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authority, are proved to be both genuine and authentic, precisely in the same manner as the writings of the Greek Historians, or those of the Roman Annalists, are proved to be worthy of credit. The writings of Luke, or of Paul, are supported by the same kind of evidence as the writings of Xenophon or Tacitus.

We confess that we cannot take part with those worthy persons who manifest the feeling of alarm at the production or reproduction of publications opposed really, or supposedly, to the religion of Christ, and the written depositories of its truths. How much soever we may lament the prejudice, the weakness, the wickedness, or the undefinable hostility of those who enter into warfare against the interests of Christ; whatever horror we may feel at the boldness or the scurrility of some Anti-Christian champions; we feel no alarm at the onsets of infidelity in its attempts against the Gospel. We know that the cause of Revelation has sustained already every species of assault which cunning could contrive, or power direct. It has had its enemies among the gnorant and among the learned, among the base and among the noble. Polite irony and vulgar ribaldry have been the weapons of its assailants. It has had its Celsus, and its Porphyry, and its Julian. And what were the effects of their opposition? The same as when the "rulers and elders "and scribes" united against it,-its purification and increase. It has had its Bolingbrokes and its Woolstons, its Humes and its Gibbons; and what disadvantages has it sustained, what injuries has it received? Has it lost any of its pretensions, or been deprived of any portion of its majesty and grace, by their hatred and their hostility? Had they a system more credible, more pure, better comporting with the wants of man, and with the anticipations of everlasting existence, to enlighten and sanctify man, and to effect the regeneration of the world, for which they were able to prevail on mankind to exchange the system of Jesus of Nazareth? We gain but little from our reading, but little from our observation, if we shake with the trepidations of fear, when truth and error are combatants. All facts connected with the history of the Christian religion are confirmations of a Christian's faith, that the doctrine which he believes, will resist every attack and be victorious through all opposition. No new weapons can be forged by its enemies and the temper and potency of those which they have so often tried, they will try in vain. They may march to battle; but they will never raise their trophies in the field. "Let them gather themselves and "be scattered; let them embattle themselves and be broken."

"He that doeth truth, cometh to the light." It is, or ought to be, the desire and prayer of every enlightened disciple of Christ, that error of every kind which obstructs the moral improvement of men, may be brought into comparison with truth;

and nothing can be to him a more welcome anticipation than the circumstances which may bring false opinions into a direct trial of their strength with righteous principles. Errors can never be discarded in the manner which shall give hope of substantial and correct amendment, but as the unhappy subject of the mental bondage they inflict, shall perceive them to be at variance with his moral interests. Without this measure of light, he will be under the dominion of ignorance and superstition. But let him obtain this knowledge, and he will proceed with his inquiries. And if the feeling and sentiment be correct, that Truth will prevail,' it must be a consummation devoutly to be wished, that the minds of all mankind were at this very moment accessible to the means which might rouse their attention to moral questions. How much of the world is "without form “and void, and darkness on the face of the deep," waiting the commencement of the process by which its darkness shall be scattered and its disorders composed;-that process which, under the conduct of the Supreme Intelligence, shall, as it goes on, scatter the seeds of knowledge and holiness among all human beings, and make them a new creation! Such a renovation is a perfectly sober object of expectation. The very opposition which is made to truth, is a symptom that its importance is beginning to be perceived. And how can the real interests of truth be promoted, but by the agitation of all the great questions that relate to the obligations and the destinies of those beings who must find their happiness in being the subjects of it? In the progress of knowledge, and in all those circumstances which are evidence of the inquiring spirit enlarging itself, real Christians have nothing to fear. Their duty in such times as these, can be properly discharged only by giving all the efficiency in their power to the moral means of opposing error which they possess, and particularly by the force of such an example as shall present the principles which they profess in their living forms of purity and beneficence. But an affected zeal for the honour of religion, in persons who know it only as it may be an instrument of human policy, and who are practically indifferent to the institutes and the laws of the Gospel, can never serve the cause of Christ.

The tracts contained in the volume before us, have been in circulation for ages; as were many others of a similar kind, which have perished, leaving only their titles behind them as a memorial that they once existed. Many of them, indeed, soon became extinct, the interest which was felt in them not affording the means of their preservation. But we think that it is of special importance, that some of the spurious productions which either the mistaken zeal of Christians, or the fraud of persons who were in hostility to the Gospel, sent abroad in the

primitive or in later times, should have been saved from destruction. Such books as the "Gospel of Mary," the "Protevangelion," "The Gospel of the Infancy," "The Gospel of Nicodemus," "Paul and Thecla," &c. &c. are not only available as means of establishing the superior excellence of the Books of the New Testament, in the composition of which there is the most admirable combination of majesty with simplicity, strikingly in contrast with the puerilities and irrationalities of the others;-but they are of great service in augmenting the evidences and confirming the proof of Christianity. Nothing can be more just than the reflexions of Lardner on this point:

Besides, these forged writings do not oppose, but confirm the general account given us in the Canonical Scriptures. They all take for granted the dignity of our Lord's person, and his power of working miracles; they acknowledge the 'certainty of there having been such persons as Matthew and the other Evangelists, and Peter and the other Apostles. They authenticate the general and leading facts contained in the New Testament. They presuppose that the Apostles re'ceived from Christ a commission to propagate his religion, and a supernatural power to enforce its authority. And thus they indirectly establish the truth and divine original of the Gospel.' Works. Ed. 1788. Vol. IX. p. 436.

