THE LESSON OF THE PESTILENCE: a Discourse preached in the Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia, on Sabbath, December 2, 1855. By GEORGE D. ARMSTRONG, D.D., Pastor. Published by Members of the Church.

It was a public duty to publish this affecting and instructive discourse. May it be sanctified to many hearts! Dr. Armstrong, who faithfully remained at his post in the midst of the pestilence, and who was sorely bereaved in his household, speaks with the knowledge and the feelings adapted to edify others. He characterizes the pestilence as, 1. Mysterious in its origin; 2. Remarkable for the variety and character of its symptoms; 3. Terrible in the destruction it caused. After illustrating these points by a reference to many interesting facts, Dr. Armstrong turns to view the mercies mingled with God's judgments. Among the mercies he enumerates, 1. The slow progress of the pestilence during the first month, whereby a large portion of the population was enabled to remove from the city; 2. The panic which accelerated flight; 3. The sympathy which was awakened throughout the length and breadth of the land. Dr. Armstrong concludes with solemn reflections to all classes of his hearers.

THE CHRISTIAN'S WORK: a Sermon by the Rev. WILLIAM CALDERWOOD, Missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church to Northern India. Published by Request. Cincinnati: John D. Thorpe, 1856.

This sermon, from the text, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" contains solemn reflections and pungent exhortations, adapted to the high purposes of its preparation and publication.

A Biographical Sketch of T. ROMEYN BECK, M.D., LL.D. By E. H. VAN DEUSEN, M.D. Reprinted from the New York Journal of Medicine. New York, 1856.

Dr. Beck, the nephew of Dr. John B. Romeyn, was the eldest of five sons, all talented, and he himself the richest-endowed of all. He was one of the most useful men of his generation, toiling on quietly and steadily, taking enlarged views of his profession, and engaging with unremitting zeal and industry in plans to advance science, literature, and the arts, in his native State. He is chiefly known to the public by his work on MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, which has passed through five American, one German, and four London, editions. His character and services are well sketched by Dr. Van Deusen. Taught from early youth to revere Dr. Beck, under the example of one who was his personal friend and admirer, we pay this brief tribute of respect to his memory, which will be ever cherished by us. May God comfort and bless the two stricken daughters, who, inheriting the talents and worth of an honoured ancestry, are privileged, as mothers in the church, to labour in well-doing within their spheres, as their father before them!

Published

THE PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF PRISON DISCIPLINE AND PHILANTHROPY. Quarterly, under the direction of "The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons," instituted 1787. Philadelphia: Edward C. and John Biddle. We always take up this Journal with interest. Its discussions relate to a department of philanthropy of the greatest importance, and they are generally able, sprightly, and practical. The Pennsylvania Journal advocates the plan of solitary confinement in State prisons with great zeal and confidence. Much can be said on both sides; therefore let the experi ments be continued. It would be a good sign of a healthy public opinion,

if this excellent Journal, devoted to this class of subjects, were taken extensively by professional men and philanthropists. The work is published in a very handsome style by Messrs. Edward C. and John Biddle.

ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY, &c. By VICTOR COUSIN. Translated from the French, with Notes, by CALEB S. HENRY, D.D. Fourth edition. New York: Ivison & Phinney, 1856. We do not propose to notice the work of Cousin, but merely to allude to a long, vulgar, and abusive preface which the translator, Henry, has put forth. It seems that, in 1839, a distinguished writer in the Princeton Repertory reviewed with some deserved severity the philosophy of Cousin, and in the course of the review rebuked the arrogance of his pompous annotator. In 1841, Dr. Henry replied, in the preface to his third edition, with a severity quite beyond the range of philosophical decency. Here the matter was allowed to rest; and, in 1845, the Princeton reviewer the late lamented PROFESSOR DOD-was called to the grave. In 1855, sixteen years after the review was written, and ten years after the death of its author, this Dr. Henry not only stereotypes his angry reply, but publishes another preface of forty additional pages, in which he endeavours to hold up the reviewer to fresh contempt, and insults his memory with the most foul language. As a specimen of this new abuse, we quote the following:-"I think the man guilty of slander; and I think that, in the clear-sighted judgment of the Lord our God, there are many inmates of the State prison less morally guilty than the slanderer. I am not one of those dainty religionists who have a greater horror of sins of infirmity of the flesh than of sins of the spirit; and I would sooner withhold my hand from the deliberate maligner than from many a less reputable sinner in the scale of social estimation. I think our Lord feels as I do." With this language, so destitute of charity and so akin to blasphemy, the philosophical Henry, High Church Doctor of Divinity, reviles the illustrious dead. Yet, in the dedication of this man's book to Sir William Hamilton, he has the audacity to print in capital letters, "THE TRUE MUSE OF PHILOSOPHY IS NOT HATRED, BUT LOVE!" How great a difference there is, both in philosophy and morals, between saying a thing and practising it, this annotator well exemplifics. Dr. Henry writes like a man who has been taking plentiful potations in order to stimulate his thirst for unfair and disreputable work. We happen to know something of his previous history not particularly creditable to his position; but we dismiss the philosopher, the divine, and the man, with a look of commiseration, an exhortation to repentance, and a gesture of quick withdrawal.

