9. Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, of London. Fourth Series. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Company. 1858. pp. 445. We have read several of these sermons with the curiositynot an unworthy one we trust-to discover, if possible, the secret of the author's sudden and almost unrivalled popularity. We are impressed by the conviction that he is rigidly sincere; that his thought comes immediately from his mind, hot as the furnace it leaves; and that his language, wholly spontaneous, exactly fits his idea, and serves his purpose. He is not an artist, his rhetoric is not finished, his illustrations often offend cultivated taste, and his imagination is not chastely poetic. But he is full of his purpose, and comes to men with that directness that never fails of the result. We confess that our first impression-based upon newspaper reports and sketches-was unfavorable. But effects must have adequate causes; and the man who can speak such sermons as fill the volume before us, must have strong qualities of mind and emotion. It seems too formal to commend a book which so many are already eager to obtain. 10. Sermons to the Churches. By Francis Wayland. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Company. 1858. pp. 281. 66 A book on any subject, or series of subjects, from a man of such acknowledged ability as Francis Wayland, will be cordially welcomed by the higher class of thinkers on both sides of the great waters; for the late president of Brown University has an European, not less than American, fame. The design of the sermons here printed is, the author tells us, to urge upon individual Christians the duty of personal effort for the conversion of men." There are eight in all, on The Apostolic Ministry; The Church, a Society for the Conversion of the World; Christian Worship; A Consistent Piety the Demand of the Age; Slavery to Public Opinion; The Perils of Riches; Prevalent Prayer; Responsibility for the Moral Conduct of Others. Their characteristic simplicity, their substance of mature thought, and unostentatious rhetoric will, with sensible readers, far outweigh all objections on the score of peculiar theology and sectarian bias. 11. Sermons for the New Life. By Horace Bushnell. Fourth Edition. New York: Charles Scribner. 1859. pp. 456. The titles of the twenty-three sermons comprised in this volume are characteristic of the author, and sufficiently indicate his quality of spirit and aim. Take such as these for examples: Every Man's Life a Plan of God; The Hunger of the Soul; Ob ligation, a Privilege; Respectable Sin; the Power of God in Self-Sacrifice; Spiritual Dislodgment; Christ as separate from the World. In each case, the mere caption starts a train of noble thought, and puts the reader into sympathetic relation with the mind that proceeds to discourse. To some readers, Bushnell is not always clear; there is a large element of mysticism in his mental structure; and his mind is intuitional rather than logical. But he has a nobility of nature which makes him felt powerfully for good; and no published production from his brain can fail of readers. 12. History of Friedrich the Second, called Frederick the Great. By Thomas Carlyle. Volumes i. and ii. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1858. pp. 485, 556. The entire work is to comprise four volumes. What we now have, therefore, is but the first half. We know not by what terms to characterize a book which is so essentially unlike any other book, that language lacks the appropriate epithets for description. The author's primitive contempt for the canons of rhetoric has been modified somewhat; yet he is the same strange being, and his sentences are expressive of their author's identity. His admiration for the Great Frederick is genuine; else he could never have had a zest-such as we see evinced in the first volume--for such minute researches into the roots of the genealogical tree. Frederick was pre-eminently a man of action-of deeds; and for such men Carlyle's affection amounts to a sort of mania. Voltaire is cuffed not a few times in the course of the narrative; he wrote lies about Frederick, so our author plainly intimates. The books abounds with portraiture of character; and swarms with human beings, rather than with their events. The narrative is a spectacle, more than a record. Here is Carlyle's unrivalled power. It is a rare gift. He that has it need not sigh for fame. That he will make his mark is a necessity of his being. 13. Shahmah in Pursuit of Freedom; or, The Branded Hand. Translated from the Original Showiah and edited by An American Citizen. New York: Thatcher & Hutchinson. 1858. pp. 599. Shahmah is a Kabyle-the distinguishing name of a race living in the mountains of Algiers, in whom the love of liberty is proverbially strong. Distinguishing between the generic notion of freedom, and the specific form proper to man, as man, Shahmah is dissatisfied with the kind of freedom prevailing with his tribe -sees that it does not correspond to the true destiny of humanity, and he determines, by philosophizing and experimenting, to attain a better ideal, and so comes to our America! His sights and experiences here make the bulk of a singularly interesting story. The aim, it is clearly seen, is an exposure and rebuke of the peculiar sins and shams of the nation. An earnest spirit breathes in every line; and, despite of occasional eccentricities, the book will amply repay the labor of reading. 14. The Religious Aspects of the Age, with a Glance at the Church of the Present and the Church of the Future. New York: Thatcher & Hutchinson. 