on, the aid of God's Holy Spirit, would, | admirable Essay on the Union of Church we are persuaded, do much to revive and State. Mr. Noel's work was read true godliness, and to hasten the coming of that day when the disciples of Christ shall be one, and when through their unity the world shall believe that God hath sent Him. "How inexpressibly important is it that the theology of the modern pulpit should divest itself of the badges of denominationalism. Less of 'the tradition of the elders,' and more of the 'word of God;' less of the founders of theological schools, and more of the author and finisher of faith; less of sectarian enterprise, and more of the zeal inspired by the common salvation; less of allegiance to symbols, and more of the doctrine which began at Jerusalem, would speedily tend to enlarge the boundaries of the church and to convince the world that 'God is in the midst of her.' . . The time is at hand for change great and extensive... How important is it that at such a time as this the ministers of Christ should teach men to observe all things whatsoever he has commanded; should declare the whole counsel of God; should speak with the certainty of conviction, the fidelity of witnesses, the dignity of ambassadors, the earnestness of all-absorbing zeal, and the largeheartedness of evangelical love; and should rise, to the height of their great argument,' untrammelled by human creed, free in the liberty which the reigning MASTER has given them, with Christianity in their hearts, and understanding, in all its divine entirety, its sovereignty, completeness, fulness, freeness; and the bible in their hands, the sole appeal book, the test, the living oracle. How important that the pulpit should become what the ample resources of Christianity, if allowed to pour its light unmodified by party symbol, expressed or understood, would speedily make it the light, guide, attraction, and honor of the age." by Mr. Hollis to large and attentive congregations, assembled for that purpose on week evenings, at Islington chapel. The interest excited was unflagging to the last. Seldom was any comment made, but the readings were left to produce their legitimate impression. Subjects suggested by these readings were, however, taken up, and discussed on the evenings of the Lord's day. These discourses awakened much interest and inquiry; "and with the hope of rendering them more extensively tributary to the furtherance of the work of our age, 'the second reformation of the church,' I have yielded to the request," says our author, "to reduce them to the form in which they are hereby most respectfully presented to the public, and dedicated to Mr. Noel." The tone and tendency of this well-timed and well-executed "good work," may be accurately ascertained by the following extract from the preface: "The Reformation, therefore, that we seek is one thorough-going; one of earnest and believing deference to the holy oracles; a Reformation, the motto of which shall be, 'See that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the Mount,'-not the Mount Sinai but the Mount Zion;-a Reformation that shall so far harmonize with an advancing people as to assert the claims of Christianity by its manly intellect, and self-supporting energy, and obvious disinterestedness; a progressive We cannot omit to notice the beauti-Reformation by which the church, while faithful to the record, shall be kept abreast and ahead of ful manner in which the volume is got the times." up, as to the size and clearness of the printing, the excellence of the paper, and its almost perfect typographical ac curacy. The Second Reformation; or the Earth helping the Woman. By Rev. B. S. HOLLIS, Minister of Islington Chapel. London: Partridge and Oakey. Mr. Hollis is a man of peace; one of "the quiet in the land," who has " carefully abstained from political strife." In this instance he is "valiant for the truth;" and his appeals, from his known character, have all the greater power. Thus he rebukes indolent time-servers, who come not to the help of the Lord in THIS is a spirited echo of Mr. Noel's times like these : VOL. XIII.-FOURTH SERIES. "Oh! the contemptible apathy of some persons on questions which are agitating both earth and heaven! In vain do you seek access to their attention: 'their ears have they closed.' They love ease. They would disturb nothing; nay, not the fungus on the damp wall; not the rust which is corroding the metal to its centre. They are the advocates of things as they are;' and, for equal reason, would have been of 'things as they were:' for not a finger would they put forth even for the enactments they enjoy of toleration in their folly. They cry, 'Hold fast that which is good,'-the very thing to be proved-and wholly eschew that earlier injunction, prove all things,' which is the thing to be first done. These men demonstrate nothing but their own indifference to the verities of conscience and of God. They will take, in affairs of religion, what they repudiate in all other departments of inquiry, everything on trust. Not thus do they let out their houses; but just thus do they let out their souls. They stand aghast at all change, and never more than when it threatens to be one from death to life, from bonds to liberty, from stagnation and impurity to motion and translucent clearness." Our author thus speaks out briefly and boldly; and we much commend his effort. BRIEF NOTICES. This is the first of four volumes in which the erudite author proposes to furnish a short essay on some biblical subject for every day in the year. Arranging them in the order in which the topics occur in the Scriptures, he has made those in this volume a commentary, in reality though not in form, on the book of Genesis. His qualifications