Art. VIII. Elements of Greek Prosody and Metre; compiled from the best Authorities, Ancient and Modern. By Thomas Webb. 8vo. pp. 80. Price 68. London.

THIS very respectable compilation is well adapted for the use

of those classical students who are desirous of obtaining the knowledge of Greek quantity and versification; and may be fairly represented as supplying a manual of instruction, not rendered unnecessary by any previous publication of its own class. The very learned and ample Treatise on Greek Prosody, which is prefixed to Morell's Lexicon as edited by Dr. Maltby, is not only inaccessible to many young scholars, but its pages, with their array of text and notes, and the numerous and valuable additions of its accomplished Editor, are too formidable in appearance to invite their attention, and to encourage their application to its contents. For the initiation of novices, a more simple compendium was wanting. Seale's "Analysis of the "Greek Metres," which has long been in the hands of scholars, is a perspicuous and valuable work; but, being intended as a supplement to the Elementary Rules of Greek Prosody, it does not include the laws of quantity, but is limited to an account of the principal kinds of verse. Professor Dunbar's "Prosodia Græ

ca" is a publication of merit, combining the rules of quantity and the laws of metre; and possessing, from the original obser

vations which it contains on the versification of Homer, claims of a much higher kind than can be asserted in the behalf of a mere compiler. Mr. Webb's "Elements," is constructed on the plan of the Professor's treatise, and much resembles it in the manner in which it is executed. It is, however, rather more particular in its rules, and is somewhat more copious in examples. The Author has also very judiciously adhered to the approved practice of composing a book of elementary instruction by writing his rules in English. We have detected several errata in Mr. Webb's pages, which should not have been permitted to go abroad unaccompanied with the means of correction; and some of his references are inaccurate.

Art. IX. Pomarium Britannicum: an historical and botanical Account of Fruits known in Great Britain. By Henry Phillips. royal 8vo. 'London, 1820.

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A garden,' remarks Lord Bacon, is the purest of all hu

man pleasures,' and there are few pleasures more exquisite: it connects itself with our primal destinies; it carries our feelings and imagination back to the loveliness and innocence of Paradise; and the verdure, the blossoms, the perfume, are faint but cheering derivations from the bloom and the gales of Eden. There is, however, as much difference in the degree of enjoyment as in the modes of horticulture. The magnificent owner of a series of extensive parterres and splendid conservatories, may certainly find vivid gratification in the rich variety of exotic hues and tastes which court his eye and palate; he may pursue his object with scientific acuteness, and with much discriminating admiration of the beauties of genuine and-if we may be allowed the phrase-of artificial nature; but we question if he has the right apprehension and the true relish implied in the simple but beautiful expression which we have just cited. His plan is too vast, his scale too large, his means and machinery too predominant; he employs too many hands, his acquaintance with his flowers and fruits is indirect; they are not his own family and nurslings, and there is altogether too much of distance and intervention for interest and affection. The true enthusiasm, the genuine Topy can only be felt in its full energy by him who, possessing a sheltered spot of moderate extent, gives his own unwearied superintendence to every part. His plants are his children; he holds with them friendship and communion; he has watched their growth, tended their sicknesses, been deeply interested in all their changes, hailed their infant germination, rejoiced in their floral glow, and saddened with their decay. In such a man's life, there is no deficiency of variety or of excitement; he ties up his carnations, trains his

vines and honeysuckles, prunes his standards and espaliers, counts and nurses his nectarines and apricots, trembles at east winds, and wages fluctuating war with wasps, earwigs, and mischievous boys.

This subject is seductive, and we feel a strong inclination to take our readers along with us on a delightful tour through the palatine garden, the μyas opxaros of Alcinous, with its exuberant and perennial orchards, vineyards, and parterres

• Mantled with green, and goodly beautified
With all the ornaments of Flora's pride-'

-through the pauca jugera so well and beautifully cultivated by the old picturesque farmer in the Georgics-through the glowing enchantment of Spenser's bower of bliss'-and the unrivalled glories of Milton's Paradise. But though we are withheld from this pleasant excursion by the troublesome recollection that we are not essayists but reviewers, we must be indulged with a passing reference to the exquisite composition whence we borrowed our introductory citation. The Essays of Lord Bacon are the most perfect things of their kind: they are replete with thought, rich in the orient hues' of imagination, and fraught with the soundest lessons of practical wisdom. That to which we have specially referred, contains the description of an extensive and gorgeous garden on the old system; and, notwithstanding the unnatural formality, and occasionally the puerile gaudiness of the plan, it is described in language of so much beauty, that we shall trespass on our page with a few brief specimens. God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which buildings and pa'laces are but gross handyworks: and a man shall ever see, that, when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection.......And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air, (where it comes and goes, like the warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is 6 more fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and ⚫ plants that do best perfume the air....... For the heath...... I wish it to be framed as much as may be to a natural wildTrees I would have none in it, but some thickets made only of sweetbriar and honeysuckle, and some wild vine amongst; and the ground set with violets, strawberries, and 'primroses; for these are sweet and prosper in the shade; and these are to be in the heath here and there, not in any order. I like also little heaps, in the nature of molehills, (such as are in wild heaths) to be set, some with wild thyme; some with pinks; some with germander, that gives a good flower to

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