us now to mention what is peculiar to this edition. The book has been revised throughout; the second part is enlarged by a fuller epitome of the author's views on the forms and colours of plants; and, in an appendix, Dr. M'Cosh ventures a protest against certain principles set forth by Sir William Hamilton and by Professor Bledsoe, in the pages of this review and in his Theodicy. On the points in controversy we are still of opinion that Dr. M'Cosh's views lack profoundness and coherency: he writes like a man trying to hold two contradictory theories at one and the same time.

(9.) "The Sure Anchor; or, the Young Christian Admonished, Encouraged, and Exhorted, by the Rev. H. P. ANDREWS," (Boston: J. P. Magee, 1855; 12mo., pp. 216,) is one of the very best of the many books of its class that have fallen under our notice. It is thoroughly evangelical in principle; clear in statement; lucid, lively, and often eloquent in style; and at once apt and ample in illustration. We trust it will be widely circulated.

(10.) "Bishop Butler's Ethical Discourses, edited by the Rev. J. C. PASSMORE, A. M." (Philadelphia: C. Desilver; 12mo., pp. 375.) It was the opinion of Sir James Mackintosh that the truths contained in these sermons are "more worthy of the name of discovery than any other with which we are acquainted, if we ought not, with some hesitation, to except the first steps of the Grecian philosophers toward a theory of morals." The difficulty of Butler's style, which is, perhaps, greater in these ethical discourses than in the "Analogy," has generally prevented their use as a college text-book; but the helps presented in Professor Passmore's excellent edition go far to do away with this objection. He has prefixed to the text an excellent Life of Butler, and also Whewell's Syllabus of Butler's Sermons. In an appendix he reprints the Remains of Butler, which were first published in London in 1853, from MSS. in the library of the British Museum. The work is executed throughout in a careful and scholarly manner.

(11.) "Tales from English History" (New-York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1855; 12mo., pp. 344) will afford an excellent substitute for story-books to be put into the hands of young persons. It is excellent both in style and sentiment

(12.) "The Southern Cross and Southern Crown, by Miss TUCKER,” (NewYork: R. Carter & Brothers, 1855; 18mo., pp. 263,) contains a clear account of the missions in New-Zealand, under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. To get a complete knowledge of the progress of Christianity in these far-off isles, one must add to the present work Miss Farmer's "Tonga and the Friendly Isles," Lowry's "Missions in Tonga and Feejee," and Mr. Young's "Southern World."

(13.) “A Geography of the Chief Places mentioned in the Bible, by CHARLES A. GOODRICH," (New-York: Carter & Brothers; 18mo., pp. 195,) is a little manual so well furnished with questions, maps, &c., as to be admirably adapted for use in parental, Sabbath school, and Bible-class instruction. Being alphabetically arranged, it will also be of use as a Bible dictionary for children.

(14.) THE General Conference of 1852 ordered the Book-Agents at NewYork to publish the "Journals of the General Conferences," from the organization of the Church up to 1836 inclusive. The order is now obeyed in the publication of a handsome octavo, containing all the extant Journals, with an index. (Carlton & Phillips; pp. 504.) In the preface the editor remarks:"Up to the year 1792 the Church business had been conducted in the annual conferences, the minutes of which are printed in the bound minutes, (so called,) always kept on sale at 200 Mulberry-street. The Christmas Conference of 1784, at which the Church was fully organized, may indeed be considered as a General Conference; but I can find no minutes of its session except those printed in the set above mentioned (vol. 1, page 21) as part of the Minutes of the Annual Conference for 1785.' A full account of the doings of the conference, with the Discipline ordained by it, may be found in Bangs's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church,' (vol. 1, pp. 151-218.)

The Minutes of the General Conference for 1792 were never printed, to my knowledge, nor can I find the original copy. Those of 1796 were published in a compendious form, which is now reprinted."

In connexion with this, the agents have reprinted, as a second volume, the "Journals and Debates of the General Conferences from 1840 to 1844" inclusive; but either volume can be had separately.

