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REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

THE HISTORY OF THE HEBREW COMMON. WEALTH, from the Earliest Times to the Destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 72. Translated from the German of JOHN JAHN, D.D. With a Continuation to the Time of Adrian. 2 vols. 8vo.

Hurst and Co.

THE present condition of the Roman Catholic Church, in some of the most enlightened and influential parts of the Continent, is a phenomenon calculated to excite great interest and expectation. Above all, is this the case in the east and south of Germany. In those countries, there are multitudes in the papal communion, both clergy and laity, who openly profess their conviction of the unwarrantable and pernicious character of many of the claims of the see of Rome, and the disciplinary usages which it rigidly enforces as laws of the church. In numerous publications, within the last few years, replete with scriptural and ecclesiastical knowledge, distinguished by forcible reasoning, and sometimes by the spirit of reverential piety, relief and reform are loudly demanded; and it is evident, that a conscientious belief of the spiritual supremacy of the pope, as an institution of Jesus Christ, is the only impediment to a declaration of independence, and to taking into their own hands the cause for which they are now pleading, as dutiful, but aggrieved and importunate children, before their earthly head and father. The chief objects, for the attainment of which the struggle is going on, are, the free use of the Scriptures, that public worship shall be in the vernacular language of every country, the enjoyment of the sacramental cup by the laity, the abolition of the law compelling clerical celibacy, a thorough reformation, if not an abolition, of the monastic orders, that the bishops shall be freely elected by the clergy and representatives of the laity in each diocese, and that the confirmation by the pope shall follow, as a matter of right, unless he can prove heresy against the bishop elect.

Another numerous body, existing chiefly in the south of Germany, is distinguished by the holding in an inferior degree, and in no case but as means and helps, the ceremonies of their church; while the genuine Scripture doctrines of salvation by grace, through faith in the only Redeemer, the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, and the obligations of universal holiness, are faithfully preached in the pulpits, and are life and joy to the hearts of multitudes. Let our readers fervently pray that these interesting signs of the times may increase, and proceed to the most happy results.

We do not know that the author of these volumes, the late Dr. Jahn, was directly and personally engaged in any of the active movements to which we have referred. His living under the jealous and ruthless Austrian government, the nature of the official stations which he held, and the manner in which he discharged the duties of those stations, as is proved by his numerous published works distinguished for learning, judgment, and extensive research, scarcely allow of such a supposition. But it is abundantly manifest that he did much, very much, to help forward the cause of enlightened Christian knowledge, by his contributions to the advancement of Scripture studies. Dr. Jahn was, for many years, professor of oriental languages and of doctrinal theology, in the University of Vienna, and afterwards first canon of the Metropolitan Church of St. Stephen, in that city. He died at the age of sixty-six, in 1816. The serious and reverential spirit with which he treats religious subjects, places him in an advantageous distinction from the arrogantly styled Rationalists of Protestant Germany; and the comprehensiveness, independence, and impartiality of his investigations, must have been perfectly disagreeable to a thorough-going Papist. It is no wonder if his writings have been put under the ban of prohibition at Rome; which we have some reason to believe to be the case. The principal of his works are, a Hebrew, a Chaldee, and an Arabic Grammar; a Chaldee Chrestomathy; a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, in four volumes; Introduction to the Divine Books of the Old Testament, two volumes, or, more properly, four, according to the division of parts; Manual of the Rules of Scripture Interpretation; Bible Archeology, three volumes, and a Latin Compendium of the same, in a single volume; besides various Dissertations on Scriptural Topics, and the work which we now introduce to the attention of our readers. It has been translated by the Rev. C. E. Stowe, late of the Theological Seminary of Andover, in New England; and is now reprinted, without any indication of further editorship, by London booksellers. We deeply lament that the invaluable productions of the Andover Theological School cannot be had, in the way of regular purchase, in Great Britain. Stray copies find their way among us, and are held as sealed treasures by their possessors; but our theological students, and the public in general, cannot obtain them. This is a great disadvantage to us; and one of its effects is, the reprinting of some of the works which we so desire, by English or Irish booksellers, merely as matters of trade, and without any guarantee for

care and accuracy. Thus, also, the original authors, Dr. Woods, Mr. Stuart, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Robinson, and their associates, are deprived of whatever pecuniary advantage might accrue from British sale, to which they are well entitled, though it would be far short of a compensation for their selfdenying and most arduous labours.

