preparation of papyrus, was an entirely new and much more artificial process, borrowed apparently from the Chinese, who had practised it long before. Cotton appears to have been first employed, and this was soon followed by linen rags, which were certainly used in Europe before the year 1300."

Mr. Yates here produced a very valuable Greek manuscript of Chrysostom's Homilies, written in the 12th century upon linen paper of the very best description.

"Many specimens of excellent paper are to be found in our manuscript libraries, written at all periods during the two following centuries. On the invention of printing in the fifteenth century, parchment or vellum was occasionally employed, but the article most in use was linen paper of the best and firmest texture. Such were the works executed by Guttenburg and Faust in Germany, by Sweynheyn and Panmartz in Italy, and by many illustrious typographers who immediately followed them. *

"Most of the papers manufactured during all these periods have the impression of water-marks, varying according to the fancy of the maker (as at present), and these are frequently found useful in fixing the date of undated manuscripts. From the ancient device of a jug or pot, of a post-horn, of a fool's-cap, have been derived the names of pot, post and foolscap, now employed to distinguish the different sorts.

"Throughout the whole of the period above mentioned, and for some time after, the produce of the English paper-mills was exceedingly inferior to that made in France, Italy and Flanders. From these countries, therefore, our supplies were for the most part drawn. *

"Most of the paper of the present day, though fair in its appearance, is considerably inferior to that of former ages, and is evidently made to be sold cheap. Extraneous substances, such as plaster of paris, are sometimes mixed with the pulp, and the strength of the article is injured by the improper application of the chlorides for the purpose of bleaching it. The article made in Kent has long been considered the best. The worst is produced in the northern parts of England, where cotton waste or 'devil's dust' is much used, the price being as low as 1d. up to 24d. per lb."-Pp. 47–49.

In his paper on Architecture, Mr. Rimmer throws out a conjecture respecting the origin of the term "Gothic" as applied to ecclesiastical buildings, and imagines that it was coined by Sir C. Wren and other architects of that time to express their contempt for some old monkish piles. Other names, such as Puritan, Quaker, Methodist, have in like manner outgrown the ridiculous associations connected with them.

We have read with great interest Dr. Hume's plea for the intellectuality of the lower animals. He assigns them the power of abstraction, the power of mental communication, and division of labour, and is prepared to believe that interchanges take place among them. Dr. Hume is disposed to regard the question as settled, and believes that in a few years well-informed people will smile at the idea of a doubt having ever been entertained on the subject. He argues that the view of the subject taken by intelligent naturalists is more honouring both to God and man; for it assigns to them a superiority over beings more exalted, rather than over beings less exalted.

It is a proof that, spite of some discouraging signs of the times, liberal views are making considerable progress, that Dr. Hume, though a divine, strongly deprecates the practice of appealing to Scripture on questions of a purely philosophical or scientific kind. He takes the intelligible ground, that all the expressions there are of a popular character, and are not designed to give utterance to strict scientific truth.

In confirmation of Dr. Hume's views, Dr. Warwick communicated to the Society the following very remarkable incident:

"When he resided at Durham (Dunham), the seat of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, he was walking one evening in the park, and came to a pond, where fish intended for the table were temporarily kept. He took particular notice of a fine pike, of about six pounds weight, which, when it observed him, darted

