suspect that but few men possess. If we cannot sympathise with the author in all his speculations, if we are sometimes shocked with principles which seem to us to overstep the modesty of truth, we admire his courage, his high anticipations, and his unshaken faith in the overruling providence of God. He is very far from preaching the "philosophy of despair."

A Biographical Dictionary, comprising a summary account of the most Distinguished Persons of all Ages, Nations, and Professions, including more than two thousand articles of American Biography. By REV. JOHN L. BLAKE, D. D., author of Encyclopedia of Useful Knowledge, Daily Scripture Readings, Farmers' Every Day Book, Farm and Fireside, and Home in the Country. Philadelphia: H. Cowperthwait & Co. 1857.

"This work was first published in 1836, and it contained 1096 pages royal octavo. The calculation was made at the time, that it comprised 10,000 different articles, of which more than 1000 were of American biography. Twelve editions of it have been published. The last one was in 1854. Of the numerous notices and reviews of the work, and of letters re. lating to it, only one is known to have been otherwise than commendatory; and that one was supposed to have been induced by an individual who had a rival interest. The author has been engaged more than three years in collecting and arranging material to enlarge the work; mainly in bringing in sketches of distinguished persons who have died since 1836; but a few others have been prepared of such as were then accidentally or unavoidably omitted. The whole number of new articles thus introduced, amount to about 2400; 1000 of these are American Biography, the others mostly European; 30 of parties who died in 1856; 102 of them of persons that died in 1855; 95 in 1854; 93 in 1853; 85 in 1852; 80 in 1851; 84 in 1850; 62 in 1849; 55 in 1848; 60 in 1846; and the others about equally divided in the ten preceding years. Of the American articles, 22 are of persons that belong to the State of Maine; 37 to New Hampshire; 30 to Vermont; 100 to Massachusetts; 30 to Rhode Island; 46 to Connecticut; 112 to New York; 31 to New Jersey; 74 to Pennsylvania; 30 to Maryland; 55 to Virginia; 41 to North Carolina; 35 to South Carolina; 20 to Georgia; 18 to Louisiana; 15 to Tennessee; 18 to Kentucky; 50 to Ohio; 15 to Indiana; and the remainder in less numbers, to the other States. Of the new articles of American biography, 145 are of clergymen; 168 of lawyers; 65 of physicians; 60 of merchants; 25 of mechanics; 24 of booksellers and publishers; 30 of printers and editors; 50 of farmers and planters; 80 of authors; 15 of foreign missionaries; 120 are designated as statesmen; 80 as scientific, literary, or classical professors; 20 are of manufacturers; 28 of officers of the American Navy; 60 of officers of the American Army; and about 100 of judicial or executive magistrates. It is apparent that in many instances the same individual comes into different classifications; to wit, lawyers may be statesmen and magistrates, and clergymen and physicians may be professors and authors.

"About 400 articles of the Foreign biography have been compiled from the Gentleman's Magazine; 80 from the Encyclopedia of Universal Biography,

London, 1854; about the same number from the London Hand-Book of Universal Biography; and the rest from Rose's Biographical Dictionary, in 12 volumes, and the British periodicals. The foreign articles are also enriched with many names of booksellers and publishers.

"Over 100 articles of the American biography have been compiled from the American Almanac; 50 from the American Encyclopedia; but the most of the articles, or about 800, are from correspondents, the periodical press, funeral sermons, and other miscellaneous sources. Among the articles of American biography are philanthropists, who contributed, it is believed, not less than ten millions of dollars to public literary, scientific, and humane purposes. The author has aimed to collect the names of persons in the business and producing classes-those who cause national wealth, and give perpetuity to our public institutions-working men-thinking men-though without scholastic education and conventional rank in society. It is particularly designed for editors, professional men, teachers, and general readers."

Such are the claims of this work as set forth by its publishers. It is a book of intrinsic merit, and will be a valuable manual to the general reader who wishes to know something of the men whose names are mentioned in the records of the past. It is probably less complete in some departments of ancient biography than Lempiiere. But a selection must be made to reduce a work of this kind to moderate dimensions. The. biographical dictionary of names mentioned in the Greek and Roman writers only, down to the period of the fall of Constantinople, as edited by Smith, extends to three heavy and closely printed octavos. The dictionary of Dr. Blake is rich in American biography, and as such, is especially interesting to our own citizens, and to all whe desire information concerning the men of this country.

The Doctrine of Baptisms: Scriptural Examination of the questions respecting, I. The Translation of Baptizo, II. The mode of Baptism, III. The subjects of Baptism. By GEO. D. ARMSTRONG, D. D., Pastor of the Presbyterian church in Norfolk, Va. New York: Charles Scribner, 377 and 379 Broadway. 1857. pp. 322, 12mo. Writers on Baptism have too often deformed their pages with dogmatism, and ill-tempered personalities We do not remember that we have ever read a book on this subject more free from such blemishes. It is throughout a dignified, calm, clear, able, and convincing exposition of the whole subject of Baptism, as set forth in the Scrip. tures, as to its import, mode, and subjects. There is learning without the show of learning, fairness of argument, candid examination of the views of those of an opposite faith, and a satisfactory vindication of the doctrine enter tained by the Presbyterian church, and common to them and other Protestant communions which practise infant baptism. As to the meaning of baptizo when used in the Scriptures as a religious or sacred term, he regards it as

nearly equivalent with the term to purify, though more special and limited; that it is used in a technic sense of the rite of admission to the visible church, in a literal sense of consecration, in a spiritual sense of regeneration. He holds that "to translate the Greek baptizo in the Word of God, by the Eng lish words to dip or immerse, or in any other language, by words corresponding to our English words dip or immerse, is to mistranslate the word of God." As to the mode, he says, "The conclusion in this whole matter, to which we come, is

1. That there is nothing in the meaning of the word baptizo, nor in the emblematic import of the rite of baptism, to authorize the belief that any particular mode of applying water to the person of the baptized, is essential to the validity of baptism.

