convinced that the little which we have written, and the candid opinion which we have given, will attract the public attention to this series: and we can assure the public that they will be more disappointed in our notice than in the letters themselves.

Lectures upon the History of Moses, and the Establishment of the Church in the Wilderness. By the Rev. J. Lochhart Ross, M. A. Oriel College, Oxford. London: Hamilton & Co, Edinburgh: Whyte & Co. Post 8vo. pp. 416. 1837.

THE History of Moses, connected as he was with the children of Israel during their wonderful deliverance from the land of Egypt, and their wanderings in the desart, affords matter for the most thoughtful attention of every Christian disciple. We well remember, that when only very young, with what eager astonishment we used to read the accounts of God's dealings with that remarkable people, the chosen seed of Israel; and especially of those strange events connected with the Exodus. And we have often been surprised that mere worldly men do not more generally read the histories of the patriarchs, if only for the low, grovelling purposes of entertainment; for, although we never read a single novel during our existence, yet we cannot conceive how any thing more interesting can be penned than the History of Joseph and that of Moses. But alas! there is no secret in the business; for man by nature does not like to retain God in his thoughts, and would read or contemplate almost anything else. To the real Christian, however, all is widely different. He loves to contemplate the ways of God to our fathers of old,—his wonders in Egpyt, in the sea, and in the wilderness. And to such a character we beg most earnestly to recommend this course of truly admirable Lectures before us. The clearness of style, the impressiveness of manner, and the devotional spirit which characterise them throughout, are such as to commend them strongly to the pious Churchman, and we trust that their circulation will be as great as they deserve.

The Illustrated Family Bible, with self-interpreting Notes and References of the late Mr. Brown, of Haddington, with a complete Concordance. London, Smith, Elder, & Co. 1831, royal 8vo.-We have before us the first part of this work, which is most splendidly illustrated after the manner of many ancient manuscripts; indeed we have not seen anything of the kind so beautiful. We could have wished that the Bible with the notes of some able Churchman had been perferred, and we think it would have paid the spirited proprietors much better.

A Concordance to the Book of Common Prayer, with the Holy Bible, showing its harmony with the Sacred Writings. By J. A. Thornthwaite. Groombridge, Panyer Alley, Paternoster-Row.

An Index to the Doctrines of the Church of England, embodying Scripture Proofs of the Thirty-nine Articles, by the same.

The Young Churchman's Advocate, or a Catechism on the Truths of the Church and the Errors of Dissent. By the same. We have only time to notice these little Tracts as likely to be very serviccable to the cause of truth.

A short and simple Letter to Cottagers, from a Conservative Bee keeper. London, J. W. Parker, Strand, 1838. pp. 24. A very cheap, plain and admirable tract, and ought to be in the hands of not only every beekeeper, but of every cottager in the kingdom.

The Queen's Accession, or the English Church and Monarchy ; a Sermon preached in his parish Church. By the Rev. T. A. Holland, Vicar. London, Groombridge, 1837. pp. 36. There is so much that is very sound and good in this sermon, but we cannot exactly agree with the author in his definition of the Catholic Church of Christ, as including "numbers and varieties of dissenting sects," because such is not the fact: if it were, the Church of Christ would indeed be a curious affair.

Lengthen her Cords and Strengthen her Stakes: a Sermon at Newport Pagnell, preached at the last visitation of the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. By the Rev. D. B. Langley, Vicar of Olney, Bucks. Simpkin & Co. 1837. We have here a brief answer to all the principal objections made by our enemies to the Church of Christ, by law established in this country, and we should be glad to know that this cheap sermon had met with a wide circulation.

The Infant's Decalogue; or, a Metrical Version of the Ten Commandments, adapted to the capacities of Young Children, with a short explanatory Cathechism. By Mary Ann Cursham.

