est blades of grass show from what quarter the wind blows better than the limbs of the stoutest trees, and we presume in this corner of a note, which may be considered as the place in which the author whispers, or speaks to his readers in an under tone, we descry Dr. Pusey's genuine sentiments. I suspect very few Romish clergymen would have ventured upon such language as this, and heaven preserve my church from imbibing the spirit that breathes through it. It would be more fatal to her interests than is the Sirocco to tropical regions. "But if the doctrine of the power of priests to pronounce authoritative absolution from sins savours of Popery, the great point of their conveying or transfusing through baptism the spirit of immortality, by cementing a union between mankind and the sacred body of Christ, outstrips the most extravagant pretensions ever put forth by the Pope and all his councils. It towers much above his supremacy, his infallibility, and all the most enormous prerogatives of the keys; for these all derive their strength from the consideration, that the souls of men are immortal: but could he and his clergy fabricate immortals, another church of St. Peter's might be speedily erected in New York or Philadelphia, without any sale of indulgences, or any Augustin or Franciscan Friars to transport them, in traffic, through the country. Upon this idea, Steele, in the Tatler, founds an ingenious and well-sustained fiction, in which he introduces Pasquin as writing to him from Rome, and mentioning the consternation into which the Pope and his conclave had been thrown, by the appearance of Dodwell's ، Epistolary Discourse. The assertion,' says the wit, appeared to our Literati so short and effectual a method of subjecting the laity, that it is feared auricular confession and absolution will not be capable of keeping the clergy of Rome in any degree of greatness, in competition with such teachers, whose flocks shall receive this opinion. Your readers in this city, (Rome,) some of whom have very much approved the warmth with which you have attacked freethinkers, atheists, and other enemies to religion and virtue, are very much disturbed that you have given them no other account of this remarkable dissertation. I am employed by them to desire you would, with all possible expedition, send me over the ceremony of the creation of souls, as well as a list of all the mortal and immortal men within the dominions of Great Britain.' The Dr., we have seen, has no stomach to digest the introduction of pleasantry into the serious subjects of religion, and I should be willing to enter with him into an express convention to that effect, but it must be upon the express condition that its advocates take care to avoid all follies and whimsies which are worthy of nothing but ridicule." Such is "Warburton's reasoning which I do not think is strengthened or embellished by the occasional harshness or levity, which, in imitation of the prelate whose name he assumes, he allows himself to use. Put I consider that he has exhibited a prima facie case which demands a distinct reply. If the divines of the Oxford Tract school did not make prudent reserve an essential part of their system, I should say that much of what Warburton objects to in Dr. Pusey's language, is mere unintelligible mysticism; that it conveys no well-defined idea; and though it may be Dodwellism, it may be only vague extravagance. This however would not be respectful to Dr. Pusey, who writes too carefully not to couch some meaning, whatever it may be, under his most ambiguous phraseology. I doubt not that most readers, like myself, took for granted that Dr. Pusey meant only that the church conveys to us through baptism what is usually designated "spiritual life "-not immortality but renewal of heart; but upon reconsidering his expressions, and comparing them with those of Dodwell, it seems to me that he means more; and that he has been misunderstood only because we put our own construction upon his words, not suspecting their latent Dodwellism. And be it remembered that not only is the non-juror Dodwell one of the special favourites of the Oxford Tract writers, but his strange notion has been actually entertained in modern times by one or another of the divines who have kept up the succession of LauCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 35. 4 S dean doctrines. Of this I will bring proof; for when about forty years ago the late Bishop Gleig of Scotland published some sermons, in which he spoke something to the effect of the above extracts from Dr. Pusey, the British Critic," in reviewing his sermons, said: "In some passages of these sermons an opinion is stated, apparently coincident with that of the learned Henry Dodwell, that souls, after the Fall, became mortal, and that it was only through the gift of Christ, they became immortal. He does not surely mean to say, that, without the intervention of the Saviour, there would have been no general resurrection, no future judgment. It was assuredly to save us from condemnation, not from annihilation, that the Son of God came down from heaven." Thus inquired the British Critic in former days, (Vol. xxii. p. 664). Will it put the same interrogations to Dr. Pusey in 1840? Dr. Gleig's language was certainly not more strong than Dr. Pusey's. Salvation," said Dr. Gleig, “denotes sometimes our redemption from the everlasting power of the grave." Again : The eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, was to restore mankind to that immortality which all had forfeited by the rebellion of their first parents, and it was to accomplish this purpose that he sent his Son into the world to take upon him our nature, to suffer death upon the cross, to rise again from the dead." That is, "Christ's resurrection was the cause of our resurrection," which are Dr. Pusey's very words. We should not have risen but for Christ; that is, we should have been annihilated! This boon-that is, "the principle of life "-Dr. Pusey says is imparted by the church in baptism. What becomes of the non-baptized? Did God so love the world that he gave h's Son to substitute in their case damnation for annihilation? Would that the Oxford sophists would plainly tell us what they mean! OXONIENSIS. ON DRAWING GROUNDLESS INFERENCES FROM SCRIPTURE PHRASEOLOGY. