to little advantage, we return to the Medicean history. At the death of John Gaston, the author sums up the character of the Medici, enlarging chiefly upon the second dynasty. He allows them little praise where they have usually been allowed a prescriptive title to it, viz. in the patronage of literature.*

"The Augustine age of Florentine genius was not produced by the Medici, though promoted and encouraged by them all.

.. The Augustine age of Italy was also that of excessive vice, of cruelty, of oppression, treachery, and assassination, and the Medici were conspicuous in all." (p. 598-9.)

The last volume contains the reigns of Francis II. Leopold I. and Ferdinand III. There is a little confusion, as the successor of Francis is alternately called Leopold and Peter Leopold, as well as first and second, which latter only belongs to him as Emperor of Germany. The author has taken great pains with this part of the work, in which he had the materials amassed in his Life of Ricci to assist him, on the subject of "the deep, artful, and harassing opposition to Leopold's ecelesiastical reforms, their painful progress, and lamentable termination." (p. 184.) This is true, but we are sorry to add that there is an ignorant flippancy in the way in which he speaks of the observance of the Sabbath, (p. 328-9.) It is a great matter to know where one's province begins and ends, on neither of which points does the author Beem very clear.

The picture which is given of the monastic life, and founded, as we need not particularise, on documents printed in the Life of Ricci, is frightful. This chapter (the tenth of book iv.), with the caution we have suggested, deserves to be read by students of Church history in general."

"Leopold feared, and in a certain degree deserved the accusation of having abandoned Ricci;.... but Leopold was fast breaking up: both moral and physical energies were yielding before the troubles, misfortunes, and ingratitude which preyed on his spirit, and shortened his existence. 、、、、 Leopold was re. moved too soon; he might sometimes,

"They whom science loved to name."

Collins.

perhaps, have mistaken his means, for who is infallible? and he probably made a false estimate of national character; but his objects and motives were as sincere, noble, and honest as his benevolence was raise the people to a state of higher intelunbounded. His great ambition was to lectual dignity, moral attainment, physical comfort, and virtue, and to annihilate superstition. In physical improvements he succeeded, but for the rest the nation was not generally ready, and he failed.” (p. 391.)

The eleventh chapter contains an in the Maremma and Val-di-Chiana, account of the physical improvements with six lithographic maps. The last, Crosseto at different times from the shewing the state of the plain of year 300 to 1830, is curious. They lished at Florence in 1838. are copied from Tarlini's maps, pub

of Ferdinand III. is little more than a The concluding chapter on the reign table of contents, and half of this is a retrospective panegyric on Leopold. The events of the French Revolution, and the Royalist re-action, would have afforded matter for regular history, and as this volume is one of the smallest, there was no obvious necessity for compression. The want of an index is a serious defect.

Our readers are now enabled to judge of the merits and blemishes of this history. For our own part we consider it much too long as a whole, and we suspect that if it reaches posbered itself of at least one-half of its terity it must first have disencum

burthen.

The Mission of the Comforter, and other Sermons, with Notes. By J. C. Hare, M.A. Archdeacon of Lewes, 8vo. 2 vols.

THE first five of these sermons, on "The Mission of the Comforter," were preached before the University of Cambridge, in 1840; and the others on various occasions; but as they seemed not ill-suited for a place in the same work, their object being to set forth the character, office, and destination of the Church, they are accordingly subjoined.

To these sermons a body of notes is appended, which has confessedly swelled out far beyond the author's expectation. As there is some diffi

culty "in explaining the three pregnant verses in which our Lord declares the threefold work of the Comforter," he thought it useful to show how they have been interpreted in various ages, and thus to aid the student in estimating the kind of light he may expect from different periods in the history of theology. For while, as he argues, a critical study of the divinity of former times will be beneficial, "on the other hand, if, as we have seen in several instances, the end of this study is merely to make us repeat by rote what was said in the fourth century, or in the fourteenth, instead of becoming wiser, we shall become foolisher." (Preface, p. ix.)

In speaking on present controversies, he says,

"I have felt it an especial duty to call the attention of my readers again and again to the inestimable blessings of the Reformation, as evinced in the expansion of theology, no less than in the purification of religion."

And further,

"Now that the battle of the Reformation is renewed, now that the Reformers are attacked with unscrupulous ignorance and virulence, now that the principles which animated them are impugned and denied, now that the whole course of events, previously and subsequently, as well as at that time, is strangely misrepresented and distorted, it becomes necessary to defend the truth, not only by asserting its majesty and repelling its foes, but also by carrying the war into the enemy's country." (p. xi.)

