Should his disciple prove. Make grace abound,
Great God, in us: its influence sweetly shed,
Soft as the nightly dews, which on the ground
Revive the buried fruits tho' seeming dead.
That living, we our tribute e'er may raise,

And breathe in life's last quiv'ring accent, praise!' p. 27.

Art.VIII. An Introduction to Systematical aad Physiological Botany. Illustrated with Explanatory Engravings. By Thomas Castle, F.L.S., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. 12mo. Price 10s. plain, or 12s. bound. London. 1829.

In reply to a note of inquiry from the Author of this Introduction, we must state the fact. His volume, upon reaching the hands of the Reviewer, was detected and forcibly seized by a family of young botanists, who have found it so indispensable a companion and guide in the prosecution of their in-door and out-of-door studies, that it has never since been laid on our table. Need we say a word more in favour of the work? Yet, let not any reader take up the mistaken idea, that it is what is usually called an Introduction, a slight essay or general survey. The work is more and better than it professes to be: it is a manual of botany, comprising the following general divisions:

I. History of Botany. II. Elements of Botany. III. Language of Botany. IV. Linnæan Artificial System. V. Linnæan Natural System. VI. Jussieu's Natural System. VII. Anatomy and Physiology of Plants. VIII. Harmonies of Vegetation.

This very comprehensive outline of the different branches of botanical science, is filled up with sufficient detail to answer the purpose of the student, arranged with singular conciseness and clearness; and we do not recollect to have met with a work in which so much information on the subject treated of, has been compressed into so small a compass, without confusion or meagreness. We must repeat, that the volume is designed for the student anxious to obtain a practical knowledge of the wonders of the vegetable kingdom; and by such persons, Mr. Castle's assistance will be gratefully estimated. It is the best work of the kind, for this purpose, that has come before us.

Art. IX. A Brief Outline of the Evidences of the Christian Religion. By Archibald Alexander, D.D. Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology in the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. Am. From the third American Edition. 18mo. pp. 192. Edinburgh. 1830.

THIS is an admirable summary of the Argument in support of the truth of Christianity against deistical objectors; and the publisher of this reprint well deserves the thanks of the religious public in this country. After a brief introduction on the right use of reason in religion,' Dr. Alexander proceeds to establish the following propositions, to each of which a chapter is devoted.

I. It is impossible to banish all religion from the world; and if it were possible, it would be the greatest calamity which could befal the human race.'

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II. If Christianity be rejected, there is no other religion which can be substituted in its place; at least, no other which will at all answer the purpose for which religion is desirable.'

III. There is nothing improbable or unreasonable in the idea of a Revelation from God; and consequently, nothing improbable or unreasonable in such a manifest divine interposition as may be necessary to establish a revelation."

IV. Miracles are capable of proof from testimony.'

V. The Miracles of the Gospel are credible.'

VI. The Bible contains predictions of events which no human sagacity could have foreseen, and which have been exactly and remarkably accomplished.'

VII. No other Religion possesses the same kind and degree of evidence as Christianity; and no other miracles are as well attested as those recorded in the Bible.'

VIII. ‹ The Bible contains internal evidence that its origin is Divine.'

As a specimen of the terse, perspicuous, and masterly manner in which the argument is handled, we give a short extract from the chapter on the Internal Evidence of Christianity.

The third thing which was mentioned as important to be known by man, is the means by which a depraved nature may be restored to rectitude; or in other words, how the thorough reformation of a sinner may be effected. On this subject, philosophy has never been able to shed any light. And this is not wonderful; for the most that human wisdom, if ever so perfect, could effect, would be the direction and regulation of the natural principles and passions of men; but, in this way no true reformation can be produced. Whatever changes are effected, will be only from one species of sin to another. In order to a radical restoration of the soul to moral rectitude, or to any degree of it, there is a necessity for the introduction of it into the mind, of some new and powerful principle of action, sufficient to counteract or expel the principles of sin. It is in vain that men talk of a restoration to virtue by reason; the mere perception of the right way will answer no purpose, unless there is some inclination to pursue it. Now the want of virtuous affections, or, to speak more correctly, of holy dispositions, is the great defect of our nature, in which our depravity radically consists; and the only way by which man can be led to love and pursue the course of obedience to the law of God, is, by having love to God and to holiness excited or implanted in his soul. But to effect this, is not in the power of any creature; it is a work which requires a divine energy-a creating power, and therefore a true conversion from the ways of sin was never effected without supernatural aid. There may be an external reformation. There may be, and often is, a change of governing principles. The man who in his youth was under the predominant influence of the love of pleasure, may in advanced years fall completely under the control of avarice or ambition; but in every such case, the change is effected by one active principle becoming so strong as to counteract or suppress another. It may be laid down as a universal maxim, that all changes of character are brought about by exciting, implanting, or strengthening, active principles sufficient to overcome those which before governed the man.' pp. 165, 6.

