had never up to this time, had any actual conflict with the German innovators: the accession of the Baltic provinces, and the useful labours of foreigners whom Peter had invited into Russia, involuntarily brought us in friendly contact with them. Their superiority in worldly civilization, and the very fact of their being seen on state occasions to attend at the ceremonies of our Church, conciliated towards them many of the inexperienced, who knew not how to distinguish where the bounds of secular acquirements end, and that spiritual wisdom begins, which, according to the words of Christ, is hid from the wise and prudent, but revealed to the simple and to babes.

"It was in the neighbourhood of the northern capital, where the confluence of strangers was greatest, that these opinions began to be diffused, though they were vigorously opposed by the virtuous Job, metropolitan of Novogorod."Pp. 271, 272.

2. Translations of, and free access to, the Holy Scriptures.

Superstitious arguments against printing, which had excited the opposition of the hand writers, prevented its making any further progress after the death of its patron, Macarius; and though there was an edition of the Gospel printed afterwards, by order of the Tzar, still he left to the illustrious Prince Constantine of Ostrog, deputy governor of Kieff, the opportunity and the glory of printing there, for the first time, the entire Bible in Slavonic."-P. 111.

"Born in the district of Nijgorod, of parents who were simple villagers, Nikon learned to read the holy Scriptures, and secretly left his home to commence his noviciate, in order to become a monk in the Jeltovodsky convent. At the urgent entreaty of his father he returned to enter into the state of matrimony, was ordained a parish priest, and removed to Moscow."-Pp. 193, 194.

In the above short extract we are reminded of two very important and instructive particulars of the practice of the eastern branch of the Catholic Church. The first is, that simple villagers are allowed to read the holy Scriptures in their own language; and the second is, that their priests are allowed to marry.

"This same Paul also was still alive, and employed the latter years of his life, in conjunction with Epiphanius Slavenetsky, and other learned men, in correcting the translation of the Bible from the Greek into the Slavonic language; but his labours remained unfinished in consequence of his premature decease."-P. 242.

"Sophronius, the younger of the two, was sent to Moscow after a printing press, and was detained there by the guardian of the patriarchal throne, for the purpose of regulating the academy; and to him, in conjunction with its learned Rector, Theophylact Lopatinsky, who was to suffer for the truth, was mitted the task of continuing that revision and correction of the Slavonic Bible, which had been commenced by Epiphanius."-P. 271.

3. Education.

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"By his orders the Nomocanon was translated from the Greek, that our native bishops, now beginning to succeed into the places of those who had come at first from Constantinople, might be able to guide themselves by its rules.

"He, himself, gave much time and pains to the study and translation of a variety of church books which he had collected into a library, on the spot where the metropolitan resided; and he set up schools in Kieff and Novogorod for the education of those of the children of clergy or laity, who might be preparing themselves for holy orders."-P. 20.

"The metropolitan, Cyrill, as a true Russian, wished that the canons of the holy fathers, the foundation of all ecclesiastical discipline, should not be, to use his own expression, 'veiled to us, as by a cloud, under the wisdom of the

Greek tongue, but that they should shine clear and enlighten all with rational light;' accordingly he assiduously employed himself in their translation, and his useful labour has come down to our own times."-Pp. 48, 49.

"Being zealous for the promotion of learning among the clergy, Theophanes established, in the name of the patriarch of Constantinople, the Brotherhood of the Epiphany as a Stauropegia, that is, to depend immediately upon the Ecumenical Lord, and gave them his benediction for the institution of a school in it for the Greeko-Slavonic and the Latin-Polish languages, and united to it the Brotherhood of Mercy, a house for the reception of strangers, which was converted into an academical inn for poor scholars."-P. 177.

"Peter being zealous for the promotion of learning among the clergy, united the school which he had established in the Lavra, with that of the Brotherhood in Podolia, which had been begun with the blessing of the patriarch of Jerusalem; he erected new buildings, an inn for poor scholars, at his own expense, and a preparatory school; he established a library and a printing press."-P.188. "The metropolitan, Stephen, co-operated zealously with the Tzar for the promotion of learning, and took upon himself the title of Protector of the Academy of Moscow, which he enlarged and regulated, after the model of that of Kieff.

"Demetrius also continued to be a shining light, till the time of his blessed decease, in the diocese of Rostoff, where he founded, and himself superintended a seminary.

"By degrees, after his example, schools were instituted at all the episcopal residences for the education of those who were to minister in holy things, which were afterwards converted into seminaries. Job, metropolitan of Novogorod, a man full of Christian piety, besides other charitable foundations, established in his diocese as many as fourteen spiritual schools."—P. 271.

