argument and persuasive eloquence, it evinces much honesty of heart, and no small ability of head. It is, nevertheless, too unrestrained and declamatory, and is rather aimed at possessing a momentary triumph over the feelings, than a solid and permanent conviction of the judg. ment. It is divided into five parts or chapters. In the first, the author discusses "the nature, design and importance of revelation;" in the second, "the unity of di vine truth as displayed in the Jewish and Christian dispensations ;" in the third, "the sentiments and dispositions which the Christian religion ought to produce, more especially in its ministers; and the means most conducive to this important end." The fourth chapter is devoted to a consideration of the doctrine of atonement; and the last to a survey "of the nature and attributes of God; the relation and dependence of his creatures, and the duties resulting from this re lation and dependence; of Adam's state before and after the fall, and

the