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with but a very modified suspicion. The true history of German Catholicism has yet to be written. It is not a thing of the past, but unfortunately a power only too wide-spread and influential in the present. It is not to be reckoned, as to its influence, by the number of its professed followers, or the extent to which it has succeeded in forming congregations and erecting places of worship, large as that may be; but a more appalling picture is presented, when its influence is estimated by the extent to which its principles are received and practically acted upon by the mass of the population, by the number of those who, whilst still professing attachment to the Church of their fathers, have really surrendered every thing that is most essential in the doctrines of the Reformation, in favour of a frigid system of scarcely disguised infidelity.

Did we think it necessary, we would present our readers with a general analysis of the doctrinal teaching of the German Catholic Church, exhibiting, at the same time, the principal written sources whence such information is to be derived. În preference to this, however, we have selected, out of many works issued by the apostles of the new faith, one of their most recently published Catechisms, which, whilst taught to the children of their adherents, is intended to induct alike young and old into the breadth and liberty of the "Church of the Future." The writer of the Catechism is known to be Heribert Rau, one of their Preachers, who, besides furnishing the new Church literature with books of devotion, ecclesiastical history, didactic and other writings, has written a larger work, entitled "The Gospel of Nature," in which he more fully and systematically expounds the new Gospel which is to be the guiding-star of future humanity. Passing these, however, as well as the writings of Uhlich and other scribes and Doctors of the Church, we believe that our purpose will be fully accomplished, and our readers more than convinced of the actual character of this new teaching, by a few notes extracted from the Catechism to which we have already alluded.

The first principle laid down by the expounder of German Catholicism is, that whatever lies nearest to us, whatever we have most to do with, should be the object of our first and chief attention. "Hence," says he, "man's first study is himself, the fashion of his body and the characteristics of his mind; next, the world of nature around him, the plant, the insect, the fish, the bird:"-all this before he comes to study the Infinite, the Eternal, in other words, God. This, of course, is pure Secularism. It is to forget, moreover, that the nighest to us of all beings is He on whom we depend at every moment for life, and breath, and all things. A God afar off, and not nigh, is the perpetual teaching of this new philosophy. Man's relation to the world follows in the order of study, from which the learner rises to the contemplation of mankind in general, and the mission and calling of collective humanity..

A second important principle in this teaching is, that every thing is governed by eternal, immutable laws: to these all things owe their being; they are inherent in nature; in a certain sense they are God.

A third important doctrine is that of development. Development is the law of the universe; it explains creation; it is the key to all history; it is the exposition of man in his past, his present, and his future.

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A fourth lesson which we draw from our German Catholic teachers, relates to the being of God. A distinct, personal God, the selfexistent Creator and Preserver of all things, is not to be admitted in the religion of the future. God is the soul of all existence, the life of the world, that Spirit which bears the same relation to the universe, pervading, actuating, and animating its being, which the soul of man bears to his bodily organization.

These are some of the general principles which lie at the base of the present German Catholic teaching. The student of religious and philosophical opinions finds in them nothing new; they are but the repetition of old fallacies a thousand times refuted.

Out of the six hundred and forty-three questions and answers which this Catechism contains, sufficient appears to show that the so-called German Catholic Church is another mournful instance of the grievous aberrations of men who cast away the written word, to introduce a Gospel of their own; sufficient also to make the lover of truth and happiness to mourn for Germany, when he knows that, beside and beyond the thousands of professed adherents to this new Creed, its principles have so permeated through society, that they are the actual faith in many places of a very large majority of the population. Like the Secularism of our own land, it is the kind of Gospel which, to the natural heart, is the most acceptable; and which, preached or not preached, finds, in consequence, the most ready access to the minds of those to whom the cross of Christ is a folly or an offence.

The Words of the Lord Jesus. By Rudolf Stier, Doctor of Theology, Chief Pastor and Superintendent of Sckeuditz. Vol. I. Translated from the Second Revised and Enlarged German Edition. By the Rev. William B. Pope. London: Clark's Foreign Theological Library.

