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brethren regard these passages (Rom. 6: 3, 4; Col. 2: 12) as an inspired exposition of the mode of baptism-as proving irresistibly that the rite is designed, not merely to represent purification from sin, but purification in a way significant of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ; and of the death, burial, and resurrection of the believer with him." He does not deny that these conclusions are properly drawn from the premises. And as the only effectual way of setting them aside, he attempts to show that the passages do not allude to the ordinance. On page 104, he directly urges against the interpretation which supposes such an allusion, that it involves what he is pleased to style the "incongruity" of making baptism commemorative of the death of Christ, and thus intruding on the province of the Lord's supper.* And, in conclusion, he represents the whole argument as turning upon three points, one of which is "the significance of the rite."

As we before remarked, we consider his attempts to show that Rom. 6: 3, 4, and Col. 2: 12, do not refer to the ordinance of baptism, entirely harmless; and the several points which we have now stated, being fully

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* In this suggestion, Dr. Beecher seems not to have sufficiently considered the bearing of his own remarks, respecting the death of Christ, in the same connection. Speaking of one who has been brought into the liberty of the gospel, he says, "In the midst of all his joy, what one thought above all others will of necessity fill and overwhelm his, mind? It is this: To the death of Christ I owe it all-ah, what had eternity been to me, had it not been for the death of Christ?'" "Such an appeal to every possible principle of gratitude, honor, generosity, love, hope and fear, was never combined in the universe before; nor is such a combination possible, save to an infinite, incarnate, atoning God." Nay, we all know the fact; it lies on the very surface of the system, as well as in its lowest depths; yea, I had almost said, it is its all in all." Again, alluding to the language of Paul in Rom. 6: 1-11, and similar passages, he says, “As the sufferings of his own adored Lord and Saviour passed every hour before his mind, an intense desire arose, as it were, to make them his own, that is, to iden tify himself with him, in absolute and perfect sympathy, and, especially, to admire and adore, and imitate his character in that humiliation, and those sufferings which he underwent for us." And yet it must be considered incongruous that to this fact, which is thus uppermost in the thoughts and feelings of one entering upon a Christian life, which is identified with all his experience, by which he hopes to be chiefly moulded and influenced through life, which lies on the very surface of the gospel system, and is, so to speak, its all in all,"-it is incongruous that there should be any reference to this fact in the symbolical import of that ordinance by which an attachment to Christ, and an interest in his gospel, is publicly professed,-simply because he has appointed in his church another rite by which this fact thus professed may be kept in continual remembrance! To our own minds it would have presented an incongruity not easily accounted for, had all allusion to a fact occupying such a place in the gospel, and in the experience of Christians, been omitted in the significancy of the appointed rite of their profession.

conceded, we cannot but indulge the hope that his examination of these passages, as far as it shall gain attention, will subserve the cause of truth:

(To be concluded.)

T.

ARTICLE XI.

LITERARY NOTICES. M

1. Select Popular Orations of Demosthenes, with Notes and a Chronological Table. By J. T. CHAMPLIN, Professor in Waterville College. Boston. James Munroe & Co. 1848. pp. 227. 12mo.

The editor of this edition of Demosthenes appropriately asks, in his preface, (in reference to the fact that the oration De Corona is, for the most part, the limit of the reading of Demosthenes in our colleges and schools,)" Why should a single oration of such an author, who has left more than fifty, be thought sufficient for the educated youth of a free country?" The design of his present labor is to give to the young men engaged in liberal studies, a readable edition of a few specimens of others of the popular speeches of this prince of Grecian orators. This edition embraces six orations-three Olynthiacs, one against Philip, that on the Cherronesus, and that for the liberty of the Rhodians. The text embraces 81 pages, beautifully printed, and the Notes 125. The notes, so far as we have examined them, are sufficiently full and judicious, having the merit of continually referring the student to his grammar, and also to principles which he has already settled. The table of the Life of Demosthenes gives an interesting and concise account, not only of the personal history of the orator, but also of the times in which he lived. It will be equally useful in studying the productions of other authors, relating to the same period. We welcome with pleasure this school edition, as an additional and useful means of bringing into the acquaintance of the community the works of the great expounder of democracy.

