6

'We speak of this new order of things at large, and in its 'essential character, without denying the many exceptions and mitigations to which it is open. But if a plain fact is to be spoken of in plain terms, it is thus; that Books have at last thoroughly come under the laws that regulate the quantity, quality, fashion, form, and colour of silks, potteries, furniture, jewels, and other articles of artificial life. Now who does not "know that the purchaser of any such commodity must (whatever special circumstances may seem to disguise the fact) stand in the ' relation of master to the manufacturer, the artist, the workman ? .. Under the present mercantile regimen, the diffusion of knowledge may spread wider than yet it has, and at a quicker rate; and a certain amount of intelligence may become the common property of the people; but is there not reason to predict the non-appearance of works that might descend to 'distant ages? And as the experiment is new, it remains to be seen, whether even general intelligence can be long upheld, 'while decay is taking place in the higher departments of litera"ture;-whether the mind of a people can be kept alive at all on the democratic principle;-whether, in a word, the course 'we are running on, though crowded with gayety and stir, is not 'leading to the depression of learning, taste, and philosophy."

6

6

The bearing of all this upon the character of religious publi. cations, is then adverted to. Happily, in reference to them, counteractive causes are always at work, so that the actual operation of the existing economy of the literary world upon ' religious books is to be discerned in its negative, more than in its positive effects. That is to say, though our theological and ' devotional publications are not so much vitiated by the interference of commercial motives as might have been anticipated, these causes act directly, in combination with others, to dis'courage and repress that higher order of composition which the 'Church now stands most in need of, and which the venders of 'books, with a sure foreknowledge of their small success, are wont 'to frown upon. Works which would slowly and surely benefit the mass of Christians, through the intervention, and by the 'means of a few hundred readers, are not produced, because, on the existing system, they cannot be published, or, if published, 'would be lost sight of in the crowd of more specious candidates 'for public favour.'*

Other influences unfavourable to the production of the higher class of religious composition are pointed out, to which it would be foreign from our immediate purpose to advert. We have cited the Author chiefly as a witness to the fact, which it concerns

the friends of literature as well as of religion, distinctly to apprehend, in order to guide their efforts, and to preclude unreasonable disappointment. The level of the public taste and intelligence has been, it must be acknowledged, greatly raised, so that a writer finds it more easy than formerly, to put himself in communication with the understandings of the mass of readers. But then, there is little that rises above that democratic level in the world of mind. Nor must an author any longer look for the deference of disciples or the patience of learners among those who deign to give him a turn of their attention. A mercantile equality has confounded all the gradations of the literary aristocrasy; and anonymous writers are the only ones who can maintain a shadow of authority. Why is this? Because the only spell that either excites or binds the attention of the frivolous, volatile, superficial spirit of the community, is curiosity.

The Cabinet Library' plan was a happy thought; and its success has proved how exactly it was adapted to act as a stimulus upon the sluggish demand. The complaint is, we believe, general and loud, that scarcely any other sort of publication now obtains a ready sale; but we are not convinced, that an equal portion of solid information could by any possibility have been put into circulation in any other shape. We do not, indeed, imagine that the readers have kept pace with the printers, or that the monthly volume has been always cut open by every purchaser. Still, we are disposed to think, that Dr. Lardner's admirably conducted 'Cyclopædia,' and the various libraries of humbler pretensions, have done much in diffusing knowledge, at a juncture at which there was slight hope of its being advanced by original and independent efforts. They have furnished employment for the superfluity of intellectual capital, at a time that private literary adventures had little chance of success. They have brought a new article into a dull market, when nothing old could tempt purchasers; and if the supply has not satiated the demand thus created, it may be hoped, that when the fashion which supports the sale of these works shall have passed away, the craving appetite to which they have ministered will remain.