2. While we cannot determine, with absolute certainty, whether sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, was the mode of baptism practised in the days of the Apostles, immersion is the least probable of the three.

3. To require immersion in order to admission to the church of God, is to infringe upon that liberty wherewith Christ hath made his people free, to teach for doctrine the commandments of men."

There are a few

But we cannot follow the author through his arguments. interpretations contained in the book to which we are not prepared as yet to yield our assent, but to any one afflicted with doubts, or desirous of reviewing the entire subject, it will be found a pleasant and valuable guide.

Plantation Sermons, or Plain and Familiar Discourses for the instruction of the unlearned. By the Rev. A. F. DICKSON, of Charleston, South Carolina. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication. pp. 170.

Hazael, or Know Thyself. By Rev. A. F. DICKSON, Charleston, S. C. American Sunday School Union. pp. 106.

The first of these volumes has been some time before the public, but we have not enjoyed the opportunity of noticing it before. Its practical utility for the purposes for which it was designed has been well tested by experiment. Happy the man who is, not in pretence only, but in truth, "a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes."

The character of Hazael, with a description of which the second of the volumes above mentioned opens, affords the author an occasion of revealing the subterfuges of the unbelieving heart, and arousing it from its spiritual torpor. The style of Mr. Dickson is full of life, point, and rapid movement. He paints with a quick but graphic pencil, moves onward to his object, not with a stately march, but with a cheerful, fervid alacrity. Such a book is well adapted to rouse the most lethargic from their slumbers.

Sinai and Palestine, in connection with their History. By ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, M. A. Canon of Canterbury. With Maps and Plans. Redfield: New York. 1857. Pp. 535, 8vo.

The author of this work is well known to the English public by his "Life of Dr. Arnold" and "Bishop Stanley," and more recently by his Critical Commentary on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. In all these writings he has displayed his learning, taste, and powers of analysis and description. "Sinai and Palestine," to a large extent, is the fruit of the author's own observation. The winter of 1852 and the spring of 1853 was spent by him in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. It is an attempt to illustrate the relation between the History and the Geography of the Chosen People,"to point out how much or how little the Bible gains by being seen, so to speak, through the eyes of the country, or the country by being seen through the eyes of the Bible." It is an attempt "so to delineate the outward events of the Old and New Testament, as that they should come home with a new power" to the mind, "so to bring out their inward.spirit that the more complete realization of their outward form should not degrade, but exalt the faith of which they are the vehicle." It gives interest to the sacred Scriptures, when the reader can transport himself to the scenes of the events recorded, when he can picture around him, the mountains, wadys, cities, villages, forests, and plains, in which they occurred, when he can trace the boundaries of the tribes as given in the book of Joshua, "The Domesday Book of the Conquest of Canaan," when the earliest records of Christianity, "a perpetual narrative of journeyings to and fro, by lake and mountain, over sea and land, that belongs to the history of no other creed," are illustrated by his knowledge of the physical geography of the Holy Land. The book before us, will assist the student of the Scriptures to do all this. The Maps have been framed, not only with the purpose of giving the physical features of the country, but the actual colouring which meets the eye of the traveller at the present time.

Villas and Cottages: A Series of Designs prepared for execution in the United States. By CALVERT VAUX, Architect, late Downing & Vaux. Newburgh on the Hudson, Illustrated by 300 Engravings. 1857.-This beautiful book, printed on fine paper, and with large type, if it should have the same effect upon others which a cursory examination of its various designs has produced upon ourselves, may tempt to serious encroachments upon the tenth commandment. We had not the slightest suspicion that our

house was so inconvenient and uncomfortable, until we saw the plans of others. This book has revealed to us wants of which we never dreamed before, and we think it would be nothing more than a just penalty on the artist, that he should be required to appease the dissatisfaction he has created. We are sorry, considering the state of our finances, that we ever saw the book. "If ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

Jehovah's Gracious Appeal to the Young: A Sermon, on occasion of the death of Thomas James Earle, of Aberdeen, a member of the Sophomore Class of the University of Missississippi, preached in the Presbyterian Church of Oxford, Mississippi, December 7th, 1856. By JOHN H. WADDEL, D. D., Professor of the Greek Language and Literature.

An earnest, affectionate, and faithful appeal to the students of his charge, under affecting circumstances, by their revered instructor. It is the first production of the author's pen it has been our privilege to read, and reveals the sources of that power over the affections and consciences of his youthful hearers of which we have often heard from their lips.

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We are gratified to note the increasing interest with which the study of logic is regarded in this country. We have before us, three recent treatises by American writers, which indicate a decided advance beyond the old textbooks which were in use in our schools and colleges. The first is, Elements of Logic, together with an Introductory View of Philosophy in general, by HENRY P. TAPPAN; D. Appleton & Co. The second is, an Elementary Treatise on Logic, by W. D. WILSON, D. D., a Professor in the Hobart Free College, Geneva, Western New York; same Publishers. The third is, the Science of Logic, by Rev. ASA MAHAN; A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. They all possess merit, but an articulate criticism would require an extended article which we hope soon to be able to furnish.

Early History of the University of Virginia, as contained in the letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell, hitherto unpublished with an Appendix consisting of Mr. Jefferson's Bill for a complete system of education, and other illustrative documents, and an Introduction comprising a brief historical sketch of the University,