for such a work are known to be of a high rank as far as familiarity with the letter of Scripture, with the geography and physical peculiarities of the countries in which scriptural scenes took place, and with biblical literature generally, can prepare a man for the undertaking Many of our readers will, however, be anxious to know what Dr. Kitto's theological views are, as in some of his principal works they have not been allowed to appear. We have great satisfaction in testifying that, as far as we have read, they are thoroughly evangelical, and that he writes in every respect like a man who knows the gospel experimentally, and reverences the sacred oracles. There is no disposition evinced to explain away that which is miraculous, or bring down divine communications to the level of human reason. The topics are judiciously selected, and they are treated in a manner which shows an extent of reading which, after all we have known to Dr. Kitto's advantage, we were not prepared to expect. For family reading, especially in households which contain intelligent young these Illustrations are inestimable. "The men, sanctity of the Lord's day has been duly respected, by the appropriation of the Readings for the first day of every week to solemn matters, involving, for the most part, the practical and devout consideration of some topic which the actual course of the Illustrations may present. In this part of the work," the author tells us, "he has taken an especial interest; and if the reader obtains the same refreshment from these recurring periods for inner thought, which the writer has himself experienced, there will be no reason to complain of the result." The Life and Epistles of St. Paul: comprising a Complete Biography of the Apostle, and a Translation of his Letters inserted in Chronological order. By the Rev. W. J. CONYBEARE, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and the Rev. J. S. Howson, M.A., Principal of the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool. Richly Illustrated with Numerous Engravings on Steel and Wood of the Principal Places visited by the Apostle, from Original Drawings made on the Spot by W. H. Bartlett, and by Maps, Charts, Coins, &c. London: Longman and Co. Part I. To be continued monthly, and completed in Two Volumes. 4to. The plan of this work, as described in the title-page and developed more fully in the Introduction, is excellent. By means of a chronological narrative illustrating geographical and historical subjects to which Paul's epistles allude, and a free translation of the epistles themselves, somewhat paraphrastic yet adding nothing which is not virtually expressed in the original, we have often thought that much light might be thrown on this transcendently important portion of the sacred pages, and much additional interest be imparted to the instruction it affords. The details of the plan as well as its principles seem to us to be very judicious, and we shall be happy to report hereafter respecting its execution. "While Mr. Conybeare and Mr. Howson undertake the joint The Christian Philosopher Triumphing over The late Dr. Gordon, who was born in 1801 and practised for many years as a physician at Hull, was a man of intellectual power, high moral principle, and great zeal for the public good. He was accustomed to hear the gospel while in health, but it was not till his last illness that he professed to feel his spiritual necessities and his obligations to the Saviour. Then," after many years of anxious investigation of the claims of the religion revealed in the New Testament, and the most fearless and candid examination of every scheme of scepticism, especially the materialistic, he confessed that the only true philosophy was the reception of the gospel as a little child. It was this which, though he was called away in the very prime of life, in the natural vigour of his faculties, and in the midst of his usefulness, from all that can make this world desirable and dear, imparted to him that unbroken peace and indescribable joy, in the immediate prospect of dissolution, which gave to those around him the edifying and consoling spectacle of The Christian Philosopher Triumphing over Death."" The book is written with becoming delicacy, in an elegant style, and is especially adapted to do good among the more refined classes of readers. Illustrated Year Book of Wonders, Events, Points thereof. By CHRISTOPHER NESS. Sound doctrine, recommended by Dr. Owen and other worthies in byegone days; somewhat antiquated for those who doat on new views, but not the less scriptural and salutary. Mr. Ness was an able minister of Christ, ejected from the establishment for nonconformity. At the age of fourscore years he sent forth this small volume, as his last legacy to the church. "This little book," he tells us, "hath cost me great study, many ardent prayers, and many wrestlings with God." It contains much truth in few words. The Formation of Character. A Lecture delivered before the Members of the Bristol Athenæum, Oct. 11, 1849. By NATHANIEL HAYCROFT, M.A. London: B. L. Green. An important topic, treated briefly but with ability, well worthy the attention of our young men. The author adverts to the nature of character-the principles to be observed in the to the young of the present generation of diliprocess of its formation-and the importance gently labouring to form their character aright. History of the Inquisition, from its Establish ment to the Present Time. With an Account of its Procedure and Narratives of its Victims. London: Ward and Co. pp. 445. We hope that the respected publishers have not given much for the copyright of this volume under the supposition that it is an original work. Large portions of it interested us greatly about forty years ago: the recent additions are of comparatively little value. Composition, Literary and Rhetorical, Simplified. By the Rev. D. WILLIAMS, M.A., author of "The Preceptor's Assistant." London: W. and T. Piper. 