Jerusalem and its Environs. By W. H. BARTLETT. London: Virtue. 1844.

"THIS little work is the result of a visit to Jerusalem in the summer of 1842. Before that period the author was quite unable to form any distinct idea of its appearance from then existing works; not so much from the absence of graphic descriptions, for such abound, as from the desultory style of the writers and the absence of a connected plan, together with the want of correct and well-chosen views. On this last point he may perhaps be deemed to arrogate too much, yet his conviction is honest, that no views of Jerusalem, at all valuable for the purpose of topographical or historical illustration, have yet appeared, though so many have been published, which, as works of art, are very beautiful. This led him to form the idea of attempting to give a clear, connected, and accurate view of the city, by gradually tracing its progress from the earliest period of authentic history, restoring its past appearance by a careful study of existing data, and exhibiting its present condition, in a series of views chosen with express reference to historical illustration, and in which the local character should be the only object, and where, at every step, the past and present should be compared." -Preface.

We think it right to say that the same want has been felt by us, and it will be gratifying to Mr. Bartlett to be told, that in our case it has been completely supplied by his little work. And travellers should be told, that it is not size which constitutes the value of illustrations, but accuracy. This little work, only in octavo, and some of the illustrations mere vignettes, throws far more light upon the history and topography of Jerusalem than all the preceding folios and quartos, and that because the views are well chosen, are not made up, and are most feelingly executed. And the publisher should not be without his share of praise, for the book is most beautifully got up, in printing and embellishment.

Not the least curious part of the volume is a description of the grand Mosque, with the vaults beneath, a survey of which was effected by an English architect through matchless effrontery and singular good fortune; and which, accompanied with plans and sections, the said architect has communicated in a letter to Mr. Bartlett, printed in the Appendix to his volume.

The Theses of Erastus, touching Excommunication. Translated from the Latin, with a Preface. By the Rev. ROBERT LEE, D.D. Edinburgh: Macphail. London: Simpkin. 1844. WE have heard a great deal of Erastianism in Scotland, and many of our readers will prefer having the information they want in this small compass, rather than going to Hammond's folios. To those who desire to dive deeper in the matter we recommend "Hammond on the Power of the Keys."

VOL. XVI.-R

1. The Cistercian Saints of England: St. Stephen Harding. 2. The Family of St. Richard the Saxon; St. Richard, King; St. Willibald, Bishop; St. Walburga, Virgin, Abbess; St. Winibald, Abbot. 1844.

3. St. Augustine of Canterbury, Apostle of the English. 1844.

WE prepared a notice of the first of these three works for our April number, of which a pressure of other matter prevented the insertion. The life of St. Stephen was issued from Mr. Newman's retreat at Littlemore with the well-known initials J. H. N. annexed to the advertisement, and to him, therefore, we attributed the authorship of this piece of Papistical biography. We had long been prepared for much in favour of the monastic life from Mr. Newman; but we must confess that we felt astonished as we read the "Life of St. Stephen, Abbot, and Founder of the Cistercian Order ;" and as we proceeded from page to page, we ever and again were looking for marks of quotation, and could not help thinking that Mr. Newman was quoting from medieval biographies, and would presently modify the glowing eulogies of monastic virtues and the narrative of monastic miracles therein recorded; but we looked in vain, and therefore at last concluded that, in the "Life of St. Stephen," Mr. Newman had sent forth to the world an acknowledgment of his own belief in the direct efficacy of penance to wash away sins, and the influential intercession of departed spirits for those yet in the flesh.

More than one reader of intelligence expressed, in our hearing, an opinion that, before a second biography of the promised series appeared, Mr. Newman would enter into communion with the Church of Rome, and that the publication of the "Life of St. Stephen" was a step towards that destination. In the advertisement, however, to "The Family of St. Richard the Saxon," Mr. Newman "is concerned to find that he is mistaken by some persons for the author." No reader, not in Mr. Newman's confidence, could come to any other conclusion. Whoever the author may be, he ought, as an honest man, to belong to the Church of Rome, for no monk of the middle ages could have written with a more firm belief in the curative virtues of relics and the tombs of saints, and the continuance of miraculous powers in sincere believers, than the writer under Mr. Newman's wing. So entirely Papistical are the books under our review, that the first of them was, soon after its appearance, adopted in the different Roman Catholic seminaries in this country, and the two additional volumes before us are even

more entitled to the same reception. In the "Life of St. Stephen Harding" the charms of a monastic life are principally dwelt upon; but in the two succeeding works the most objectionable doctrines of the Romish Church are unequivocally inculcated, and the spiritual supremacy of Rome distinctly avowed:

"That illustrious city from which the frail memorials of earthly pomp and temporal dominion had now departed, to make way for the one only dynasty which is without limit and without end-the empire of empires; the substance whereof all other dominions are but the shadows, though itself but the shadow of that better and lasting kingdom into which it shall one day be absorbed."

