style uniformly chaste, and well adapted to the principal purpose of lyric composition, that of being suited to musical employment. With respect to the part of the musical arranger of the work, we have to observe that accompaniment has become, in the present advanced stage of the science, so much a matter of course, that little novelty can be expected in a production of this kind, in which the airs do not admit any very great boldness or variety. To those who have heard Mr. Bishop's compositions in the Scotish manner, and especially the sweet strain to which he has set Lord Byron's early poem of "Loch na Garr," we need scarcely say that no artist could be better qualified to arrange airs composed in a style of which he is himself so excellent a master. His symphonies are more simple than those of Sir John Stevenson, and he has avoided to harmonize the airs which we have felt it our duty to disapprove in our former article on the Irish Melodies. Of the selection of the airs in the present Number, we cannot speak very favourably; and, if the work should not proceed, we shall regret the more that Mr. Bishop did not, at the first, display his taste on those airs which are (in our opinion, justly,) more endeared to us by their popularity. We trust, however, that the design may be sufficiently patronized to be continued; and we should be glad to see it followed by a similar selection of Welsh airs, many of which are very beautiful: but we cannot go farther in encouraging such selections, particularly when no proofs are offered of a peculiar national style. We would also take this opportunity of remarking that it is the business of selection to produce the most exquisite specimens: consequently that, in each class, the number selected must be few; and, if variety be sacrificed, (which to a certain degree it must,) it should be sacrificed only for beauty. ART. XV. History of the Waldenses, connected with a Sketch of the Christian Church, from the Birth of Christ to the Eighteenth Century. By William Jones. 8vo. pp. 600. 12s. Boards. Button, &c. THE work before us is not intended to settle doubtful points in ecclesiastical history, nor to throw any new light on that subject; it affects no displays of nice critical investigation, nor does it assume to be taken from original writers: its sole object is stated to be that of rendering accessible to common readers the important and valuable information which lies scattered in a number of voluminous productions. Moderate, however, as are its pretensions, it contains a great variety of curious and highly interesting particulars: which, though not derived from primitive sources, are nevertheless worthy of re liance, liance, the writer having had recourse only to the best secondary authorities; and, as he has exercised a sound judgment in his selections, his matter at once amuses and instructs, so that works of a higher order must yield to the present in this respect. Though the individual bias of Mr. Jones, which leads him to fix his attention on passages that did not suit the purposes of others, is very perceptible throughout, we do not mean to dispute his ingenuousness and good faith; which, indeed, are apparent in every page. His own views have evidently determined the frame and texture of the volume: but, if facts are obviously introduced for a purpose, they are fairly related; if omissions may be traced, we meet with no misrepresentations; and if the pages might sometimes be rendered more full, they are never loaded with apocryphal relations. From a very early period, according to Mr. Jones, the true church ceased to exist within the pale of the ruling hierarchy, and took refuge amid the retreats of sectaries. He finds the successors of the apostles not among the officers of the nominal church, but among the teachers of those fluctuating bodies. According to him, the Novatians, the Paulicians, the Waldenses, the Cathari, or Puritans of antiquity and of the middle ages, and the followers of the illustrious Reformers of the fifteenth century, constitute the true flock of Christ; while the party which arrogated to itself exclusively the Christian name, which anathematized and ill treated separatists, was itself apostate and heretical. He is at no loss to shew that the Christian spirit had, at a very early period, disappeared from the church, and that the Christian virtues no longer distinguished those who called themselves Christians; while he lays before his readers numerous instances of rare merit, and of sufferings patiently and nobly endured, among those whom the dominant church had cast without its pale. No sooner does the church form a connection with the state, adopt the maxims of temporal politics, and take in its hands the weapons of persecution, than the author charges her with apostacy, and refuses to acknowlege her spiritual title; which, he contends, is to be considered from that time as vested in the objects of her persecution. Although our views do not wholly coincide in these matters with the ideas of Mr. Jones, and although we differ from him in many particulars, we must bear our testimony to the industry and judgment which his labours display, and to the candour which they every where discover. Six chapters form the volume; treating respectively of The Rise and Progress of Christianity from the Birth of Christ to the Close of the first Century, of The Christian Church from the Close of the first Century to the Establishment of Christianity under Constantine; - Constantine; of The State of Christianity from the Accession of Con stantine to the Rise of the Waldenses, A.D. 306 to 800;-of The State of Christianity from the Beginning of the ninth to the End of the twelfth Century;-of The History of the Waldenses and Albi genses from the Times of Peter Waldo, to those of Wickliff, A.D. 1160 to 1360;-of The History of the Waldenses from the Middle of the fourteenth to the Close of the seventeenth Century. Observing on the new constitution of the church as settled under Constantine, Mr. Jones states that : • The government of it was, as far as possible, arranged conform ably to the government of the state. The Emperor himself assumed the title of Bishop, and claimed the power of regulating its external affairs and he and his successors convened councils, in which they presided, and determined all matters of discipline. The bishops corresponded to those magistrates whose jurisdiction was confined to single cites; the metropolitans to the proconsuls or presidents of provinces; the primates to the Emperor's vicars, each of whom governed one of the imperial provinces. Canons and prebendaries of cathedral churches took their rise from the societies of ecclesiastics, which Eusebius, Bishop of Verceil, and after him Augustine, formed in their houses, and in which these prelates were styled their fathers and masters. This constitution of things was an entire departure from the order of worship, established under Divine direction by the apostles of Christ in the primitive churches. In fact, scarcely any two things could be more dissimilar than was the simplicity of the gospel-dispensation from the hierarchy established under Constantine the Great. "Let none," says Dr. Mosheim, alluding to the first and second centuries, "confound the bishops of this primitive and golden period of the church, with those of whom we read in the following