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miniously over the back of the unconscious beast to be carried to a miserable burial? Or are we to consider the restoration of Charles II. to the throne of England less indicative of the sovereign will of the Almighty Ruler, than that of David to the throne of Israel, after the rebellion of Absalom? On this subject, Mr. Schomberg, after depicting the miserable death of Cromwell, adds—

"At this moment of time nothing appeared more improbable than the restoration of the exiled monarch. Every employment, every place of trust and power were in the hands of his inveterate opposers. The army was entirely at their command; and they were all sworn to resist the pretensions of CHARLES STUART.......... The eldest son of the Protector was proclaimed his successor without the slightest opposition. Addresses of congratulation poured in from every city and county of the kingdom, and nothing appeared more firm than the sovereignty of RICHARD CROMWELL. He not only received the homage and congratulations of the army and people at home, but foreign potentates, by their envoys, admitted his title and recognized his authority; and every circumstance connected with his succession seemed to promise him a long and uninterrupted rule. But firmly established as his power thus seemed to be, it was doomed to be shattered without a blow, and all its fragments so entirely scattered and dispersed, that not a shred of it should be found, to say that it ever existed.

"The son had not the sagacity, nor the hypocrisy, nor the arts of management, possessed by his father.........and instead of adhering, in every particular, to the existing system, and symbolizing with the Independent party and its heterogeneous and fanatic train, he discovered his predilection for the Presbyterians. This was enough. The Independents were filled with jealousy and revenge. The flame of discord was kindled, and spread in wild confusion throughout the land. These two great factions once more prepared to contend for the sovereign power; whilst the cavaliers, astonished at the sudden strife, remained silent spectators of the scene. The contest was to end in the discomfiture of both, and in such a remarkable manner, that their destruction must be attributed to a divine hand. It was not to be accomplished by might, or by power; not a drop of blood was to be shed-scarcely a sword to be drawn: but it was to be silent and complete, by the force of circumstances which no human power could direct or control. They attracted each other like two angry and portentous clouds charged with thunders and death; but in the concussion, without ignition, without noise, they were scattered and dispersed into empty air!"

The author of the "Theocratic Philosophy" has traced with distinctness the almost miraculous steps by which the Restoration was effected, and which can only leave this impression upon the mind, that there is ONE that ruleth and judgeth in the world. History, we trust, is no longer to be confined within the narrow limits of simple narrative, or of occasional moral

rémark; but it is progressing towards a more enlarged and important sphere, and to embrace within its ample page all that refers to man, in his multiplied relations as a physical, intelligent, moral, and religious being.

The wise and the learned of all ranks and nations are looking out for, and aspiring after, something more perfect and satisfactory in society than hath ever yet transpired in the history of man. Our own literature may be expected to take the lead in directing the attention of mankind into this hitherto unoccupied but glorious domain of moral and religious improvement.

We look forward with sanguine hope to the time when Christianity shall pervade all our literature, as in the works we have been reviewing, and its influence be co-extensive with the human race in all its relations, institutions, habits, and laws.

ART. VII.-Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, on the Theophania, or Divine Manifestation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; translated into English, with Notes, from an Ancient Syriac Version of the Greek original, now lost; to which is prefixed a Vindication of the Orthodoxy and Prophetical Views of that distinguished Writer. By SAMUEL LEE, D.D., &c. &c. Cambridge University Press. London: Duncan and Malcolm. 1843.

2. The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy: or, a Dissertation on the Prophecies which treat of the grand Period of Seven Times, and especially of its Second Moiety, or the Latter Three Times and a Half. By GEORGE STANLEY FABER, B.D., Master of Sherburn Hospital, and Prebendary of Salisbury.

3. A Dissertation on the Apocalypse, and the Period of 1,260 Years. With a Supplement on Scientific Chronology, &c. &c. By W. CUNINGHAME, Esq., of Lainshaw. Fourth edition. London: Cadell. 1843.

4. First Elements of Prophecy including an Examination of several recent Expositions, and of the Year-day Theory. By the Rev. T. R. BIRKS, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: Painter. 1843.

THE recovery of this lost work of Eusebius is no less pleasing an occurrence than the discovery of some precious relic of an old friend would be, if accidentally preserved among the piles of a lumber room, or the miscellaneous collections of a broker's

shop; and we owe our thanks to Mr. Tattam, who has brought the treasure to light, and to Dr. Lee, through whose learning and literary zeal it has been secured by the press from a second loss, and by translation set before us in such a form as to enable all to estimate its value; which, in its Syriac form, very few indeed of the readers of Eusebius, would have been able to do. And although a Greek work, in a Syriac translation, must necessarily appear to some disadvantage, Dr. Lee informs us that this rendering is so literal as to preserve the Greek idiom throughout, which peculiarity is calculated to turn our thoughts the more upon Eusebius himself, and cast us upon his other writings to understand the Platonic thoughts and expressions; of which we can only expect to find the indications, and not the full development, by transference to a dialect so uncongenial in its form and idiom as the Syriac.