ON many accounts we regard this publication as one of the most valuable of Messrs. Clark's series. Stier appears to us to be much more spiritual and reverent than any of the other German authors to whose writings these gentlemen have introduced us. Even the pious and gentle Neander compares disadvantageously with this divine. The loose doctrines regarding inspiration which most German theologians hold, and the very free criticism in which they consequently indulge, render their productions often offensive to the English reader, and require from the young student the utmost vigilance and caution in the perusal of them. Those who have read Neander's "Life of Jesus," while acknowledging the service which he renders to Christianity in his controversy with Strauss, will remember many painful instances confirmatory of this remark. The volume before us is, however, imbued, upon the whole, with a much more devout and reverential spirit, as the author's view of inspiration is evidently truer and deeper than that of most of his countrymen. Indeed, Stier is almost fierce in the declaration of his belief of "the rigid inspiration of the word."

It is impossible to read the book without being convinced, as the translator remarks, that its author is singularly "imbued with the mind of Christ." He has set himself, in the spirit of a most fervent

piety, and with the aids of uncommon learning, to interpret the sayings of our Lord; and we cannot but confess that he appears to us to have penetrated very deeply into their meaning, and to have brought out, with great accuracy and ingenuity, what some have thought they were almost entirely wanting in,-their evangelical significance. The limits of so brief a notice as this prohibit quotation; but there are many passages of incomparable sweetness and spirituality which justify our opinion.

But even Stier must be read with caution. When, for instance, he speaks of Christ, "in His estate of self-abnegation," as not "actively either omnipotent or almighty, any more than everywhere present;" and interprets his language to Nathanael, "When Thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw Thee," as indicating a past time, when "He also actually, with His bodily eyes," beheld him; we are constrained to demur to his doctrine. True, he admits that the Saviour spoke as the Omniscient Searcher of hearts; but what evidence is there that He had seen Nathanael otherwise than with the eyes of His omnipresence and omniscience? Such an instance as this, rare as it may be in the volume before us, shows how strong is the tendency to "free criticism" in Germany; and how constantly the English biblical student needs to be on his guard in perusing even the best theological productions of that country.

The excellence of the translation consists in this, that, while faithfully rendering one of the most idiomatic, and therefore difficult, of German writers, it preserves, beyond almost any other of Messrs. Clark's series, the idiom of our own language. We rejoice that a Wesleyan Minister has been found who, among the multiplicity and variety of connexional and pastoral labours, has been able to present this translation in so finished and beautiful a form. To all who wish to study the deep meaning of the Saviour's teaching, and especially its evangelical import, we earnestly commend this volume. Theological science and spiritual religion will have gained immensely in England, when this profound and suggestive work shall be completely before the public in its English dress.

Land, Labour, and Gold: or, Two Years in Victoria: with Visits to Sidney and Van Diemen's Land. By William Howitt, Author of "Visits to Remarkable Places." Two Vols. 8vo. London: Longman and Co. 1855.

MR. HOWITT gives a detailed narrative of the travels of himself and his two sons to and fro among the gold-diggings, most of which they appear to have visited; and of their labours and privations, when there. And truly, of all modes of acquiring wealth, the direct search for the coveted gold is the most arduous, the most uncertain, the least picturesque. The squalid misery, the fearful privations, the moral wretchedness, which accompany the pursuit, form one of the most repulsive pictures which the countless occupations of a busy world afford.

We could have wished that Mr. Howitt had spoken with more moderation upon the public questions, in connexion with the Colony of Victoria, upon which he has so fully entered. We quite agree

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with him that the land question is one involving the future prosperity of the Colony, but we cannot think that calling names is either just or decorous. The existing Government was not responsible for the law which it only administered; and a more generous man would have made greater allowance for the shortcomings of a Governor suddenly surrounded by difficulties, both unforeseen and unparalleled. The discovery of gold, and the consequent inundation of emigrants from all parts of the world, might well throw into confusion a machinery framed for ordinary times, and almost paralyse an executive overwhelmed by unexpected demands upon its resources, and incapable of sudden expansion. With the exception of this tone of undue severity both against the Local and Home Government, however, we look upon the work as one of great value and interest.

