The duty she enjoins on rulers is, to act " as becomes the ministers of God, who must ere long give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and dead;" and to subjects, her command is, “to submit themselves," with a willing mind, to constituted authorities, "and to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake," unless when their mandates are at variance with the supreme administration of Him, who is "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." The instructions addressed to all her disciples, whether of low or high degree, are," Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: if it be possible, as much as in you lieth, live peaceably with all men; for it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil doing." Happy were it for society, if men, in every age, who profess submission to these maxims, were actuated by them continually, not only in their letter, but in their spirit.' pp. 96-99.

This is not the place for renewing the inquiry how far the view taken by the historians whom our Author has followed, of the events and characters of this difficult period, is correct. Mr. Morell could not be expected to enter very deeply into the investigation of original documents. In common with most of our historians, he makes Cromwell the arch-conspirator against every constituted authority, and the author or instigator of every criminal transaction that took place. His portrait of the Protector is also sufficiently unfavourable to content the most sensitive of his Episcopalian friends. We are, indeed, inclined to think, that his anxiety to be considered as unbiassed and impartial, has itself betrayed him into something like unfairness. We would press upon him the revision of this period,' prior to his next edition; but in the mean time cannot withhold from his volumes our cordial recommendation.

Art. VII. 1. Historical Prints, representing some of the most memorable Events in English History, in which the Costumes of the Times are carefully preserved. With Descriptions, by Emily Taylor. To which is added, a brief Chronology of the Kings of England. 24mo. pp. 104. London, 1821.

2. Stories selected from the History of England, from the Conquest to the Revolution. 24mo. pp. 180. Price 3s. 6d.

WITH the first of these two little works we have been much pleased. It contains ninety-six prints of a kind very superior to what are generally found in books for children. The costumes, and, in many cases, a general likeness of the persons, are well preserved, by which means the prints will of themselves convey much interesting information, and will serve to fix on the mind accurate associations relative to the leading facts in English history. The Author of the Descriptions (who is not, we perceive, one of the Ongar family) states, that Lingard and Burke have been her chief authorities in the earlier part of the work; 'for the latter portion, Hume, Mrs. Macauley, Mrs. Hutchin

son, the Memoirs of Oliver Cromwell, and Evelyn's Memoirs have been consulted.' The pains which have manifestly been taken to make the history, so far as it goes, correct, are very laudable. The greater part of the ideas with which children's heads are usually filled respecting the history of England, are positively erroneous. Either, it is thought immaterial what prejudices they imbibe, so long as they are entertained with the stories,' or their minds are designedly prejudiced by gross misrepresentations of history. The historians referred to have clearly been consulted, but are followed in some instances with a proper reserve. Mrs. Macauley, for instance, whose name as an authority had better have been suppressed, is admitted to be in a material point at variance with facts established by the decisive testimony of Mrs. Hutchinson. Richard the Third's character is drawn in not quite so deep colours as it usually has been; and the murder of the two royal babes, which forms so, interesting a counterpart to the story of the Babes in the Wood, is passed over as of doubtful truth: yet Lingard has satisfactorily shewn, that there is little reason for scepticism on these points.But it is saying much for such a work, that it is free from any important error, and contains no sentiments of an exceptionable nature. We have only to regret, that the style is certainly not adapted to very young children. The language, though good and free from affectation, is not sufficiently plain; and the reflections are sometimes above the level of boyhood. There is so much merit in the general design of the work, and in the arrangement of the materials, that we advert to this fault with reluctance; but would recommend in the next edition, a diligent revision of the phraseology, to bring it down to the compass of juvenile readers. The last article in the work contains an unadviseable expression of opinion, which it would have been prudent to omit. Henry VIII's character is too slightly passed over. We subjoin the following specimens.

24. Henry II. and Rosamond Clifford.

There are a great many romantic tales recorded respecting Henry the Second and Rosamond Clifford, or Fair Rosamond, as she is called. I do not ask you to believe them all, though it is certain that there was such a person, and that King Henry passed a great deal of time with her, which made his queen Eleanor very angry. The songs and stories of the times tell us, that Rosamond lived in a bower at Woodstock, where King Henry concealed her, to avoid the anger of his queen. The bower was supposed to be in a labyrinth, which was very well contrived, so that none but king Henry knew the way. But queen Eleanor managed to find it out, and carried with her a bowl of poison and a dagger, giving fair Rosamond her choice between them. Rosamond pleaded in vain. Her doom was fixed, and she took the poison, queen Eleanor standing over her while she drank it."

85. Cromwell refusing to accept the Crown.

The violent measure of dissolving the parliament placed Cromwell and the independent faction at the head of the government. Whatever may be our opinions respecting himself and the actions of the protectorship, it must ever be a subject of rejoicing, that the presbyterian establishment, which promised even less liberty of conscience than the old episcopalian government had done, was thus overthrown. It cannot be doubted that Cromwell's ambition would have led him eagerly to accept the title and dignity of king, had he not been assured of its being an impracticable measure. One of his friends, who had steadily adhered to him, was sincere enough to advise him rather to recall prince Charles, providing for the security of public liberty by legal restraints, than to accept of any higher dignity himself; and Cromwell prudently followed this counsel, so far as to reject the crown, when offered to him by the parliament. Death put an end to his turbulent career, 3rd of September, 1658.'