16mo., pp. 147. A young man endeavouring to form or to improve his style may find in this small volume much to assist him; yet we are withheld from A respectable volume, in which information giving it that recommendation to which we on various subjects which for some reason or should otherwise think it entitled, partly by the other became specially interesting to the public fact that many of the author's opinions appear last year, is set before the reader in an attractive to us to be untenable, and partly by the carestyle, and embellished with illustrative engrav-lessness which pervades his own composition. ings. "Thus," says the preface, "within the A book on such a subject as this ought to be a present field of some three hundred pages, we model of correctness, and as the author objects have the gold of California succeeded by the rather fastidiously to many established English poverty of the Ragged School; the vastness of phrases as inelegant, his own deviations from the Britannia Bridge by the minute mosaic of propriety are inexcusable. Yet in the very first Constantinople; the terrors of a Coal Mine on sentence he uses the same word twice in two Fire by the fierceness of the Icy North;" the different senses, it is this :-" In the language peaceful festivities of the Royal Visit to Ire- of the most eloquent of human tongues-of one land by the Gun-Cotton Conquest of the who was himself a model of correct and elegant Panjaub; the antique glories of the Nineveh diction-It is a disgrace not to be properly Sculptures by the new-born hopes and aspira-acquainted with our mother tongue.' At the tions of Emigration fields; and the Emigrant commencement of the next paragraph he tells settled by the French Expedition to Rome, a us that "The study of language and composimeasure which, at present, scarcely promises tion was an object of the most anxious soliciany settlement at all." We sympathize with tude of the Greeks and the Romans." So the editor in his hope that the character of many such things have we observed that we the Year Book' will be so satisfactory as to shall venture to advise the author to postpone lead to a repetition of his labours." his Castigated and Enlarged Edition of Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, in which he proposes to correct five thousand grammatical inaccuracies and violations of the 66 An Antidote against Arminianism; or, a Treatise to Enervate and Confute all the Five laws of composition, till he shall have carefully gone through his own volume, re-considering and revising paragraph by paragraph. It will become a very useful book if he will do it justice. Voices from the Garden; or, the Christian Language of Flowers. London: Partridge and Oakey. 12mo., pp. 38. Two and thirty flowers have been selected to be subjects of as many pages of blank verse, a A Manual of Zion Chapel, Windmill Street, the Inhabitants of the Neighbourhood, on the occasion of the Opening of Galleries, January 2nd, 1850. Gravesend J. Large, 46, Harmer Street. pp. 12. prominent characteristic of each being brought Gravesend; with an Address from the Church to forward and turned to some good moral or religious purpose. Thus the sunflower inculcates the love of truth, the mignonette sweetness without ostentation, and the thyme the use of trouble : "Ah, who had known thy sweetness, humble friend, Had not the careless foot or ruthless hand Crushed out thy fragrance ?" The Church of Christ; her Duty and Auxiliaries; to which are added Six Ecclesiastical Twigs. With a Triple Dedication to the Bishop of London, the Bishop of the Weigh House Chapel, and the Members of the Church on Earth. By a Plain Man. London. 12mo., pp. 82. 1850. Characters, Scenes, and Incidents of the Reformation. Vol. II. From the Times of Luther to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. London: R. T. S. pp. 192. Price 6d. The Slave Trade, the African Squadron, and Mr. Hutt's Committee. By the Hon. Captain DENMAN, R.N. Reprinted from the "Colonial Magazine." London: J. Mortimer, Strand. 8vo., pp. 56. Cottage Cookery. By ESTHER COPLEY, Author of "Cottage Comforts," &c., &c., &c. Reprinted from the "Family Economist." London: Groombridge and Son. 16mo., pp. 124. 1849. Re-issue. No. I. Price 1. A Biblical and Theological Dictionary for Bible Classes, Sunday School Teachers, and Young Christians generally. Designed as an Illustrative Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. Sixth Edition, with numerous Illustrations. By the Rev. SAMUEL GREEN. London. 16mo., pp. 16. 1850. The plain man extols catholicity, advocates the Evangelical Alliance, and is disposed to speak candidly of all. It is evident, however, that he is not so well acquainted with the baptists and their institutions as with our independent brethren. Much that he says is true and important. The conclusion to which he comes is this:-"Religious respectability is like an iceberg that chills everything coming within the circle of its influence, though it looks beautiful in the distance. It is like the mote in a man's eye, or a fly in the pot of ointment. It is the incubus now employed by the great enemy of God to oppose the spread fections, and some Hundreds in Addition, Original of the gospel, and a greater truth has never been uttered by man than the motto on the title-page- Respectability is a religious bugbear." Baptism, Accompanied by Conditional and Unconditional Grace; a Few Considerations to Reconcile the Conflicting Opinions now held on Baptism and Regeneration. By CHARLES RICHARD