first sight with a fine figure. This only is the beauty which allures me, if she is chaste, if not too nice or fastidious, if economical, if patient, if there is hope that she will be interested about my health; therefore, if you think well of it, set out immediately, lest some one else get beforehand with you." (Vol. I, p. 117.) Farel and Bucer displayed the utmost zeal in their matrimonial plots in behalf of their friend, and the next year after the foregoing passage was written, the marriage of Calvin took place, being effected principally by the management of Bucer.

We shall look with much interest for the remainder of this edition. The external appearance of the volumes is such as becomes a work of enduring value.

Professor Schaff's History of the Apostolic Church* has been laid on our table; but the work has become too well known to require criticism. We had occasion in the last number of the New Englander, in the Articles on Presbyterianism in America, and on the American Student in Germany, to do justice to the eminent merits of the Author. The present volume is much the most elaborate of his productions. The object of it is similar to that of Neander's Planting and Training of the Church, and of several other works of the same general character, which have appeared of late in Germany. Professor Schaff has prefixed, however, to his work a hundred pages of Introduction to Church History, involving a very interesting, and in the main, trustworthy sketch of the theological parties in his native country. Besides this, he has given us, in nearly as many pages, an account of the Preparation for Christianity in Judaism and Heathenism, resembling the opening passage in Neander's General History of the Church. Afterwards, he traces in five sections or Books, the Founding, Spread and Persecution of the Church; Moral and Religious Life; Government of the Church; Worship; and Doctrine and Theology. In the last chapter but one, we have an examination of the types of Christianity set forth by the different Apostles; and at the end, an enumeration of the heretical tendencies discernible in the Apostolic age. Without doubt, works like this, are exerting a highly beneficial influence in giving freshness to the New Testament, and breadth to our theological views. There is no fear of evil results, unless the student content himself with a superficial

* History of the Apostolic Church, with a General Introduction to Church History. By PHILIP SCHAFF, Professor in the Theological Seminary, at Mercersburg, Pa. Translated by Edward D. Yeomans. New York: Charles Scribner. 1857.

study of the subject. But in case he does not go deep enough to discern the profound unity in the doctrine and spirit of the Apostles, coexisting with variety, he will not unlikely declare himself for one of them, against the others; and repeat the scene at Corinth, where one of the church was for Paul and another for Cephas. He will also be betrayed into a flippant, irreverent handling of the Sacred Scriptures. Examples of this foolish shallowness, we have more than once met with.

The Select Sermons of the venerable John Tauler look well in the quaint type in which they are printed by the American publishers, who, in this point, have accurately copied the English edition.* It is enough to say of the translation that it was done by Miss Susanna Winkworth, the accomplished lady to whom the public is indebted for faithful and elegant versions of the Theologia Germanica, and other religious works. Professor R. D. Hitchcock, who furnishes the preface to the American reprint, briefly points out, in an effective manner, the advantages to flow from the reading of Tauler and the mystics of his school, who paved the way for the Reformation. Then follows the translator's account of what she has done in selecting the materials for the volume; also, a preface by Rev. Charles Kingsley; then, "the History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler;" and finally a long, well-written notice, by the Translator, of his Life and Times. The Sermons are twentyseven in number, and pertain mostly to self-renunciation in some of its forms, and the fellowship with Christ. Besides their inherent worth, these discourses and the works of the other "friends of God" in the mediæval time, deserve attention, not only as having been the seed of the Reformation, but also as bringing to light the piety that existed amidst all the corruptions of the Papal Church. Protestants are too apt to seek for true Christianity before the rise of Protestantism, in some isolated fraction, like the Waldenses, to the exclusion of the Cathclic Church itself. But even the darkest ages were not without many beams of light, and before Luther was converted, there were teachers of evangelical doctrine, and examples of Christian life, which he was quite glad to honor.

A treatise on Systematic Theology, in these days, is so great a novelty that the work of Dr. Breckinridge might be expected, independently of

* The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler, of Strasbourg; with twenty-five of his Sermons, &c., &c. New York: Wiley & Halsted.

1858.

its merits, to draw the notice of the religious public.* The method which he has adopted of handling Theology objectively, as mere knowledge, apart "from its intimate and transforming effects upon man," has not been strictly carried out.

