ler's Cottage, the Hartz, German Music, Delphi, Parnassus, the Greek Ideal, Athens, the Religion of Islam, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, the Two Gardens, the Study of the Bible. The style and entire conception of the volume give promise that the author will adorn the profession to which he has consecrated his life.

IX. THOMPSON'S EGYPT.1

A man of letters can enjoy but few richer privileges than that of visiting the Nile and the plains which it fertilizes. It was in the spirit of a scholar that Mr. Thompson roamed over Alexandria and Thebes, and walked around Memnon which Homer and Herodotus and Plato and Strabo had gazed upon with wonder. He describes the cities and the scenes of Egypt with a graphic pencil. Their history is familiar to him, and he makes it live in the minds of his readers. But it is preeminently as a Christian scholar, that Mr. Thompson engages the attention of his clerical readers. A fresh interest in the Old Testament, a new admiration for the spirit of Christianity is imparted by his descriptions of the land so intimately associated with the people of the Covenant, and with the Fathers of the Church. His volume is a happy exemplification of the literary and the religious spirit combined. He knows what needs to be illustrated; he detects the comparative importance of the Egyptian scenes for the scholar and theologian; and has thus given to clergymen, as well as to instructed laymen, an agreeable commentary on many difficult passages of sacred and profane history.

X. THE SPIRIT'S SWORD.3

In this little volume the great question of the plenary authority of the Bible, as a Divine revelation from God, is discussed in a clear and forcible manner for the popular mind. The question is raised at the outset: How are we to regard the claim of this Book? Shall we honor it only as a relic of past ages, or shall we yield our lives and hearts to its authority? In answering this question the author considers the various arguments from presumptive evidence, from prophecy, from the works of God, and from experience, meeting and setting aside, as he proceeds, the objections of scepticism. He everywhere plants himself on the broad and solid ground of conscience, common sense, and unperverted reason, which constitute everywhere and always the best defence against the assaults of infidelity. We regard this as a timely treatise, well adapted to the end which it professes to accomplish, and hope it may have an extensive circulation.

1 Photographic Views of Egypt, Past and Present, by Joseph P. Thompson. Boston: Published by John P. Jewett and Company. Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington. 1854. pp. 458. 12mo.

2 The Spirit's Sword; or the Truth Defended from Errors and Popular Delusions. By William Warren, author of "Household Consecration," etc. Boston: S. K. Whipple and Co., 100 Washington Street. 1853. 18mo. pp. 179.

XI. MEMOIR OF REV. OLIVER A. TAYLOR.'

EVERY one has his own intellectual moods and habits of thought, and a moral character ingrafted upon, and more or less moulded by them. The whole man, thus shaped and informed, is adapted to exert a specific power in the social sphere. Every one has thus a definite value in the web of society, just as each strand of a net contributes its share to the strength of the whole. This peculiar intellectual and moral conformation is each one's own; it marks one out and distinguishes him from all others; it may differ from that of another no more than two seedlings in the gardener's nursery; yet it differs. This idiosyncrasy is the sovereign gift of our Creator, and constitutes every man's true value; the stamp on the coin. All that is incumbent on him is to invest it in the most profitable manner, so that when the Master comes, he may receive his own with usury. The share of honor due to any man, therefore, is proportioned to his efforts to impress his own sanctified individuality on the world. We do not well to inquire who has most intellectual power or the best kind of power, any more than what day of the season is most efficient in producing the golden fruits and abundant harvests of autumn, but simply who has wielded most earnestly his own power. So each one, performing the task assigned him, best secures his Maker's approbation, and so should receive most heartily our commendation. John Milton, Jonathan Edwards, Baxter, Cornelius, Chalmers, Stuart, Prof. Edwards, had each a certain mould of mind, certain proclivities and modes of activity; and each wrought out, by the workings of his own distinctive capacities, a peculiar influence. When alive, each presented to the world an intellectual and moral development, which operated as incitements to correspondent thoughts and feelings, working out kindred results on the minds of others; and, when dead, they are very properly held up as still powerful instrumentalities to widen and deepen the same channels of influence which they severally started while with us. A good fountain should always be kept open, and its healthful streams perpetually flowing.

Mr. Taylor differed from all and each of these eminent men, both in intellectuality and moral tendency; and yet these characteristics, inlaying and moulding each other, qualified him to set in motion wide streams of influence for the good of man. Though the coloring of his character was peculiarly his own, and might strike different minds differently, yet it had its value in heightening the beauty of the variegated woof of society. Why should it not still perform its distinctive work? It is, indeed, fitting that his memorial be written and his character preserved. The process of embalming it has been a fraternal task; and we are thankful that it is done, and well done.

1 Memoir of Rev. Oliver A. Taylor, of Manchester. Massachusetts. With a Portrait. By Rev. Timothy Alden Taylor, author of "The Solace," "Zion,” and "Zion's Pathway."

The most valuable legacy bequeathed us by Mr. Taylor, is the example of one gifted with uncommon abilities and lofty aspirations, born in poverty, struggling against the barriers of circumstances, overcoming insuperable obstacles, making, by dint of unwearied effort, extensive acquisitions in the fields of science, especially of sacred literature, and humbly consecrating all to his Master's service. The thirst which he early felt for a liberal education would not be satisfied without its object. His resolution in its pursuit never wavered, his perseverance never tired, his energy never forsook him. Patient, hopeful, undeterred in view of gigantic difficulties, he pressed forward with a lion's heart. The more he drank of the sweet waters of knowledge, the more intense his thirst became. To this fountain he went again and again, and ever with fresh delight, till he had power to go no more. We wish that his memorial might be read by all our youth, especially those in the process of a public education, or who are desirous of entering on such a course, and that they would imitate his indomitable purpose of large and thorough acquisitions in the fields of learning. With a lazy student we have no sympathy; a lazy Christian student we deem highly criminal. We would, also, that those looking forward to positions of public trust, especially in the church of God, would write, on their inmost souls, the phrase so often repeated by Mr. Taylor: "swallowed up in the glory of God;" would learn by experience all the richness of its import, arouse themselves to systematic and vigorous exertion, and lay their hard-earned treasures at the feet of Christ.