4. Attempted union of the Russian and British Churches, under Peter the Great.

When we consider that those great impediments which the tyranny of the popish system has put in the way of a union with Rome, do not exist in the Eastern Church, we shall not wonder to learn that the union of the Anglican with the Russian Church appears to have been nearly effected in the time of Peter the Great, and might probably have been entirely so but for the death of that monarch.

When it is considered that we agree with this most ancient branch of the Catholic Church, in having both the Holy Scriptures and the Liturgy in a known tongue, in maintaining the independence of our respective churches of the usurping claims of the pope, in permitting the marriage of our priests, and in maintaining the Divine appointment of an apostolic succession of bishops, priests, and deacons; the only wonder is, that these two great branches of the Catholic Church, the Oriental and the British, have so long kept aloof from each other.

The following extracts will shew the measures proposed to be taken, to promote the union of the two churches, in the time of Peter the Great :

"On the suggestion of Peter the Great, the Russian Synod had written to the British Bishops, to request them to send two of their brethren to Russia, to have a friendly conference, in the name and spirit of Christ, with two that are to be chosen out of our brethren.'

"Hereby' (such are the words of the synodal letter, taken from an English

translation, made apparently by Dr. Brett), 'the opinions, arguments, and persuasions of each party may be more sincerely produced, and more clearly understood, and it may be more easily known what may be yielded and given up by one to the other; what, on the other hand, may, and ought, for conscience sake, to be absolutely denied. In the mean time, no prejudice will befal either your communion or ours from such a private conference, nor the hopes of union be altogether lost thereby. This is the opinion of our monarch, concerning the most holy negotiation, which seems indeed to us the best. We desire that as soon as may be, you will let us know how it appears to you. In the mean time God is seriously to be entreated by each of us, to be merciful to us and you.'"—P. 409.

The messenger who was to be the bearer of this letter was delayed for a year, at the expiration of which time the Holy Synod wrote an additional letter, which thus concludes:

"In the mean time we desire your charity to know that if, according to the advice of our sovereign, you will send two of your brethren to a conference, which we again entreat you to do, we may hope to bring our wishes to a more easy conclusion, which that at length he, the lawgiver of love, the God of peace, the Father of mercies, may prosper, is our hearty prayer and desire, &c." -P. 410.

The death of Peter the Great, which took place shortly after this letter, put an end to all further proceedings in this important business. 5. The Holy Governing Synod.

This synod was established to take the place of the patriarch, in the regulation and government of the Church, when there ceased to be a patriarch of Russia.

"The oecumenical primates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, acknowledged the synod as their brother in Christ, possessing the same authority and the same rights with themselves, and entered into the same relations and communion with it, as they had formerly entertained with the patriarchs of Moscow and all Russia. Thus the establishment of the synod by no means weakened the bond of union between the Russian and other branches of the Eastern Catholic Church; and no change took place in the constitution of our hierarchy.

"In the mean time the general government of the church was greatly improved."-P. 414.

Perhaps there is nothing of which the Anglican Church more severely feels the want than that of a synod for the general government of the Church; especially as, according to her apostolical constitution, she ought never to be destitute of such a governing body. This want has been so well expressed in an admirable paper in the British Magazine for November, that the reviewer will take the liberty of making a quotation from it:

"We appear to have come to a point now, in which, unless the clergy can hear the church speak in intelligible language, by an accredited organ, very serious evils are likely to ensue. We pray for the restoration of a godly discipline, but we see the very symbols of it escaping from our hold. No discretion is allowed the minister as to reading the burial service, which assumes the relics he inters to be those of a Christian.

"The only tribunal he could appeal to, when one to whom he dared not present the consecrated elements applied at the altar, has been threatened with dissolution.

"The right to distribute afresh ecclesiastical funds without the Church's

consent, is assumed and exercised; while in the publication of books relating to religion, the most unbridled license is assumed by the clergy themselves. Thus within the last few months the doctrine of baptismal regeneration has been repudiated in the strongest and most shameless manner, by one clergyman; while another accounts for our repugnance to worship the Virgin Mary, because we have not the spirit of St. Bonaventure, and declares we must retrace our steps if we would arrive at Catholic unity, and abandon the principle, that the temporal sovereign of this realm of England is the supreme judge of the conditions under which the spiritual powers of ecclesiastical persons shall be exercised.'

