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false, and is good for nothing but to bolster up "theological absurdities.” ̄And this is not mere rhetoric. This class of men, many of them at least, possess ability, acuteness, and no little science; and earth and heaven, nature, philosophy and revelation are ransacked, and subjected to the most rigid scrutiny, to find evidence to overturn the Bible. We have no fears of the Bible from such attacks. It will gather lustre, and its evidence be made to brighten and appear grander and fuller as the secrets of nature are laid bare and science goes on to perfection. But we do tremble for multitudes of the young and inexperienced, the superficial and conceited, when the press is flooding the world with productions of this sort. It becomes the friends of sound learning and of the Bible to bestir themselves, and guard against the insidious onsets of "science falsely so called," as well as against the corruptions of false doctrines.

2.-The History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the Continent to the Organization of Government under the Federal Constitution. BY RICHARD HILDRETH. In three volumes. Vols. I. II. 8vo. pp. 570, 579. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849. We are free to confess that we entered on the reading of this new, and, in size, formidable History of the United States, rather as a task than as a pleasure; but we had not progressed far before our feelings entirely changed; and as the result of our reading, we are prepared to express a decidedly favorable opinion of its merits. The history goes back to the discovery of America, dwells at length upon our colonial period, and brings the record down to the present time. The two volumes before us close with the incipient measures and struggles pertaining to the war of the Revolution, and it is of these only that we can speak.

The author, judging from his work, is well qualified for the important service he has put his hand to. He has evidently been industrious and thorough in collecting, arranging, and digesting his materials. He has full confidence in his own ability. He is independent in his investigations and opinions, dispassionate, and generally impartial in his statements, and if not philosophical and comprehensive in the matter of analysis and classification, he is at least careful, explicit, and full in the record of facts.

No other American history, worthy of the name, embraces so extended a period of time, or traverses so wide a circuit of investigation: the plan and arrangement, also, are somewhat peculiar, and certainly very happy. The author's labors in the field of our colonial history are especially valuable. He traces, at length, the successive steps of our early planting and growth, and enters fully into the subject of "the origin and shaping of our existing laws and institutions, state and national, the progressive, social, and intellectual development of our people."

The style of the work is of a high order, of its kind. It is pure, simple, transparent, concise, vigorous, without any adornment or attempt at brilliant display. It is the very opposite of Macaulay's great work, both in style and manner-not a philosophical, but a simple matter-of-fact history--not arranged with a master's skill, or executed with a rhetorician's power, but a full and orderly digest of the events, great and small, which make up our eventful national history. It can never, of course, be as popular a history as Macaulay's-nor will it take rank with it as a production of genius and intellect; still it is adapted to fill an honorable sphere, and subserve a most useful end. We are confident that when the merits of this history come to be known and appreciated, it will be extensively regarded as decidedly superior, all things considered, to anything that before existed on American history, and as a valuable contribution to American authorship.

The facilities for consulting it are unusually great. Besides a very full

table of contents in each volume, and a complete analytical index at the end of the work, the date of each event, in chronological order, is given in the margin. The Publishers, too, have done their best upon it-the paper, press-work, and binding are superior; indeed, the whole mechanical part is quite equal to the best London books. The three stately volumes, when completed, will be an ornament to any library, and no intelligent American can afford to be without the work. We have nobly patronized the great English history of the age; let us not fail to appreciate and patronize an American history so respectable and valuable as this certainly is.

We are far from thinking it perfect. We have space to note only two things which strike us unfavorably. One is, the absence of the usual references to authorities. The author does not give these with the text in passing, but promises "a list of the printed books chiefly used" at the end of volume III. Now we had much rather see the reference to authorities consulted or followed, at the bottom of the page; it inspires confidence; we feel as if we were treading on a more solid foundation; and we want the means of verifying his citations and assertions, if we chose to do so.-The other defect is of a far more serious character, and relates to evangelical religion, and to the memory of men the church and nation ought to revere. We know nothing of Mr. Hildreth except as the author of this history; but, judging of his religious opinions and feelings from all the light it affords, we should come to the conclusion that he is a Deist, if not an Atheist; at least, that he has no adequate appreciation of Divine Providence in history, and no real sympathy with evangelical doctrines or evangelical men. We hope these fears are groundless, and that our opinion, in this respect, is false. But we cannot account, in any other way, for his carefully shutting out God entirely; for the injustice he does to the motives of our Pilgrim Fathers, and, as we think, to their character in general; to the apparently half sneering manner in which he so often repeats religious phrases, as used by them; and the really ridiculous light in which he not unfrequently seeks to exhibit their religious faith and practices. It is not so much what he says, as his manner of saying it, that is objection

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3.-Sermons by the late THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D.,LL.D. Illustrative of different stages in his Ministry from 1798–1847. Vol. VI. of the series. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849.

