(4.) "Science in Theology. Sermons preached in St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University. By ADAM FARRAR, A. M., F. G. S., F. R. A. S., Fellow of Queen's College, and Preacher at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall." 12mo., pp. 250. Philadelphia: Smith & English; New York: Sheldon & Co.; Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1860.

The purpose of Mr. Farrar's sermons (which the title but ambiguously indicates) is to show, in some degree, the bearings which modern science possesses upon theology. He justly considers the theology of different ages to be in some degree modified and shaped by existing modes of scientific thought; and, when the scientific modification disappears, great danger arises from the identification of theology with the exploded scientific error. The ever varying relations of the two, arising from the mutabilities of science, are ever requiring new adjustments, and warning us that, even in the adjustments, the distinctive line between the two is to be carefully maintained.

Mr. Farrar proposes in his book to furnish a contribution toward adjusting present science to permanent theology. A firm Churchman, he blends an evangelical orthodoxy, both of doctrine and feeling, with a chastened liberality. He surrenders no principle authorized by the settled interpretations of the word of God, or dear to the heart of the great body of the earnest Christian Church.

His first lecture traces the gradual discovery of the Divine attributes through Scripture and science. Of the attributes of God he considers that science furnishes, in a true sense, an additional revelation, consistent with, confirming and filling out, the revelations of Scripture. Modern astronomy opens a vaster view of God's omnipresence. Geology unfolds his eternity in the past. Mathematics has prophetic demonstrations for the future. And while thus physical science illustrates the infinity of God, psychology, unfolding the instincts of conscience and the laws of right, furnishes revelation of his holiness. There is much value in this lecture.

His further topics are Divine Providence in General Laws, Divine Benevolence in the Economy of Pain, Jewish Interpretation of Prophecy, The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, The Atonement, Laws in Life Spiritual, The Gifts of the Holy Ghost, Providence in Political Revolutions. In illustration of the Trinity, he adopts Professor Mansel's method of admitting the contradiction as arising from human incompetence, which he justly considers as essentially the same as Archbishop King's explanation of the Divine attributes, by analogy: of which, by the way, a brief but excellent statement and refutation may be found in Watson's Institutes. Professor Farrar's book abounds in suggestive passages.

(5.) "A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Intended for Popular Use. By D. D. WHEDON, D. D." 8vo., pp. 422. New York:

Carlton & Porter. 1860.

To write a commentary upon the Scripture text might appear to a novice a matter of small labor and brief time. And so it is, where the work is mainly performed with scissors and mucilage. But where a commentator compares, weighs, and thinks for himself, and runs the whole matter through the filter of his own mind, with a proper solicitude for the public result, he undertakes

a task of anxious years. The present volume is the product of spare hours over and above the performance of duties sufficient alone for the feeble strength of the laborer; and nothing but the sense that the responsibility had been assumed, and that no nobler labor can be performed than the bringing the word of God in contact with the popular mind, could have induced him to prosecute the work. Thus far, by a gracious Providence, it is completed; and the author is encouraged by the opinions of friends to hope that the public will be better satisfied with it than himself. If it meet the wants of the Church, he will be profoundly thankful to Almighty God that the vitality irrecoverably expended has been invested in so noble a department.

To the urgent request of Dr. Stevens it is owing that the writer first committed himself to the undertaking. To the kindness of Dr. True, of Middletown, he is indebted for a considerable amount of revisal and suggestion. And he hereby passes a unanimous vote of thanks to the critical eye of Mr. Wickens, which has aided him in the adjustment of countless minutiæ; to the good taste of Mr. Goodenough; together with the liberality of the Agents of the Book Concern for the new type, the fresh white paper, and the outlay in illustration which has made it one of the costliest books for the price issued from our Rooms. No manual commentary of the day has gone from the American press in a neater style.

(6.) "Christian Perfection as taught in the Bible. An Essay containing the substance of Fletcher's Last Check to Antinomianism. With Additions and Appendixes. By the Rev. SAMUEL D. AKIN, A. M." 12mo.. pp. 304. Nashville, Tenn.: J. B. M'Ferrin. 1860,

How far it is justly permissible to carve and remodel an author's work, has been often doubted; but our utilitarian age seems deciding that a profitable result justifies the process. In the present volume everything appears well done to adapt to the present age a most important part of our religious literature. The local allusions are removed, the exuberant style is chastened, and some objectionable views are omitted. The standard editions still remain to inform us which are Fletcher's words and which his reviser's. The volume may therefore be safely recommended as an excellent treatise on this important subject.

