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98,748 francs. The pamphlet contains the opening speech of the president, at the anniversary, the annual report, and the speeches of various individuals. The association are laboring with much energy and good fruit.

8.-A Discourse on the Traffic in Spirituous Liquors, delivered in the Centre Meeting-House, New Haven, Conn. Feb. 6, 1838. By Leonard Bacon, pp. 54.

This sermon has special reference to the laws of the State of Connecticut licensing the sale of ardent spirits. Mr. Bacon takes hold of the subject with a strong hand, not having the fear of the rum-seller before his eyes. It is one of the most fearless and thorough discussions which the temperance reformation has brought forth. He remarks that the license laws are all founded on the idea that the use of ardent spirits is in a high degree dangerous to the individual and to the community. They do not attempt to interfere with the consumption of ardent spirits in families, except in particular cases. They make a wide distinction between selling ardent spirits for the purpose of being used as a drink on the spot, and selling it for the purpose of being carried away and used elsewhere. They make no provision for licensing and tolerating a dram-shop. They are designed to protect the community from the very evils which flow from the dram-shop system. Mr. Bacon then remarks that the business of dram-selling may be prohibited and punished, as a crime against the public policy of the State; it is an offence against public order and comfort; against trade and industry; against property; against the morals of the community; and against health and life. In an appendix, Mr. Bacon has industriously collected a great variety of startling facts. In the city of New Haven, there are eighty places where liquor is sold. Out of 100 adults, who died in the city in 1837, 33 were drunkards. One of the dealers acknowledged that his business was a bad one, but he considered himself merely as executing the will of the Almighty, in acting as his agent to inflict a curse on the people.

This sermon well deserves a wide currency in Massachusetts, where the friends of rum-selling, or as they term themselves, the friends of real temperance, are bestirring themselves wonderfully to procure the repeal of the license law which is a bar to their efforts in the promotion of temperance! Some of them are such strenuous advocates for sobriety, that they threaten to drink rum on principle. Being men of lofty principles and of the purest patriotism, we presume that fifteen gallons will not be too large a quantity for their use. The larger the quantity drunk, the purer the principle.

9.-The Old Testament, arranged in Historical and Chronological Order, (on the basis of Lightfoot's Chronicle,) in such a manner, that the Books, Chapters, Psalms, Prophesies etc. etc. may be read as One Connected History, in the words of the Authorized Translation. With Notes and Copious Indexes. By the Rev. George Townsend, M. A., Prebendary of Durham, and Vicar of Northallerton. Revised, Punctuated, Divided into Paragraphs and Parallelisms, Italic Words Reexamined, a Choice and Copious Selection of References given, etc. By the Rev. T. W. Coit, D. D. Late President of Transylvania University. The New Testament, Arranged in Historical and Chronological Order; with Copious Notes on the Principal Subjects in Theology; The Gospels on the basis of the Harmonies of Lightfoot, Doddridge, Pillington, Newcome, and Michaelis; The Account of the Resurrection on the Authorities of West, Townson and Cranfield; The Epistles are inserted in their places, and divided according to the Apostle's Arguments. By the Rev. George Townsend M. A., etc. and the whole Revised, divided into Paragraphs, Punctuated according to the best Critical Texts, the Italic words reexamined, Passages and words of doubtful authority marked, a choice and Copious Selection of Parallel Passages given, etc. By the Rev. T. W. Coit, D. D. etc. Boston: Perkins and Marvin. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins, 1837, and 1838. pp. 1212, 927.

We have copied the title of this valuable work at full length as containing the best explanation of its plan and object which we are able to give in so few words. Our readers will understand that it is THE BIBLE, in the words of our common English Translation. But the events recorded in the Bible are here arranged according to the order of time in which they are either known or supposed to have occurred, and the Books, Chapters, Psalms, Prophecies, etc. are so transposed and intermingled as to correspond with the order of succession, in which they are understood to have been originally revealed and recorded.

The peculiar excellence of this edition of the Bible consists in its arrangement. And here it may be proper to remark, for the relief of such as may feel any conscientious scruples on the subject, that the disposition of the several parts of the Bible and its division into chapters and verses are not matters of divine appointment or inspiration. The sentiments and the original language of the Sacred Books may be regarded as inspired; but the arranging of them is wholly the work of man, as much as the transcribing or the printing of them. The learned author of this arrangement therefore has not performed an unauthorized work. He has accomplished, with immense labor

and research, what has been considered an important desideratum ever since the completion of the canon of Scripture, and what has been attempted by numerous christian divines and scholars, of whose labors he has availed himself in the work now presented to the American public. That this arrangement is in all respects perfect, we neither believe nor affirm. In the reasons for some parts of it we cannot concur with the author. But having examined it with some care, we do not hesitate to pronounce it a great improvement upon previous attempts of the kind.

Our author first arranged the Books of the Old Testament, on the plan of Lightfoot's Chronicle, in such a manner that they might be read as one unbroken history. Then, to render this continuous narrative attractive, and more easily remembered, he divided it into Periods, Parts and Sections. By this means the reader who is unable to devote much uninterrupted time to the study of the Old Testament, may, without burthening his memory, take it up and lay it down, as he would any other history or narrative.

