and railroads, almost without exception, desecrate the day by wholesale. In high places there is a diminished regard for the institution, and a diminished respect for the feelings of those who love its privileges. And there is a growing sentiment in the community, we fear, that the claims of the Sabbath must be compromised, and the commands of God must be reconciled to our convenience. แ The first of these volumes is divided into three parts. In the first part the author presents the foundation on which the Sabbath rests; in the second, he dwells on the practical improvement of the day; and in the last, he gives a series of meditations and prayers, answering to the number of Sabbaths in the year. His leading aim is to urge upon the church a conscientious discharge of Sabbath obligations; believing, that, when their example is right, this blessed day, if not rescued entirely from profanation, will at least exert its legiti mate influence. The work makes no pretensions to great depth or learning: but the discussions are lucid, the illustrations apposite and the style uncommonly pleasing. Its influence cannot fail to be happy. The volume of Mr. Kingsbury is exceedingly valuable as a repository of facts. If disposed, we might criticise the arrangement, and point out other defects; but we should do injustice to the author to subject his book to the rules of practised writers. Its merits are superior to those of mere style. In the first chapter, he has brought together the laws of Congress and the different States, so far as they relate to the Sabbath; the second is devoted to a detailed history of the Sunday mail question; the third and fourth are on the expediency of fearless effort, and the necessity of the Sabbath. In the fifth chapter, fifteen objections to the Sabbath are fully and satisfactorily answered. The rest of the volume contains an earnest appeal to the different classes of society in behalf of this institution. 12. The Family a Religious Institution; or, Heaven its Model. Troy: Elias Gates. 1840. pp. 204. The author of this volume is the Rev. E. Hopkins, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Troy, N. Y. He justly remarks, that the subject which he discusses, "from its very nature and relations, can never be divested of deep interest and profit, while the parental relation continues." "The polish of the marble will continue the same under the hands of successive workmen :" "the lustre of the gold cannot be effaced by attrition." The leading topics of the work are, the Family a Religious Institution, the Family Constitution, the Chief Matter of Parental Solicitude, Habits of Childhood, Parental Duties and Responsibilities, on the Culture of Filial Obedience, the Season of Parental Effort, on Guiding the Affections to God, and the Family Covenant. These are all presented with ability and interest. Many of the considerations urged upon parents are peculiarly solemn and weighty. The book cannot fail to be useful. 13.-The Inquirer Directed to an Experimental and Practical View of the Work of the Holy Spirit: by Rev. Octavius This is the second of a series of works, which the author intends to publish, under the general title of "Experimental and Practical Views of Divine Truth." The first in the series appeared in 1838, entitled "Experimental and Practical Views of the Atonement ;" and the third is soon to be published, by the name of the "Inquirer directed to an Experimental and Practical View of the Glory of Christ." The subjects discussed in the present volume are, the Godhead and Personality of the Spirit, the Spirit a Quickener, the Indwelling Spirit, the Sanctification of the Spirit, the Sealing of the Spirit, the Witness of the Spirit, the Spirit the Author of Prayer and the Spirit a Comforter.-It is the aim of the author to present these topics in a simple, unpretending dress, resorting mainly to Scripture for his arguments and illustrations. The book is what it professes to be-experimental and practical. No Christian can read it carefully, without resolving to be more humble and watchful in his intercourse with the indwelling Spirit. In justice to the author, however, it should be observed, that his discussions are not superficial, because they are practical. With some of them we have been particularly pleased. We are not prepared to assent to every position which he takes. Still, the purpose and the spirit of the work we cordially approve. 14.-The Works of Thomas Chalmers, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Theology in the University of Edinburgh, and Corresponding Member of the Royal Institute of France. New-York: Robert Carter. 1840. Seven Volumes, 12 mo. pp. 404, 420, 358, 455, 395, 420, 377. This edition of the Works of Dr. Chalmers is designed to include, in a uniform style, all the publications of the eloquent Scottish divine. Seven volumes are already out; two, on Natural Theology; two, on the Miraculous and Internal Evi dences of the Christian Revelation, and the Authority of its Records; one, on Moral and Mental Philosophy their con nection with each other; and their bearings on doctrinal and practical Christianity; one, on the Application of Christianity to the Commercial and Ordinary Affairs of Life; and one, on the Christian Revelation, viewed in connection with the Modern Astronomy; to which are added, Discourses illustrative of the connection between Theology and General Science. The publisher is entitled to much commendation for this very seasonable and beautiful addition to our Theological Literature; for, though most of these works were before accessible to scholars, and some of them had been extensively circulated in this country, it was very desirable that the entire productions of their eminent author should be not only in all our public Libraries, but in those of professional and other gentlemen of the Christian community. We have no partiality for the style of Dr. Chalmers. Nor are we prepared to adopt all his speculations without modification. He does not write the most perfect English. His composition wants that chaste, severe expression, which, like the simple drapery of the Roman statuary, outlives all the successive forms of a gaudier costume. He would have shown a better taste in preferring the style of Reid or Locke to that