him on the cross; and these opposite opinions, under the various modifica tions of blasphemy and error, devised by the imaginations of Basilides, Carpocrates, and Marcion, attracted the attention, and called forth the anethemas of the primitive church. Encountered by the piety, and learning, and reasoning of the Tertullians and Irenæuses of the day, these absurdities ceased to obscure the Christian horizon, and all interest concerning them was absorbed in the more important, because more specious errors of Arius. The opinions of Arius are connected by the Fathers with those of Ebion, Samosatenus, and others who are generally, but improperly supposed to have held the simple humanity of Jesus, in the modern sense of the word. Many, perhaps the great majority, did hold that Jesus was a mere man, born of Jesus and Mary, though some of them maintained the miraculous conception, but all held that the man Jesus was united, though not personally, to a divine principle called Christ, and the varieties of error were but the varieties of rank in which that principle was placed, and its nature, regarded as an angelic being, the opinion of Ebion and Cerinthus, or an emanation of the Father, as was probably held by Sabellius, or the wisdom or Logos of God, which, communicated to Jesus, made him the Christ at some period subsequent to his baptism, as was the opinion of Paul of Samosata. In none of these early heresies is the simple humanity of Christ, in the modern Unitarian sense, discovered; and indeed the last able writer on the subject, Professor Burton, asserts, that such an opinion did not exist during the three first centuries. Arius, also, who started the idea of a created God, was connected by the primitive church with these previous errors, and his, by contrast, gave birth to others. Apollinarius, from zeal against Arianism, so completely deified the humanity of Christ, as to deny the existence of a rational soul, the place of which was supplied by the divine nature. But these minor controversies about the human and divine nature of Christ, and their mode of union, were silenced by the more important convulsion connected with Nestorius's sentiments, which not only agitated the religious and political world in the fifth century, but retains possession still of a large proportion of the east.

Nestorius, a Syrian, and therefore of a speculative turn, a bigot, and therefore a persecutor, was induced in his zeal against the growing veneration for the Virgin, to oppose the title given to her of OEOTOKоs, or mother of God. This title which originally was intended only to mark the strictness of the union of the two natures in the Redeemer's person, so that what was predicated of the one might be affirmed of the other; a fact easily demonstrable from Scripture; had probably given rise to much superstitious respect, and Nestorius might have very justly opposed the improper use of the epithet; but in the controversy, either he, or his adherents, used language susceptible of the interpretation of a duplicity not only of natures, but of persons in the Saviour. An error of this kind, if held by Nestorius, of which there is some doubt, certainly strikes at the very root of the incarnation and its connexion with our salvation, for if the person of the Son of God be not identical with that of the Son of Mary, if the union be not what is termed hypostatical, then the obedient sufferings of the man are not those of the divine person, and therefore devoid of value. Nestorius, it is thought, did not really hold this opinion, so unscriptural

* See the entire question of the early heresies treated with great learning and acuteness, by Professor Burton, in his Bampton Lectures. We have only cause to regret, that like Hammond, he discovers Gnosticism a little too universally. This work is a very valuable addition to English theology.

and absurd, but he had severe judges to contend with. Cyril of Alexan dria, might have been more orthodox, but he was certainly not less intolerant, and Nestorius treated with ignominy and violence, and condemned unheard, was deposed and banished, leaving his doctrines to be a rallying point for heresy in the east, and his name as a mark for the indignation of the Catholic world.