The exclusion of theological literature from these Libraries, naturally led to several projects designed to take advantage of this deficiency. A well conceived series commenced under the title of the Library of Religious Knowledge', was cut short at its second Number by the failure of the publisher and projector. The Vestry Library', the first volume of which was issued in 1829, has only reached, we believe, its fifth, comprising, thus far, only the select works of Bishop Hall. In the prospectus, it was announced, that these were to be followed by the select works of Baxter. As neat and cheap editions of their more popular writings, these volumes will probably be acceptable; but we

should recommend the dropping of the designation, Vestry Library, as by no means appropriate. Of the Library of Ecclesiastical Knowledge, we shall only here say, that we give its projectors credit for the purest intentions, and that we regret that the plan was not better laid. Dr. Dibdin's Sunday Library is merely a selection of sermons from eminent divines of the Church of England; among whom, in happy illustration of the entire harmony of doctrine which characterises her authorized instructors, Secker, Porteus, and Horne are found ranging in with Bishop Maltby, Sydney Smith, Alison, and Dr. Parr ! Some very few of these sermons have been taken from the writings of divines 'not of the established Church'; to wit, Robert Hall's sermon on Infidelity, and two by Dr. Chalmers. Dr. Dibdin seems not to be aware that Dr. Chalmers is a divine of the established Scottish Church, so that his offence against the etiquette of strict orthodoxy is limited to the introduction of a single sermon by one eminent Dissenter. His confident hope that the selection will be found to contain a series of Discourses applicable to all sorts and conditions of men, is not an unwarrantable presumption; since all sorts of readers may find sermons adapted to their liking, except those who are so unreasonable as to require a larger infusion of the doctrines which distinguish the Truth as it is in Jesus,' than Dr. Dibdin would probably deem expedient. With a few exceptions, however, the sermons are not chargeable with positive heterodoxy; and we shall be glad to think that these volumes will introduce Sunday reading into polite circles, within which the vacant hours of the Sabbath are not likely to be occupied with more profitable employment.

At length, we have before us the promising commencement of a digested system of religious and ecclesiastical knowledge,' which bids fair at once for popularity and permanence. Nothing could be more judicious than the choice of the subject for the first volume, nor could it easily have been assigned to more able hands. As a high-churchman, Professor Le Bas has executed his task with creditable impartiality, as well as consummate skill. He acknowledges, with becoming candour, his great obligations' to the labours of Mr. Vaughan, paying a just compliment to the indefatigable labour bestowed by that gentleman' in the scrupulous examination of all the extant writings of Wiclif.

6

There seems', he says, to be no repository of ancient literature in the empire which has escaped the industry of Mr. Vaughan. In some respects, I have accordingly found his work a most invaluable guide; for his diligence has enabled him to ascertain the date of many of Wielif's performances, with an approach to precision which had never before been attained; and, thus, to trace out, with greater success than any former writer, the progress and development of the Reformer's convictions. I have further to declare myself deeply indebted

to the liberality of Mr. Vaughan and his publishers, for their kind and ready permission to print, from his work, the catalogue of Wiclif's writings, which forms the concluding chapter of this volume. It is unquestionably the most complete account of his works which has ever yet been laid before the public.'

This is just and honourable praise, such as Mr. Vaughan must be gratified to receive from so competent a judge; and he may congratulate himself on having so completely rescued Wiclif's character from the misconceptions which clouded it, that a subsequent writer, entering into his labours, is led to adopt his portrait of the great proto-reformer as the authentic one. It is no disparagement of the ability shewn by the present Biographer, to suppose, that, but for Mr. Vaughan's masterly analysis of the opinions and character of Wiclif, they would have appeared to much less advantage in this volume. With every disposition to do justice to his subject, Professor Le Bas would scarcely have been enabled to disengage his mind so successfully from the prejudices which prevented even Milner from rightly appreciating Wiclif's character, had he not been in possession of the documentary evidence to which he acknowledges himself so deeply indebted. We have been particularly pleased with the ample and explicit manner in which the merits of this extraordinary man are recognized and brought out by his present Biographer, and the righteous estimate' of his character as it presents itself to our conceptions through the haze and mist of ages,' which here receives so authoritative a confirmation. We must transcribe the

entire passage in which it is portrayed.