We think the memoir of Mr. Taylor cannot fail to take rank among our best religious biographies. We rejoice to see that it has already reached the second edition; an evidence that it is appreciated by the public. All Christians will find in its pages admonition and encouragement-food for spiritual life.

XII. BROWN'S HISTORY OF MISSIONS.'

THE history of missions is full of interest to the Christian and philanthropist. It is a record of the efforts made to elevate the race; a record of the success of the Gospel, of its triumphs under signal discouragements, and sometimes of its failures. Such a history illustrates the adaptation of the Gospel to the human mind in all its varieties and phases, while, at the same time, it shows how strong an influence is needed to do away the ignorance, correct the superstitions, the prejudices and false reasonings of those who have lived without any of the influences of Christianity. It is the object of this work to give a faithful account of the more important missions established in different parts of the world since the Reformation. It does not invest the

1 History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heathen since the Reformation. By the Rev. William Brown, M. D. Third edition, brought down to the present time. In three volumes. 8vo. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London. 1854.

missionary work with an air of romance; it presents alike the successes and the failures; the hopes and the discouragements; the instances in which wise and comprehensive views have been adopted and successfully executed, and also those in which a mistaken policy has been attended with disappointment. The history of missions thus truthfully and impartially written, says the author, "might render missionary societies less popular, but they would probably be more useful. Fewer individuals might offer themselves as missionaries, but those who came forward would, it is likely, be more select. Less money might be raised, but less also would be spent by the employment of unsuitable agents. Besides, were more correct pictures drawn of the nature of the missionary work; were its difficulties and discouragements, its trials and disappointments, its imperfections and its failures, faithfully portrayed, we trust that the spirit of prayer would be awakened among Christians in another manner than it is at present." "Christians in general know but little of the difficulties, the trials and the temptations to which missionaries are exposed; and hence it cannot be expected that they should bear them in any suitable manner on their hearts before God in prayer. There is, in fact, an unhallowed confidence in that magnificent apparatus of means, which is at present in operation, as if it must produce a mighty change in the state of the world." (Preface.)

The second edition of this work was republished in this country, in 1816, in two volumes. Since that time, the author, who is at present Secretary of the Scottish Missionary Society, has devoted many years to collecting and arranging the materials for the present edition. He has had access to the best sources of information: to the reports and other publications of the respective missionary societies, and has shown excellent judgment in the use of his materials, laying before his readers the prominent facts in the history of the several missions, such as are of real and permanent value in illustrating missionary operations.

We know not where else to find, within the same compass, so much welldigested and reliable information on the subject of missions, as in these volThe study of them will inspire the reader with new views of the importance, responsibility, and dignity of the missionary work.

umes.

XIII. HUGH Miller.1

AT a time when Natural Science is in so many quarters displaying an unwonted arrogance and conceit, it is refreshing to hold intercourse with a devout and thoroughly earnest scientific spirit. Hugh Miller yields to no man in his enthusiasm in his own chosen department. This we had learned before. He was before very favorably known as an author; we have now

1 My Schools and Schoolmasters: or, the Story of my Education. By Hugh Miller. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 1854.

The Two Records: the Mosaic and the Geological; a Lecture, etc. By Hugh Miller. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 1854.

become acquainted with him as a man. No one can read this autobiography without entertaining a profounder respect for him. Neither science nor the Bible will ever suffer at his hands. He finds God everywhere in science. And, while he steadily and earnestly demands respect for the legitimate results of scientific investigation, we are already favorably disposed to any new construction of disputed points in Biblical interpretation, that he may suggest. We regard his lecture as proposing a very happy reconciliation of Genesis and Geology.

Besides, in the words of one of the honored associate editors of the Bibliotheca Sacra (a countryman of Mr. Miller), the memoir "is curious as illustrating a phase of Scottish society, and modes of Scottish life, which have either wholly passed or are fast passing away."

We regret that the typography is less accurate than is common with the enterprising publishers.

ARTICLE VIII.

SELECT THEOLOGICAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

GERMANY.

GERMANY presents us but little this quarter that is of general interest. We shall hold the war responsible.

In the department of exegesis, we can name, for the Old Testament, only Baumgarten's "Night visions of Zechariah, a prophetic voice to the present age," Vol. I. (a work of practical rather than purely exegetical character); and a second edition of Ewald's Commentary on Job, being Part III. of his "Dichter des Alten Bundes."

Stier and Theile's Polyglot Bible has reached Part 5 of Vol. III.

More has been done for the interpretation and literary history of the New Testament; yet we find but little here. Of Düsterdieck's Commentary on the Epistles of John, Vol. II. Part 1, has lately appeared. Schneider (of Berlin) has published a treatise on "the Genuineness of John's Gospel, according to the external evidence." G. K. Mayer has also published a work on the same general subject.

Lekebusch's "Composition and Origin of the Acts of the Apostles" is

very warmly.commended.

An Exposition of the Epistle of Jude has appeared, from the pen of Dr. M. F. Rampf.

We notice, also, Hofmann's "Life of Christ according to the Apocrypha," and a treatise (which is well spoken of) by J. E. Meyer on "The relation of Christ and his disciples to the law of the Qld Testament;" and from Ley