Catechumenical instruction to the children of Christians never could have arisen, had infant baptism been a universal, or even general custom, when it arose. As when we see a young tree, tall and vigorous, growing up out of the side of a trunk prostrate and rotting, we know that the ancient tree must have fallen before the young one began to grow and penetrate the decaying trunk and overspread it with its roots. So when we see, as we do after the fourth century, an institution like infant baptism, waxing strong and becoming universal, and trampling on catechumenical instruction, and reducing the whole thing to a mere form, lifeless, prostrate and decaying, we need no further witness that this latter system must have grown up, completed its growth to its gigantic size, yea and become old, before infant baptism, as a system, took root in its sides; or, to use Neander's expression, "entered into the life of the church." Nor could this new system have swelled to the size it afterward assumed, become universal, or presumed to stretch its roots across that more ancient system as they now lie, until the catechumenical rank had been upheaved and overthrown.*

As Coleman, translating Augusti, remarks, "The general introduction of the rite of infant baptism has so far changed the regulations of the church concerning the qualifications of candidates and their admission, that what was formerly the rule, in this respect, has become the exception. The institutions of the church during the first five centuries, concerning the requisite preparations for baptism, and all the laws and rules that existed during that period relating to the acceptance or rejection of

*The consecration of which Augustine, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, etc., were the subject, has been usually regarded as a dedication to more than the ordinary Christian life-to monasticism, if not the priesthood. But it seems as near certain as any thing of the kind can be, from his Confessions, that in the case of Augustine, all that his parents did for him made him a catechumen, and was designed to express nothing more. See particularly the closing sentence of the fifth book, Lib. 6, c. 4, and Lib. 1, c. 11. Consult also Bingham's Ecc. Antiq., Bk. 10. 1-3. He would hardly have failed to allude to this on entering the priesthood, had there been any connection between them. Nor would his father have been likely to take part in this in that case, as he did. In some of the other cases it is possible, from the allusion to Samuel, that more was intended, though the devoting of children to the monastic life was not customary till 150 years later. But as in the cases we have spoken of above, these children were not baptized, there can be no doubt that they were then recognized as catechumens. The more solemn and complete this devotement of children by Christian parents where it can be shewn that they did not have them baptized, the more decisive the proof against the customariness of infant baptism even amongst the most pious.

candidates, necessarily fell into disuse when the baptismof infants began not only to be permitted, but enjoined as a duty, and almost universally observed. The old rule which prescribed caution in the admission of candidates and a careful preparation for the rite, was after the sixth century applicable, for the most part, only to the Jewish, heathen and other proselytes. The discipline which was formerly requisite preparatory to baptism, now followed this rite." (Chris. Antiq., p. 258-9.)

And here we drop the pen for the present. Should life and health be spared, in a future number we may carry into effect the design with which we commenced, and which was marked out in the early part of this article, by considering the concessions of the third and fourth centuries, (particularly of these Constitutions,) as to the primitive forms of church government. This work will enable the student to trace clearly the distinctness, if not the full independence, of churches, preserved to this time, in spite of strong tendencies to centralization. It will exhibit parochial, as distinct from diocesan, episcopacy as still prevailing; and these parishes as electing their own bishops. or pastors, called after a single parish. We have something we would like to say too, did not time and space forbid, about the splendor of these liturgies. Compared with the warmth and fire that animates them, the purely western liturgies seem lifeless and cold. But even when most tame, there is in these a suppressed energy, exhibiting just that kind of calmness which arises in a well-disciplined mind only from the very pressure of deep emotion.

The prayer for one newly initiated, with which we close, may serve as an illustration of this. See the servant of Christ, rising from the wave of baptism, and coming up out of the water, praying like the blessed Master, and in such a strain as the following:

"PRAYER OF THE NEWLY INITIATED.' "O God Almighty, the Father of thy Christ, thine only begotten Son, give me a body undefiled, a heart pure, a mind watchful, an unerring knowledge, the influence of the Holy Spirit for the obtaining and the full assurance of the truth, through thy Christ; by whom glory be to thee, in the Holy Spirit, forever, Amen."

Ala.

VOL. XIII.NO. L..

20

T. F. C.

ARTICLE IV.

COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, Kt., one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. With the last Corrections of the Author, and Notes, from the Twenty-First London Edition. With Copious Notes explaining the Changes in the Laws effected by Decision or Statute, down to 1844. Vol. First, by J. F. HARGRAVE, of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. Vol. Second, by G. SWEET, of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. Vol. Third, by R. COUCH, of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law. Vol. Fourth, by W. N. WELSBY, Recorder of Chester. With Notes adapting the work to the American Student, by JOHN L. WENDELL, Late State Reporter of New York. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1847.

