Although it is adorned by some fine portraits, yet we are most interested with the landscapes, especially with the View of Gibraltar from the Sea-The Abbey near Mussooree-The Church of St. John-Procession of the Jesuits at Valetta and the Tombs of Golconda. "The Young Devotee," will doubtless have many admirers, but we must maintain our dignity unmoved by youthful beauty, and therefore, prefer the historical portraits of Dr. Morrison, and his Chinese attendants. The lines which accompany this beautiful picture we shall transcribe, not because we account them the best but the briefest in the volume, and best fitted for a place in our pages. Dr. Morrison and his Chinese Attendants. They bend above the page with anxious eyes, Fisher's Juvenile Scrap-Book. 1838. By Bernard Barton. 8vo. Sixteen Engravings. London. Fisher and Co. THIS is a taking book for young people, and the character of its editor is a security that its sentiments are such as our children may safely entertain. Syria, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, &c. illustrated. In a Series of Views, drawn from nature by W. H. Bartlett, William Purser, &c. With Descriptions of the Plates, by John Carne, Esq., Author of " Letters from the East." 4to. Thirty-seven large Engravings, bound, being the second of Fisher's Oriental Keepsake. 1838. London. Fisher and Co. THIS elegant volume must not be classed with the splendid literary toys that crowd the drawing-room table at this season of the year. For though in its general appearance and "getting up" it is as splendid as the gayest amongst them, yet it may be uesd for a far higher purpose than most-the illustration of the Word of God. That individual, who is familiar with the sacred writings, must possess the imaginative faculty in a very humble degree, who can look over the thirty seven splendid views of eastern scenery before us, without having suggested to his fancy many of the patriarchal scenes--the poetical allusions, and the evangelical narratives of the inspired volume. Mr. Carne's descriptions are well calculated to increase the interest of this fascinating work, which, we hope, will at a future period receive further notice in our pages. Pastoral Appeals on Conversion. By Rev. C. Stovel. 18mo. Wightman. 1837. THE well-deserved celebrity of the author, both as a preacher and public speaker, will induce a favourable attention to his appeals from the press. The subject is of the highest importance; and it is but cold praise to say that the author has done justice to his subject. His arguments, illustrations, and appeals, are of the most conclusive, scriptural, and urgent character, and the whole book is calculated to be eminently useful to all classes of readers, especially to the more intelligent inquirers after truth and salvation. Hours of Thought. Edinburgh: Waugh and Innes, 18mo. pp. 176. It is no mean compliment to say of some works, that they are really what they profess to be. And yet this is a sentence, which a competent judge must pronounce on the work before us. In every page of it, he finds thought, unfettered thought, and yet thought placed under due restraints and directed to useful objects. At the same time, the diction and style are distinguished by great freshness and vigour. The story of the book is told in a kind-hearted preface by Mr. Innes; who informs us, that were he "merely to say, that the author is an agriculturist;" he would use a very indefinite expression, as it might designate one who could command both leisure and libraries, and who had enjoyed all the benefits of a liberal education. "But I can add," says Mr. Innes, "that he is actually engaged in the manual labours of the field, in a remote district of Scotland." On a few points the author has appeared to us, to approach too near to extreme opinions. But he is a real and a useful thinker. We trust, he will be encouraged to persevere in an employment, at once so noble and so beneficial. His subjects are-Intellectual Greatness, Moral Greatness, Poetry, Luxury, The Obligation of Christians to devote their Energies to the Dissemination of Christianity; Some Defects in Evangelical Preaching, Christian Union, and the Future Prospects of this World. An Essay on the Spirit and Influence of the Reformation of Luther. The Work which obtained the Prize on the Question proposed in 1802, by the National Institute of France; " What has been the Influence of the Reformation of Luther, on the Political Situation of the Different States of Europe, and on the Progress of Knowledge?" By Charles Villiers, Esq. Translated by James Mill, Esq., and abridged by the Rev. W. Marsh, M.A. Rector of St. Thomas's, Birmingham. London: Holdsworth, 12mo. pp. 264. WE notice with great pleasure this abridgment of a work, on which the public has long set the seal of its approbation. The excellent Rector of St. Thomas's, Birmingham, has conferred a benefit on his countrymen, by placing the substance of this able Essay in the hands of many, who would never have received it in its original form. In his own part of this little volume, Mr. Marsh manifests a commendable zeal for Protestantism; a zeal which is undebased by the smallest portion of the modern anti-catholic popery. His notes, though too few in number, yet, as tending to modify or correct the statements of his author are valuable. We commend this abridgment to the notice of our readers. The Assumptions of the Clergy as the only authorized Ministers of Christ, calmly refuted in a Letter to a Friend. By Philagathon. 