plan was well conceived, and the consummation of it completely successful. But as a history of the Pulpit, and an adequate view of the great Preachers of the world, we must pronounce it to be, what from the very necessity of the case, every similar enterprise must be, a failure. The meagre information it furnishes, is not what the young theologian demands. He must penetrate to the sources of knowledge; he must study the great masters in their own works, and draw the history of each age from its own records and monuments. We are disposed to look with distrust upon any scheme which has a tendency to dispense with the necessity of original and thorough investiga-tion, which cheapens the learning of the pulpit. We want to see our preachers profound scholars, as well as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God. It is but justice to Mr. Fish to say, that the apprehensions which we have expressed, have not been generally entertained; that his work has been well received, and has elicited the praises and commendation of men who ought to be, in every way, competent to judge. Six Lec Graham Lectures. The Constitution of the Human Soul: tures delivered at the Brooklyn Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. By RICHARD S. STORRS, Jr., D. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 530 Broadway. 1857. Pp. 338. These lectures are preceded by a preface, giving the history of the Brooklyn Institute, which from small beginnings, has grown into a most important instrument of moral and intellectual influence. Among other legacies left to it by Mr. Augustus Graham, was one of twelve thousand dollars, the income of which, is appropriated to the delivery of Sunday evening lectures, at such times as may be deemed most advisable by the Directors or Trustees of the Institute, on the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in his works. In conformity with this provision, Dr. Storrs was appointed to deliver the first course in the series, and the book before us is the result of his labours. The department of God's works in which he has sought for the manifestations of power, wisdom, and goodness, is the Human Soul. The topics discussed are the soul as endowed with personal life (Lect. I.); as endowed with faculties for knowledge (Lect. II.); as endowed. with faculties for virtue (Lect. III.); as endowed with faculties for beneficent operation (Lect. IV.); as endowed with faculties for happiness (Lect. V.); as endowed with faculties for immortal progress. (Lect. VI.). The theme was a noble one, and the Reverend author has shown himself not insensible to its greatness. Apart, however, from the grandeur of the subject, and the natural desire of speaking in fit terms of this "high argument," there was another motive for aiming at the highest excellence. These lectures were to be the first of a series; they were, consequently, to set the fashion of all that should follow. They were to be models of what the testator designed, and to fix the type in which all future lecturers should cast their lucubrations. It is not strange, therefore, that Dr. Storrs should have been extremely solicitous that his lectures should tell; he has sought to make them as striking and impressive as possible, and, in this case, as in many others, the undue anxiety for success has defeated its own end. As there are many books of which it may be truly said, that they might have been much shorter if they had not been so short, and much clearer, if they had not aspired to be so clear,* so of these lectures it may be justly affirmed, that they might have been much better if they had not aimed to be so good. The anxiety for effect attends the author like an evil genius, and prevents him from ever becoming so absorbed in his subject, as to lose himself in a natural animation. He has his audience always before him, and seems never to write a sentence without asking the question, how will this take? The consequence is, that the style is as vicious as it well can be, unnatural, affected, strained. The author is always walking on stilts or flying in a balloon. He apologizes for his style, by pleading that the lectures were intended for a popular assembly. But a style may be popular without being strained. The simplicity of an earnest and natural animation-an animation which results from the intensity of thought, like the glow of the chariot-wheel from the rapidity of its movements, has much more effect than the affected conceits, sparkling phrases, and florid declamation of an artificial rhetoric. The style of Demosthenes was eminently popular, yet it was eminently chaste and natural, and because nothing seems to have been said for effect, every sentence produces an effect, The imagination of Dr. Storrs riots among figures, like a wild horse in a luxuriant pasture. He can hardly pen a line without a trope. We commend his book to Mr. Lord, the editor of the Theological Journal, who has devoted much time and study to the laws of figurative language. He will find examples to his hand, without the trouble of going in quest of them. He has but to open the book, no matter where, and he will meet what he wants. In spite of the extravagances and affectations which mutilate and disfigure the book, there are passages of great beauty and power. It is always, however, the beauty of poetical description, and not the pathos of pure and unsophis * Kaut, Crit. d. R. V., Pref. ticated thought. Hence though full of declamation, he is never eloquent. He sometimes pleases, but never captivates. He plays around the head, but never touches the heart. The style which Dr. Storrs has adopted, commends itself to second-rate writers, by the cheapness at which it purchases the praise of fine writing. Its motto is, videri quam esse malebat. It takes tinsel for gold, and excess of ornaments for beauty. Instead of making language the instrument and vehicle of thought, it makes it the substitute. Dr. Channing has done more than any man in the country, to encourage the taste for this vitiated species of composition; his reputation depends entirely upon his style. The whole mystery of his style consists in dressing up thoughts, which seldom rise above the lowest level of common-place, in meretricious, dazzling finery. He seems to be very profound and very earnest, when, after all, he is only juggling with language. Dr. Storrs reminds us of Dr. Channing, not only by the similarity of his style, but by the general tone of his thoughts. The book before us harps upon the same string, which the Unitarian divine was always striking, and makes very much the same music. We rise from Dr. Storrs lectures with