James Nisbet and Co.

How instinctive is the reverence we feel for sanctified genius! There is danger even of paying homage to great mental power when it is misdirected. We cannot, in our best moods, but weep over the abuse of faculties which might have ministered essentially to the well-being of the race; and we ought, therefore, to rejoice for the interests of hu. manity, when men of excursive imagination, and original cast of intellect, have felt the softening and subduing influence arising from the discipline of Divine grace, and from the fervent and Heaven-directed study of the cross of Christ. It is, indeed, a melancholy reflection that so many of the sons of genius have been as 66 wandering stars," bewildering rather than regulating and cheering the path of their fellow-travellers. It is human thus to err; and many, alas! of our most gifted men have been trained in circles, and exposed to influences, most unfriendly to the sanctified development of the human faculties.

It was not so with the author of these Lectures. In his venerable father's house, where social harmony and love had their sanctuary, and where the voice of prayer sweetly blended with that of the most hallowed instruction, James Hamilton drew his infant breath, and grew up amidst scenes of nature so exquisitely wild and beautiful, that, in his earliest years, he caught that love of his native mountains and lakes, and of the rural simplicity of Scottish manners, deeply imbued with the spirit of vital godliness, which never forsook him,-which followed him to the College and Divinity Hall, and which now gives an air of freshness and poetic beauty to his writings and pulpit exercises. But, with all his indulgence of fancy, and his occasional excess in the use of imagery bordering on the grotesque, we never find Dr. Hamilton tripping in his theology, or giving in to those notions of modern refinement antagonist to the letter or spirit of the gospel. In his most imaginative flights, he is a perfectly safe guide in all that pertains to the simple verities of Christian truth, and to the temper and feeling which should actuate and direct the Christian life.

We were much delighted when we heard that he had selected the Book of Ecclesiastes as the subject of pulpit lecture, and more especially, when we learnt that he intended to lay the result of his investigations before the Christian public. There is much in the character of this inspired book which adapts

thor. It is full of pictures of real life. Man is here seen not only in all the phases of his character, but in all the circumstances of his earthly lot. And never, perhaps, have more vivid descriptions of the good and evil of human nature been effected than may be found in the volume of Lectures which we now introduce to our readers. Their greatest recommendation is, that, however gorgeous, they are all practical, and are all so adjusted as to convey a resistless and striking moral. The exposures of current and fashionable delinquency are caustic in the highest degree; while, on the other hand, piety and goodness are invested with the most attractive charms.

In his Preface, Dr. Hamilton has furnished a very interesting sketch of the critical and other Commentaries which have been written on the Book of Ecclesiastes, from that of Jerome down to the present times.

"Jerome," says our author, "tells us that his work originated in an effort to bring over to monastic life a young Roman lady, Blesilla. This object gives an ascetic tone to every chapter, and many of his interpretations are so fanciful, that alongside of them any modern Cocceius would be deemed sober and literal. For instance, applying to the Saviour the language of the second chapter, the slaves,' or men-servants there mentioned, he thinks are Christians afflicted with the spirit of bondage; the great and small cattle, are the simpletons and drudges of the church,its sheep and oxen, who, without exerting their reason or studying the Scriptures, do as they are bidden, but are not entitled to rank as men, &c. His own reason the learned father fully exercised in his scriptural studies; and he takes care to apprise his readers that his version is the result of his independent research. For this he has been curiously rewarded. The Council of Trent has declared his version 'authentic,' and has virtually decreed that henceforth Jerome's private judgment must be the judgment of Christendom. The most painful thing in his writings is the tone of litigious infelicity by which they are pervaded. It is a sort of formic acid which flows from the finger-points, not of our good father alone, but of a whole class of divines: and, like the red marks, by the feet of ants on litmus-paper, it discolours all his pages.

"To the monk of Bethlehem, we have a curious contrast in Martin Luther. 'Fathers and doctors have grievously erred in supposing that in his book Solomon taught con

"Nullius authoritatem secutus sum;" "nec contra conscientiam meam, fonte veritatis omisso,

opinionum rivulos consectarer."

tempt of the world, as they call it, meaning thereby contempt of things ordained and created. The creatures are good enough, but it is man and man's notions which Solomon pronounces vanity. But his expounders, forsooth! make it out that the creatures are the vanity, and that they themselves and their dreams are the only solidity. And thus, from the Divine gold of our author they have forged their own abominable idols!' And then, in that spirit of genial life-enjoyment with which the Table-talk' and Merle D'Aubigné's history have made us so familiar, he states it as the true scope of Ecclesiastes: 'Solomon wishes to make us tranquil in the ordinary on-goings and accidents of this existence, neither afraid of future days nor covetous of remote possessions; as St. Paul says, 'careful for nothing.' And then in a strain very different from that which sought to decoy Blesilla into a convent, and like the uncaged captive, which he really was, the Saxon swan goes on to celebrate the joys of Christian liberty.

