tion led him into error, as well as prompted him with much that was true. His defective view of the wrath of God was due partly to his philosophising tendency, and partly to his commendable but extreme opposition to those who believed in a Demiurge. His whole teaching on the articles of faith and free will bear evidence that it was directed against the false Gnostics. And in the chapters in which he most distinctly delivers himself on these points, he expressly combats the errors of Valentinus and Basilides. Had they not maintained that a man's spiritual destiny had nothing to do with his own will, Clement might not have been tempted to pronounce that a man's own will had everything to do with his faith. But we cannot enter now upon the wide subject of Clement's dogmatic. Suffice it to say, that all his writings are very worthy of an attentive perusal, that they are not only historically interesting, both as reflecting his own times and as exhibiting the ages that were then past, but are also so fresh and vigorous, so erudite and yet so hearty and devout, as to command, if not our uninterrupted admiration, at least our constant love. And if his style has those faults which were mentioned above, it is also possessed of a characteristic beauty, purity of expression, and force of phrase, and is relieved by an occasional brilliance and rapidity of logical discussion which might vindicate for him, more than for any who has claimed the title, the epithet of the Christian Plato.

ART. II.-Dr Nicholas Murray.'

Memoirs of the Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D. (Kirwan). By SAMUEL IRENEUS PRIME, D.D. New York: Harper & Brothers.

THERE is, perhaps, no department of literature in which greater or more numerous mistakes have been committed than in Biography. The cause of this has been, that gratitude, or affection, or possibly self-interest, has been allowed to usurp the place of sober judgment, and thus deliver itself of an effort to embalm mediocrity; or else a really deserving subject has, from the operation of the same spirit, been so gorgeously or extravagantly dressed up, that the identity of the portrait with the original could scarcely be recognised. To say nothing of the numerous books designed to perpetuate characters whose

From the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review for January 1863.—Ed.. B. & F. E. R.

mission on earth has been only for evil, it may safely be asserted. that if all which are of mere negative tendency, or which emblazon gifts or graces that nobody ever saw in the persons commemorated-thus performing a work of creation rather than a faithful description-if all these were to be put out of the way, not only would there be a vast reduction of many of our libraries, but a very perceptible thinning out of not a few of our book stores. This, however, is only admitting that biography shares the fate of all other good things, and that, while it is fitted to accomplish great good, by preserving the remembrance of eminent talent, or virtue, or usefulness, or all of these blended, it is liable to be perverted, belittled, or turned into an instrument of positive and even great evil.

It is hardly necessary to say that these remarks have been suggested to us in connection with this memoir of Dr Murray, only in the way of contrast; for we have rarely taken up a book that is more strikingly illustrative of the real value of biography than this. Dr Murray was anything but an everyday character-the qualities both of his mind and of his heart were marked by a degree of individuality that would effectually prevent his ever being confounded with anybody else; while there was a vigour and elevation pertaining to both his intellectual and moral faculties, which were felt, not only as an attractive influence, but as a positive power. And then his life was so manifestly directed and controlled by a wonderworking Providence, the sober realities of his history, while at first view they seem to take on the air of romance, when they come to be scrutinised by the eye of faith and reverence, are seen to have been marvellously shaped and stamped by the divine wisdom and goodness. Both his life and character, then, formed a most fitting subject for the biographer; and public expectation would have been sadly disappointed if no extended memoir of him had appeared. In accordance with an earnest wish expressed by many of his friends, shortly after his lamented death, it was determined that a memoir of him should be prepared; and to no hands could it have been more appropriately committed than to those by which it was undertaken. Dr Prime had been in relations of fraternal intimacy with Dr Murray for many years, and from his very frequent intercourse with him, especially as a contributor to the New York Observer, had the best opportunity of forming an accurate estimate of his character. Besides, everybody knows that he is one of our most graceful and attractive writers; or if there are any who have not found it out until now, this volume surely will make the revelation to them. It was a grand subject for his skill and taste, and, we may add, genial sympathies, to work upon; and we are sure that those who expected most are not

disappointed in the result. We fully accord with the public verdict, so far as it has already been made known, that this is one of the most instructive and interesting pieces of biography which we have met with for a long time from either side of the water.

The first thing we meet, on opening this volume, is an engraved portrait of our departed friend, which almost startles us by its well-nigh matchless fidelity to the original. Those to whom his face is most familiar will find it difficult to criticise anything in respect either to the features or the expression. The intelligence, the kindliness, the firmness, the good humour, are all there. Truly, it is one of our manifold blessings that, by a process that takes but a few moments, and costs but a few pennies, we may have secured to us a life-like image of not only those friends from whom we are temporarily separated on earth, but those whom we can hope to meet no more till we go to mingle with them in other scenes.

