Reviews.

Memoirs of John M. Mason, D.D., S.T.P., with Portions of his Correspondence. By JACOB VAN VECHTEN. New York, Carter and Brothers.

1856.

DR MASON of New York, who died about twenty-five years ago, was known to many on both sides of the Atlantic as a most devoted minister of Christ, and as a man of robust and vigorous intellect. He was no ordinary man, as those who best knew him could fully attest. He published on many subjects, but not on prophecy. It would appear, however, from this memoir that he had studied deeply the prophetic word, and that he was a millenarian in his views. This will startle some; but it is not the less true, and ought to be known to those who are in the habit of despising millenarians, as weak sentimentalists— mere men of fancy-without the power of stating or comprehending an argument. We extract the following passages in proof of our statement as to his prophetical views:—

"You know that it has been long my expectation, that the world is not to enjoy much solid peace till the Prince of Peace shall come to reign gloriously. May my apprehensions turn out to be false and groundless; yet they are, that speedily, if not immediately, the sword is again to be unsheathed, and rivers of human blood are again to flow. Oh! for that blessed period when the Son of God shall command wars to cease to the ends of the earth!"P. 101.

"Such 'good news from a far country' is, indeed, as 'cold water to a thirsty soul.' Yet it is sad, my friend, but I cannot dissemble, that I consider the astonishing effort to spread the gospel as one of these events, which, while they serve to prepare the way of the Lord,' and hold a most conspicuous place among His arrangements for introducing the latter-day glory, do, at the same time, warn the churches of approaching darkness, and call aloud to every Christian to be at his post. That this generation, or the next, or the following, is to see lasting peace as regularly increasing triumph of truth, is a hope which I would, but dare not cherish. The whole moral state of the world, the prodigious changes which must happen within a period comparatively short, and the solemn declarations of prophetical Scripture— all combine against such a hope. That the world has not seen its worst times, there is great reason to believe; that the Church has seen hers, I can neither affirm nor deny; but that the waters of a full and bitter cup are yet to be wrung out to her, cannot, I think, be successfully disputed. Oh, how soothing, how refreshing, how transporting, that our Lord Jesus reigns! that he looks tenderly upon us!—that he will infallibly cause the wrath of man to praise him!' and will restrain 'the remainder of wrath!' Dear Mr Hardcastle, what an hour is this! My blood freezes; all hell teems with mischief, and all heaven with mercy. The conflict will be such as when heaven and hell conflict; this little globe the scene, and these souls and bodies the objects. I should sink but for that cheering voice,- As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so is the Lord round about his people.' How natural the question of unbelief, What will become of such an atom as I?' But how prompt the answer of faith, In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me!

He shall set me upon a rock, and now,'-yes, there's the victory,—' now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies.' Come, my friend, 'let us enter into our chambers, and shut the door about us; let us hide ourselves for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.' For, 'behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.'"-P. 162.

"Many people suppose that we are on the eve of a war with Spain in consequence of a dispute about the boundaries of Louisiana, and the compensation claimed for spoliations committed on our commerce by French vessels in Spanish ports. If we continue in peace, it will not be owing either to the wisdom or firmness of our speculative administration. I regard very little the prognostics of the politicians. The disorders of the world pour contempt upon all calculations which are not directed by the Word of God. What is to come, I know not; but from the complexion of the prophetical Scriptures I am inclined to apprehend that the most likely is the worst."P. 203.

"I am deeply impressed with the fear, that darkness is about to settle down upon the Church,-that with all revivals, and all encouragements, the purity of truth and the power of godliness will decline through the Church at large; i.e., she will lose more on the whole than she will gain in the parts; that the declension before long will be very rapid, and will proceed to a certain point, just far enough to keep alive a seed for the future harvest, and that the seed in the meantime will be sown throughout the heathen soil, and take root, and abide 'till the Spirit be poured out from on high.' The preparations for bringing about such a state of things are so out of the usual course, and press so hard upon each other, that the Lord seems to be 'hastening' his work, and to indicate that there remains but a short period before he will appear to men in his glory,' and a much shorter time before the night come that is to precede the heavenly morning. Whatsoever, then, the hands of his people find to do, let them do it with all their might,—there is not an hour to spare."-P. 221.

