duty in our country is șo to educate men, that they may use intelligently the votes they hold of right; the duty of other countries is so to educate men, that they may be prepared to use the votes which, if not given by reform, they will take by revolution. It once The agitations which at present excite all Europe are of solemn import. They indicate a progressive development of great ideas, a progressive recognition of grand principles. The soul of humanity has been at work in them, and that is a power which no armies can conquer. From the soul, society has its existence and has its glory; give the soul freedom, and there is life; straiten it, wrong it, and you prepare destruction. has a might which can sweep away the strongest ramparts, which can silence the loudest cannon, which can blunt the sharpest spears. The point of the bayonet, it was thought, could quiet all popular remonstrance; but the bayonet has ceased to be invincible. Sentiments have become stronger than weapons. Society begins more and more to feel its humanity. A revelation has come to multitudes that they are men, and it is this faith which works in them with most wondrous efficacy. It is in the strength of this that they burst their chains asunder, and dash their fetters at their keepers. Beneath the outward events of the world, — the battles of parties, the schemings of factions, the plottings of intriguers, the elevation of peoples and the fall of kings, the doings of the active and the theories of the speculative, — the Providence of God is operating in the depths of humanity, invigorating its capacities, guiding its destiny, and preparing it to vindicate everywhere that Divine likeness in which it was originally created. * H. G. ** This article was written and put into the printer's hands, before the news of the condemnation of Mitchell, by the court before which he was arraigned, had reached this country. Our limits exclude any remarks which that event might suggest. The Gospel Narratives: their Origin, Peculiarities, and Transmission. By HENRY A. MILES. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1848. 16mo. pp. 168. THIS Volume belongs to that class of books which deserve favorable notice, not so much for affording proofs of original and profound investigation suited to attract the regards of learned inquirers, as for supplying common readers with useful information, correct, though second-hand, and conveyed in a style at once condensed, intelligible, and impressive. Accordingly, it is with propriety that the writer himself remarks in his Preface, that "he has studied accuracy in drawing his materials from the most approved sources, and has been ambitious of earning for himself only the negative merits of lucid arrangement and perspicuous statement." As to the main topics which the author has undertaken to discuss, we do not think he attaches to them undue importance. Accurate knowledge of the historical basis on which the Christian religion rests has always been attended with advantage in securing the faith of enlightened and inquisitive minds. In consequence of some recent controversies, there is more urgent need than formerly existed, that the community at large should be correctly informed concerning the time when the Gospel narratives were composed, the mode in which they were produced, the qualifications and aims of their respective authors, the causes to which the agreements, discrepancies, and other characteristics of the Evangelical records are to be attributed, and the various facts and circumstances which justify the persuasion that these writings have come down to us the same in all essential respects as they were at the period of their first publication. Here is presented a very interesting and important branch of the evidences of our relig ion; and we agree with Mr. Miles in the opinion, not only that instruction on the above-mentioned points ought to be freely imparted to the young, but also that the prevailing neglect of this duty, so much to be lamented, is owing in a measure to want of a small book which may briefly and clearly present the information, now found only in professional, and, to most readers, inaccessible treatises." It seems to us, therefore, that he did well in attempting to prepare a "Manual " on the plan of the one before us, adapted especially "to the higher classes in our Sunday Schools," and at the same time "suitable for family and parish libraries." With the execution of the work disregarding a "the few defects and redundancies, and one or two seeming contradictions we have been pleased. The book appears to us fitted, in general, to accomplish the desirable end which the writer had in view; and we hope that it will have a circulation corresponding to its merits. 2. Bance B. The General Features of the Moral Government of God. By pp. 90. 1848. THIS little volume is evidently the production of a vigorous mind, which has been accustomed to think for itself on most of the difficult points that present themselves to students while pursuing theological investigations. Its topics seem to us somewhat disproportionate in number and importance to the space which the author has allowed for their discussion, and some of its principles, reasonings, and inferences we are inclined to regard as at least doubtful. But the work is suggestive of desirable trains of thought; and as it contains, at the same time, many valuable truths with few hurtful errors, and is written in a spirit at once free, liberal, and reverent, we commend it as worthy of being read. B. The Physiological Effects of Alcoholic Drinks, from the British and Foreign Medical Review of Dr. Forbes; with Documents and Records of the Massachusetts Temperance Society, illustrating the Origin of the Temperance Reformation, and its Progress in the State of Massachusetts. Boston: Published by the Massachusetts Temperance Society. 1848. 