tombs of the departed, under the impression that their ghosts, each seated at the head of his own grave, enjoy their fragrance. The churchyards in the reductions of Paraguay were so many gardens. The Moravian Brethren have long been in the habit of converting their burial places into haunts of rural loveliness; and they are beautifully designated by them as the "Fields of Peace." The tombs of the Chinese are always erected out of their cities. In Denmark, Venice, Prague, Vienna, and in many other places in continental Europe; in Lima, in South America; in Port au Prince; in the Island of Ceylon; in Greenland; the practice of interring the dead within cities is prohibited. Even the Hottentots and North American Indians remove them away from the abodes of the living. The same practice has, of late years, been adopted and enforced in France. At the commencement of the present century, the burial places within the limits of the city of Paris were closed by order of the government; and in the vicinity, but without the confines of the crowded population, four cemeteries, as above stated, have been established. In England, since the year 1832, the attention of the public has been called to this subject; and in the neighborhood of London, no less than four cemeteries have been set apart, and elaborately arranged and ornamented. Those at Kensal Green and Highgate are on the North and Northwest, that of Norwood is on the South, that of Westminster is on the West, and that of Abney Park is on the East side of the city. The last of these, according to Mr. Collison, is beautiful, admirably adapted to the purpose, and is rich in historical recollections.* It possesses, moreover, the great advantage of being free from Episcopal consecration, the effect of which is to prevent the clergy of other denominations from performing a burial service within the consecrated ground, and a dissenter from being buried in the same place with his nearest relation and friend, if the latter should happen to belong to the Established Church. It further recognises no right in the incumbent of any parish to

* "In the village of Stoke-Newington, in which this Cemetery is situated, several distinguished persons have resided. Among these may be mentioned, Daniel Defoe, General Fleetwood, Thomas Day, (author of Sandford and Merton,) John Howard, (the Philanthropist,) Dr. Aiken, and his sister, Mrs. Barbauld. Dr. Isaac Watts passed the greater part of his life on that estate which is now converted to the Cemetery, and wrote there the greater part of his works." Collison. 39

VOL. XXXI. -3D S. VOL. XIII. NO. III.

demand funeral fees, when a dead body is removed for funeral, out of the precincts of said parish; an assumption which is elsewhere made and enforced. In fine, the "projectors of Abney Park Cemetery determined, that it should be placed upon the broad, liberal principles of being alike open to all." We are happy to add, that the success of this establishment has answered to the enlightened principles on which it has been conducted. In addition to the above, there are two cemeteries at Liverpool. One is called the "Necropolis," in a suburb of the town, conveniently situated, but is of narrow extent. It has never been consecrated, and pays no fees to parochial clergy; and, on these accounts particularly, it has proved a successful enterprise.* The other cemetery occupies the site of an ancient quarry. It is, however, badly situated, being in the midst of the city; and must, therefore, whatever be its outward adornments, ultimately prove, if occupied as its founders intend and expect, one vast plague spot to the surrounding inhabitants.

In this country, a strong and commendable interest in regard to rural cemeteries has recently been awakened. The successful establishment of that of Mount Auburn seems to have been the proximate cause of this. A general feeling, indeed, of the need of some appropriate resting-place for the remains of departed friends, has long prevailed with many intelligent persons, in different parts of the country; but it found no fitting expression until it found it here. The choice and general arrangement of the grounds were, in the highest degree, felicitous. The spot itself is singularly suggestive of those trains of thought and feeling that belong to the Place of Graves; and when its native loveliness was revealed by the hand of taste; when it was yet further illustrated, but not encumbered, by the structures and ornaments that affection reared; when, especially, it was hallowed by the relics of the dead; it became a resort peculiarly sacred to solemn musings and tender recollections. It was then felt to be one, where a deep want of the soul, that had long been strongly felt, was, for the first time, fully met and supplied. It was soon followed, in consequence, by others in various parts of our broad land. Rural cemeteries are already established in Salem, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell,

*More than eighteen thousand bodies have been deposited there since its establishment fifteen years ago.

Plymouth, and in other of the large towns in this State; in Nashua, and Portsmouth, in New Hampshire; in the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York; while an increased and constantly increasing attention is bestowed on repairing and ornamenting the old graveyards in various sections of the country.