(15.) "The Progress of Religious Ideas through Successive Ages, by L. MARIA CHILD." (New-York: C. S. Francis & Co., 1855; 3 vols. 12mo.) To write such a book as this title would indicate should be the last result, the crowning opus of vast and various learning. Yet Mrs. Child tells us, in her preface, with admirable naïveté, that "a learned person could have performed the task far better in many respects," but that, on some accounts, she has found her "want of learning an advantage!" In the same strain she goes on: "Thoughts do not range so freely when the store-room of the brain is overloaded with furniture. In the course of my investigations, I have frequently observed that a great amount of erudition becomes a veil of thick cloud between the subject and the reader. Moreover, learned men can rarely have such freedom from any sectarian bias as the circumstances of my life have produced in me." This is something like Sydney Smith's advice to reviewers, not to read books before reviewing them," it prejudices one so." With such notions of the proper prerequisites for her task, Mrs. Child undertakes to develop the progress of religious ideas in Hindoostan, Egypt, China, Chaldea, Persia, Greece, Rome, India, and Christendom! The whole work, on which the writer has been labouring, more or less, for eight years, is one of the most marvellous instances of toil misspent and talent misapplied that the history of literature affords.

(16.) "A Voice from the Pious Dead of the Medical Profession, by HENRY J. BROWN, M. D." (Philadelphia, 1855; 12mo., pp. 320.) This volume contains a series of biographical sketches of physicians who have been eminent as well for religious life as for professional skill. It contains also a preliminary dissertation on Christianity, which is striking, not only from its form but from its matter. The author's aim is to refute the charge, so often made, that science and Christianity are incompatible, and to recommend practical religion to medical men by illustrations of its value in the lives of some of the most eminent of their profession. The book is very well prepared in all respects, and deserves to be widely circulated.

(17.) "The Iroquois; or, the Bright Side of Indian Character, by MINNIE MYRTLE." (New-York: D. Appleton & Co., 1855; 12mo., pp. 317.) It is very true, as the author remarks in her preface, that our books of history are very "deficient in what they relate of the Indians, and most of them are still filling the minds of children and youth with very false ideas." To give a fair and just account of the habits, manners, and history of the Iroquois is the object of the present attractive volume, which conveys a large amount of information in a most agreeable and interesting form. The biographies of Indian braves and wise men which are here given surpass in interest the romances of Indian life, which generally exaggerate all that is good and all that is bad in the Indian character.

(18.) "Panama in 1855, by ROBERT TOMES," (New-York: Harper & Brothers, 1855; 12mo., pp. 246,) is a very graphic account of a trip across the Isthmus, made at the expense of the Panama Railway Company on the opening of their road from ocean to ocean in February, 1855. Besides giving much valuable information about the railway, and the country through which it passes, the book is full of graphic, personal narrative, and its interest never flags. Its moral tone, however, is anything but commendable.

(19.) "Evenings with the Romanists, by the Rev. M. HOBART SEYMOUR, M. A." (New-York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1855; 12mo., pp. 479.) There are many worthless books upon the Roman controversy put out, but this does not belong to the class. It takes up all the main points in dispute between Romanists and Protestants-such as the reading of the Scriptures, the unity of the Church, confession and absolution, the mass, the papal supremacy, &c., and treats them, by direct appeal to Scripture and reason, with a calmness of discussion and a fairness of argument that hardly even Romanists could find fault with. As a manual of the controversy, for ordinary readers, the book is invaluable.

There is a curious history connected with the reprinting of this book, as we learn by a slip from the "Protestant Churchman." An edition of the work was issued some months ago by Mr. H. Hooker, of Philadelphia :—

"The title-page professes to be a complete republication of the original English book, omitting simply the mention of the introductory chapter, which we afterward

find has been left out. As 'Seymour's Evenings with the Romanists, republished by H. Hooker,' we received the work, supposing we were to read the book thus described. We found it, in itself, most suspicious, extremely meagre in its doctrine, and unsound in its conclusions; surprising characteristics as coming from a man whom we knew to be so thoroughly Protestant and evangelical as a minister of the Church of England. The advertisement' prefixed to this American edition announced that the introductory chapter, which was of a general nature, and parts of other chapters, in the London edition, which seemed to be redundant, or least adapted to be useful here, have been omitted; while the author is left everywhere to speak in his own words without addition or alteration.' We should have supposed, of course, that such a notice was true and full. But we were subsequently induced to compare this edition with the English one, and our astonishment at the unfaithfulness of the republication was extreme. We found more than one-third of the book thrown out. Two whole chapters, besides the introductory, rejected with no notice of the fact. Many pages together, in repeated places, cut out, and the extremes bounding them brought together and joined, as if immediately consequent and connected. Sometimes even a sentence thus divided, and two separate parts of separate sentences, brought together as if originally one. But even this is not the whole difficulty, nor the half of it. The passages omitted are habitually the faithful testimony of the author's Protestant and Scriptural doctrine, and the very best and most useful parts of the book; while such connexions are sometimes made of passages as make him to teach the very opposite to what he intended to teach. And yet the advertisement says, 'the author is left everywhere to speak in his own words, without alteration or addition.' Who has been the agent of thus dishonestly garbling this valuable book we do not pretend to know. The publisher's name is the only one connected with it, and, though we do not charge him personally with the unjust omissions of which we speak, he must bear the whole responsibility. We warn our readers against buying this book as 'Seymour's Evenings with the Romanists,' which it is not. If the publisher had hired a Romish priest to expurgate the work, he could hardly have done it more effectually for the Papists' purposes. And we are sure the excellent author would remonstrate with a just indignation against such an outrageous perversion of his work, if he should ever find a copy of it before him." We need hardly add that Messrs. Carter's edition is an exact reprint of the English text.

