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ART. VIII. WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

BIOGRAPHY.

A Memoir of Richard Hatch, late Student of the Baptist College, Bristol, interspersed with Select Remains. By S. R. Allom.

The Life and a Selection from the Letters of the late Rev. Henry Venn, M.A., successively Vicar of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and Rector of Yelling, Huntingdonshire, author of the "Complete Duty of Man," &c. The memoir of his life drawn up by the late Rev. John Venn, M.A. Rector of Clapham, Surrey. Edited by the Rev. Henry Venn, B.D., Incumbent of Drypool, Yorkshire, late Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge. 8vo. 12s.

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The Value of Time. By the Author of "Little Lessons for Little Learners." 18mo.

Thirty Years' Correspondence between John Jebb, D.D., F.R.S., Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, and Alexander Knox, Esq., M.R.I.A. Edited by the Rev. Charles Forster, B.D., Perpetual Curate of Ash, next Sandwich, formerly Domestic Chaplain to Bishop Jebb. 2 vols. 8vo, 17. 8s.

Hannah More's Popular Works, (Fisher's new and uniform edition,) with Notes and a Memoir of the Author. Embellished with a Portrait from the Original Painting in the possession of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart.; a view of Barley Wood, and Vignette Title-pages to each volume. 6 vols.. 17. 10s.

The Works of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, with a Biographical and Critical Introduction. 2 vols. imperial Svo, cloth boards and lettered, with a finely engraved Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. 21. 2s.

PHILOLOGY.

Hall's Table of Greek Tenses, intended as a Companion to Greek Grammars and Lexicons. 6d.

POETRY.

The Bow in the Cloud, or the Negro's Memorial; a Collection of Original Contributions in Prose and Verse, illustrative of the Evils of Slavery, and Commemorative of its Abolition in the British Colcnies. In foolscap 8vo, with an elegant Engraved Title-page, handsomely bound in Turkey morocco, 12s. The entire profits of this Volume will be devoted to the Negroes.

A Vision of Fair Spirits, and other Poems. To which is added, the Ode lately addressed in the Theatre at Oxford to the Duke of Wellington. By John Graham, Wadham College. 8vo, 5s.

London at Night, and other Poems. By Lady Emiline Stuart Wortley. Post 8vo,

5s.

Philip Van Artevelde; a Dramatic Romance in two parts. By Henry Taylor, Esq. 2 vols. 12mo, 10s.

THEOLOGY.

Popular Geology Subversive of Divine Revelation; a Letter to the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor of Geology in the University of Cambridge; being a Scriptural Refutation of the Geological Positions and Doctrines contained in his lately published Commemoration Sermon. By the Rev. Henry Cole, late of Clare Hall, Cambridge. 5s.

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR AUGUST, 1834.

Art. I. 1. Lectures on Theology. By the late Rev. John Dick, D.D., Minister of the United Associate Congregation, Greyfriars, Glasgow, and Professor of Theology to the United Secession Church. Published under the Superintendence of his Son. In four Volumes, 8vo. Price 21. 2s. cloth. Edinburgh, 1834.

2. An Elementary Course of Lectures, on the Criticism, Interpretation, and Leading Doctrines of the Bible, delivered at Bristol College, in the Years 1832, 1833, before a Class consisting of such Pupils of that Institution as were Members of the Established Church. To the Critical and Philological Part is appended an Essay on the general Grammatical Principles of the Semitic Languages. By W. D. Conybeare, M.A., Rector of Sully; Visitor of the College. 18mo, pp. xxiv. 304. London, 1834.

3. Christian Theology: translated from the Latin of Benedict Pictet, Pastor and Professor of Divinity in the Church and University of Geneva. By Frederick Reyroux, B.A. (Christian's Family Library.) 12mo, pp. xvi. 512. London, 1834.

IN the present day, no kind of knowledge, it may be safely affirmed, stands any chance of keeping its ground, and of retaining its hold, which is accessible only to 'painful' students in the dead masses of crude ore which served as the literary currency of other times. Few persons will now-a-days undertake the toil of smelting a folio tome, to extract the pure metal. Nay, not only is the reign of the folio dynasty of literature past away, but even octavos have for some time been declining in public favour, and every work, to be popular, must now be brought within the more modest dimensions of a cabinet or pocket volume. One would think that we had become a nation of peripatetic students, and that hence arises the demand for portable literature. But multum in parvo seems to be adopted as the popular motto

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in all things. Every thing must now be done in a little time, or brought within a little compass. Medicine, food, knowledge, are all taken in smaller quantities than they used to be. Less physic is taken; people do not sit so long at their meals; less wine is drunk; the intemperate get intoxicated with smaller doses of more concentrated poison; and every thing proceeds more rapidly-a rail-road pace. No wonder, therefore, that people read less, and are more impatient readers. There is a bustle, an excitement, a stir and strife in the social world at this moment, by which every body and every thing are more or less affected. The steam is on, and at high pressure, and the minutest wheel feels the acceleration.

It is not necessary to inquire here into the causes which have produced this state of society. Some persons may be disposed to consider it as the result of hyper-civilization. We think that it is explained by the intense competition consequent on a rapidly increasing and condensed population, together with a multiplication of the objects of desire through the progress of luxury and artificial refinement, and added to this, the wide, equal, and rapid diffusion of knowledge, by which the physical energies of each individual are multiplied. But, whatever be the cause, it becomes an important consideration, what have been and are likely to be the effects, as regards the most vital and momentous interests of the community.

