Colby & Co. 1848.

1. A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and other parts of the world. By DAVID BENEDICT. New York. Lewis pp. 970, 8vo.

The history of an extended denomination of Christians is of great value. Especially when, as in the present case, some great principle of civil government is embodied in that denomination, having been first discovered and maintained by its adherents, even political men have an interest in tracing the history of its development. But a successful historian must be endowed with peculiar talents. It is not enough that he has the industry requisite for the amassing of facts, and access to sources of information, giving him facilities for rendering his book rich in statistics. He needs also a mind possessed of the keenest discernment, that he may know how to sift his materials, giving to the statements found in his authorities to each its due weight, admitting nothing which is not relevant to his subject, and excluding nothing which is capable of shedding light upon it. He needs also an accurate judgment, that among numerous facts of interest, he may be wise in deciding what is to be given, and what is to be withheld; which is to occupy a prominent position, and which is to be placed in the background. He should have also a disciplined and well-balanced mind, that his facts may be arranged in proper order; that he may know when to assume the chronological, when the geographical, and when the æsthetic classification of them ;-arranging them so that the truest and most vivid impression may be produced by the contrast of the lights and shades which they cast, one upon another. The successful historian must also be able, in a philosophical manner, to connect events with their causes, and to show how the latter have wrought to produce the former. In addition to these things, he ought to comprehend fully the force of terms, and to be master of the graces of style. Moreover, in no work is the labor lima more necessary than in the writing of history. Every superfluous sentence should be removed, that its place may be occupied by matters of graver interest.

We do not find all these requisites, in the highest perfection, in the book of Mr. Benedict. We are sorry, also, in several instances, to observe errors and omissions;—and even in points where it might be supposed that a good and intelligent proof-reader would have been able to make the corrections. Entire accuracy, however, in a work of such magnitude, ought not, perhaps, to be expected. We know not but we

should rather wonder, that, at his advanced period of life, Mr B. should have succeeded in collecting so large and useful a mass of facts with so much exactness. A reader, being familiar with the course of events belonging to a small region of territory in his own circle, is prone to reproach the historian if he errs in respect to them,-not remembering how many obstacles might have stood in the way of his coming to the exact knowledge of the truth. Still, if readers in every circle in the country are able to detect errors and deficiencies in their immediate region, as we in New England can in ours, so great a quantity of defects must necessarily greatly mar the value of the work as an authentic and reliable history. It would be wise to make such a book the joint production of a number of the most intelligent and able men, in various parts of the country, that each might bring his quota of information for the perfection of the work. We should wish also to exclude whatever is changing, and to fix only what is permanent. We have observed, in some instances, that the history has become at fault even since the sheets left the press, in consequence of the changes in the churches. In several cases, it is reported that a minister is the present incumbent of a given charge, who has already removed to another field. The province of history is to declare what has been, rather than what is. But notwithstanding these things, we believe Mr. B. has sincerely endeavored to make a faultless book. He has certainly been successful in drawing together a great number of facts and much statistical information, which will essentially aid the future historian. We hope the volume will be kindly received, and we doubt not that it will enjoy an extensive circulation.

We perceive by various hints in the course of the work that Mr. B. designs to follow up the work by another volume, treating on points which are here omitted.

We do not propose to enter upon a minute criticism of the work at this time; we are encouraged by a friend to hope for an extended review of it at a future period.

We have only to add that the volume is handsomely printed on good paper, and adorned with a likeness of the author, and with a very beautiful portrait of Roger Williams. When the Memoir of that distinguished man, by Prof. Knowles, was issued, it was supposed that no authentic likeness was to be obtained. The painting from which this engraving was copied has since been discovered and restored, and there is sufficient internal evidence that it is a true likeness.

2. The Work claiming to be the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, including the Canons; Whiston's Version from the Greek; with a prize Essay, at the University of Bonn, upon their origin and contents. Translated from the German, by IRAH CHASE, D.D. New York. Appleton & Co. 1848. pp. 496, 8vo.