2. The Gorgias of Plato, chiefly according to Stallbaum's Text; with Notes. By T. D. WOOLSEY. New Edition with additions. Boston. James Munroe & Co. 1848. pp. 242. 12mo.

The present work has been for several years before the public, and its merits are abundantly known. The first edition was printed in 1842, and has obtained the praise of scholars and teachers in various parts of the country. It has also been introduced into the course of Greek study in several of the most important Universities. The work, being stereotyped, retains in the present edition all the excellences of the preceding. Besides this, changes have been made, and additions inserted wherever necessity required, through the coöperation of

VOL. XIII.-NO. LII.

53*

several experienced teachers, who have had the book in actual use. The use of a book in the instruction of a class is the most efficacious method of testing its merits; the daily experience of students, proceeding over but a small portionat a time and with the utmost thoroughness, subjects a book to the most searching examination, and brings to light its defects. This volume, we believe, can now safely pass through such an ordeal. The mechanical execution of the work, as in all Mr. Munroe's classics, is nearly, if not quite, faultless.

3. The Writings of George Washington. Being his Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and other Papers, Official and Private, selected and published from the original manuscripts, with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations. By JARED SPARKS. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1848. 8vo. 12 volumes.

The great work here given to the public does not now make its first appearance, and needs, therefore, no formal and extended introduction. It was published several years ago in Boston, but at a price which placed it beyond the reach of the larger class of intelligent readers, and, indeed, confined it to public libraries, or the libraries of the affluent. It is now, however, as is most meet, furnished at a price which adapts it to a more general circulation, and cannot fail to find its way to the shelves of thousands to whom it has hitherto been a sealed book. Its present price is but $1,50 per volume. The type is large and legible, the margins broad, the paper fair, and the binding strong.

In the preparation of these volumes, every possible facility was at the command of Mr. Sparks. The system and accuracy of General Washington, which were striking habits of his lite, extended to the arrangement and preservation of his papers; and from the immense stores which his long public life had gathered, and which, in the departments of personal matters, his wealth and social position had necessarily occasioned, he had but to make judicious and appropriate selections. That his selections were judicious and appropriate, ninute enough to reveal the Father of his country in the most private relations and details of life, and comprehensive enough to embrace an ample view of his wonderful public career, will be sufficiently manifest to all who examine these volumes. We behold him in his writings as no mere biography can describe him. No matter in what relation of life he is viewed, his pen reveals him as the wonderful man, towering far above his compeers, and justly appropriating an homage which the world pays to no other man of modern times.

In the preparation of such a work, it became necessary to consult contemporaneous documents in other sources, both American and European.* These were diligently sought by Mr. Sparks, and the

An accidental discovery made by Gardner Stow, Esq., of Troy, N. Y., during a visit to Loudon, made by him in 1847, and communicated by him to his son-inlaw, Rev. S. S. Cutting, editor of the New York Recorder, is worthy of record, as furnishing a clue to further investigations in regard to the Washington family.

TROY, March 10, 1848.

In compliance with your request., I proceed to give you an account of some of

results of his researches are accumulated in Notes and Illustrations of the highest value.

There are many points of view under which the value of a work like that before us may be estimated. As a historical work, its importance is beyond estimation. Not only does it reveal a multitude of facts which are indispensable to an adequate knowledge of the rise of this nation, but vindicates that rise as free from the vices which ordinarily stain revolutions,—as a contest for principles, as a struggle equally for the inalienable rights of man, and for the true and permanent interests of society. Indeed, if there be lingering in a human breast, any of that toryism which condemned the Revolution, we are certain that the examination of the writings of Washington must efface it forever. And such a work is valuable as an illustration of patriotism. It defines it, and throws around it the splendors of true glory. In the fever of partisan strife, political men may turn to it as an oracle of wisdom, uttering lessons of moderation, of political brotherhood, of regard for principles over persons, parties and sections; and the young may turn to its pages as illustrating our institutions, as showing what they cost, and as teaching the duty of Americans to transmit them through successive generations, as their

the ancient documents which I had the pleasure of seeing in London, on my late visit to Europe.

