Ingleby" and "'Tis the Music" are very happy instances. In the rhyme entitled "The Author," we poor reviewers come in for a little good-natured abuse : "This secret censor- -who can guide his pen? Why thus, Mr. Jones-that we will give you neither treacle, vinegar, or cayenne, but just and deserved praise. What you have attempted, you have done, and done well, and we heartily wish you success in your simple and unostentatious course. The Wooden Walls of England in Danger: a Defence of Church Pews. London: Ridgway. 1844. THIS pamphlet is directed against a feeling which we sincerely hope may soon become general, namely, the feeling in favour of open and free seats in our churches. Pews are an innovation, consequently the title of the pamphlet would have been more appropriately applied to open seats-they are more like the wooden walls of England. We have no sympathy with the author; he is no friend to the clergy, and, consequently, can have but little love for the Church. But, notwithstanding his ridicule, we have no fears for the result. The feeling in favour open seats is on the increase, and we feel assured that it will continue to advance. The Sabbath Companion; being Essays on First Principles of Christian Faith and Practice; designed especially for the Use of Young Persons. By THOMAS DALE, M.A., Canon of St. Paul's and Vicar of St. Bride's. London: Bowdery and Kirby. THIS is a very useful work, and the name of its author warrants as much. It is designed for the use of young persons whose time is much engaged during the week by their secular pursuits and occupations, and who are the more desirous on that account to redeem a portion of the Lord's-day for religious reading. The volume supplies much material for mental thought after perusal; and, we must add, if fault may be found with it, it is only on the score of the papers being, really, as of much importance to the aged and experienced Christian, as to the youthful disciple. This, it will be seen, is hardly finding fault; but our real meaning is, that the articles are scarcely simple enough for the capacities of young people; but they are full of truth and beauty, and so may God speed them! Delineation of Roman Catholicism; drawn from the authentic and acknowledged Standards of the Church of Rome; namely, her Creeds. Catechisms, Decisions of Councils, Papal Bulls, Roman Catholic Writers, the Records of History, &c.; in which the peculiar Doctrines, Morals, and Usages of the Church of Rome are stated, treated at large, and confuted. By the REV. CHARLES ELLIOTT, D.D. A New Edition, corrected and revised throughout; with numerous important Additions. By the REV. JOHN STAMP. London: Mason. THE Popish controversy which had been revived during the latter part of the reign of Charles II., in the anticipated succession of a Papist to the British throne, was carried on with great ability, on the part of the Protestants, during the reign of James II., whose conduct, subsequent to his coronation, was one continued violation of his coronation oath. In this controversy the divines of the Church of England bore a prominent part, and their writings constitute one of the noblest monuments of talent, learning, and piety, which any Church has ever erected in any one generation of its history. Besides many large treatises, in which particular subjects of controversy are most elaborately discussed-we might say, exhausted -an immense number of smaller discourses were published, in which every topic, bearing upon the point in dispute, was elucidated with great success. Most of these were afterwards collected together, digested under appropriate titles, and published by the learned and zealous Bishop of London (Dr. Gibson), in the year 1738, in three largo folio volumes, with copious indexes, under the title of "A Preservative against Popery, in several select discourses upon the principal heads of Controversy between Protestants and Papists; written and published by the most eminent Divines of the Church of England, chiefly of the reign of King James II." This collection of treatises is a complete storehouse of most valuable materials on every branch of the Romish controversy; but, unhappily, its rarity, and consequent high price, render it all but inaccessible to those who may necessarily be engaged in polemical discussion with Papists. Various little manuals, indeed, treating on particular subjects, have been published of late years; but a comprehensive general treatise on the whole of the points at issue between Protestants and Papists was a desideratum in our theological literature. That desideratum is now supplied by Dr. Elliott, the transatlantic author of the truly valuable "Delineation of Roman Catholicism," which we now have the pleasure of introducing to our readers, and which was published at New York in 1842, in two thick octavo volumes, containing upwards of nine hundred and eighty pages, The author states that this work is the result of more than twenty years' labour. Believing that the system of Popery is at variance with and injurious to true religion, and (if unchecked) will overturn the religious liberties of the United States, he has published his "Delineation" in order to disabuse the public mind respecting the deceitful character of Popery. "Romanists (he truly says) misrepresent their own creed, their Church, and its institutions. The most forbidding features of the professedly immutable system are kept out of sight by its Jesuitical teachers, while a Protestant sense is attached to most of their doctrines and peculiarities. By this means they designedly misrepresent themselves, and impose on the public." One object, then, of this work is to delineate Popery in its true colours, and to divest it of the Protestant garb which it has for some time assumed. Indeed, however artful and learned Papists may attempt to explain away the unscriptural and anti-scriptural tenets and practices of Popery, that system is truly irreformable, and it cannot change essentially without destruction. Hence it professes to be unchangeable; and as Papists openly profess this immutability, Protestants cannot be charged with uncharitableness in ascribing great unfairness to them, when they wilfully and unblushingly deviate from the accredited standards of their Church. are. Dr. Elliott has divided his elaborate treatise into four books. Of these, Book I., on the rule of faith, containing six chapters, gives an account of the