Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

HOPKINS'S EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.* These lectures by President Hopkins were reviewed, and in general highly commended in the New Englander, for 1846. They have been very favorably received by the public, and have been used extensively as a Text Book for instruction in our colleges and higher seminaries. In the present edition the matter of the original edition is left nearly entire, some few additions and omissions only having been made. The form has been changed by breaking the matter into paragraphs, and prefixing to each its proper title or explanatory phrase.

In this way the usefulness of this well known and excellent volume will be increased, and its circulation greatly extended.

MUSIC OF THE BIBLE.t-In this elaborate work the author examines critically every text in the Bible, in its order, from Genesis to the Revelation of John, which contains any allusion, even the most remote, to music; and gives every necessary explanation. His plan embraces, also, a history of music, as it was practised in each of the early nations of the world, to the time of the Romans. The volume everywhere bears honorable testimony to the diligence, the critical skill, and the unwearied enthusiasm of the author, in this particular branch of study, and is a valuable contribution not only to biblical literature, but to that also of the art of music itself. The book is beautifully printed and is amply illustrated.

THE MERCY SEAT: OR, THOUGHTS ON PRAYER.-This is one of the most systematic, as well as practical and common sense treatises on the all-important subject of prayer with which we are acquainted. It should have the widest circulation by all the channels in which standard religious books are distributed. We can

* Evidences of Christianity. Lectures before the Lowell Institute, January, 1844. Revised as a Text Book by MARK HOPKINS, D. D., President of Williams College. Boston: T. R. Marvin & Son, 1863. 12mo. pp. 356. [New Haven: T. H. Pease. Price $1.25.]

+ Music of the Bible: or, Explanatory Notes upon those passages in the Sacred Scriptures which relate to music, including a brief view of Hebrew Poetry. By ENOCH HUTCHINSON. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1864. 8vo. pp. 513. [New Haven: Judd & Clark. Price $2.75.]

The Mercy Seat: or, Thoughts on Prayer. By AUGUSTUS C. THOMPSON, D. D. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1863. 12mo. pp. 345. [New Haven: T. H. Pease. Price $1.25.]

not, in a short space, give a better idea of the scope of the book, and its value, than by transfering to our pages the analysis of its

contents.

I. Introductory. 1. Prayer a want; 2. a privilege. II. Efficacy of Prayer. 1. Efficacy defined; 2. doubts and difficulties; 3. prayer a telegraph. III. The Being Addressed. 1. God the Son; 2. the Holy Spirit. IV. Primary Conditions of Prayer. 1. In the name of Christ; 2. union with Christ; 3. office of the Holy Spirit; 4. faith and love. V. Method. 1. Address and adoration; 2. confession; 3. thanksgiving; 4. Hallelujah victories. VI. Qualities. 1. Humility and dependence; 2. right motive; 3. earnestness; 4. constancy; 5. perseverance. VII. Auxiliaries to Prayer. 1. Devotional culture required; 2. reading of Scripture; 3. retirement and meditation; 4. devout fasting; 5. devout living. VIII. Adjuncts to Prayer. IX. Prayer, Individual and Social. 1. Secret ; 2. family; 3. social. X. Seasons of Prayer. 1. Amid trials; 2. under bereavement. XI. Subjects of Prayer. 1. Temporal blessings; 2. mental aid; 3. the Holy Spirit; 4. spread of Christianity; 5. large requests. XII. Intercessory Prayer. 1. Reasons and benefits; 2. for believers; 3. for pastors; 4. for children; 5. for colleges; 6. for communities. XIII. Answers to Prayer. 1. Certain; 2. delayed. XIV. Conclusion. 1. Province; 2. future achievements.

HEAVEN. HEAVENLY RECOGNITION. HEAVENLY HOME.* The author reminds us, in his preface, of a sentiment of Stilling: "Blessed are they that are homesick, for they shall get home;" and then adds: "Nothing can better create, or keep alive, this homesickness for heaven, than a vivid representation to our minds of celestial treasures and attractions." Well has Dr. Harbaugh succeeded, in the discussions of these three volumes, in presenting such views of the realities of the invisible world as to confirm the faith and increase the desires of all who look forward to Heaven as the home of their friends and their own home. The three separate works have been for some time known and highly valued; and now, in this new and elegant uniform edition, we trust they will have a still wider circulation.

Heaven. 12mo. pp. 290. Heavenly Recognition. 12mo. pp. 288. Heavenly Home. By Rev. H. HARBAUGH, D. D. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1863. 12mo. pp. 365. [New Haven: Judd & Clark. Price $1.25 each.]

THE WITNESS PAPERS.*-Our first thought, on reading the titlepage of this somewhat bulky duodecimo, was that it was ill-adapted to the American market, as all the papers which it contains have a direct reference to the ecclesiastical questions, which were so earnestly agitated in Scotland before the memorable disruption of May, 1843. Or at the best we judged it would prove interesting to the few who are devoted to special researches in Ecclesiastical History, and delight in recalling the minute details which make up the story of the forgotten and neglected past. As we looked through the volume, we were soon attracted by the vivid portrait sketches, the masterly discussion of principles, the copious and felicitous allusions to English History and Literature, and above all by the earnest and elevated piety which breathes in every sentence and animates every page. The charm of Hugh Miller's matchless style is everywhere present, and his buoyant and cheerful manliness is a perpetual spring of healthful and animating feeling to the reader. Alas! that the soul which was a fountain of delight and vivacity to so many thousand readers, should have been shrouded in deepest gloom, before its tragic exit from its mortal habitation!