Dr. Hamilton takes a rapid, but somewhat critical, view of the various translations or commentaries, British or Continental, which have appeared on the Book of Ecclesiastes. We have some fine instructive references to Mercer, Calmet, Holden, Umbreit, Patrick, Broughton, Greenaway, Desvœux, Hodgson, L. Holden, Preston, Mendlessohn, Dr. Noyes, Stowe, Reynolds, Cartwright, Granger, Nisbet, and Dr. Wardlaw; and also to the poetical versions of the book, by Wollaston and Brodick.

Our deliberate judgment is, that Dr. Wardlaw's work, consisting of two vols. 8vo., is by far the most finished and satisfactory commentary on the Ecclesiastes in our language; and deserves a much more extended reputation than it has ever enjoyed. It is a perfect gem in the true art of Biblical Exposition.

Dr. Hamilton has not, in this volume, given his whole course of Lectures on Ecclesiastes; but has contented himself by selecting a few which exhibit the spirit and substance of the Book. I. The Preacher. Eccles. i. 12, II. The Sermon. Eccles. i. 1, 2. III. A greater than Solomon. Matt. xii. 42. IV. The Vestibule of Vanity. Eccles. i. 2-11. V. The Museum. Eccles. i. 12-18. VI. The Playhouse and the Palace. Eccles. ii. 1-11. VII. The Monument. Eccles. ii. 12-23. VIII. The Clock of Destiny. Eccles. iii. 1—15. IX. The Dungeon. Eccles. iii. 16-22; iy. 1-3. X. The Sanctuary. Eccles. v. 1-7. XI. The Exchange. Eccles. v. 9-20; vi. 1–9. XII. Borrowed Lights for a Dark Landing-place. Eccles. vi. 10-12. XIII. A Good Name. Eccles. vii. 1. XIV. The Power of Patience. Eccles. vii. 8. XV. Dead Flies. Eccles. x. 1. XVI. Blunt Axes: or, Science and Good Sense. Eccles. ix. 13—18; x, 1-15, XVII.

No analysis of this volume could present any just conception of its claims. It must be read to be thoroughly appreciated. It consists of a series of beautiful panoramas of human life and of Christian character. We have wept and smiled alternately as we have perused its contents. It is a delightful book for the closet; and is full of counsel which all good men have need to regard in this bustling age, when wealth and advancement are the idols which the million worship.

In our Essay department will be found, under the head "Dead Flies," a sample of what our readers will find in the perusal of this volume.

A TOUR IN SOUTH AFRICA; with Notices of Natal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Ceylon, Egypt, and Palestine. By the Rev. J. J. FREEMAN, Home Secretary of the London Missionary Society. Small 8vo., pp. 504.

John Snow.

THE late arrival of this most deeply interesting volume, will compel us to give it but a cursory notice for the present month; and to return to it again for the month of September. This, perhaps, may add to the effect of the critique; and if our humble endeavours can do anything to create an interest on behalf of a Missionary record which deserves so well to live, we shall exceedingly rejoice.

The author justly says of his volume, that he has "not given, first, chapters embracing au outline of the route, then some chapters on the state of Missions, and the special objects of his visit, and then finally some notices of incidental matter; but he has endeavoured to blend these together." This is the natural course for a traveller, with a special mission in view, to pursue; and Mr. Freeman has admirably adhered to it; so much so, indeed, that there is not one dry detail in his entire volume.

