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Hence clergymen often attempt to reason men out of difficulties which require medical treatment just as really as the ravings of a brain fever, and perhaps give advice which makes the case decidedly worse. The comparison which we have made between physicians and clergymen, of course will hold only in relation to those physicians who have some regard for the moral and religious interests of their patients. Those who have not, are radically deficient in ability to administer mentally to the bodily ailments of those who come under their care-a ministration that is often quite as important in its influence on recovery, as the proper management of the forces of the materia medica.

The book before us has a large, and, for the most part, a very judi · cious collection of facts bearing upon the different points of the subject. There are some parts of it which are irrelevant, and some which are wanting in exact discrimination; but with these few exceptions, we consider it an admirably executed work. No physician or clergyman could fail to get very valuable practical hints from it; and we wish that every clergyman might possess a copy of the book, for we are persuaded that a careful perusal of it would save him from many mistakes, in giving advice to those whose nervous condition influences materially their spiritual manifestations.

HEQUEMBOURG'S PLAN OF THE CREATION.*-The Plan of the Creation, or The Theory of the Universal Government of God, which it is the design of this book to present and prove, is nowhere given in succinct form in the volume. But it may easily be gathered from a perusal of the work. So rast is this Plan, and so inconsistent is it with the belief of Christians generally, that we doubt whether its sanguine author expected that many of his readers would be brought into agreement with him at once, either with respect to the main theory, or the many subordinate questions of interpretation which he discusses. What he holds is substantially the following.

The Earth is, under God, the moral center of the universe; just as, to the ancient philosopher, it was the material center. It is the prime theater of God's vast moral designs, and all the rest of his boundless universe is made subsidiary to the accomplishment of these designs which have their beginning in the history of man. The whole material universe, under God, exists only for the human race. And even the angels

Plan of the Creation; or, Other Worlds and Who inhabit them. By Rev. C.

L. HEQUEMBOURG. Boston: 1859. pp. 396.

were created for man, “for are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." The earth is the nursery of souls for the whole universe. Here man in his successive generations begins his existence. Here he has experience of natural and moral evil as well as good, and learns how he may be redeemed from the penalty and dominion of sin through the infinite love of God in Christ. And those who realize the object of their creation and existence on the earth, and through faith in Jesus Christ are confirmed in holiness unto eternal life, pass, after the close of their earthly course, to a higher life as inhabitants of the stars. The departing spirit bears with it no portion of the material body, but it is immediately invested with a new body, in the new place of its abode.

By this process, to be continued for thousands of generations, and perhaps forever, the whole material universe, the stars which fill the unmeasured heavens, all the flying spheres which God has made, are to be supplied with rational inhabitants, who, having had their natures strengthened by the trials and failures and triumphs of the life on earth, and having been made perfect through divine grace, shall forever live in blessed obedience to God.

It is conceded that, according to this theory, but a trifling portion of the universe is as yet inhabited. Indeed, it is claimed that "we may compute the population of the universe above us almost as accurately as we can now tell the population of Europe in the middle ages, or that of England in the reign of Charles I."

We have not space to give even an outline of the argumentation by which the author would support his theory, or by which he would settle in harmony with it the great questions of the Origin of Evil, the Second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection, the Last Judgment and the Punishment of the Wicked. We will only say that, as would be expected of an exemplary Christian minister, he makes the Divine Word, with his interpretation of it, the basis of the whole.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HEROD THE GREAT.*-Many a reader of the events recorded in the Scriptures, particularly in the New Testament, has felt the want of suitable connecting links in his mind between these

*The Life and Times of Herod the Great, as connected Historically and Prophetically with the coming of Christ. And incidental portraitures of noted personages of the age. By WILLIAM M. WILLETT. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1860. pp. 384.

events and those of secular history. To persons who have not made the matter a subject of special study, these two great branches of history are apt to seem almost wholly independent of each other. The mind realizes a connection between them scarcely more definite than between the personages and incidents of a work of pure fiction, and those of the actual history of the times. Every school boy becomes familiar with the great names and facts of Grecian and Roman story, but what bearing these and other facts of secular history have upon the events recorded by the pen of inspiration, he has but a very imperfect conception. To remove this difficulty is one object of the work whose title we have named. Assuming the advent of the Saviour as the great event of time, it aims to connect with this, and present in a harmonious picture, the chief corresponding incidents of secular history. A convenient thread on which to arrange the two classes of events, is found in the life of Herod the Great, who figures in both departments of history, as the direct representative both of the Jewish and Roman power. The style of the book is animated, the narrative in general clear, the characters well sketched, and the whole picture calculated to impress the mind with a just idea of those wonderful providential arrangements by which God was preparing both the world and the witnesses for the immediate ushering in of a new dispensation. In such a complicated web of widely differing events as this history involves, a little greater care in affixing chronological dates would have promoted materially the convenience of the reader, and given additional clearness to the narrative.