Opposition to error, in the case of Nestorius, we have seen produce error of as great importance, and the anxiety engendered in subtle minds to avoid the dualistic theory, drew many to the opposite extreme of Eutyches. This person, so unfortunately conspicuous in Church history, had arrived at an advanced stage of life when he engaged in theological controversy, in which hatred of Nestorian errors, and an anxious desire to remove from them, as far as words would allow, drew him into the unscriptural views, which would, by denying the community between the Redeemer and the objects of his care, prevent the possibility of the application of his atonement or merits to their case. Nestorius, by assuming two persons-united, indeed, but still only united-made the sacrifice of the man an offering of the creature; and Eutyches, in opposition, taught that the human nature so far from subsisting in a separate person, (urosaris,) was absorbed into, and by, the Divine; so that, in fact, after the Conception, but one nature existed in one person. This pernicious opinion, which separated the Saviour from those whom he condescended to call his brethren, was supported by the whole Alexandrian school, the great opponents of Nestorius, and through the violence and influence of Dioscorus, the prelate of that see, was even approved by the second Council of Ephesus, (latrocinium Ephesinum) but was finally suppressed by the great council of Chalcedon, the fourth of the Ecumenical synods. By that assembly the doctrine of the Incarnation received its completion; in which the Christian world has subsequently acquiesced; and the divinity of the Word, and the Word made flesh-two distinct and unmingled, but hypostatically united natures-has been the opinion called orthodox, since the days of St. Leo and the Council of Chalcedon, though the sentiments both of Nestorius and Eutyches, under different names and forms, widely prevail in the east. It would almost seem that error, on the person and incarnation of Christ, had been exhausted, but the seventh century proved such an opinion to be itself an error; and the injudicious attempts of the Emperor Heraclius, to induce an union between the Monophysites and the adherents of the Council of Chalcedon, brought into existence the portent of a new heresy. His plan was indeed ingeniously contrived, as well as benevolently intended; but, as might be expected, it aggravated the evil. He suggested a common ground, on which both orthodox and Eutychians might meet, the proposition, that after the union of the two natures in Christ, there existed but one will and one operation; an opinion, which after involving the east and west in controversy-having ensnared one pope into heresy, and caused the banishment of another was solemnly condemned by the sixth General Council, and after struggling for some time to maintain an existence, contrary to Scripture and to common sense, lingered in obscurity among the Maronites, of Mount Lebanon, and finally disappeared on their submission to the bishop of Rome. Doubtless in this instance as in the other, we should be slow to judge with harshness the individuals who are accused of holding this opinion. Many of them only intended to mark an harmony of the two wills in Christ, by speaking of them as one; and almost all, though they assumed that they were blended together, seem to have distinguished between them, as an agent and an instrument, though the operation is one, and essentially the

same. Such is a rapid view of the opinions formed during the first seven centuries of Christianity of the nature and incarnation of the Redeemer. It would seem that in all instances, the controversy was forced upon the church by speculative and turbulent men, and that too frequently their speculations and turbulence were met by minds as imaginative, and tempers as violent, in the advocates of orthodoxy. When, indeed, we read the sad tale of the controversies of the church, and compare its history with the creed we have received, we are astonished that truth so simple and so scriptural, could have been established during the stormy periods of the first five centuries, when the impure admixture of Gnosticism disappeared, only to be succeeded by the presumptuous and unscriptural tenets of an Arius, and the subtle distinctions of an Nestorius, or an Eutyches-a divine providence must have presided at the helm, or the vessel would long since have been overwhelmed by the tempest. We will venture another remark, which will unite our observations to the immediate subject of this review: in the long course we have rapidly passed over, we have not found, with the exception of the first class of heretics, a party among either the favourers or the impuguers of the Catholic creed, harbouring a doubt as to the sinless character of the human nature assumed by Christ. Cerinthus, Ebion, and the other madmen who held similar views, by making Jesus a mere man, joined at some period of his life to Christ, necessarily assigned to him a nature corrupt and fallen like ours, but we challenge the advocates for Mr. I.'s opinion, to produce any more respectable authority for his sentiments. We request the attention of the reader to the following extract from the letter of Leo to Flavian, which was adopted by the Council of Chalcedon, and must, we would think, silence all doubts upon the subject of the opinion of the Church :-" In assuming our nature, he has taken all in it that is ours; every thing that in creating he placed in that nature, every thing that he intended to repair; but he did not take that which the deceiver implanted; he took the form of a servant, but not the taint of sin."

(To be continued.)

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Works of Martin Doyle. William Curry, Jun. and Co. Dublin. 1830.

Ever since we read the life of Pastor Oberlin, and found how useful a clergyman might be amongst his parishioners in a secondary sense, by directing their industry in a right track, and suggesting new modes of employment and cultivation, we have held it to be a useful thing for a country parson to have amongst his books, some practical treatises on cottage economy and rural affairs, which he might circulate amongst his parishioners, and thereby contribute to the comfort and prosperity of those around him: and, though it would be contrary to the whole scope and design of our editorial labours, to encourage any Christian minister to forego his paramount duty and calling, of teaching and Conversing on spiritual things, and making the immortal souls of his flock his first and great concern, yet, we conceive there may be occasions, when a clergyman is justified

in conversing on worldly matters; and his words may not be out of place, when recommending and furthering plans for the conifort and worldly prosperity of those around him. In this way, and always as secondary and subservient to his great pastoral calling, we think a clergyman would be doing well when be puts into the his parishioners' hands approv ed and practical works on rural economyworks that encourage industry- that exhibit the evil effects of intemperance--that reprove idleness and waste of time-that show the advantages, even in a temporal sense, of a moral education-works, in fact, that in a popular way, have a tendency to amuse while they inform, and which, while they show the happy effects of peaceableness, loyalty, industry, and sobriety, are calculated to train such a body of yeomanry as may form the pride and the strength of any country, aud who, "fearing God and the king, meddle not with men that are ready to change.” We think the works of Mr.

ed after, I can tell you, by the landlord: but Jem was more than suspected of being a sheep-stealer; he himself, in reality, was a kind of black sheep among his neighbours; and though his little boy must have known, (by the concealment of the meat, and the injunction to tell every one that he bad nothing but dry potatoes to eat,) that the sheeps' heads which be sometimes had share of, were not honestly come by; he was, for the creditsake of his father, just as a make-believe to his neighbours, treated in this cruel and un. just way but Jem was only despised and avoided the more-and the child, of course, pitied by every one in the village."

