LEADERS OF THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL.*-The scope and plan of this work are so well outlined on its title page that there is little else to do, in bringing it to the notice of our readers than to describe the contents and character of the work. The idea which has resulted in this compendious and interesting record of the lifework of so many leaders and confessors in the Church of God, was given forth by Dr. Piper, in 1850. At a church-diet in Stutgard, he offered as a thesis, "That the whole evangelical church in German lands is interested in forming a common roll of lives for all the days of the year, to be settled on the foundation of our common history, and thus to be made a bond of union of the churches in all the countries." This proposal was gradually carried into effect by the annual publication of a Year Book, to which eminent scholars in Europe contributed biographies of still more distinguished leaders in all ages of the church, until 365 names had been enrolled. The German churches could be able in this manner to fulfill the precept, "Remember them who have spoken unto you the word of God." Out of the whole number, Dr. McCracken has selected ninety-three persons, whose biographies he has translated. The original list contains many unknown and local names of early martyrs and missionaries, with a score or two of Bible personages already well known, so that the present abridged roll is really more useful than the complete one. To supply the deficiencies in this record of the Church Universal, whose triumphs and leaders are now world-wide, Dr. McCracken has added thirty-eight lives of the various noted men in America, and those who have set up the standard of the Cross in pagan lands. There are altogether one hundred and twenty-five biographies from the pens of eighty-two writers.

In order the better to give an idea of this work, the arrangement of the lives may be stated. The Christian era is first divided into Five Periods, each of which is sub-divided geographically so as to group the persons in a natural connection.

I. The Church's spread in the South, centuries I to V. This contains twenty lives, from Symeon of Jerusalem, to Augustine and Chrysostom.

* Lives of the Leaders of the Church Universal, from the days of the Successors of the Apostles to the present time. The lives by European writers, from the German, as edited by DR. F. PIPER, Professor of Theology in the University of Berlin. Now translated into English, with added lives by American writers, by H. M. MCCRACKEN, D.D. Phillips & Hunt, 805 Broadway, New York; and Congregagational House, Boston. 1879. 900 pp. 8vo.

This

II. The Church's spread in the North, centuries V to X. contains fourteen lives, from Patrick of Ireland, to Cyril of Slavonia.

III. The Church's Centralization, centuries XI to XV. This has also fourteen lives, from Anselm of England, to Savonarola of Italy.

IV. The Church's Reformation. The sixteenth century is all taken up with notices of twenty-four great men in Central and Northern Europe, commencing with Luther and ending with William of Orange.

V. The Church's Reformed Progress, centuries XVII to XIX. Gustavus Adolphus leads this company, which includes only a few of those good and great men who might well appear in it; but the selection is very just in bringing to the front the men whose influence has gone on increasing since their deaths. The list is divided into those who lived in Europe, numbering fifteen in all; and thirty-eight more, in later days, in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceanica. The thirty biographies of the American church leaders are distributed among the various denominations so as to show, in a lucid manner, the claims each person has on the homage and gratitude of his fellow Christians for what he did in building up the Living Temple. Ten lives are given for the leaders in the American Colonial Period of the Congregational, Presbyterian, Lutheran, German Reformed, United Brethren, and Baptist churches. Among these are:- Francis Makemie, who was imprisoned in New York for preaching Presbyterian doctrines; H. M. Muhlenberg, who led the Lutheran body by his talents and energy, down to 1787; Michael Schlatter of the Reformed German, from 1747 to 1790; Philip Otterbein of the United Brethren, from 1752 to 1813; and James Manning of the Baptists, whose ministry reached from 1763 to 1791. These early workers in our own churches deserve to be known along with their compeers of greater note; and Dr. McCracken's plan admits the lesser lights into his galaxy, as well as the greater, like Edwards, Hopkins, and Witherspoon.

The twenty lives of the American National Period are divided among twelve denominations of Protestants, so that each branch, numbering as many as five hundred parishes, has one leader at least; and those having over three thousand have three. The mission fields are represented by Egede in Greenland; Zeisberger in North America; Schwartz in India; Vanderkemp in Africa;

Martyn in Persia; Morrison in China; Judson in Burmah; and John Williams in Oceanica.

This synopsis of Dr. McCracken's book will be sufficient to show its intention. In order to ascertain its real value, our readers must judge after they have taken time to examine what we think is well worth buying. It is a chaplet of pearls in its long succession of the names of witnesses for the truth from Symeon, the son of Cleopas, a relative of the Virgin, and bishop of Jerusalem, down through the centuries to Hodge, Wilberforce, and Judson. Among the 125 names are to be found those of nine women "who labored much in the Lord," viz., Blandina and Perpetua, Monica, Hildegard of Bingen, Luther's daughter Magdalena, Renata or René of Ferrara, Anne Askew, Elizabeth Fry, and Isabella Graham. Their records show them to be worthy successors of those women who, on the morning of the resurrection, were bidden by Christ and his angel to go and tell his disciples the first messages of their risen Lord.

