kets of Edinburgh, are held on Wednesday. The court of Session does not sit on Monday; the meat-market also, which is a considerable market in Edinburgh, is held upon Tuesday. All shops for the necessaries of life, such as butchers', bakers', etc. are strictly closed on the Sabbath."

Some testimony in relation to the observance of the Sabbath in Scotland from the Rev. John Lee, D. D., is highly important. Dr. Lee attended the University of Edinburgh from 1794 to 1804. Subsequently, for ten years, he was professor of Church History in the University of St. Andrews. He has more recently filled the office of principal clerk of the General Assembly of the church of Scotland. Dr. Lee read the following statement from Kirkton's History, understood to be a very authentic memorial of the middle of the 17th century : "Now, before we speak of the alteration court-influences made upon the church of Scotland, let us consider in what case it was at this time. There be in all Scotland, some 900 parishes, divided into sixty-eight presbyteries, which are again cantoned into fourteen synods, out of all which, by a solemn legation of commissioners from every presbytery, they used yearly to constitute a national assembly. At the king's return in 1660, every parish had a minister, every village had a school, every family almost had a Bible; yea, in most of the country, all the children of age could read the Scriptures, and were provided of Bibles, either by the parents, or their ministers. I have lived many years in a parish where I never heard one oath, and you might have ridden many miles before you had heard any; also, you could not, for a great part of the country, have lodged in a family where the Lord was not worshipped by reading, singing, and public prayer. Nobody complained more of our churchgovernment than our taverners, whose ordinary lamentation was, their trade was broken, people were become so sober." "The Sabbath was observed," says Dr. Lee, "with the greatest strictness soon after the period of the Revolution of 1688, till about 1730. It was owing to the great vigilance, faithfulness, and zeal, with which both ministers and elders performed their duty towards those who were placed under their charge, and more, perhaps, than to any other cause, to the universal practice of Bible education. In the dedication of the first Scottish edition of the Bible, in 1579, it is stated, that so great had been the progress of religious instruction, particularly in that form, in a country where less than forty years before, the Bible was not

suffered to be read; that almost every house possessed a copy of the Bible, and had the Bible read in it. It is ascertained also that in the time of the Covenanters, which I believe to have been a period of great religious light, and of great strictness and purity of morals, there was scarcely an individual in the Lowlands of Scotland, who could not read, and who was not in the habit of reading the Bible, and scarcely a family in which the worship of God was not regularly performed. Such a description, however, could not apply to the Highlanders." About the year 1780, a sad change took place in Scotland. The Sabbath became less and less regarded. The causes of this deterioration, as stated by Dr. Lee, were, the relaxation of church discipline; the progressive decline of Scriptural education in the schools in Scotland; the increased communication with England and Ireland, and the consequent gradual introduction of new habits; the influence of infidel publications, and the substitution of frivolous reading, for the grave instruction of previous times; the ensnaring example of men of rank and of official station; decreasing attention to the practice of parochial instruction on the part of ministers; the political discussions introduced by the American and French revolutions; the establishment of manufactories in the large towns; and the greater facilities of travelling.

2.-Text-Book of Ecclesiastical History. By J. C. I. Gieseler, doctor of philosophy and theology, and professor of theology in Göttingen. Translated from the third German edition by Francis Cunningham. In three volumes, pp. 382, 420, 437. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836.

Prof. Gieseler was born in 1792. He commenced his academical studies in the orphan-house at Halle, whence he entered the university at the same place, and attended on the instructions of Knapp, Gesenius, and Wegscheider. At the age of twenty-five, he was appointed to an office in the gymnasium at Minden, his native place. He was then appointed professor of theology at the new university of Bonn. Here he continued eleven years, and earned a high reputation by his industry and intellectual vigor. In 1831, he went to Göttingen as professor of ecclesiastical history. The first volume of his History appeared in Germany in 1824, and passed through three editions,

1824, 1827, 1831, before the completion of the second volume in 1835. The two volumes, (three in the translation), extend to the Reformation. Another volume, which has not yet appeared in Germany, is to bring down the history to the present time. Gieseler gives up the old division into centuries, and divides his work into periods. The first extends from the birth of Christ to the accession of Constantine. The second period embraces the events from Constantine to the controversy respecting images A. D. 324–451. The third period extends from the controversy just named to the Reformation. Appropriate divisions under these periods are made. "It will be seen by a glance at the main body of the work," says the translator, "that by far the greatest part of it consists of extracts from the original sources; the text itself, though containing a complete view of the whole field of church history, being exceedingly compressed. The advantages of such a plan for a manual of this study will at once be manifest. On the one hand, the student does not wish to be encumbered with long disquisitions on subjects so hard and dry as for the most part are here treated of, and on the other it is important that he should have the means of investigating them on occasion; whilst frequently the points involved are so refined and delicate that the mistranslation of a word, or even the substitution of one language for another, may essentially modify the idea."

