AND PRINCETON REVIEW, PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO.. 654 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. This able and influential journal has now completed its forty-first year. It has outlived all the religious quarterlies in being at the time of its origin, and is, with a single exception, the oldest quarterly of any kind in the country. This is a strong token of the soundness and vitality of its principles, and of the ability with which it has been conducted. The Rev. CHARLES HODGE, D.D., and Rev. LYMAN H. ATWATER, D.D., associate editors, will receive the special co-operation of Rev. M. W. JACOBUS, D.D., Rev. WM. HENRY GREEN, D.D., Rev. EDWIN HALL, D.D., President CHARLES A. AIKEN, Rev. JOHN FORSYTH, D.D., and Rev. WM. M. BLACKBURN, D.D., while contributions are promised by others, including authors of the highest rank an i fame. With these arrangements, it is intended that this Review shall not only retain the attributes which have made it a great power for good in the past, but that it shall be constantly improved and amplified in the future. While it will continue to support, with whatever ability it can command, the great system of doctrine defined in the Westminster symbols, which are adopted by all the Presbyterian bodies of America and Great Britain, and, to a considerable extent, by other communions, and to deal with science, philosophy, and literature at their points of contact with religion, it will labor earnestly to cement and consolidate the Re-union of the Presbyterian Church in truth, charity, and unity; and to make it a blessing to the church and the world. Having been firmly established years before the schism of 1838, the Princeton Review will strive to do its part in moulding the future of the Re-united Church in accordance with the standards which form the basis of the re-union. A special aim of its editors will be to increase the number and variety of its articles in the practical department; to furnish new aid to pastors and others in charge of Christian and church work, for its effective organization and prosecution, by the thorough discussion of questions rela tive to worship, preaching, pastoral visitation, Sunday-schools, revivals, missions, education, Christian beneficence and activity, church architecture and music; in short, whatever may be fitted to infuse intelligence, energy, and enterprise into any sphere of Christian life and action. In a word, it will aim to be a helper of ministers and intelligent laymen. No efforts will be spared to extend and improve the department of criticism, and of accounts of new publications-especially those relating to our common Christianity. Its contributors, constantly increasing, now include some of the ablest writers in the American Church. TERMS: Three Dollars a year, in advance. For Five Dollars, strictly in advance, it will be sent two years to the same subscriber, or for one year to any existing subscriber and a new one. Subscriptions for the current year (1870) must begin with April, since the number for January is exhausted. SPECIAL NOTICE. The special offer of the REVIEW for 1870 at a reduced rate to Clergymen whose salaries do not reach one thousand dollars is withdrawn, as the supply of the Periodical set apart for that purpose is exhausted. A few sets of the REVIEW for 1869 still remain on hand, and will be sold to Clergymen of the class named for ONE DOLLAR; to all others, these sets will be sold for Two Dollars per set. CHARLES SCRIBNER & Co., [654 BROADWAY,'NEW YORK. JULY, 1870. THE BIBLICAL REPERTORY AND PRINCETON REVIEW. EDITED BY CHARLES HODGE, D.D.; LYMAN H. ATWATER, D.D. SMITH, ENGLISH & CO., AND PETER WALKER, PHILADELPHIA, STELLE & SMITH, PRINCETON; REV. A. KENNEDY, LONDON, C. W.; REV. WILLIAM ELDER, ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK; REV. ROBERT MURRAY, HALIFAX, N. S.; TRÜBNER & CO, LONDON. Published Quarterly. Price $3 per annum. The Editors of this Journal, while responsible for the general character of its contents, cannot be understood to indorse every paragraph contained in the articles of contributors. Nor, on the other hand, can they permit its known principles to be assailed, or the articles it publishes to be uncourteously attacked, All communications containing orders, remittances, or other matters relating THE REVIEW. PRINCETON JULY, 1870. No. III. ART. I.—Tholuck's View of the Right Way of Preaching.* ALTHOUGH it is true that of late the churches are here and there somewhat better filled than formerly, especially where zealous preachers proclaim the Word, yet in many places we find them more and more deserted. The services of Sunday afternoon, and of the week day have been given up for want of hearers. Of entire classes, such as public officers, military and professional men, there is often seen only a single individual, like some relic of antiquity in the old cathedrals. In numerous cities and villages, church attendance is almost wholly confined to the middle and lower classes. And even among these, many think it sufficient if they do not forbid the attendance of their wives and children. Unless there is a change, it will soon be the case in some sections of the country, that in our places of worship we shall find, as indeed on Sunday afternoons we now frequently do, only women and children, as was the case during the second century in the temples of Rome. This article is a translation, by an accomplished American lady, of Counsels to the modern German Preacher, being Dr. Tholuck's Preface to his second series of Sermons. I speak here of what is very common in a great part of Protestant Germany. There are, of course, many cheering exceptions. In whole districts, from long-established custom, church-going is as general now as it was formerly. This is the case in Wurtemberg and in a number of the Saxon provinces. Besides, there are individual preachers who, by their brilliant oratorical gifts, know how to draw together a culti vated audience. There are also those who fill the churches by their bold exhibition of Gospel truths. Good church-attendance, therefore, is either the continued influence of an earlier and happier period, the effect of distinguished talent in the preacher, or the fruit of a strong and newly awakened faith. But with the greater part of the public, the customs of this former period are becoming more and more obsolete. Teller once preached a sermon to sixteen hearers, in which he warned them against the error of considering church-going an essential part of Christianity. This doctrine, which he and others like him inculcated, has borne its legitimate fruit. Every year in the cities, and from their example in the villages also, the number is continually lessening of those who attend divine service, either from habit or a sense of duty. The magnetic power of brilliant oratory is imparted to but few; and even of these there are many instances where neither this attraction nor that of a heart glowing with faith is sufficiently strong to turn back to the church the better-educated classes who are setting from it in full tide. The prospect for the future appears still more gloomy. Will those times ever return when, at the sound of the bell, the father, bearing his hymn-book under his arm, hastened with all his family to the house of God? when every pew contained a household? when it was matter of common remark, if, in the seats of the church officers or magistrates, there was a single vacant place? Will those times return, when the faithful pastor shall find, not a scanty representation from different sections of the town, but his whole flock collected as one man before him. Many a preacher now stands in his pulpit who is forced to cry out with Harms, “Ah, Lord, one thing only I ask of thee, that I may not preach to empty seats." |