The necessity thus imposed of referring to the other writings of Eusebius, in order to the full understanding of the Syriac version of the "Theophania," has given us the benefit of numerous explanatory notes and illustrations, brought together from other fathers of the same age, or the same theological school; and Dr. Lee seems to have left nothing undone by which he thought the reader might be furnished with means for ascertaining the exact meaning of Eusebius. We are of opinion, that even when we are reading the very words which the fathers wrote, and perfectly understand their language, we can fully comprehend their meaning only as we throw ourselves in thought on the same times and circumstances, and so get into the same spirit as themselves—a condition which is quite indispensable in such instances as the present. But to one who does so transfer himself to the times of Eusebius, it would scarcely seem necessary that Dr. Lee should have entered so largely as he has done, in the preliminary dissertations, on a defence of Eusebius from the charge of Arianism, which has sometimes been brought against him, and which the present publication may perhaps revive; and still less will he acknowledge the expediency of discussing the interpretation of prophecies, which occur incidentally, and as it were by the way, in the writings of Eusebius; but which, thus systematically brought forward and argued for, are rather to be considered as the opinions of Dr. Lee, than those of the Bishop of Cæsarea.

It is not our intention to enter upon a minute examination of the treatise now brought to light, the general features being obviously similar to the known works of Eusebius, and it being probable that all those to whom such a review would be interesting will already have perused the work and formed a judgment

of it for themselves. The competency and fidelity of Dr. Lee none will venture to call in question, and all that we could expect to do would be suggesting here and there a somewhat different rendering, merely from regard to the context, and without presuming to enter the lists of Oriental criticism with Dr. Lee, or being able to assert that the Syriac would admit of such a rendering. A passage, for instance, occurs (p. 174), which Dr. Lee pronounces to be very obscure, and suspects to be in a corrupt state in the Syriac, which passage appears to become very much clearer by a slight change, suggested merely by the context, thus:

"At any period, too, it must be a singular thing which He brought to this world of mankind [that He should come into this world]; and that the only Son of God should, in truth, ever have appeared to those that are on the earth; and that the whole race of man should through Him receive one who should in His own nature [in their own nature] so introduce Him [them] to the righteousness which is true.”

The words which we have put in brackets suggested themselves in place of the words we have put in italics, when we read this passage. That such a change improves the sense is obvious; but whether the Syriac will bear it, is a question for Dr. Lee. We might give many other similar instances, but after all it would be only guess work, and might be mere waste of time. It is more within our province, and more to the purpose for informing and interesting our readers, that we should advert to the preliminary dissertations of Dr. Lee, rather than to the work of Eusebius. And the second of these, which treats on prophecy, is in itself so extraordinary, more especially, too, when regarded as coming from one who stands thus high in letters, that some notice of it is absolutely necessary: for which purpose we shall have occasion to refer to the modern interpretations of the Apocalypse, and therefore take Mr. Cuninghame's as one of the best, Mr. Faber's Calendar, and also take the "Elements of Sacred Prophecy," by Mr. Birks, as bringing out some points which do not form part of the interpretation of the Apocalypse, but are touched upon by Dr. Lee.

Eusebius, living in the time of Constantine, when Christianity became the religion of the empire, had some excuse for his mistakes concerning the fulfilment of prophecy; but to adopt the same "prophetical views" now, with the experience of so many centuries intervening, and the falsification of all those expectations which led to these views, admits of no such excuse; and we confidently assert that were Eusebius to live now, he would change his views. Before the conversion of Constantine, the power of the Roman empire had been for nearly three centuries

directed against the Church, which not only withstood every assault, but gained ground, and proved itself the stronger of the two; and when both became combined, and the power of the empire was exerted in favour of the Church, it was not unreasonable to expect, through such an union, that the triumphs of the Church would pervade the Roman world, and spread even wider, and stretch to lands where the Roman eagle had as yet never flown-that the Gospel would thenceforth proceed, conquering and to conquer, till every tribe of the human race should hear and obey, and all the predicted blessings contained in all the prophecies should find their exact accomplishment.

But now, after the failure of these expectations, and with the experience of fifteen centuries to teach us the unlikelihood of any such success, under the present constitution of things, for men to expect such a fulfilment of prophecy seems passing strange. And when they go a step further, and tell us gravely that the prophecies are already fulfilled, and would persuade us that we are actually living in the millennium, or after the millenniumfor they are not quite agreed which of the two is our state of blessedness-and that Satan actually is bound, and that men actually have beaten their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, we are at a loss what to say. We can only express our doubts whether absurdities so great would be tolerated on any other subject.

In a note at p. 282 of the "Theophania," Dr. Lee observes— "From this reasoning of Eusebius, it is evident that he believed that the end had come. And in this there can be no doubt, I think, he was right; but as this involves a question very ill understood at this day, it may be right to offer a few words here as to what is meant by the end. ...... The end of the matter is said to be, when the kingdom under the whole heaven shall have been given to the saints (i. e., the Christians); in other words, when the kings of the earth shall have become its nursing fathers, and queens its nursing mothers...... But the kingdom of the saints is never to end (i.e., as far as prediction is concerned); it can, therefore, have no last days, latter days, or the like. When any such terms are referred to the last judgment, the language is doctrinal, not prophetical. I conclude, therefore, that this end did come when the persecution of Dioclesian ceased; for then all the conditions of prophecy had been fulfilled. Eusebius is therefore right."

And speaking of the Apocalypse, in the preliminary dissertation, p. cxlii.—

"To me the Revelation seems to contain three distinct visions: the first, ending with chapter iii.; the second, with chapter xiii.; and the third, to which additions are made, with the end of the book. The first vision contains a warning, perhaps, to the whole Christian Church then in being; the second and third are different visions relating to the same things; the latter, as in the visions of Daniel, being the more full

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