Mr. Stuart has written a preface to this translation, a few words from which will best characterize the work.

"The Christian religion is built upon the Jewish. The Christian Scriptures are intimately connected with the Jewish sacred books; and they cannot be understood and explained, except by means of them. The words of the New Testament are Greek; but its idioms, its costume, its manner of thought and reasoning, its allusions, in short, the tout ensemble of it, is Jewish; nor can these ever be duly understood by any person who is ignorant of the Jewish nation, its laws, and history.

"The design of the principal part of the present volume is to impart a succinct and critically arranged History of the Hebrews. We have no book in our language which does this in such a manner as to satisfy the wants of a critical student at the present time. The works of Shuckford and Prideaux, which, in respect to learning, may be mentioned with approbation, particularly the latter, are so copious, and contain so much irrelevant, not to say uninteresting, matter, that the student goes through them with great toil, and with little fruit of his labour. Other books are of a popular form, and ill adapted to the wants of a critical inquirer.

"JAHN has bestowed great pains and labour on the following work. None of his numerous publications give higher evidence of critical research than the present. The labour bestowed in harmonising the various accounts of persons and occurrences contained the Old Testament, is, in itself, great and useful and that bestowed on the prophecies contained in the sacred volume, in order to exhibit the fulfilment of them, the student will find to be valuable.

"Besides a regular and continuous History of the Jews, Jahn has also given a succinct account of all the other nations connected with them; so that the student may regard the present book as containing an epitome of the Ancient History of Western Asia and of Eastern Europe.

"I would urge it upon every theological student, in a particular manner, to make himself familiar with this work throughout."

After these opinions, from an authority so competent as that of Professor Moses Stuart, no further recommendation is necessary.

We have observed some errors, which seem to have proceeded upon system, but which cannot have come from the translator; and which must, therefore, have been the ima

gined emendations of either the American or the English printer: such as substituting the diphthongal E for the two vowels, when they form distinct syllables, Esdrælon for Esdraelon; Michalis, for Michaelis; also, Chalda-Babylonian, for Chaldæo• Babylonian; and Ptolomey for Ptolemy.

The author follows the common representation, that Sennacherib was assassinated soon after his ignominious flight from Jerusalem. (vol. I. p. 145.) It was impossible that he Icould be acquainted with the remarkable evidence, (brought to light by the recently discovered Armenian version of the Chronicon of Eusebius,) that Sennacherib lived, and performed important transactions, in Western Asia, through several years after the miraculous destruction of his army. A minute statement of the remarkable bringing to light of this portion of ancient history, may be seen in one of the notes to the new edition of Dr. Pye Smith's Discourse on Prophetic Interpretation.

There is, at the close of this work, an Index of Prophecies Illustrated. This is useful; but we much regret that there is not also a complete index of subjects. Such an appendage would be an important benefit to the reader. This English edition is printed in a clear and handsome manner.

THE ABOLITIONIST; or Notices of Colonial Slavery, with a view to its Extinction. Edited by a Sub-Committee of the Edinburgh Anti-Slavery Society, Nos. I., II., and III.

THE Edinburgh Anti-Slavery Committee have, at length, buckled on their armour, and taken the field in earnest. The succinct, yet clear and comprehensive, views of colonial slavery, contained in the pamphlet before us, cannot fail to make a deep impression in Scotland; where, we trust, the Committee are scattering them by thousands. None can regret more than we do, the recent commotions in the West Indies. But, though they afflict, they do not surprise us. They are the necessary consequence of the light which, in spite of every barrier, is daily breaking more and more brightly on the mind of the negro; and they who imagine that slavery, under any form, can long exist in our colonies, are shutting their eyes against conviction. Unless full and speedy justice be rendered to the slave by the British legislature, he will decide the matter himself, and that by physical force. If he be not emancipated by us, he will emancipate himself; and then woe to his oppressor !