The Apostolical Constitutions were written originally in Greek, and belong to a very early period of the Christian era-probably to the third or fourth century. They are founded on the false notion that divers regulations pertaining to the ordering of the Christian church, were not written in the Scriptures, but handed down for many years by oral tradition. Thus it is said in the eighty-fifth canon,-"The Constitu

VOL. XIII.-NO. XLIX.

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tions dedicated to you, the Bishops, by me, Clement, in eight books, which it is not fitting to publish before all, because of the mysteries contained in them." Basil, also, as quoted by Dr. Chase in his preface, remarks,-" "We receive the dogmas transmitted to us by writing, and those which have descended to us from the apostles, beneath the veil and mystery of oral tradition. The apostles and fathers who from the beginning prescribed certain rites to the church, knew how to preserve the dignity of the mysteries by the secrecy and silence in which they enveloped them. For what is open to the ear and the eye is no longer mysterious. For this reason several things have been handed down to us without writing, lest the vulgar, too familiar with our dogmas, should pass from being accustomed to them to the contempt of them." The Constitutions and Canons of the apostles contain a record of these traditions, and embrace, together with much that is scriptural, many injunctions concerning things in respect to which the Scripture is silent. "The principal interest," says Dr. C., "which we, of the present day, must feel in the Constitutions, is that which arises from their casting light on ecclesiastical history and antiquities. The Apostolical Constitutions seem to have exerted, silently and indirectly, a powerful influence during several of the early ages of the church. They could not fail to facilitate the introduction and prevalence of the usages which they sanctioned."

This version of the Constitutions, as we learn from the title, is that of Whiston. Dr. C. has, however, carefully compared it with the Greek, and, in many instances, made important corrections. He has also made an obvious improvement by arranging the eighty-five Canons às a continuation of the eighth book of the Constitutions, and a part of it. The internal evidence of the propriety of this arrangement is that, apart from it, the eighth book of the Constitutions has no adequate close. By appending the Canons, we have a fitting termination of the whole work.

An addition of great value is Dr. C.'s translation of Dr. O. C. Krabbe's Essay on the Character and Contents of the Constitutions, and his Dissertation on the Canons of the Apostles. These translations constitute nearly half the volume, and form a complete thesaurus of information in respect to every thing contained in those ancient records. Every important statement is examined in the light of history, and its bearing on the history of the Constitutions and on the practice of the church, ably discussed. The unscriptural injunctions of the work are set in their true light by the aid of historical refer

ences.

Thus the volume contains a complete apparatus for the study of these early writings. In bringing it before the public, Dr. Chase has performed an excellent service for the cause of ecclesiastical history. So able and scholar-like a production is rarely issued from the American press. We anticipate for the work an extensive sale, both in this country, and still more in England.

We are happy to announce our expectation of an extended review of the volume, at a future time, from the hand of a literary and clerical friend, whose aid we have, in several instances, enjoyed.

3. General History of the Christian Religion and Church. From the German of Dr. Augustus Neander. Translated from the Second and Improved Edition. By JOSEPH TORREY, Professor in the University of Vermont. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 740, 768. Boston.

Crocker & Brewster. 1847, 1848.

The study of ecclesiastical history is one of the most profitable in which the theologian can occupy himself. The light which it often sheds upon doctrines and institutions, found existing, at various periods, in the church, is invaluable. An able and impartial historian, who may be relied on in respect to his citation of facts, aids every department of theology. Such an historian is Neander; who ranks, at present, as the head of that department. No living man stands by his side, as his equal. He states the facts which come to his knowledge, whether they are for or against any favorite theory of doctrine or practice, whether they favor or impugn the religious denomination with which he chances to be connected. He has devoted the best days of his life to the investigation of the history of the church, and every part of the subject upon which he enters, he treats in the most thorough and satisfactory manner. We are free to say that for judiciousness of plan, for clearness of arrangement, for number, extent, and accuracy of facts, these volumes leave nothing more to be desired.