THE THEOLOGY OF INVENTIONS: or, Manifestations of Deity in the Works of Art. By the Rev. JOHN BLAKELY, Kirkintillock, Scotland. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, No. 285 Broadway, 1856.

Within a few months Scotland has furnished for the mental and moral instruction of mankind three works of uncommon merit:-The Christian Life, by Peter Bayne; The Christ of History, by John Young; and the Theology of Inventions, by John Blakely. All these works are the product of vigorous intellects and warm hearts; and the library of Christians has received in them accessions of incalculable worth and interest.

The object of the "Theology of Inventions" is to bring God to view, and to exalt his perfections, in the mechanical arts. Mr. Blakely says, in

his Preface: "Recognising the supremacy of God in every department of His works, and believing that dishonour has been done to his name by the non-recognition of his attributes in the artificial phenomena of the world, the author of the following treatise has felt constrained, by a solemn sense of duty, to submit to the public the views and feelings which, to his own soul, have invested mechanical inventions with a halo of light-even with the beams of reflected divinity." I. The first proof adduced to show that mechanical inventions are emanations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, is their INTRODUCTION into the world. The Creator has an agency in the rise and development of mechanical inventions, inasmuch as the elements of machinery, supplied by the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, are the product of his hand. The mechanical powers and moving forces were arranged by him for the use of man; the inventor, with the adaptations of a wonderful body, especially the hand, and with mental faculties of contriving, reflecting, reasoning, is the workmanship of God; and the industrial instinct in man, as the means of developing and pursuing the arts, comes from the same all-wise and divine source.

II. The GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT of mechanical inventions is an evidence that they are communicated in accordance with the purposes of God. We will here quote a few sentences from the book. "The relations of time in the successive developments of inventions, as well as the fact of their construction, furnish an invincible argument that the God of infinite wisdom has fixed the period, and that in the dispensations of his providence he has raised up the inventor, and so arranged concomitant circumstances as to open a channel for the application of the machine. This might be illustrated by the whole history of mankind; for the history of the arts reaches back to the expulsion from Paradise, and may be viewed as the record of man's intellectual and physical progress. And what is the history of the human family but the register of facts evolved in the exercise of God's physical and moral dominion in our world? It is freely admitted that there has been a disturbing element the introduction of moral evil -which has changed the entire aspect of human history, opened the bitter fountains of sorrow, and given dominion to the "king of terrors." Besides, sin has been the moral cause producing vast physical changes upon the world, in accordance with the curse pronounced by the righteous Governor. But, amidst these convulsions, physical and moral, the reflecting mind will be able at all times to trace the overruling and directing providence of God. Universal nature bears the impress of infinite wisdom and Almighty power, while every page of human history displays the outgoings of a boundless beneficence, a beneficence, however, regulated by restraining circumstances in relation to labour, discovery, and invention, without which the introduction of sin to a world constituted as the earth was at creation would have involved the human race in physical as well as moral ruin. Truly may it be said that, 'were God to let the world alone, man would become a fiend; angels would flee as from another Gomorrah, and cease to minister to it; Satan, wearing the regalia of hell, would lord it over sea and land, and time commencing with Paradise would end with Pandemonium.'

"It is worthy of observation that, throughout the history of man's social. progress, while the characteristics of the age imparted an impulse to the inventive faculties, the inventions themselves gave a new impulse to society. The triumphs of genius are thus the monuments of human pro

gression, each adapted to its respective age, and all tending to universal development. Could there be a more convincing proof of the hand of God in the history of inventions than the fact that each important discovery has been made at the very time in which it was most calculated to ameliorate the condition of the human family?" In proof and illustration of this, the author selects, as examples, the Mariner's Compass, the Art of Printing, the Steam Engine, the Spinning Mill, the Power Loom, the Railway, and the Electric Telegraph, and shows the peculiar relations of time and discovery to the whole subject.

