ness for contumely; if they have reached forward to this distant goal of time as memorials of ancient days, in which we observe a relationship between the daily habits and the national character of centuries, and now we see them shaking off the fastenings of custom, and figuring upon the platform of Europe as magistrates and philosophers, disciplined troops and Chrisian missionaries; if the Moslem sword has been so long suspended in uncertainty over the head of the pilgrim to the land of his fathers, and now the religion of Mahomet is wasting away, the gates of Jerusalem are open to the Christian and the Jew, and the rival competitors for the land of Israel are dependent apon the arbitration of Christian princes; if the Jews, disencumbered of Rabbinism, are awakening from the lethargy of centuries, combining for prayer and pilgrimage, anxiously debating their condition, (the first step in the process of conversion,) and either listening to the sound of the Gospel, or else driven to despair by surrounding darkness and idolatry, are abandoning hope, and lapsing into the gloom of scepticismthen altogether there is a combination of novelties presented to our view which warrant the conclusion, that they are either fast approaching the goal of their immortality as a nation, or else that the day of their redemption is at hand. We are thrown upon times peculiarly prophetic. "The Apocalypse," it has been aptly remarked, "in its sublime visions, indicates that the regions of men and the moral world have presiding angels, whose power is restrained until the mandate of the Almighty shall let them loose, like whirlwinds, in overwhelming destruction of things as they are, for the development and manifesting of things as they shall be. Who can doubt but that some such command was given a generation back, and that the first furious burst, which shook every throne in Europe, making monarchs tremble in their capitals, and rupturing the bonds of existing society in the first French revolution, was the thunder-clap the vibrations of which we are now experiencing." It seems as if the Rabbinists, who have abided so long without advance or retrocession, were also yielding to the power of the great "movement" which is ranging impartially over the earth, and threatening in its progress the dissolution of all established political and ecclesiastical institutions; but as history proves that national convulsions have always responded to the loosening of the bars of Israel's captivity, and there are divine announcements that Jerusalem's recovery shall be synchronous with distress of nations, and the fulness of the times * Memorials of Israel. By Henry Innes. of the Gentiles; many late writers consider that the present stormy state of the world is but a step in the development, by an unerring power, of the process of rescue for Israel. "Poor nation, whose sweet sap and juice O that my prayers! mine, alas! That your sweet sap might come again." GEORGE HERBERT. Those who look upon the Jews merely as so many scattered fragments of an antiquated ruin, in which the elements of ancient times live and breathe, and can perceive nothing peculiar in their past history or present state, will probably throw obloquy upon every attempt to reclaim them. Others, principally dissenters, admit that the Jew needs the Gospel as well as the heathen, but consider the world to be independently advancing to the meridian of universal righteousness, through the agency of existing means; and can therefore afford to trace out for the descendants of Abraham no higher destiny, than that of being denationalized, and absorbed into their various communities. Thus all nations would become evangelized through the agency of different sections of Christians, subdividing and disagreeing about non essentials, without order, harmony, unity, or combination, an instrumentality very inadequate (an unprejudiced mind will admit) to work out such a glorious consummation. A numerons class of writers, treading in the steps of Bishops Louth, Butler, Horsley, and Van Mildert anticipate, from reiterated scriptural announcements, a conclusion to the marvellous history of the ancients, more analogous to the past proceedure of Providence. Admitting that the Gentile Church has special glories of its own, they consider the gathering of a remnant of the Jews as one of its offices, and the appointed prerequisite to some future remarkable and powerful display of Providence in their favor; that scriptural truths of the greatest moment will then be revealed to them in the appalling brightness of unavoidable light—their national conversion and reconciliation brought about at once. It is nowhere intimated in Scripture that there should be, during the present dispensation, any broad exception to the rule, that "straight is the way and narrow is the gate that leadeth unto life;" and accordingly, the expansive power of Christianity has ever been repressed by some dark and hidden influence. The Church has ever been ailing, and beset with danger in its alloted pathway to final victory. But if reiterated predictions, uttered in the most simple language, be interpreted according to the primitive sense the rule of interpretation adopted by our Lord and his Apostles-there is yet in reserve for this memorable people a national pre-eminence, during which they will stand forward as leading supporters of the divine standard of peace in the last ages of the Church as well as in the first; and the most efficient collectors of the revenue of glory, when the "earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." ART. VIII.-Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England; being a Collection of Injunctions, Declarations, Orders, Articles of Inquiry, &c. from the year 1546 to the year 1716; with Notes, historical and explanatory. By EDWARD CARDWELL, D.D., Principal of St. Alban's Hall. Oxford: at the University Press. 