The merits and demerits of the other little volume are precisely of an opposite character. On the one hand, its literary merit is of a higher order it is evidently the unbending of a man of taste and genius, and consists of a series of historical tales told in a nursery style of the most engaging simplicity. On the other hand, the principal object of the Writer being avowedly, not to instruct but to amuse, historical verity, and, in some instances, candour and fairness are wholly disregarded. Were this the result of mere negligence, we should only regret, that he did not think it worth while, in telling the history of their own country even to children, to be correct; but there is rather too obtrusive an attempt to make the perversion of history subservient to the fastening of political prejudices on the infant mind, as if the Writer thought that all the illiberality of Toryism ought to be mixed up with the first food the intellect is capable of receiving, and that ignorance, as it as been said to be the mother of devotion, is the parent of loyalty also. Take the following as an illustration.

King Charles's Martyrdom.

King Charles the First was an excellent man and a good king-he was a tender husband, a loving father, a kind master, and a true friend; but he had the misfortune to live in bad times, and to have wicked and rebellious subjects.

These wicked men rose in rebellion against this good king, who had no fault but his unwillingness to punish these wretches, and after a great many battles they at last succeeded in taking the king prisoner.

In prison they treated him with the greatest insolence and brutality; and at last they resolved to try him for his life, in a court of their own making, as if the poor king had done any thing for which he deserved to be tried, and (even if he had) these wretches had any right to try

him.

So they assembled a kind of court in Westminster Hall-you know Westminster Hall-that great room with the curious wooden roof which I once shewed you.

• Well, in this room they assembled their court, which consisted of rebels and madmen, fools and knaves, and they proceeded to try their king; but they had nothing to prove against him, and his innocence was so clear that they would not let him speak, but they condemned him to be beheaded-contrary to all law and justice, and to the surprize and horror of all good and honest men.

*

Almost all people loved the king; but the rebels, though fewer in number than the good people, were soldiers, and had arms in their hands, and forced the rest of the people to submit to their cruel tyranny.'

If a child learns nothing else from this tissue of misrepresentaion, he will learn the use of the words fool, and knave, and rebel, and madman-those elegant accessions to the nursery vocabulary! Mr. Croker-yes, gentle reader, Mr. Croker is the historianstates, that he has not come down later than the Revolution, because from that period history becomes too distinct and im•portant to be trifled with ! !'

Art. VIII. The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah: an Inquiry with a View to a satisfactory Determination of the Doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Person of Christ; including a careful examination of Dr. Belsham's Calm Inquiry, and of other Uni-t tarian Works on the same subject, By John Pye Smith, D.D. In two Volumes. Vol. II. parts I. and II. pp. 810, 8vo. 1821.

Holdsworth.

THE

66

am with

(Concluded from page 388.)

HE criticisms of Unitarian Writers on the valedictory address of our Lord, Matth. xxviii. 19, 20, are noticed at some length by Dr. Smith, who is, in our judgement, completely successful in refuting them, and in establishing that sense of the passage against which they have been directed with so much pertinacity. At the moment of his leaving the world, our Lord addresses to his disciples the promise of his presence," Behold, I you alrays :-εως της συντέλειας του αιώνος.” such a presence, indubitably, as implies a personal superintendence, assistance, and protection. To this effect Christ had already declared himself, when he assured his disciples that he would impart to them, when they should be brought before rulers for his Name's sake, wisdom and address. Luke xxi. 15. This passage, exactly like the former,has reference to a time and to circumstances subsequent to the ascension of Christ. To us it appears, that these passages are of great importance towards the elucidation of the personal character of the Messiah, whether we adopt the explanation of Unitarian Writers giving the limited construction which 7 Dr. Smith opposes, or whether weagree with him in his ap

proved and just interpretation. For, on the former hypothesis, the presence and agency of Christ when he was personally retired from the world, are established; and if, when he was thus removed from his disciples, he was able promptly to aid and protect them, to inspect their labours, and to impart success to their ministry, he was equally able to assist and prosper others employed in the same cause, at times remotely distant from the periods of their service and sufferings. It is less the specific reference to the Apostles that is important, than the great and signal claims comprised in the promise of our Lord. Even were it conceded to Mr. Wakefield, that Christ's promise is a declaration to the Apostles of their Lord's continuing with them in working miracles to the end of the age, or to Mr. Lindsay, that it is to them only an assurance of extraordinary assistance and support,-it would still be a position capable of being maintained by argument, that the person who could give such promises unaccompanied by any intimations of limited power, might continue his watchful care and protection to the proper objects of his superintendence through all time. The promise of Christ must, therefore, upon every fair principle of interpretation, be regarded as a declaration of the Divine qualifications of its Author.

But, though we might thus direct the argument (in a form somewhat different from that which Dr. Smith has employed) against the opinion of Unitarian Writers, founding it on their own concessions, we are fully sensible of the necessity of determining the meaning of the passage in Matthew's gospel by the exactest scrutiny of its terms. The question whether Christ's promise is limited to the Apostolic-age, or relates to the conclusion of all the ages of time, must be ascertained by the fair construction and interpretation of the phrase η συντέλεια του αιώνος ; and every competent and unprejudiced reader of Dr. Smith's remarks will, we apprehend, be of opinion, that the conclusion which he has established, is fairly brought out, and is the only adequate and correct meaning of the expressions. No passage which could afford assistance to a critic, has been omitted in the learned Author's examinations. He has accurately discriminated between the construction of the text in his proof examples, and the idiom of some other passages which have been pressed into the discussion by writers directly favourable to the limited sense of Matt. xxviii. 20. Mr. Wakefield's precipitate assertions and unsubstantial criticisms are particularly noticed, and it is clearly shewn, that "the end of time," and not the conclusion of the period of the Jewish polity, is the meaning of the phrase in all the examples in which it occurs in the gospel of Matthew, the only book of the New Testament in which this particular idiom is used.

The fourth chapter of the third Book is on the real Humanity of Jesus Christ, particularly as involving the recognition of a su