VII. En Essay on the Origin, Progress, and Decline of Rhym- VIII. Sermons on various Subjects and Occasions; including Three Discourses on the Evidences, the Obligations, and the Spirit of the Gospel. By the Rev. J. Walker, D.D. F.R.S. E., of St. John's College, Cambridge; Episcopal Professor of Divinity in Edinburgh. . . . 420 IX. Christianity always Progressive; being the Christian Ad- vocate's Publication for the Year 1829. By Hugh James Rose, B.D. Christian Advocate in the University X.. A Sermon for the Sons of the Clergy in the Diocese of Durham, preached at St. Nicholas Church, Newcastle, XI. A Sermon preached at the Re-opening of Abergavenny XII. The Gentleness of the Christian Minister an Argument for Perseverance in the Faith. A Sermon occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Samuel Crowther, A. M. Vi- car of Christ Church, Newgate Street, and Rector of St. Leonard's, Foster Lane. Preached at the Parish X.III The Case of Censure, more particularly with reference to the Clerical Profession, considered in a Charge deli- vered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of London, at the Visitation held May 27th, 1829. By the Venerable XIV. Twenty-one Prayers, composed from the Psalms, for the Sick and Afflicted, to which are added various other Forms of Prayer, for the same purpose, with a few Hints and Directions for the Visitation of the Sick, chiefly intended for the Use of the Younger Clergy. XV. A Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, on Commencement Sunday, July 5th, 1829; and pub- lished at the request of the Vice-Chancellor. By T. G. XVI. The Hospital Manual, or Soldier's Guide in the Hour of Sickness; containing a Variety of Prayers adapted to different Conditions of Mind and Body at that Period; with Ejaculations, appropriate Texts of Scripture, and further Directions for proper Reading, attached to each Case. To which is prefixed, a short Service for the Use of Military Hospitals. By the Rev. Edward P. XVIII. University of London.-An Introductory Lecture upon the Study of Theology and of the Greek Testament, delivered at the Opening of the Theological Institution Saturday, November 21st, 1829. By Thomas Dale, M.A. Lecturer on Divinity at the above Institution, and THE BRITISH CRITIC, Quarterly Theological Review, AND ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD. JANUARY, 1830. ART. I. Mahometanism Unveiled: an Inquiry in which that Arch-Heresy, its Diffusion and Continuance, are examined on a New Principle, tending to confirm the Evidences, and aid the Propagation of the Christian Faith. By the Rev. Charles Forster, B. D. Chancellor of Ardfert, and Examining Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Limerick. 2 vols. 8vo. London: Duncan, and Cochran. 1829. Price 17. 4s. THE perusal of these volumes has very forcibly recalled to our recollection a conversation once held by one of our fraternity with a distinguished Arabic scholar-who had, possibly, suffered his imagination to be a little seduced by the barbaric splendours and allurements of Islamism-and who gravely declared that, in his opinion, it was infinitely to be regretted that Mahomet had met with so much stubborn opposition in the outset of his project; for that, if he had been left entirely to himself, he most certainly intended to make a very good religion of it! We can hardly help suspecting that the very estimable author now before us has been, during the composition of his work, occasionally at least, under the influence of feelings not wholly dissimilar to those which dictated the above declaration. He seems, at times, to entertain a secret kindness and complacency towards the Prophet, as one who had been somewhat unfairly and illiberally run down by the masters of Christian theology. The main principle of his book appears to imply something of this very charitable feeling: for it considers the Arabic superstition as the spiritual representative of Ishmael, much in the same sense that the true religion is the representative of Isaac; and bespeaks for the illegitimate offspring a much more generous and considerate treatment than it has usually experienced at the hand of the lawful inheritor. The author expresses himself, in some parts of his disquiNO. XIII,-JAN. 1830. B sition, as if he thought that, really, Mahomet not only meant to compile a very tolerable religion; but that, to a certain extent, he had actually succeeded. And he intimates, very broadly, that it is scarcely becoming for Christian men to vent unmeasured obloquy against a system of faith, which undeniably ranks next in order to the undoubted revelations, and which seems remarkably adapted for the important office of ultimately preparing the world for the reception of the Gospel. We confess that we are not inclined to regard with quite so much severity as some of our contemporaries the fraternal disposition which Mr. Forster seems to have cultivated towards the Moslemin; for, though it has tempted him to the pursuit of a motley multitude of visionary fancies, it has likewise prompted him to a task which may possibly be instrumental towards the correction of certain vulgar errors, and may prepare our minds for the position, that ignorance and brutality are not the universal and inevitable accompaniments of a belief in the Koran. That our notions respecting the followers of the Prophet are, in general, very far from complimentary, is perfectly notorious. If an Englishman, for instance, were desired to define a Musulman as he is now, and always has been, and ever will be-his answer would probably be, that he is a turbaned and bearded man, who sits all day smoking away his faculties with tobacco, or paralyzing them with opium, and, at night, goes to bed with his breeches on; one who, if his wife's light conversation makes him uneasy, gets rid of his jealousy by sewing it up in a sack, with the frail fair one, and tossing them together into the Bosphorus; one, who tears his provender to pieces with his fingers, and fearlessly plunges, knuckle-deep, into the abominations of the greasiest pillau; one who squats upon his heels five times a day, makes all manner of antics and grimaces, and calls it praying; lastly, one who spits upon the uncircumcised, calls the Christians dogs, and looks upon the body of every Giaour he meets as fit for nothing but a target for the pistol of the true believer. Such, with tolerable exactness, is the image which starts up in the mind of most good Christians at the mention of a Musulman: and the matter is not much mended when we come to reflect on Mahometanism in the abstract. It generally presents itself to our imaginations as a malignant Power with the praises of Allah in its mouth, and a double-edged slaughter-weapon in its grasp; as a fury with the Koran in one hand, and the scimetar in the other; as a fiend that piles up pyramids of human heads, and casts the torch into the midst of the treasures of science and literature; as a monster that treads out, under its barbarian hoof, every spark of learning and intelligence; as an incubus that |