Of the life of Dr Murray, which the memoir presents with great fidelity, and in much more detail than we should have thought possible, we can give but the merest outline. He was born at Ballynaskea, in the county of Westmeath, Ireland, December 25. 1802. His parents were both Roman Catholics. His father was a man of some consideration in the neighbourhood in which he lived, but he died when this son was only three years of age. When he (the son) was about twelve, he was apprenticed as a merchant's clerk in a store in Grannard, near Edgeworthstown, where he remained three years, but he was so badly treated by his employer that, at the end of that time, he ran away, and returned to his mother's house. In spite of his mother's importunity to the contrary, he resolutely refused to return to his clerkship, and having made an arrangement with his brother, which secured to him the necessary means of crossing the Atlantic, he embarked for America. Up to this period, he had been buried in the deepest darkness of Romanism. His education, at least so far as the elementary branches were concerned, had not been specially neglected; but of the true religion he knew nothing; and though he conformed to the Romish rites, and in the main accepted his hereditary prejudices as having the authority of à divine revelation, his mind was too essentially reflective not to be occasionally oppressed with difficulties which he knew not how to solve.

He arrived in New York in July 1818, nearly penniless, and was of course cast entirely on his own resources. Wandering about the streets of that city in quest of something to do, his attention was directed to the printing establishment of the Harpers, which, though not as great then as it has be

come since, was already a highly enterprising and prosperous concern. Here he became engaged as a clerk, and here now commenced a friendship between himself and his employers which proved a source of mutual satisfaction and benefit through a long succession of years. His mind, naturally active, was quickened by the new light into which it was brought; but, instead of accepting that light and turning it to good account, its first effort was to leap from the darkness of Romanism into that of infidelity. He quickly felt, however, that he was not on firm ground yet, and God's wise and gracious providence soon brought him in contact with influences that put both his intellect and his heart to moving in the right direction. He was led, as he would have said, accidentally, to hear a sermon from Dr Mason; and so deeply was he impressed with the force and majesty of the effort, that he went again and again; and at no distant period he saw the infidel fabric which he had reared for himself in ruins at his feet. About this time he was brought into intimate relations with some of the Methodist brethren in New York, from whom he received important encouragement and aid, and at one time it seemed not improbable that he might become a member of that communion. Circumstances, however, subsequently pointed him in another direction; and when his mind had become sufficiently enlightened, and his confidence in the genuineness of his own Christian experience sufficiently strong to warrant it, he made a public profession of his faith by becoming a member of Dr Spring's church.

As he very soon, in his intercourse with his Christian friends, developed much more than ordinary talents, and withal an earnest desire to consecrate himself to God in the ministry of reconciliation, some benevolent individuals quickly originated a plan for gratifying his desire, and securing him to the sacred office. In accordance with this plan, he went first, through the offerings of a considerate charity, to Amherst Academy, where he remained prosecuting his studies, preparatory to entering college, for about nine months; and then, in the autumn of 1822, he entered the Freshman Class in Williams College. Throughout his whole college course he had a high reputation in respect to both scholarship and deportment; and he graduated with high honour in the year 1826.

Immediately after leaving college, he became an agent of the American Tract Society, and laboured for a few weeks in its behalf very successfully in Washington County, New York. He then entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton; but, at the end of the year, in order to relieve himself of pecuniary embarrassments, took another agency under the Tract Society at Philadelphia, where he established a branch society, and

finally accepted an invitation to become its secretary. Here he continued eighteen months, and then returned to Princeton and resumed his place in his class, having kept along with them in their studies during his absence. He was licensed to preach, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, in April 1829.

After preaching for a short time, with much acceptance, at Morristown, New Jersey, he went, in the capacity of a domestic missionary, to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and very soon received and accepted a call to become pastor of the church in that place. Here he was ordained and installed in November following, and was not only highly acceptable in his ministrations among his own people, but was greatly respected and honoured throughout the whole region. When the church in Elizabethtown became vacant, by the removal of Dr M'Dowell to Philadelphia, their attention was immediately directed to Dr Murray, as a suitable person to become his successor; and he, having accepted their unanimous call, was installed as their pastor in July 1833.

Here Dr Murray found his last field of labour; for though he was called to at least half-a-dozen of the most prominent churches in the land, besides being invited to two theological professorships, and several other positions of great responsibility and usefulness in the church, he was never willing to break the tie that bound him to this congregation. But his field of labour was far from being comprised within the limits of his pastoral charge-indeed, his field was literally the world. His earnest devotion to his Master's works, in connection with his high executive talent, made it easy for him to respond to the numerous claims of the church for his services, in almost every department of benevolent effort; and he seemed as much at home in each as if his training had been exclusively in reference to it. To the several boards of the church, especially, he lent an unremitting and powerful influence; while towards the Princeton Theological Seminary he manifested not only the watchful fidelity of a constituted guardian, but the gratitude and affection of a devoted son. He kept steadily at his work until the revelation was suddenly made to him that his work was done. Almost before his nearest neighbours were aware that he was not in his full health, the startling intelligence went abroad that his connection with all earthly scenes and interests had closed. He died on Monday evening, the 4th of February 1861, and his funeral was attended by an immense throng-all of whom seemed like mourners-on the Friday following.

Dr Murray made two visits to Europe,-the first in 1851, the second in 1860. It was an event of no small interest in his life to return to his native land after an absence of more than