THE HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND.*The recent religious awakening in Ireland has drawn attention to the ecclesiastical condition and history of that country, particularly of the Presbyterian Church. The struggles of that communion, for more than two centuries, against political and ecclesiastical intolerance and oppression, furnish materials for a narrative of great interest, especially to those in this country who cherish the same form of church organi. zation, and trace the history of their own communion, in part at least, to that, the fortunes of which are here placed on record. The work is an abridgment of the voluminous standard history of Reid and Killen, yet is sufficiently full to embrace all the leading facts. Clear in style,

* History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Condensed from the standard work of Reid and Killen. By Rev. S. D. ALEXANDer. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1860. pp. 376.

and abounding in incidents, it will well repay perusal; and that perusal cannot fail to impress the reader's mind with at least one lesson-that of all ecclesiastical history-the evils of entangling alliances between Church and State, or rather of intolerance and persecution on the part of those in power, against those who differ from them in their religious faith or ecclesiastical polity.

THE NONSUCH PROFESSOR.*-The quaint title of this book marks it unmistakably as belonging to a quaint and by-gone, though earnest and fruitful period of English religious literature. Rev. William Secker was a dissenting minister of the sixteenth century. The only two works by which he has become known to posterity are both embraced in the volume before us. They have passed through several editions, one of which was published in New York nearly half a century ago, with a commendatory letter from Rev. Drs. McLoud and J. B. Romeyn. Compositions which thus have lived for two centuries, and are still in favor, must possess no small degree of intrinsic merit. That merit consists in originality, point, aptness of illustration, eminent spirituality, and wealth of practical religious instruction. The three first named qualities prevent the book from being dull, while the two latter commend it to the heart and conscience, as well as to the attention of all classes of Christians. Drs. McLoud and Romeyn advise the perusal of the Nonsuch Professor "as a book of practical Godliness." The author himself characterizes his subject as a "breviary of religion." One writer pronounces the book to be "worth its weight in gold;" and Dr. Krauth, in his appreciative introduction published with the present edition, calls it "a mine of precious metals and of precious stones, a mine compressed to the dimensions of a little casket—a sort of pocket Golconda."

THE AMERICAN CHRISTIAN RECORD.-This volume is the result of

* The Nonsuch Professor in his meridian splendor; or, the singular actions of sanctified Christians laid open in Seven Sermons, at All-hallow's Church, LondonWall. By WILLIAM SECKER. TO which is added the Wedding Ring, a Sermon, by the same Author. With an Introduction, by C. P. Krauth, D. D. New York: Sheldon & Co. 1860. pp. 320.

The American Christian Record: containing the history, confession of faith, and statistics of each religious denomination in the United States and Europe,a list of all clergymen with their post office address, etc. New York: W. R. C. Clark & Meeker. 1860. 12mo. pp. 696.

an attempt to furnish in convenient form, as a general year book for reference, the "history, confession of faith, and statistics of each religious denomination in the United States and Europe; with a list of all clergymen and their post office address." The compiler complains that in his efforts to obtain the information he wished he has not received the assistance and coöperation he had anticipated. His enquiries have been treated in some quarters with silence and indifference, while in. a few cases they have been "regarded as impertinent." He also acknowledges that the volume for 1860 has not all the accuracy or fullness of detail that he had desired. Still he has collected an immense amount of interesting and important statistical information which fills six hundred and ninety-six closely printed pages. The value of a series of "Year Books" of this description, if well prepared, will be very great, and those who expect to be interested in the work should secure immediately a copy of the volume for 1860 while it is yet possible. The compiler asks earnestly for assistance from the officers of all religious bodies, all editors of religious periodicals, and theological professors, and requests them to send him whatever minutes, reports, or statistics, they may have which will assist him in his labors. He hopes that his next issue will more worthily represent what is doing by the different religious denominations of Christendom.

PUNCHARD'S VIEW OF CONGREGATIONALISM.*-This is the fourth edition of a book that should be well known among all the friends of Congregationalism. It contains "an exposition and discussion of the fundamental principles of the system of church polity which was so dear to the fathers of New England; a statement and defense of its more important doctrines respecting church order and discipline; the testimony of ecclesiastical history that such for substance was the polity of the Primitive Churches,-an enumeration and explanation of the ecclesiastical practices of Congregationalists; and a development of some of the prominent advantages of this system above all others." We fear that a very large number in our communion are far from understanding or appreciating the value of these principles. In cultivating charity for

*A View of Congregationalism, its principles and doctrines; the testimony of ecclesiastical history in its favor, its practice, and its advantages. By GEORGE PUNCHARD. With an introductory essay by R. S. Storrs, D. D. Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged. Boston: Congregational Board of Publication. 1860 12mo. pp. 367.

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