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KIDDER'S TREATISE ON HOMILETICS.*This is a well arranged and elaborate treatise on the science of Homiletics, from the Methodist point of view. It comprehends pretty much all that has been said that is valuable by English writers on this subject, without adding much that is new or original. It sets forth the duty of study, logical method, and all fit intellectual preparation for the pulpit; while at the same time it upholds the dignity of preaching, making all human art and knowledge to be but subordinate and tributary to it. As might be expected the extempore method is vigorously advocated.

The chapter on Divine assistance in preaching discriminates fairly between that erroneous view which would lead a preacher to rely directly on Divine inspiration to put into his mouth what to say, and the equally erroneous opinion that a true preacher of Christ may not hope for special aid from on high, when using his own faculties faithfully and humbly.

There are doubtless self-made men who are good preachers, and no denomination has produced more of these than the Methodist; yet our author, like the accomplished and eloquent Olin, evidently holds that a good preacher is not injured by employing every possible means to educate and discipline all his powers for his great work.

THE COLOR GUARD.t-This is a book written by the Rev. James K. Hosmer, a Unitarian clergyman of Deerfield, Mass., who enlisted in the Fifty-second Regiment of Massachusetts nine months' Volunteers, in 1862. He held a corporal's position in a company where his younger brother was first sergeant. He had full experience of all the various phases of military life on land and sea, on the march, in camp, in hospital service, and in battle. Notwithstanding all the hardships he endured, he preferred to retain his place in the regiment, even when he might have exchanged it for a clerkship in Gen. Banks' office, of which he made trial for a single day. This book has the advantage of being written in a journal

* A Treatise on Homiletics; designed to illustrate the true theory and practice of preaching the Gospel. By DANIEL P. KIDDER, D. D., Professor in the Garrett Biblical Institute. New York: Carlton and Porter, 1864.

The Color Guard: being a Corporal's notes of military service in the Nineteenth Army Corps. By JAMES K. HOSMER, of the Fifty-second Regiment Mass. Volunteers. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. 1864. pp. 244.

form by the pen of a ready writer, with all the glow and enthusiasm of a young and ardent and cultivated man, and it will engage the attention of all who begin to read it, until it is finished.

THE WHIP, THE HOE, AND THE SWORD.*-This book contains the experience of another Unitarian clergyman-Rev. G. H. Hepworth, of Boston. Mr. Hepworth went to New Orleans as Chaplain of the forty-seventh Massachusetts regiment. He soon felt that his position was too confined and without sufficient scope to suit his desire for work; and he therefore gladly accepted a commission as Lieutenant in the fourth Louisiana Native Guards, from which he was detailed to act as Aid-de-Camp to General Banks. Having had confided to him a general supervision of the experiment of employing freed laborers on the plantations, he had rare opportunities of getting an insight into Southern habits and modes. of thought, and he gives us here select illustrations of the pride, ignorance, selfishness, and other characteristics of Louisiana. society, black and white, under its present war aspects.

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.-Messrs. Sever & Francis, of Cambridge, Mass., have added to their "Golden Treasury Series," a new and elegant edition of the Pilgrim's Progress, with illustra tions by Stothard.

POCKET SERIES OF FAVORITE STANDARD AUTHORS.-Frank H. Dodd, of New York, has commenced the publication of a "pocket edition" series of the works of the best English authors. Milton's Paradise Lost has already been given to the public. It is a 32mo., printed at the Cambridge University Press, on fine tinted paper, with type of admirable distinctness. The Paradise Lost is to be soon followed by Lamb's Tales from Shakspeare, and Isaac Walton's "Angler." This series will undoubtedly be a very popular one. Price, bound in vellum cloth, $1.25.

SPEECHES, LECTURES, AND LETTERS OF WENDELL PHILLIPS.— Messrs. Walker, Wise, & Co., of Boston, have published in a handsome volume, (8vo. pp. 562), a selection from the Speeches and Lectures of Wendell Phillips. The volume is embellished with an admirable likeness of the distinguished orator.

* The Whip, the Hoe, and the Sword: or the Gulf Department in '63. By GEORGE H. HEPWORTH. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. pp. 298.

MRS. KIRKLAND'S SCHOOL GIRL'S GARLAND.-A second volume of poetical selections, by the lamented Mrs. C. M. KIRKLAND, bearing the title which we give above, had just been published by Charles Scribner, Esq., of New York, when the announcement was made of her sudden death. It is an unusually choice selection. (24mo. pp. 360).

WORKS OF LORD BACON.-The last volume of the new complete edition of Lord Bacon's Works, published by Taggard & Thompson, of Boston, has just been issued. We shall speak of it more at length in the next Number.