If we had not already exceeded the limits that may be thought proper to a paper like this, we should offer some thoughts, which seem to us just and timely, on the Forms of Burial; on Funereal Structures; (particularly reprobating tombs or vaults, as an offence and an annoyance,) on the Emblems and Symbols usually found on sepulchral monuments; on Inscriptions and Epitaphs; (on all which subjects there is much need of improvement,) and, especially, would we call public attention to the necessity, which seems not yet to be recognised amongst us, as it is abroad, of chapels in our cemeteries, where the last religious rites may be performed. But we must dismiss all these topics with this general reference, and only add, that we regard the establishment of these rural buryingplaces as one of the happy signs of the times. They are due to the dead. They are consolatory to the living. They are fraught with moral and religious uses, which no good man will willingly forego. They afford a retreat from the conflicting interests, and false and frivolous shows of ordinary life, where our violent and wicked strifes on religious and political subjects may, for a while, be checked; where that all-absorbing lust of gain, which is eating, canker-like, into the very heart of the people, may find a temporary sedative; and where, in a word, thoughtful persons may go, in silence and in peace, and amidst propitious influences of earth and sky, and with all the suggestive tokens of the departed around them, to think of their highest aims, and their ultimate responsibilities; and to consider how solemn a thing it is to live in a world like this, to die out of it, and to enter on the unseen realities of an eternal state.

J. B.

ART. II.-Lectures on Spiritual Christianity. By ISAAC TAYLOR, Author of "Physical Theory of Another Life," "Natural History of Enthusiasm," "Home Education," etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1841.

In his "Natural History of Enthusiasm," Mr. Taylor made his first appearance before the public, and became at once very conspicuous, not only by the originality and power displayed in that work, but also by the annunciation of his purpose of describing, in its various forms, the fictitious piety that has corrupted the Christian church. He proposed to follow the Natural History of Enthusiasm with successive works on Fanaticism, Superstition, and its attendant Credulity, Spiritual Despotism, Corruption of Morals, and Skepticism. As yet he has not completed his plan, but has only put forth "Fanaticism and Spiritual Despotism." Meanwhile he turned his mind to more attractive themes, and gave us his "Physical Theory of Another Life," and his "Home Education." Lately he has virtually, although not formally, resumed his former plan; and in his treatise on Ancient Christianity, and his recent Lectures on Spiritual Christianity, he has battled against what he deems to be some of the forms of spurious or corrupted religion.

Although his style is very far from being attractive, Mr. Taylor is always an interesting and instructive writer. His personal position, as well as the relation he sustains to the great theological parties of his country and the age, cannot fail to win for him the respect and attention of candid and thoughtful minds. His devotion to spiritual studies does not spring from the necessary demands of his profession, but from pure love for them. As we understand it, he was bred to the law; and he presents the not very common example of a lawyer and a layman consecrating his time and talents to theological pursuits. Thus, from his personal position, he has a high claim upon our respect, both as to his motives and resources. Loving theology for its own sake, he brings into its service a practical sense and varied knowledge, which have not been the most common gifts of theologians.

The relation, which Mr. Taylor sustains to the leading religious interests of the da, is highly significant. By birth and education a Dissenter, and he son of a staunch Nonconformist clergyman, he inherited his father's zeal, but not the patrimony

of his ecclesiastical opinions. His tastes were too refined to give him delight in the stern manners and meagre ritual of his father's communion. He went over to the Episcopal Church, and thus presents an example of a tendency, which is said by some to be quite prevalent among the Puritan race, to return from Congregational independence to Episcopal authority. At the same time, he is a sturdy champion of what he deems the evangelical freedom of true Episcopacy; and shows himself, in his two last works, an unsparing antagonist of the despotic system maintained by the Oxford theologians. After speaking of the book before us, we will say a few words of Mr. Taylor, in reference to his position between the faith of his fathers and that of the Oxfordites, his middle ground between Congregationalism and ultra Episcopacy.

The Lectures on Spiritual Christianity are four in number. They were delivered at the instance of the Committee of the "London City Mission." They were not intended for a systematic digest of theology, nor for a formal biblical argument; but were projected with the hope of "directing the attention of well-educated persons to the great principles of the Gospel; and especially as put in jeopardy by the wide diffusion of opinions, which would substitute the 'vain inventions' of antiquity for the purity and simplicity of apostolic Christianity."

The first lecture treats of the Exterior Characteristics of Spiritual Christianity. It maintains that Christianity is a religion of facts; of facts with which all men, without exception and without distinction, and in an equal degree, are personally concerned; that, as a religion of facts, it induces a new relationship between man and his Maker; that these facts, when admitted as true, are of a kind to excite, and to maintain in activity, the warmest and the most profound emotions of which men are susceptible, according to the individual constitution of their minds. The most striking passage in this Lecture is an illustration of the historical truth of the gospels, drawn from the wonderful beauty and sublimity of our Lord's life and teachings, and from the indissoluble connexion between the exalted morality of the Gospel and the truth of the facts of the Gospel. This point, however, has been so much elaborated by writers. of our own faith, that we cannot thank Mr. Taylor for light upon it.

any new

The second Lecture treats of the truths peculiar to Spiritual Christianity, and is by far the most important of the course, as