At

As a specimen of the manner of the author, we quote a few sentences on the internal relations of the christian church in the apostolic age. "The new churches every where formed themselves on the model of the mother church at Jerusalem. the head of each were the elders (πρεσβύτεροι, ἐπίσκοποι), all officially of equal rank, though in several instances a peculiar authority seems to have been conceded to some one individual from personal considerations. Under the superintendence of the elders were the deacons and deaconesses. Rom. 16: 1. 1 Tim. 5: 9, 10. All these received their support, like the poor, from the free contributions of the church. 1 Tim. 5: 17. 1 Cor. 9: 13. It was by no means any part of the duty of the elders to teach, though the apostle wishes that they may be apt to teach (didaxrixoi). 1 Tim. 3: 2. 2 Tim. 2: 24. The power of speaking, and exhortation was considered rather the free gift of the Spirit (χάρισμα πνευματικόν), and was possessed by many of the Christians, though exercised in various ways (prophets-teachers-speaking with tongues. 1 Cor. 12: 28-31.

ch. xvi). There was as yet no distinct order of clergy, for the whole society of Christians was "a royal priesthood," (1 Pet. 2:9)—"the chosen people of God." 1 Pet. 5: 3. Comp. Deut. 4: 20. 9: 29. They assembled for worship in private houses; in cities the churches were often divided into several societies, each having its particular place of meeting." The characteristics of professor Gieseler's work seem to be general candor and fairness-the great compression of ideas in the text and the learning, research and judgment displayed in the notes, quotations and references. If this history gains currency among us, it will argue well for the cause of sacred learning. Recommendatory notices are prefixed from professors Stuart, Emerson, Hodge, Sears, and Ware. We know not what professor Sears means by saying that " Mosheim's History can no longer be used." Mr. Cunningham remarks very justly that "of all (the ecclesiastical historians hitherto accessible to the English reader), Mosheim alone is fitted for a general and comprehensive study of the subject." "The translation by Dr. Murdock is particularly valuable for the great learning and fidelity displayed in the notes."

3.-Recent Travels in Spanish America.

Mr. C. J. Latrobe, an English traveller, spent about three months in the beginning of the year 1834, in Mexico, mostly in the capital and its environs. The following he gives as the population of New Spain. 1. The Gachupin, the full blood European, or more properly the Spaniard, whose numbers have dwindled since the revolution, from 80,000, to probably not more than 10,000. 2. Creoles of European extraction, 1,000, 000. 3. Mestizoes, the offspring of the European and the Indian, 2,000,000. 4. Mulattoes, the offspring of Europeans and negroes, 400,000. 5. Aboriginal Indians, 3 or 4,000,000. 6. African negroes and their descendants, 100,000. 7. Zamboes, the offspring of negroes and Indians, 2,000,000. 8. About 15,000 European foreigners. Total, about 9,000,000. The impressions of Mr. Latrobe in regard to the moral condition and political prospects of Mexico were any thing but favorable. "Of all countries I have ever seen, New Spain contains the largest proportion of canaille. No one who ever spent a month in Mexico will pretend to say that the present state of the country is flattering to the advocate of republicanism. He detects want VOL. IX. No. 25.

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of system, want of public and private faith; want of legitimate means of carrying on the government, of enforcing laws, or maintaining order; total absence of patriotism; a general ignorance; indifference to the value of education, linked to overweening arrogance and pride; an incredible absence of men of either natural or acquired talent of any description; and intolerant support of the darkest bigotry and superstition. The meanest partizanship stands in the place of patriotism. The government of the moment has not the power of effectually governing, even if it were sincere in the desire." "In matters of religion, nothing could be more bigotted and intolerant than the reform government of the country. The Roman Catholic religion in its blindest, most revolting form, was the only one tolerated by law; and whatever there may be in other Roman Catholic countries, here there would seem to be no medium between the most debasing superstition and idolatry, and skepticism, and infidelity. It is said that there are 550 secular, and 1,646 regular clergy in the capital; that in twenty-three monasteries there are 1200 individuals; and in fifteen convents, about 2000 souls, of whom 900 are professed nuns. The few Protestant residents in the metropolis, are not permitted to have a place of worship; and were it not stipulated by a treaty with Great Britain, they would not be allowed a place of sepulture for their dead." Out of a population of 160,000, in Mexico, 15,000 fell victims to the cholera in 1833. There are fifty-six churches besides the cathedral.

Among the latest travellers in South America, are Messrs. Smyth and Lowe, of the British ship Samarang, who in 1834 and 1835, passed from Lima to Para across the Andes, and down the Amazon. They are gentlemen of intelligence and veracity. The Pamba del Sacramento is thus described: "It is so called, from its having been discovered by some of the newly converted Indians, in 1726, on the day of the festival of Corpo de Dios. It comprises the greatest part of the land lying between the Huallaga, the Ucayali, the Marañon, and the Pechitea; and it is remarked, with apparent justice, that the two continents of America do not contain another country so favorably situated, and so fertile. It is about 300 miles long, from north to south, and from about forty to 100 in breadth. Two of its boundary rivers, the Marañon and Ucayali, are at all times navigable for vessels of large burden; and the other two