Such are our views of this momentous question; and they correspond with those of the Edinburgh Committee. Our northern friends do not blink the question. They state the matter fairly, openly, and strongly; as the following extracts from the third number

will prove. We trust that such statements will not be made, nor such arguments used in vain. The present era is pregnant with events; and one of these, we feel assured, is the abolition of Negro slavery.

"If colonial slavery were a system which had sprung up in our own day, no argument would be necessary to convince our countrymen of its horrors. If, with our present views of personal and political freedom, we had seen a British navy set sail from Portsmouth or Plymouth, proceed to the coast of Africa, and thence carry off some thousands of the unoffending natives, for the purpose of selling them into permanent bondage in the West Indies, a torrent of indignation would have burst forth from every part of the United Kingdom; and liberty to the oppressed, and death or expatriation to the oppressors, would have been loudly demanded.

"And is the injustice of retaining these poor Africans in bondage one whit less palpable, because twenty-five years have elapsed since the last of their number was borne across the Atlantic? Because men, who never injured us, were reduced to slavery, through our apathy or connivance, at the age of twenty, does that circumstance render it just and equitable to retain them in bondage because they have now reached the age of forty-five? Or if, in the course of nature, or through hardship and oppression, very many of the originally imported slaves are numbered with the dead, does the fact of their having died in that state of servitude, to which they were cruelly and iniquitously reduced by Britons, render it just and equi table that their children should be kept in bondage? Most assuredly not. And granting, for the sake of argument, (what, in point of fact, we deny) that the length of time, during which the Negro population of our colonies have been subjected to slavery, had made them unfit for freedom and unable to appreciate its blessings, would that form a reason for prolonging their servitude? Again we answer, assuredly not; since, by our opponents' own showing, the longer they were kept in bondage, the less fitted would they be for liberty.

"Let it not be supposed, then, that because we have undertaken to draw aside the veil, which the planters and their hireling advocates have thrown over the state of the negroes in our colonies, we concede the question of equity even for a moment. On the contrary, our object in exposing the utter hollowness of the professions, made by the colonists, of a desire to prepare the negroes

for liberty, is to convince our countrymen that nothing effectual ever will be done towards this end, by those whose interest it is (or, what is the same thing, who imagine it to be their interest) to thwart the benevolent wishes of the British people; and to counteract, while they hypocritically profess to

forward the enlightened views of the British government." pp. 17, 18.

"Such, then, is another feature of that revolting system, to uphold which, the inhabitants of this country are assessed to the amount of three millions annually, either in the form of direct taxation, or in that of bounties and protecting duties. Such is another feature of the system which, but for the presence of British soldiers, and the connivance of a British parliament, could not exist for an hour. It forms the foulest spot on the page of our country's history, and the time is now arrived when it must be wiped away. Reason recommends, religion pleads for, humanity demands its abolition. The inhabitants of this country have talked of slavery so long, that they have actually become insensible to its horrors. They have been so habituated to pay the price of maintaining it, that they have ceased to grudge the unnatural impost. But there is a spirit abroad among the nations of the earth, which is alike hostile to slavery in all its ramifications. That spirit has breathed over our country also, and awakened an echo in every British heart. The apathy with which we have looked on our own political privations, has given place to an enthusiasm in the cause of liberty. Nor is it to be believed that now, when so completely roused to the assertion of their own rights as Britons and as freemen, the inhabitants of this country will look tamely on, while the Negro, WHO IS ALSO A BRITISH SUBJECT, is robbed at once of his political and his natural rights.

"The time, we repeat, is now come when slavery must be abolished. Nor let the timid philanthropist imagine that by its abolition the slightest injury will be done to any one. Monstrous as the system is, and loud and frenzied though its advocates may be, there is no one benefited by upholding it, but the hireling champions of a venal press. As a nation, we are not benefited. On the contrary, we are taxed to a grievous amount for the maintenance of the system; while hundreds of brave men annually fall victims to the climate, whose place, under other circumstances, might be advantageously occupied by native troops. The planters are not benefited. This we fearlessly assert; else why the frequent bankruptcy, and the still more frequent mortgage? Why, if the system be a good one, the frequent change of proprietorship in the colonies? why the protecting duty, and the loud and bitter complaint that all will not do? It is unnecessary to add, that the Negro is not benefited. Defrauded of his birthright, fettered to the soil, and borne down to the earth by labour, and famine, and insult, and oppression, what can he lose by the abolition of slavery? While we, as a nation, will be relieved from intolerable burdens, (intolerable, because unnecessary, and doubly intolerable because

