Message," is on the text, Mark 16: 15, 16, "Go ye into all the world," etc. The writer shows, 1. What it is to believe. 2. What it is to be baptized. 3. Why faith and baptism are conjoined, as the conditions of salvation. 4. Why damnation is predicated of unbelief only. In the argument under the second head, his course is scriptural and clear, and his appeal, to the plain words of the New Testament, and to facts in history, acknowledged alike by all parties. The second sermon is on Rom. 2: 28, 29. "He is not a Jew which is one outwardly," etc. It is entitled, "Outward Ordinances Symbolical." The treatment of this subject brings the writer necessarily to a result in favor of believers' baptism. The scriptural signification of baptism is such that it can be applied properly to believers only. The sermons are truly excellent and worthy of an extended circulation in any country. The paper and typography of the pamphlet would scarcely suffer in comparison with similar works done at New York or Boston.

8. An Earnest Ministry the Want of the Times. By JOHN ANGELL JAMES. With an Introduction. By Rev. J. B. CONDIT. New York. M. W. Dodd. 1848. 12mo. pp. 288.

Few objects can compare in importance with the efficiency of the Christian ministry. Religion claims a strong hold upon the powers of man; its beneficial influences are intimately intertwined with human duty, and with individual and national prosperity; hence to invigorate the agency through which its triumphs are secured is among the most useful services. Exhortations and instructions to the ministry, designed to promote the zeal, piety, faithfulness and earnestness of its incumbents, if they come from the proper quarter, are never out of place. The present volume is from a source so well known as to inspire our confidence; and so well assured are we that the author has practised what he preaches, that his words come to us with authority. The manner, spirit and style of Mr. James are already familiar to the American public; and the work before us will not suffer in comparison with his former productions. The topics treated of are as follows: The ministry of the apostles; the nature of earnestness; earnestness exemplified in the matter and manner of preaching; earnestness of manner, with specimens; earnestness in the delivery of sermons; earnestness in the pastoral work, with illustrations; motives to earnestness; means of obtaining an earnest ministry; the necessity of divine influence for an efficient ministry. These subjects are discussed with ability and judgment, and the author exhibits in his work a good example of the quality for which he pleads. His specimens and illustrations, drawn from the most eminent divines of ancient and modern days, and of various countries, are extremely apt and interesting. By the method he has pursued, Mr. James has given us a kind of biographical library of the ministry; in a short compass, he has presented a portraiture of many distinguished clergymen, in such a light as to impress their excellences upon the memory, and to inspire a wish to imitate them. The work is richly worthy of the perusal of the class for whom it is specially designed.

9. The Gospel Narratives: their Origin, Peculiarities and Transmission. By HENRY A. MILES. Boston. Crosby & Nichols. 1848. 12mo. pp. 168.

The object of Mr. Miles, in this book, has been to rescue the gospels from the objections of a flippant infidelity; and, in a brief volume, to exhibit the stability of the records of the Christian faith. In a light and skeptical age like the present, it becomes every private Christian and Sabbath school teacher, as well as especially every minister of the gospel, to understand this subject. If we value our Christianity and have confidence in it, we ought to be able to state the grounds of our confidence, and to defend our citadel against the attacks of every assailant. "What was the origin of our four gospel narratives? If the authors of these wrote independently, how can we account for their verbal coincidences? If they copied from one another, how can we account for their discrepancies? Under what circumstances did each writer perform his work? How far did his situation, and character and purpose give shape to his composition? How have these gospels been transmitted down to our times?" To answer these questions, is the aim of the book. And the author has accomplished his design in a very successful manner. The topics here treated belong to the common ground of Christianity. These are points in which all that believe in the Christian religion may combine against the infidel. We commend the volume to the serious regards of those who are likely to be placed in circumstances in which the views it takes will be of value to them.

10. Love to God. "Lovest thou me?" By Rev. R. TAYLOR, of Shrewsbury, N. J. New York. M. W. Dodd. 1848. 32mo. Pp. 141.

This little miniature is a beautiful manual for the Christian on a subject which appeals directly and deeply to the heart. It exhibits, in a few chapters, the characteristics of love to God, its importance, evidences, and tendency, the duty of men to love God, promises to those that love him, and how love to God is to be obtained. The book is truly evangelical.

