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ing nobly for the sanctity of their marriages, and the legitimacy of their children. But we believe that the true reason for their procedure is not to be found in their mere yearnings of nature, as Southey would have it, but in the more thorough protestantism of some of these men which led them to marry, because they defied the pope's restrictive power, and honoured the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. These, therefore, were the men who were most likely to suffer boldly, believing their marriage to be an honourable act, and regarding their wives and children as objects of conscientious complacency.

A passing remark of Dr. Price on the conduct of the aristocracy, in demanding security for their plunder, before they would declare that they repented of the reformation as a foul crime, when the kingdom was about to be reconciled to the see of Rome, must produce such an effect on all who read with care or reflection, that we wish he had placed it in so many various lights as to force it on the notice of those who form a much larger class, the hasty and unreflecting readers.-Page 106.

We are almost ready to charge Dr. Price with outrageous gentleness and extravagant candour, in his estimate of Cranmer's character; for here, if any where, Dr. Price's remark on Henry VIII. applies with full force, that the share he took in the reformation, has invested him with false glory. Was our author so afraid of indulging in resentment against the man who urged Edward VI. to sacrifice those who were called Anabaptists, that he chose rather to err on the other side? That which the French call bon hommie, is so pleasant to live with, that we should be ready to pass it by as no fault at all, were it not that we are convinced it is an injury to mankind, when it carries away the writer of history, who should not be so merciful to past ages as to be cruel to posterity. The habit of speaking well of living kings, calling them most gracious, and most excellent, is highly conducive to the peace and good order of society; but when they have gone to their last account, the interests of the human race demand that they should be treated with strict fidelity, and called by their proper names. The sentences that Dr. Price quotes from Sir James Mackintosh are gems, and on all questions of mere civil history we should be as much disposed to defer to his authority, as we are captivated by his eloquence; but in religious affairs, Dr. Price is fitter to teach Sir James, than be taught by him. We seriously and earnestly protest against the false candour of placing Cranmer in the glorious army of martyrs. He recanted, again and again, and at last died, because recantation could avail him nothing. It is true that the hatred borne to him for his share in the reformation was the principal, though not the only cause, why Mary sacrificed him to Moloch. But she did not believe him sincere in his abjuration of the reformed faith, and how could she? Who does believe him sincere? Did he not afterwards declare it was all hypocrisy? And have not protestants, ever since, with strange logic boasted of his insincerity? Why, then, exhibit that man a martyr, who joined the thousands and myriads, that abjured the reformed creed, which they had professed in Edward's days, and who repented many times over the foul deed

which most of them perpetrated but once? Is it that he, at last, died by the jealousy, and hatred, and suspicion of the catholics? Does this make him a martyr? Henry IV. of France, after renouncing his faith, to gain a crown, was assassinated by a popish bigot, stimulated, no doubt, by the suspicion that the monarch was not heartily devoted to the pope, but who has ventured to adorn the dissolute Henry with the martyr's crown? It is pleaded that Cranmer recanted his recantation: true, when he found it would not save his life, and not before.

We suspect that some have been induced, we were going to say seduced, to sacrifice their good sense to their charity, by ranking Cranmer among martyrs, under some obscure notion that this was necessary to our hopes of his salvation; and if we thought we must place him either among martyrs or demons, our charity might prove too strong for our reason. We fondly cling, however, to the hope that he is now among those who may say, "I was a persecutor, and a time-server, and an apostate, but I obtained mercy, that in me, Christ might show forth a pattern of all long suffering." It is, however, an insult to the holy choir, who proved that they loved truth better than life, to place among them the man who did all he could to escape their crown. The injury inflicted by the common fashion of speaking concerning Cranmer is incalculable, for it practically says, "You may deny Christ as long as it can afford any hope of saving life; and when you find it will avail you nothing, you may join the army of martyrs after all."

But if Dr. Price has too much candour towards him who lighted up the fires of persecution against the Baptists, he has not too little when recording their separation from the Brownists. We were pleased with his defence of Mr. John Smith, called the Se-Baptist, and glad that the history had fallen into the hands of one who was disposed to do him justice.

Dr. Price's reflections upon his expulsion from the Puritan church at Amsterdam, for antipodo-baptist opinions, are just and catholic, and will apply with equal fairness to strict communionists of every denomination.