"Now, there is no authority, no, not all the bishops on the bench assembled, able or willing to suspend the authors of these positions. Yet it will require something more than such ebullitions as these, to convince any observant person, that the definitive sentence of an authorized assembly of the Church would be set at nought by any but the least pious, sedate, and intelligent of the clergy. Although every solicitude should be exercised, not to exclude any who could agree in a common formulary from the benefits of churchmanship, it would surely be the better for the Church that her members should be prevented from circulating, with her apparent sanction, express abandonments of her first principles of doctrine and discipline."-Pp. 575 576, Brit. Mag. Nov. 1842.

6. The Population tables.

"Exclusive of Georgia, there were, in 1839, 42,445 edifices for divine worship; of which 32,879 were Sobors or Parish Churches. 29,819,8 persons received the Sacrament of the Lord's supper."-P. 428.

The reviewer wishes to call the attention of his readers to a very important fact, which, whilst it reads a most humiliating lesson to ourselves, speaks most favourably for the piety of the Russian Church. It appears from the following tables, that at the present time there are 47,810,525 members of the Russian Church; and from the above extract it would appear that 29,819,218 persons received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in 1839; considerably more than half the whole number of members. Have we any thing like this proportion in the Anglican Church?

"The present population of Russia, reckoning the increase since 1838, may be safely set down in round numbers, at 64,000,000. Of these there are, Heathens (of whom 113,772 Buddhists, and 75,000 others).

Mahometans

Jews

Dissenters of Russian origin

189,323

1,826,761

1,400,000

3,000,000

Calvinists and Lutherans of the German provinces

3,000,000

Armenians in Georgia and the Caucasus

260,000

Poles and others of the Latin rite, with 13,391 Latin Armenians 6,513,391 Members of the Russian Church

-P. 429.

47,810,525 64,000,000"

It would be easy to proceed to give extracts from the interesting volume before us, testifying to the blessed practical effects of the Catholic system, in taming to obedience the fierce spirits of Russia; to the high standard of piety, devotion, and energy of her clergy; to their soothing and conciliating measures in times of political strife and dismemberment; and to the formation of some of the noblest ecclesiastical characters, making due allowance for human infirmity, as are,

perhaps, to be met with in any histories. But for all these interesting particulars, and many more which might be enumerated, we must refer our readers to the work itself.

There is one very important and instructive lesson, which we of the British Church should learn from the perusal of this volume, to which no allusion has yet been made; we allude to the reverence which the Russians entertain for the apostolical succession of bishops, priests, and deacons.

And here we must again quote Mr. Blackmore's Preface :—

"The firm persuasion in the minds of the people of their divine commission and authority, from the apostles and from Christ, has counterbalanced all the evil consequences of any partial deficiencies in the men themselves, whenever and in whatever degree they have existed, or may still exist. May not we Clergy of the Church of England, learn something from this example?

"If in anything our teaching of those entrusted to our care has been defective; if on any point we have failed to declare the whole counsel of God, it has been this. Hence it has naturally followed, that we have been too often looked upon merely as the teachers of an Act-of-Parliament Religion, or as ministers of the most wealthy and influential of those sects or persuasions with which our country abounds.

"Our ministry has, therefore, been esteemed and respected for our learning, eloquence, or piety, or been despised for our want of them; and we have been either preferred or postponed to the sectarian preacher, who has intruded into our charge, from our superiority or inferiority to him in these qualifications; whilst our apostolical descent, the true point of difference between us, and to which he does not even make any pretensions, has been ridiculed by our enemies, and too often but coldly and doubtfully defended by our friends."Pp. xv. xvi.

We will conclude this review with a few words upon the Liturgy of the Eastern Church; using the word Liturgy, in its more strict signification, to denote the service for the Holy Communion.

St. Basil composed a Liturgy from the great Oriental Liturgy prevalent in his time, which cannot be of much later date, if any, than the time of the apostles.

There are three different forms of St. Basil's Liturgy, the Constantinopolitan, the Alexandrian, and the Coptic, between which forms, to use the words of Mr. Palmer, "although there is circumstantial variety, there exists substantial identity." It is the Constantinopolitan form of St. Basil's Liturgy, which is used by the Russian Church. A Benedictine edition of St. Basil, which the reviewer has now before him, contains the Alexandrian and Coptic versions of St. Basil's Liturgy, but not that of Constantinople. As, however, the three are identical in substance, this is the less important. The author of these pages has compared the two with our own venerable Liturgy, and he has had great pleasure in discovering the very many points of substantial agreement, between our own rite and that of this most ancient and orthodox branch of the Catholic Church.

To feel every time we celebrate the holy Eucharist, how completely we are one in so many points of substantial agreement with this most ancient branch of the Catholic body; to know that our rite accords in the main with a rite which probably owes its origin to the