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Above almost all other things, I had a curiosity to see the "Domesday Book," for it was intimately associated with my early reading. It is shown to few when visiting the curiosities of London, and to none without special permission. Having learned that Sir Francis Palgrave had power to give me access to it, I visited him. My reception by Sir Francis was very cordial. He readily granted my request, and remarked that though it was a liberty not frequently granted to subjects or strangers, he took the more pleasure in granting it in this instance, because I was an American. Domesday Book, he said, was deposited in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, where I would also find several other ancient documents of interest to one who had a taste for antiquities. He voluntarily offered, moreover, to give me access to the old records in the Tower, and in the ancient Chapel of the Rolls. I left Sir Francis, most favorably impressed towards him, furnished with a gentlemanly attendant to the Rolls Chapel, and with orders to the keepers of the Tower, and of the old Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, to open their archives to my inspection.

Among the records and documents which interested me most, in the Rolls Chapel, are the following:

1st. Roll or Record of Grants, on parchment, made by Henry VIII, in the form of a heavy leather-bound folio volume. Examining it without particular object, it nevertheless proved exceedingly interesting to me, for I found in it a name which is cherished by every American, and of which it betrays no weakness in us to feel proud. It was the name of Washington.

Alienation by those who held lands of the Crown could be effected only through the royal license; and the record I refer to purported to be a grant of such license, made on the 24th of August, in the 34th year of the reign of Henry VIII, to Robert Tirwhite, to alienate certain estates "in Threpe Morland, and elsewhere in the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, to Rudolph (Ralph) Wasshington, and James Wasshington," the orthography of the family name being as in the extract.

This record seems to have escaped the attention of the learned and indefatigable biographer of Washington. It can create no surprise, however, since, with no clue to guide him, accident alone could have discovered it. The wonder is, that among the hundreds and thousands of tons of ancient records and documents which lie heaped up in England, Mr. Sparks has been able to gather so much.

And these volumes have

best legacy to the ages which are to come. a domestic value. The parent who would train his son to lofty ideas of personal and social virtue, who would exhibit to him the true dig uity and manliness of a life regulated, even in its minutest details, by principles and rules,-principles and rules extending to the shape and quality of children's apparel, and to the accuracy of an overseer's daily reports of farm labor, as well as to plans of battles and methods of civil administration,—can hardly do better than to place these volumes in the hands of his son, as practical guide-books for the conduct of life. Washington was a great man, even in what men får below him regard as trifles. Indeed he was uniformly great. His character was wonderfully balanced and complete, and forms a model for the young which parental love and ambition may well incite them to imitate.

We subjoin the following outline of the work. The first volume contains the Life of Washington. His Writings commence with the second volume, and are arranged as follows: Part First. Official Letters relating to the French War, and Private Letters before the American Revolution. Part Second. Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers relating to the American Revolution. Part Third. Private Letters, from the time Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to that of his inauguration as President of the United States. Part Fourth. Letters Official and Private, from the beginning of his Presidency to the end of his Life. Part Fifth. Speeches and Messages to Congress, Proclamations and Addresses.

4. History of all the Religious Denominations in the United States; containing authentic accounts of the Rise and Progress, Faith and Practice, Localities and Statistics of the Different Persuasions : Written expressly for the Work, by Fifty-Three Eminent Authors, belonging to the Respective Denominations. Second, Improved and Portrait Edition. Harrisburg, Pa. JOHN WINEBRENNER, V. D. M.

Philadelphia. Am. Bap. Publication Society. 1848. 598 PP.

8vo. Twenty-Four Portraits. Price $2,50; without the portraits, $1,75.

No one

This is the best book of its kind which we have ever seen. can complain of its want of fairness in any part,—every article, with only one or two exceptions, being written by members of the sects described. The chapters, though contributed by so many different bands, exhibit a wonderful degree of uniformity in their structure. They give the history and the creed of the several denominations, enunciating impartially the distinguishing peculiarities of each, and setting forth the grounds of them. The number of sects described is fifty. Of these, ten or more are Presbyterian, a dozen or more are Baptists, seven Methodists, and so on. The European history of some of the denominations is given, as well as the American. The whole account in each instance is very satisfactory, as to the rites, customs, belief, ordinances, literary and benevolent operations and other statistics. The lithographed portraits add to the interest of the work. The heads exhibited are those of Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Roger Williams, Dr.

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