The present power of St. Peter upon earth is recognized by the anonymous writer, who, in his advertisement, acknowledges his obligation for the materials of the "Life of St. Augustine of Canterbury" to the Rev. Charles Marriot, fellow of Oriel College, the well-known initials J. H. N. being withdrawn. Oh, Mr. Newman, is this the part of a candid Christian? First, a Papistical biography-so Papistical, indeed, that it was read as a spiritual exercise by the pupils at a Romish seminary presently after its publication-is sent forth in a guise directly calculated to induce even every Oxford reader, not in Mr. Newman's confidence, to believe that he was the author; secondly, a work, even more openly Papistical, is published with Mr. Newman's disavowal of the authorship of the former volume, but under his sanction as editor; and, thirdly, here is a volume acknowledging the spiritual supremacy of Rome and the present power of St. Peter upon earth, the materials of which were supplied by a fellow of Oriel, and, we believe, pupil of Mr. Newman's. "Twelve poor fishermen sufficed to convert the world (writes the biographer of Augustine of Canterbury); and here was little England allotted fortyfishers of men'-few labourers, indeed, for so plenteous a harvest, as men might count of few and many; but a supply far more than equal to the occasion, if we take into account the quickening power of holiness, the manifold fruits of self-denial, the intercessions of the Church, and the blessing of St. Peter." According to this writer, a Christian bishop may do more good to his diocese by his prayers after death, than by his prayers and ministrations while in the flesh. He is speaking of the death of Luidhard, Queen Bertha's chaplain, on the eve of Pope Gregory's missionaries landing in England:

"Was he not withdrawn in mercy at that critical juncture, to offer for the objects of his care and the partners of his zeal a more confident, more intelligent, more unembarrassed, more prevailing prayer than the hindrances of this dark and sinful state allow, and to take under the shelter of his patronage, as a glorified saint, those on whom

before he could but bestow the far feebler aid of a fellow-sinner's sympathy?"

As our attention is directed to this period of ecclesiastical history, the mission of Augustine to Saxon England, we will give a specimen of the biographer's opinion on miracles in the sixth century:

"The Church of St. Martin's (at Canterbury) was allotted to the monks for the public celebration of religion. Here they chanted psalms, prayed, said mass, preached, and baptized. For these forty's sake' it pleased the divine mercy to save the city; conversions followed one another in rapid succession, till at length He who turneth kings' hearts as the rivers of water,' vouchsafed to Ethelbert himself the first motions of his enlightening Spirit. We have spoken of prayers, and fastings, and the silent power of holiness, as the main instruments towards this blessed result; but truth to history obliges us to take notice of another and more conspicuous spiritual weapon used, by the providence of God, in turning the hearts of the English nation to the obedience of Christ. Those miraculous gifts, which at a somewhat later period were even profusely displayed in this island, had already begun to manifest themselves. St. Bede, accordingly, enumerates, among the reasons which led Ethelbert to embrace the Christian faith, the multitude of miracles whereby the truth of the promises was accredited.' We give this statement as we find it in the pages a most trustworthy historian, under a deep sense of the obligation resting upon us to impress, and if so be, inflict such solemn and mysterious facts upon the attention of a sceptical age, and especially in a country from which, under the joint and kindred influences of heresy and the idolatry of wealth, the spirit of child-like faith has well nigh departed."

of

It is quite unnecessary for us to comment upon this distinct avowal of the views of these Littlemore and Oriel writers; we will therefore resume our notice of the somewhat less objectionable life of the founder of the Cistercian order. A life of retirement from the world has alike charms for those weary of its idle pleasures and those worn out by its carking cares, and a seclusion from the distractions of business is longed for by many a fervently pious heart which would fain devote its every pulsation to heaven; but after the experience of so many ages has demonstrated how rarely these hopes have been realized in the cloister, we are astonished at the unqualified recommendation of monasticism systematically put forth in the biographical series before us. In the authentic annals of every monastic order we read of the difficulty which every founder had in retaining his immediate followers under obedience, and the next generation invariably departed from his rule; and yet Mr. Newman's unknown author deliberately writes, that "true monks everywhere

;

have a sort of instinct of what is the good and the right side they have no earthly interests to dim their vision of what is God's cause; and we may trust a monk for being ever in his place for the Church, against the world."

We suppose the writer of this panegyric would rest his defence upon the epithet "true," and say that all those who did not evince the above heavenly-mindedness were false monks; but, alas! how few "true monks" are there to be found-too few to justify a resuscitation of even the Cistercian order. The Lives before us are, however, remarkable books-full of beauties, clothed in a garb eminently attractive to the tender, the gentle, the pure, and the young; but they also abound with dangerous faults. We can linger around the ruins of Tintern, Netley, and Fountains, and remember with affectionate gratitude the blessings which their occupants conferred upon the oppressed poor of their own age; but we dare not ask, as the writer under Mr. Newman's sanction does, for the prayers of their departed abbots for blessings upon ourselves. St. Stephen Harding was an Englishman, and his character is thus summed up :-

"St. Stephen was in character a very Englishman; his life has that strange mixture of repose and of action which characterizes England. Contemplative and ascetic as he was, he was still, in his way, a man of action; he had the head to plan and the calm unbending energy to execute a great work. His very countenance, if we may trust his contemporary, the monk of Malmesbury, was English; he was courteous in speech, blithe in countenance, with a soul ever joyful in the Lord. His order seems to have thriven in St. Stephen's native air; most of our great abbeys-Tintern, Rievaux, Fountains, Furness, and Netley, which are now known by their beautiful ruins-were Cistercian. The order took to itself all the quiet nooks and all the pleasant streams of old England, and gladdened the souls of the labourer by its constant bells. Its agricultural character was peculiarly suited to the country, though it took its birth beyond the seas. Doubtless, St. Stephen, when he was working under the hot sun of France, often thought of the harvest moon and the ripe corn-fields of his native land. May his prayers now be heard before the throne of grace, for that dear country now lying under the wrath of God for the sins of its children."

A Protestant reader, before the publication of this saintly series, would scarcely have conceived it possible for a writer, under the auspices of a clergyman of the Reformed Anglican Church, thus to express himself; but we think the Papistical credulity and entire devotion to Rome displayed in the second and third volumes of the series are even greater than in the first:

"Illuminated men feel the privileges of Christianity, and to them