standards of the Romish faith, and discusses the Popish doctrine concerning the Scriptures, tradition, infallibility, and the authority of the ancient fathers in the Church of Rome. The Romish and Protestant rules of faith are then compared and contrasted, and a thorough contrast they Book II., in sixteen chapters, treats on the nature and efficacy of the sacraments: the seven sacraments of the Romish Church are then discussed in the following order, viz., baptism; confirmation; transubstantiation, with the sacrifice of the mass, half-communion, and the idolatrous worship of the host; penance, absolution; confession, contrition and attrition, and satisfaction; purgatory, indulgence; extreme unction; orders; and matrimony. Book III. discusses the government of the Church of Rome, in fourteen chapters, on the Church, general councils, and the supremacy of the Pope. On this last subject the author gratefully acknowledges his obligations to Dr. Burrow's unanswered and unanswerable refutation of Papal supremacy. Book IV., in five chapters, treats on some miscellaneous doctrines and usages of the Church of Rome, particularly celibacy and the worship of saints. The method pursued by Dr. Elliott is as follows:-The state ments of Romish doctrine are first exhibited in the very words of the creed, catechism, councils, Papal bulls, acknowledged theologians of the Romish Church, and the authentic records of history. Their statements are then examined in detail and most triumphantly refuted, and the truth of the Protestant doctrine is demonstrated. In preparing the work for republication in England, the editor has revised it throughout with great care, and not without great need for such revision and correction; for in the New York edition (which is before us) we detected very numerous errors in names, and some graver mistakes in references; all these are now carefully corrected. Much important additional matter, from the best sources, has been introduced [between brackets], in order to illustrate more efficiently the arguments which are brought forward and the statements which are made. But what most enhances the value of the editor's labours is the proofs contained in the quotations from the fathers and other ancient ecclesiastical writers, ancient and modern. These quotations are all given in the original languages, with accurate references to the volumes and pages of the authors from whom they are extracted. We attach much importance to this portion of the editor's labours, as these quotations will enable any, who may hereafter be engaged in the Popish controversy, to go at once to the original authors, and verify them for themselves. Copious indexes of Scripture illustrated, of authorities consulted (four hundred in number), and of the principal matters, conclude this handsomely printed volume, the sale of three thousand copies of which, as it appeared in monthly parts, sufficiently attests the value of the work itself, as well as the great existing want of such a treatise. Without pledging ourselves for every sentiment of the Anglo-American author, we recommend this work as the most comprehensive and valuable treatise on Popery which is extant in the English language. A Letter respectfully addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., First Lord of the Treasury, on the Restoration of Suffragan Bishops. By the Rev. THOMAS LATHBURY, M.A. London: Parker. A LETTER on a very important subject, that of the revival of the order of suffragan bishops. It is on all hands admitted that something must be done to relieve our bishops of their labours; and, perhaps, the restoration of this order might, under the present circumstances of the Church, be attended with less inconvenience than any other plan. The Anglican Church the Creature and Slave of the State. In a Series of Lectures delivered before the Academy of the Catholic Religion. By the Rev. P. COOPER, of Dublin. London: Dolman. 1844. It is most lamentable to behold the pass to which things are come in Ireland, not only from the present evils produced by such a state of enmity and folly, but from the seeming impossibility of devising any effectual remedy, and the dread, almost amounting to certainty, that they must needs grow worse and worse, till they lead to some terrible catastrophe, the very possibility of which is appalling. It is said God helps those who will help themselves; but if a whole people will neither help themselves nor let others help them, nor even look to God to help them-priding themselves in the very things from whence all their evils arise !—who can possibly augur good concerning such a people, or devise a remedy for such a state of things? When a suicidal mania pervades a whole people, and that even the educated, nay more, even the ministry of religion, how can salvation find a way to reach them? Mr. Cooper is a man of education-a minister of religionan ambassador of peace; and he will be held responsible before God for these advantages, and the use which he has made of them in the judgment-day; and he is speaking to an audience of educated men, who will also be held accountable for the right use of their means and opportunities, by the God who gave them. Yet this man perverts his heavenly commission, to infuse envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness into the minds and hearts of an audience already too prone to such evil thoughts, and by that proneness alone tolerating such assertions, or lending a willing ear to such insinuations-assertions monstrous in falsehood as any of those spoken at Mullaghmast or any other of the monster meetings; which the parties themselves would probably shrink from uttering in what is called decent society; and which assuredly no decent society-whether Romanist or Protestant, not to say educated, not to say Christian society-would tolerate on this side of the Irish Channel. Ireland is a strange land—her ministers of religion are unlike those of other lands; and when one of the higher ranks among them has openly expressed the brutal sentiment, that he rejoiced in thinking that he owed nothing to the aristocracy, save the sovereign contempt which he felt towards the whole class, we ought not, perhaps, to wonder at finding, that as we descend in the scale of rank, we find men yet lower and lower in the scale of brutality. And as there is, in many senses, contamination to be apprehended from coming into contact with certain persons, |