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.

Orlean Lamar, and other Poems. By SARAH E. KNOWLES, New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1864.

The Mystery of the Trinity Paralleled in Nature. An Analogical Argument. By W. R. HUNTINGTON. Boston: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1864. 24mo. pp. 24. Our State Militia: being a series of Articles originally contributed to the "Connecticut War Record." By FRANCIS WAYLAND, Esq. New Haven. 8vo. pp. 24.

Certainty Concerning Christ, as the Divine Lord. A Sermon preached in the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, N. Y. By RICHARD S. STORRS, Jr., D. D. 1864. 8vo. pp. 32.

One who laid down his Life for his Brethren. A Sermon in Memory of ROBERT SEDGWICK EDWARDS; preached in the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, N. Y. By Rev. R. S. STORRS, Jr., D. D. 1864. 8vo. pp. 21.

Review by Rev. Dr. H. P. Tappan of his Connection with the University of Michigan. 1864. 8vo. pp. 52.

The Anglo-American Sabbath. By the Rev. Philip Schaff, D. D. the National Sabbath Convention, Saratoga, August 11th, 1863. Tract Society. 1864. 32mo. pp. 88.

In Memory of Albert Wilson Janvier. 1863. 8vo. pp. 11.

Read before

American

The Christian Element essential to the truest Patriotism; or, the Preservation of our Free Institutions impossible without the Gospel. By ABIJAH P. MARVIN, of Winchendon, Mass. 8vo. pp. 15.

The Throne of Iniquity. The Moral Contrasts developed by the existing war, in its Origin, Objects, and Prosecution. A Discourse delivered on the Day of National Thanksgiving, November 26th, 1863, at the Central Presbyterian Church, Buffalo. By JOHN C. LORD, D. D. 1864. 8vo. pp. 32.

A Plea for equity in Church Maintenance. By MOUNTAINEER. Buffalo: 1864.

8vo. pp. 36.

THE

NEW ENGLANDER.

No. LXXXIX.

OCTOBER, 1864.

ARTICLE I.-THE CONFLICT WITH SKEPTICISM AND UNBELIEF. FOURTH ARTICLE:-RECENT DISCUSSIONS UPON THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRST THREE GOSPELS.

THE characteristics which belong in common to the first three gospels, and distinguish them from the Gospel of John, we suppose to be familiar to the reader. The first three Gospels-the Synoptics-dwell chiefly upon the Galilean ministry of Jesus. Compared with John, they are less heedful of the chronological order. In truth, the chronological outline of the Saviour's ministry can be gathered from the Fourth Gospel alone. The Synoptics not only have a large amount of matter in common, but their consonance in phraseology extends too far to be the result of accident; at the same time that the divergences, existing side by side with this resemblance, equally demand an explanation. This mingled divergence and coincidence have put to the test the ingenuity of critics. One general theory is that of an original Gospel, existing prior to the three, but revised or enlarged by each historian independently. 38

VOL. XXIII.

But this theory has two branches, there being some who hold that the original Gospel was a written work, whilst others con sider it a mass of oral tradition which had acquired a fixed form. The other general theory is that of a priority on the part of one of the Evangelists, the use of whose work by a successor gives occasion to the peculiarity in question. But the various hypotheses which have been brought forward under this theory, or the different views as to the order in which the Gospels were written, exhaust the possibilities of supposition. They form, in fact, an example in permutation. Matthew,

Luke, and Mark, was the series in the hypothesis of Griesbach, which has been extensively followed. Another set of critics are equally confident that the precedence in age belongs to Mark.* Others again, are satisfied with neither of these views. The long continued diversity of opinion on the subject is a sign of the difficulty of the problem. This problem we do not propose to discuss in the present essay. We might even waive the question whether these three narratives were composed by the persons to whom they are respectively ascribed, were it not that this question cannot be wholly disconnected from the proposition which we deem to be of prime importance. Could it be shown, as is maintained by some critics who accept the narrative as substantially historical and credible, that the First Gospel was not written by Matthew, the proposition with which we are at present concerned, would not be seriously affected. What, then, is the question of fundamental importance, on which the credibility of the Gospel history turns?

The main thing which the skeptical school seeks to accomplish, as far as the first three Gospels are concerned, is to bring down their date into the post-apostolic age. History is testimony. The credibility of testimony depends-supposing that those who give it wish to tell the truth-on their means of information. The credibility of the Gospels is conditioned on the fact that they emanate either from actual witnesses of the

*For a full classification of critical opinions on this subject, see Meyer's Einleitung to the first volume of his commentary on the N. T.

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