REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

we have seen, is rather limited; and we note one most unwarrantable tampering with the language of Holy Scripture, where our Lord's words, "This is My Body," are changed into "This represents My Body." The engravings are after the Albert Durer style, and are very good.

Mr. Formby's volume too, though the engravings are somewhat unequal, is deserving in this respect of very great commendation. The subjects from the designs of Carl Clausen are admirable, and so also are those in a lower degree by Powell and Harvey. The quotations from Holy Scripture are after the Douay Version; but we have not stumbled on any point of doctrine which need give offence. In some outward things we are sorry to say it is otherwise. Thus the legend, on the cover "Sancta Maria Immaculata ora pro nobis," cannot be said to be in good taste. But what shall we say of the treatment of Jeroboam's sin? In the text he is said to have "come to the conclusion that his new kingdom must have an Established Church of its own;" and the engraving, which shows him burning incense to the Golden Calf, is thus lettered, "Jeroboam sets up the Government Altar at Bethel." We presume that this attempt at smartness escaped the notice of his Holiness the Pope, who, it must be supposed, does not object to an Established Church, when he gave his imprimatur to the work, as we learn from the flyleaf that he has done.

Miss YONGE has now completed the series of Landmarks, (Mozleys,) by the publication of a thick volume on Modern History, reaching down to the fall of Napoleon. We could wish here in a few places -as still more in her Kings of England,—that a more decided Church tone had been adopted; but even in those cases the tone is better than what usually prevails in historical manuals; while she must be admitted to have achieved the great, and we believe, singular success of turning a summary of facts into a readable and interesting volume.

Northwode Priory, by the Author of "Everley," (Masters,) is an improvement on the first work of this clever young author. The religious teaching is of a more distinctive character and of a higher tone. It is a work well adapted for the reading of young girls, infinitely superior to the ordinary novel, and in many respects very profitable.

Hymns for the Collects, by ELIZABETH STRAFFORD, (Mozleys) do not betoken much of the poetical or of the theological spirit. This, for example, is the paraphrase of the Christmas-day Collect

"Oh Thou, Who didst send the Child JESUS to earth,

Give us, oh our FATHER, a heavenly birth."

We are made acquainted by the Rev. R. R. HUTTON's opening Address (Skeffington,) of another good work, emanating from the parish of S. James', as did the "Mission" from S. Barnabas'. It is a Home for Penitent Women of the more educated class, and has been established at Whetstone near London. We trust that by experience Mr. Hutton will rise to the duties of his position as Chaplain. At pre

Mr. BENNETT's second Pastoral Letter (Whittaker and Cleaver) is a very interesting record of work done, while at the same time it shows (taking Frome as an average specimen) how very unsatisfactory is the moral condition of our population. We are glad to observe that he expresses his intention of not repeating the early part of the Communion Service when the Celebration has taken place at an earlier hour, but of proceeding at once, after the Litany, to the Sermon. It would have been well, we think, that there should have been some reference made to the Diocesan in the course of the Letter.

We trust that the same author's Sermon, preached at S. George's Mission, may also obtain a wide circulation, as well for its own merits as because it conveys a right view of one of the most praiseworthy efforts which the Church in our day has made.

We must not pass in silence over the Bishop of OXFORD's recent Charge, (J. H. Parker,) which, had not Lord Palmerston sold himself to the dregs of an effete persecuting sect which has nothing whatever in common with the English Church, might seem to be the dawn of a better era. It is the only Charge proceeding from a Bishop of our Commu nion that we ever met with, which at all indicates that the writer had risen to a conception of his position as a chief Pastor in the Church. This the Bishop of Oxford undoubtedly has done; and the way in which he speaks of the Church's spiritual interests in his own diocese and in the kingdom at large, is every thing that we could desire. The accompaniment of the Holy Eucharist must also still more have made the Visitation sensibly different from the ordinary type of such occurrences, May we not hope that the Bishop's requirement of a credence in every church according to the judgment of the Privy Council will act as a hint to the Clergy throughout the country? Still more important points would be the re-establishment of the priest's proper position before, as the rubric undoubtedly intended, and not at the end of the altar, and the universal recognition of Eucharistic celebration, as the characteristic solemnity at least of every Sunday.

