1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



351 



of the utter futility of which, long and 

 close research has fully convinced the 

 reverend author. The aim of Dr. Rus- 

 sell, and a very laudable one too, is, 

 accordingly, to prove to the general 

 satisfaction of Christians, that it is, after 

 all, a subject with which they have 

 nothing to do ; and this, he will seem to 

 most sober people, we think, to have 

 successfully accomplished, first, by trac- 

 ing its history, which shews it to have 

 originated in Tlabbinical traditions long 

 before the times of the Gospel; and 

 next, by describing the doctrine itself, 

 the objects to which it points, and the 

 reasoning by which it is supported, 

 with all the shiftings and accommoda- 

 tions to which its advocates from age to 

 age have been driven in support of it, 

 per fas and per nefas. 



The word Millenium means a thou- 

 sand years, and in the fancies and ex- 

 pectations of the Jews, the term ex- 

 pressed a sort of sabbatical period, to 

 commence at the close of the sixth chi- 

 liad, or 6000 years from the creation of the 

 world a period blessed with abundance 

 and felicity, and exempt from care and 

 labour. The opinion was general, and 

 enforced by the rabbis with all sorts of 

 fantastical arguments. The early Chris- 

 tians, at least such as were Jews, and 

 certainly some who were not, enter- 

 tained the same sentiments. The very 

 Apostles, Jews also, gave indications of 

 being impressed with the national con- 

 viction. The happy period was sup- 

 posed to have arrived about the time of 

 the birth of Christ, and when the anti- 

 cipated blessing did not appear, recourse 

 was had to new calculations, to put off 

 the commencement, from time to time, 

 till at last the birth of Christ was de- 

 clared to have nothing to do with the 

 date, for that he appeared at the close 

 of the fourth chiliad of years, and not 

 at that of the sixth and this, appa- 

 rently, in the teeth of the plainest chro- 

 nological facts. According to the best 

 authorities, 6000 years at least certainly 

 intervened between the creation of the 

 world and the birth of Christ : we are, 

 consequently, far advanced in the eighth 

 chiliad, and of course the period origin- 

 ally fixed for the Millenium has long 

 expired, and of course, also, the whole 

 expectation is a chimera. The last by- 

 gone date fixed for the commencement 

 of the Millenium was 1793. This was 

 Frere's ; but we have still before us 

 Mr. Faber's, for 1865 ; Dr. Hales's, for 

 1880 ; Bishop Newton's, for 1987 ; Low- 

 man's, for 2016; Sir Isaac Newton's, 

 for he meddled in these matters, for 

 2036 ; besides some Jews for 200 or 300 

 years onwards ; and, doubtless, similar 

 calculators will never be wanting to 

 the end of time. The greatest difficulty 

 the author had to grapple with was the 



apparent concurrence of the apostles; 

 but this is readily got over, when it is 

 considered that the inspiration of the 

 apostles was certainly of a limited kind 

 limited plainly to matters of essential 

 doctrine that even such doctrines were 

 disclosed gradually and certainly the 

 Millenium cannot "be shewn to be one of 

 them. The preliminary remarks rela- 

 tive to the interpretation of scripture 

 are of the soundest kind. 



The second discourse embraces the 

 doctrine of election ; and the sum of the 

 discussion amounts to this that elec- 

 tion points to nations and not indivi- 

 duals. The basis of the whole is bor- 

 rowed from Taylor of Norwich, with- 

 out any acknowledgment beyond a 

 mere allusion to his name. The 

 same, very nearly, may be affirmed of 

 Justification by Faith by which was 

 meant, acquittal of past sins upon bap. 

 tism quite distinct from final salva- 

 tion. The concluding discourse is a 

 common consecration - sermon esta- 

 blishing the fact, easily enough, that 

 from the days of the apostles there have 

 always been three orders of ministers ; 

 but failing to prove that bishops ought 

 to have large incomes, and tyrannize 

 over their less lucky brethren. We 

 forget the sermon concerns Scotch 

 bishops, who have as little power as 

 pay. 



A Series of Old Plays, under the Title 

 of The Old English Drama. Part I. $c. 

 A readier access to our earliest stage 

 literature has long been wanting, and 

 the specimens before us shew the pro- 

 jectors of this new edition have taken a 

 pretty accurate measure of the demand, 

 though we still think they should have 

 gone farther back, and commenced with 

 the relics of the " Mysteries and Mo- 

 ralities. " They are producing an 

 edition at once correct and cheap; and 

 though the size is small, and the type 

 close, the page is sufficiently clear and 

 legible, and the general appearance as 

 ornamental as the price can be expected 

 to repay. A more general diffusion of 

 the old dramatic writers will tend to- 

 correct misconceptions, which is in all 

 circumstances desirable, as well in mat- 

 ters of literature as in the business of 

 life, and which correction is in fact, and 

 very happily so, one of the distinguish- 

 ing characteristics of the times. In the 

 minds of most readers, Shakspeare stands 

 alone, like a pyramid in a desart. Save 

 the familiar names of Jonson, Beaumont, 

 Fletcher, and Massinger, his contempo- 

 raries are little known, and his prede- 

 cessors still less. Yet he had many, 

 and of course shared in the effect their 

 prductions had upon the age. "We have 

 no desire to depreciate Shakspeare, but 

 he, no more than Chaucer, or Homer of 