12mo. pp. 196. THE public is indebted, as we understand, to John C. Warren, M. D., President of the Massachusetts Temperance Society, for the preparation of this valuable book. Nearly one half of it is occupied with Dr. Forbes's scientific inquiry into the action of stimulating drinks on the human system. Concerning this essay, which was first published in England, we will only remark, that it is classed by competent judges among the ablest expositions of the subject that have appeared in our language. The interest, if not the usefulness, of the volume before us is greatly enhanced by "Documents and Records - filling more than one hundred pages which illustrate generally the origin and progress of the Temperance reformation in this Commonwealth, and which fur 1848.] Notices of Recent Publications. 141 nish, particularly, an historical account of the circumstances that occasioned what Dr. Warren calls “the first permanent association which set out with combating systematically the abuse of spirituous liquors"; of the organization of this body at the State House in Boston, on the 5th of February, 1813; of its original principles and plans; of its operations during the twenty years that it retained its old name of "Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance"; of the changes it underwent in 1833, when it assumed a new title, - the one which it now bears; and of its subsequent efforts and success, till nearly the present time. Our readers will be pleased, we think, with seeing the names of the officers who first presided over the above-mentioned associ ation, thirty-five years ago, and who had thus the honor of directing the earliest steps of that great Temperance revolution which in our day ranks among the leading movements of the civilized world. They are the following: - Hon. Samuel Dexter, Esq., President; Gen. John Brooks, Dr. John Warren, Hon. Benjamin Tuckerman, Vice-Presidents; Rev. Abiel Abbot, Corresponding Secretary; Rev. Joshua Huntington, Recording Secretary; Samuel H. Walley, Esq., Treasurer; Rev. Dr. Kirkland, Rev. Dr. Lathrop, Rev. Dr. Worcester, Rev. Mr. Pierce, Nathan Dane, Esq., Hon. Timothy Bigelow, Richard Sullivan, Esq., Jeremiah Evarts, Esq., Councillors. Only three of these gentlemen are now among the living on earth, viz., Hon. Messrs. Sullivan and Walley, and the venerable Dr. Pierce. B. A History of Georgia from its First Discovery by Europeans to the Adoption of the Present Constitution, in MDCCXCVIII. By REV. WILLIAM BACON STEVENS, M. D., Professor of BellesLettres, History, etc., in the University of Georgia, Athens. In two Vols. New York and Savannah. 1847. 8vo. Vol. I. pp. 504. We learn from the Preface of this volume, that the work was undertaken by the author seven years since, at the request of the Georgia Historical Society, and that he has had their help in the collection of necessary documents. We cannot but infer, however, that his own qualifications for the task, if not, also, his having already undertaken it, may have induced the commission from the Society, for a good history is one of those many things that cannot be made to order. Mr. Stevens has had at his service the historical documents which were obtained in London by Rev. C. W. Howard, an agent appointed for that purpose by the legislature and governor of Georgia in 1837. There was no satisfactory history of that State in existence, though the work had been designed and in part executed by four preceding laborers. This The volume before us is printed in a very handsome manner, and on fair, thick paper, and must fully meet the expectations of those who asked for and fostered its preparation. The author has availed himself of all the modern helps for elucidating the antecolonial history of his present State, and has given a clear summary of the early voyages and travels of the adventurers upon our coast, with a sketch of the French and Spanish settlements, and of the aborigines in the territory of Georgia. Then follows the story of failures, struggles, and disasters, which attended the English colonization of that region, and which were largely aggravated by the mismanagement of the proprietary Trustees, who sent their commissions from their court in Great Britain. volume brings the history of the colony down through its administration by the royal government under Governor Reynolds and Governor Ellis. The two chapters which will probably be read with the greatest interest by those who do not reside in the State are those upon "The Origin of Slave Labor in Georgia" and upon the "Religious History of the Colony." It appears that the famous preacher Whitefield was a prominent advocate of the introduction into Georgia of slave labor, which had been forbidden by the Trustees. He gave it as his opinion, that " Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province without negroes are allowed." Mr. Stevens mildly, but forcibly, vindicates the character of the Wesleys in their Georgian experiences and labors. 66 So far as our limited means of judgment will allow us to express an opinion, we think that Mr. Stevens has admirably and faithfully discharged his high trust. E. A Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, from New England to Wisconsin and South to Ohio and Pennsylvania, inclusive. (The Mosses and Liverworts by Wм. S. SULLIVANT.) Arranged according to the Natural System ; with an Introduction, containing a Reduction of the Genera to the Linnæan Artificial Classes and Orders, Outlines of the Elements of Botany, a Glossary, etc. By ASA GRAY, M. D., Fisher Professor of Natural History in Harvard University. Boston and Cambridge J. Munroe & Co. 1848. 12mo. pp. lxii. and 710. Dillian EVERY intelligent botanist, in the section of country to which this work applies, will welcome its appearance. For its accuracy the name of its author is alone a sufficient assurance, while its table of contents shows it to be far more comprehensive than |