A translation of this interesting and instructive work has been undertaken by the Rev. J. C. Stapleton, Rector of Teversal-and the first volume of which in octavo appeared in 1838, entitled "The Life of St. Chrysostom translated from the German, &c."

This is divided into two periods, the first from the earliest education of Chrysostom to his entrance upon the office of Presbyter, A.D. 347-386, the second is devoted to the period of his ministry in Antioch, A.D. 386-398, before he went to Constantinople. To each of these is added an appendix which contain valuable notes illustrative of several interesting subjects. The materials of this work Dr. Neander has mainly gleaned from the writings of this eloquent father, and that our readers may judge of its character, we extract a passage in which Chrysostom appears as the advocate of liberty of conscience :

"Chrysostom justly comments upon the impotency of every attack from the enemies of Christianity, who, like Celsus, employed against the sacred cause the arms of wit and talent, in an age when the church had to sustain the heaviest assaults from without, and when the learning of later times stood not arrayed in its defence: "Vain," says he, "is every effort to defend a cause in itself corrupt and false; but if the cause be good and true, vain shall be all the inventions of its enemies to overthrow it; for the power of truth needeth no aid.' Should even thousands seek to extinguish it, not only will it not be extinguished, but deriding the vain strife and rage of its foes, it will rise more glorious and sublime through the very efforts of those who attempt its destruction; for our religion, which ye call a fable, kings and emperors, unvanquished orators, philosophers, and evil spirits have sought to destroy, and their attacks have been like the darts of children. The writings of ingenious philosophers and eloquent rhetoricians against Christianity have for the most part perished in their birth, or if any of them yet remain, they have been preserved by the Christians themselves. But as far as your religion is concerned, no one hath fought against it; for to put down false creeds by external power is not permitted to the Christians: by persuasion, by conviction, and by love alone, may they work towards the salvation of mankind. Wherefore no Christian emperor hath enacted such laws against you, as the idolaters against us.' When Chrysostom wrote this, he could not have remembered-or perhaps he knew it not-that the Emperor Constantine in the latter part of his reign and the Emperor Constantius with greater severity—the last even by penalty of death-had forbidden the offering up of sacrifices; and consequently had acted contrary to that, which Chrysostom declares to be the true Christian principle. But never were the measures of Christian emperors for the suppression of heathen worship to be compared with the persecution of heathen emperors against the Christian church. For the Christian emperors never sought to constrain the heathen to the renunciation of their creed, or to the confession of Christianity. Their laws were directed only against certain outward actions, such as the performance of sacrifices. The observation of Chrysostom concerning the conduct of the Christian emperors is just, if viewed with reference to those, who reigned after Julian down to this period; for the immediate successors of the Emperor Julian probably considered it advisable to appease by toleration the minds of the heathen, which had received a new impulse from the short dominion they had regained; as they might easily have learnt from the experience of the times following the reign of Constantius, that the Christian church was least benefited by measures of violence. The Emperor Valentinian even in the commencement of his reign had by a law granted an universal

and unconditional religious liberty; and by another law, afterwards, in a. D. 371, he had declared, that the exercise of any religion tolerated in the old Roman State should not be regarded as a crime. Theodosius, at that time reigning in the east, proceeded more vehemently towards the suppression of the heathen worship; but as he first employed extreme severity for this purpose A. D. 321, it is easy to explain why Chrysostom could write thus, in one of the early years of his reign. In this passage also he discovered himself an adversary to the employment of force in religious affairs, and by this truly Christian spirit he afterwards distinguished himself above many of his cotemporaries. He set forth the contrast between Christianity and heathenism, the former extending itself through its divine power, and rising highest, when most assailed; the latter sinking, when unsupported by external circumstances; on which occasion he gives us some remarkable information upon the state of the heathen worship in his time: "When the imperial throne is filled by one, whose sentiments are unfavourable to heathenism, we behold on entering the temples of idolatry, cobwebs extended every where on the walls, and the idols so covered with dust, that neither eyes, nor nose, nor any other feature of the face can be discerned. The altars stand in ruins, and their remains are encircled so entirely by the long grass, that he, who did not know them to be altars, would mistake them for a dunghill. The cause of it is, that in former times it was permitted to the idolaters to rob as much as they chose, and to feast under the pretence of venerating their idols. But wherefore should they now exert themselves? Far different on the other hand is it with our cause. For if a Christian ascend the imperial throne, the Christian zeal seemeth to decline; so far is Christianity from being advanced through honour conferred by men; but when an impious man becometh our ruler, persecuting us on all sides, and besetting us with a thousand evils, our church riseth in greater glory; then is the hour of victory; then is the courage of the Christian awakened.' He says that in a few towns only idolatry still prevails, and that in them it is supported by the influence of the richer citizens: 'These are the props of idolatry, drunkenness and feasting by day and by night, flutes and drums, the liberty of indulging in licentious language with shameless audacity, and of committing deeds still more licentious. This indecent extravagance yet upholdeth the tottering fabric of idolatry. For the richer citizens, selecting those, who from idleness are perishing with hunger, retain them in the rank of parasites and of dogs, which feed around their tables; they nourish them with the remnants of their iniquitous feasts, and render them subservient to their purposes. But we, who detest your folly and iniquity, feed not those who hunger from idleness; but we exhort every man to work not only for himself but for others. We permit the maimed alone to receive, from the wealthy, the necessary means of subsistence."'-pp. 50-53.