ministering to tyranny and injustice,) and while the planter will be enriched by the willing labour of a happy and flourishing peasantry, in room of a sullen and rebellious slave population, the Negro will be raised to the level of his species; restored to his rights as a man, a husband, and a parent; and protected alike in the enjoyment of his political privileges, and the exercise of his religious duties. Is there any man deserving of the name of Briton, who can look forward to such a state of things, and not hope to see it realized! Is there any man deserving of the name of Christian, who will not, with us, put his shoulder to the wheel, and assist in the cause of Negro emancipation ?" pp. 21 -23.

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Edinburgh, William Oliphant. Next to spiritual communion with our God and Saviour, the reciprocations of Christian friendship present the purest source of enjoyment, of which our nature is capable; and if such friendship have been formed in early life, before the warmer feelings of the heart have been chilled by disappointment and ingratitude, it will often glow with an ardour which absence only serves to fan, and distance to hallow. It is in the mutual and unrestrained interchange of sentiment, whether in conversation or correspondence, to which such friendship gives rise, that the heart feels itself drawn out, as it were, to commune with a kindred spirit; and we feel a foretaste of that more exalted enjoyment which we have reason to believe shall accompany the fellowship of the saints in heaven.

We are aware that there are some very estimable persons, whose natural temperament is so little liable to excitement, even from the most hallowed sources, that they will be ready to characterize the sentiments, which we have expressed, as bordering on romance. Be it so. We nevertheless know that there are many who have felt all that we have stated; and we believe that there are not a few who, in the want of such a communion of feeling and of interest, have experienced not a little of that spiritual desolation expressed by the Psalmist when he said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest.”

It is to such a friendship, pure, ardent, and spiritual, that this volume owes its origin. In our Magazine for March, 1830, we inserted a brief memoir of the Rev. Matthias Bruen, of New York; and we then stated, among other incidents which marked his brief career, that he visited Europe in 1816, in company with his friend and preceptor, the Rev. Dr. Mason. During that visit he became, for a season, the guest of a clergy

man of the church of Scotland; and having met, under his roof, with a spirit congenial to his own, an intimacy commenced, which terminated only with his life. One of the fruits of that intimacy was a frequent, confidential, and animated correspondence, out of which, with the occasional aid of other friends, the narrative before us has been constructed. Though compiled in Scotland, it was originally published in America, but is now reprinted in Edinburgh, under the superintendence of the author; and we are mistaken if it meet not with a rapid sale.

The Character presented to us, in these pages, is one of singular interest. Possessed of a cultivated mind, and placed in easy circumstances, he early devoted himself to the cause of his Redeemer, willing at once to spend and to be spent in a service so noble. Of this a striking proof was given on the occasion of his first visit to Europe, already alluded to. The objects of his tour had been accomplished; he had seen Britain, France, and Italy; had laid in a stock of renovated health, and had actually taken his passage home, when he received a pressing invitation to become the pastor of an infant church in Paris, accompanied by the candid avowal that perhaps they should be unable to pay him for his services. After a brief struggle he consented, was ordained in London, and proceeded to Paris. The congregation, among whom he continued to labour while there was any prospect of usefulness, consisted chiefly of his countrymen, and a few English residents in the French capital. His labours were in some measure blessed; and an affecting account is given of the death-bed of an American lady, to whom he appears to have been eminently useful. The fluctuating nature of his congregation, however, discouraged him; and, in 1819, he returned to America.

In his native country he found an ample field of usefulness opened up to him. After preaching in various places, and acting for a season as secretary to the Domestic Missionary Society, he gradually collected around him a congregation of his own, over whom he was ordained pastor by the Presbytery of New York, and among whom he laboured till his death, in 1829.