It is possible to unfold the subject of Redemption in such a way that God, Man, together with the Person and Work of the Redeemer, shall be considered, while the application of Redemption to the individual in his conversion and salvation, is omitted. But our Author has undertaken to present not only the doctrine of Salvation, but the whole of Theology, in a purely objective light. Does he not depart from his plan, in B. IV, for example, where one of the topics is, "God manifest in the conscious existence of Man: God the Maker and Renewer of the Human Soul?" Does he not use the term "objective" and "subjective" in a sense not entirely clear and uniform? But admitting his primary division of the Science, he falls into some confusion by discussing Man, before he treats of God. He is thus obliged, in the first Book which exclusively concerns Man, to introduce a chapter on the Divine Interposition to save him, and an inquiry into the existence of God. The whole of the Second Book is occupied with the Mediator;—a topic which presupposes, likewise, a knowledge of both the parties between whom He mediates. At length, in the Third Book, he enters upon the doctrine concerning God. His Third Book should have preceded both the others, and have comprehended the passages which he had to insert in them, in anticipation of the Third Book, and in consequence of its wrong position. Again,-why does our Author defer an inquiry into our Sources of Knowledge relative to God, until Book IV? Such an investigation should stand at the beginning. It is properly the Preface, not the Sequel, to the chapters on the Divine Being. Dr. Breckinridge deserves credit for casting away the old methods, which are liable to serious objections, and for striking out a path for himself. We think, however, that he has not been altogether happy in working out a substitute for them. The style of the work is animated and forcible. The tone is oratorical,-reminding us, in that respect, of the Institutes of John Calvin. The phraseology is too inexact and popular for a scientific treatise. The book is wordy. There are numerous sentences which would be less sonorous, but would still be greatly im

*The Knowledge of God Objectively Considered. Being the First Part of Theology, considered as a Science of Positive Truth, both Inductive and Deductive. By ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Theology in the Seminary of Danville, Ky. New York: Carter & Brothers. 1858.

proved, if half of the epithets were erased. The pages read more like a lively harangue than a calm disquisition; more like a sermon than a theological text-book. We judge that the Author is pretty well acquainted with the current English theology; but his reading, as it would appear, has not extended further. As he does not contribute discoveries in Mental Philosophy, or original arguments in defense of the Faith, it strikes us as singular that he should have felt called upon to compose the present volume. We have looked with curiosity to see what elucidation would be afforded of Original Sin, and other controverted themes; but we have found the propositions indefinite. The Professor often contents himself with a vague, general statement, where we have a right to expect a precise formula. For the reasons which have been indicated, no great value belongs to this treatise, regarded as a contribution to Theology. It contains, however, a large amount of important truth, and being written with fervor, may be useful to many who have no occasion for a more learned and strictly philosophical manual.

The interesting and valuable work of Dr. M'Cosh, on Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation,* was written in the interest of Natural Theology. It is well known that a certain class of eminent students of Nature, have availed themselves of the conception of types, in order to facilitate the classifications of Natural History, as well as to aid in restoring from fossil remains, species that are now extinct. Among the most conspicuous of these is the distinguished Prof. Owen, who, following in the footsteps of Cuvier, has bestowed unwearied attention upon what may be called the ideal or normal structure of the skeleton of vertebrate animals. Each species is shown to have similar parts and appendages, which are so far alike as to indicate a unity of type, while yet they differ according to the special functions of each. Thus the arm of man, the fin of the fish, the trowel-like hand of the mole, the flapper of many sea monsters, are alike in a common structure or type, while they are very unlike as adapted to special ends.

Guided by this clue, and excited by this suggestion, naturalists have sought types in the remaining kingdoms of nature, and tracing the varying, yet harmonious forms and structures of each subordinate species have found their attention directed to the special ends and

Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation. By Rev. JAMES M'Cosн, LL. D., and GEORGE DICKIE, A. M., M. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1857. 8vo. pp. 539.

functions of each. Thus in the tree there is a general type that is common to all—a subordinate type for each species, that is traced in the similarity between the division of its branches and the woody network of its leaf, and even in its flower and fruit.

The authors of this work have gathered from the various departments of Natural History, Geology, and Psychology, the most striking examples of Types and special ends, for the purpose of impressing the reader with the great fact that this created universe is in all its features and adaptations a cosmos of order and beauty, in each and all of which are to be read the thoughts of its Creator.

We know no single volume that is so fraught with rich and copious material of this sort. It was a happy thought which suggested its preparation. We fear that adequate justice has not been done to it by the American public,-that it has not attracted the attention from Theologians and Naturalists which the subject and the skill with which the subject has been treated, both require.

A full exposition of the principles of that class of persons who hold that the souls of impenitent men are at last annihilated, is given in the recent work of Mr. C. F. HUDSON.* He lays down the propositions that the soul is not naturally immortal, after its fall from holiness, but that immortality is procured by Christ and given to believers; and that the Scriptural passages which relate to future retribution, mean no more than that the wicked are forever deprived of existence. We cannot see that the Author succeeds in establishing either of these positions. His principal arguments rest on what appears to us an unwarranted literalism, in the interpretation of the words life and death, and the cognate terms of so frequent occurrence in the Bible. It is impossible to sustain that method of interpretation in the case of most of the passages where sin is coupled with death, and faith or holiness with life. Spiritual death, in the case of sinners here, is spoken of as a state in which they “walk;" in which they are possessed of all their rational powers, and often exert them, as we see, with terrible energy. There is nothing to justify the conclusion that in the next world, the same conscious activity will not continue, even though the wicked are there cut off from the sources of happiness which they here enjoyed. Besides, the Bible does not confine itself to these particular words, but employs a varied style of expression to describe the sufferings of the ungodly. Were it possible to get rid of

* Debt and Grace, as related to the Doctrine of a Future Life. By C. F. HUDSON. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 1857.