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I was surprised to read in a paper by J. M. H., in your September Number, p. 515, the following remark," Satan is designated by the title, a strong man, to indicate the power which he possesses relatively to man." There is much danger in drawing inferences from such slight expressions; and in my experience I am sure that the errors and heresies in the church, since I can remember, have been principally promoted by such a system of interpretation. I should consider the inference in question untenable, even if the sacred text verbally allowed of it; but it is utterly groundless, as the word for man does not occur in the original. B. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. WORKS ON EGYPT, SYRIA, AND TURKEY. 1. Sketches of a Missionary's Travels in Egypt, Syria, Western Africa, &c. By R. M. MACBRIAR, author of the Mandingo Grammar, &c. London, 1839. 2. A Pilgrimage to Palestine, Egypt, and Syria. By M. DE GERAMB, Monk of La Trappe. 2 vols. London, 1840. 3. Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, &c., with Observations on the Present State and Prospects of Egypt and Palestine. By W. R. WILDE, M.R.I.A., &c. 2. vols. Dublin, 1840. 4. Narrative of a Tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia; with Observations on the condition of Mohammedanism and Christianity in those countries. By the Rev. H. SOUTHGATE, Missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. 2 vols. London and New York, 1840. 5. The Illuminated Atlas of Scripture Geography, delineating the Physical and Historical Features of the Geography of Palestine, &c., with an explanatory notice of each map. By W. HUGHES, F.R.G.S. 1840. THE words Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, will shew why we have strung together the above publications. These three countries, the important political questions connected with which at this moment excite such intense interest, suggest themes fraught with the most impressive recollections and the most solemn anticipations. Hundreds of volumes have been written upon them, and yet almost every new one adds something to the stock of information or important reflection. But it is not secular history which encompasses these countries and the surrounding regions with the most thrilling associations. The sacred records, with which our earliest childhood was familiar, introduce us, from the book of Genesis to that of Revelation, to events of which they were the site; events more striking even as narratives than those of any other series of human annals; and many of them connected with concerns far more momentous than any that refer only to man's mortal nature, and fraught with his eternal destinies. Palestine in particular awakens deep emotions; and its annals are distinguished from those of other lands, in that they are universal history. The records of Greece or Rome affect the human race only remotely or partially. What is it personally to a Cherokee, a Caffer, or a New Zealander, that the battle of Marathon was fought; or whether Romulus and Remus did really found the imperial city? But the things of which Moses and the prophets spake, and most especially the incarnation, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God, of which the emphatically named Holy Land was the site, equally concern all the descendants of Adam; the Bible which records them is the Book of every age, and every land; and therefore those localities with which its pages are chiefly conversant, are in a measure every man's country. Judea is the central spot; and as we look upon the regions which surround it, or are contiguous to it—as we glance from Egypt to the Red Sea, passing over the sands of the Arabian wilderness, and looking to the south towards the rugged cliffs of Sinai; thence ascending northward, traversing from the Euphrates to Mount Caucasus, through countries which were the cradle of the human race, and the scenes of many of its most remarkable histories; and thence, turning westward to Turkey, the throne of Mohammedanism, once the flourishing soil of primitive Christianity, and still, like Palestine, the predicted scene of great events yet unaccomplished; we take in a range of lands fraught with an accumulation of the most interesting and important recollections, that the whole course of history and the whole extent of the globe can furnish. Egypt, Syria, and Turkey were till of late years potentially one empire; and they are still nominally so; for Mehemet Ali, though absolute master of Egypt and the conqueror and ruler of Syria, is in words only the vassal of the Sultan. As they lie in the map, reposing upon the shores of the Mediterranean, to the North, the South, and the East, Turkey separated from Syria by the range of Taurus, and other natural boundaries, and Syria from Egypt by the sandy deserts, they might