In the first place, it is sufficiently obvious, that the religion of a people so circumstanced, must be of a very different character from that of a community in a more inert state, and in which the pulse of intelligence beats slower. We speak not, of course, of the matter of belief, the credenda of the acknowledged or established faith, but of the living religion as embodied in the sentiments and conduct of the people at large. A religion of grave formalities, of decent routine, of implicit credence and hereditary conformity, is not suited to the wear and tear of such stirring times. And again, a religion of casuistry and scholastic technicality, a polemical or recondite or mystic religion, cannot at such a time, if ever, be the religion of the many. The religion of the present day, to suit the times, must be a real business. seasons of persecution winnow the Church, by detecting the hypocrite and separating the true from the false professor, so, it seems to us, the state of society in which we live is adapted to winnow theology, and to separate the chaff of man's wisdom from the heavenly grain. Creeds, symbols, and articles of faith no longer possess any authority: they are regarded as the leadingstrings of intellectual childhood. They cannot, in the nature of things, possess the authority of evidence, the only authority upon which truth can now be safely based. The religion of the Bible is the only religion that will stand the crucible; and it is a grati

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fying circumstance, that never was there so general a disposition, among all classes of professed Christians, to defer to its authority, and to abide by its decisions. The Bible Society is, in this respect, admirably timed: it meets the spirit and specific wants of the day. We recognize the Divine wisdom in the peculiar adaptation of this great institution to the present state of the Church. Whatever Church is in danger, God be praised, the Bible is not in danger. This great bulwark of our national faith will defy all assaults of infidelity, whatever may become of the bastions and outworks which have been thrown up by human hands. And the religion which the Bible teaches and produces, must be safe. True religion is entirely and equally adapted to all stages and states of society. It is the only faith which teaches. how to suffer, to endure, or to combat, as well as to overcome the seductions of the world. But the characteristic features of the times are, knowledge and activity; and it is in the shape of intelligence, of science, and of practical beneficence, that the leaven of true religion must now diffuse itself through the social mass. It is the age of utility: religion must commend itself as the most useful of all things. It is the age of legislation: religion must be seen to be at once above all legislation, and yet the basis of all. It is an age of general education: religion must be made, not a condition of education, nor its end, but part and parcel of the knowledge which educates; being the highest kind of knowledge, that which alone superinduces spiritual upon intellectual life, and thus develops the entire capacity of man. But this knowledge cannot be learned by rote, or taught by the mechanism of a creed: it must be begotten in the mind, rather than imparted to it. Religious truth is a light which gives light by producing the very organ that perceives it. Once more, ours is a busy age. Religion must then deal as with men of business, using few words and practical arguments; making good her claims to attention as relating to the most urgent business, the most profitable of speculations, the most certain insurance, the most gainful of adventures. Does not Our Lord himself sanction these metaphors, and teach us that religion, while it affords the sublimest contemplation to the contemplative, must, by the busy, be made a pursuit the first pursuit, or it will be postponed to every other, and become a form, a name?

Now how is religion to be thus brought before and conveyed into the minds of the people? The three great channels of knowledge are, schools, the pulpit, and the press. That religion is not taught in our public schools, is sufficiently notorious: they may, on the contrary, be considered as the very fountain-head of the irreligion which, to so great an extent, prevails among the higher classes. An Eton or Westminster school-boy is three parts a heathen. The national schools of the Establishment pre

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scribe a creed to the lower classes; but do they impart religious knowledge of an efficient kind? In most cases, the true answer would be in the negative. And even in schools of a better description, there is reason to fear that little that is deserving of the name of religious education is imparted. Of the pulpit, we refrain from saying any thing here. What then is the press doing for religion, or rather for the religious instruction of the people? Religious books are multiplied to an extraordinary degree; and it may be presumed that they find readers among the religious. Unfortunately, however, the mass of intelligent readers are indevout, and their attention is pre-occupied with either politics or science, from both of which religion is kept at an unnatural distance. The predominant character of the daily press is antireligious; that of the leading periodical journals is equally so; the spirit of modern science is atheistical; the philosophy of utilitarianism is, at least, anti-Christian. Under all these several influences, it is painful to think how large a proportion of the national mind is become alienated from Divine truth. The spread of infidelity is loudly deplored, sometimes with timid alarm, at other times with angry indignation; more, however, as fraught with political mischief, than as affecting the happiness of the victims of error. But what steps are being taken to meet the evil with appropriate remedies? We know of but two writers of the present day who seem fully aware what is required of Theology, if she wishes to maintain her proper rank at the head of science, or what description of religious literature is called for to interest and impress this busy age.

If Theology be worth any one's study, it deserves the attention of every individual. It is too generally viewed as a mere professional accomplishment: as such, it has scarcely more to do with religion, as a practical business, than has logic, mathematics, or jurisprudence. Much goes under the name of theology, of which both divines and laymen may safely remain ignorant; but, so far as it consists in a knowledge, not of opinions, but of truths, it is a species of knowledge of which it is the highest duty and chiefest interest of every one to possess himself. To facilitate the acquisition on the part of all, an order of teachers has been instituted; but it would be far more reasonable to abandon politics altogether to statesmen and placemen, than to leave divinity to be monopolized by divines, and to repose our ignorance on their presumed knowledge. In the one case, our social rights and interests would be in jeopardy; in the latter case, what is still more valuable. In the present day, every man thinks it necessary to be more or less a politician: why then should it not be deemed equally requisite for every man to be a divine? We call ourselves protestants, but we have not shaken off, as yet, one of the worst of Romish errors,-that which regards a vicarious

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