(20.) "Memoir of S. S. Prentiss, edited by his Brother." (New-York: C. Scribner, 1855; 2 vols. 12mo.) The subject of this memoir is well remembered as one of the most brilliant political speakers this country has produced. These volumes reveal his family life, in which he appears as a kind and affectionate son, brother, husband, and father. Pity that these "natural virtues" had never been sanctified by personal religion. One cannot read without sadness this sketch of a career so brief, yet so brilliant: so splendid, yet so full of disappointments. The interest of the work is very great: it would have been greater if the two volumes had been condensed, as they might easily have been, into one.

(21.) “ Introduction to Biblical Chronology from Adam to the Resurrection of Christ, by PETER AKERS, D. D." (Cincinnati: Methodist Book Concern, 1855; 8vo., pp. 411.) Of this elaborate work no one is competent to speak critically who has not carefully and thoroughly studied it. At present we can only express our gratification to find among our ministry one capable and willing to go through the long-continued labour of preparing such a book. A careful review, by a competent writer, is in preparation for our pages.

(22.) "The Christ of History, by JOHN YOUNG, M. A." (New-York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1855; 12mo., pp. 260.) The argument of this work, at least in an extended form, is novel. Taking as a basis the simple fact of Christ's humanity, the author undertakes to demonstrate from it his divinity; or, as he expresses it in his preface, "dismissing all, preconceptions, assuming nothing which is not virtually and even formally admitted by enemies as well as friends,” he hopes to show that the manhood of Christ, as it appealed to the senses and to the minds of the men of his own times, "supplies and sustains the proof of his Godhead." He does not assume the inspiration of the Scriptures, but only takes for granted, in a broad and general sense, that they are historical and veritable—a point which is, in fact, granted even by infidels. The argument may be simply stated in one sentence, namely, that such a human life as that of Jesus Christ is utterly inexplicable, except on the ground of his Divinity. The work is divided into three parts, of which the first treats of The Outer Conditions of the Life of Christ, namely, his social position, the shortness of his earthly course, and the age and place in which he appeared. Book second treats of The Work of Christ among Men, unfolding his ministry and his doctrine, both as to its matter and form. The third book treats of The Spiritual Individuality of Christ, his oneness with God, his moral perfection, both in motive and in feeling, &c. This outline will suffice to show that the author really comprehends the scope of his present theme, and grasps it with a master's hand His learning is well up to his undertaking, and his logic matches his learning. The work will certainly make its mark upon the times.

(23.) "The Christian Life, Social and Individual, by PETER BAYNE, A. M” (Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1855; 12mo.) This is another very noticeable book, both from its aims and its execution. The first part is a statement of what the Christian life is, or ought to be, both individually and socially; and part second is an exposition of this statement, and an illustration of it in actual biographies. In the first place Christianity is set forth as the basis of social life; and, as illustrations, we have three biographical sketches, namely, Howard, and the rise of philanthropy; Wilberforce, and the development of philanthropy; and Budgett, the Christian Freeman. In the second place our author sets forth Christianity as the basis of individual character; and for illustration, he gives us sketches of John Foster, Thomas Arnold, and Dr. Chalmers. Part III treats briefly of the "Positive Philosophy" and of “ Pantheistic Spiritualism." Mr. Bayne conducts his argument very skilfully; and some of his biographical sketches are masterpieces of condensed and vigorous narrative. For young persons of a skeptical turn-especially such as are carried away by Thomas Carlyle-this book will be a valuable medicine; and it is so well prepared that the medicine will be by no means "hard to take."

(24.) "The Parabolic Teachings of Christ, by the Rev. D. K. DRUMMOND." (New-York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1855; 12mo., pp. 440.) In the Introduction Mr. Drummond defines the "parable," and, at the same time, includes the "allegory" and the "proverb" of the New Testament under the