Lending libraries are now very common in country parishes, and all concerned in their management must be aware, that practical treatises, such as these of Martin Doyle, are just the books that ought to be consulted. We presume that none of them will be without one or more copies of Martin Doyle.

Discovery and Adventure in Africa, No. II. of

the Edinburgh Cabinet Library.

WE think the office of reviewing, when under the direction of Christian Examiners, is most important, and that it is at once their province and bounden duty, when information is placed within the reach of all, when the tree of knowledge of good and evil can be plucked at by every hand, to direct attention to what is useful and at same time sale, as well as to wean from what, under a plausible and flowery outside, contain the seeds of what is mischievous and erroneous. We, therefore, have kept our eyes upon those compendia of useful knowledge, Cabinet Libraries, that are now put forth as literary speculations, and it has been our pleasing task, not only to approve of the original contrivance, because likely to supersede in a great measure novel reading, but also to speak well of many of them; and certainly we can venture to recommend the work now before us, as a very useful and entertaining book, in which a vast deal of diffused information has been brought together into a small compass, and in a highly popular way presented to the reading public.

We think the Editor of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library has chosen a highly attractive subject for his second volume. Africa has yet baffled all European enterprise; its deserts, its climate, and ferocious population have put to shame all attempts to penetrate into her interior secrets; the Niger is still unknown as to its head and its embouchure, and the Nile still withholds her fountains, and the mountains of the moon are still unexplored, and in spite of every motive for enterprise, from the highest sanction of the love of God to the lower motive of glory and gold, all as yet have failed, and Africa presents the great geographical problem yet to be solved; and, indeed, when we consider the immense waste of valuable lives that has been made, when we consider the sacrifice of

such men as the two Parkes, Horneman, Peddie, Ritchie, Denham, Clapperton, we almost think it a tempting of providence to pursue the discovery in this way any more, and if it be desirable, which no doubt it is, to have the central parts of this great continent explored, it would be better to await the slower process of educating natives of the Negro or Arab races, and when such are sufficiently instruct→ ed and can be depended on for their courage, faithfulness, and power of observation, to com. municate the achievement of discovery to them.

As Christian Examiners, we cannot but re gret that the Authors of this work did not enlarge a little more on the religious bistory, both past and present of Africa; they might bave added to the interest of this volume bad they devoted a chapter to the purpose of giving some account of the once flourishing Christian Churches in Northern Africa, to the past and present state of the Coptic, Nubian and Abyssinian churches, and to the labours effectual and ineffectual of Christian Missionaries. We might give our readers many amusing extracts, but must refer them to the work itself, and shall only now, according to our office, make one or two extracts which may be in character with our publication.

The character of the Moors, their bigotry, cruelty, and superstition is well depicted in the following extracts, which present such a deplorable exhibition of what man may become, when deprived of the light of true religion he is left to grope in the dark through the habitations of his cruelty.

Superstition and Bigotry of the Moors."The two races, native and foreign, Mahommedan and pagan, meet and mix in Central Africa, on the banks of the Niger, and on the other great rivers which water that region. The Moors have made extensive conversions, and have introduced all that is known of letters or writing into the interior regions. Yet the lurid gleams thus shed over benighted Africa serves little more than to deepen the surrounding darkness. This sublime art is prized, not as the principal means of enlightening and enlarging the human mind, but as a tool of the magic art,-an instrument for manufacturing charms and fetiches, to be sold at high prices to the deluded natives. Only a few of the great sheiks and doctors read even the koran. The most approved mode of imbibing its contents is by tracing the characters on a smooth board with a black substance, then washing them off, and swallowing the water. Others, having enclosed the koran in a large silver case, bear it constantly about, groaning under the burden, but expecting from it the greatest spiritual benefits.

"Bigotry among these negro converts rises to a still higher pitch; and the future doom of the unbeliever is considered even more assured than on the shores of the Mediterranean. Meantime they subject him to the earthly miseries of foreign and distant bon