"The tour itself," observes our author, "could not be accomplished without its fatigue, and some inconveniences. But the gratifications attending it have far outweighed these the gratification of witnessing many scenes of permanent moral interest, and of mingling with men of great Christian enterprise and benevolence;-the gratification of trying, at least, to promote the prosperity and happiness of others;-the gratification of marking the progress of Christian Missions, and their influence in elevating the Native Tribes of Africa. In addition to all this,were the frequent charms of scenery and climate, of novelty and variety; the new

winked the multitude, so stimulated their sense of the ridiculous, that we may suppose the passers-by were arrested by merry peals of laughter. We cannot help thinking that, in like manner, the Puseyites, or Exorcists, as we must now style them, when thrown together, are oftentimes excited to merriment; that many a good joke goes round at the expense of their disciples, whom they contrive to bewilder and delude by the most barefaced absurdities of Romanism. It is true that the weak-minded and fanatical among them may slide into the belief of the follies which, with grimace and grotesque solemnity, they press on the attention of the multitude; and by a law of our nature, which gives the semblance of truth to an oft-repeated fiction, some of the more intelligent may be drawn into a delusive assent to the preposterous absurdities of apostolical succession, baptismal regeneration, and demoniacal possession. But, judging from what we know of the scepticism, or positive disbelief, prevalent among the Romish priesthood, in reference to the mummeries and lying wonders of the Papal Church; and knowing that, when a vigorous understanding has been disciplined amid the light of Protestantism, it is all but impossible to extort its suffrages on behalf of the downright nonsense of Medievalism, it appears to us clear as noon-day, that the great body of the Puseyites have as little faith in the distinguishing tenets of Anglo-Catholicism as in the marvels of the Koran, or the mysteries of Buddhism; and that all the hubbub and ferment which they have spread throughout the land is to be traced to the same hightoned and sacred principle which actuated Demetrius and his fellow-workmen when they felt that their craft was in danger. We admit, indeed, that in some instances the whole crude mass of Anglo-Catholicism may be swallowed, and, in a certain sense, assimilated, without mastication, or digestion; but in such cases there must be an extraordinary development of what may be called an unnatural or morbid appetite, and, as a necessary consequence, a general and fatal derangement of the mental and moral organization. To this unhappy class of persons, who, according to circumstances, and the influences brought to bear upon them, would become followers of the false prophet, disciples of the grand Llama, or worshippers of roots and feline monsters-" everything by turns, and nothing long,"-it is evident that the writer of the book now before us belongs. We venture, indeed, to affirm, on the ground of the outrageous nonsense which Mr. Bennett has written and published to the world in this book, that, backed by certain powerful elements of persuasion, which we need not specify, it would be a perfectly simple and easy thing for us to send him on a pilgrimage to

Mecca, to induce him to do penance among the devotees of Juggernaut, or to inspire him with the raptures of devotion as he knelt before an embalmed Ibis, or a mummyized kitten. His fanaticism is so thorough-going, his capacity of believing everything that is monstrous and absurd, is so prodigious, whilst, in point of clear-sighted discernment, he seems incapable of distinguishing "a hawk from a hand-saw," that we should not be at all surprised to find him anxiously seeking admission among the worshippers of Kali, or the dancing dervises of the East.

In this book, in which, after his own fashion, he treats of Creation, Holy Baptism, Church Dissent, Romanism, the Book o Common Prayer, Holy Men, Holy Places, Holy Times, Holy Ceremonies, and the Holy Scriptures, there is a greater amount of sheer folly and vapouring nonsense poured forth, in the form of instruction to the young, than we ever remember to have found within the same space. The whole thing, indeed, is so perfectly absurd, is such an outrage on common sense, and involves such a monstrous violation of the first lessons of Christianity, that we are inclined to think every intelligent child, whose understanding has been rightly trained, and who has any knowledge of the Scriptures, would look upon Mr. Bennett as a bedizened harlequin with cap and bells, or a masked and mincing lord of misrule leading a kind of Christmas revel. As far, then, as those children are concerned who have enjoyed anything like sound Sundayschool instruction, either in connexion with church or chapel, we should as soon expect their notions of the doctrines of the gospel to be changed or affected by "Little Red Riding Hood," "Goody Two Shoes," or "Jack the Giant Killer," as by the rhodomontade and nonsense which Mr. Bennett has put forth, in the shape of "Letters to the Young," in this book. It is to be feared, however, that there are multitudes of children, subjected to the pestiferous influence of Puseyite teaching, who will be ready to receive, and transmit as truth, the gross errors and lying legends of Romanism inculcated by this unscrupulous and weak-minded priest. And hence we notice this preposterous book simply to show our readers to what miserable drivelling, outrageous nonsense, and deadly error, the religious instruction of the young would be reduced under the ascendency of Dr. Pusey and his myrmidons; and, if possible, to stimulate them to greater efforts for the spread of sound scriptural education.

We can only glance at a few of the errors and absurdities contained in this book; for, from beginning to end, it is one heap of follies, mystifications, and false teachings. So complete, indeed, is the perversion of real scriptural truth, and the predominance of the

worst forms of superstition throughout its pages, that it appears to us altogether inexplicable that, in this year of grace, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-one, a minister of religion, belonging to the Protestant Church of England, should have ventured to insult common sense, and outrage public opinion, by issuing it from the press.

