were piercing and cutting asunder, one by one, the fine and invisible bonds that hold me to the earth. I feel the gushing current of life within me to be wearing away its own channels. I feel the sharpness of every keen emotion and of every acute and far-penetrating thought, as if it were shortening the moments of the soul's connexion and conflict with the body.' So it is, and so shall it be, till at last, the silver cord is loosened, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns unto God who gave it.'

No; it is not a strange dispensation. Death is the fellow of all that is earthly; the friend of man alone. It is not an anomaly; it is not a monster in the creation. It is the law, and the lot of nature.

Not to thy eternal resting place,

Shalt thou retire alone.

*

*

Thou shalt lie down

With patriarchs of the infant world, with kings,
The powerful of the earth, the wise and good,
Fair forms and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills,
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vales,
Stretching in pensive quietness between ;
The venerable woods, rivers that move

In majesty, and the complaining brooks,

That make the meadows green, and poured round all,
Old ocean's grey and melancholy waste-

Are but the solemn decorations all,

Of the great tomb of man.'

But of what is it the tomb? Does the spirit die? Do the blessed affections of the soul, go down into the dark and silent grave. Oh! no. 'The narrow house, and pall, and breathless darkness' and funereal train-these belong not to the soul. They proclaim only the body's dissolution. They but celebrate the vanishing away of the shadow of existence. Man does not die, though the forms of popular speech thus announce his exit. He does not die. We bury, not our friend, but only the form, the vehicle in which, for a time, our friend lived. That cold, impassive clay is not the friend, the parent, the child, the companion, the cherished being. No, it is not blessed be God, that we can say, It is not! It is

the material world only that earth claims. It is dust' only, that descends to dust.' The grave!-let us break its awful spell, its dread dominion. It is the place where man lays down his weakness, his infirmity, his diseases and sorrows, that he may rise up to a new and glorious life. It is the place, where man ceases-in all that is frail and decaying ceases to be man, that he may be, in glory and blessedness, an angel of light!

Why, then, should we fear death, save as the wicked fear, and must fear it? Why dread to lay down this frail body in its resting-place, and this weary, aching head, on the pillow of its repose? Why tremble at this-that in the long sleep of the tomb, that body shall suffer disease no more, and pain no more, and hear no more the cries of want nor the groans of distress and, far retired from the turmoil of life, that violence and change shall pass lightly over it, and the elements shall beat and the storms shall sigh unheard, around its lowly bed? Say, ye aged and infirm! is it the greatest of evils to die? Say, ye children of care and toil! say, ye afflicted and tempted! is it the greatest of evils to die?

Oh! no.

Come the last hour, in God's own time !—and a good life and a glorious hope shall make it welcome. Come the hour of release!-and affliction shall make it welcome. Come the hour of reunion with the loved and lost on earth!and the passionate yearnings of affection, and the strong aspiration of faith, shall bear us to their blessed land. Come death to this body-this burdened, tempted, frail, failing, dying body!—and to the soul,-thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory!—to the soul, come freedom, light and joy unceasing! come, the immortal life! He that liveth'-saith the conqueror over Death- he that liveth and believeth in me, shall NEVER DIE!'

ART. II.-Elements of Dogmatic History. By William Muenscher, S. T. D. and Ordinary Professor of Theology at Marburg. Translated from the Second Edition of the Original German. By JAMES MURDOCK, D. D. New-Haven: A. H. Maltby. 1830. 12mo. pp. 401.

THIS work is a mere outline, as the translator confesses, and was originally drawn up, it would seem, as a syllabus of a course

of lectures for the use of the hearers. It is too succinct, not to say meagre, to interest or satisfy the general reader; but will be of considerable value to theological students, by giving in a few words the results of much study, and a multitude of references to other works, in which the same subjects are discussed more at length. Our confidence in a manual of this description, will depend almost entirely on what is known of the character and habits of the author, and the fairness and thoroughness of his investigations. Aware of this, the translator has given the following notices of Dr Muenscher in his preface.

'Dr William Muenscher was born at Hersfeld, on the 11th of March 1766; became a stated preacher, in the cathedral church in his native place, till the age of 26, when he was made Professor in ordinary, in the university of Marburg in Hesse-Cassel, and consistorial councillor there, for 22 years, or till his death, 28th of July, 1814. He composed the preface to a popular edition of Luther's bible; and a volume of printed sermons, which are said to be characterized by their religious fervor, and by the constant and happy use made of the holy scriptures. He was also the principal conductor of a journal, devoted to the interests of schools and religion: but his greatest and most noted work was his Manual of Dogmatic History, in IV. volumes 8vo. extending over the first six centuries. Beside these, he composed an Elementary Church History, and the work here presented to the public. Of his large work, C. F. L. Simon, in his Continuation of Noesselt's Guide to the Literature of Theology, says, (Sec. 299,) "The author has happily combined the chronological order, with that of the relations of things; and the whole work is distinguished, alike, for the persevering, learned, and critical industry, manifested in collecting the materials; and for the solidity and independence of judgment, with which they are methodically arranged, and agreeably expressed." And he adds: "The same commendation is due to the author's Elements of Dogmatic History." Brettschneider, in his Entwickelung der Dogmatik, p. 99, ed. 2d, says of the Manual: "It is to be regarded as (hauptwerk) the best work on the subject." The Elements, notwithstanding it had to contend with several rival works, has, since its first appearance in 1811, gone through three editions in Germany, without alteration,-two of them since the author's death; and it is still in high reputation, in that country.