"Whether there was any thing censurable in Mr. Smith's mode of announcing his change of sentiment to his brethren, does not appear; but their conduct in separating him from their communion cannot be justified without an admission of the principle on which religious persecution is based. The right which it assumed, involved, though in a more subtle form, the same spirit as had reigned in the councils of Whitgift and Bancroft. It was a narrow and exclusive spirit, the prevalence of which has unhappily destroyed the genuine character of the churches of Christ, and rendered them the rallying points of faction-the nurseries of sectarianism and illiberality. Differences of opinion, on minor points of Christian belief and conduct, are perfectly consistent with the fellowship of the saints; and will be found, when a catholic constitution is generally adopted by Christian societies, greatly to contribute to their moral influence. The genuine nature of their association will then shine forth and be seen of all. Ten thousand suspicions with which they are now regarded, will be abandoned; and the integrity of their profession, and the benevolence of their design, will be universally admitted."-pp. 496, 497.

In conclusion, we offer our sincere congratulations to Dr. Price on the character of this first volume, and shall welcome the second, which we understand will shortly appear.

N. S. VOL. I.

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The Student's Guide: Designed, by Specific Directions, to aid in forming and strengthening the Intellectual and Moral Character and Habits of Students in every profession. By the Rev. John Todd, author of " Lectures to Children." Revised by the Rev. Thomas Dale, M.A., &c. London: 1836. 12mo. THIS is one of the class of books which we cannot peruse without feelings of regret. That they should obtain a wide circulation, and produce appropriate impressions on the minds of those into whose hands they are put, is indeed devoutly to be wished that they are and will be greatly blessed for the improvement of the young we rejoice to believe. Our only cause of regret is, that we ourselves were not furnished with such guides previous to our entering upon the business of life. Had we been privileged to listen to the advice here tendered, before our habits were formed, what time might have been redeemed ! what acquisitions made! what rocks and quicksands avoided! to what a totally different account might life have been turned! Could students only anticipate a thousandth part of the evils which press upon after life in consequence of the want of due attention to the object of study; the importance of order, method, and regularity; the power of habits, whether good or bad; the value of time; and the proper discipline of the heart and conduct; they would carefully and repeatedly read, and forthwith reduce to practice the numerous important lessons contained in the little volume before us. There can be no doubt that, with the recommendation of the Rev. Thomas Dale prefixed to it, easy access will be procured for its admission into the Universities of our country, in which it is notorious there are evils of a most gigantic character to be corrected in the great body of the youth who frequent them; evils, the continuance of which cannot fail to be attended with the most disastrous consequences to society, while they are confessedly in the highest degree disgraceful, not only to those by whom they are perpetrated, but also to all who are in any way connected with them. Perhaps, however, it is not so much upon the grosser materials composing such associations, that Mr. Todd's book will operate, as upon a more sober, yet an ill-regulated indefinite class of students who loiter away their time, without any fixed object in view, and allow themselves to be carried away by every new direction that may be given to the current of literary or scientific appliances within the influence of which they may be found.

From the perusal of the work by the students at our Dissenting Colleges we anticipate incalculable good. They are, in general, young men, whose hearts will loudly respond to the pious appeals which it contains; and as their object is clearly defined, and constantly kept in view-every study being laid under contribution, with a direct bearing upon its attainment, it cannot but be of immense advantage for them to have their attention directed to a number of advices, such as those with which they are here furnished, by following which they may turn their College term to the best account, and come forth men of power and might-workmen that need not to be ashamed-vessels meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. To their prayerful perusal we most earnestly recommend it; and flatter

ourselves with the hope, that many months will not elapse ere the happy results will appear. Nor would we confine our recommendation of this interesting and important volume to our literary institutions. It is a book which no parent will regret placing at an early period in the hands of his children, (we would even add) of both sexes, though it is more especially calculated to be useful to boys.

The work is of trans-atlantic origin. The author is an eminent Congregational Minister in New England; and the present edition is brought out by a no less eminent and gifted clergyman of the Church of England. The following hints on the subject of reading, will furnish a fair specimen of the style and tone of the book :

"Beware of bad books. Some men have been permitted to live and employ their powers in writing what will continue to pollute and destroy for generations after they are gone. The world is flooded with such books. They are suffered to lie in our pathway as a part of our moral discipline. Under the moral government of God, while in this state of probation, we are to be surrounded with temptations of every kind. And never does the spirit of darkness rejoice more than when a gifted mind can prostitute itself, not merely to revel in sin itself, but to adorn and conceal à path which is full of holes, through which you may drop into the chambers of death. Books could be named, were it not that there is a possibility, that even the information conveyed in naming them might be perverted and used to obtain them, which seemingly, could not be excelled by all the talents in hell, if the object were to pollute and to ruin. These are to be found everywhere. I do intreat my young readers never to look at one-never to open one. They will leave a stain upon the soul which can never be removed. I have known these books secreted in the rooms of students, and lent from one to another. They are to be found too frequently. And if you have an enemy, whose soul you would visit with a heavy vengeance, and into whose heart you would place vipers which will live, and crawl, and torment him through life, and whose damnation you would seal up for the eternal world, you have only to place one of these destroyers in his band. You have certainly paved the way to the abodes of death; and if he does not travel it with hasty strides, you have, at least, laid up food for many days of remorse.