The following passage shows that this great man was also the eloquent advocate of the right of private judgment.

Chrysostom earnestly endeavoured to promote an intimate acquaintance with the Bible among the laity. He was well aware, that the Scriptures were the surest means of connecting the cause of religion with the feelings of the heart, and of diffusing a pure and practical knowledge of Christianity. He believed, that Christians ought to be deeply instructed in their religion; that they ought to receive in a direct manner from the divine word the enlightening of the divine spirit; and that they ought to be capable of deriving their conviction from the living source of the Bible, and of rendering thence an account of the faith, which they profess. Thus he says: It is strange, that every physician is able to give an exact account of his art; the tanner, the weaver, and every artizan of his trade; but that he, who calleth himself a Christian, can render no account of his faith. Hence ariseth, that we are not more suc

cessful in persuading the heathen at once to renounce his errors. For if he, the advocate of a lie, spareth nothing to conceal the baseness of his doctrines; but we, the servants of truth, are unable to open our mouths-will he not accuse the weakness of our doctrines? Will he not suspect our cause to be craft and foolishness? Will he not blaspheme Christ as a deceiver, as one, who hath abused the ignorance of the multitude to their own delusion. We are guilty of this blasphemy, because we are not willing to heed the knowledge necessary to be learnt for the defence of our religion; but set aside these things as superfluous; and are careful for the things of this world.' Having complained, that the study of the Bible was neglected, he said: 'Hence we lead ungodly lives; hence we are powerless in the struggle for truth, and become the laughing-stock of Gentile, Jew, and Heretic.' Again: If ye searched the Scriptures, and daily exercised yourselves unto the fight, I would not exhort you to shun a contest with the heathen; but rather would I counsel you to enter into the strife: for great is the power of truth. But because ye know not how to wield the Scriptures, I fear the conflict, lest ye be vanquished, being thus unarmed; for none are so weak as those, who are without the aid of the Holy Spirit.'

'Chrysostom had not derived his opinions upon points of doctrine from the secret traditions of the church, but from a study of the Bible. From his youth upwards his life and Christian views had been formed and matured by the reading of Holy Writ; and he was far from making the exposition of the inspired writings subordinate to the traditions of the church. He considered the Scripture to be a direct and independent source of knowledge fully sufficient of itself to determine the truths of our faith; and to this living fountain he alone referred. When therefore the heathen were wont to answer those, who sought to bring them over to Christianity: We would become Christians, but we know not whom to follow; for among you there is much strife, discord, and tumult. Which doctrine should we prefer? Each one saith, that he speaketh truth. Whom shall we believe, knowing nothing of the Scriptures?' Chrysostom replied: 'If we professed to follow human reason, ye might be disquieted; but since we declare, that our faith is drawn from the Scriptures, and they are plain and true, ye may easily discover the truth. He, whose belief accordeth with the Bible, is a Christian; but he, who is at variance with it, is far removed from true Christianity.' Chrysostom then alludes to another objection of the heathen: 'What shall we do,' they said, 'if one Christian come and assert, that a peculiar doctrine is to be found in a certain passage of the Bible, and another Christian ascribe a different meaning to the same passage-the sense of the Scripture being on either side strained by your interpretations?' Instead of answering the heathen as Augustine would have done, by referring them to the authority and tradition of the church, in order to determine the true sense of Scripture, Chrysostom called upon them to examine the Bible freely, and thence to draw their own conclusion: 'Tell me then,' he said 'hast thou neither understanding nor judgment of thine own?"-pp. 247-251.