The translation by Prof. Torrey gives, in general, the sense of the author in pure and easily intelligible English. The manner and idiom of the original, however, is very manifest to a reader of German. To have accomplished so well a work of such magnitude, is highly honorable to his industry and scholarship.

The work of Neander embraces the excellencies both of Mosheim and Milner, without being chargeable with the defects of either. It is neither a fragmentary collection of facts, perpetually broken off because the century is at an end,-to be taken up again and finished in another place, nor is its chief excellence in its biographical notices. It is at the same time rich in biographies, and made valuable by a clear, discriminating and philosophical arrangement. To those who have been accustomed to no other work on church history than Mosheim, it will be very refreshing to find so great a contrast.

The volumes of this History embrace, I. The period from the commencement of the Christian era to the close of the Dioclesian persecution, A. D. 312. II. From the end of the Dioclesian persecution to the time of Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, A. D. 590. The subjects in the first volume are treated in the following order. I. General religious condition of the world, Roman, Greek and Jewish, at the time when Christianity first appeared, and began to make progress. This section involves an account of the various philosophies then prevalent. II. Relation of the Christian church to the Unchristian world. Here we have a narrative of the spread of Christianity, of the persecutions of the church under the several emperors, and of the written attacks and defences of true religion. III. History of the church constitution, church discipline, and schisms. IV. Christian Life and Worship. This chapter includes the private life and manners of the Christians, and every thing pertaining to the public worship of God, with all that relates to baptism and the Lord's Supper, during the first

three centuries. V. Christianity apprehended and developed as a system of doctrines. This section embraces an account of the various sects which arose in the church and the world, with a sufficient notice of their founders. After this comes the development of the main doctrines of Christianity, treated in a historical method, and biographical notices of the apostolical fathers, and of several of the early teachers of the church. The second volume is divided into the same number of sections as the first, with the same titles and mode of procedure. We are astonished to see what a vast amount of interesting and useful matter is here brought together. Nothing but the most untiring energy, zeal and industry, could have sufficed to carry the author through such minute and extended investigations as the case in hand must have demanded.

Seeing that much reliance has been placed on the evidence of ecclesiastical history, in favor of infant baptism, and of sprinkling for immersion, we have been interested to examine the notices of this subject in these volumes. In volume first, extending the history of the church to A. D. 312, Neander states, as the result of his investigations-“ In respect to the form of baptism, it was, in conformity with the original institution and the original import of the symbol, performed by immersion, as a sign of entire baptism into the Holy Spirit, of being entirely penetrated by the same. It was only with the sick, where the exigency required it, that any exception was made; and in this case baptism was administered by sprinkling. Many superstitious persons, clinging to the outward form, imagined that such baptism by sprinkling was not fully valid; and hence they distinguished those who had been so baptized, by denominating them clinici." His remark that they are superstitious, who cling to the outward form, must of course pass for only what it is worth. It is opinion only, and not history. In a case where the form is that which constituted the example of Christ, left by him for his disciples to follow, to cling to the form is to cling to the thing. The form of the thing is the thing itself, in respect to which our Lord has left us an example that we should follow his steps.

In respect to the subject of baptism during this first period of three centuries, he says,-" Baptism was administered at first only to adults, as men were accustomed to conceive baptism and faith as strictly connected. We have all reason for not deriving infant baptism from apostolic institution, and the recognition of it which followed somewhat later, as an apostolical tradition, serves to confirm this hypothesis. Irenæus is the first church teacher in whom we find any allusion to infant baptism; and in his mode of expressing himself on the subject, he leads us at the same time to recognize its connection with the essence of the Christian consciousness. He testifies of the profound Christian idea, out of which infant baptism arose, and which procured for it, at length, universal recognition." Why did not both Irenæus and Neander perceive that the proper authority of a positive institute is a positive command, and not "a profound Christian idea?" Did God ever, in any dispensation, leave men to discover the obligation of positive institutions, by reasoning upon a profound Christian idea," out of which they were to be developed?

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On the next page Neander says," But immediately after Irenæus, in the last year of the second century, Tertullian appears as a zealous