much the same impressions of the divinity of human nature, which we receive from the discourses of Channing. With both, man is little less than God. No one would ever dream from their glowing descriptions of his grandeur and glory, his high powers and vast capacities, that he had ever been corrupted by sin; that he had lost any of his pristine excellence, or that he is now a mass of ruins. Throughout these lectures, the distinction is lost sight of, betwixt the original state and the present condition of the soul. Dr. Storrs seems, indeed, to take it for granted, that sin has given no such shock to the moral and intellectual nature of man, as to incapacitate him for achieving the end of his being. This general impression of the book is deepened by specific doctrines, which are as repugnant to sound philosophy as to the Christian Scriptures. A theory of will is maintained, which, in the language of Sir William Hamilton, "escapes necessity by taking refuge in chance." A sovereignty is attributed to man, which precludes any causal influence from God securing the certainty of events, without entrenching upon the freedom of the subject; and as the denial of such an influence carries with it a denial of a directing, in contradistinction from an overruling Providence, it is at war with the first principles of Theism. Then again, a theory of virtue is set forth which contradicts the plainest dictates of our moral nature. According to Dr. Storrs, original dispositions, fixed states of the mind, native habits of the soul, are destitute of moral character. Nothing is virtuous but a free determination of the will. The principle from which a man acts is nothing, the only thing to be considered is the act itself. It is in volition, and not the states or habitudes of the will, that we are to look for virtue or vice; hence, of course, there can neither be original righteousness nor original sin, and the whole doctrine of regeneration becomes a simple absurdity. Dr. Storrs has evidently borrowed his theology from the school of the eclectic philosophers, and not from the teachings of Jesus Christ, or his own consciousness. The knowledge of our original constitution is of the utmost importance, but it is of equal importance that we know how to use it, a thing which, as Calvin suggests, has not always happened to the philosophers. "Illi," says this great master, and we commend the passage to Dr. Storrs, and to all the worshippers of the divinity of human nature-"illi," that is, the philosophers, "dum hominem hortuntur, ut se ipsum novent, finem simul proponunt, ne dignitatem excellentramque suam nesciat; neque aliud ipsum in se contemplari volunt, quam unde inani fiducia intumercat et superbia infletur." The Inspiration of Holy Scripture, its Nature and Proof: Eight Discourses preached before the University of Dublin. By Wм. LEE, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College. "Εστι γὰρ ἐν τοῖς τῶν Γραφῶν ξήμασιν ὁ Kupios. S. Athanasius ad Marcellon. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, No. 530 Broadway. 1857. Pp. 478. 8vo.-This is a very seasonable work, maintaining the absolute authority of the Scriptures against a class of objections to which modern speculations have given a factitious importance. The defence of inspiration is in the statement of the doctrine, and the most valuable service which Mr. Lee has rendered to the cause of truth, is the care and precision with which he has eliminated the point in dispute, and disembarrassed it of collateral issues. He has broached no new hypothesis. His dynamic theory is that which has always been held, and though he seems to think that it differs substantially from what has been called, by way of reproach, the mechanical theory, it will be found, upon comparison, that the only difference is in greater precision of statement. Mr. Lee's book is sadly defective in method. It wants logical coherence. It has no regular beginning, middle, nor end. It is marked, however, by signal ability and learning, and we commend it very cordially to the attention of our readers. We have also received from Messrs. Robert Carter & Brothers, No. 530 Broadway, New York, the following works, whose titles are all that we can announce, as we have not had the leisure to read them: 1. Travels and Researches in Chaldea and Susiana; with an Account of Excavations at Warha, the Erech of Nimrod, and Shush, "Shusan the Palace" of Esther, in 1849-52, under the order of Major-General Sir W. F. Williams of Kars, Bart., K. C. B., M. P., and also of the Assyrian Excavation Fund in 1853-4. By WILLIAM KENNETT LOFTUS, F. G. S. 2. The Desert of Sinai: Notes of a Spring Journey from Cairo to Beersheba. By HORATIUS BONAR, D. D., Kelso. 1857. 3. The Martyr of Sumatra: A Memoir of Henry Lyman. 1856. 4. Tales of Sweden and the Norsemen. 1856. 5. Life in its Lower, Intermediate, and Higher Forms: or Manifestations of the Divine Wisdom in the Natural History of Animals. By PHILIP HENRY GOSSE, F.R.S. 1857. 6. Essays and Reviews. By CHARLES HODGE, D. D. Selected from the Princeton Review. 1857. Messrs. Harper & Brothers have laid upon our table the following works: 1. New Granada: Twenty Months in the Andes. By ISAAC HOLTEN, M. A., Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in Middlebury College. With Maps and Illustrations. 1857.-Though it was only scientific curiosity which impelled Professor Holton to undertake this journey to New Granada, he has produced a work which is far from being confined to the wants of the botanist. The physical geography and natural history of the country, the moral, social, and political condition of the people, their rites, customs and superstitions, every thing calculated to introduce us to an intimate knowledge of a region which it becomes a matter of increasing importance that every American should be familiar with, are brought to our notice in this volume. It has the advantage of a copious analytical index, which renders references easy and convenient. 2. El Gringo: or New Mexico and Her People. By W. W. H. DAVIS, late United States Attorney. 1857.-This book supplies a need which every one has felt, and which our relations to this territory render it indispensable to have supplied. The volume, we are informed, "is mainly written from a diary the author kept during a residence of two and a half years in New Mexico, and the matters contained in it are either drawn from careful personal observation, or other reliable sources. The historical portions are almost wholly obtained from official records in the office of the Secretary of the Territory at Santa Fé, and may be relied upon as correct." The work is |