brethren, "be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold your brother: for God did send me before you to preserve life (chap. xl. v. 5). And again, "God sent me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth" (ver. 7); and, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God" (ver. 8); and yet once more, in his message to his father, "Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt" (ver. 9).

Hitherto, the history of Joseph has been regarded by us chiefly as affording a striking illustration of the doctrine of a special Providence directing and controlling the entire course of individual and family life-extending to what seemed to be the least and most trifling incidents of that life, and connecting the whole in one continuous chain, in which the separate links are discerned with more than ordinary distinctness.

We should take a very imperfect view, however, of this portion of sacred history, were we to overlook the fact, to which passing allusion has already been made, that the fulfilment of the blessing promised to Abraham's seed was bound up in the history of Joseph; and that, on the preservation of the lives of the shepherd family of Canaan was suspended, in God's eternal and immutable counsels, the fulfilment of the covenant promise, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Once more, it appears to us that any general survey of the history of Joseph, viewed in its ethical aspect, would be incomplete, were no reference to be made to that typical character in which he has been generally regarded by men of devout mind. It is true, as we freely admit, that in dealing solely with the apologetics of Christianity, we must adduce from the Books of the Old Testament no other persons or things, as types, than those which are referred to in the New Testament as bearing a distinctly typical character. On the other hand, the devout mind can scarcely meditate on any portion of Old Testament Scripture without seeing its typical relation to the realities of the new and better Covenant. And hence it is, that whilst by no means insensible of the injurious results of all attempts to force upon the minds of others the convictions which have taken hold of our own, where we have no sure warrant of Holy Scripture by which to support them, we have no sympathy with those who reject the typical charater of Old Testament persons and events, simply because there are no distinct passages found in the Gospels or Epistles in which that typical relationship is said to exist.

One or two reflections, arising out of a contemplation of the history of Joseph, when viewed in this light, will form a not unsuitable conclusion to our survey of this deeply interesting and instructive portion of Old Testament History.

Under this aspect, to adopt the words of Bishop Hall, con

sidering Joseph "not as a clearer type of Christ, than of every Christian," we see in his history a picture of the pathway, first of the Great Captain of our Salvation, and then of each of His true followers, through shame and suffering, to praise and glory.

The history of Joseph "making himself strange" to his brethren, teaches us that the true Joseph, in order to bring His people's sins to their remembrance, and to exercise, in order that He may reward, their faith, is oft-times pleased to hide His face from them for a time, as He did from Jacob at the brook Jabbok, and from the Canaanitish woman, who came out from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, in order that, at the last, He may reveal Himself to them more clearly, and manifest Himself to them as He does not to the world.

And, again, the joy of Jacob, in beholding his long-lost son, though in a strange land, whither he and his family had been driven by famine, affords a faint, but instructive and encouraging type of the joy with which each faithful servant of his Lord shall at the last "see the King in His beauty," and "behold the land that is very far off." If thus Jacob rejoiced, although his eyes were never more to behold in this life the land flowing with milk and honey, which God had promised to his fathers, how much more shall they rejoice who shall be delivered from a condition in which, "hungry and thirsty," their souls ofttimes faint within them, when they shall be set free alike from the ensnaring joys, and from the corroding sorrows of this life, and shall be admitted into the immediate presence of Him "at Whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore," and into the courts of that temple from which they shall " go no more out" for ever.

STOUGHTON'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Ecclesiastical History of England-The Church of the Revolution. By John Stoughton, D.D. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1874.

Congregational History, 1567-1700. By John Waddington, D.D. London: Longmans. 1874.

WE have much pleasure in welcoming a further instalment of Dr. Stoughton's valuable contribution to our Ecclesiastical History. It is most right and reasonable that English Nonconformity should be set forth before the public by those who sympathize with it, and, from their personal acquaintance with its inner life and workings, can make clear to outsiders what it

really attempts to be. For this purpose, nowhere could an abler advocate be found than the accomplished author of these interesting volumes. Of course his stand-point is not our stand-point, and our conclusions would not, in all respects, coincide with his; but we hope that we can cheerfully recognize the important services which were rendered to the cause of religious freedom and constitutional progress by the eminent and holy men whom a hard fate drove into what was often fierce antagonism to what we deeply venerate, and hold to be most dear and precious. We rejoice, therefore, that their struggles have found so hearty, and yet so discriminating, a recorder as Dr. Stoughton. From his dispassionate criticisms and graphic portraitures an intelligent Churchman can derive much wholesome information. He will not, moreover, be offended by boorish caricatures of everything that is not identified with Nonconformity. If he is disposed to admit that there may be two sides to a question, he will learn what can be advanced, with justice and fairness, against many of his own views, and may be enabled to form a more favourable impression of some of England's noblest sons; for such, staunch Churchmen as we hold ourselves to be, in our judgment the more excellent of the Puritans of the past, as distinguished from the mass of their followers, were, nor do we think that the race is quite extinct yet.

Dr. Stoughton's present volume embraces Ecclesiastical History during the Reign of William III. As students are well aware, it is a very important period; and inasmuch as the last attempt was then made at Comprehension of Dissenters, it may now well deserve some fresh consideration at our hands. The proceedings connected with it have, Dr. Stoughton asserts, hitherto been inadequately described. He claims that his researches have enabled him to present a fuller, and he hopes more accurate, account of that well-meant but ineffective transaction than has hitherto appeared. It is to this especial topic that we shall chiefly confine our comments in this review. Most persons who read books have read Lord Macaulay's History, and although Dr. Stoughton's fresh contributions to the ecclesiastical phase of the period are not devoid either of merit or of instruction, yet, in a certain sense, the men and manners as well as the measures of the times may be said to be already familiar to us. We do not propose, therefore, to dwell upon Dr. Stoughton's version of them at any length.

