votional spirit, which connected with their evangelical sentiments, and the correct and lively style sufficiently account for the popularity which the fact of their having reached a seventh edition shows them to have gained. Their pious author is already known as the writer of the volumes entitled "Meditations on Prayer," The Second Advent," &c.

Letters to a Very Young Lady. Philadelphia: The American Sunday School Union. 1843.

THIS handsome volume has every thing to recommend it; good sense, good principles and a good spirit. It is written with that happy felicity of diction which imparts a pleasure to the reader which he is often at a loss to account for, as the style is so excellent as not of itself to attract attention to itself.

The Anxious Bench. By the Rev. J. W. Nevin, D. D., Professor of Theology in the Seminary of the German Reformed Church. Chambersburg: 1843. pp. 56.

DELICACY in regard to the feelings of pious but misguided brethren, has kept many from giving public utterance to the opinions which are here so forcibly and seasonably urged by Dr. Nevin. They are opinions which have again and again been presented in this work. The Anxious Bench,' as it is barbarously called, after having been by false zeal erected into a third sacrament, has gradually worked out its proper results, and in most of our churches has fallen into discredit. But it is still so far upheld in certain connexions, as to justify an earnest endeavour to show that it is neither salutary nor safe; which is the precise aim of this pamphlet. Its proper place is in union with the methods of Finney, and the self-conversion of the Oberlin Evangelist. In the main argument of this pamphlet, Dr. Nevin has our hearty concurrence. He maintains by proof which we consider unanswerable, that this device presents a false question for the conscience; that it unsettles true seriousness; that it usurps the place of the cross; and that it results in lasting, wide-spread spiritual mischief. He fully answers the common apologies for it; as that it brings the sinner to a decision; that it is an open self-committal; and that it gives force to his purpose. We have long perceived that many of those on whom such effects are produced have been the forward, the

sanguine, the rash, the self-confident and the self-righteous. And as a means of giving effect to truth and promoting impression, we should prefer rending the garments or wearing sackloth and ashes; which have scriptural authority. The great work of converting sinners to God demands instruments and measures of higher authority and more heavenly temper than the anxious beuch. It is our prayer that our church may be visited more widely and frequently than it has ever been, by great awakenings and abundant increase. In order to this, we pray that preachers may be more self-denying, laborious, affectionate and believing, and sermons more burning and pungent, and, where occasion demands, more frequent also; and that prayer and exhortation, public and private, be largely increased. No blessing is more to be desired, than the simultaneous couversion of all the impenitent in every church. "The Lord our God add unto his people, how many soever they be, an hundred fold;" but why should our brethren "delight in this thing?" 2 Sam. xxiv: 3. All the new.measures of popery came in upon similar grounds. Let us confide in God's weapon-the sword of the Spirit.

A discourse on the True Idea of the State as a Religious Institution, together with the Family and the Church ordained of God. Delivered Sept. 5, 1843, before the Porter Rhetorical Society of the Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. By Tayler Lewis, Esq., Professor of Greek in the University of the City of New York. Andover: 1843. pp. 56.

THERE is no writer whose productions perplex us more than those of Professor Lewis, in our attempts to characterize them. On every page we behold the indubitable marks of elegant scholarship, profound reflection and devout feeling. Yet so unwonted is the nomenclature and so obscure at times the very enunciation of his tenet, that we fear alike to condemn and to assent.

This is more than an occasional discourse, to be hastily perused and laid aside. It is a profound discussion of some of the most momentous questions connected with government, and shews the influence of ancient learning and philosophy. Occasionally we think the Professor has trodden on the utmost verge of what is safe, in regard to the authority of actual governments: but we warmly and zealously concur with him in his views respecting the right

