should be remembered that in 1843 her net increase was 154,634; and the year following, 102,831; making a net increase in two years of 257,465 members; thus exceeding all precedent by tens of thousands. The ordinary ratio of apostasies, therefore, accounts for an appalling decrease, without disparaging the character of the work in the least.

"But other items come into this account that are important to the calculation. During this time there was a vigorous effort made by come-outers of different classes to break down the churches, and scatter them to the four winds. While the revival was in progress, their influence was partly counteracted; but as the excitement abated they became more successful" (pp. 173, 174).

We have received from Nelson & Phillips, too late for special notice, the following books: Butler's Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature. To which, are added Two Brief Dissertations on Personal Identity and the Nature of Virtue. By JOSEPH BUTLER, LL.D., Lord Bishop of Durham. With a Life of the Author, copious notes, and a special index. The whole edited by Rev. JOSEPH CUMMINGS, D.D., LL.D., President of Wesleyan University.

Christians and the Theatre. By J. M. BUCKLEY.

The Wesleyan Demosthenes; comprising Select Sermons of Rev. JOSEPH BEAUMONT. With a Sketch of his Character. By Rev. J. B. WAKELEY, D. D.

Fellowship with the Sufferings of Christ. A Sermon. By E. WENTWORTH, D.D.

Preaching to the Masses. An Address. By Rev. T. DEWITT TALMAGE D.D. Delivered at the Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J., Wednesday, March 3, 1875.

Commentary on the New Testament. Intended for Popular Use. By D. D. WHEDON, LL.D. Volume IV. 1st Corinthians-2d Timothy.

PHILOSOPHY.

A Thesis on the Dual Constitution of Man, or Neuro-Psychology, by S. S. LAWS, A. M., M. D., of New York, presents a very able and learned disquisition on the twofold nature of man, as evinced by a comparison of the mental with the physiological elements in his constitution. Dr. Laws very clearly and conclusively disproves the identity of mind and body, whether in the form maintained by idealists or materialists. While the thesis contains much which the student of physiology and psychology alone can appreciate, it has much which can be appreciated by all cultured readers. Some of his arguments for the dualism of our nature are original and ingenious, as well as conclusive. Occasional statements would not be satisfactory to all those who agree with his main positions. When he says, "Innate knowledge, and innate ideas have vanished, like many of the fictions of physics and physiology," all depends on the sense in which the words are taken; some "knowl

edge and ideas" are innate just as far as reason itself is innate; i. e., they are potentially inborn, to be subsequently developed. Such, for example, are causality, substance, right and wrong, etc. Much of his reasoning depends on the Aristotelian principle, that the soul is "all in the whole, and all in every part," which, if rejected by some, we see no reason to dispute.

The Sensualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century Considered. By ROBERT L. DABNEY, D.D., LL. D., Prof. in Union Theol. Seminary, Va. Randolph & Co., New York. $2.00. We have received this work too late to notice it fully at present. It is an important contribution to current discussions. It handles the great questions involved with acuteness and vigor. There is a review of the main sensualistic systems of the last century, particularly the English. Positivism, the Evolution Theory as Materialistic, Physiological Materialism, the Spirituality of the Mind, A Priori Notions, Sensualistic Ethics, and the Philosophy of the Supernatural, are the chie topics discussed. The work deserves attentive study, and we cordially recommend it to our readers.

Randolph & Co. also publish Job's Comforters; or, Scientific Sympathy, by JOSEPH PARKER, D.D., Minister of the City Temple, London, who is well qualified to do the subject full justice.

J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, have published Principia; or, Basis of Social Science; being a Survey of the Subject from the Moral and Theological, yet Liberal and Progressive, Standpoints, by R. J. WRIGHT, in a neat and solid octavo volume. The topic is inviting, including, as it does, a wide range of questions and problems, which are yet far enough from the solution the welfare of society so urgently needs. Whatever success the author may have attained or failed of, it must be conceded that he has given out no second-hand or hackneyed views. His book is the fruit of long observation, careful study, and profound thinking. It abounds in reasonings which are original, often just, and generally, even when obnoxicus to criticism, highly suggestive.

