their excellence; his diction is often poetic, while theirs is simply rhetorical. Thus we find often e'en for even; and the natural order of words is frequently disturbed in a manner only justifiable for metrical purposes. Nothing of this kind can Mr. Boyd find in his great originals, and it is a blemish in his translation. As a specimen of his prose, we subjoin an extract from Chrysostom on the Priesthood, in which the writer is describing the responsibilities of the office.

Imagine that you behold before you a stupendous host of infantry, and cavalry, and naval warriors: the sea is obscured by the number of the vessels; the multitude of the plains, and the summit of the mountains, are covered with the phalanxes of horse and foot. The brazen arms glitter in the sun, and to his refulgent blaze the helmets and the shields oppose their lustre. The clashing of the spears, and the neighing of horses, are raised to the canopy of heaven; the bosom of the sea is darkened, no earth appears, but wherever the eye is turned, there is one wide world of brass and iron. An adverse host, fierce in demeanour and terrible in strength, is drawn up in array against them: every thing is prepared: the battle is on the eve of its commencement. Bend your footsteps to the adjoining hamlet, and seizing on a peasant boy, one reared in the bosom of the mountains, and ignorant of every thing (save only his rural flageolet and shepherd's crook), invest him with brazened armour, conduct him through the camp, and initiate him in the horrors of the scene. Let him gaze on the cohorts and their leaders; on the bowmen, the slingers, the præfects, the generals, the infantry, the cavalry, the darters of the javelin, the galleys and their commanders, the close-wedged troops, and the engines of destruction deposited in the ships. Point out to him the marshalled hosts of the opposing enemy, their grim and frowning visages, the tremendous nature of their warfare, and their countless numbers; the declivities, and the precipices, and the inequalities of the mountains. Point out to him horses flying, as it were by magic, and warriors carried through the air, and explain the nature and effect of the enchantment. Next recount the calamities of war. Let him figure to himself the cloud of darts, the shower of arrows, the obscurity in the air, the increasing gloom, the terrific night, which is caused by the missile weapons, whose density intercepts the sunbeam; the dust in concert with the darkness rendering the eyesight ineffectual; inundations of blood, the cries of the fallen, the shouts of the triumphant, the mountains of the dead, chariots bathed in blood, horses and their riders overthrown by the multitude of obstructing corses; the earth teeming with indiscriminate desolation; clotted gore, shattered armour, splintered javelins, the hoofs of horses and the heads of men together prostrate: here are seen an arm, and a chariot wheel; there the greaves of a warrior, and a breast transfixed; brains sticking to a sword, the fragment of a spear with an eye upon its point. Fail not to describe the naval conflict; some of the ships blazing in the midst of the waters, while others are swallowed by the deep; the roaring of the waves, the clamour of the mariners, the tumult of the soldiery, a deluge of blood confederated with ocean's foam, and in one mingled torrent desolating the vessels: of the dead bodies, some are strewn upon the benches, some buried in the main, some floating on the surface, some dashed with violence on the shore, and others are whirled around by the billowy surge, impeding the progress of the ships. Then, when he shall have beheld each heart-appalling scene of war's dread tragedy; when he shall have thoroughly perused and thoroughly digested this stupendous catalogue of accumulated horrors; unfold the griefs of slavery, and assure him it is an evil worse than death. And having so informed him, address him in words like these: Now, young man, ascend immediately on horseback, and take the sovereign command of that mighty army! Think you, the untutored stripling would be adequate to the charge? Would he not rather, from the first moment that he beheld it, have been ready to expire with terror?--Pp. 195--199.

A fair estimate of Mr. Boyd's poetical powers may be formed from his translation of "St. Gregory's Hymn to the Deity," which we transcribe:

Thee, deathless monarch of the sky,
My soul aspires to glorify:

Grant me, in living verse to sing
Th' eternal Lord, th' Almighty King.
For thee, the tide of praise is roll'd;
The seraphs strike their chords of gold,
And wake the anthem, soaring high
With Inspiration's ecstacy;

While angels, quickened by thy glance,
Circle the throne in mystic dance.
For thee, th' unceasing ages roll,
Exulting in their Lord's control.

