He

election of Pope Cornelius, and opposed it. managed to get three bishops together who were influenced by his superior logic, and by them was chosen surreptitiously Bishop of Rome, a title never recognized by the other bishops. He sent a messenger to St. Cyril, who not only refused to receive his commission, but pronounced excommunication against his messenger. His writings are chiefly intended to show that, after baptism, great sin forever unfits the individual for reception into the Church.

The next group embraces the writings of ecclesiastical historians, of which there are among the Greeks the works of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Evagrius, Philostorgius and Zosimus. Of the Latins, those of Baronius, with Pagi, N. Alexander, and Raynauld; and of the Protestant writers, those of the Centuriators, Mosheim, Geiseler and Neander.

The collection of works auxiliary to those of the ecclesiastical historians, containing the civil laws to which the Church has been subjected, as well as the legislative acts of the Church itself, its jurisprudence and usages, is voluminous and highly valua ble. Among these are the Theodosian Code, in three folio volumes, containing the decrees of the Emperors relative to the Church; the Capitularies

of the Kings of France, legalizing and endowing it, and providing for the enforcement of its decrees; and the Concilia, by Labbe, in thirty-one folio volumes, which comprise the whole series of councils, supposititious and real, from the days of the Apostles to the Council of Basil, in 1434. In this series are all the edicts of the Emperors, Kings and Popes, by which they were convened, and the canons and decrees passed by them, as well as the Epistles of the Popes, from Clemens, A. D. 91, to the XIIIth century, and a vast body of letters addressed to the Popes by the Bishops and other dignitaries of the Church. The documents of the later councils, especially, and the records of their discussions and acts, are very voluminous, and present a graphic picture of the men and manners of the times. The letters of many of the Popes and other prelates are curious and valuable, and indicate talents of a very high order.

The Magnum Bullarium Romanum, in thirteen folio volumes, contains the decrees and bulls of the Popes, from Leo the Great, A. D. 440, to Benedict XIV., in 1757, in which doctrines are defined, rites enjoined, forms prescribed, monasteries, abbeys, and other religious organizations instituted, bishoprics established, privileges conferred, interdicts laid, saints canonized, prerogatives asserted, and all the

various functions exercised which devolved upon the lawgivers of the Catholic Church.

In the first volume of the Corpus Juris Canonici, are the authorities collected by Gratian; and in the second the Decretals of Gregory IX., the Clementines, the Extravagants of John XXII., and the Decrees of the Council of Trent. Gratian was a celebrated Benedictine of the twelfth century, who spent twenty years at the monastery of Bologna in composing his celebrated work, entitled Concordantia Discordantium Canonum. This work not only bestowed great reputation upon its author, but was considered of such high authority as to form the superstructure upon which all precedents were founded, and constitutes one of the chief parts of the Canon law.

The Disciplina of Thomassinus, in nine quarto volumes, treats of the different ranks of the clergy and other officials, of clerical and religious societies, such as cathedral chapters, convents, and monasteries, of the call, ordination, and transference of the clergy, of the duties of their several ranks, and of the temporalities of the church.

Among the works of the Reformers are those of Luther and Melancthon, in early folio editions, and of Flacius, Calvin, Sleidan and Chemuitz.

There are several important editions of the Scrip

tures, as Stephen's New Testament of 1560, Walton's Polyglot, in six folios, Grabe's Septuagint, in two folio volumes, and fine copies of the Vulgate. There are also many important works illustrative of the Scriptures, as Bochart's Hierozoicon, in 3 vols. folio; Spencer's De Legibus Hebraeorum, in 2 vols. folio; Reland's Palæstina, and various recent publications on the geography and ruins of the Holy Land and adjacent countries.

The works that treat on the interpretation of the Scriptures are numerous. The long array of commentators comprises the most learned and authoritative names. The collection is rich in Greek and Roman classics, and standard English works on theology, metaphysics, history, and general literature; and although its main feature is theology, there are many works, especially in the higher departments of literature, which are valuable and interesting.

REV. DR. MAGOON'S LIBRARY.

THIS collection, although not so large as many hitherto noticed, is yet possessed of a marked peculiarity, which invests it with especial interest. The entire collection does not much exceed, if indeed it embraces, three thousand volumes, but within this lim. ited scope is to be found all the ordinary professional apparatus of a clergyman's study. This portion of the collection, including works on philology, theology, civil and ecclesiastical history, and mental and physical science, is not very different from what is met with in similar well-selected theological libraries. It is, however, for its extent, quite rich in the writings of the Catholic fathers and divines, and contains many of the works of the more eminent among the French theologians, both of the Catholic and Protestant faiths.

It may not be uninteresting to the reader to learn that the possessor of this collection, now an eminent and popular divine of the Baptist church, and an author of several deservedly popular works, was in