say

In fine, our age believes in facts, and not in theories. But we ought not on that account to forget that Albertus Magnus did not converse with the lords and sovereigns that crowded his study, of wisdom and learning, but showed them a man of brass, an automaton, who spoke, and startled them until they believed the philosopher to be a magician. The naturalists of our day seem not in the least more willing to receive the new views of our philosophers, than the learned men of Basle were in 1527 to listen to Paracelsus. As long, finally, as philosophy attempts to deify man or to humanize God, it must submit to the fate of Boehme, and suffer poverty, exile and derision. All this however does not that Philosophy, German or English, should not have a life and a realm of its own where it might reign with undisputed sway. When the greatest mathematician of his and of all ages rose to speak in Parliament, he failed. He was not himself again until he returned to his calculations, where he lived and now lives. Would he be thus immortal if he had not preferred his own life to that of the statesman, just as the great Pitt never thought of ruining his fame by attempting a further development of the theory of fluxions? And if the mathematician and the statesman are not considered fair representatives of philosophy--did not Plato write his Republic? They say now, it is true, he only dreamt it, but who would not give his all for such a dream? It was only when he attempted to call that republic into life that he became a true dreamer and failed. The six years he spent in Syracuse for that purpose are a blank in his life, as that parliamentary night was a blank in Newton's life. Newton had his calculations, Raphael his art, the great statesman his craft, and each lived only in them. -why should not the philosopher also have his life, an active and productive life?

LITERARY NOTICES.

THE NEW ENGLAND THEOCRACY. A History of the Congregationalists of New England to the revivals of 1740. By H. F. Uhden. With a preface by the late Dr. Neander. Translated from the German by H. C. Conant, author of the English Bible, etc., etc. (Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo., pp. 303.)

A MEMOIR OF The Life and TiMES OF ISAAC BACKUS, A.M. By Alvah Hovey D.D., Prof. of Christian Theology in Newton Theol. Inst. (Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo., pp. 369.)

We regard the simultaneous publication of these two works as peculiarly proper. The first exhibits the struggles and developments of the great principles which the second shows consistently carried out to their logical and practical conclusions. Together they form a chapter in Church History replete with valuable lessons, and especially full of suggestions and encouragement to Baptists, who will here find their cherished views, at first dimly apprehended, and clogged by an unholy alliance with the State, hated and persecuted by those who ought to have defended them, at length working clear of this alliance, and aiding mightily in securing for our land, and ultimately for all lands, the great boon of Religious Freedom. As the learned German writer cannot be charged with denominational bias, his testimony is the more valuable. His work begins with the rise of the Independents, their separation from the English Church, and briefly traces their emigration to Holland and America, describes at length the formation of the Theocratic State in New England, and the conflicts both from within and from without which it waged until its dissolution, and closes with an account of the "Great Awakening" in 1736-42.

The fundamental principles of Congregationalism he states thus (p. 68):

1. The several churches are altogether independent of one another. 2. Evidence of the requisite qualifications is required by the church before admission to the Lord's Supper.

Two fatal inconsistencies however were admitted by the Puritans of New England. First, the baptism of infants, and second, the duty of the civil magistrate to " take care of matters of religion," and to punish "breaches of the first table." They essayed the impossible task of making "the State as well as the Church a community of believers." Their internal dissensions, and the final decay of spiritual life among them, which resulted in the rise and prevalence of Unitarianism, arose from these two sources, whence also their persecution of the Baptists, Quakers and Antinomians had its origin. The adoption of the "half-way covenant" was but a consistent application of Pedobaptist doctrine, and it is not surprising, after that, that "the principle of requiring evidence of conversion went gradually more and more into disuse" (p. 223).

We do not wonder that Uhden calls "Anabaptism the bugbear of New England," for it is evident to any careful reader of this history, that the tendency of the Congregational principles here stated is inevitably to Baptist doctrine, and that all the trouble and friction which the Puritan fathers experienced in the working of their system arose from the vain attempt to keep in it just those incongruous elements which Baptists repudiate.

