opponent of infant baptism; a proof that the practice had not as yet come to be regarded as an apostolical institution; for otherwise, he would hardly have ventured to express himself so strongly against it." Afterwards he quotes the words of Tertullian, as follows: "We show more prudence in the management of our worldly concerns, than we do in entrusting the divine treasure to those who cannot be entrusted with earthly property. Let them first learn to feel their need of salvation; so it may appear that we have given to those that wanted." He adds, "Tertullian evidently means that children should be led to Christ by instructing them in Christianity; but that they should not receive baptism, until, after having been sufficiently instructed, they are led from personal conviction and by their own free choice, to seek for it with sincere longing of heart."

In the second division of the history, from A. D. 312 to 590, in referring again to infant baptism, he says, "It was still very far from being the case, especially in the Greek church, that infant baptism, although acknowledged to be necessary, was generally introduced into practice... Among the Christians of the East, infant baptism, though in theory acknowledged to be necessary, yet entered so rarely and with so much difficulty into the church-life, during the first half of this period." In the latter part of the same volume, in alluding to the baptismal formula, he speaks of it as having "originated in a period when infant baptism had, as yet, no existence."

We cite these passages as having an important bearing on the controversy concerning baptism. They are the testimonies, not of an enemy of infant baptism and of sprinkling, but of a believer in them both. We hope such statements will be seriously considered in this country, and permitted to have their proper influence.

In conclusion, we would only remark that these noble volumes are finely printed and bound. So far as we have observed, there is great accuracy in the typographical execution. They are worthy of a place among our very best histories. What a fine present they would be to

a pastor's library!

4. The Life of Bunyan, Author of the Pilgrim's Progress; compiled from his own Writings, and from other Authentic Sources. By IRAH CHASE, D. D. New York. L. Colby & Co. 1847. pp. 166, 18mo.

No one can be otherwise than interested in the life of this eminent man. Though at first an humble mechanic, and afterwards a dissenting preacher, persecuted by the public authorities, and imprisoned for twelve years, his name is associated with the literature of the English tongue, and will go down to future ages, to be admired, venerated and beloved. His own work, the "Grace abounding to the chief of sinners," has furnished the principal materials for his biography. In that work, he gives a very minute account of his religious history and experience, in a manner that shows that, if he was not a student of books, he was a very expert and discriminating student of his own heart. The most important items in his history are generally well known. He was born at Elston, fifty miles north of London, A. D. 1628, early in the reign of Charles I, and died at the age of sixty,

A. D. 1688. Thus he embraced in his life the stormiest period of England's history; and for the illustrious men it reared, one of the most honorable and distinguished. Within the first page of the Memoir, Dr. C. gives a hasty but accurate compendium of the striking points of that remarkable period.

Dr. C. has drawn the largest share of his materials from the autobiography before mentioned; wisely connecting the parts together by the intervention of suitable remarks, and giving the reader such explanations as are necessary for a full apprehension of the subject. It will be remembered by the admirers of Bunyan, that although at the time of his marriage he was so poor, that he and his wife "had not so much as a wooden spoon between them," yet, at her father's death, she received two books as her patrimony,-Practical Piety, and the Poor Man's Pathway to Heaven. These books Bunyan and his wife read together, and doubtless found them important helps in their religious course. Dr. Chase has discovered these books, and given in the Memoir, an extended analysis of their contents. The latter of these books was first printed in England in 1601, and, within the space of forty-seven years, passed through twenty-seven editions. It is a theological work, "in the form of a conversation between Theologus, a Divine; Philagathus, an Honest man; Asunetus, an Ignorant man ; and Antilegon, a Caviller."

The other book, the Practical Piety, seems to have been a great favorite in its day. It was written in the reign of James I, and "early translated into French and other languages on the continent of Europe." There is also in the library of Harvard University a translation of the same into the language of the American Indians. It was printed at Cambridge, in 1685, and was doubtless the work of the apostolic Eliot. Dr. C. remarks that the edition which he consulted was the seventy-first.