Mr. Wright carves out his volume into many divisions and minute subdivisions, the logical and rhetorical grounds of which are not always apparent. We often notice some crudeness or awkwardness in his use of words and structure of sentences. But we are never at a loss for his meaning. His chapters and sections are so titled and numbered, that the complete index at the beginning enables us at once to turn to what he says on any subject in almost any half-page of the volume. These features greatly enhance its value, and render minor defects of style insignificant.

The author shows a breadth and depth of view quite beyond that of average specialists and writers on it, or its different branches, in the importance which he assigns to theology, metaphysics, psychology, ethics, in short, all the mental sciences, as a needful propedeutic for mastering sociology. Here he is toto cælo above, as well as different from, Compte, and the entire

school of positivists, sensualists, and materialists, who deal with sociology or any other subject which has its basis in the nature of the human soul, and its relations to other souls, created and uncreated. With Compte, psychology was an impossibility, while metaphysics and theology were obsolete fictions. Mr. Wright justly says:

"The study of theology is the scientific study of religion, and, therefore, calls into exercise the higher faculties of the mind. Hence, it is one of the best preparations, for earnest, original study in any of the sciences. The success of the German and Scotch metaphysicians is chiefly owing to this cause. The peculiar fitness of the studies of the theologians, as discipline and preparation for political philosophy, is further proved by the fact, that at various times they have become the best and foremost political statesmen of the world. Ximenes, Woolsey, Richelieu, Cranmer, Talleyrand, and others, may be mentioned. And then, also, the fact, that the statesmanship of Rome, which is conducted entirely by clergymen, is acknowledged to be the most far reaching in the world. Remember, also, those old Puritan statesmen of Cromwell's day, who knew their Bibles and their catechisms better than their laws, how readily they were turned into generals and statesmen whom all the world wondered at, and who out-generaled and out-witted even the Romans themselves.

"A more likely class than either the ordinary statesmen, or the ordinary physicists, to look to for social science, would be the true scientific theologians, if they had the time to spare from their other avocations. But this seems seldom to happen, since most of them either have the charge and the daily labor of large congregations, or else of educational institutions. These latter, namely, the theological head officers of the secular institutions, may contribute much toward our science, when there arises a sufficient public demand to turn their business attention to it, and when more leisure is afforded them. Theologians are, by their training, best fitted for universal, or general study. Wells, whose occupation is the examination of heads, says, 'As a class, they (the theologians) have the best heads in the world."

This is quite contrary to the vulgar prejudice common among skeptics pseudo-scientists, and philosophers, that theologians are, of course, narrow and singular in their views. It is rather the spurious liberalists and hobbyists, that are "like the needle with one eye and one point." The author, however, "would not be misunderstood as saying, that statesmen, practically, ought to be selected from among clergymen. The experience of the Middle Ages, culminating in the Inquisition, is against the selection of clergymen, with civil or coercive powers, from among professional theologians." To this, we say Amen.

With like cogency he argues for the predominance which must be given to metaphysics over some other studies, as preparations for social science. The above quotations will be found scattered, from pages 31 to 36, inclusive, and will suffice to give a taste of the book, which may lead some to a further examination of it. While we highly value it, we dissent from some of its positions, particularly the grand conclusion, wherein he favors a modified communism. Into this he proposes to infuse enough of Christianity,

and from it, as heretofore tried and tested, thus to extract enough of its virus, to realize a true social ideal.

We regret that the foregoing notice, prepared for a previous number, has been, by inadvertence, delayed until now.

BIBLICAL LITERATURE.