By A. B.

12mo.

11. The General Features of the Moral Government of God. JACOCKS. Boston. Crosby & Nichols. 1848. pp. 90. There is a grandeur in the government of God, and in God as a moral governor, which makes the contemplation of them ever interesting, profitable and elevating to us. The mind exercising itself upon such themes, is almost necessarily expanded and purified. No higher occupation can engage us, none more befitting our rational and immortal powers. And it would be a distinguished omen for good, if volumes on these and kindred topics were, in any considerable degree, in demand in the community. Men of a philosophical turn of mind, however, when they investigate these subjects, are in danger of giving loose to unwarranted speculations. Here, more than any where else, must the authority of the Scriptures be deemed paramount ;-the ultimate and only source of true light-the ultimate standard of appeal.

"The world by wisdom knew not God ;" and reason, apart from the divine revelation, when it attempts

"To justify the ways of God to man,"

will generally fall into mistakes, hurting, more than it helps, the cause of truth. In general, we approve the statements and deductions of this author. He is evidently a thinker, and writes with a spirit of independence and sincerity. In some things, however, either his preconceived theory in religion, or his neglect of the declarations of the word of God, has betrayed him into error. For example, in the chapter on moral character, he says, "The purpose to do right may spring from a variety of motives. It may be prompted by love, or a sense of duty, or hope of reward, or fear of punishment. Whatever may be the source, it is true and sterling virtue." In our view nothing is "true and sterling virtue," except the purpose to do right, arising from love to God and desire to please him. In the chapter on penalties, he says, "The survey we have taken of the penalties of the divine law, discloses very little tendency to the punishment of mere states of the heart or affections." In the light of Scripture, it seems to us that the state of the heart or affections is every thing, the outward acts standing in the relation to it of a stream to its fountain. If there is any thing to which God preeminently promises his approbation or against which he threatens his displeasure, it is the states of the heart or affections ;-the outward acts of a man's life being nothing else than the manifestation of those states. In the chapter on forgiveness, the author makes no mention of the Christian atonement, nor intimates that, in the government of God, a way of pardon has been opened by the death of Jesus Christ. In the chapter on the perfection of the divine moral government, he affirms that "it would be a tedious task to prove that an infinite punishment, or even the highest possible punishment, has ever yet been, or is likely to be, inflicted by the government of God." But in the light of the Scriptures, no task could be more easy. We cannot but regret these defects in a work having so much merit. Recent books, whose chief worth is in strong, clear thought, and intellectual force, are very rare. When occasionally they appear, how desirable it is that they should guide the reader to sweet waters and living pastures, instead of losing him in ignorance, error and doubt.

12. Memoir of the Rev. David Abeel, D. D., late Missionary to China. By his nephew, Rev. G. R. WILLIAMSON. New York. Robert Carter. 1848. 12mo. pp. 315.

The Memoir of this eminent missionary and minister is an acceptable addition to our treasures of missionary literature. Much of the work is made up of the journals and letters of Mr. Abeel, arranged and connected by the compiler. His life was a varied one. Wasting disease drove him from place to place, and continually interfered with the gratification of his ardent desire to be wholly given up to the ministerial work. He was born June 12, 1804, at New Brunswick, N. J. At the age of fifteen, he sought admission to the Military Academy at West Point; but on account of the number of applicants, he after