In some respects this is the most interesting and instructive volume in this valuable series. It contains thirty-three sermons on various topics and occasions, prepared at different stages of his ministry from 1798 to 1847, and possessing various kinds and degrees of interest and ability. Judging homiletically of their merits, they are not generally superior-many of them indeed may be called very common and derogatory to his reputation as an able and effective preacher but this is not their chief value, nor the main design of their publication. As illustrative of different stages of his ministry-as marking the progress of such a gifted mind in all that is great, and in the love of the truth, it is invaluable. Seven of these discourses belong to the early period of his ministry, during which he evidently had no experimental knowledge of Christ, and no just views of the gospel or its ministry; and they show the necessity of that change in his character and sentiments which made him both a new man and a new preacher. Let philosophy if it can, on its principles, account for that memorable revolution which marked the year 1810, in the history of this world-wide honored man and the blessed effects which followed it. The Chalmers that henceforth fills the pulpit, the professor's chair, and wields the pen, is not the Chalmers of the previous period: he speaks a new language teaches new doctrines-breathes a new spirit-is animated by a new zeal-leads a new life-and wields a new and most subduing and transforming power over the

hearts and conduct of men. Whence came it? Was it a delusion? fanaticism? a new revelation? another person? Nothing of the kind. God in that memorable year converted Chalmers to the truth as it is in Jesus and brought him to experience its life-giving power, and henceforth he preaches not philosophy but Christ-not a gospel of negations and abstractions and dogmas and social virtues, but a gospel of inward love and faith and Divine power, teaching as its cardinal doctrines the radical and entire depravity of our nature and "the sinner's free gratuitous justification before God through faith in the imputed righteousness of Christ."

We know of no standpoint that commands a more interesting and instructive view of this great man than that which this volume affords. One cannot carefully follow so long a line of progress, and trace "the advancing footsteps of an intellect gifted with such superior power, and urged on by so simple and so strong a love of truth," and not be made himself wiser and better.

4.-Institutes of Theology, by the late THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D.,LL.D. Vol. I. and seventh of the series. New York: Harper & Brother, 1849.

INTELLECTUALLY considered, this is decidedly the most able and valuable volume of Chalmers' posthumous works. In the previous volumes we have contemplated him mainly in retirement, as a humble, spiritually-minded Christian, devoutly meditating on God's Word-the only exception being the last volume, which illustrated the different stages of his ministry. Now we are to view him where he long shone so conspicuously-in the chair of Theology. We have here the going forth of that great intellect in the field of investigation, surveying the whole subject of Natural and Revealed Theology, and gathering and systematically arranging and exhibiting the varied and demonstrative evidences of the being and perfections of God and of the truth of Christianity: and this first volume of "Institutes of Theology" is certainly worthy of his distinguished reputation in this department of knowledge and instruction, and equal to anything we have seen from his pen. Few have equalled Chalmers in originality and ability in the field of thought which this work covers, and we greatly misjudge if it does not take the very first rank in treatises on the evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion and on Systematic Divinity. We are assured that none of his published writings received so large a measure of care and thought in preparation as this, and that he looked forward to it when completed as his most matured contribution to the science of Theology.

This first volume treats of "Natural Theology-Evidences of ChristianitySubject-Matter of Christianity." The arrangement in his course of Theological Lectures is a departure from the ordinary one, and admitted by him to be contrary to the "order of almost all the confessions and catechisms of Europe, and of the great majority of our authors." His reasons for this are given at length, and claim the attention of theological instructors and writers on systematic divinity. There are two methods, he says, of arrangement. "The one proceeds chronologically in the order of the Divine administration, beginning with the constitution of the Godhead, and proceeding onward through the successive footsteps of a history which commences with the original purposes of the uncreated mind, and terminates in the consummation of all things. The other proceeds chronologically in the natural order of human inquiry, beginning, therefore, with the darkness and the probabilities and the wants of Natural Theology, and after having ascertained the Scripture to be a real communication from heaven to earth, seeking first after those announcements that are most directly fitted to relieve the distress and to meet the difficulties of nature. It is thus that in entering upon the record the first thing that would naturally attract the notice, is the confirmation which it lends to the apprehension and the anxieties of nature respecting the fearful extent both of man's depravity

and of his danger; whence we should proceed to a consideration of the offered remedy; whence to the means by which that remedy is appropriated; whence to its operation both in reconciling God to man, and regenerating man in the likeness of God; whence to the progressive holiness of the life ripening and maturing, under the influence of the truth of Christianity, for the exercises and joys of a blissful eternity; whence to death and judgment, and the respective destinies of those who have embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ and those who have rejected it." He adopts the latter, and hence makes man's state of guilt and moral depravation the initial doctrine of a systematic course of lectures on the subject-matter of Christianity.

5.-Beneficence of Design in the Problem of Evil vindicated by the Law of Causation in the Physical Construction of Matter. BY A JOURNEYMAN. New York: Leavitt, Trow, & Co., 1849.