ages. For though they were both designated by the same name, yet they dif fered extremely, in many respects. A bishop during the first and second century, was a person who had the care of one Christian assembly, which, at that time, was, generally speaking, small enough to be contained in a private house. In this assembly he acted not so much with the authority of a master, as with the zeal and diligence of a faithful servant. The churches, also, in those early times, were entirely independent; none of them subject to any foreign jurisdiction, but each one governed by its own rulers and its own lawɛ. Nothing is more evident than the perfect equality that reigned among the primitive churches; nor does there ever appear, in the first century, the smallest trace of that association of provincial churches, from which councils and metropolitans derive their origin." To which we may add, that the first churches acknowledged no earthly potentate as their head. This had been expressly prohibited by their Divine Master. "The kings of the Gentiles," said he, "exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise an authority upon them are termed benefactors. But with you it shall not be so; - let him that is greatest among you be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve." Again, "Be not ye called Rabbi, REV. JUNE, 1814. for for one is your master even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your father who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant; and whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, while he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." These divine maxims, which are in perfect unison with the whole tenor of the New Testament, were entirely disregarded by the ecclesiastics who undertook to new-model the constitution of the Christian church, under the auspices of Constantine, and whom, as a matter of courtesy, they condescended to make its earthly head.' Treating of this period, the fourth century, Mr. J. thus continues: The Scriptures were now no longer the standard of the Christian faith. What was orthodox and what heterodox were, from henceforward, to be determined by the decisions of fathers and councils; and religion propagated, not by the apostolic methods of persuasion accompanied with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, but by imperial edicts and decrees; nor were gainsayers to be brought to conviction by the simple weapons of reason and Scripture, but persecuted and destroyed. It cannot surprise us, if after this we find a continual fluctuation of the public faith, just as the prevailing party obtained the imperial authority to support them; or that we should meet with little else in ecclesiastical history than violence and cruelties committed by men who had wholly departed from the simplicity of the Christian doctrine and profession; men enslaved to avarice and ambition; and carried away with views of temporal grandeur, high preferments, and large revenues.' In this part of his work, Mr. Jones also takes occasion to advert to the origin of the Novatians : It may,' he says, be proper to remark, that long before the times of which we now treat, some Christians had seen it their duty to withdraw from the communion of the church of Rome. The first instance of this we find on record is the case of Novatian, who in the year 251 was ordained the pastor of a church in the city of Rome, which maintained no fellowship with the Catholic church. It is unquestionably a very difficult matter at this very remote period to ascertain the real grounds of difference between Novatian and his opponents. Those who are in any tolerable degree conversant with theological controversy, will scarcely need to be apprised how much caution is necessary to guard against being misled by the false representations which different parties give of each other's principles and conduct. Novatian is said to have refused to receive into the communion of the church any of those persons who, in the time of persecution, had been induced, through fear of sufferings or death, to apostatize from their profession, and offer sacrifices to the heathen deities; a principle which he founded upon a mistaken view of Heb. vi. 4—6.’ As from this early epoch in the history of Christianity, the author considers that the nominal church altogether departed from the spirit and manners of its founder, and that ever since the true church was to be found among the separatists, at the head of whom he places the Novatians, we are induced to transcribe the following passage from the Ecclesiastical Researches of the late Mr. Robert Robinson, which Mr. Jones quotes, because it contains an epitome of Mr. J.'s sentiments on the present subject, and will enable the reader to perceive the views with which his work has been penned. Mr. Robinson says of Novatian: "He was an elder in the church of Rome, a man of extensive learning, holding the same doctrine as the church did, and published several treatises in defence of what he believed. His address was eloquent and insinuating, and his morals irreproachable. He saw with extreme pain the intolerable depravity of the church. Christians within the space of a very few years were caressed by one emperor, and persecuted by another. In seasons of prosperity many persons rushed into the church for base purposes. In times of adversity, they denied the faith, and reverted again to idolatry. When the squall was over, away they came again to the church, with all their vices, to deprave others by their examples. The bishops, fond of proselytes, encouraged all this; and transferred the attention of Christians from the old confederacy for virtue, to vain shows at Easter, and other Jewish ceremonies adulterated too with paganism. On the death of Bishop Fabian, Cornelius, a brother elder, and a violent partizan for taking in the multitude, was put in nomination. Novatian opposed him; but as Cornelius carried his election, and he saw no prospect of reformation, but on the contrary a tide of immorality pouring into the church, he withdrew, and a great many with him. Cornelius, irritated by Cyprian, who was just in the same condition, through the remonstrance of virtuons men at Carthage, and who was exasperated beyond measure with one of his own elders, named Novatus, who had quitted Carthage, and gone to Rome to espouse the cause of Novatian, called a council, and got a sentence of excommunication passed against Novatian. In the end Novatian formed a church, and was elected bishop. Great numbers followed his example, and all over the empire Puritan churches were constituted, and flourished through the succeeding two hundred years. Afterwards, when penal laws obliged them to lurk in corners, and worship God in private, they were distinguished by a variety of names, and a succession of them continued till the Reformation."'" To this Mr. Jones adds: The doctrinal sentiments of the Novatians appear to have been very scriptural, and the discipline of their churches rigid. They were the first class of Christians who obtained the name of (Cathari) Puritans, an appellation which doth not appear to have been chosen by themselves, but applied to them by their adversaries; from which we may reasonably conclude that their manners were simple and irreproachable. They are said to have disapproved of second O 2 marriages, |