ART. X. WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR OCTOBER, 1830.

Art. I. 1. Unitarianism no feeble and conceited Heresy; demonstrated in
two Letters to his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin.
By William
Hamilton Drummond, D.D. 8vo. 1830.

2. Report of the Proceedings of a Meeting of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, held in Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, and of the Speeches delivered after Dinner, in the Town Hall, Salford, on Thursday, June 17, 1830. 8vo. 1830.

3. The Perpetuity of the Christian Dispensation, viewed in its Connection with the Progress of Society. A Sermon preached before the Supporters of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, at their Annual Meeting, June 2, 1830. By John James Tayler, A.B. 8vo. 1830.

4. The Monthly Repository and Review. Nos. 34, 35, 36, 37. 5. The Manchester Socinian Controversy; with Introductory Remarks and an Appendix. 8vo. London, 1825.

WE

E were once so fortunate on a fine Midsummer's evening, while strolling meditatively beside that rapid and turbid Nilus-the river of Time, to find a boat (no doubt a steam boat) upward bound. We seized the rare occasion, heedless of consequences, and not knowing whether we should ever be heard of again by our contemporaries. Brunting the tumultuous current, and audaciously looking all the world in the face, we dashed on; nor had inquired whether we should be put ashore on the nearer or the further side of the 'building of Rome', the 'building of Babylon',-or the Deluge.' Just as hundreds rush to seaward at Tower stairs, little caring whether they are to be landed at Gravesend, Margate, or Ostend.

Happily for the safety of the homeward voyage, we were carried no further than into the midst of 'the dark ages.' At this

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point, or 'reach', as we should term it, the passage became obstructed by mud-banks of the most perilous sort, being a deposit of the feculence of many ages. At the same time, a fog almost as dense and stupifying as those generated by the Thames, hung over the waters; in such sort that the master of the vessel announced his determination (notwithstanding the vociferations of a party of northern antiquaries who, to settle an important controversy, had paid their fare as far as to the age of the 'Picts') not to venture a century higher. Nevertheless, to assuage in some degree the disappointment of the passengers, he consented to wait a tide or two at anchor, while such as were so inclined should make an excursion upon the neighbouring lands.

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Most of the company (and we of the number) accepted the offer, and leaped ashore. We struck into the woods; for the whole country on both sides the river was covered with unbroken forests;-and had advanced not far, before the very sound we had been listening för broke upon the silence of midnight; we mean the tinkling of a monastery bell, waking the brotherhood to prayers: sound of sadness, calling wasted men from comfortless couches, to the comfortless chapel; there to mock Heaven by uttering, for the ten-thousandth time, the hitherto unheeded prayer for the grace of a heart dead to earthly desires! We followed the sound. Yet, unwilling either to disturb the holy folks at their devotions, or to be caught and immured as heretics, (woe to Eclectic Reviewers had they fallen into the hands of Dominicans!) we crept through the thickets, up to the window of the chapel; and breathless with haste and curiosity, peeped in upon the solemn pomps;-the which we must take another opportunity to describe. Suffice it now to say, that, among the venerable men, we were struck with the appearance of a monk, from whose saddened visage an intelligence shone out which marked him as one of a million. The character of his abstraction was ratiocinative, rather than devout; and while his lips were agoing in prayer, we could fancy that he was pursuing some clew of natural causation.

Prayers ended, we made our way, scaling a wall, into the garden upon which the windows of the cloisters opened; resolving to seek again the same extraordinary man. We found him, after peeping into half a dozen of the cells. He had resumed his seat, and was preparing to pursue his studies. How were we electrified on recognizing features which we remembered to have seen framed in flowers of purple and silver within the Uncial of a Codex in our own collection of rare monkish MSS.! The man before us was no other than the celebrated and universally erudite Albertus Magnus! None other than the honoured master of the still more celebrated 'Angelical