wards withdrew his request. Subsequently he devoted himself for a year to the study of medicine. During this period he became hopefully pious, and engaged in theological studies at the Seminary of the Reformed Dutch church in his native place. Having completed the prescribed course, he was licensed to preach April 20, 1826,—at a little less than twenty-two years of age. The following month he engaged in ministerial duties at Athens, Greene Co., N. Y., where, under many hindrances from feeble health, he labored with great zeal, faithfulness, and success, for two years and a half. After various labors, as his health would permit, in October 1829, he sailed for Canton, under a commission from the American Seamen's Friend Society, to promote the religious welfare of sailors in that important port. Having fulfilled the charge to which he was specially appointed, he was translated, according to a previous arrangement, to the service of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In this station, he devoted himself with untiring assiduity to his appropriate labors, in China, Siam and the Indian Archipelago, till the state of his health compelled him to return to his native country. He left his chosen field of labor in May 1833; and, having spent more than a year in evangelical efforts and in travelling in Europe, he reached America in Sept. 1835. In February 1839, he reached Canton a second time. His service, however, was of short duration. In six years, he was again on the ocean, on his way to his native land, where, after a season of great feebleness, he died Sept. 4, 1846, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. The Memoir is full of interesting incident, and useful information in respect to the countries where most of his foreign labors were performed. The extended extracts from his journals indicate a piety of no common order. It is also peculiarly refreshing to read such accounts of the influence of religion, in not only smoothing the dying pillow, but in awakening in the Christian, in articulo mortis, emotions of holy triumph and unmingled joy. The volume is truly delightful, and will be read by any one, but especially by ministers and candidates for the ministry, with great profit.

13. Missionary Maps. No. 1, India. No. 2, Western Asia. No. 3, Sandwich Islands. By O. B. BIDWELL. 1847. New York. W. H. Bidwell. Office of the New York Evangelist. Boston. Tappan, Whittemore & Mason.

Missionary Manual. A Key to the Missionary Maps, designed to assist Pastors and Superintendents in the Monthly Concert and Sabbath School. By O. B. BIDWELL. Published as above. pp. 96. 12mo. We regard these Missionary Maps among the grandest issues of the American press. The large scale on which they are drawn, (the first two being about seven feet,)-the boldness of the outline of the several countries, and the strong coloring, adapt them to use in a church or vestry. The beauty of the maps will at the same time attract attention, diffuse geographical knowledge, and fix in the minds of an audience vivid impressions: their misty notions of foreign lands will give place to distinct conceptions, and, it is to be hoped, the poetry which has hovered about the missionary work, will be laid aside for sober views of the woes and wants of the unevangelized world. All the

known missionary stations, European or American, comprised within the limits of the maps, are designated by appropriate symbols; the mission stations founded by American societies are made the most prominent, as is proper; and, as new stations are formed, any person, with a brush and water-colors, can append to the new station the appointed mark, thus keeping the map corrected for the times. The Inaps have received the warm commendation of missionaries, missionary secretaries, and pastors who have used them at the monthly concert. And as a means of diffusing accurate statistical knowledge among the people at large, of giving them distinct ideas of the various missionary stations, and of imparting a higher interest to the monthly concert of prayer, they cannot be surpassed. The key accompanying the maps gives a brief history and the statistics of the various missions indicated on the charts. A pastor, who, with the aid of these maps, should give his audience in a series of lectures a history of the various missions indicated, would do his people a better service than could be done by any mere missionary addresses or by the reading of fragmentary intelligence. The one would prepare the way for the other, and lay a proper foundation for it. Such a course would truly open the eyes both of minister and people, elevate, improve and instruct them, and, we trust, give a new impulse to Christian liberality. We hope the time is not distant when every church in our country will be supplied with the maps, as a part of their necessary apparatus. The requisite sum could be readily raised in churches competent to sustain a pastor, and being divided among the members, would scarcely be felt; while the benefit would be lasting in duration, and incalculable in amount. The price of the set, including the Key, is nine dollars.

14. Sabbath School Literature. John Putnam, 81 Cornhill, Boston.

We have been interested in examining a collection of Sabbath school books, sixty in number, remainders of the issues of former years, by publishers of acknowledged prudence and piety. Several of these books have been lost to circulation through the perpetual influx of new works in this department of literature. They are for sale at the low rate of eight cents each; and though nominally out of date, we hazard nothing in saying that they will be new to many of the present generation of Sabbath school scholars. A book cannot, like a garment, grow old. Such works as Chaplin and Fuller on Religious Declension, Timpson's Early Piety, Memoir of Chamberlin, Melancthon, Triumph of Religion, Successful Missions, Howard and Napoleon, Recollections of a Beloved Sister, Last Hours of Persons distinguished for their Piety, and of Infidels, which are included in this selection, can never lose their value. The volumes are of the ordinary size of Sabbath school books, from 70 to 200 pages, and well bound and preserved. We hope that some of the Sabbath Schools, and especially those whose pecuniary means are slender, will profit by this opportunity.