The course of Bunyan's religious exercises, as detailed in this little volume, is in the highest degree interesting and profitable. We earnestly commend them to the perusal of religious persons of our own, or any times. A sufficient account is given in the book, also, of Bunyan's persecutions and imprisonment. It was during his confinement in Bedford jail, that he wrote Part First of the Pilgrim's Progress ; the second was written "ten or twelve years after his liberation. Bunyan was a voluminous writer." The whole number of his works, large and small, is sixty. He published six during the last year of his life. He was known as a devoted Baptist preacher; probably he was among the number of those who so vexed the righteous soul of the excellent Baxter, as to engage him in that violent opposition against the denomination which procured for him the gracious title of "The Maul of the Anabaptists." Strange, that the Non-Conformist clergy, who were themselves trodden under the iron heel of ecclesiastical oppression, should persecute their brethren who were fellow-sufferers with them!

Dr. Chase has performed his part of the work wisely and well. The present edition is, in shape, cut down to the standard of Sabbath school books, and fitted by its cheapness for general circulation. We could wish that besides the present edition, a somewhat more generous one might be published, of larger size, with wide margins, and at least a

likeness of the "Ingenious Dreamer," which, in these days, could be procured without much difficulty.

We will venture here to express our wish, not in respect to the books of this firm alone, that when publishers find it convenient to append to their books advertisements of their publications, they would insert at least a single blank leaf between the "Finis" of the work and the announcement of their wares. It is unpleasant to the eye to see the pages run on, as if the bookseller's notices were the concluding chapter of the book, containing the climax and catastrophe of the whole.

5. Memoir of Sarah B. Judson, Member of the American Mission to Burmah. By FANNY FORESTER." New York. L. Colby & Co.

pp. 250, 18mo.

66

Scarcely is the interesting and excellent Memoir of Crocker out of our hands, before we are greeted by another missionary biography, wholly dissimilar in character, but which we read with equal interest, and with sincere admiration of the noble woman whom it portrays. The gifted authoress of this volume has shed around her subject all the elegancies of poetry. By her peculiar manner she has secured for the work a reading, we doubt not, by those who are unaccustomed to seek after books that deal in the language of piety, and find their chief interest in their religious character and influences. The second Mrs. Judson, though called to a different sphere of action from that of her predecessor, shines in her own sphere with equal beauty, and they who have admired and praised the martyr-like career of the one, will follow, with equal but calmer gratification, the unobtrusive, laborious, evangelical career of the other. With her varied accomplishments she sustained the honor of the enterprise, which, by its own greatness, honored and dignified her. In a future edition, we shall be glad to find more copious extracts from her correspondence, and from other productions of her pen.

6. The Power of Illustration an Element of Success in Preaching and Teaching. By JOHN DOWLING, D. D. New York. L. Colby & Co. 1848. pp. 106, 16mo.

This is a truly readable and excellent little book. It is the substance of an address delivered at New Hampton, N. H., to the theological class about to go forth into public life. Of the importance of the theme, it is unnecessary for us to speak. Dr. D. remarks that the advantages of striking and vivid illustrations are, 1. To attract and secure attention. 2. To afford scope for copiousness and variety in the exhibition of truths which have been long familiar. 3. To impress the memory by their point and force. 4. To render complex and difficult subjects easy and plain. He proposes, 1. To explain the science of illustration. 2. To give directions for the acquisition of power in it. Under the first head, he speaks of the metaphor, the parable, of example, and of historical and classical allusions. To secure in a high degree the power of illustration, he observes that five things are necessary. 1. A habit of observation. 2. Extensive and varied reading. 3. A reten

tive memory. 4. A thorough acquaintance with the truths to be illustrated. 5. A readiness in perceiving analogies. The whole subject is exhibited in a pleasing manner, and the discourse itself furnishes a fair example of the excellence which the author aims to inculcate. We commend it especially to the perusal of those who are destined for the pulpit.

7. The Baptisms of the New Testament: Illustrations of the Ordinance from its Administrations as recorded by the Inspired Writers. By JOSEPH BELCHER, D. D. Philadelphia. American Baptist Publication Society. 1848. pp. 204, 18mo.

In twelve chapters, founded on as many narratives of the New Testament, Dr. Belcher exhibits that which is most interesting in the history of several of the early converts to the Christian faith-including the scriptural account of their initiation, by public baptism, into the visible fold of Christ. The plan of the work is natural and pleasing, and it is executed in a praiseworthy manner.

8. A Translation of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, with an Introduction and Notes. By WILLIAM A. WHITWELL. Boston. Crosby & Nichols. 1848. pp. 108, 16mo.