As concerning itself almost entirely with the duties of the Parochial Clergy, we gladly also give its due meed of praise to the Charge of the Bishop of CORK. (John W. Parker and Son.) The Bishop's view of Confirmation is certainly not very Catholic; but it is a real step in advance to find him offering to make Confirmations in his diocese parochial, and proposing to seal them at all times with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

Under the title of Home and Colonial Missions, Mr. MONRO has published two striking Sermons which fall in very appropriately with the desire now so fast spreading that the Church should make some special effort for recovering her outcast population. While agreeing with the writer in this view, and admiring his eloquent and forcible style, we cannot help feeling, as we ever do in reading Mr. Maurice's Sermons, that it would be much better that he should be content to propound his views, as he is so well able, on their own merits, rather than insist on finding a Scripture-vehicle for them, which must often involve the forc ing Scripture beyond what was in the mind of the Inspiring Spirit.

CHRIST.

Echoes from Egypt; or, the type of Antichrist.

By the Rev. WILLIAM JOHN GROVES, M.A., sometime Vicar of Chewton Mendip, in the county of Somerset. London: Rivingtons. 1857.

AMONG the many features which mark the present revival in the Church, not the least characteristic is the increased attention which is being paid by sober men, in many quarters, to the interpretation of the Apocalypse. Nor can we deem this other than providential. For as the Apocalypse is confessedly the most hard to be understood' of all writings in the inspired volume; and yet one to which the Church is bidden, in some signal and especial manner, to take heed,' as mirroring forth her future destiny and career, exposing to view her temptations and dangers, disclosing the terrible secrets of the latter days,' furnishing her with a chart and guiding light wherewith to track the gloomy mazes of the dark valley ;—so is every contribution towards its elucidation to be welcomed with corresponding thankfulness.

Among the most recent of such attempts, is the work which heads the present article-which has claimed notice at our hands for some months past. Its specific design is to trace to its source, and follow the course of, one very important tributary to the broad stream of Apocalyptic symbolism.

None can have failed to observe how varied and complex is the imagery employed in that mystic Book. Now while certain of the elements which form the basis of its figurative language have received a full meed of recognition; others have been too much overlooked; and important incidental light thereby lost.

It is manifest that, as the great final crisis of world and Church history, which forms the main theme of the Revelation of S. John, will present a sort of combined and intensified repetition of all the leading crises which have marked the previous career of these two great Powers:-As, for instance, we are warned that a second expulsion from Paradise is to ensue; a second Deluge, not of water but of fire; a renewal of the Judgment on the cities of the plain (for "the punishment of the sin of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom"); a second Exodus, and destruction of a more terrible Pharaoh and his host a new and direr visitation upon a Jerusalem more apostate than her of old-So, will great light be thrown on the compound imagery employed by the Inspired Seer, by resolving it into its constituent elements, and comparing these with their several historic arche

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Mr. Groves confines himself to one only of the threads (as he conceives, the most important of all) which enter into the contexture of the symbolic language of the Revelation, viz., the Egyptian. His work is, in this respect, a real addition to our Apocalyptic literature.

"While so many volumes," he says, "have been written replete with inquiry concerning the character of mystic Babylon, not one, to my knowledge, has been devoted to the unfolding of those spiritual realities veiled under the emblem of Egypt. Although the former is mentioned by name more frequently than the latter, Egypt is alluded to in the symbolism of the Apocalypse, and appears to contribute towards it, more largely than does Babylon. In a word, Egypt, if I may so express myself, forms, more or less, an essential part of the woof of that sublime vision."-P. 214.