"A"journeyman" author we should think-surely not a "wise masterbuilder." His book we pronounce a puerile conceit, and a libel' on good sense and sound philosophy. It is an attempt to bring forth another "Vestiges of Creation," but lacking the show of profound science and the real ability of that readable, and, in some respects, remarkable production, it proves to be only a ridiculous and disgusting abortion. The author propounds a new theory of philosophy, natural, intellectual and moral; and seeks by it to solve various problems relating to mind and matter. Oxygen is assumed by him to be an immaterial principle containing the vital essence and generative law of all physical being. Water-the simplest form of matter-is the primary product of oxygen. Water deposits "albumen," and this in turn generates the several primary elements. Oxygen combining with these in various degrees brings forth vegetable and animal life, and finally man as "the highest attainment." "An atom of albumen is the starting point of man." So that oxygen, by an inherent and necessary law, is really the First Cause of all things material. But enough of this "Problem of Evil." The author's system is one of fatalism and materialism in their grossest forms.

The "stormy reception" which the author anticipated for his book will hardly be realized. It is too shallow in its science and speculations; too stupid and puerile in its reasonings, to bewilder, convince, or astound the world. We marvel that so respectable a house should have put their imprimatur on such a semi-infidel and worthless a production.

6. A compendium of Ecclesiastical History. By JOHN C. L. GIESELER, Consistorial counseller and ordinary Professor of Theology in Gottingen. From the fourth edition. Translated from the German by SAMUEL DAVIDSON, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Ecclesiastical History in the Lancashire Independent College. Vols. I and II. 8vo. pp. 396, 397. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849.

THE peculiarities and excellencies of this learned history are already well known to scholars. It is characterized by immense research and by the most rigid impartiality. The text is remarkably brief and condensed, and is accompanied by a vast mass of critical and learned notes, illustrative and corroborative. It is doubtless superior, as a whole, to Mosheim, and ranks next to Neander's in point of ability and value. It purports to be a compendium only, not an extended history like the latter. It has already passed to the fourth edition in Germany. An American translation of it exists, made as early as 1836, when the author had brought it down to the period of the Reformation. He has since revised and greatly extended the work, and Dr. Davidson has given us an excellent translation of the last German edition, thus availing the

English student of the full benefits of the author's complete labors. Few men are better qualified for such a service than Dr. Davidson. He is a perfect master of the German tongue and the German mind, and still has no sympathy with German errors. His recent learned work on the "Introduction to the New Testament" has made him most favorably known, not only at home but on this side of the Atlantic. He professes to have adhered closely to the original

text.

We are glad that so valuable a text-book on Church History, and in so finished a state, is made accessible to the English student. The Publishers deserve many thanks for its mechanical execution: it is a noble specimen of fine book-making.

We note but a single deficiency-the want of a full analytical index. We had occasion recently to consult it extensively on a great variety of topics, and found it extremely difficult to find what we were in search of. It is greatly inferior to Mosheim in this particular. Such a facility for reference is indispensable in a work of this chacrater.

7.-Southey's Common-Place Book. Edited by his Son-in-law, JOHN WOOD WARTER, B.D. New York: Harper & Brother. 1849. 8vo. 416 pp.

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We have not read this work in course as we are wont to do those on which we pass our judgment; it could not be expected of us. Still we have examined it enough to form an opinion of its general character and merits. It is a literary curiosity-shop"-full of brief and often striking extracts from an endless variety of authors and on every conceivable subject. It evinces the extensive and careful reading of the renowned author, and is interesting as intimating his literary and moral tastes and habits, his industry and extensive attainments, and his real principles. We value the work highly. There is but one thing that strikes us unfavorably. It would seem from the character of many of these extracts, that Southey had no sympathy with decidedly evangelical ministers, nor with what we believe to be piety in its living and highest forms. Such ministers as Whitfield and Wesley, and Christians of the stamp of Lady Huntington, and whole denominations of evangelicals, as Presbyterians and Methodists, are held up to ridicule and grossly caricatured in many of these gleanings. True, they are not Southey's words, but why should he give them a place in a work sacred to his own private thoughts? They lessen our regard for him, and lessen the value of the book to us.

8.-History of Julius Ceasar. By JACOB ABBOTT. With Engravings. New York: Harper & Brothers.

1849.

WE have already more than once expressed our high appreciation of this series of popular Histories, which the Messrs. Abbott are engaged in writing, and the Harpers are bringing out in a style so exceedingly beautiful. We need only to say, in announcing another, that it is executed in a manner quite equal to the previous volumes, and fully sustains the interest of the series. The History of the great Roman General is here briefly but gracefully and graphically portrayed. The sketch is impartial and deeply interesting.

9.-Dante's Divine Comedy: the Inferno. A literal prose translation with the text of the original collated from the best editions, and explanatory notes. By JOHN A. CARLYLE, M. D. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849.

MACAULAY says of this truly sublime Epic, that it is the only poem worthy to be compared with Milton's Paradise Lost. Scarcely any other human production has called forth so much writing in the shape of essays and commentaries. The translations also are numerous and into various languages. Carye's is no doubt the best English translation, if we except the present. The one before

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