The Child's Paternoster; or, a Metrical Version of the Lord's Prayer, adapted to the capacities of the Young, &c. London, Hamilton: Nottingham, Hicklin & Co. 1837. These are two interesting and good little books, well adapted for children; the language is very clear, plain and intelligible, and the poetry good, as are also the catechisms at the end.

The Christian Ministry, and the Establishment of Christianity, in Two Discourses on public occasions, with illustrative Notes and an Appendix. By the Rev. J. C. Crosthwaite, M. A. of Trinity College, Dublin. London, Duncan. Mr. Crosthwaite has here presented us with two very sound excellent discourses on a subject which we hope will now excite greater interest than it has done for many years past. On the wide difference which exists between the duly authorised Ministers of Christ, and the self-appointed and self-sent teachers of dissent, too much cannot now be said; and it is of the utmost importance that the Clergy in particular should become thoroughly acquainted with that difference, and with the whole subject, or how otherwise will they be able to instruct their people faithfully as they ought. If a dissenting teacher be indeed a Minister of Christ, what more is a Clergyman? and why do not they more closely unite and fraternize with their “dear dissenting brethren," as they would in that case be. We cannot, however, now pursue the subject, but may return to it, perhaps in a more extended notice of Mr. Crosthwaite's Sermons, for they well deserve it; in the mean time we cordially recommend them to general perusal. The notes will be found rather curious, although the readers of the former volumes of the Churchman will have seen something like some of them.

A Letter to Sir R. H. Inglis, Bart, M. P., on the relative Numbers, Influence'and Benevolence of Churchmen and Dissenters. Second edition, enlarged. London, Painter, Church of England Gazette Office, 342, Strand, 1838. pp. 12. This is a very cheap, a very right-spirited, timely and excellent little tract, which ought to circulate by thousands throughout the country. We trust we need say no more to induce our readers to spend threepence.

Miscellaneous.

ST. ISAAC'S CHURCH, PETERSBURGH.-The workmen continue busily engaged in the construction of this colossal monument. This building is probably the largest which modern Europe has seen arise; and will long continue an object of wonder to strangers. Imagine a mass of architecture, 340 English feet in height, entirely of marble and metal, decorated outside with 112 columns of red granite, each consisting only of one piece. The marble dome, surrounded by a colonnade, is 109 feet in diameter, and around it rise four steeples intended for bells. The whole forms a monument to be compared only with the colossal works of India and Egypt. The church is to be finished in 1841. The 24 columns which support the dome are each 42 feet high, of a single piece, and from the same quarries in Finland which furnished the Alexander Column. Each weighs 200,000 pounds; the machinery by which they were raised to a height of 200 feet, and fixed in their respective places, is in itself deserving of wonder and admiration.

THE LATE EARL OF ELDON.-This great and good man died on Saturday, the 13th ult. at about four o'clock, in his house, Hamilton Place. "He came to the grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.' His lordship expired in his 87th year, without pain and without any formed disease. The Right Honourable John Scott, Earl of Eldon, &c., was born on the 4th of June, 1751, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and in 1766 entered at Oxford, at University College, of which he subsequently became a fellow; and in 1771 he obtained the Chancellor's prize for the English Essay. In 1773 he married Elizabeth (the late Lady Eldon, who died in June, 1831), daughter of Aubone Surtees, Esq., and in the same year entered as a student in the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1776, and was made King's Counsel in 1783. In 1788 Mr. Scott was appointed Solicitor General, and knighted, and made Attorney General in 1793. 1799 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and created a peer by the title of Baron Eldon of Eldon, in the County Palatine of Durham. In 1801 he became Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, but resigned the Great Seal in Feb., 1806; he was re-appointed in April, 1807, from which period he continued to holp that office until 1827, being altogether a period of nearly twenty-five years. In