'The theological sentiments of Dr. Muenscher, the translator regrets, that he is not able definitely to state; since a knowledge of them, might serve to show, where, and how, the author's prepossessions were most likely to mislead him. In several

passages of this work, as well as of the Manual, the translator thought he discovered indications of much laxer views in theology, than his own. Yet, he supposes, Dr Muenscher was classed, by his countrymen, with Michaelis, Doederlein, Planck, and others; who stood on middle ground, between the ancient, pure Lutheranism, and the modern neology of Germany. After all, the private opinions, or the commendations and censures of the writer, which occasioually escape from him unconsciously, ought not to influence the reader. It is his facts, and his arguments only, that deserve regard. And these, he is supposed to state, with as much fidelity, and impartiality, as reasonably can be expected, from an able and honest man, who felt his reputation to be staked on the correctness of his narration.'-pp. 7–9.

It is unnecessary, after this, to go into a general commendation of these Elements; and it would be hardly possible to give a formal analysis of what is itself but an analysis, and a brief one. We must content ourselves, therefore, with giving a few extracts, which will, at the same time, serve as specimens of the work, and throw light on the history of doctrines now in controversy among us. We begin by citing two paragraphs, in which the author speaks of our Saviour and the apostles, in such terms as to lead us to suspect, that Dr Murdock has overrated his Orthodoxy.

"The Jewish nation was distinguished from the surrounding nations, by giving homage to the one God, in accordance with their sacred books; with a splendid worship and numerous ceremonies. As the original character of the Mosaic religion was disfigured by speculations, by narrow conceptions, and immoral practices, JESUS CHRIST appeared, as one sent from God, for the purpose of establishing a kingdom of God on the earth. His doctrine was simple and practical, and was exibited as occasions drew it forth. Yet in compass and extent, it far surpassed the Jewish; and it embraced the superlative germs of truth, for the profounder reflection and investigations of the succeeding ages.

'The apostles, who continued to propagate and spread the doctrines of Christ, and who were led by their circumstances to explain those doctrines more fully, compensated for their lack of a learned education by their deep feeling, their noble spirit, and their devout sense of religion. Notwithstanding it has been questioned, whether they all, with equal success, penetrated into the whole system of their master's doctrine, yet it is certain that the Spirit of Jesus animated them all. Paul, who was one of them, and the most active among them, employed his Jewish learning in explaining and enforcing Christianity.'-pp. 24, 25.

The following is the account which Dr Muenscher gives of the primitive church and its creed.

'The views and the convictions of such as united with the Christians, in the earliest times, could not but be exceedingly various and unlike; for they had differed extremely in religion, in education, in habits, and other circumstances; and it must have been a considerable time, before the community could annihilate, or even diminish greatly, the peculiarities of individuals. Here, labored zealous teachers, (the apostolic fathers,) in the true spirit of the apostles, though with diminished power. There, other Christians formed a closer union with Judaism. And a third class, (the Gnostics,) wishing to separate Christianity altogether from Judaism, shaped it according to their own speculations.

'The disorders arising from this diversity of views, and which tended to the prostration of the christian cause, might contribute, at least, to induce various churches to unite together, and to acknowledge none as true Christians, who did not embrace a definite but simple creed. A belief in the Father, as the Creator of the world; in the Son, who became a man, and died for the salvation of men; in the Holy Ghost, who guided the ancient prophets, as well as the apostles; joined with the expectation of a future judgment and divine retribution; were the chief articles of this creed, which was propagated by oral instruction. Yet with it, the holy scriptures of the Old Testament, were used; and gradually also, the writings of the apostles and the apostolical Fathers.'-pp. 25, 26.

Respecting the consummate perfection and majesty of the Father, he says, in another place, there was no disagreement among them; but the more they labored to define the nature of the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the mode of their relation to the Father, the more they differed. Like other historians, he finds the first germs of the popular doctrine of the trinity in the speculations of Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, and Tatian, in the second century; who thought to explain the Logos, or Word, of John, by those passages in the Old Testament, in which mention is made of the creative power of God, (Gen. i.) and of the divine Wisdom, (Prov. viii. Eccles. xxiv. Wisdom, vii.) The Platonic philosophy, combined with the emination system, as taught at Alexandria and held by Philo, led them into this error, and contributed to give it currency. The gradual formation of the doctrine is rapidly traced through the successive ages of the church down to Athanasius and Augus24

VOL. IX-N. S, VOL. IV. NO. II.