The author of this translation is a clergyman of the Unitarian persuasion. His work indicates his faith. In many respects it is a good paraphrase, or a simple and intelligible verbal rendering. It follows, however, the method of the commentators of the liberal school. A translator might not, perhaps, be expected to consult all the writers on that important epistle. But we are surprised to observe that while Mr. W. has examined Belsham and Wakefield, he has apparently omitted entirely Stuart, Tholuck, and Hodge. The translation, in many respects, lies open to criticism. Some of its positions, we think, cannot be defended. We fail to find those distinct and direct statements of doctrine, which we think the epistle contains. Without undertaking a formal review of the book, for which, at present, we have not space, we will note a few things which have attracted our attention.

In chap. 8: 3, "God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh"-he renders, "God has sent his own Son, with a body exposed like ours to sin." In the next page, 8: 10, he translates, "If Christ's spirit be in you, the body is dead as to its liability to sin." Now here there seems to us a plain contradiction. If the spirit of Christ in a a believer renders his "body dead as to its liability to sin," the same spirit animating Christ's own body, it is evident, must set him above the exposure to sin. Besides, sin is not an act of the body, but the intention of the soul. We think the translator has misapprehended the meaning of the sacred writer. Professor Stuart translated the latter passage "If Christ be in you, the body indeed is mortified on account of sin, but the spirit liveth on account of righteousness."

In chap. 8: 26, 27, the author gives a translation which falls far short of the dignity and force of the original. He renders the verses thus: "Moreover, the Spirit supports us in our afflictions; and even when we know not how to express ourselves in prayer, this same Spirit

pleads for us, without any utterance of ours. For he who searcheth the heart knows what the purpose of the spirit is, that it is conformable to his will in its requests for Christians." Is not this supporting and interceding Spirit evidently the Holy Spirit,-the third person of the Trinity? Our author, of course, denies it; but, as it seems to us, greatly to the detriment of the beauty and force of the passage. He understands it to mean only a Christian spirit or Christian principle personified. In this connection, we would call attention to the fact that throughout the Epistle, wherever the Holy Spirit is spoken of, the words are printed with the initials in small, and not in capital letters. This method, we observe, is common in all Unitarian writings. We suppose the thing designed by this mode of printing is to exhibit the conviction of the writers that the Holy Spirit is not a divine person.

Again in 8: 29, 30, Mr. W. seems to us equally unfortunate in giving the strong and impressive sense of the apostle. These verses he renders as follows: "For those who were objects of his love he separated to be images of his Son, that he might be the first-born of many brethren. Those whom he separated, he invited; and whom he invited, these he knew to be worthy of acceptance; and those whom he accepts he will admit to glory." How much inferior is this to our received translation, both in truth, fulness and power. Olshausen decides in favor of the doctrine of predestination, as it is expressed, in this passage, in our common version.

In ch. 9: 5, where our version gives a not obscure intimation of the divine character of the Son of God, he chooses another reading of the disputed passage in the original, and renders it thus: "Whose are the Fathers, and from among whom the Messiah was to be born; he who is above all being God blessed forever. Amen." There is evidently an antithesis in the verse, as in ch. 1: 3, 4, the Messiah being described in his divine and human natures. Such is the opinion of Stuart, Rückert, Olshausen, and others.

At the opening of ch. 10, Mr. W. seems, in like manner, to have robbed the original of its force: "Brethren, the desire of my heart and prayer to God concerning Israel is for their happiness." This is by no means strong enough. Paul was overwhelmed with such floods of feeling for his brethren, not merely for their happiness, but for their salvation. Our Scriptures speak of being saved, and of being lost. The gospel is so wonderful a provision of mercy only on the supposition that, apart from it, men are in danger of being lost. Dr. Chalmers founds a part of a sermon on this view of the passage.

The translation of Mr. W. is preceded by an Introduction, and followed by a few brief notes. The work is sent forth in a very unassuming manner, making no pretensions, and we suspect will be but little sought beyond the circle of the author's own denomination. It is beautifully printed.

9. A Treatise on the Structure of the English Language; or the Analysis and Classification of Sentences and their Component Parts; with Illustrations and Exercises, adapted to the Use of Schools. By SAMUEL S. GREENE, A. M., Principal of the Phillips Grammar School, Boston. Philadelphia. Thomas Cowperthwait & Co. 1848. pp. 258,

12mo.

VOL. XIII.NO. XLIX.

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