hastily away. In so doing it struck its head against a tenter-hook in a post (of which there were several in the pond, placed to prevent poaching), and, as it afterwards appeared, fractured its skull, and turned the optic nerve on one side. The agony evinced by the animal appeared most horrible. It rushed to the bottom, and boring its head into the mud, whirled itself round with such velocity that it was almost lost to the sight for a short interval. It then plunged about the pond, and at length threw itself completely out of the water on to the bank. He (the Doctor) went and examined it, and found that a very small portion of the brain was protruding from the fracture in the skull. He carefully replaced this, and with a small silver tooth-pick raised the indented portion of the skull. The fish remained still for a short time, and he then put it again into the pond. It appeared at first a good deal relieved, but in a few minutes it again darted and plunged about until it threw itself out of the water a second time. A second time Dr. Warwick did what he could to relieve it, and put it into the water. It continued for several times to throw itself out of the pond, and, with the assistance of the keeper, the Doctor at length made a kind of pillow for the fish, which was then left in the pond to its fate. Upon making his appearance at the pond on the following morning, the pike came towards him to the edge of the water, and actually laid its head upon his foot. The doctor thought this most extraordinary, but he examined the fish's skull, and found it going on all right. He then walked backwards and forwards along the edge of the pond for some time, and the fish continued to swim up and down, turning whenever he turned; but being blind on the wounded side of its skull, it always appeared agitated when it had that side towards the bank, as it could not then see its benefactor. On the next day he took some young friends down to see the fish, which came to him as usual; and at length, he actually taught the pike to come to him at his whistle and feed out of his hands. With other persons it continued as shy as fish usually are. He (Dr. Warwick) thought this a most remarkable instance of gratitude in a fish for a benefit received; and as it always came at his whistle, it proved also, what he had previously, with other naturalists, disbelieved, that fishes are sensible to sound."-Pp. 76, 77.

Lectures on the Development of Religious Life in the Modern Christian Church. (To be completed in Six Monthly Parts.) Part I., Luther and Munzer. By Henry Solly. 12mo. Pp. 59. London-C. E. Mudie. THESE are the first of a series of Lectures which have been heard with much interest in the Bay's Hill Chapel, Cheltenham, and which Mr. Solly, encouraged by the favourable reception given to "The Great Atonement," is offering to a wider circle. He desires to enlist our sympathies on behalf of great principles, by sketching the characters of those remarkable men who seem to have been most fully actuated by them:

"What a blessing it would have been to the Church of Christ, if the various great reformers and prophets who have arisen within it in divers times and countries, could but have perceived how to each it is given to apprehend some grand truth, or portion thereof, which has been missed or undervalued by another, and how each, therefore, is the supplement of that other, and the complement of the whole! This is a great lesson which it is not too late for us in these days to learn; and in seeking to understand what contributions various eminent men have made to the doctrine and organization of the Church, we may draw nearer to the whole truth than has been done by others, who have failed to use so important a vantage-ground."-Pp. 35, 36.

It is not his object to give a complete biographical picture of the spiritual heroes whom he brings before us, but to view them in relation to those truths which they brought into greatest prominence. The lectures are written with Mr. Solly's usual earnestness and eloquence; and whilst he sympathizes with the subjects of them, he is not blind to their errors. He attributes the success of Luther to the living power with which he felt the "great and blessed truth of God's forgiving mercy and saving grace."

"The central truth....that it is Christ's love and faithfulness which bring

salvation from God to man... is, and ever will be, the great quickening element of spiritual progress, from which all genuine and enduring Christian life must take its birth and draw its earliest nourishment."-P. 14.

It is remarked that the creed of the Church in which he had been reared ("I believe in the forgiveness of sins"), at length delivered him from her galling yoke. But the abuses of that Church aroused his antagonism against some of the truths with which they were connected; and his one-sided views drove him into dangerous extremes and a deplorable bigotry.

As Luther is selected as the champion of justification by faith, Munzer is brought before us as an instance of philanthropic enthusiasm. The author's ardour in the cause of the oppressed here finds a kindred topic; but he shews the dangers which result from the attempt to hasten the kingdom of Christ by violence; and points out that, for any movement to be permanently successful, it must enlist those of cool and calculating judgment, whose sympathies it may be difficult to waken, but who prove, when roused, the most valuable auxiliaries. This lecture, especially, is adapted to the times, and deserves serious consideration. In the unfeeling conduct of Luther it is seen how much real injury is done to the cause of Christ by those who, in their eagerness for sectarian success, neglect the cause of the oppressed to procure the favour of the powerful.

A fastidious critic might detect some inadvertencies of expression. Thus Protestantism is spoken of (p. 3) as "the greatest religious reform the world has yet beheld." Surely our author forgets Christianity; unless, indeed, he answers that the kingdom of God came not with observation: and we think that his description of the sober-minded—“bridling up with a species of specialconstable prudery" (p. 37), is not in the best taste.