CAMERON, M. A. London : Wertheim and Macintosh. A vain attempt to settle a question which would shake the church of England to pieces, were it not so firmly bound together by the golden chain of state patronage and state pay. RECENT PUBLICATIONS Approved. [It should be understood that insertion in this list is not a mere announcement: it expresses approbation of the works anumerated, not of course extending to every particular, but on approbation of their general character and tendency.] The Bible the Glory of our Land. The substance of a Sermon delivered in Tothill Stairs Chapel, Newcastle, on November 15th, 1849, the day of Public Thanksgiving. By the Rev. T. POTTENGER. Newcastle-on-Tyne. 12mo., pp. 18. Cyclopædia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes : a Collection of nearly Three Thousand Facts, Incidents, Narratives, Examples, and Testimonies, embracing the first of the kind in most former col and Selected. The whole Arranged and Classified Lon INTELLIGENCE. EUROPE. HAMBURG. The following interesting account of a useful servant of Christ who has recently entered into rest, is from the pen of his bereaved friend and fellow-labourer, Mr. Oncken. Johann Carl Frederick Lange was born at Scharnbeck, kingdom of Hanover, in the year 1800, on March 19th. His father died when J. C. F. Lange was only eight years of age, and, his mother being unable to support him, be went soon afterwards to Heligoland, at that time an important entrepôt for English merchandize, which was smuggled in small crafts, into the countries bordering on the Weser, Jahde, and Ems. Here he entered into the service of an English physician, with whom he came, after the French occupation, to Hamburg. with holy gratitude to Him, who met the guilty sinner there and then; who by almighty power made the feeble testimony of the then stripling all powerful and irresistible in the conversion of the sinner. Four or five weeks elapsed before I saw or heard anything more of Lange, when I met him again, and when he saw me, his face shone for joy, as if he had seen an angel. “Oh, Mr. Oncken, I have longed to see you, for I have thought much on what you said to me!" were the words with which he accosted me. I then began to pay more attention to him, met him frequently, expounded the Word to him, and prayed with him. I was soon convinced that more than human instruction had been imparted to him. He saw in himself a lost and guilty sinner, and in Christ an allsufficient Saviour; and by faith in Him, he obtained forgiveness and a good hope, and became thus the first fruits of my labour. The change in his life corresponded with his experience, he came out from amongst his gay companions, and to his dying day he loved and adhered to the saints of the Most High. Though my dear brother had an easy life at that time, he gave up his situation, because he could not observe the day of the Lord, as he was convinced he ought, and, at my recommendation, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, he went to a shoe-maker to learn that business, that in every respect he might be free to serve the Lord. lucrative business, because he could not serve the Lord in it, and both brothers apprenticed themselves to the same shoemaker. They soon learned the business, and then commenced for themselves. I was very intimate with them, and both became zealous and devoted fellow-labourers in the spread of the gospel long before the church was formed. Not having been confirmed, because too young, either at home or at Heligoland, he applied to one of the Lutheran pastors, on his arrival at Hamburg, and, though without any religious instruction, the way to obtain this seal of the membership of a national church was soon prepared, by pressing a ducat into the hand of the pastor. That man, long since dead, was, whilst alive, one of our bitterest persecutors. Lange lived, like the great mass of these confirmed Christians, without God and without hope in the world. Dancing was his great delight, and His late brother Diedrich, was also conhe told me that he was so intent on gratify-verted at this time, he also gave up a very ing his passion for this, that he was determined to have it to the full, even at the expense of shortening his life. He danced so long, and so much, that ultimately he was taken dangerously ill to the hospital. When no hope of his recovery was cherished, and when he himself thought he should die, he all at once was impelled to pray to God, to make him better, and from that moment his recovery commenced. Having had a slight knowledge of our departed brother, prior to 1823, when I entered on my missionary career at Hamburg, in connection with the Continental Society, I met him one evening, about the close of that year, near St. Peter's, when I embraced the opportunity of showing him his dangerous position as a sinner, and pointed him to Christ as the only refuge from the wrath to come. I was nearly two hours engaged in this way, under an old archway to which we had withdrawn, in order to avoid interruption from the people passing. That evening he will remember through all eternity I As my sphere of labour extended greatly, applied to the committee of the Continental Society in London for assistance, and recommended brother Lange as colporteur, to which the committee readily assented, and we then laboured together in the Lord's cause, assisted by several dear converts whom the Lord had already given me. Brother Lange was engaged in connection with the Continental Society, to the best of my remembrance between three and four years, when that society passed into the hands of the Episcopalians. He then returned to his trade for his support, still, however, labouring with me in the gospel, to the utmost of his ability and |