Unfortunately, Wiclif is known to us almost entirely by his writings. Over all those minute and personal peculiarities which give to any individual his distinct expression and physiognomy, time has drawn an impenetrable veil. To us he appears, for the most part, as a sort of unembodied agency. To delineate his character, in the fullest and most interesting sense of that word, would be to write romance and not biography. During a portion of his life, indeed, he is more or less mixed up with public interests and transactions: but of these matters, our notices are but poor and scanty; and, if they were more copious, they would probably do little more towards supplying us with those nameless particulars to which biography owes its most powerful charm. With regard to the details of his daily life,-the habitual complexion of his temper,-the turn of his conversation, the manner of his deportment among his companions, his inclinations or antipathies,— his friendships and his alienations, we must be content to remain in hopeless ignorance. The only circumstance recorded concerning him, that falls within the description of an anecdote, is the reply with which he confounded the meddling and insidious Friars, who intruded themselves upon him when they thought he was about to breathe his last. This incident is, indeed, most abundantly characteristic; and it makes us bitterly regret that it stands alone. A few more such particulars

would have been quite invaluable. As it is, we must be satisfied to think of him as of a voice crying in the wilderness, and lifting up, through a long course of years, a loud, incessant, heart-stirring testimony against abuses which for ages had wearied the long-suffering of Heaven. Respecting his gigantic successor, Martin Luther, we are in possession of all that can enable us to form a distinct conception of the man. We see him in connexion with the wise, and the mighty, and "the excellent of the earth." We behold him in his intercourse with sages and divines, with princes and potentates. We can trace him, too, through all those bitter agonies of spirit through which he struggled on, and on, till at last he seized upon the truth which made him free for ever. But, to us, Wiclif appears almost as a solitary being. He stands before us in a sort of grand and mysterious loneliness. To groupe him, if we may so speak, with other men, would require a very strong effort of the imagination. And hence it is, that we meditate on his story with emotions of solemn admiration, but without any turbulent agitation of our sympathies.

In this penury of information, tradition steps in, as it were, to "help us with a little help". Various stories, it would appear, are current to this day in the town of Lutterworth, respecting its ancient and renowned Rector. But the only one among them that appears worthy of attention, is that which represents him as admirable in all the functions of a parochial minister. A portion of each morning, it is said, was regularly devoted to the relief of the necessitous, to the consolation of the afflicted, and to the discharge of every pious office, by the bed of sickness and of death. Every thing which is actually known respecting Wiclif, combines to render this account extremely credible. The duties of the Christian ministry form the incessant burden of a considerable portion of his writings. To the faithfulness and assiduity with which he discharged one very essential portion of those duties, the extant manuscripts of his parochial discourses bear ample and honourable testimony. There is nothing, therefore, which can tempt the most sceptical caution to question the report which describes him as exemplary in every department of his sacred stewardship. "Good priests", he himself tells us, "who live well, in purity of thought, and speech, and deed, and in good example to the people, who teach the law of God, up to their knowledge, and labour fast, day and night, to learn it better, and teach it openly and constantly, these are very prophets of God, and holy angels of God, and the spiritual lights of the world! Thus saith God, by his prophets, and Jesus Christ in his Gospel; and saints declare it well by authority and reaThink, then, ye priests, on this noble office, and honour it, and do it cheerfully according to your knowledge and your power!" It is surely delightful to believe, that the people of Lutterworth had before their eyes, the living and breathing form of that holy benevolence which is here portrayed with so much admirable simplicity and beauty.

son.

The preceding narrative has already made us acquainted with the notions entertained by Wiclif relative to the endowments of the church, and the revenues of individual clergymen. And it may, perhaps, be thought somewhat remarkable, that any one who entertained such principles, should nevertheless have held, without apparent scruple,