"What shall be said of those who print and sell such works to the young? Of those who go out on purpose to peddle them? They are among the most awful scourges with which a righteous God ever visited our world. The angel of death can sheath his sword, and stay his hand in the work of death. But these wretches! they dig graves so deep that they reach into hell. They blight the hopes of parents, and pour more than seven vials of woe upon the family whose affections are bound up in the son who is thus destroyed.

"In connexion with these books, allow me to lift up a loud voice against those rovings of the imagination, by which the mind is at once enfeebled, and the heart and feelings debased and polluted. It is almost inseparable from the habit of reverie: but in this life, a heavier curse can hardly hang upon a young man than that of possessing a polluted imagination. The leprosy fills the whole soul. Time only increases, and even the power of the Gospel can seldom do more than restrain, without subduing, when the disease is once fixed.

"What shall be said of such works as those of Byron? May not a young man read those? Can he not learn things from him, which cannot be learned elsewhere?' I reply yes, just as you would learn, while treading the burning lava, what could not be learned elsewhere.

"But would the knowledge thus obtained be worth the agony of the fire, and the scars which would remain through life? It is breathing the air which comes up from a heated furnace; and though you may see a brightness and glow in that furnace, as you gaze into it, which is nowhere else to be found, yet you will

feel the effects of what you breathe a long time. There are many bright spots in such writings, but while one ray of pure light is thrown upon the soul, it must find its way through volumes of Egyptian darkness. There are beautiful pearls in the bottom of the ocean, but they are found only here and there; and would you feel it worth your while to dive after them, if there were many probabilities that you would stick and die in the mud in which they are imbedded; or, if not that, you would certainly shorten and embitter life in the process of diving and obtaining them.

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"Would you thank a man for fitting up your study, and adorning it with much that is beautiful, if, at the same time, he filled it with images and ghosts of the most disgusting and awful description, which were to abide there, and be continually dancing around you all your life? Is he a benefactor to his species, who, here and there, throws out a beautiful thought, or a poetic image, but as you stoop to pick it up, chains upon you a putrid carcase, which you can never throw off? I believe a single page may be selected from Lord Byron's works, which has done more hurt to the mind and the heart of the young than all his writings have ever done good but he will quickly pass from notice, and is doomed to be exiled from the libraries of all virtuous men. It is a blessing to the world, that what is putrid must soon pass away. The carcase hung in chains will be gazed at for a short time in horror; but men will soon turn their eyes away, and remove even the gallows on which it swung. But,' say you, has my author ever read Byron and Moore, Hume and Paine, Scott, Bulwer and Cooper? Yes, he has read them all, and with too much care. He knows every rock and every quicksand. And he solemnly declares to you, that the only good which he is conscious of ever having received from them is, a deep impression that men who possess talents of such compass and power, and so perverted in their application, must meet the day of judgment under a responsibility which would be cheaply removed by the price of a world. Those who wrote to undermine or to crush the belief of the Christian-those who wrote to show how they could revel in passion, and pour out their living scorn upon their species-and those who have wasted life and gigantic powers merely to amuse men-have come far short of answering the great end of existence on earth. Talents and influence were given for purposes widely different. But is it not necessary to read works of this kind, especially those whose design is only to amuse and awaken the interest of the reader? There is no more necessity for this than there is to be acquainted with all the variety of dishes with which the palate may be pleased, and the body stimulated, and the stomach weakened. Were these the only books in the world, the case might be different. But who does not know that they who are given to reading works of fiction, leave a mass of most valuable and solid reading untouched and unknown? When you have read and digested all that is really valuable—and that is comprised in what describes the history of man in all circumstances in which he has actually been placed-then betake yourself to works of imagination. But can you not, in works of fiction, have the powers of the imagination enlarged, and the mind taught to soar?' Perhaps so-but the lectures of Chalmers on Astronomy will do this to a degree far beyond all that the pen of fiction can do. Will they not give you a command of words and of language, which shall be full, and chaste, and strong?' Perhaps so :—but if that is what you wish, read the works of Edmund Burke. There you will find language, gorgeous at times, but, for copiousness and wealth, hardly to be equalled by any uninspired pen. He is a master on this subject; and I hope no one, who intends to strike for a character for language or thoughts, strength or beauty, will ever be trying to clothe himself with the puissance of a novel, when he can boast the language of Burke as being his mother-tongue.

"The question in regard to works of fiction, usually has a definite relation to the writings of Sir Walter Scott. There is such a magic thrown around him, that it cannot be but we are safe there.' Is it so? Because the magician can raise mightier spirits than other magicians, and throw more of supernatural light about him than others, is he therefore the less to be feared? No; the very strength

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