have Bacchus, Hercules, Orpheus, Adonis; of the second, Apollo and Hercules again; and the third class comprehends all the first-mentioned, excepting Adonis.

It will perhaps be said that these are mostly demigods or heroes only, and not deities of the primary order. I reply that they were all sons of gods. Bacchus and Hercules were sons of Jupiter, Orpheus of Apollo, and Adonis of the supreme Belus; for he is the same with Thammuz. And this parentage, half divine, half human, which makes the hero a god-man, is much more to my purpose than any other would have been.

6

It would take too much time and space to enter into the histories of all these personages; I will only say that Bacchus, under the name of Iachus, bore the same part in the mysteries of Ceres that Horus did in those of Isis; and he is plainly said, by Herodotus (Book ii.), to be the same as Osiris. Spearman quotes an account of a coin struck at Maronea in Thrace, inscribed, Bacchus, Saviour of the Maronites; and of another belonging to the island of Thasos, which bore this inscription, Hercules, Saviour, of the Thasians.' Hercules indeed a demigod, the destroyer of all monsters and giants, and more especially of the hydra, (another version of the dragon-conquest,) who descended into hell, and returned, bringing captive the guardian of the infernal gates, and who finally sacrificed himself, and became immortal, possesses too many tokens of identity to require any farther explanation.

Orpheus again bears many marks which stamp him as another version of the same character; the descent into hell, to recover his serpent-slain bride,

his victory there, the uncertain manner of his death, (some affirming that he killed himself, and others that he was murdered by a mad multitude of Bacchantes,) and his subsequent immortality, are all striking coincidences with the usual exploits of the divine hero.

Of Adonis we have already spoken; for the Greek fables of his human parentage, the love of Venus for him, &c. are mere poetical additions to the more simple legend of the Tyrian Thammuz.

6

We must conclude the Grecian list with a glance at Apollo, one of the most prominent among the divine warriors; who was at once a god and a hero, the son of a god and a nymph, and the destroyer of the dragon Python. We have an admirable paragraph in Spearman concerning Apollo. He says, (p. 85.) Apollo is the acknowledged symbol of the material light, as light is of Christ, the light that came into the world to lighten every one. So the fable of Apollo and Python may have aimed at prefiguring the conquest of Christ over Satan. The banishment of this deity from heaven, and his feeding the flocks of Admetus upon earth, whence he had the name of Nomius, or the herdsman or shepherd, appears to me the broken tradition of that person who came down from heaven to feed the sons of Adam, whom he calls his sheep, his flock; from which Hebrew name (Adam) Admetus naturally enough forms itself. And how ridiculous and unintelligible soever this and the other fables may seem to reasoners and the wisdom of this world, they told the people, in a language plain enough to be understood, that the Deity was to descend to the earth, to dwell there amongst men, and to instruct by precept and example; and

they kept up the expectation of that great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, until his advent in the flesh.

Nor is it in Europe and the west of Asia only that this legend is found; it is quite as prominent in Chinese mythology. Ramsay (p. 339.) mentions' a hero called Kinu Tse, which means Shepherd and Prince,' to whom they also give the titles of the most Holy, the universal Teacher, and the Supreme Truth.' In his sufferings and conflicts he is exactly parallel to Osiris, Mythras, Apollo, or Hercules, and is the divine hero of that nation.

Thus then we see that Paganism, from east to west, and from China to Scandinavia, is full of the exploits, victories, and death of a divine warrior, or God-man.

Let the Socinian say, if he will, that the crucified Messiah was only a human prophet. 'Blind Egypt with her gods,' withstands him to the face; the Greek, the Chinese, the Persian, 'the heathen Dane,' the Indian, the Tyrian, all rise up against him, and declare, as one man, that they were so far certain of the descent, conflicts and death of GOD HIMSELF, that they even put the past for the future, and enrolled the expectations of prophecy among the finished facts of their national history.

X. Q.

Review of Books.

ESSAYS ON ROMANISM. By the author of Essays on the Church.' Seeley and Burnside.

WE have often longed to see the battle of Protestantism, in other words, of Christianity, fought with the sword of the Spirit, independent of the lumbering magazine of superfluous weapons usually labelled 'Antiquity,' or The Fathers.' We augured well for the issue of a late discussion in Dublin when our plain-spoken friend, the Rev. T. Gregg, announced his determination of rejecting the fathers, and betaking himself to the grandfathers—namely, the prophets and apostles—nor were we disappointed. Deprived of the mystifying aid of his doubtful allies in folio, the Romish priest was compelled to face the flashes of that immortal sword, and fled from its brightness. We now find an experienced champion of the truth, whose field is literary only, entering the lists against those crafty sophisters-Milner and Wiseman, and their school, equally unembarrassed with this armour of Saul. It brings us back to the days of the church's most glorious triumphs, when a "Thus saith the Lord" was conclusive against all JUNE, 1839.

20

that man's perverted intellect could suggest: and "It is written," sufficed to put Satan himself to flight.

Of the book before us we can say that it is worthy of the pen which traced the Essays on the Church;' it states the question fairly, canvasses it freely, and settles it fully. Deep thought, keen observation, extensive knowledge of the subject, and a striking perspicuity of style are its characteristics. We could not name a more valuable manual of Protestantism, or one so admirably suited to meet the exigencies of this critical juncture.

SEALS OF THE COVENANT OPENED; or, the Sacraments of the Church considered in their Connection with the great Doctrines of the Gospel. By James J. Cummins. Seeley and Burnside.

TREATISES on this subject have been multiplying, until it seems scarcely possible to take up any work upon it claiming the character of originality. Yet we will venture to put in such claim on behalf of the modest little volume which, it appears, originated in the desire of a Christian father to improve a temporary confinement, occasioned by indisposition, for the instruction of the younger branches of his family on these important points of devotion. It is, in fact, a brief but perfect compendium of divinity, setting forth the whole gospel of Christ in a tone most devotional, and with a constant reference to holy scripture. The concluding chapter, on The expectant State of the Church,' we consider valuable; and the