epitome of the historical evidence which, at least in my view, disproves the first assumption." We hardly know which most to admire, the modesty of the translator, or his logic. Does Dr. Wiggers, who, with the greatest facilities, and with German scholarship and diligence, has spent his life in examining the original documents pertaining to the history of the early church, need to be instructed by his translator on the whole subject of the origin of infant baptism? What is probably the comparative amount of original investigation on the point made by the two men? Does Dr. Wiggers find himself, in this particular, among those who have "never made the early history of infant baptism a subject of much investigation?" The names of Neander and Gieseler stand confessedly at the very head of investigating ecclesiastical historians. To these may be added Münscher, Von Cöln and Baumgarten-Crusius, holding a similar rank in the history of early religious doctrines; and Winer, Hahn, Olshausen, De Wette, Meyer and others, in overwhelming numbers, in biblical criticism and antiquities. They have all strangely blundered in the same way with Dr. Wiggers. Augusti, in his Christian antiquities, maintains the old view. But his rank, as a critical antiquarian, is inferior to that of Neander, Gieseler, Rheinwald and others, who are constrained to admit that their own practice cannot be supported by the practice of the apostolic age. Will any one pretend to call in question the fact, that the majority of living German critics, ---and that majority, the more learned portion,-agree with Dr. Wiggers in his statement respecting infant baptism? It "would seem," then, that there must be some other reason beside the conclusion to which he was brought, to justify the intimation that the author had not made this matter "a subject of much investigation." This reason is found, perhaps, in "the uncommonly loose manner in which he has spoken on the topic." The author speaks of "that early period when only adults were baptized," and "what is a little remarkable, within the compass of two pages from this, we find him speaking of "the custom, in the early centuries, of deferring the baptism of children." How much the reputation of Dr. Wiggers will suffer from the fact that only two pages intervene between these declarations, may be seen "in the sequel." But the worst is yet to come. "The terms, 'early centuries,' as there used, would seem to carry us back at least as far as the close of the first century, the time of the apostles." We honestly confess our utter amazement at this sentence. Can a professor of ecclesiastical history be ignorant that "the terms, early centuries," commonly designate the period of the Christian Fathers in general, or the first six centuries? "The terms, early centuries, as there used,"-how are they used? So far as the connection is concerned, the passage is preceded by quotations from Ambrose, and followed by others from Chrysostom, neither of whom lived quite as early as "the close of the first century." So far as it relates to the subject under discussion, it was the sentiment of the Christian Fathers up to the time of Augustine, in regard to "the damnation of unbaptized children." But what fixes the chronology most clearly is the argument itself: "From the custom, in the early centuries, of deferring the baptism of children and catechumens, to easter week, we may conclude that the doctrine, of the dam nation of unbaptized children, was not prevalent." Does Prof. Emerson need to be told whether it was "in the time of the apostles" that this "custom" existed? After dwelling so disproportionately long on defects, which constitute, after all, but a very trifling part of the work, it would seem to be due to the translator, to set forth with equal prominence its numerous and great excellences. But, in our apprehension, this is not necessary. The work is before the public; and after it shall have had a fair opportunity of speaking for itself, it will need no recommendation. The translation is generally correct and faithful. In many parts, the execution has excited our admiration. 3. The Works of Benjamin Franklin; containing several Political and Historical Tracts not included in any former edition; and many letters, official and private, not hitherto published: with Notes and a Life of the Author. By JARED SPARKS. In ten volumes. 8vo. Boston. Hilliard, Gray & Co. 1840. It is with pleasure that we call the attention of our readers to the splendid work whose title is above given. The name of Franklin belongs to the whole world. He is not the peculiar property of one age or country, any more than is any other truly great man. More than most, however, does he belong to the world, inasmuch as so large a portion of his life was past, so many of his greatest labors were performed, and so many of his works were written and first given to the world in the opposite hemisphere to that which gave him birth. We speak safely, too, when we say that the name and character of Franklin are more revered and esteemed and better known in England and in France than in America. This should not be, nor can it always be; and the publication of the edition of the