8vo. Jackson and Walford: London. "A CHRISTIAN minister," says the author of this able and well-written pamphlet, "must himself be a sincere believer in Christ, and a man of true, personal, experimental, and habitual piety. He must maintain sound doctrine, and preach in accordance with the fundamental truths of the Holy Scriptures. He must possess competent knowledge and ability, to discharge his ministerial functions. He must engage in the work from right motives, and a solemn determination to the utmost of his power, and in humble dependance on divine aid, to perform its duties and bear its trials with fidelity and patience." But is a man thus qualified, and successfully labouring to diffuse the savour of the gospel among his fellow men, to be stigmatized as an intruder, because he has not been episcopally ordained? So say many of the Church clergy. We are persuaded, that all arrogant, ill-grounded claims, eventually injure those who make them. The work under review deserves to be seriously perused by Christians of various denominations; it is distinguished by clear statement, sound argument, and an excellent spirit. We could give extracts which would sustain this opinion, but we hope our readers will be induced to procure it for themselves. VOL. I. N. S. 5 L Selections from a Correspondence on Subjects connected with Christian Faith and Practice; with an Introductory Preface. By Mrs. Stevens. London: Hamilton, Adams and Co. 12mo. pp. 237. "THE letters which compose this little volume are introduced to the notice of readers by (at) the request of many individuals, to whom in the first inst nce they were addressed." These epistles are the production of a lady, and were addressed by her to her female friends. They do honour to her understanding, and her heart. In the letters on the deity of Jesus Christ, and on the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit, we find some passages of Scripture introduced in proof of these doctrines, which an acute biblist, or a practiced theologian would have omitted: but as a whole, the work is respectable, both in point of composition, and of theological knowledge. The thoughts addressed to a sceptic, with which the book commences, are very excellent. The following observations are just in themselves, and will be interesting to mothers. "What opportunity for the exercise of prayer, holy meditation, and self-examination does the simple occupation of nursing afford? Each (every) time you lay your little darling on your knee, is not a most interesting and important subject for prayer brought before you ?-and as the thrill of pleasure passes through a mother's breast, in contemplation of the offspring of her love, do not the accents of thanksgiving and praise almost spontaneously arise? And let me ask you my dear friend, as you press the dear unconscious one to your heart, and parental solicitude leads out the thoughts in anxious anticipation of what may be its future path through life-its situation-attainments, and, above all, its final destiny,-when the share you shall have in forming its character here, and fixing its state hereafter, comes before you; will not the eye almost involuntarily turn inward, to ascertain whose, and what am I, on whom devolves such dread responsibility?" pp. 109, 110. An Efficient Ministry: a Charge delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Joseph Elliot, over the Church assembling at North Gate Street Chapel, Bury St. Edmund's. By Andrew Reed, D. D. THERE is far less of brilliance in this discourse than in some of the author's former productions, but it is well calculated to lodge a salutary impression on the minds of ministers. The numerous anecdotes interspersed through the sermon have long been before the public, yet are they such as cannot fail to interest a young minister, when commencing his arduous work. One short extract we shall give to the reader. "Brethren, our refuge and our hope are in God, in that God who giveth to the faint power, to the simple wisdom, to the unworthy grace. He who taught his primitive servants, first to overcome themselves, and then subdue mankind, can do for us more than we want, more than we can think. We must wait on him in penitential confession, in ardent prayer, in enlarged expectation. We must wait until we shall receive power from on high. We must dwell on our necessities and on his mercy, and refuse to be satisfied without the promised blessing. We must induce the faithful of the church to unite with us in the exercise, as equally necessary to themselves. If we pray that God would send more labourers, into the harvest because it is great; for the same reason we must pray earnestly for the increased sanctity and devotedness of the eristing and rising ministry. The course of the ministry can be successful, its end triumphant, only as this is realized. It is what is chiefly wanted, for the improved condition of the church, and the conviction and salvation of the world. After all, it is not so much more men, as better men, that are needed. If those men, of various name and country, who now minister the word of life in our Protestant sanctuaries, were baptized with an apostolic spirit, in seven years the world would be found at the feet of Christ." Elijah the Tishbite. By F. IV. Krummacher, D. D., of Elberfeld, in Prussia. Translated from the German. 12mo. London: Religious Tract Society. THE sacred literature of Germany has, of late, occupied an ample space in the attention of British theologians. A knowledge of the German language has been held, as an almost indispensable qualification for a divine. Whatever be the merits of the German writers, the rapid translation of their works into the English language, may, at least, render the divine, whose hands are full, or whose life is waning, less uneasy on account of his ignorance of German, than he could have been some few years ago. Sufficient may be known in our own language both of the German biblical apparatus, and of the results which it has produced, to enable him to estimate the value of the sacred science of Germany. Englshmen have read the biblical and the theological publications of this distinguished land, and they have found that although the divines of Germany are superior to those of England in biblical science; and considering the leisure of the former- their freedom from religious and political contentions, as well as from the claims which religious activity makes on the time, it would be strange if they were not; yet as viewed through the medium of translation, they are unapt, we might rather say, they are singularly awkward, in applying that science to any practically useful purpose. Englishmen have found that such of the German writers as maintain an uncorrupted Christianity, neither state it with