After a few brief introductory pages, Dr. Stoughton opens his history with an account of the landing and progress of William III. from Torbay to London. He mentions the addresses presented by the clergy and Nonconformist divines. We may venture to add to them that which was offered by the Quakers. Notwithstanding the favour they had, through the

medium of William Penn, obtained from James II., some at any rate of their leading men had been busily intriguing in the interest of William. When the Deliverer was established in St. James's, they also waited upon him, and welcomed him in the following quaint manner," Friend William, we are glad to see thee here among us. How's thee wife Mary?" This

curious incident has been related to us from a tradition in the family of him who was the spokesman on the occasion. Upon the coronation of William, Dr. Stoughton makes the following remarks:

"For the first time the coronation occurred neither on a Sunday nor a holiday; and for the first time, really in accordance with a precedent set at Cromwell's installation, a Bible was presented to the Sovereigns as the most valuable thing that this world contains; and it would appear that the identical volume still exists, for one of the treasures of the Royal Library at the Hague is a Bible, inscribed with these words: This book was given the King and I at our coronation. Marie R.' The event was celebrated in the provinces; garlands adorned with oranges were carried about the streets of country towns, amidst the beating of drums, the pealing of bells, and the huzzas of the people, followed at night by the blazing of bonfires.

"As the great Revolution under William I. was perfected by the coronation at Westminster on Christmas-day, 1066, so the great Revolution under William III. was perfected by the coronation in the same place on the 11th of April, 1689. In both cases certain religious rites were necessary to the completeness of the new Monarch's inauguration, but in both cases they were celebrated only as a solemn ratification of a choice made by the national voice. It is curious to notice, that in addition to the coincidence of names in the case of the authors of the two most momentous revolutionary successions to the English crown, there is a further coincidence: each arrived on the southern shores of England as an invader, and then became the choice of the people; and neither of them rested on the right of conquest as the basis of power." (pp. 99, 100.)

It is a curious fact noticed by Dr. Stoughton, but of which no mention is made by Lord Macaulay, that the Primate Sancroft, amidst the excitement which sprung up on the eve of the Revolution, had entertained some notions upon this subject of comprehension. Dr. Patrick refers to a meeting held at the Deanery of St. Paul's, when the Bishop of St. Asaph told those present that he had the Archbishop of Canterbury's leave to consult about concessions which might bring the Dissenters to communion. A Bill was prepared, the matter of which was drawn up in ten or eleven heads, but it does not seem to have been prosecuted any further by the parties originally concerned. In the House of Lords, in the Parliament of 1689, "A Bill of uniting their Majesties Protestant subjects" was in

troduced by the Earl of Nottingham, a statesman known to be devoted to the Church; "the orthodoxy of whose creed, the regularity of whose devotions, and the purity of whose morals gave a peculiar weight to his opinions on questions in which the interests of Christianity were concerned." Lord Macaulay notices that but a single copy of this Bill has been preserved, and that it had only been seen by two or three persons. Dr. Stoughton, in his Appendix, furnishes a transcript of this most interesting document. We quote some portions of it for the purpose of offering a few remarks upon them. After enacting that subscription should be required to an Act of Charles II. for disabling Papists from sitting in Parliament, and to one submitting to the present constitution of the Church of England, it exacts a promise of preaching, and preaching according to the doctrines, worship, and government of the Church; also that the Oaths of Allegiance, of Simony, and of Residence should be taken. It then goes on to say :

"And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from henceforth noe Minister shall be obliged to wear a surplice in the time of reading prayers or performing any other Religious OfficeExcept onely in the King and Queen's Maties Chappells, and in all Cathedral or Collegiate Churches and Chappells of this Realm of England and Dominion of Wales. Provided alsoe that every Minister that shall not think fitt to wear a surplice as aforesaid shall nevertheless be obliged to perform all ye Publick Offices of his Ministry in the Church in a Black Gowne, suitable to his Degree. And if bo in a place where a Gowne is not the dayly constant habit of the Minister, in every such parish the parish shall provide a Gowne for him, to be worne by him dureing the time of his officiating in the Church.

"And be it further Enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that no Minister from henceforward shall be obliged to use the signe of the Crosse in Baptisme, nor any parent obliged to have his Child Christned by the Minister of the Parish if the said Minister will not use or omitt the signe of the Cross, according to the desire of the parent, who in that case may procure some other Minister of the Church of Engld to doe it.

"And be it further Enacted, by ye authority aforesaid, that noe Minister or Ecclesiastical person shall oblige any person to find Godfathers or Godmothers for any child to be baptized, soe as the parents or parent or other friend of such Child shall present the same to be Baptized, and shall answer for such child in like manner as the Godfathers and Godmothers are now required to doe.

"And be it further Enacted, by y authority aforesaid, that noe Minister that shall officiate in the administracon of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper shall deny or refuse to any person that desires to be admitted to the same, in a pew or seate in the Church, altho' such person shall not receive it kneeling.

"And whereas the Liturgic of y Church of England is capable of