life and works of this truly great man which calls forth these remarks, will do much towards making him more and better known. In speaking of him, we shall not enter into any discussion of his religious principles, but shall direct our attention to other topics. He possessed many rare excellences both of the intellect and of the heart. Keen to perceive the right, and determined and inflexible in the pursuit of it, he was yet marked by a modesty and unassuming simplicity which won the hearts of all, and almost forbade the approach of enmity, or the dart of malice. Benevolent and kind-hearted, his conversation and correspondence were mixed with a cheerful pleasantry of manner which none but himself could have used with equal dignity, and with equal pertinence to subjects grave and gay. Of penetrating genius, and acute observation, and as acute discrimination, he yet seemed to love truth and knowledge for their own sakes, and for the sake of the good they enabled him to do to his fellow-men, rather than for the honor which their discovery reflected on him as their discoverer. There are few men whose names stand high in the roll of philosophy and science, or who have played a conspicuous part in the political history of their time, who yet have fixed their memory and names strong in the interest and affections of the young. Yet such, and with the still more rare union of all the three, was Franklin. His name is that with which we remember to have been almost the earliest familiar. How many reminiscences of our earliest days are mingled with his delightful autobiography, his quaint but plain and truth-telling "way to wealth,” or Maxims of Poor Richard, and with that mildly and beautifully benevolent, and loftily intelligent countenance which adorns the third volume of the work before us. As years have passed on, our regard and veneration for the name of Franklin have grown with our knowledge of his life and works, and increased with our power of judging each. With such feelings towards him of whom these volumes are the noblest monument, we shall bestow a few remarks upon the peculiar excellences by which this edition stands distinguished from all others. The editor states in the preface to Vol. I (p. xii), that it has been his "design to make a complete collection of the writings of Franklin, as far as they are known to exist, and to add such occasional notes and explanations as he supposed would be in some degree useful to the reader." The name of Mr. Sparks is sufficient warrant for the mode in which such a design has been fulfilled; but our readers will be surprised when they learn how much his industry has enabled him to accomplish. We have counted no less than 696 pieces in the whole, consisting of letters, essays, &c., which have never before appeared in any edition of Franklin's works, and 460 letters from him, and by distinguished individuals to him, which have never been, in any way, printed before. Altogether we suppose that two volumes or upwards of this edition consist of entirely new, unpublished, but very valuable matter. Our space obliges us to confine our remarks entirely to this new matter, which we the rather do that the value of this edition may be thereby better seen. Every one of the pieces thus, for the first time, published serves only to fix more strongly those characteristics which so prominently distinguished Franklin. His mind was eminently observant and experimental. These traits are very strongly marked in many of the pieces here for the first time printed, and which are many of them on different scientific subjects. Thus we find him striving to discover by observation, reason, and experiment, the laws of perspiration and absorption (see Vol. VI, p. 65); the cause of the heat of the body and circulation of the blood (Vol. VI, p. 70 and 97); the cause of the greater length of passage of ships from East to West than from West to East across the Atlantic (Vol. VI, p. 74). We find him also observing curious facts, and striving to explain them, as to the origin and direction of north-east storms, (Vol. VI, pp. 79 and 105). Husbandry seems to have occupied a good deal of his attention at one time, for we find much on the culture of grass, planting of hedges, &c. (see Vol. VI, pp. 83, 112, 111, &c.) There is also some more matter on the conductors for the Powder Magazine at Purfleet (Vol. V, p. 427); whence, it will be remembered, originated the famous dispute as to pointed and blunt conductors, in which George III personally engaged, and in respect to which many persons, to use Franklin's own words,-became "as much heated about this one point, as the Jansenists and Molinists were about the five" (see Vol. I, p. 343); and which gave origin to the witty epigram which we have heard, with some authority, ascribed to Chatham: While great George does knowledge hunt, But Franklin a wiser course pursues, In an original hitherto unpublished letter to M. De La Condamine (Vol. X, p. 75), we have Franklin's opinion on animal magnetism; of which he says that he “must doubt its existence till he can see or feel some effect of it." Let us now turn to the more general correspondence of Franklin, of which a large part of