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Missionary efforts will do little but scatter 'the seed,' and gather, perhaps, some first-fruits; the churches already possessing the gospel will probably decrease in numbers, and in power, and an 'horror of great darkness' settle down upon them; so that little but seed shall be found upon the earth. I look upon the extraordinary missionary spirit as a preparation for this; that the seed' may be carried into every corner before the period of sluggishness and carnality arrive. I fear, oh! how I fear, that it is near, even at the doors!"-P. 264.

The Versions of Holy Scripture for Roman Catholic Countries: an Appeal to the British and Foreign Bible Society. By S. P. TREGELLES, LL.D. London: 1856.

THIS brief appeal has already occasioned some controversy, and ought to produce more, for the evil which it proclaims and condemns is a fearful one. It is sad to find the British and Foreign Bible Society still circulating corrupt versions of Scripture on the Continent, in spite of remonstrance and warning. We are sorry to observe that they have been able to impose upon such good men as Lord Shaftesbury and Mr Plumptre, so as to secure their adhesion to the "great and good work” (!) of circulating, as the Word of God, corrupt translations of the Scriptures. With an obstinacy which it is very difficult for charity to identify with

zeal for the glory of God, the Society refuses to abandon its unholy position. It is time for Christian men to step in and do something. But is it wonderful that the Society should circulate corrupt versions of the Word of God, when it will not open or close its meetings with prayer to God, lest Quakers and Socinians should take offence? We extract the following sentence of Dr Tregelles' pamphlet:

"The attention of Christians is earnestly requested to the importance of not circulating versions of the Scriptures which have been intentionally perverted so as to uphold the errors of Rome; whether such versions are employed as substitutes for true and honest translations, or whether they are also circulated with them, as though they could stand on equal ground, and are possessed of co-ordinate authority.

"Many Christians are wholly unaware of the facts of the case. Many deem it impossible that anything of the kind can be done by a Society to which the names of so many excellent men are attached (forgetting that such men are perhaps ignorant of the facts, or not considering that these things may be done in opposition to their judgment and feelings.) Such should be reminded that the influence of good men has ever been the argument used in defence of errors. On those who know that it is evil to circulate perversions of Scripture, as though they were the Word of God, it must solemnly be pressed, that the truth of God requires that we should ACT as well as feel."

The Question Answered: Will the Millennial Reign of Christ be Spiritual alone, or both Spiritual and Personal? By ARTHUR AUGUSTUS REES. London: 1856.

FROM this excellent and pointed little pamphlet we make the following extract. Mr Rees is answering objections.

"The tendency of this view is to relax effort for the conversion of the world. I answer, that doctrines must be tried, not by their supposed tendencies, but by the dogmatic teaching of God's Word. No doubt, the real tendency of truth is to good, not to evil; but its alleged tendency to evil is often exhibited to frighten people from its reception. For example :-the alleged tendency of the doctrine of Election is to make no effort to save souls; but where is this result actually found? No doubt, some extremists are exceedingly indifferent to the use of means; but the vast majority of Calvinists are as active and energetic in their efforts to convert sinners as their opponents. In like manner, I ask, where is it actually found that Millenarian views relax effort to bring souls to Christ? It cannot be denied that some of the most laborious ministers in the Establishment of England, and in the Free Church of Scotland, are Millenarians; and no wonder, for the tendency of their views is to increase effort, believing, as they do, that the time of Christendom is short. If it be objected, but their efforts are not backed by the hope of the world's conversion, I answer, neither are yours; your efforts are directed towards your own immediate sphere, a mere speck on the world's surface; and you do not hope to convert all even there. What minister of the gospel in Sunderland hopes to convert, or even to see others convert, all the souls in the borough? And yet, I suppose, no preacher relaxes his effort to save sinners on that account. What would become of 'justification by faith alone,' if we were to listen to Romanist allegations of its tendencies? According to them, it discourages good works, and opens the floodgate to all iniquity. Yet,

what Protestant is afraid of this bugbear? The iniquity' is with those who deny the doctrine, not with those who defend it.