In

July, 1821, he was created Earl of Eldon and Viscount Encombe, of Encombe, in the county of Dorset, in the peerage of the United Kingdom. The office of High Steward of the University of Oxford was held by Lord Eldon from 1801. His lordship was the younger brother of the Right Hon. Sir William Scott, Baron Stowell. We believe his lordship was attacked with no particular complaint, but sunk under a gradual decay of nature. His lordship was attended during his illness by his daughter, Lady Frances Banks. Lord Eldon has left two daughters, Lady Frances Banks and Lady Elizabeth Repton, the wife of Mr. Repton, the architect, and is succeeded in the title by his grandson, John Viscount Encombe, born Dec. 10, 1805, and married Oct. 1, 1831, to the Hon. Louisa Duncombe, (second daughter of Lord Feversham,) born Nov. 10, 1807. His lordship (the present earl) kas two daughters, one aged three and a half years, the other two years. His lordship is the only son of the Hon. John Eldon, who died in 1805 (eldest son of the late Chancellor), and Henrietta Elizabeth, only daughter of the late Sir Matthew Ridley, Bart. This lady was re-married to James William Ferrar, Esq. Master in Chancery. The Chancellor had another son, the Hon. William Henry John, Barrister-at-Law, who died in July, 1833, at the age of 37.

At the early age of fifteen he was admitted at University College, Oxford, under the care of his elder brother, William, since Lord Stowell, who was at that time tutor of the College.

He soon distinguished himself at the University by that industry and integrity and kind nature for which, during the whole of a long life, he has been loved and respected by all who knew him. He obtained a prize essay (lately published), "On the Advantages of Foreign Travel," and officiated for Sir W. Chambers as Deputy Vinerian Professor. He was certain of succeeding to a Fellowship, and in regular course to a college living, when, in his twenty-third year. he was obliged to abandon all prospect of ecclesiastical preferment by his marriage with Miss Surtees, a young lady of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Law was now the only profession open to him, and he was admitted a member of the Inner Temple. After some years labour his prospects were so discouraging that he resolved to quit London, and practise as a provincial counsel in his native town. But it was ordained otherwise. From the great talent which he displayed in a particular cause, Mr. Mansfield and Mr. Wilson, two of the most eminent counsel, conjured him not to quit Westminster Hall. They assured him that his success was certain, and Mr. Wilson added that the want of money ought not to deter him, for the assistance of many was ready to be proffered, and that he had the small sum of 500%, which he was desirous to invest on this certain security. This kind offer, which was made on Mr. Scott's return from the committee-room to his house, he was not under the necessity to accept, as, by the retainers and briefs laid in the interim on his table, his fear of poverty was at an end. He abandoned his intention of retiring, and from that moment all his wants were supplied, and more than supplied, by his own exertions. He lived to enjoy the satisfaction of promoting both his kind friends, Sir James Mansfield and Mr. Justice Wilson, to the bench. He was successively Solicitor and Attorney General, in the discharge of the duties of which important office his labours were unremitting. He was promoted to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas, and in 1801 the great seals were delivered to him. He was Lord Chancellor of England.

As a Judge, he was never exceeded for clearness and impartiality-as a Statesman, in Lord Eldon, England loses the last of that illustrious band by whom she was saved amid the wreck of Europe.

In private life he was one of the most exemplary and affectionate of living beings. He never appeared to such an advantage as amidst the charities of home, by his own fireside, where, with the friends who loved him, his relations, his children, and grandchildren, he passed the declining years of his life, submitting with tranquillity and cheerfulness, which never forsook him, to the infirmities from which at his advanced age he could scarcely hope to be exempt. Resigned to the will of his Maker, he died as he lived, breathing "peace on earth and good will to men. "

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Philadelphos; Seldenicus; C.W-r and A Conservative, are under consideration. The communication of our old friend John Pate, is too long, and would require more labour to render it as he would like to see it, than we have time to give to it. T. T. A, Y. can send any essay he pleases and we will look at it. Our notice of the excellent work, entitled the Reduction of Prebendaries," must stand over.