(7.) "Illustrations of Scripture. Suggested by a Tour through the Holy Land. By HORATIO B. HACKETT, D. D., Professor of Biblical Literature in Newton Theological Institution. New and Revised Edition Boston: Gould & Lincoln; New York: Sheldon & Co.; Cincinnati: G. S. Blanchard. 1860.

Professor Hackett surveyed the scenes of the Holy Land with the eye of a true Biblical scholar, who knows what to look for and where to look for it. His work is written in a style which interests the popular reader, and furnishes, as we have had reason to know, valuable matter for the commentator. As the result in part of a second tour through the sacred localities, the work is now rendered still more complete, and more acceptable to the Biblical scholar and popular reader.

(8.) "The New Discussion of the Trinity; containing Notices of Professor Huntington's Recent Defense of that Doctrine. Reprinted from the 'Christian Examiner,' The Monthly Religious Magazine,' The Monthly Journal of the Unitarian Association,' and The Christian Register.' Together with Sermons, by Rev. THOMAS STARR KING and Dr. ORville DEWEY." Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. For the American Unitarian Association. 1860.

·

The departure of Professor Huntington has, for a brief period, as this little volume shows, ruffled the usually placid surface of Unitarian Theology. It brought out the leading organs and the star preachers to a revisal yet a new resumption of their old positions. The discussion is sharp, eloquent, and scholarly. The professor is not miserably hacked as with a butcher's cleaver, but cut up with so keen a razor's edge, that the entire slicing and dissection are, it may be, as painless as they are thorough. The desertion of the professor leaves but a single vacancy; the rank closes up, and the phalanx is as compact as ever. The "later Unitarians," it would seem, object not so much to the Trinity, or to the Divinity of Christ, as to the "tripersonality." A man who, like Whately, wishes that the word person had never been adopted, and holds that the Father, Son, and Spirit imply a valid distinction of three " whats" in the Divine nature, though we have never heard that he was read out of the Trinitarian ranks, is, it seems, recognized as sound among the "later Unitarians."

some

(9.) "Lectures on the Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. By JOHN LILLIE, D. D." 12mo., pp. 515. New York: R. Carter & Brothers. 1860. This is a very scholarly work, the product of a mind well furnished with all the appliances for fundamental investigation. The author has at ready command the whole apparatus of criticism, which he exhibits purely for purpose, and not for display. The translations of both epistles are excellent, so modernizing the texture of the style as to render it the graceful English of the present day, yet strictly preserving the antique spirit that truly belongs to the Scripture style. The commentary possesses something of the disadvantage of popular exposition. We have rhetoric sometimes when we want sharp analysis or rigid logic. The frank and manly Calvinism we like to meet in its proper place. In the present case it is free and outspoken, yet deals in the sort of conventional demonstration habitual with men who have little examined the opposite side, and feel quite sure of their audience.

(10.) "The Year of Grace. A History of the Revival in Ireland, A. D, 1859. By the Rev. WILLIAM GILSON, Professor of Christian Ethics in Queen's College, Belfast, and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. With an Introduction by Rev. BARON STOWE, D. D." 12mo., pp. 464. Boston: Gould & Lincoln; New York: Sheldon & Co.; Cincinnati: G. S. Blanchard. 1860.

The late arrival of this volume has precluded a full examination, but its contents and pages seem to promise a narrative of extraordinary interest. The author was requested by the American publishers to prepare the work. He was eminently qualified, and has expended abundant labor in obtaining complete details of the facts.

(11.) "Disquisitions and Notes on the Gospels. By JOHN H. MORRISON." 12mo., pp. 538. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. 1860.

Dr. Morrison's volume fills out its title no farther than Matthew alone. As nearly all the difficulties of Mark and Luke are really considered in the present volume, the remainder of the four gospels will be concluded in a second volume, in which John will occupy the main attention. On the other New Testament books a volume is in course of preparation by Dr. A. P. Peabody. Thus there will be a New Testament complete in three volumes.