III. The third point is, that the TENDENCY of inventions is a proof that they are of God. After making some remarks upon the primary command to subdue the earth and have dominion over it, our author proceeds to say that "It is not the fact of labour, as the law of existence, that has produced human misery, nor is labour in itself any evidence of a fallen state. It is the nature, the amount, and the aggravating circumstances in which labour must be prosecuted, that tend to characterize it as evil in man's estimation. The introduction of moral evil has deranged the nature, and increased the quantity, and aggravated the circumstances, of human toil. Its evils are not inherent, but may all be traced to the fountain of moral evil. In man's original constitution there was absolute perfection. The finished works of creation were all pronounced 'very good' by their Divine Author. Man's mental and physical constitution responded harmoniously to the works of nature, while the appropriation of what infinite goodness had provided was but the increase of human happiness. There was nothing in the primary law of labour repugnant to man's tenderest feelings. Activity was the most joyous part of his existence. He could run without being weary, and walk without fainting. In his system there was no weakness giving rise to suffering under exertion, and in his labour there was no disappointment to perplex or disturb his mental complacency. The duties assigned to Adam in Paradise were as pleasant to his entire constitution as the prospect of his luxuriant garden was to his organ of sight and perception of beauty.

"It was the curse-the blight of sin-that changed the entire aspect of human employment. Beneath the frown of an angry God the elements of nature were convulsed; the earth became not only barren, but thorns and thistles sprung up as the indigenous productions of the soil. The original, spontaneous, vegetative powers of earth were arrested, so that to man, the offender, it could only yield its reluctant produce when moistened with the sweat of his brow. It is therefore clear to a demonstration that the evils of labour are not in its nature, but in the quantity necessary to subdue the soil thus blighted,-in the liability to fatigue and exhaustion inseparable from the shattered constitution of man as fallen, and from the circumstances, relative and social, in which human toil must be endured. Labour is healthful and pleasant under proper regulations; all its embittering elements are the consequences of sin." Among the ameliorating tendencies of inventions in the arts, our author specifies-1. Their tendency to mitigate human toil; 2. To alleviate human misery; 3. To increase the sources of human comfort; 4. To prolong rational life; 5. To promote universal peace, and restore the human family to one blessed brotherhood; 6. To produce those physical changes upon the earth which revelation gives reason to hope shall yet be accomplished.

Thus far, the appeal has been made to facts in the history of inventions

The author next proceeds to state the Scriptural argument, in order tc show that the great truth he has been illustrating may not only be discovered and defended within the region of philosophy, but is also a truth clearly revealed in Scripture, and which ought to be studied and reduced to practice in the contemplation of artificial phenomena. We cannot follow him at any length in this branch of the subject, but will simply state the general course of his argument, which embraces a comprehensive reference to the Scriptures under the three following divisions:-I. Scriptural evidence that mechanical inventions are of God. II. The inspiration of genius for special objects and occasions, as recorded in the Bible, is an evidence that mechanical inventions are of God. III. The Scripture record of inspired genius devoted to the ordinary pursuits of social life proves that mechanical inventions are of God. The author concludes with a chapter on the sources of that difference of conception with which the mind views the works of nature as compared with inventions.

We have thus attempted to give our readers some insight into this instructive and delightful volume. The Messrs. Carter cannot have too much praise for their speedy reproduction, on this side of the waters, of this and similar works, which fill the public mind with great thoughts of God.

THE SMITTEN HOUSEHOLD. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 1856.

This volume makes provision for smitten households in various circumstances of earthly trial. It contains five discourses :-I. On the loss of a child, by S. IRENEUS PRIME. II. On the loss of a wife, by Wm. B. SPRAGUE. III. On the loss of a husband, by G. W. BETHUNE. IV. On the loss of a parent, by J. B. WATERBURY. V. On the loss of a friend, by C. M. BUTLER. At the end of each discourse is a selection of hymns appropriate to the subject. The names of the contributors to this interesting volume are well known throughout the church, and are sufficient to inspire confidence in the value of its contents. All households are liable to the visitations of bereavement, and need the consolation of divine truth and love. The plan of this work is excellent; and we know of none of its class better suited to the wants of the public or more likely to receive a wide circulation.

WHAT IS FAME WORTH? A Tract for Students. Presbyterian Board of Publication.

Profitable and judicious meditations on the vanity of fame are contained in this little tract. Its train of thought starts with Ethan, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, who were almost as wise as Solomon, (1 Kings iv. 30, 31;) and yet "who these men were, and even when they lived, is matter of doubt and conjecture."

OUR YOUNG MEN. By W. A. SCOTT, D.D., of San Francisco, Cal. Presbyterian Board. Dr. Scott continues to take an active interest in promoting the welfare of the rising generation. In this discourse he shows the influence of young men at home, in social life, and in all the prominent departments of business, and then points out and urges the duty of employers, of the press, and of the pulpit, in watching over and advancing the best interests of young men for time and eternity.