READER'S HANDBOOK OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.*—Mr. Winsor has undertaken in this book to direct the student of the history of the American Revolution to the sources of information on all the leading events of the war. So careful and accurate has been his work, that the references are not simply in the general, to books by their titles, leaving the reader to find for himself the portion of the book which is to be examined, but in those cases where it is unnecessary to read the whole book, to chapter and page where he will find what will be of service. To illustrate the author's method, we will select the "Events of 1777," and give the first few titles of subjects. We are told first where the "political aspects" of the year may by studied; next, the "British plan for the campaign of the year," with reference to the American, English, French, and German maps; then the evacuation of Jersey by Howe; then, the condition of affairs in Connecticut and Rhode Island; and this is followed by " Burgoyne's advance from Canada." The references to these subjects occupy nine pages, and the other subjects for 1777 take up thirty-two additional pages.

Mr. Winsor gives au intimation that he may follow this volume with others of a similar character covering themes of history, *The Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution, 1761-1783; by JUSTIN WINSOR, the Librarian of Harvard University. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1880. 12mo, pp. 328. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

biography, travel, philosophy, science, literature, and art. When we remember "the reciprocal influences, the broadening effect the quickened interest, which arise from a comparison of sources and authorities," we shall understand the obligations of all students to Mr. Winsor for this volume, and for those which he may yet prepare.

JULES VERNE'S TRAVELS AND TRAVELLERS.* - This famous French author appears here in a new rôle; and yet the subject which he has chosen, though plain matter of fact, can have had hardly less charm to him than those which have made his works of fiction such favorites with the public. What can be more interesting in fictitious story than the true narrative of the life of such a man as Marco Polo-and of all the great travellers from Herodotus to the days of the discovery of our own continent? The book is not only one to interest young people, and one which will serve to while away an idle hour, but it will be found valuable for reference. It is beautifully illustrated.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. DELANCY.-The readers of the Memoir of Baroness Bunsen, which has of late become so widely popular, are placed under obligations to Miss Woolsey for the preparation of this revised edition of the autobiography of Mrs. Delancy. The glimpses which are given of that lady in the "memoir" to which allusion has been made, were of such a character as to excite great curiosity on the part of large numbers of persons to know more about her remarkable career, which extended from 1700 to 1788. No less an authority than Edmund Burke said of her: "She is not only the woman of fashion in her own age; she is the highest bred woman in the world, and the woman of fashion of all ages." To this it may be added that, in consequence of her alliance by birth and marriage with many of the noble families of England, she was during much of the time on terms of intimate acquaintance with not a few of the most

*The Exploration of the World. By JULES VERNE. Famous Travels and Travellers. Translated by DORA LEIGH. With illustrations by L. Benett and P. Philippoteaux, and fac-similes of ancient drawings. 8vo, 432 pp. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mrs. Delancy. Revised from Lady Llanover's edition, and edited by SARAH CLAUNCEY WOOLSEY. Two vols. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1880. 12mo, pp. 465, 499. For sale by E. P. Judd, New

distinguished personages of the eighteenth century in her native country. Her correspondence therefore, which was during all her life very voluminous, gives an insight into the social life of her times in the highest circles, which is not surpassed in value by any book with which we are acquainted. The work of Miss Woolsey has not been simply that of selection and condensation from the six ponderous royal octavo volumes in which the autobiography was originally published in England, but she has added a large number of notes, historical and explanatory, which the reader will find to be of substantial service.

MISCELLANEOUS.

PICKERING'S CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PLANTS.*-We are told by a biographer of this recently deceased man, that "the love of knowledge was the one passion of his life," that "he asked no richer satisfaction than to search for it as for hidden treasures," and that during a long and laborious life he was engaged in gaining knowledge and of "storing it up in convenient forms for the service of others." These sentences perhaps explain the nature of this heavy (heavy in more than one sense) volume, which is the result of the work of the last sixteen years of his laborious life. The object of the work is thus briefly introduced: "In the distribution of species over the globe, the order of nature has been obscured through the interference of man. He has transported animals and plants to countries where they were previously unknown. . . . To ascertain the amount of this interference, displaced species must be distinguished, and traced each to its original home."

A vast mass of detached observations in the field, and references in literature had been made, more than any but a very diligent man would accumulate in a life time; and these, arranged in a chronological order, with notes (geographical, philological, natural, historical, etc.), constitute the work. Beginning in time, with the date "4713 B.C., the so-called Julian Period," and "4491 B.C., beginning of the first Great Year in the Egyptian reckoning," and commencing with the plants and animals mentioned in Genesis and in Egyptian hieroglyphics, he follows down the stream of history to 1872.

*Chronological History of Plants: Man's Record of his own existence illustrated through their names, uses, and companionship. By CHARLES PICKERING, M.D., Author of "Races of Man." Boston: Little, Brown & Company. 1879. 4to pp. 1222. VOL. III. 20