2 vols. 8vo. 1839. [SECOND NOTICE.] THE private writings of our venerated Reformers are, in consequence of various reprints of considerable portions of them during the last forty years, generally known and extensively circulated: but those documents, which were put forth by authority at the period of the Reformation, and which must be regarded as speaking the sentiments of the Anglican Church, and, in many cases, as a comment on our various services, are known to comparatively few. To give an illustration of the point in question, we may allude to the controversies now going forward, within the pale of the Church, respecting certain usages. By one party these usages are said to be lawful, and enjoined by the Reformers; the other asserts exactly the contrary. Now, in our opinion, the dispute may, in many instances, be settled by a reference to those documents which were published throughout the reign of Elizabeth, by authority of the Church. Feeling, as we do, that the subject is a very important one, we shall devote a second article to Dr. Cardwell's valuable work, entitled "Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England." We sincerely hope that Dr. Cardwell will follow out the plan to which he alludes in his preface, of publishing other documents, besides those which are included in the present volumes. We are convinced that those to which we allude would settle many disputes: they would evidence the views of the Reformers on certain questions now eagerly canvassed: and the advantages would be experienced by the Church in general. It strikes us, too, that such works should issue from our Universities; and, assuredly, the Clarendon Press could not be more advantageously employed than in sending them forth to the public. Those which have already appeared can be regarded as an earnest only of the vast harvest to be reaped, in due time, from the same field. It should be observed that the late Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Lloyd, was the first to commence the publication of works of this description. In the year 1825 he published "Formularies of Faith, put forth by authority during the reign of Henry VIII." The volume contains the first public documents after King Henry had renounced the jurisdiction of the Pope. It was deemed necessary, in the early days of the Reformation, to publish certain formularies, lest the people, by being emancipated from the Roman forms, should degenerate into licentiousness. The first work of the kind was the "Articles about Religion, A.D. 1536." This was the commencement of the great work in England. Many popish views were retained, but many were renounced; and the giving up of some opened the door for renouncing others. These Articles, with the other works of the same reign, possess no authority now: but they are interesting documents, inasmuch as they may be regarded as the germs of that abundant harvest which was reaped at a subsequent period. We are enabled, by means of these, and by comparing them with those of the next reign, and that of Elizabeth, to trace the progress of opinion in the minds of the Reformers, and the commencement of that change which was at length so happily effected. They were published under the auspices of Cranmer, to whom the Church and the Reformation in England were so deeply indebted. In 1537, the second work of this reign was set forth, entitled "The Institution of a Christian Man." It contains many of the preceding Articles, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and comments and expositions upon them. It is divided into four parts, the first containing an exposition of the Creed; the second an exposition or declaration of the Seven Sacraments; the third an exposition of the Ten Commandments; the fourth of the Paternoster, the Ave, with the Articles of Mortification and Pur gatory. It was called the " Bishops' Book," because it was arranged and prepared by the Bishops. In 1543, or perhaps earlier, a third work made its appearance, under this title, "The necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man." It was called the "King's Book," to distinguish it from the preceding, and because King Henry was, probably, more concerned in it than in the other. It has a Preface by the King, or, at all events, in the King's name; while the preface to the former is from the Bishops, and addressed to his Majesty. There is a difference in the arrangement of this work from the former: otherwise, with the exception of some few additional matters, it varies but little from the "Bishops' Book." In all these works there is much that is erroneous, but, at the same time there is much that is sound and scriptural; and they may be viewed as evidences of the dawning of that bright day which soon after burst upon the country in full meridian splendour, and in the enjoyment of which we are still living. More might be said on the public documents of the reign of Henry VIII., but our limits do not permit of our entering on the subject, at present, at greater length. With respect to the works enumerated in our former article on this subject, we may remark that we are indebted for not a few of them to the attacks of opponents. The attacks of the Papists gave birth to "Jewel's Apology," to his "Defence," and to "Nowel's Catechism," all works of authority. The attacks of the Puritans called forth Whitgift and Hooker; whose works in defence of our Church have never been answered. Cartwright drew Whitgift into the controversy, and Hooker was led into it by Travers; and but for the assaults of those individuals, the "Defence" of Whitgift, and the "Ecclesiastical Polity” of Hooker would never have been written. Almost every topic discussed by modern Dissenters, is considered and disposed of by Whitgift in his admirable "Defence." The reader is aware that, at an early period of the reign of Elizabeth, the Puritans published an "Admonition to the Parliament," in which their objections to the rites and ceremonies retained in the Anglican Church were stated. A copy of this curious and extremely rare performance is now on our table. It has neither date nor name of the printer. It was, however, published about the year 1570. After a careful examination of this curious document, and comparing it with certain English works printed about the same time on the continent, we are decidedly of opinion that it was printed in Germany. Many books were printed in different places abroad, and then circulated in England. Soon after the publication of the "Admo |