Here then is a sufficiently legitimate and attractive subject of inquiry. Nor has the writer spared any labour to render his work interesting and instructive. It is replete with varied information. It is ingenious and thoughtful. Its fault consists in its discursive character. It contains too much irrelevant matter, too many fanciful etymologies; and is too much spun out. The book loses in interest, moreover, by its arrangement. During the whole of the first half of it, the reader is left in vague uncertainty as to the point to which all the fragmentary dissertations, scraps of information, ingenious derivations, are tending. Hence it is far from improbable that many will close the volume without ever discerning the precise object of it. Not, but that the several sections have all, more or less, internal connection. This connection, however, is far from obvious till we have patiently traversed nearly the whole book.

The writer commences with a somewhat interesting dissertation on the origin of Idolatry and Sacrifice with a view to establish the fact of the early introduction of the worship of the serpent.

Doubtless the first real object of Idolatrous worship was the Serpent, or rather that Evil Spirit who animated the 'subtle' reptile: the idolatry manifesting itself in a transfer from God to Satan, on the part of our first parents, of obedience and faith. GOD's command was disregarded. Satan's obeyed. God's Word was discredited; the Serpent's believed.

The Deification of the Sun, as the supposed Source of Life and Light, our author conceives to have formed the first outward manifestation of Idolatry after the Fall. But he most gratuitously charges the origination of this false worship upon Cain. These suggestions (pp. 27-29) as to what Cain might have done, and therefore what he probably did do, strike us as singularly unsatisfactory and profitless.

As the Sun, then, would be esteemed the symbol of the first

Principle of Good; so, from the universal tradition of the Fall, would the Serpent be regarded as the corresponding symbol of the antagonistic Principle of Evil. The former would be supplicated; the malignant influence of the latter deprecated. This appears to have been really the case; till, as man sank gradually deeper in alienation from GOD, the Serpent himself came to be the avowed object of religious adoration.

Most marvellous is the well-attested fact of the all but universal prevalence of this debased form of worship. Whether it pervaded the antediluvian world or not, is by no means apparent.

Ham has the unenviable notoriety of being the great postdiluvian parent of idolatry. In his son Canaan, it soon manifested itself in all its most repulsive features.

Egypt was called the "land of Ham." The reputed founder of its polity and power was Mizraim the second son of Ham. The ordinary Scripture designation of the country is Mitzraim; to this day the Arabs call it Misr. It is supposed that Ham himself died there, and that Hammon or Jupiter Ammon was a deification of the patriarch.

We have already alluded to the fact of the good and evil principles being worshipped respectively under the forms of the Sun and the Serpent; the former, with a view to propitiate its favour, the latter, to deprecate its wrath. A striking development of this pseudo-religious system presents itself in the mythology of Egypt. "We find the Sun and Serpent not only in opposition, but in combination-existing not only as the antitheses of a system, but harmoniously and conjointly; and these antagonistic principles cemented in the symbol of the SOLAR SERPENT." p. 42.

Mr. Groves' account of the Ophiolatry of Egypt and its fatal influence over Israel is interesting and suggestive. He considers Egypt to have been, though not the originator, yet the great home and centre of Serpent worship, and the peculiar seat of the recognized rule of the malignant Spirit whose earthly badge has ever been discerned in that tortuous, cunning reptile.

"Egypt, especially at the period of the Exode, was the great power of Satan usurping the prerogative of GOD,-the most wonderful development recorded in the world's history of the intellect, the learning, the wisdom, and the arts of a nation whose power was the Arch-Spirit of evil". . . This consideration, he adds, "invests the mission of Moses with a more thrilling interest, by revealing to us the fearful nature of the power with which he had to contend. For now we behold him going forth, as the Prophet of JEHOVAH, to combat with, and triumph over, the avowed representative of the Evil One, a fit type of the final struggle between CHRIST and Antichrist."-Pp. 71, 2.

Mr. Groves notices the interesting significance of the miracle which accompanied the call of Moses. He is about to encounter