precision, nor, in general, apply it with vigour. They have found, in the writings of Germany no christian doctrines placed in a felicitous aspect, and no new light cast on the recondite and mysterious parts of revelation. They have found, that if the sacred literature of Germany is superior to that of Britain in learning, it is greatly its inferior in mind. And yet, the Germans are to be flattered into a belief, that no doubt they are the divines, and that divinity will die with them. We were not a little amused with the simplicity of a worthy and learned German, who has asserted, that Britain has, of late, produced few valuable theological works, except in practical divinity, and particularly in religious biography. Now this kind of biography is the description of our religious writing, which, with some splendid exceptions, a competent judge would pronounce to be the worst executed. We hope that our young ministers will emulate the critical skill of the Germans, a skill which entitles them to high honour, and which is capable of important uses: but we trust that they will also emulate the noblest distinction of a divine, to conceive clearly, and to enforce energetically, the system of truth. Exegesis may teach them to understand the words of the Bible, and Hermeneutics, the sense which the author connected with his expressions. But there is something beyond Exegesis and Hermeneutics, something beyond both mentally and spiritually, which is requisite to the attainment of an extensive harmonious and unimpeachable view of truth. The biblical science of Germany, combined with the sound judgment, the refined taste, the comprehensive and discriminating conceptions of the English theologian, would, with a due admixture of piety, form an admirable divine. Dr. Krummacher's is a work, not of biblical science, as are most translations from the German, but of practical divinity. It discovers much liveliness of imagination, and originality of genius, and what is better, a heart truly devoted to God. Sometimes, Dr. K. does not write very judiciously. Thus in his first discourse he represents the Lord God of Israel before whom Elijah stood, as the Messiah. This is, at best, gratuitous. That the Messiah did appear to the Fathers of the Israelitish Church is believed by all orthodox Christians; but there is nothing in the present connexion to direct us to the Messiah. By interpreting the Scripture in this way, the Father may be almost banished from the divine word. We can establish the divinity of the Son, without infringing on the honours of the Father. In a subsequent passage we are told, that "Elijah was a man reconciled to God in Christ Jesus, the promised Messiah. This is implied in his words, I stand before the Lord God of Israel.'" That Elijah was reconciled to God in the promised Messiah is undoubted; but the words referred to, do not imply standing before God in a state of acceptance, but standing before him as a servant to receive and execute his commands. Dr. Krummacher, however, has produced an excellent work. We have noticed his inaccuracies, principally, that we may say, that divines, who, like our author, are set beside men who preach" another gospel," should be especially anxious, that they do not so represent their doctrine, as to confirm the errors of its opponents. The Christian rewarded according to his Works. A Sermon preached before the Nottinghamshire Association of Independent Ministers and Churches. By Richard Alliott, Jun. Jackson and Walford. London. Sorrow for the Dead regulated and restrained. A Sermon preached on the Death of the Rev. Samuel Summers. By Edward Stean. Ward and Co. London. A Discourse occasioned by the Decease of the Rev. William Steadman, D. D. President of the Theological Institution, Little Honiton. By James Acworth, A. M. Simpkin and Co. London. A Funeral Sermon for the late Mr. Heudebourck, of Taunton. By George Payne, LL.D. Hamilton and Co. London. THESE discourses, we have no doubt, were heard with great attention, and wil be laid up and prized by those who personally knew the worthy and exemplary characters of the departed, sketches of which are here presented to the public. The use of printing funeral sermons, is chiefly to gratify local attachments, and to secure biographical memorials; not but we could select from those before us passages of general interest, but we cannot find space to do them justice. Sermons by the Rev. Geo. Legge, M. A. WE have classed together the two small volumes of sermons published by this gifted preacher. The first contains the two last discourses he delivered at Bristol; the last, two sermons published by the request of his congregation at Leicester, and of his brethren with whom he is associated in that county. The subjects are of the highest interest and importance, and are discussed in a manner which discovers at once, that his intellect and his imagination are of no common order. In both publications, originality of thought and illustra tion are combined with considerable beauty and vigour of style and composition. Their chief defect lies in their extreme sentimentalism, and a diction too poetical. A greater admixture of the simple, nervous, idiomatic, and devotional style of the English Bible, would render them more intelligible and acceptable. The Leicester discourses indicate a nearer approach to the simplicity we desire, and hence, we judge, will be more generally approved than those delivered at Bristol. Christian Trials. A Narrative from Real Life. By the Author of “ Bread of Deceit," &c. R. B. Seeley. London. 18mo. THIS is not a touching tale, invented by a fertile fancy, but an instructive relation of facts. Christians in the lower grades of life, who have to meet reproach and persecution for conscience sake, will here find much to encourage them in a steadfast adherence to the truth. First Thoughts on the Soul, for the Poor. By John Fitzgerald, M.A. 12mo. is THIS work consists of two parts, a persuasive to repentance, and a directory to prayer; plain in its style, scriptural in its sentiments, earnest in its appeals, altogether well adapted to the class of persons for whom intended. |