The work is in general remarkably accurate in its facts, and eminently philosophical in its treatment of them. The most serious inaccuracy we have noticed is in reference to Smith, whom Uhden (following the calumny of his enemies) calls a Se Baptist, and whose church, he says, became extinct soon after his death, when it is well known that they returned to England, and under Helwisse, his successor, bore a noble testimony to the grand cause of soul liberty.*

Backus was converted in the Great Revival, which forms the subject of Uhden's closing chapter, and his principles and life may be regarded as the pure fruit of the precious seed sown by the old Puritans. He was descended from a worthy ancestry. The volume opens with the resistance of his sturdy grandfather to the Saybrook platform, and soon we see his pious mother and brother imprisoned for refusing to pay church rates to the minister of the "standing order." Gradually the light dawned upon him, and it was many years before his vigorous mind cleared its way to a consistent view of truth. In his own words: "It took ten years to get clear of the custom of putting baptism before faith, and near five more to learn not to contradict the same in practice, after which above seventeen trying years rolled over us, before we could refrain from an implicit acknowledgment of more than one Lord in religious af fairs." His conversion, call to the ministry, the agonizing mental struggles occasioned by the question (still an exceedingly troublesome one to all Pedobaptists), "Where and in what relation to the Church of God do those persons stand, who have been baptized, and yet are not be lievers?"-the perplexities attending his efforts to retain open communion, and his abundant labors as an evangelist, pastor, historian, and devoted friend of religious freedom, are narrated by Dr. Hovey in a clear, condensed and most attractive manner. In this last named cause his labors were untiring. The inhumanity and cruelty of the Puritans and their successors toward the Baptists and others, are almost incredible to The world owes a debt of gratitude to our Baptist fathers for their unflinching heroism and glorious success in battling for soul freedom; and among the most faithful, courageous and uncompromising laborers for this cause was ISAAC BACKUS. We rejoice that so fitting a memorial of him has been prepared, and we earnestly recommend both the works we have named as worthy of the careful study of every Christian, especially of every Baptist.

us.

HISTORY OF FREDERICK THE SECOND, called Frederick the Great. By Thomas Carlyle. In four volumes. 12 mo. Vol. I & II. (New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square. 1858.)

This work is thoroughly Carlylean in style and spirit, and abounds in those excellencies and faults which so strongly mark the History of the French Revolution. How rugged and Germanized the style, every page teeming with involved parentheses, words coined by the mechanical junction of two or more words, and common nouns made proper and begun with a capital letter. Nor is Carlyle's ruggedness that of a man who falls into it simply by reason of being intent on telling his story. It is evidently rather sought after for its own sake, and gloried in, as was his poverty by Diogenes. There are not wanting, moreover, often allusions unworthy the dignity of his subject, as for instance, on the first page, where he tells us that "Day and Martin, with their soot-pots were forbidden to approach the boots of King Frederick." And then for the spirit of this, and all Thomas Carlyle's works-may he not well be called the great fault-finder? Is not every thing with him rotten, out of joint, false, and the like? And yet how vague! When does he ever point his gune

*See Benedict's Hist., p. 329-30.

at any one specific error or abuse? Much less does he ever propose something positive as an improvement on what he so generally, yet so unsparingly condemns. We really doubt whether Carlyle's age will be any the wiser or better for all his lashing.

And yet when all this is said, and truly said, none can deny that our author does roll down many a solid lump of golden thought, and that, especially in the volumes before us, he gives not a few proofs that he has dug at the mine which he has chosen, with rare patience, and that he is a true word-painter.

THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT, in its relations to God and the Universe. By Rev. Thos. W. Jenkyn, D. D. Author's Edition. (Boston : Gould & Lincoln. 1859.)

Jenkyn and Symington have long been standards on the great subject of which they treat, the. latter advocating a particular the former a general atonement. We confess that Symington has always seemed to us to have the logic on his side. All agree as to the infinite worth of Christ's work. All agree, on the other hand, that His work is not effective in securing salvation for all men. If, then, we admit the necessity of divine influence in order to conversion, and that what God does and permits he designed to do and permit, the doctrine of a particular atonement seems necessarily to follow. Such a doctrine is an inevitable corollary of Predestinarianism; and the former no more than the latter forbids the universal offer of salvation. The work before us is an able defense of the positions assumed, and this new and revised edition will be acceptable and useful to all interested in the important questions discussed.

PRACTICAL SERMONS. By Nathaniel W. Taylor, D. D. late Dwight Professor in Yale College. (New York. Clark, Austin & Smith. 1858.) Without endorsing all the theological tenets which appear in, or underlie these discourses, we are free to pronounce them able, earnest, and likely, on the whole, to exert an influence for good. They abound in thought, which if not original, is strong and often striking in arrangement, which seizes and holds the mind as with grappling irons, and in appeals, which even when read, cannot fail to stir the spirit. The sermon on "Singleness of Heart," is a fine specimen of pointed, discriminating preaching.