The Periods-into which this part of Scripture History is divided are eight. The First Period contains the history of the world and the church from the Creation to the Deluge, and includes the first nine chapters of Genesis. The Second Period comprises the history of the time between the dispersion of men and the birth of Moses; and includes the remaining chapters of Genesis, the Book of Job and the first chapter of Exodus. The remaining Periods need not be described in this notice. We have named the above simply to show the reader in what manner the Old Testament history is divided. The Parts and Sections under the several Periods are numerous. These too are divided according to the sense of the narrative and the chronology of the events and instructions which they record, without any regard to the enumeration of the chapters and verses in our common English Bibles, which, however, for the convenience of reference, are noticed in small figures in the margin.

Passing from the Old to the New Testament, our author considers the latter as the completion of that great system of religion which began at the fall and will continue till the consummation of all things. The object of this arrangement, therefore, is to place before the readers of the New Testament the gradual development of the dispensation of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, in the order in which the true light shone upon the christian church. He begins with a Harmony of the Gospels, in commendation of which we copy the following paragraph from his very able "Introduction."

"All the harmonies which have been hitherto submitted to the world have been formed on one of two plans. The contents of the four Gospels have been arranged in parallel columns, by which means the whole of the sacred narrative is placed at one view before the reader, or they have been combined into one unbroken story, in which the passages considered by the harmonizer to be unneces

sary to the illustration of the narrative are arbitrarily rejected. The former produces great confusion in the mind of the student; the latter appears to place the reader too much at the disposal of the author. The former is the Harmony strictly so called; the latter is the mere diatessaron or monotessaron. To avoid the inconveniences of both these systems, I have endeavored to save the reader that embarrassment, which is occasioned by four parallel columns, and at the same time to combine the Gospels into one order without leaving the reader to depend entirely on the judgment of the arranger, in the choice of the interwoven passages. My object has been to unite the advantages of both plans. Every text of Scripture is preserved, as in the first, while the evangelical narrations are formed into one connected history, as in the second; every passage which is rejected from the continuous history being placed at the end of each section, to enable the reader to decide on the propriety of the order which has been adopted."

The Harmony of the Gospels thus constructed is followed by a chronological arrangement of the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles to the completion of the Canon of the New Testament, the whole being divided into fifteen Parts, and subdivided into numerous sections; after which our author concludes his work with a brief review of the history of the christian church from the close of the apostolic age to the present period.

The Notes appended to the New Testament are copious and highly valuable. With the theological views expressed in these notes we do not in all respects concur. Yet they are learned, pious and instructive, and associated, as they are, with the inspired word of God, unchanged and unadulterated, and arranged in a manner happily adapted to illustrate its meaning and make it its own interpreter, the whole may be read with profit by the candid inquirer after the truth as it is in Jesus Christ.

On the whole, we regard Townsend's arrangement of the Bible as one of the most important and useful publications, which we have been invited to examine. To the enterprising publishers we tender our cordial thanks for the favor they have conferred on the American churches, and especially that they have furnished this standard work in a style so worthy the Boston press, and at a price which will enable individuals and families of moderate means to possess it. We commend it to our readers of every class,-to ministers, to the conductors of Bible classes and to the families that call on the name of the Lord. It is, THE BIBLE its own Interpreter.

10.-General History of Civilization in Europe, from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution. Translated from the French of M. Guizot, Professor of History to La Faculté des Lettres of Paris and Minister of Public Instruction. First American from the second English Edition. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1838. pp. 346.

We have read enough of this book to be convinced that it deserves more than a passing notice, and more than common praise. It is worthy to be studied; and yet the ease and elegance of its style and the vividness of its descriptions cannot fail to please the taste of the cursory and superficial reader. It is at once highly entertaining and instructive.

The subject here chosen for discussion is one of universal interest to mankind. The history of the civilization of Europe, during the period here contemplated, is the history of the civilization of the world. It is our own history, in this respect, no less than that of our transatlantic contemporaries; and while they possess advantages for its investigation, which are less accessible to us, our interest in the general subject, and the instruction which we may derive from it are no less important and practical than theirs. To American readers, therefore, such works as those of Hallam and Guizot must be peculiarly acceptable.

The work before us is comprised in fourteen" Lectures," and these, in the language of the "Translator's Preface" (dated Oxford, Eng. 1837,)" are fourteen great historical pictures. Still the work is a unity. In the fourteen pictures, collectively, you have one great and entire subject,-the history of civilization in Europe, and that so told as cannot fail to please and instruct the historian, the student, and the philosopher." We commend it also to the diligent study of christian scholars, as well as of statesmen, legislators, and politicians.

M. Guizot, in these Lectures, furnishes less of a detailed history of the period under consideration, than we find in the works of Hallam on "The State of Europe during the Middle Ages" and the "Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries." He is also less systematic in his references to original authorities. Yet his work is not deficient in such historical details as are suited to the object he had in view, and he everywhere inspires the reader with confidence that he is master of his subject. He insists, indeed, on the propriety of confining history to facts. But are there no facts but such as are material and visible?"There are moral, hidden facts, of a general nature and without a name, of which it is impossible to say that they happened in such a year, or on such a day, but which are just as much facts as battles, wars, and public acts of governments. Such a fact is civilization, which, like any other, may be studied, described, and have its history recounted."

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