At thy command the Heaven's expansion
Became the golden stars' fair mansion;
Flamed high the sun in glory bright;
Look'd forth the moon with softer light;
And born thy wondrous works to scan,
And trace the mind which formed the plan,
Uprose thy reasoning creature, Man.
Thou, O my God, createdst all,
The highest heaven, this earthly ball;
Within thy breast the whole designing;
By thy sole power each part combining:
At thy command the work's begun!
At thy command the work is done!

Jesus I hail, the Word Divine,
In whom his Father's glories shine;
By nature equal, God Supreme,
Of angels and of men the theme;

By whom dim Chaos back was driven,

When through the void, th' expanse of Heaven

He spread, and framed our earthly ball,

That he might rule, the Lord of all.

His Holy Spirit I adore,

The embryo deep who brooded o'er,
And still with kind paternal care,
Inspires and aids the humble prayer.
Tremendous Power!-I hail in thee
A true and living Trinity!

Father of all, through every hour
May I proclaim the Triune Power
Enshrined in deepest mystery!
May every thought which leads from thee,
And lures the wavering mind to stray,
Like morning vapours melt away !
So may I lift my hands to Heaven,
In trembling hope to rise forgiven!
So may I feel the vital flame,
And glorify my Saviour's name!
With holy zeal may I adore him,
And bending in the dust implore him,

That, when he rears his throne sublime

Wreathed with the spoils of Death and Time,

As King, as Lord, as God, to reign,
He may receive his child again!

Grant me, O God, in Judgment's hour,
Alone to feel thy saving power:
Let mercy's ray unclouded shine,
And the full stream of Grace be mine;

For Grace and Glory dwell with thee,

Throughout thy own eternity!-Pp. 383-385.

Of the Popish doctrines incidentally combatted in this volume, we shall proceed to give a summary.

Thus, then, Basil speaks of the Scriptures-of those Scriptures to which, a recent authority has told us, "the Catholic Church has, in all ages, invariably condemned free access."

THE EXORDIUM OF ST. BASIL'S HOMILY ON THE FIRST PSALM.-The books which contain the oracles of Heaven were inspired and connected by the Spirit, in order that from thence, as from a storehouse of spiritual medicines, each man might derive his peculiar remedy. One species of instruction is given us by the prophets: another is presented by the historians: the law furnishes a third; and a fourth is administered in the form of proverbs. But the Book of Psalms unites and concentrates the excellencies of all. It prophesies events yet future it commemorates facts historical: it teaches rules for the government of life it prescribes the bounds of duty:—in a word, it is a treasury of countless blessings, for each afflicted sufferer, replete with consolation. To the wounds of the soul long rankling, it administers a cure; those which are more recent it speedily removes; to the soul diseased it ministers; the soul which is uninjured it preserves inviolate, and every passion which rules despotic it subdues. And how does it effect its purpose? It allures and fascinates the heart: it thrills it with a poetic ecstasy, of which the offspring is reflection sapient. For when the eternal Spirit looked down upon our race, and beheld it averse to virtue; when he beheld us, through our propensity to pleasure, neglectful of the life divine-what counsel did he adopt; what expedient did he employ? He tempered with the charm of melody the voice of precept, that, while by harmonious sounds our ears were ravished, we might imbibe insensibly the blessing of instruction. But so have I seen an experienced physician, who, giving to his patient an unpalatable draught, anointed the cup with honey. Wherefore, in mellifluous numbers these hymns were framed, that the young in nature and the young in holiness, while they seem by poesy to be enchanted, may in truth be disciplined by wisdom. No one of the slothful multitude ever departed from the church retaining a prophetic or apostolic sentence; but verses of the Psalms they chaunt at home, and repeat when passing through the forum. If a man be even infuriate with rage, should a holy psalm steal on his ear melodious, he feels at once the influence of its enchantment, and departs, subdued and harmonized by music's power.-Pp. 235-237.

This passage is not merely the individual testimony of a particular Father to the high excellence of Scripture; though, even in this view alone, it would be conclusive against Rome, who builds on the foundation of the Fathers: but it is important as evincing the antipopish practice of the Church in Basil's days. It proves that "the Catholic Church was so far from " denying free access to the Scriptures," that they were regularly read to the children in the public

assemblies; for to what other purpose should Basil inform us that "no one of the slothful multitude ever departed from the church retaining a prophetic or an apostolic sentence?" since, if the Prophets and Apostles were not read in the church, it is evident that the diligent would have returned from church no better versed in prophetic and apostolic lore than the slothful. It is besides evident from the same consideration that the Scriptures were read in the vernacular tongue-for, we apprehend, the attentive and the "slothful," if both ignorant of Latin, would bring away the meaning of equal parts of the Romish service.