The volume opens with the celebrated letter to Lord Brougham, which was occasioned by his speech in the House of Lords in 1839, containing opinions adverse to the non-intrusion party. The author was at that time comparatively unknown to the public. This letter led at once to his appointment as editor of "The Witness," a newspaper which was soon to be published in Edinburgh as the organ of the Free Church party. The selection of Hugh Miller for this place was fortunate for himself, for the cause of the Non-Intrusionists, and for "The Witness" itself, which soon came to be acknowledged as one of the most powerful and popular newspapers of the United Kingdom.

The leading articles on the church question which he contributed, from the establishment of the paper in 1839, till the disruption in 1843, follow in chronological order, and constitute a vivid and

The Witness Papers. The Headship of Christ and the rights of the Christian people; a collection of essays, historical and descriptive sketches, and personal portraitures, with the author's celebrated letter to Lord Brougham. By HUGH MILLER, author of "Foot-prints of the Creator," &c. &c. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1863. pp. 502. [New Haven: T. H. Pease. Price $1.50.]

minute interior history of this memorable event of the present century. To our own times and circumstances the principles discussed in these papers are by no means inapt, and the discussions themselves are not inopportune. The conflict which prevailed so long in the church of Scotland between the Moderate and the Evangelical party, is similar to the strife which in our country has been maintained so long between a formalistic Christianity on the one hand, and a Christianity which is earnest and spiritual on the other. In Scotland it was for the most part a contest between parties within the church. In our own country it is more a strife between different sects. Just at the present moment we are fallen upon the days of "Moderatism." and "Toleration." This has its good and its evil side. It is attended with its advantages and its dangers. No better antidote to these dangers could possibly be furnished than is contained in the vivid portraitures from the earlier and later periods of the history of the Scottish church, and the earnest protests for evangelical Christianity which these papers contain.

To the editors and conductors of our religious newspapers these papers are invaluable, as furnishing a model of what their leading articles on questions and principle might and ought to be. It would be well for the church and for our country if the articles, in these well-nigh omnipotent organs and controllers of opinion, even approximated to these masterly papers of Hugh Miller, in the mastery over principles, in the copiousness of knowledge, in the wealth of illustrations, in the power and felicity of style, and above all in his large-hearted charity, united with the earnest and fervid assertion of his own convictions and preferences.

CATHOLICITY OF THE NEW CHURCH AND UNCATHOLICITY OF NEW CHURCHMEN.*-The title of this little volume indicates its character. The writer, Rev. Mr. Barrett, of Orange, New Jersey, is well known as the author of several books designed to expound and to commend the doctrines of Swedenborg. As the result of his own personal experience, among those who profess to be the followers of that celebrated teacher, he has now been compelled to the unpleasant task of showing that, as a general thing, they have

* Catholicity of the New Church and Uncatholicity of New Churchmen. By B. F. BARRETT, author of "Lectures on the New Dispensation," "The Golden Reed," etc., etc. New York: Mason Brothers. 1863.

swerved far from the doctrines and principles by which they profess to stand. It was never the design of Swedenborg, so Mr. Barrett teaches, to establish a new sect, or to arrogate for those who should accept his doctrine any exclusive title to the Christian name. He had a far higher, nobler purpose. He wished to be not a schismatic but a reformer; to be the means of kindling a new and higher life within the Church, and not to lead a vain attempt to found a new denomination which should contain no tares among the wheat. This view Mr. Barrett defends by copious extracts from the works of Swedenborg himself. It seems to us that his argument is a conclusive one to all who reverence those works as in any sense authoritative, and it is for such readers that this book is especially designed. Certainly his view is one that harmonizes best with the sincere and Christian temper which, as all confess, pervades the writings of the learned Swede. And it is a real satisfaction to discover that so careful and earnest a student of them, as Mr. Barrett shows himself, asserts, so positively and with such substantial proof, that they are not responsible for the narrowness and bitterness and bigotry by which the so-called Swedenborgians have been so frequently distinguished.

It is not pleasant to read the narrative of the experience by which Mr. Barrett has been forced to make this protest. It is never pleasant to see the pitiable arrogance of a few sectaries who declare themselves to be the temple of the Lord, and who make all those who differ from them in opinion to be unchristian and profane. But, just in the same proportion, it is pleasant to find anywhere a man who rises up against the contradiction and authority of those about him, to assert the sacred truth that the Church of Christ is not and cannot be a sect. This is the great idea of Mr. Barrett's book, and it is one which should secure a welcome for it from all who love and long for Christian unity, and who shun intolerance and the fierce, unlovable spirit of sectarianism. We are glad to believe that not a few who bear the name of Swedenborgians hold with Mr. Barrett, and unite in his manly protest against the absurd pretence that Swedenborgianism or anything else can make itself the Church, simply by calling itself so.

GOLDWIN SMITH ON AMERICAN SLAVERY.*-This eloquent and

* Does the Bible sanction American Slavery? By GOLDWIN SMITH. Cambridge: Sever & Francis. 1863. 12mo. pp. 107. [New Haven: Judd & Clark. Price 25 cents.]

« PoprzedniaDalej »