It is easy, however, to detect little imperfections, which the author himself has prepared us to expect. We hope that his ardour in every good work will be rewarded by the wide circulation of these Lectures; and that his wish, expressed in his Preface, will be amply fulfilled:

"Should they in any degree tend to quicken the religious life in churches or individuals, to consolidate Christian union, to enthrone the authority of Christ in all social institutions and national customs, it will be a source of heartfelt gratitude to the writer, whatever measure of apparent success may attend them."

The Sacrifice of Christ scripturally and rationally interpreted: with Remarks on the Doctrine of Atonement as popularly held, and especially as expounded by the late Dr. Magee. By Edward Higginson. 12mo. Pp. 67. Second Edition (Fourth Thousand), Corrected and Enlarged.

IT is well that this little book is reprinted and once more made accessible, at a very moderate price, to those who need a guide through the difficulties with which the popular theology has surrounded the Scriptures on the subject of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. In a moderate-sized tract we have what in less skilful hands would have swollen into a large octavo volume. Clearness of thought reflected in a style beautifully lucid, and logic singularly close, qualify Mr. Higginson to excel in controversial writing. The work divides itself into five Chapters. In the first, the nature of the inquiry is explained and the proper mode of conducting it is stated. Mr. Higginson shews, what we fear many Unitarians need to learn, that the inquiry is neither metaphysical nor ethical, but essentially scriptural. He adopts the historic order of inquiry into the rites of sacrifice, and comments on Dr. Magee's proposal to read the history of sacrifice backwards. The second Chapter treats on sacrifices in general. The third Chapter is the most important in the volume, as it elaborately discusses the Mosaic sacrifices, and proves that they were simply ritual, and that in no case were they enjoined as an atonement for moral guilt. In the fourth Chapter, Mr. Higginson applies the principles established in the previous Chapter to the interpretation of the language found in the Epistles re

specting the sacrifice of Christ. There can be no doubt that the Atonement, rather than the Trinity, is made the stronghold of the "orthodox" system; and until it can be brought home to the popular mind that the principle of a vicarious atonement has no place in the New Testament, proper Unitarianism will make but little progress. For this reason, we wish a wide diffusion may be given to the masterly and convincing treatise of Mr. Higginson. The following passage in the Preface to this edition, which, as respects its literary character, is an improvement on its predecessor, will shew the general scope of his work:

"I consider the cause of practical religion to be intimately bound up with this discussion. The high Calvinistic view of the sacrifice of Christ is confessedly immoral in its obvious tendency; and no view, however modified, which persists in regarding that sacrifice as a proper atonement for moral guilt, can possibly have (though conjoined doctrines may) a good moral influence. Whereas the admission of the simple ritual view of the Mosaic sacrifices, and the explanation of Christ's sacrifice founded thereupon, makes Judaism itself a worthy step in the moral improvement of the world, and exhibits Christianity as an administration of purely virtuous influences, without admixture or drawback."

The Christianity of Christ and the Christianity of the World: a Discourse delivered on the Re-opening of St. Mark's Chapel, Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, on Sunday Morning, September 24, 1848. By George Harris. London-Mardon.

AFTER nearly three years' absence from their own house of prayer (occasioned, we believe, by certain subterraneous railroad operations), the Unitarians of Edinburgh were in the autumn of last year enabled to re-assemble in the chapel of St. Mark. They very naturally invited Mr. Harris, whose name is so closely associated with both Edinburgh and Scottish Unitarianism, to deliver the discourse on the occasion. The characteristic excellences of his sermon are, eloquent declamation and a wholesome mixture of practical and doctrinal remarks. Its fault (to our taste) is an occasional excess in invective. In censuring our opponents we should be careful not to exaggerate their faults, and should also give them credit for the virtues they possess. While we are not blind to its superstitions, we see some things in popular Christianity which we should rejoice to see generally diffused amongst the professors of Unitarianism. It is to the praise of our orthodox' brethren generally that they support their system with a zeal that indicates their conviction of its truth. No one has more powerfully than Mr. Harris rebuked the listlessness of Unitarians in respect to the diffusion of their principles.

Our readers are doubtless aware that Mr. Harris is about to add another to the existing Unitarian periodicals, under the title of The Christian Pilot. We take the opportunity of wishing him success in his zealous labours.

