"I was born of a godlike father and honored

Mother; and into light I came, she having prayed.
She prayed; and she devoted me, a babe, to God." *

The same representation is given also by Gregory the Presbyter, who wrote a biography of him, which in the Greek original, has come down to us, and is published by the Benedictine editors. † Speaking of his mother, the biographer says, 'She longing earnestly for a male child, offers supplication to God, the giver of such bestowments, that she might obtain her desire. O her faith! O her fervor of mind! promising, before conception, to present to Him the son that was to be, as Hannah presented Samuel.. And to God she soon consecrated him, when he was born.'‡

On the very next page it is made perfectly manifest that he was not baptized, till a much later period. He was sailing from Alexandria to Athens. A terrible storm arose. The vessel seemed to be on the point of being overwhelmed and sunk in the sea. 'While therefore,' it is added, all were lamenting bodily death, he himself feared the destruction of his soul; for he had not yet been sealed with baptism.'||

After an account of his residence at Athens in company with Basil, and his continuing there a while after Basil's return home, it is further stated that having now completed his thirtieth year in studies, he thus returns to his native land. And first indeed he receives the divine BAPTISM who also before had been powerfully illuminated.'§

Our readers will readily perceive how these facts pertaining to Gregory illustrate the case of Basil.

But respecting Basil's baptism we have somewhat more to present. It will, perhaps, be the most convincing to many, if we give it in a plain translaion from the Latin of one who must be acknowledged by all to be an able and impartial judge. We allude to the author of the elaborate biography published, since the time of Mr. Wall, in the

*Vol. II. p. 990.

With the Works of Gregory Nazianzen. See the beginning of Vol. 1. Paris, 1778.

Page cxxvii.

[ ουδέπω γὰρ ἦν σφραγισθεις τῷ βαπτίσματι.

?Page cxxxiii.

Benedictine edition of the works of Basil.* He discusses the matter briefly in the following manner:

"Basil narrates that, having freely bestowed his patrimony on the poor, he consecrated himself to God. † Gregory narrates the same thing concerning himself. But neither of them mentions baptism; although it is certain that Gregory was baptized after he returned from Athens. Concerning Basil this only we certainly know, that his baptism was delayed, at least till he was sent to Cæsarea; but whether also till he returned from Greece, is not so well ascertained. But I am disposed to think that he was baptized about the year 357 [that is, at the age of 28]. For Gregory, who was a catechumen at Athens, so describes his agreement with Basil in all things, that he nowhere separates him from himself, but both appear to have gone to church and to have returned in company with each other; both to have been present at the sacred discourses, not at the mysteries [among which was the Lord's Supper]. He says, Two ways were known to us, the first and more precious, the second and less esteemed; the one leading to our sacred houses and the teachers there; the other to the instructors outside of Christianity.

"In the same oration, speaking of the things done by Basil after his return, he says that he so came to the sacred order of presbyters, that the divine benignity elevated him to this degree not suddenly, nor at the same time washed him and made him wise, as many of those who now seek the office of priests, but honored him thus in the order and law of spiritual progression.

'By this word washed (zivaca) baptism is manifestly designated. When therefore Gregory speaks of those things which Basil did after his return from Athens, and when he says that he was not at once baptized and made presbyter, the conclusion is neither obscure nor difficult, that he was

*See, in the beginning of the third volume, the new VITA S. BASILII MAGNI, chap. iii. sect. 2.

† Epist. 223. n. 2. De Vita Sua, p. 5.

Orat. 20. vol. i. p. 333. Paris, ed. 1609-Orat. 43. sect. 25. vol. 1. 791. Paris, 1778.

p.

Be

initiated by baptism after he returned from Athens. sides, Gregory so takes notice of the interval which was between Basil's baptism and his priesthood; he so carps at those who leap from baptism to the priesthood, that he commends Basil for not imitating such men, when he could have imitated them. But does he who is baptized in infancy or in early youth, merit praise for not immediately seeking the priesthood?