We have seldom read over a commentary with more pleasure. Our pleasure arose from a special as well as from general reasons. The fact lately brought before us that Hase's "Life of Jesus" is to be "a book for Bible classes and higher classes in Sunday schools," seemed a most disheartening omen. If the lambs of the Unitarian fold are to be fed on such aliment, and by shepherds disposed to such a selection, what awaits their next generation? Very different is the character of the present volume. In a clear simplicity, in a reverent spirit, in a believing but not uncritical tone, it is calculated to strengthen the faith and cherish the piety of its readers. A large share of the work is in the form of free and somewhat extended dissertation. The gospel narrative is told at length, by sections, in the author's own words. Critical and exegetical points are specified and discussed in the notes with learning, ability, . and a mastery of the latest contributions. The opinions expressed, in the general, approach very near to the boundary lines of an orthodoxy not Calvinistic.

(12.) "The Church of the First Three Centuries; or, Notices of the Lives and Opinions of some of the Early Fathers, with Special Reference to the Doctrine of the Trinity, illustrating its late Origin and Gradual Formation. By ALVAN LAMSON, D. D." 8vo., pp. 352. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. The fine octavo before us claims to be a re-examination of the question of the faith of the first three centuries in regard to the nature and relations of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Christian fathers whose works are critically analyzed and characterized are Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Arius. The extended chapters devoted to these characters are learned and positive, as well as rich in matter and entertaining in style. The erudite critic professedly demonstrates from his review that the doctrine of the Trinity was not extant in the time of these writers. The Apostles' Creed, the Hymnology of the ancient Church, and the artistic representations of the Trinity are then adduced, and the conclusion is drawn, and stated with great positiveness, that the doctrine of the Trinity, as held by modern Orthodoxy, takes form and even existence subsequently to the first three centuries. The challenge is fairly and honorably laid down for the ablest champion upon the other side to furnish a fresh examen of the subject.

(13.) "The Homilist: a Series of Sermons for Preachers and Laymen. Original and Selected. By ERWIN HOUSE, A. M." 12mo., pp. 496.

New York: Carlton & Porter. 1860.

This is a book of very choice selections of pulpit literature.

There is a

marked point, evangelical and searching closeness, and piquant force of style

in the specimens of preaching here presented. As aids for the young preacher, and as religious tracts for spiritual edification, they are among the

best extant.

(14.) "Notes on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to Philemon, as the Basis of a Revision of the Common English Version, and a Revised Version with Notes." 16mo., pp. 90. New York: American Bible Union; Louisville: Bible Revision Association; London: Trübner & Co., No. 60, Paternoster Row. 1860.

This beautiful edition of the single brief Epistle to Philemon, bright with crimson and gilt, is issued for the examination and free criticism of the scholars of our country preparatory to its adoption by the Final Committee of the American Bible Union. It contains, first, a preface, reviewing the history of English Biblical translation; next, an introduction to the epistle; then the Greek text, in a rich black type, exhibiting as fine a specimen of "the swarthy daughters of Cadmus" as often walks abroad. The Greek is furnished with critical notes. Then the new version with notes, succeeded by a copy of the received version. In an appendix we have the letter, original and translated, of Pliny to Sabinianus, being one of the most exquisite specimens of the epistolary left us by classical antiquity, exhibiting all the more clearly, by its striking parallelism, the inferiority of the noblest Paganism to primitive Christianity. The notes and translation are, we understand, by Professor Hackett. Whatever criticisms the volume may meet from our Biblical scholars, we risk nothing in saying that it is in its way a special gem.

(15.) "The Biblical Reason Why; a Family Guide to Scripture Reading and a Hand-book for Biblical Students. By the Author of The Reason Why,' 'General Science,' etc. Illustrated with numerous engravings." 12mo., pp. 324. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald.

A successful attempt to popularize Biblical knowledge. The information is in the form of question and answer. The topics are well selected. The engravings are generally, though not always, illustrations of fact and not of fancy. The ordinary reader, using it in connection with the Scripture perusal or independently, will find himself able to follow many parts of the sacred record more intelligently.

II. Philosophy, Metaphysics, and General Science.

(16.)" How to Enjoy Life; or, Physical and Mental Hygiene. By WILLIAM M. CORNELL, M. D." 12mo., pp. 360. Philadelphia: James Challen & Son; New York: Sheldon & Co.; Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee, & Co.; Cincinnati Rickey, Mallory, & Co.; Chicago: Griggs & Co. 1860. Among the many works on Hygiene this is one of the best. thorough science, great good sense, and freshness of style.

is given to clergymen, but we find nothing for them more estimation than the following paragraph:

It is written with Much good advice important in our

"Few clergymen there are who cannot call to mind times when they have preached under great oppression. They have felt themselves to be in a torpid FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XII.—33