This alludes chiefly to note W, in which the character of Luther is defended against various recent attacks, and to which we shall return. The archdeacon, who is well read in the German divines, also calls the opinions in Mr. Newman's sermons, and in the writings of some of his followers, on that subject-erroneous; and Mr. Dewar's work on German Protestantism, worthless.*

From a work, which is a compendium on the subject of John xvi. 7-11, it is difficult to make a series of extracts which shall give a full idea of

* "Ignorance, however, has not been silenced, and, when it is maledicent, is sure to find a credulous auditory; and thus even Mr. Dewar's worthless book is quoted and extolled as an authority." (p. xii.)

its contents and style. All that can be done is to assure the reader whether the work deserves his attentive perusal, which it certainly does. The verses of which it treats are some of the most important in the Gospels; and such a body of annotation as the archdeacon has subjoined is not to be met with elsewhere. There is, perhaps, a want of that lucidity which clears the way before the reader, so that he knows to what point he has advanced, and need neither turn back or look forward in search of what has not yet occurred. We say this, however, with reference to particular parts, rather than the whole; and to balance it, there are portions of peculiar excellence, as for instance, at p. 71-81, where it is shown how our present mode of education fails of producing the results which are contemplated in the text. In note K the archdeacon gives his reasons for preferring the marginal reading convince, to the common one reprove. As a summary of the subject, we quote these passages from Sermon iv. on "The Conviction of Judgment."

"The Comforter will convince the world of judgment. We have seen how He convinces the world, how He convinces each individual soul, of the sin of not believing in Christ; and how He leads us to cast away that sin, whereby we were cut off from God and all goodness; to give up our hearts to faith, to believe and to find a power in our faith, which will deliver us

from ourselves and from sin. We have seen how He convinces the world and each individual soul of Christ's righteousness; how He convinces us that Christ, in that He went to the Father, manifested himself to be the Lord our Righteousness; and how He leads us to seek to be clothed in the righteousness which Christ has obtained for us." (p. 126.)

"The conviction of judgment, ... is preparatory to our sanctification. The judgment with which our Lord judged the Prince of this World may be regarded as twofold: it was a judgment of absolute and entire condemnation; and it was a judgment of utter overthrow and confusion... The judgment against the Prince of this World was indeed completed and consummated by the sacrifice on the Cross. (Serm. v. p. 159.) They who have been truly convinced of judgment will no longer cleave to that which they know their Saviour has condemned: they will no longer walk in the train of him whom their

master has overcome and cast out." (Ibid. p. 164.)

The doctrine implied in the words "It is expedient for you that I go away," is practically well applied in Ser. i. p. 17, to the successive changes of human life. But the concluding pas sage of the same sermon (p. 19-21) which belongs to the kind denominated experimental, is of first-rate beauty and value. We commend it to the perusal of all who have found the path of religion grow rough when they expected it to be smooth. It may be summed up, as leading the inquirer to look less at the pattern of Christ, and more at the Saviour's work, thus calling him off from a strength which is his own, to the source of another, which is divine. To some this will appear obscure, but those for whom it is calculated will discern its worth.

The author has adopted a peculiar orthography, as preacht for preached, &c. in which we have not followed him. The notes are replete with quotations from writers of various times, as well as critical remarks on translators and annotators. Bishop Andrewes "seldom lets any rational view of a subject escape him;" but the late Oxford reprint of his sermons is blamed for verbal inaccuracy. He often, it is further remarked, spins out a metaphor in lieu of an argument. (403, 421.) Cartwright is able and pious, though too scholastic and technical." (453.) Hammond is sensible, though never profound, and " is fond of taking the words of the New Testament in their lowest and narrowest sense; and thus, along with Grotius, must rank among the precursors of the rationalizing exegesis of the next century." (454, 547.) Baxter is simple, clear, and sound (465); Lightfoot "sensible and intelligent, in addition to his great learning." (639.) Beveridge is learned and pious (464); Matthew Henry fresh and rich in scriptural illustration. (467.) Offoreigners, Lampe is "learned and elaborate." (409.) Bengel's Gnomon "manifests the most intimate and profoundest knowledge of the Scriptures." (405.) Bossuet's Meditation on John xvi. ii. is "rhetorical, vague, and empty, and has that air of unreality, not to say untruth, which so often characterises French eloquence.

(642.) Of the Fathers, he considers Chrysostom (on John vii. 39) far more he remarks, that a narrow lifeless satisfactory than Augustin (439); but character is often given to the expositions of the Fathers, by their aptness to refer words spoken, and things done, to the past only, without considering what was permanent in them. (536.) Luther, "as he is wont, goes straight At p. 449 a parallel is drawn between to the heart of the truth."* (443.) him and Calvin, in which the latter is highly praised for fulness and precision. Our author professedly gives long extracts from Luther's writings, to show how far superior his expositions of Scripture are, in primary truths, to the best among the Fathers, even of Augustin:

"When we come upon these truths in Luther, after wandering through the dusky twilight of the preceding centuries, it seems almost like the sunburst of a new revelation, or rather as if the sun, which set when St. Paul was taken away from the earth, had suddenly started up again." (p. 579.)