THE NOON PRAYER MEETING OF THE NORTH DUTCH CHURCH, NEW YORK: its origin, character, progress, and some of its results. By Tal bott W. Chambers. (New York: Board of Publication of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. 1858.)

The character of this book sufficiently appears from its title. It will gratify a laudable desire generally felt, to know of an instrumentality which God has so deigned to bless, while it will doubtless tend to encourage and stimulate to earnest, believing, united prayer. Some of the incidents recorded, and some of the lithograph copies of requests for prayer, are very affecting. We are glad to see this book.

ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN PULPIT. By Wm. B. Sprague, D. D., vol. V. (New York; Robert Carter & Brothers. 1858.)

This volume is devoted to Episcopal Ministers. It is on the same plan as its predecessors, which have been duly noticed in the Review, and fully sustains their well-earned reputation for laborious research, and for vivacity and variety of description. These annals will rescue from oblivion many a name which deserves to be remembered, but which would otherwise be soon forgotten. They are therefore worthy contributions at once to literature and to religion.

BLIND BARTIMEUS; or the Story of a Sightless Sinner, and his great Physician. By Rev. Wm. J. Hoge, Prof. in the Union Theol. Seminary, Prince Edward, Va. (N. Y. Sheldon, Blakeman & Co., 16 mo. p. 257.)

Upon the narrative of the cure of Bartimeus as harmonized from the three Evangelists, the author founds a series of addresses to blind sinners, and to their christian friends. The sermon form, which is in some cases retained, by no means diminishes the power of these appeals; which in graphic force, dramatic interest, abundance of illustration, richness of scriptural quotation, soundness of doctrine, plainness of speech, and real grappling with the conscience, remind us of Spurgeon's best efforts. It is a book well adapted to do good.

THE LIVING EPISTLE; or the moral power of a religious life. By Rev. Cornelius Tyree, of Powhatan Co., Va. With an introduction by Rev. R. Fuller, D. D. (N. Y. Sheldon, Blakeman, & Co. 16 mo. pp. 185.)

This excellent little treatise aims to show that "the great obstacle in the way of the diffusion of the gospel, is the low tone of practical religion among the professed friends of Christ;" to point out the prevalent defects of christian character, and their injurious influence; to describe a higher standard of religion, and its blessed effects on the conversion of mankind; and to exhibit the means and motives for attaining a more devoted piety. It paints a very gloomy picture of the present state of the church, and holds up in strong contrast the genuine religion of the New Testament. It is an earnest, powerful, searching, and often eloquent trumpet-call to christians to awake from the slumbers of formality and worldliness, and to live every day, in every relation of life, for God and immortal souls.— Such appeals are greatly needed. May the Holy Spirit employ this little volume to bring about a second great reformation, by which all the friends of Christ may be induced to do what they can for Christ.”

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THE HARVEST AND THE REAPERS; HOME WORK FOR ALL, AND HOW TO DO IT. By Rev. Harvey Newcomb, author of " Cyclopedia of Missions," How to be a Man," &c. (Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 16 mo. pp. 270.)

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This work is more specific than the one just noticed, selecting for discussion the single point of christian labor for the conversion of sinners. It commences by portraying the fearful spiritual condition of our great cities, and our whole country, proving by reliable statistics, that "not more than one sixth of the population are regular attendants upon public worship." This alarming evil can be remedied only by individual, personal labor, on the part of each christian, the duty of which labor is proved in the most conclusive manner from the Scriptures. The author then details "a plan for carrying the Gospel to every creature in the land," which has already been put in operation with eminent success in Brooklyn, New York, and elsewhere. This "plan" is the chief feature of the book, and strikes us as admirably adapted to accomplish the object. The concluding chapters treat of personal preparation for the work, the conduct of prayer meetings and revivals, and abound with valuable suggestions, the evident result of much experience and knowledge of human nature. We know not among all the publications of the day one so well calculated to bring into use the immense mass of idle "moral capital" in our churches. We thank the author for it, and we trust that it may be circulated by thousands, and blessed as a means of rendering permanent and yet more powerful the "great awakening" now in progress.

THE NEW TESTAMENT; PARAGRAPH EDITION. (New York. Collins & Brother, Publishers.)

We have for years used a Paragraph Bible, and have desired to see the Scriptures in that form come into general use, and have regretted the