Mr. Bennett, true to the medieval instinct, which, like that of the bat and the owl, perpetually turns to darkness, deprecates all inquiry on the part of the young, as involving treason against the ghostly ascendency of the priesthood, and declares that, "all ideas of the Bible, and the dispensing of the Bible, as in itself a means of propagating Christianity, are a fiction and an absurdity." Inquiry would, of course, lead to the discovery and exposure of Mr. Bennett and his fraternity, as a tribe of charlatans; and the circulation and general reading of the Scriptures would necessarily sweep away the cobwebs of superstition, in which, spider-like, they seek to nestle and crouch, for the purpose of seizing and leading captive the unsuspecting; and therefore, as every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved," it was the most natural thing in the world that, like his fellow-conspirators of the Vatican, this Puseyite priest should seek to extinguish the Bible. But, happily, the light of the Scriptures is now too bright, and too widely extended, to be blown out by the combined puffings of the father of lies and his familiars, whether Papist or Puseyite.

Another principle which Mr. Bennett warmly commends to the consideration and adoption of his dear children—and which, it will be obvious to every one, is eminently fitted to foster ingenuousness in youth, and candour and conscientiousness in riper years, -is, that when they are at Rome they must do as the Romans do; or, in other words, that in all things connected with religion, they are, without scruple or inquiry, to do just as their neighbours do. If they live in England, they are to yield unquestioning assent and consent to everything connected with Episcopacy. If they chance to be located in Italy, they are to embrace Popery in its entireness, bowing implicitly to the infallibility of the Pope; and, as a matter of course, looking with devout and believing admiration on the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, on mysterious samples of the Virgin's milk, and on bottled specimens of Egyptian darkness; and, according to the same convenient and plastic principle, if Mr. Bennett's own children should find themselves among the Figians or other cannibals of the Pacific, they are at once to embrace their creed, and never to refuse an invitation to dine with them. This is doubtless very wholesome teaching-Jesuits and

Puseyites being judges-inasmuch as it would speedily relieve the world of such troublesome things as scruples of conscience, and inquiries as to the nature and obligations of truth. Latitudinarianism and free-thinking can no further go. Pope's Universal Prayer must be a prime favourite with Mr. Bennett. If he has not already set it to music, as a chant for his little ones, surely he cannot longer consistently delay this paternal duty.

But further, Mr. Bennett is not contented with claiming for himself and his fraternity a monopoly in cowls and cassocks, crucifixes and confessions; he maintains that they are peculiarly great in spells and incantations,— that they are Exorcists extraordinary. As the greater includes the less, they have, of course, the power of laying ghosts, cleansing haunted houses, and detecting witches; but their chief vocation lies in casting out the devil,-no inferior demon or evil agent, be it remembered, but Satan himself, absolutely and literally. And this is done, not after the laborious fashion of the olden exorcists, but by the mysterious agency of a few drops of water in baptism. But it may be asked, with a feeling of surprise bordering on alarm, Does Mr. Bennett maintain that the myriads of men, women, and children who have not had the good fortune to be baptized by Episcopalians or Papists, are the literal habitats, or places of abode of the devil in his entireness, and absolute personality? This, in reply, however incomprehensible and frightful it may appear, is the belief of Mr. Bennett. He is not contented with giving to Satan the power of shrivelling himself up into the smallest possible dimensions, and of expanding himself into a gigantic form, as Milton does to the demons in his Pandemonium, but maintains that, if cut up and dissected like a polypus, like a polypus he is still complete. According to Mr. Bennett, Satan is not present with the unhappy unbaptized by his influence on his agents, but has such a stupendous power of dividing, subdividing, and multiplying himself, that he is there identically, whole and entire. And hence, according to the Puseyite demonology, there are as many complete, unmutilated Satans swarming in our world, as there are unbaptized persons. But let our readers take comfort. Should their fears be excited, the remedy is at hand. All that is necessary is to call in the aid of a Puseyite or Papist priest; for, strange to say, notwithstanding the ubiquitous presence and malignity of Satan, let but the one or the other of these worthies make his appearance, and sprinkle a few drops of water, and this dreadful, self-multiplying being conducts himself with the utmost civility, making no resistance, but walking off with the grace and politeness of a dancing-master. But, to be grave on this point, who does not see the combined craft