The land question is that, upon the just settlement of which the welfare of the Colony must hinge. At present the difficulty of procuring land, in moderate quantities and at a cheap rate, is such, that an emigrant cannot, as it is asserted, for two hundred or three hundred pounds, procure enough to grow vegetables for his family. When men have scraped together a competency, they are debarred from investing it, as they would willingly do, in the soil of the country; and either return to England or migrate to America, where the best land can be procured for five shillings an acre. The bulk of the best land in the Colony is in the hands of the squatters, who are claiming a vested right in the inheritance of the people. The extent of land held by these individuals is enormous. The average of square miles held by each squatter is sixty-nine; but many individuals hold immensely more. Two squatters hold more than 800,000 acres each; two, 600,000 each; one, 400,000; four, 350,000 each; three, 300,000 each; fourteen, 250,000 each; fourteen, 200,000 each; thirty, 150,000 each; seventy-three, 100,000 each; and two hundred and ninety-eight squatters hold more than 50,000 acres each. By law, each squatter can claim the right of pre-emption to one square mile, or six hundred and forty acres; but in Victoria, at least, no leases have been given, although it is stated that such were promised. Now it is obvious that this land must be set free, if the Colony is to prosper. A homeless and wandering population must have the means of becoming settled, and the quiet pursuits of agriculture must take the place of overcrowded gold-diggings. Mr. Howitt has argued the case with great energy, and, by so doing, has deserved well of the community, both in the old country and the new.

Reformers before the Reformation, principally in Germany and the Netherlands, depicted by Dr. C. Ullmann. Vol. I. Translated by the Rev. Robert Menzies.-Clark's Foreign Theological Library. New Series. Vol. VI. 1855.

THE object primarily proposed in this work is to do justice to certain comparatively little known, but most deserving, pioneers of the Reformation, and particularly to throw new light upon the steps of transition to it in the countries specified in the title-page; and thus to promote a more complete, profound, and correct knowledge of the Reformation itself. This first volume deals chiefly with the

antecedent need of the Reformation, in reference to prevailing cor ruptions. The sequel (to appear as a second volume) will treat of the positive preparations made for it, and of its incipient rudiments. In the first of the two "Books" into which the present volume is divided, John of Goch, as one of the chief representatives of the period in which he lived, shows the need of the Reformation, as it respects the general spirit of the Church inwardly. In the second "Book," John of Wesel, and several of the members of his circle, show the same thing with reference to special ecclesiastical abuses. And, further, an Appendix, at the end of the volume, presents us with an interesting account of Hans Böheim, of Necklashausen, one of the most notable pioneers of the Peasant War, and of Cornelius Grapheus, who, as the first propagator of Goch's doctrines and works, did much good preparatory service,and might have done much more, but that, as the result of his quitting the special field of theology for that of general literature, his theological character was extinguished, and as a Reformer he halted, like Erasmus, behind his age.

The author promises himself a much livelier interest for the second volume, "partly because the materials will be of richer variety, and partly because the persons and subjects to be treated of will be of greater positive importance." Probably so. But the present volume is deeply interesting; and the more so, from what he supposes may, with some persons, be a ground of objection, namely, the circumstance of its depicting the different tendencies of the age through the medium of persons representing them. When the work shall have been completed, it will supply what has long been a desideratum, and will establish the claim of the author to the gratitude of all who are interested in the subject.

The Sanctuary: a Companion in Verse for the English PrayerBook. By Robert Montgomery, M.A. London: Chapman and Hall.

1855.

WE welcome from Mr. Montgomery what we should scarcely praise in any other author of his pretensions. Obscurity is generally some shades better than absurdity; and in his case, at least, a good copy will always rank before a bad original. Yet it is venturing perhaps too far to pronounce the present work a good copy. Mr. Montgomery dedicates his volume to the memory of George Herbert; and it is evident that the "Temple" of the latter is the model, both in groundplan and general style, of the "Sanctuary" of the former. But our author has not confined his imitation to a standard so peculiar and so remote. He has felt his need of guidance to enable him to adapt his antique model to the language of the present day. Hence we are reminded still more frequently of Keble than of Herbert. The question naturally occurs, Have not the English Church and the Prayer-Book received sufficient illustration at the hands of these two excellent authors? The answer is suggested by the poverty of this additional attempt. The poetry of ritualism has been well-nigh exhausted; and this is but a caput mortuum. It has none of Herbert's noble moral sentiment, and still less of Keble's chaste and thoughtful poesy. The

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