of Dr. Thomas Brown. And there may be reason to doubt, whether the very ardor, with which he urges his way over the fields of his bold investigation, is not sometimes inconsistent with those proportioned and just views, which, as they are the rarest, are also the best characteristics of moral and theological speculation. This last remark might be illustrated by reference to the Dr.'s exhibition of the historical argument for Christianity; and to his first chapter on Natural Theology, in which an important distinction is made between the facts and the ethics of moral philosophy. In the first case, we are almost left to overlook the immense weight of the internal evidence of our religion; and in the last, cannot but feel, that in the eloquent demonstration of a real difference, the author has pushed the distinction beyond the truth. His unquestionable merits, however, are illustrious; they have rendered him conspicuous in a bright constellation; and will, undoubtedly, secure him a permanent place among the gifted men, whose appropriate and enviable work it seems to be, in the Providence of God, to christianize the English literature to incorporate the truths of our Holy Religion with modern science-to sanctify the Anglo-Saxon intellect; and, thus, to prepare the language of Great Britain for what seems to be its destiny in the future history of the world,-to become the medium of thought and influence for the greatest community of human beings that ever spoke a single dialect. The position of Dr. Chalmers, for the last quarter of a century, has given to his powerful mind a striking inclination to a single aspect of Christianity-its relations, we mean, to the science and the cultivation of our times. And it must be admitted, that no writer has done more to recommend an un. obtrusive Faith to the careful attention of the able and ambitious men who have taken the lead in modern philosophy and popular literature. Living at the very seat of modern Infidelity, and associated with the principal writers for the Edinburgh Review, who, during the present century, have given reputation to the most plausible form of unbelief with which our religion has ever had to contend, he early attracted the notice of the literary circles of Edinburgh, and of the whole English public, by his celebrated "Astronomical Discourses." These splendid productions, though inferior, in logic and in style, to the sermons of Dr. Thompson, afterwards delivered on the same occasion, are, certainly, among the most remarkable specimens of Christian eloquence. The tone of these discourses pervades all the principal works of the author. He appears, everywhere, intent on presenting the religion of Christ, which it was becoming the fashion to despise, as not only consistent with the other works of God, but as the grandest, and most worthy of our study, among all the demonstrations of his sublime perfections. If any thing is wanting in the severity of the Dr.'s logic, or the precision of his phraseology, there is ample compensation in the magnificence of his imagination, and the grandeur of his march over the fields of sacred and of human knowledge, upon which he was formed to expatiate by natural endowments akin to the highest order of poetic genius. 15.-Chemistry applied to Agriculture: by M. Le Compte Chaptal, Member of the French Institute, etc. etc. With a Preliminary Chapter on the Organization, Structure, etc. of Plants: by Sir Humphrey Davy. And an Essay on the Use of Lime as a Manure: by M. Puvis; with Introductory Observations to the same: by James Renwick, LL. D. Translated and edited by Rev. William P. Page. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1840. pp. 360, 12mo. We have examined this book with much satisfaction. It contains a vast amount of practical information, and is admi rably adapted to the object which is sufficiently indicated on its title-page. To those of our readers who are interested in practical agriculture, it would seem that a knowledge of the principles, which have been deduced from a careful observation of the nature and results of the physical laws, must be indispensable. "It is certainly not a little surprising," as our translator well remarks, "that while so many of the useful arts have been vastly improved, and some seemingly almost perfected, by the applications of physical science, agriculture, though immeasurably the most important of all, should still be in a state of comparative rudeness; and its operations but too generally conducted with scarcely the smallest reference to the natural laws." Yet a competent knowledge of the principles of physical science is easily attainable, and their applications may be readily understood by the practical farmer of ordinary capacity. Let any one who doubts this read Chaptal's Agricultural Chemistry, with the Essays incorporated with it in this volume, and his doubts will be dissipated; he will find himself in possession of a large number of facts and principles, of the usefulness of which, no one, unacquainted with them, can form the most distant conception. 16.-Bacchus: An Essay on the Nature, Causes, Effects and Cure of Intemperance. By Ralph Barnes Grindrod. First American, from the Third English Edition. Edited by Charles A. Lee, A. M., M. D. New-York: J. & H. G. Langley. 1840. pp. 528. وو We e regret that we have not had time to read this book entirely through. We have, however, read enough of it to be convinced of its immense value as a book of facts and principles on the subject of intemperance. It is a "Prize Essay,' called forth by the offer of a hundred sovereigns, by the "New British and Foreign Temperance Society," and we honor the vote of the "Adjudicators" who awarded it the premium. We fully accord with the opinion expressed by the American editor, that it is probably the most complete and satisfactory publication, on the subject of which it treats, to be found in any language. It is divided into six parts, the leading topics of which are the following: I. Nature and characteristics of Intemperance, its history, its history in connection with religion,-intemperance considered in a national point of view,—and its effects on the moral and intellectual powers. II. The moral and physical causes of Intemperance. SECOND SERIES, VOL. V. NO. I. 21 |