well form three independent empires, aiding each other by neighbourly relations. But states are the growth of a variety of longoperating events, and ought not to be parcelled out by mere geographical considerations, which, however specious, are much less weighty than the innumerable bonds of union, or causes of dissonance, arising from language, religion, manners, political institutions, antipathies or predilections, and long-continued union or separation. All Europe has determined (for even France acknowledges the principle, though there is some difference of opinion about the details) that the integrity of the Ottoman empire ought not to be disturbed; for that the disruption of the long-established relations by which it is held together would lead to much evil to the great family of nations. We are not at present considering the policy of this or that scheme for the retention of the balance of power, but merely stating the fact, that all Europe has determined that it shall not be disturbed; whereas the tendency of antagonist local forces, if left to themselves, is to disturb it; for Egypt has encroached upon, and wishes still more to encroach upon, the Ottoman empire from the south, while to the north Russia seems ambitiously, and we think foolishly, anxious to extend her conquests: so that between them we might soon expect to witness the Apocalyptic drying up of the Euphrates, which is usually considered to mean the weakening or dismemberment of the Turkish empire, that being the central seat of Moslemism. This, however, England and her allies have set themselves to counteract ; not of course with any intention of frustrating prophecy; or thinking at all about it; but as viewing the integrity of the Ottoman empire as subservient to their several political or commercial interests; and we remember that blame was thrown upon the Duke of Wellington's cabinet, a few years since, by some expositors of un fulfilled prophecy, as if he were fighting against God because he wished (and the present allied powers have followed up his views) to conserve to Turkey its full strength. Such minute applications of unfulfilled prophecy to passing events are ill-judged; for, first, it is by no means perfectly certain, however probable, that the drying up of the Euphrates does necessarily mean the downfall of Mohammedanism; secondly, though it probably does, it is not certain that the present time is the precise era of that predicted event; and, thirdly, it is still less certain that the dismemberment of Turkey will weaken the sway of the False Prophet; for Mehemet Ali professes to be as good a Mussulman as the Sultan, and Syria is not less Mohammedan for being allied with Egypt; and even if it were, it is but a small fragment of the immense mass of nations which adhere to the faith of the Koran. It is not clear, therefore, that Mohammedanism would materially suffer, if the allies left Russia and Egypt, Turkey and Syria, to their own arrangements; or that they add much strength to it by their present line of policy. The justice or necessity of that policy has nothing to do with the question; we speak only in relation to what has been said upon the supposed bearings of unfulfilled prophecy. Our cursory glances may as well commence with Egypt, of which Mr. Wilde and Mr. Macbriar shall furnish us with a few characteristic sketches. Mr. Wilde is an intelligent surgeon at Dublin, who travelled with an invalid gentleman. Mr. Macbriar is a Wesleyan Missionary, who perambulated Egypt, distributing the Scriptures, and availing himself of such opportunities as occurred for religious conference with the natives of various creeds. The two travellers viewed Egypt, and that remarkable man its governor, with glasses of different hue, and the juxta-position of their sketches will therefore be the more amusing, and perhaps sometimes suggest a third more correct than either. Mr. Macbriar cannot speak of Mehemet Ali (we adopt the spelling of his name now usual) without displeasure and indignation; whereas Mr. Wilde, though he does not deny or palliate the enormous crimes which have stained his career, gives him credit for better qualities than most English travellers discern in him. At this moment, when the Pasha's character, government, and institutions are so much discussed, a few particulars will not be uninteresting. The following passages are from Mr. Wilde. (Mehemet Ali.)" While remounting, Mohammad Alee Basha passed on his way to visit his daughter, who is married in Cairo; a father, brother, or uncle being the only males allowed to visit a Turkish lady, except her husband. Seeing a company of Franks, his pace slackened to salute us, thus affording us a view of this extraordinary man. He is a fine-looking old man, now upwards of seventy, (1769, the birth year of Napoleon, Wellington, and Mohammad Alee), with a very long silver beard; he was dressed in scarlet, and wore the simple turboosh, which he is anxious to introduce, and sets the example in his own person. The turban would have been, to him at least, a much more becoming headdress. Slight as was our view of him, it did not pass without making us feel the power of an eye of more brilliancy and penetration than I ever beheld. His equipage was very plain-he sat in an old lumbering machine, which in England would be styled a superannuated family coach; drawn, however, by four most magnificent white horses, which were managed with considerable skill by an Arab coachman; about a dozen cavalry officers of his staff rode beside his carriage, and six or eight dromedaries followed, each carrying |