of one generation to lay their successors under obligation. We dare not subscribe to every opinion; indeed there are statements here which we are not sure that we fully comprehend. But it is impossible to avoid being struck with the bold and original manner in which the author treats a subject, which is every day handled by demagogues and superficial politicians in a way to excite disgust. We have moreover to thank Professor Lewis, for turning aside, ever and anon, to deliver a mighty blow on behalf of old-fashioned orthodoxy. His Platonism seems in no degree to have made him either a sceptic or a rationalist, and we discern the reality of genuine Calvinism, under the philosophic diction of the Academy. He will doubtless be claimed as a transcendentalist, by many who usurp the name. Such he is not, in the American understanding of the term. True, his flights are lofty, but they are not without an end. He may be called an idealist, not in the sense of sceptical denial of the things which are, but as an avowed champion for the vindication of ideas from the charge of being empty abstractions. Professor Lewis contends for the idea of a State, as something more than a congeries of voters, as an ordinance of God, and for law, as something more than conventional vox populi. deals harshly with the sovereignty of the people, and ascribes the cogency of government to the sovereignty of God. Ile regards law as not the efflux and exponent of popular will, but as a sacred agency formative of that will; not a changeful effect, but a ruling cause. He accordingly looks higher for the origin of obligation to law, than to the consent of the governed, whether expressed or implied. The State, in his view, is not the people, but that ideal whole which is a divine ordinance, which is informed by the spirit of law, and which is above and separate from all the transient phases of polity; a persistent organism distinct from the present component parts, as the man is distinct from the atoms which constitute his body at a given moment. He therefore regards government as a divine institution, necessary to the divine institution, necessary to the full development of perfect humanity. But we fear to attempt an analysis of a system so remote from popular notions and so liable to be misunderstood. Our attempt to state the drift of his argument has been free from any controversial intention. Those who comprehend the bearing of the speculations, will obtain the work itself, and will find it to be no ordinary production.

The Bruised Reed: a Memoir of the Rev. Henry Möwes, late pastor of Altenhausen and Ivenrode, Prussia. Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union. 18mo. pp. 139.

It is useful to contemplate evangelical piety under phases which do not commonly present themselves in our own country. We have often been struck with the character of German religion, as affectionate and joyful. Such, in a high degree, was that of Möwes. Seldom have we read a memoir, in the subject of which, while the outward man perisheth, the inward man is more renewed day by day. As the sufferings of Christ abounded in him, so his consolation also abounded by Christ. The whole of his Christian life was a taking pleasure in infirmities and distresses, and a glorying in tribulation. It is a book of rare merit, and will, we doubt not, refresh the soul of many a sufferer. While the Sunday School Union issue and circulate by thousands, such books as this, and the Holy War and the Great Change, we should think it a most short-sighted policy for Presbyterians to discountenance their enterprise. As we have always done, we bid them God speed."

Guide for Writing Latin; consisting of Rules and Examples for practice. By John Philip Krebs, Doctor of Philosophy and principal School Director in the Dutchy of Nassau. From the German, by Samuel H. Taylor, Principal of Phillips Academy. Andover : Allen, Morrill and Wardwell. 1843. 12mo. pp. 479 WE hail this book as indicating a return to the good old system of exercises, familiar in all schools after the English model. It has the same end with the useful works of Arnold, Crombie and Grotefend. We have no belief that genuine Latinists will arise among us, till schoolboys are made to write Latin for years together. The original work of Krebs has attained a higher reputation in Germany than perhaps any of its numerous rivals. To pronounce intelligently on the book would demand a sedulous use of it with pupils. We have cursorily looked through the whole, and have examined about fifty pages with minute attention. There are some harsh and some obscure places in the version, and some venial typographical blemishes, but we are ready to commend it as the best work which has appeared on this subject from the American press. A student who, under proper guidance and

correction, should carefully write the whole of these exercises, would, in our opinion, have learned more of Latin construction, idiom and style, than could be possibly obtained by perusing a dozen authors in the ordinary way. The execution of the volume is elegant.

Father Clement, a Roman Catholic Story. By the author of "The Decision," "Profession is not Principle,' &c. Philadelphia: James M. Campbell & Co. 12mo. pp. 155.

1843.

THIS book, by a lady whose name is deservedly celebrated, contains, fictitious as it is, more valuable truth than many elaborate volumes against Popery. We perused it many years ago, not only with interest, but with a sense of fascination and profound feeling. It is the ablest of Miss Kennedy's striking works. The Papists have been so much galled by it, as to produce a tale on their part; a most lame and impotent affair.

Neal's History of the Puritans. Edited by John O. Choules, M. A. With portraits on steel. In two volumes. Vol. I. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1843. 8vo. pp. 144.

AMONG a multitude of new productions, we rejoice to observe, what even our scanty list may indicate, a growing demand for old books of established reputation. The publication of Neal is opportune, when anti-puritan and semipopish opinions are rife. It has long been the treasury of information for non-conformists, in regard to the testimony and sufferings of their fathers. The present edition is, by far, the cheapest ever published; and we wish for it an extended circulation.

The Power of Faith, exemplified in the Life and Wri tings of the late Mrs. Isabella Graham. A new edition, enriched by her narrative of her husband's death, and other select correspondence. New York: Robert Carter. 1843. 12mo. pp. 440.

FEW of our readers need a re-introduction to the merits of this work, which has become classic among American religious biographies. It is perhaps from some early predilection, but we could not name a record of experience, which we consider more edifying. Here the suffering