Religious Education of Children. By Silas Henn. London—Mardon. THIS is a plain, sensible and earnest essay. It evinces a strong sense of personal religion in the author, who is the chief support of the new Unitarian society at Tipton, near Birmingham. He is the author of many little tracts on liberal and practical religion, which, we are glad to learn, have a wide circulation amongst the working men of Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Such preachers, if they will content themselves with religious teaching, and avoid the dangerous but bewitching path of politics, are allies whom we ought to welcome and support.

The Only True Guide to Happiness. By Francis Knowles. London-Mardon. THIS is a kind and earnest persuasive to accept and obey the religion of Jesus Christ as the rule of life.

PERIODICALS.

The Edinburgh Review, No. CLXXIX., January, 1849.-The No. opens with a long article on the French Benedictines. It is penned in the right spirit, the reviewer declaring at the outset that he esteems" that to be the best Protestantism which, while it frankly condemns the errors of other Christian societies, yet claims fellowship with the piety, the wisdom and the love which, in the midst of those errors, have attested the divine original of them all." The chief topics of the article are the life and character first of St. Benedict, falling chiefly in the first half of the 6th century; next, of Boniface in the 7th and 8th centuries; and lastly, of Jean Mabillon in the 17th. The reforms introduced by Benedict on the monastic system as he found it, are memorable. He found indolence, self-will and selfishness; he supplanted them by industry, obedience and community of goods. The reviewer declares that "profound genius, extensive knowledge and earnest meditation, had raised him to the very first rank of uninspired legislators." The description of the singular scene presented in the charmed circle round the early Benedictine monasteries, is highly picturesque. In some of its details it reminds us of a striking harvest scene we once beheld in our own country, on Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, where a Benedictine settlement, driven out of France by the French Revolution, has made the wilderness around them teem with the riches of an abundant harvest.

"In the whirl and uproar of the handicrafts of our own day, it is difficult to imagine the noiseless spectacle which in those ages so often caught the eye, as it gazed on the secluded abbey and the adjacent grange. In black tunics, the mementos of death, and in leathern girdles, the emblems of chastity, might then be seen carters silently yoking their bullocks to the team, and driving them in silence to the field,or shepherds interchanging some inevitable whispers while they watched their flocks,— or vine-dressers pruning the fruit of which they might neither taste nor speak,-or wheelwrights, carpenters and masons, plying their trades like the inmates of some deaf and dumb asylum;-and all pausing from their labours as the convent bell, sounding the hours of primes or nones or vespers, summoned them to join in spirit, even when they could not repair in person, to those sacred offices. Around the monastic workshop might be observed the belt of cultivated land continually encroaching on the adjacent forest; and the passer-by might trace to the toils of these mute workmen the opening of roads, the draining of marshes, the herds grazing, and the harvests waving in security, under the shelter of ecclesiastical privileges which even the Vandal and the Ostrogoth regarded with respect."

We have not room for the spirited description which follows of the services of the Benedictines to painting, sculpture, architecture and music. This article indicates, in one or two passages, a sympathy with the forms of religion commonly called "Evangelical," which is a new feature in this periodical. Not many passages in preceding volumes of the Edinburgh can be found in which the "holy unction" of men like Doddridge and Howe, Venn and John Newton, is hailed with enthusiasm. We must pass unnoticed the articles on the progress of mechanical invention, on an American tale, and on the diplomacy of Louis XIV. and William III., to dwell for a moment or two on the brief but pithy notice of Mr. Shore's case and the policy of the Bishop of Exeter. We wish this Prelate a very long life, and the continuance, to the last hour of his episcopal being, of his singular powers! He is doing a not unimportant work, disclosing the worst tendencies of a State-Church, and the obnoxiousness to reason and liberty of episcopal discipline. A passage or two are worth quoting:

"If ecclesiastical law had been looked into once in a hundred years for that most important of all reforms, the purpose of accommodating it to the intelligence and spirit of the times, it would have been impossible that there should have existed at this day such a case as that of Mr. Shore. And, even in the present state of things, such a law would never have rushed out like a spider from a cobweb upon its prey, in case episcopal authority had always the good fortune to be placed in prudent hands."