Valuable and interesting as the materials are, out of which this volume is constructed, there is an additional charm thrown over it by the kindred spirit under whose auspices it is given to the public. Although the compiler has endeavoured to make Mr. Bruen as much as possible his own biographer, yet there were links in the chain of narrative to be connected, and occasional gaps to be filled up, all which has been done in the same elegant and pious manner in which his own letters are composed. We have often had cause to regret that, in the portrait presented to us of a departed friend, the features

merely of the individual were exhibited, the life and spirit of the original being absent. Here, however, there is no such ground of complaint. Mr. Bruen lives in the memoir before us; and it impossible, we think, for any genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus to rise from its perusal, without having his faith strengthened, his hope animated, and his charity enlarged, by the beautiful display of Christian principle which pervades it. We particularly recommend it to our young friends in the ministry, and would say to them in parting, as Paul said to the Corinthian brethren, "Be ye followers of him, even as he also was of Christ."

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Ir was our happiness to be well acquainted with the interesting subject of this memoir. We had an opportunity of observing her character in the day of health and prosperity; and we heard her joyful testimony to the truth in the hour of languor and sickness. She was, indeed, a delightful instance of the power of religion in early life,of the sweetness and fragrance which it sheds over the loveliest portion of our being. The memorials of this young lady, which have been preserved, are more numerous than could have been expected, considering her extreme youth; and the value of them will be deeply felt by all who will take the trouble to examine them. She is left to speak for herself; and it is in a language which bespeaks equal sensibility and devotion. We thank Dr. Cox for such a valuable addition to the stock of our juvenile biography. He has well disposed materials, which, under less favourable auspices, could not have failed to interest and to improve the heart.

THE BIBLE-SOCIETY QUESTION, in its principle and in its details, considered, in a series of letters, addressed, by permission, to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Salisbury. By the REV. SAMUEL CHARLES WILKS, M. A. 8vo. pp. 144.

Cochran and Key, Strand; and J. Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly.

We have read this elaborate defence of the British and Foreign Bible Society with extraordinary feelings of delight. Though it is only extended to a hundred and forty-four pages, it contains matter sufficient to fill a large octavo volume. It is altogether worthy of the fine sense and genuine piety of its

VOL X.

author. No part of the great question at issue is omitted. Ancient and modern objections are thoroughly met; and the unhappy men who have endeavoured to blight the noblest human institution of which our country boasts, are dealt with in that spirit of honest remonstrance and exposure which becomes the champion of truth. To say that Mr. Wilks has the better of the argument, is saying very little; he has absolutely demolished every pretence set up by the antagonist party. The contents of the volume are as follow-Preliminary Letter-The Question Opened-The Principle of the Bible Society -Inquiry into the lawfulness of the Society's Principle-Inquiry into the expediency of the Society's Principle-Case of SociniansCase of Roman Catholics-Oral Prayer-The Question of the Apocrypha-Patronizing exceptionable Versions-Alleged annexation of Notes and exceptionable headings-Alleged exceptionable Agency, Foreign and Domestic -Concluding Observations. We venture to predict that this volume will be remembered when the Trinitarian Society is in its grave.

THE SUBSTANCE OF FOUR DISCOURSES ON "THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES," particularly considered, as preached on the Sabbaths of Nov. 13 and 20, 1831, at the Independent Chapel, Stansted, Essex. By JoSIAN RED

FORD.

R. Baynes.

Ir is a circumstance worthy of notice, that the exigency of the times has called forth many able and interesting publications, well calculated to give a right direction to the public mind. Among these publications the one before us holds a very respectable place, and deserves a wide circulation. It is a pious and faithful appeal to the people of this country, and especially to Christians, on a vast variety of topics, which may be justly said to constitute the signs of the times. At the very moderate price of one shilling it will, we trust, realize an extensive sale.

THE LAWS OF CHRIST; being a complete digest of all the precepts comtained in the New Testament, with comments and devout meditations on each topic of duty: arranged for the daily perusal of the Christian in his closet. By JOSEPH TURNBULL, A. B., Minister of the Gospel. 12mo. pp. 383.

Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

The plan of this volume seems to us original. We have seen nothing precisely like it, and we doubt if there be any volume in our language which resembles it. It is the result of a happy conception, and will prove an acceptable addition to the class of books adapted to private and domestic reading. The

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