On the subject of transubstantiation, Mr. Boyd quotes from Chrysostom the following passage:

Let no one be a partaker who is not a disciple: let no one receive like Judas, lest he should suffer as Judas suffered. This assembly also is the body of Christ.-P. 177.

To which he appends this note :—

The word also plainly refers to the consecrated bread; this assembly, as well as that bread, is the body of Christ. Will the Papists assert that Chrysostom believed his congregation to be literally changed into Christ's body?—Pp. 177, 178.

And, in a note to St. Gregory's funeral oration on Gorgonia, Mr. B. observes :

In one part of the Oration from whence the above extract has been taken, St. Gregory, speaking of the consecrated elements, calls them ȧvríTura Toû Tiμíov σwμatos ǹ TOû alμatos. The same expression has Cyril of Jerusalem, Catach. Mystagog. 5. When I can bring forward such passages as the above, will any one have the effrontery to tell me that the Greek Fathers believed in transubstantiation?-P. 293, note.

On these testimonies we have the following observations in the Preface, accompanied with some additional patristical evidence on the same subject.

I trust I have made it manifest, that on the subject of the Eucharist, the doctrine of Chrysostom and Gregory was exactly the same as that of the Church of England. In doing this, I have done enough.

There are, however, two passages in St. Cyril of Jerusalem; passages of such great importance, that I must not neglect to cite them. I formerly gave them in the first Appendix to my Select Passages; but as I have not reprinted that Appendix, I shall here lay them before the Reader. I entreat that he will peruse them with strict attention. I have more reasons than one for entreating him to do so.

"Beware lest thou shouldst suppose this ointment to be mere ointment; for as the bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit is no longer mere bread, but the body of Christ; so also this holy ointment is no longer mere, or, as I may say, common ointment, after the invocation, but the gift of Christ."-Catach. Mystag. 3.

"Those things also which are usually hung up at the festivals of their idols, such as flesh, bread, and other provisions, being polluted by the invocation of

unholy dæmons, must be reckoned among the works of Satan. For, as the bread and wine of the eucharist, before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity, are mere bread and wine, but, when the invocation has been made, the bread becomes the body of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ; in the selfsame manner, those provisions, which in their own nature are mere simple food, through the invocation of dæmons, become impure."-Catach. Mystag. 1. —Pp. iii.—v.

These testimonies are, beyond doubt, palpably distinct and express. We must here, however, have a word with Mr. Boyd. He tells us here, and truly, that Chrysostom and Gregory agree with the Church of England. But afterwards (p. xx.) he informs us that this was only the ancient doctrine of the English Church, while the modern doctrine of that Church is very different, and more "consistent with sound criticism :"

Namely, that the consecrated elements are emblems or symbols of the body and blood of Christ; denoting, that as our bodies are supported by eating and drinking, so are our souls supported by faith in the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus.-P. xx.

This assertion we will not hesitate to negative. Let any man read our Communion Service, our XXVIIIth Article, and our Catechism, and then doubt whether a real presence is the doctrine of our Church.* Mr. Boyd's 66 rational," sublime," and " glorious" view, however supported by " sound criticism," has not the countenance, at all events, of the modern clergy. They could not dare to remain in the ministry entertaining an opinion so manifestly opposed to those formularies of faith which they have deliberately subscribed. Mr. Boyd's theory of the eucharist entirely destroys its sacramental character. We grant that "the consecrated elements are emblems or symbols of the body and blood of Christ;" but then we further affirm that under that emblematic representation, our souls are strengthened and refreshed" by a spiritual union with Christ; that the bread and wine are “a means whereby we receive" " an inward and spiritual grace," and not merely a commemorative sign of an event with which they have no connexion.

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It is in the highest degree important that the distinction between a real presence and the doctrine of transubstantiation should be clearly understood;-for want of this distinction, the former, which is eternal truth, has been surrendered to the audacious claim of the Papists. It

"Grant us so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood," &c. "Thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ," &c.-Communion Service. "To such as rightly, worthily and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ, and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ."--XXVIIlth Art. "What is the inward part, or thing signified?-The body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper."-Catechism.