"Basil was baptized by Dianius, bishop of Cæsarea.* For he testifies that he was baptized and placed in the ministry of the church by a man who lived in the public service of God a long time.† This can refer only to Dianius. For as he ruled the Cæsarean church at least from the year 341, in which he was at the Council of Antioch, to the year 362, neither could his successor Eusebius baptize Basil, nor his predecessor Hermogenes appoint him a reader, who, when he was occupied at Athens, wrote as a layman to the layman Apolinarius. But thence what we have said concerning Basil's baptism is confirmed. For it is clear that his baptism was deferred by his parents. But the cause of deferring it could be no other than that they might not expose to the shipwrecks of youth so excellent a gift. The same excuse, however, was much more grave, when he was sent to Constantinople and to Athens, in which cities perpetual perils of innocence and of faith were imminent.

"Now if Basil's baptism was deferred till his return from his literary studies, it can hardly be doubted but that he was then at length baptized, when he withdrew himself from the scene of the world. For when his mind was to be

* In Cappadocia.

On the Holy Spirit, ch. 29. n. 71. Speaking of the phrase with the Spirit, he says: "This phrase I preserve, having received it from a man who lived a long time in the public service of God, and by whom I was baptized, and placed in the ministry of the church."

Here it is obvious, that, if Basil was baptized by Dianius, he could not have been baptized in his early childhood-when, 'under his great father, whom Pontus, at that time set forth as a public teacher of virtue, he was swathed and completely shaped with a formation the best and most pure, which divine David denominates of the day.' That formation could not have referred to baptism. The one was received from his father; the other from Dianius; the formation, in childhood; the baptism, at a later period.

prepared for so great a mystery, then Basil himself declares, in his 223rd Epistle, that he conceived the deepest feelings of piety, and began to cast off whatever of contamination he had contracted from profane studies and intercourse with irreligious men when he resolved to distribute all his posessions to the poor, and retire into solitude."

The retirement alluded to by the learned Benedictine editor was that which, it is well known, preceded his entering on clerical duties.

On the subject before us, it seems unnecessary to say more. We have endeavored to meet fully and fairly the confident and plausible representations of Mr. Wall. They have had an extensive influence for more than a hundred years. But in the light of the present day, they cannot bear examination. They utterly fail of proving that Basil was baptized in his infancy. It is high time that the failure be perceived and acknowledged by all. The discovery of the errors which in this connection have now been pointed out, should put the readers of Mr. Wall's History on their guard against being deceived. It is sad to see even erudite and conscientious Professors at Andover, at Princeton, at Oxford, at Halle, and at some other venerated seats of theological instruction, still leaning on him, as if no further investigation were needed, and fortifying a seductive and unwarrantable practice by the authority of his extensive work; a work, indeed, of much erudition, and of high pretensions to impartiality and thoroughness. We doubt not the author's sincerity. But we are constrained to think that, (as, alas! we are all too liable to be,) he was often blinded and misled by prejudice.

CORRECTION. In the last number, p. 596, 1. 7 from top, insert baptism before follows.

ART. VIII.-BUCKLE'S HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION.

History of Civilization in England. By HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE. Vol. I. From the Second London Edition, to which is added an Alphabetical Index. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

MR. BUCKLE'S "History of Civilization in England" is one of the literary phenomena of our century. Its appearance in the firmament of letters has startled beholders, like the sudden flight of Donati's comet across the heavens; and as with the celestial visitor, the surprise is occasioned more by the splendor of the train than by the solidity of the nucleus. It is a book of singular power. Those who like it least must give this testimony. Its speculations are original and daring; its learning is vast and varied; its ingenuity and breadth of thought stimulate the reader, like the blast of a trumpet, and its style is brilliant, and vigorous, and natural. One yields without a struggle to the witchery of genius. He is dazzled by a succession of novel and suggestive thoughts; the fertility and aptness of imagery increase the fascination, till the judgment yields to the apparent strength of the argument. But when the magical spell has lost its power, he begins to distrust his author. He asks, doubtingly, if the volume has not many points of resemblance to the "Vestiges of Creation;" if its speculations are not unsound; its facts unreliable; its learning more comprehensive than accurate; its illustrations specious, and its reasoning illogical. What seemed jewels in the presence of the magician, turn to poor pebbles, when he has departed. We have rarely found in any volume a similar union of weakness and strength. Like the image in the vision of the Babylonian monarch, the head is of gold, the legs of iron, and the feet of clay.