But to resume our narrative of Dr. Neander' works. In 1826, he published "Antignosticus, oder Geist des Tertullians," Anti-gnostic, or the opinions of Tertullian, another fruit of the laborious researches he had imposed upon himself into the works of the first ages, and as preparatory to the great object of his life and labours, a history of Christianity. Although this work has not been translated into our language, yet Bishop Kay has given the English reader a good synopsis of its contents and states that Neander "gives a more or less detailed analysis of each Tract of Tertullian's, and occasionally introduces the sentiments of other ecclesiastical writers on the points under discussion. He is

always learned and ingenious; but not altogether free from that love of hypothesis for which the German writers are remarkable.”*

"To set forth the history of the church of Christ, as an eloquent witness to the divine power of Christianity, as a school of Christian experience, as a voice of instruction and warning to all who choose to hear this has long been the chief aim of my life and of my studies." Such is the first sentence of Dr. Neander's preface to his "Allgemeine Geschichte der Christliche Religion und Kirche,"-History of the Christian Religion and Church. This work first appeared at Berlin in 1822, published in three bands, or parts, relating to the Three First Centuries. The Rev. H. J. Rose, of St. John's, Cambridge, undertook its translation, in two octavo volumes. The first, containing the Introduction, the History of the Persecutions of Christians, Church Government, and Christian Life and Worship, appeared in 1831, accompanied with a long preface and many notes.

"The style of Neander," says Dr. Wood, Jun. "though lucid, is yet exceedingly idiomatic, and full of condensed thought; and is, therefore, one of the most difficult to transfuse into good English. The translator of such a work, too, a work which contains the results of the labours of a life, should be able to comprehend and appropriate to himself the lofty spirit in which it is written; he should be able, like the author, to rise above the trammels of local circumstances and feelings; and to regard, not the shell, but the kernel; not the form, but the essence; not the letter, but the spirit. It is therefore matter of deep regret, that a professed translation of Neander's work has begun to appear in England, from the pen of one who would appear to possess none of these essential qualifications. He has neither fully understood the language of the original, nor expressed what he did understand in intelligible English; still less has he comprehended the spirit of the author; for while Neander has elevated his views above all external forms, and regarded Christianity only in its all-pervading and life-giving power, it is the great object of the translator to bring down his work into the trammels of the ultra high-church theories of a portion of the English hierarchy. The publication of such a translation cannot but be fatal to the reputation of Neander in England; and must necessarily, though most falsely and unjustly, cause him to be ranked among those obscure and cumbrous writers, of whom it is the unfortunate reputation of Germany to have so many examples."+

Ten years having elapsed since the first volume appeared, Mr. Rose has just published the second which is occupied with the history of Christian sects and doctrines, and an account of the chief fathers of the

* Vide The Ecclesiastical History of the Second and third Centuries, illustrated from the Writings of Tertullian. Second Edition, Preface, passim.

† American Biblical Repository, Vol. iii. pp. 71, 72.

church; and it is to be hoped that he has improved his acquaintance with German during that period. Be that as it may, he has prefixed to the second volume another long preface, to caution his young readers against receiving Dr. Neander's views "on the church question." These two volumes form, however, but a small part of Dr. Neander's great work, for a second volume, also in three parts, conducts the reader to the times of Gregory I.; three others have since been published, which bring down the history to the year A. D. 1294. Introductory to this general history, Dr. Neander, in 1838, published another important work, which has been translated by Mr. J. E. Ryland, of Northampton, entitled, "History of the planting and training of the Christian Church by the Apostles."* This is comprised in six books, which treat on the following topics: 1. The Christian church in Palestine previous to its spread among heathen nations. 2. The first spread of Christianity from the church at Jerusalem, to other parts, and especially amongst heathen nations. 3. The spread of Christianity, and founding of the Christian church among the Gentiles, by the instrumentality of the Apostle Paul. 4. A review of the labours of James and Peter during this period. 5. The Apostle John and his ministry as the closing point of the apostolic age. 6. The apostolic doctrine.

Without venturing to express a concurrence in all the opinions that Dr. Neander advances, we cannot but regard him as raised up by Divine Providence, to check the progress of those lofty claims which have been revived in this country and in other parts of Europe, with an arrogancy worthy of the middle ages, and with a simultaneousness that resembles the outbreak of their dark conspiracies.

The reader may judge how little such a guest at our Court will be desired by the Oxford party, from the following brief passages which we now select, and which show how many of his opinions approximate to those which we profess and advocate :

THE EQUALITY OF CHRISTIAN MEN.-"The formation of the Christian church, being derived from the peculiarities of Christianity, must essentially differ from that of all other religious unions. A class of priests, who were to guide all other men under an assumption of their incompetence in religious matters, whose business it was exclusively to provide for the satisfaction of the religious wants of the rest of mankind, and to form a link between them and God, and godly things; such a class of priests could find no place in Christianity. While the Gospel put away that which separated man from God, by bringing all men into the same communion with God through Christ; it also removed that partition-wall which separated one man from his fellows, in regard to his more elevated interests. The same High Priest, and Mediator for all, by whom all being reconciled and united with God, become themselves a priestly and spiritual race! One heavenly King, Guide, and Teacher, through

*This History occupies volumes 35 and 36 of the Biblical Cabinet, published by Mr. Clark, of Edinburgh, and is a valuable addition to that series, which should not be wanting in the study of any minister who can afford to purchase it.