MUCH has not been stated of Matthias in Scripture, as he was not one of the Apostles appointed by our Lord. He was elected in the room of Judas the traitor, as we learn from the portion of Scripture appointed for the day of his commemoration. Judas, by transgression, was removed from his sacred office, a memorable instance of retributive justice for betraying his Divine Master. He had been numbered

with the other Apostles, and had obtained part of their ministry from our Lord, to whom his real, character and subsequent intention to betray him was fully known. Judas had probably conducted himself with outward propriety while an Apostle, and had probably succeeded in acquiring the esteem not only of the whole company of the disciples, but even of the other Apostles of our Lord. Vain, however, was the hope of veiling, under external forms of holiness, his real character from Him who emphatically is termed the "Searcher of Hearts." To our Lord he stood all along revealed in his true character, as a man whose heart was not right with God, as not a true recipient of Divine grace, or the temple of the Holy Ghost. To the inscrutable wisdom of heaven, however, it seemed right that such a man should be numbered, for a time, with the Apostles, and commissioned to proclaim, as a witness and ambassador of Christ, the message of salvation. And thus it would appear, from his example, in conformity with the 26th Article of our Church, that "the unworthiness of Ministers does not hinder the effect of the Sacraments or their general ministration, forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ's, and do minister by his commission and authority. Neither is the effect of Christ's ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished from such as by faith, and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them, which be effectual because of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men."

VOL. IV.H

78 Meditations on the Festivals of the Church.-St. Matthias.

But though the unworthiness of Judas did not invalidate his Apostolic claims, he was righteously punished for his iniquity, and removed from his desecrated office. The stings of an alarmed and accusing conscience were too powerful to be disregarded; and the wages of his iniquity were made the instrument of punishing his sin. Having purchased, we are informed by St. Peter, "a field with the reward of his iniquity," he there added to his guilt by rushing, unbidden, into the presence of his Creator. The hope of the hypocrite shall perish," saith the word of God, and this undoubtedly was fulfilled in the case of this fallen Apostle. He had forsaken and betrayed his Divine Master, and was accordingly forsaken by our Lord, and suffered to become the instrument of his own destruction; a warning to every succeeding age, of the miserable condition of those who despise their high privileges as Christians, and trample under foot the once received mercy of their God;-who deny or neglect the efficacy of the blood of atonement, and are consequently left to endure all the horrors of an agonized conscience-a preliminary foretaste of eternal punishment.

66

The death of Judas having occasioned a vacancy among the Apostles, they were directed, by the Holy Spirit of God, to elect another to that office, in fulfilment of a prediction contained in the Book of Psalms, "His bishoprick let another take." The Apostles did not merely deem it expedient that this vacancy in their number should be filled up, but this design of theirs seems to have been in accordance with an express intimation from the Holy Spirit. The language of St. Peter, who, it appears from the narrative, presided over the College of Apostles on this occasion, is as follows:- Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that our Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken from among us, MUST one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection?" The expression "MUST one be ordained," and the quotation from the Book of Psalms just alluded to, clearly intimate that this design had not its origin in man, but was the result of direct intimation from the Holy Ghost. Hence we may, with perfect propriety, infer not only the constant superintending care which our Lord takes of his Church, according to his promise, "Lo I am with you always even unto the end," but also the doctrine of a divinely constituted Apostolical succession, from which all the authority of the Governors and Ministers of the Church was solely to be derived. Had we no other grounds for this opinion, the natural inference would yet be, that none other than a Ministry, thus divinely constituted, would prove acceptable to God, nor one that is not derived by succession from this inspired source. In one of his epistles, St. Paul intimates, in almost express terms, that the Apostles professed no stronger claims as Ministers of Christ, beyond their peculiar Apostolic character, than as the inspired successors of our Lord. His language is to the following effect :- For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is amongst you envying, and strife, and divisions; are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but Ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" Here St. Paul designates himself simply a Minister of Christ, and this term equally applies to all who are duly ordained to