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms, with a New Translation, by JAMES G. MURPHY, LL.D., T. C. D., Prof. of Hebrew, Belfast. Andover: W. F. Draper. We are generally sure of having a good book from the Andover press, scholarly and well got up. Dr. Murphy's previous volumes on Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus are, on the whole, as useful books as a student can find for his work. There are so many excellent commentaries on the Psalms, that it would be hazardous to say as much of this volume, but it is at any rate quite equal to the author's previous volumes-in some respects, we judge, even better. It is more to the point, lopping off all superfluities. The translation is quite literal; the notes on the text are concise; the general exposition is lucid. A student here gets about what he needs for immediate use. He is not compelled to grope his way through a labyrinth of interpretation, without a clue, but a straight path is prepared for his feet. Of course, we are not supposed to endorse all the author's interpretations, but we like his method. And in studying the Psalms, it is a good thing for the student to work with the help of a good method; it is a training school.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Historical Scenes from the Old Jesuit Missions. By the Right Rev. WM. I. KIP, LL.D. Bishop Kip is already well known in the literature of the Jesuit missions by his volume on the Jesuits in North America. This is supplemented by the present work, relating to their various missions in other countries, as given for the most part in "Letters" written between 1720 and 1750. These letters contain accounts of their indefatigable labors in China, California, Malta, Mount Lebanon, the Delta, the Thebald Desert, Lima, Paraguay, and several other places. They were well worthy of being translated, and they are very well translated. This volume is a real addition to the popular, accessible materials for the History of Missions.

Scribner, Armstrong & Co. publish Egypt, from the Earliest Times to B. C. 300, by S. BIRCH, LL.D., as the first of their series on Ancient History from the Monuments. It is to be followed by Assyria, from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh, by GEORGE SMITH, a name illustrious in this department of archæology; and by Persia, from the Earliest Period to Arab Dynasty, by W. S. A. VAUX, M. A., F. R. S. This series gives a compact but popular presentation of the results of recent archæological investigation, derived from monuments, cuneiform inscriptions, and other original, but authentic sources. These shed great light on the early development of the race in religion and civilization, as well as on

the earlier books of the Bible. As such, they will be prized, not only by Biblical and other scholars, but by all students and intelligent readers of the Bible, and of the early history of our race.

The second volume of the Autobiography and Memoir of Dr. Thomas Guthrie, by his sons, Rev. DAVID R. GUTHRIE and CHARLES J. GUTHRIE, M.A., is published by the Carters, and on sale by McGinness & Runyan, of Princeton. The former traced his life and growth till he reached the summit of his power and fame as a preacher and pastor. This volume continues his subsequent career, in which, without any decline of pulpit and pastoral power, he took a leading part, and exercised a commanding influence in great evangelical, ecclesiastical, and social movements of a wider reach, affecting his own church and country, and, in their measure, Christendom itself. It begins with his agency in the disruption of the Church of Scotland, of which he was one of the great leaders. It gives an inside view of this great exodus from bondage to the State into freedom in subjection to Christ, as to its causes, agents, and issues, direct and collateral, and thus forms an important and graphic supplement to all other histories of this movement. It is mostly in

the very language of Dr. Guthrie and his coadjutors, at the time of the events of which they formed a conspicuous and leading element, and to which they served to give "form and pressure," Succeeding chapters give an account of his prodigious success in raising the Manse Fund; Ragged Schools, and his agency in organizing and sustaining them; his efforts in promoting the cause of Total Abstinence; his eloquent pleas in behalf of National Education; his "Interest in other Lands."

In all these departments he did much to enlighten the minds, stir the hearts, and mould the actions of his countrymen, and of great numbers in other countries. He was indefatigable in his labors by tongue and pen, through the pulpit and press. He had great magnetic power. His clear convictions, blood-earnestness, vivid imagination, found utterance in clear and fervid language. His trumpet uttered no uncertain sound. It rallied the people, as by a bugle-blast, on clear and unmistakable issues, which they were constrained to meet.

No part of the book is more valuable and interesting than that which gives his views of preaching and his character as a preacher. It would be difficult to find much on the art of preaching which is not virtually included in the following sententious advice to a young preacher :

"Mind the three Ps. In every discourse the preacher should aim at proving, painting, and persuading; in other words, addressing the reason, the fancy, and the heart."—p. 190.

The following vivid portraiture of his preaching, by Lord Cockburn, is a fresh illustration of a conviction we have long held, that the very best style of preaching is most profitable to and appreciated by the highest and lowliest of men alike. He describes him as:

"Practical and natural; passionate without vehemence; with perfect self-pos