"You hold,' as one of my opponents has said, 'that the agency which won its victory on the day of Pentecost must be helped and supplemented, or it will never convert the world.' He means that it must be helped' by the personal appearance of Christ. To this objection I simply reply, We hold no such thing. We hold with Paul, 'that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth;' and yet we hold that God may employ diverse agencies in the application of the gospel. Was not Paul himself converted by the agency of Christ's personal appearance-not as the exclusive agency, I grant, but as one of the number? How often are sickness, bereavement, or deliverance from peril, employed by God as instruments of conversion? Yet who would mock their instrumentality by asking— Must the agency, which won its victory on the day of Pentecost, be helped and supplemented' by such means as these? In like manner, we hold with Zechariah xii. 10, that as with Paul, so with the Jews as a nation; Christ's personal appearance will not must-be an instrument in their conversion."

Israel in Egypt; or the Books of Genesis and Exodus Illustrated by existing Monuments. London.

THIS is a most interesting work, learned in its researches, yet bringing all these researches to the reverent elucidation of Scripture. It throws much new light upon the plagues of Egypt and the exodus of Israel.

The Harmony of the Divine Dispensation: being a Series of Discourses on Select Portions of Holy Scripture. By GEORGE SMITH, F.A.S. London: Longmans. 1856.

THIS is another of Mr Smith's able and learned works. Like all the rest, it casts light upon Scripture in all its parts. It contains some admirable and interesting elucidations of the prophetic Word. book for study.

It is a

The History of the Jewish Nation after the Destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. By the Rev. A. EDERSHEIM, Ph. D. Edinburgh: Constable. 1856.

DR EDERSHEIM is quite the man to write a history of the Jews, and he has written it well. There are other histories of the Jews, some larger, some smaller, but this is one of the completest and most comprehensive. It is a book for public libraries as for private bookshelves.

The Inspiration of the Scriptures. London: J. Nisbet and Co. 1856. THIS is a most needful little work in these evil days, when men are making light of the Word of God, and lowering its divinity. If the

words of Scripture are not divine, we have no security for its truths being so. The following is the conclusion of the pamphlet :—

"I add but one word. In judging of inspiration by the precision of the account, a mistake is often committed as to what should be sought for. The Holy Ghost does not aim at that accuracy which would be needful to prove the truthfulness of man. The Holy Ghost has always a moral or spiritual object the revelation of some eternal principle of truth and grace. Every circumstance which has no bearing upon his object is omitted. He regards not accuracy in that respect. But the moral accuracy is all the greater on this account, and the picture presented to the conscience much more complete. The introduction of something needful to human accuracy would spoil the perfection of the whole, as God's testimony. God does not seek to amuse the mind of man by stories to no purpose, but to instruct his heart by truth. This might sometimes make it rather difficult to balance the whole as a mere narrative; but there are two ways of explaining the cause of a difficulty-the ignorance of him who feels the difficulty, or the impossibility of the thing which has perplexed him. And man willingly attributes to the latter cause, that which proceeds from the former. He who understands the design of the Holy Ghost in what he says, seizes the perfection of the Word, where the mind of man is perplexed by a thousand difficulties."

Novum Testamentum Græcum, editio Hellenisticia, &c. London. 4 vols.

THIS is a work published twelve years ago, but not all known in proportion to its merits. It is in truth a most elaborate concordance, in four octavo volumes, of the New Testament, with parallels printed in full from the Septuagint, Josephus, the Apocrypha, Philo, &c. A student of Scripture will find it one of the most useful helps that he could have for the exact interpretation of the New Testament.

THIS is a new German Polyglott, of a very superior kind, edited by Stier and Theile. It combines four languages, the Septuagint, the Hebrew, the German, the Vulgate, in four columns. These parts which we have seen are excellently done.

The New Testament Quotations, Collated with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, in the Original Hebrew, &c. By HENRY GOUGH. London: Walton and Maberly. 1855.

THIS is, we may safely say, the completest work upon the subject of New Testament quotations, that has ever appeared. It is most elaborately put together, and carefully as well as beautifully printed. Its notes and index are most useful. It is a volume which one likes to have at hand constantly in the study of the Word of God.