his "Works" consists. Much are we indebted to Mr. Sparks for the very great additions which he has made to this part of Franklin's works, additions comprising his intercourse with some of the most exalted minds of his own or any age. Such are the hitherto unprinted letters which passed between Franklin and Herschel, Sir William Jones, Richard Price, Joseph Priestley, Hume, De Saussure, and many others. One of those to Hume is of great importance (Vol. VII, p. 208), as proving that Franklin was not the entire author of the "History of Pennsylvania," which has been long ascribed to him. One of De Saussure's letters is peculiarly interesting, giving an account of the first ascent ever made to the summit of Mount Blanc (Vol. X, p. 278). The same vein of pleasant humor runs through all these letters which was so characteristic of the mind of Franklin, and which, in truth, mixed itself up with all his moral and intellectual conceptions, in a way peculiar to himself, and which few others could have so employed. The letters of Franklin to his wife, his "dear child," as he uniformly calls her, are one of the most interesting additions to this edition. They fill a great part of the seventh volume. They all breathe an affectionate spirit, and do honor to the heart of the writer. Our space will only allow of our quoting from one of them (Vol. VII, p. 125). In this letter he had complained that his wife had neglected writing to him, though an opportunity was present and he had asked it. He adds a postscript thus,-"I have scratched out the loving words, being writ in haste by mistake, when I forgot I was angry." [His own italics.] We think those two lines could never have been effaced from the memory of his wife. We must now draw our notice of this work to a close. Enough has been said to show the value and interest of the additions made by the care and researches of the editor. A few words on the execution of the other parts of his task. The Life of Franklin is continued by him from the time when the autobiography closes. The continuation is well done and with careful fidelity. The notes interspersed through the volumes are always useful and to the point, often highly interesting. We would instance especially the notes to Franklin's "Journal of the Negotiations for Peace," in Vol. IX, containing many important communications between Lord Shelburne and Mr. Oswald, &c., and to which Mr. Sparks had access through the courtesy of the present Marquis of Lansdowne. We have noticed a few errors arising from the editor's want of acquaintance with English localities. In a few cases we differ from the editor in judgment. For example, we must totally differ from him respecting Franklin's celebrated letter We do not give this epigram exactly in the words given by Mr. Sparks (Vol. I, p. 344) but from another authority. The copy we give seems to us to have somewhat more point in it than that given by Mr. Sparks. to Mr. Strahan (see Vol. VIII, p. 155). How Mr. Sparks can consider such a letter as a "pleasantry," we are at a loss to conceive. Franklin, we think, was incapable of such a pleasantry, and at such a time. "MR. STRAHAN, "You are a member of Parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns, and murder our people. Look upon your hands, they are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends; you are now my enemy, and I am, "Yours, B. FRANKLIN." Such was not the subject, or the style, or the time, in which Franklin could crack jokes. We regard it, on the other hand, as the sudden impulse of the moment, resulting from his intense feeling on the subject, and which made him, for the moment, forget personal friendship in the strength of feeling for higher points. When his first impulse cooled, he would see that Mr. Strahan had a right to his own opinion as well as himself, and he would willingly renew that friendly intercourse which we know he did. If such was not the genuine history of this celebrated letter, there is no point or value whatever in the autograph of it prefixed to Vol. V, and it is unworthy of and derogatory to the character of Franklin. In the light we view it, it marks only his strong and generous feeling for the highest interests of his country. X. 4. An Historical Discourse delivered at the celebration of the second Centennial Anniversary of the First Baptist Church in Providence, November 7, 1839. By WILLIAM HAGUE, Pastor of the Church. 12mo. pp. 192. Boston. Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. Providence. B. Cranston & Company. 1839. The review of this interesting volume has been delayed in consequence of successive disappointments. We hope soon to present to our readers a notice of it. ARTICLE XI. MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.* BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions.-The board held its annual meeting in New-York, April 29. The following is a summary of the Annual Report: The whole number of Missions is twenty-three: Stations and Out-Stations,. 68 98 94 51 266 .2500 *The Literary Intelligence is necessarily omitted. The statistics of the benevolent societies, though placed here, are not to be regarded as a matter of intelligence, but of record. |