MANY years have elapsed since we read once and again the Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone. We were then destined to the legal profession, and this was the work first placed in our hands. Day after day, week after week, we pored over its endless pages, wearied by the volume which introduced us to the "Rights of Things," but in the others finding a mine of principles, always clearly and beautifully stated, always suggesting innumerable applications, and opening before us an intellectual world, which, the more we penetrated it, seemed the more to expand, until the law became to us the sublimest of studies. When we had read the four volumes, we turned back to the beginning, and by the same route, and with the same feelings, we reached a second time the same termination. Years since then have fled. Our destiny was changed to another and more sacred profession, and we seldom saw the pages of our favorite author, till the new and elegant edition announced above was placed in our hands. We have seized leisure hours, and with it have revived the studies and the feelings of youth. We

are reminded by it of the obligations which we owe to legal studies; and in introducing to the readers of the Christian Review the present edition of Blackstone, we cannot forego the opportunity of commending a certain measure of legal study to intelligent men of all professions, and particularly to our own-the clerical.

But, first, of this edition. It is from the twenty-first London edition, prepared, as stated on the title-page, by four English lawyers, each assuming the responsibility of a volume. The text has been collated with the edition of 1783, which was prepared from the author's last corrections. Such notes of Mr. Chitty as have been deemed valuable have been retained. The present editors state that the purpose of their notes has been, "in the first place, to correct the few original oversights of the author; in the next place, to state the alterations in the law since the time of Blackstone, so far as they affect the text; and, lastly, to expand such passages as did not seem sufficiently full, and to explain such as did not seem sufficiently clear for an elementary work." The labors of the English editors explain changes in the law which have occurred in England, whether by decision or statute, down to 1844. The contributions which they have made are of real value, whether considered as explaining the text, or as introducing new legal provisions or principles. The distinguished American editor, whose Reports have rendered his name familiar to every lawyer, has performed a valuable service, by adapting this very perfect English edition to the wants of the American student. Modifications of the Common Law have been rendered indispensable by our institutions, and have been effected sometimes by judicial decisions, and sometimes by the statutes of our Legislatures. These modifications have engaged the particular attention of Mr. Wendell, who, without an ostentatious display of his contributions, has added largely to the value of the work. It is proper to observe likewise, that the work is introduced by a memoir of Sir William Blackstone, judiciously and elegantly prepared, by the editor of the second volume, principally from the memoir written by Mr. Clitherow. And further, we need only say that it is well printed and substantially bound, and, as an elementary work should be, is furnished at a

price which places it within the reach of all intelligent readers.

In the elegant introductory Lecture, delivered before. the "Vice Chancellor and Gentlemen of the University" of Oxford, Mr. Justice Blackstone proceeds to set forth the value and importance of legal studies to all individuals and classes in a free state, and particularly, to vindicate its appropriateness as part of a liberal education. We cannot refrain from quoting a few passages in this

connection.

"And, first, to demonstrate the utility of some acquaintance with the laws of the land, let us only reflect a moment on the singular frame and polity of that land which is governed by this system of laws; a land, perhaps the only one in the universe in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope of the Constitution. This liberty rightly understood, consists in the power of doing whatever the laws permit; which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to those equitable rules of action by which the meanest individual is protected from the insults and oppression of the greatest. As, therefore, every subject is interested in the preservation of the laws, it is incumbent upon every man to be acquainted with those, at least, with which he is immediately concerned; lest he incur the censure as well as inconvenience, of living in society without knowing the obligations which it lays him under."

p. 6.

And, having thus intimated the value and importance of some general acquaintance with the laws of the land, even to "persons of inferior condition," the learned lecturer proceeds to specify the orders and degrees into which English society is divided, and to urge upon each the indispensableness of legal studies to the proper performance of the duties to which they are called. He cites the case of "gentlemen of independent estates and fortunes." to whom the knowledge of those general principles which relate to conveyancing and the making and attesting of wills, is of the first and plainest importance. Proceeding then from private to public affairs, he says:

"All gentlemen of fortune are, in consequence of their property, liable to be called upon to establish the rights, to estimate the injuries, to weigh the accusations, and sometimes to dispose of the lives of their fellow-subjects, by serving upon juries. In this situation they have frequently a right to decide, and that upon their oaths, questions of nice importance, in the solution of which some legal skill is requisite ; especially when the law and the fact, as it often happens, are intimately blended together. And the general incapacity even of our best