a very striking manner the proofs the Romish church gives of her apostasy in her exclusion of the Scriptures from the hands of her people, and substitution of her own dogmas and teachings in their place. He next discourses of Christ's presence in the church, the nature of sin, and the free offer of salvation in the gospel. From these topics he passes to the characteristics and duties of the believer, the nature of faith, and the fruits to which it gives birth; and finally closes with a view of the present happiness of the dead in Christ, their speedy resurrection, and their final blessedness in his eternal kingdom. These last subjects we are especially glad to see presented by him. Though they occupy a large space in the Bible, and are among the most attractive and cheering to those who cherish realizing expectations of a future life, they are almost wholly excluded from the pulpit, and to crowds of the people of God, involved in extreme obscurity, and neglected as of little significance. 5. A CYCLOPEDIA OF MISSIONS: containing a comprehensive View of Missionary Operations throughout the World, with Geographical Descriptions, and accounts of the social, moral, and religious condition of the people, by the Rev. Harvey Newcomb. New York: Charles Scribner. 1854. THIS work of near 800 pages answers to its title in the minuteness and comprehensiveness of the information it presents on all the themes. that belong to the subject. Of the countries which are the scenes of the principal missions-such as Africa, Ceylon, Hindostan, Burmah, China, the Sandwich Islands,-a very ample view is first given of the geography, population, language, literature, civil institutions, and religion and then a sketch of the missions that have been established there, whatever may be the denomination to which they belong, the missionaries by whom they have been conducted, and the results that have sprung from their labors. Interspersed with these main themes, in alphabetical order, are the several societies that are employed in the support of missions, the names of all missionary stations, and articles on such other topics as need to be known in order to a full understanding of the subject, and the whole is illus trated with upwards of thirty maps. The style is perspicuous and neat; the subjects are treated with judgment and taste; and form a work that has no competitor in its adaptation to its object. It is to missions what a dictionary is to language, what a gazetteer is to geography, and what an encyclopædia is to the whole circle of geographical, scientific, historical, and literary subjects that are comprised in a general system of knowledge. 6. THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. PAUL. By the author of Morning and Night Watches, The Words of Jesus, &c. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers. 1855. THIS volume, much after the manner of the geographical and historical parts of Conybeare and Howson's Life of Paul, traces the course of the apostle from the earliest notices of him in the New Testament through the scenes of his ministry to his death, describing the great cities in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and Macedonia, in which he planted churches, delineating the great features of the countries through which he passed on his journeys, relating the incidents of his travels and voyages, and reciting the persecutions and sufferings he encountered, and the successes with which he met. It is written with much ease and spirit, and though yielding in some cases too much perhaps to the sway of fancy, presents a very graphic and impressive picture of the unexampled labors, self-denials, and achievements, of that most extraordinary man. Besides several maps, the work is illustrated by a number of cuts. 7. PALEY'S EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, with Notes and Additions by C. M. Nairne, A.M. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1855. THIS work, though not without imperfections, is the ablest Treatise on the subject in the English or any other language; the most clear, the most learned, the most ingenious, tasteful, and candid, and the most unanswerable in its reasonings, while it is inimitable in the perspicuity and neatness of its style, and the appropriateness and grace of its illustrations. Coleridge indeed, and other followers of the modern German speculatists, have depreciated it, and denied even the possibility of evidences of the truth of Christianity, and a crowd of inconsiderate admirers have repeated his denunciation: but his averseness to the work sprang from his idealism, which denying the existence of the external world, denies that there are any media by which the divine institution of a religion, or the existence of God, can be demonstrated. His objection is an objection of atheism accordingly, and is absurd and impious, therefore, to those who believe in the divine Being, the truth of our senses, the reality of the material world, the existence of the human race, and the possibility and fact of a revelation from God. The explanatory and illustrative notes by the editor consist in a considerable degree of quotations. Bonar's Eternal Day, 165. Buck's Harmony and Exposition of Matt. xxiv. 158. Burgess, Rt. Rev. George, sermons, 512. C Carleton, H., on Antimillenarians, 94. Cotton Mather, 609. Christ's Second Coming, 1, 609. Coleman, L., Historical Text Book, 521. Conversations on Ruling Elders, 349. E Eclipse of Faith, Defence of, 350. Evidence of Christianity, 520, 698. and the Day, and Benedictions, 164. Exposition of Romans (xi. 12, 15, 25), 258. Figurative Language, Laws of, 352. Figures of Isaiah, 145, 306, 433, 625. Footprints of Paul, 698. F Forsyth, John, Jun., D.D. on Primitive Puritans, 446. G Geology and Genesis, H. Miller on, 119. Goodell, W., Changes in the East, 351. God's government vindicated against Dr. E. Beecher, 50. H Harkness, J., Messiah's Throne and Kingdom, 521. Apostolic Commission, 266. Hickok, L. P., Psychology, 353, 529. Hints to Antimillenarians, 315. J Janeway, J. J., Hope of the Jews, and Antidote to Popery, 174. Jay, William, Life of, 690. Judgment, 498. Kitao, John, Bible Illustrations, 170. K Tayler, C. B., Legends, 517. Taylor, A. O., Memoir of, 168. Thornwell, J. H., Ethical System of the Bible, 666. Translations of Epistles of Peter, John, and Jude, and Revelation, 169. Trench, Richard C., Synonyms of N. T., 514. Words, 692. |