Note W, which extends from p. 656 to 878, is devoted to a vindication of Luther from various aspersions in modern writers, such as Mr. Hallam, Mr. Ward, Sir W. Drummond, &c. On the ground which these writers have traversed in their way, the archdeacon feels himself at home. He considers that the tone of Mr. Hallam's unfavourable remarks is traceable to Bossuet's misrepresentations. (p. 666.) The note is too long to analyse, and too important to be passed over: we hope that the author will enlarge it into a separate essay; but, at all events, it will have an effect on the future tone of ecclesiastical history.

Part of this note is intended to defend Luther against the charge of Antinomianism. On the alleged disparagement of St. James's epistle, the archdeacon shows that it is relative, not positive, as though that epistle did not bear on the question in hand; and that Luther himself omitted the expression in later editions of his preface to the German Testament. (p. 815.)

The exposition of John xiv.-xvi. is termed "one of the most precious of his works."

He has been accused of saying, "The Book of Esther I toss into the Elbe;" but his original expression was "the third book of Esther," meaning the apocryphal Esdras, which Jerome himself reckons among the procul abjicienda. (p. 818.) Luther's words have undergone two transformations, the one in omitting the distinguishing term third, and the other in substituting Esther for Esdras. This shows how incorrectly his conversations have been reported (to say nothing of increasing errors in reprinting), and how unsafe it is to build conclusions upon them. The archdeacon observes on miscellanies of this kind,

"Some collections of table-talk are indeed interesting and delightful; but they should always be read in an indulgent, not in a censorious, spirit. The only safe rule is to ascribe whatever we find that is wise, or ingenious, or instructive to the speaker, since that is not likely to have been invented by the reporter; while the blunders, the absurdities, the extravagances should be overlooked, from the probability that they may be the scribe's interpolations or perversions, or that they may have had some unrecorded justification at the moment." (p. 817.)

As to the defence of Luther's language at p. 773, let those who are not satisfied with it read that of Erasmus concerning his own Colloquies, for we suspect that on the score of language the latter had the harder task to perform.

We would gladly enlarge upon this head, but no analysis, such as could be made here, would be sufficient; so we pass on to the character which the archdeacon has given of Bossuet and his "Variations :"

"Indeed, if anything were surprising among the numberless mapaλoya of literature, one should marvel at the inordinate reputation which the Histoire des Varia

While we are writing this, the following passage in Mr. Preston's recent translation of Ecclesiastes " has come under

our view. "The learned Huet and others

have asserted that Luther spoke disparagingly of the Book of Ecclesiastes; but the fact is, that the remarks in his TableTalk, which led them to say so, are not with respect to this book, but to that of Jesus the son of Sirach." (Prolegomena, p. 12.)

tions has acquired. . . . Able as the Histoire des Variations unquestionably is, if regarded as the statement and pleading of an unprincipled and unscrupulous advocate, it is anything but a great work. For no work can be great, unless it be written with a paramount love of truth; this is the moral element of all genius; and without it the finest talents are worth little more than a conjuror's sleight of hand. Bossuet, in this book, never seems to have set himself the problem of speaking the truth, as a thing to be arrived at. Never once, I believe, from the first page to the last did he try heartily to make out what the real fact was." (p. 860-1.) "It is full time that a work which has been exalted so far beyond its worth for a century and a half, should be cast down to its proper place." (p. 866.)

...

Of Luther's character he says, "The he becomes, the more too he wins not more one knows of him the grander merely reverence, but love." (p. 855.)

In the latter part of the notes the archdeacon, we think, is led rather far by his wish to conciliate Nonconformists. Writers in general adopt the complaints of that body, without considering whether any very different result could possibly have been arrived at. No scheme of comprehension could have been devised that would have materially altered their number; for how could the Anabaptists have coalesced with Pædobaptists, and the Presbyterians and Independents with Episcopalians? The Church was both Pædobaptist and Episcopalian, and must either have essentially altered her nature, or things must have remained much as they did. The list of Nonconformists, we suspect, has been swelled by the names of persons who were ejected to make room for the lawful incumbents, or for want of any legal title. Thus while Calamy's work professes to give a long list of persons who were ejected by the Act of Uniformity, he includes Mr. John Gibbs of Newport Pagnel, who was confessedly put out "some months" before the Act. Gibbs's successor, Robert Marshall, was presented by the Crown, January 16, 1660, which is more than some months; the Act only took effect in August 1662. If such cases are included it is easy to make out a list; but criticism would probably reduce it to narrower limits. Calamy says that Mr. Gibbs's offence was refusing