1858. pp. 179. This handsome book contains a series of Addresses delivered before the Young Men's Christian Union of New York, on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of May last-an anniversary occasion. The speakers were, Samuel Osgood, D. D.; T. J. Sawyer, D. D.; Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Rev. Henry Blanchard, Rev. C. Miel, Rev. B. F. Barrett, E. H. Chapin, D. D.; Henry W. Bellows, D. D.; Rev. A. D. Mayo, Rev. T. W. Higginson, Rev. B. Peters, Richard Warren, Esq., and Horace Greeley. No further statements are needed to denote the essential character of the book, or to furnish further guarantee, that whoever procures and reads it, will make a profitable investment of time and money. 15. Every Woman her own Lawyer. A Private Guide in all Matters of Law of Essential Interest to Women. By George Bishop. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald. pp. 374. The design of this book is announced to be to enable woman to be her own legal adviser, and to render, in every case, her legal redress. It seems to us, that it will serve even a higher purpose-enable her to avoid the difficulties which call for legal redress. Though law is not our department, we find in this volume sufficient evidence that it is prepared by one who is learned in such matters. Its arrangement and abridgments are not the work of a novice. There are so many cases in which women are peculiarly the victims of law, that there is need of such a treatise as this, to point out for them the path of safety as well as of escape. We should add, that the book gives the laws of the several States respecting marriage, divorce, the property of wives, and all points pertaining to the legal dangers and rights of woman. 16. The Progressive Speaker and Common School Reader: comprising choice Selections for Reading, Recitation, and Declamation, with the Principles of Correct Utterance, simplified in Exercises for the Voice. By an Eminent Practical Teacher. Boston: Sanborn, Bazin & Ellsworth. 1858. We have given this book a careful examination, and we express an opinion, formed with some deliberation, that while it has peculiar claims upon that young portion of the community, for which it is designed, the selections are made with excellent judgment, and with due regard to variety, as regards the different kinds of exercise essential to secure correct and effective reading and speaking. In its mechanical appearance, it stands, on the score of elegance, without a rival—an important feature in a school book. 17. Hesper, The Home Spirit. A bor and Love. By Elizabeth Doten. 66 Simple Story of Household La- The To give true merit its due," and to exhibit it as it appears in every-day humble life, has been the writer's purpose. gifts of genius are endowments of but a few; but every one may have a love that seeks not his own but another's good. But to attain that degree and quality of love "which never faileth," demands a struggle, its attainment is a victory, its possessor becomes heroic. Such a person finds exhibition and appreciation in the chastely written story of Hesper. 18. Life, Present and Future. By J. H. Tuttle. Rochester, N. Y.` 1858. pp. 158. This little book abounds with rich thought, charmingly expressed, on the several themes of Life in the Senses-in Society in the Intellect-in Religion-in Eternity. The author betrays a philosophic mind; and at the same time gives to the utterance of his thought the accompaniment of a fervor, that makes his discourse practical and effective. His book must not be estimated by reference to its bulk. 19. Selections from Eminent Commentators, who have believed in Punishment after Death; wherein they have agreed with Universalists, in their Interpretation of Scriptures relating to Punishment. By Lucius R. Paige. Revised Edition. Boston: Abel Tompkins. 1859. The appearance of a new edition gives us occasion to call renewed attention to this classic in Universalist literature. Its character and worth are well known. So far as regard is had to supposed Scripture proof of the doctrine of endless punishment, it is before any other book, we might say all others, on the same subject. The new edition is gotten up in substantial style; and will be received with the favor it richly merits. ART. IX. The Calvinistic Church. THE Calvinistic church, its history as a distinctive organization-this is the theme of the present article. The course which will be taken in presenting it to the reader is substantially as follows: First, as Christ is identified with the Christian religion, and Mohammed with Mohammedanism, so is Luther identified with the history of Lutheranism, and John Calvin with the history of Calvinism. By way of introduction, therefore, the biography of Calvin will be briefly sketched, and such particulars of his life will be given as will aid in determining his merits and claims. Secondly, an account will be given of the theology of Calvin, showing wherein it agreed with, and wherein it differed from, the systems and opinions of his predecessors and distinguished contemporaries. And, Thirdly, the history of Calvinism in England and America will form an appropriate close to the article, in which the former position of the system will be sketched, the changes it has passed through, and its relations to the aspects of society of to-day. Under these general heads, without specifying them again, the theme of discussion will be arranged. John Calvin, the leader and founder of the sect of Calvinists, was born at Noyon, in Picardy, France, July 10th, 1509. Of his father, Gerard Calvin, but little is known. He is said to have been a notary in the ecclesiastical court of Noyon, and a secretary to the Bishop,-facts which would indicate the respectableness of his social position; and, though not distinguished by fortune or learning, yet, by his prudence and integrity, he obtained the patronage of the Mommor family, one of the most ancient families of Picardy, and with their children Calvin was instructed in his earlier years. Anecdotes of that period of the life of the neophyte are exceedingly rare. How he prospered in his juvenile studies, by whom he was taught, and from what books he learned; whether naturally retiring and modest in his manners, or forward and bold; and in what youthful VOL. XVI. 10 |