15. Eclectic Moral Philosophy: prepared for Literary Institutions and General Use. By Rev. J. R. BOYD, author of Elements of Rhetoric. Harper & Brothers. THIS work is a convenient compend of the best thoughts and illustrations of the best writers on moral science. Since the work of Dr. Paley we have had a host of authors on ethical philosophy, each offering some new hypothesis or modification of doctrine. The discrepancies of the various theories our author has reconciled or collated, and in so doing he has accomplished an arduous and valuable service for the student, saving him a prodigious amount of research and of money. We commend this comprehensive volume, as one of great utility, to all teachers and students especially, and also to the private reader, as an admirable epitomized system of moral philosophy.

16. The Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England: with a Treatise on the Popular Progress in English History. By JOHN FOSTER, of the Inner Temple. Edited by J. O. CHOULES. Harper & Brothers.

THIS elegant volume is embellished by a series of portraits, which impart additional interest as well as beauty to its contents. Mr. Foster is an impartial and able writer; his delineations of character are characterized by great fidelity and research, and in his biography of Cromwell, especially, he exhibits his full power. His view of the Protector is undoubtedly just, although it is less flattering to that great man than the sketch by Carlyle and several other biographers. The lives of Šir John Elliot, John Pym, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, John Hampden, and Sir Henry Vane-those prominent actors in that struggle for civil freedom which agitated England during the seventeenth century-form a theme of profound interest, and one that cannot fail to affect the warmest sympathies of every true lover of his country and the onward cause of civil and religious liberty. This work ought assuredly to find a lodgment in every public and private library.

17. The Christian's Daily Treasury: a religious Exercise for every Day in the Year. By EBENEZER TEMPLE, Rochford, Essex. From the second revised London edition. 12mo., pp. 412. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 1847. THE "Exercises" are based upon passages of Scripture. The passage selected for the day is analyzed, expounded, and applied to practical purposes. The exercises are short, containing the elements of a sermon which will be found useful in suggesting topics for meditation, and in applying the Holy Scriptures to the purposes of experimental and practical godliness. So far as we have examined this work, it is constructed upon truly catholic principles, and may be safely recommended.

18. The Scripture School Reader, consisting of Selections of Sacred Scriptures, for the use of Schools. Compiled and arranged by W. W. EVERTS, A. M., author of Bible Manual and Pastor's Handbook, and W. H. WYCOFF, A. M., late Principal of the Collegiate School. 12mo. Pp. 348. New-York: Nafis & Cornish.

1847.

THIS work is composed of selections from the Scriptures, arranged under appropriate heads, to be read in schools. The Bible is now quite generally out of use as a reading book in our schools. It is designed by the compilers of the present work to obviate the objections to an indiscriminate reading of the Scriptures in schools, by presenting, in a harmonious arrangement, in paragraphs, uninterrupted by the divisions into verses, appropriate passages upon the same theme. The work is divided into three parts. The first contains didactic Scriptures; the second, historical and biographical; and the third, poetical. We like the plan of this work much, and most ardently hope it may find a place in all our primary and public schools, especially in such as do not use the Bible as a reading book, under the directions of discreet teachers.

19. The True Believer: his Character, Duty, and Privileges, elucidated in a Series of Discourses. By Rev. ASA MAHAN, President of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, Oberlin, Ohio. 18mo., pp. 280. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1847,

THIS work is evidently designed, and, so far as we can judge from a cursory examination, calculated, to do good. The author delivers his sentiments in a fervid, evangelical spirit, and with great force and felicity of diction. The discourses, with one exception, have appeared before in the Oberlin Evangelist, and are now revised and put into a small convenient volume. We earnestly hope they may be the means of promoting vital godliness. The author's aim is high. He pleads for full redemption, with the zeal and earnestness of conviction and experience. We wish him many stars to deck his crown in the day of his rejoicing.

20. Classical Antiquities; or, a Compendium of Roman and Grecian Antiquities; with a Sketch of Ancient Mythology. By J. SALKELD. Harper & Brothers.

THIS Convenient little manual is designed for such as are uninitiated in the Latin and Greek, it being divested of all classical quotations, and so arranged as to be intelligible to youth. It seems to us admirably adapted for use in academies, common schools, and for the private instructions of the domestic circle.

21. A Scriptural Defense of the Doctrine of the Trinity, or a Check to Modern Arianism, as taught by Campbellites, Hicksites, New Lights, Universalists, and Mormons; and especially by a Sect calling themselves "Christians." By Rev. H. MATTISON. 18mo., pp. 162. New-York: Lewis Colby & Co. 1846.

THIS is a thorough refutation of a plausible but most dangerous form of error. The author thinks with great precision, and writes with perspicuity and force. This work will furnish the reader, who has not the time or means for consulting more elaborate ones, with very satisfactory replies to the principal objections against the orthodox doctrine, employed by modern Arians, and an unanswerable refutation of their theory.

22. The Pre-Adamite Earth: Contributions to Theological Science. By JOHN HARRIS, D. D., President of Cheshunt College, Author of the "Great Teacher," "Great Commission," "Mammon," &c. Boston: Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln. 1847. We can at present say little in relation to this work, except that it seems fully to sustain the author's high character as a scholar and a divine. In his Preface he tells us that, "the present volume is intended to be the first of a short series of treatises each complete in itself-in which the principles or laws hereafter deduced, and applied to the successive stages of the pre-Adamite earth, will be seen in their historical development as applied to individual man; to the family; to the nation; to the Son of God as 'the second Adam, the Lord from heaven;' to the church which he has founded; to the revelation which he has completed; and to the future prospects of humanity."

23. A Hebrew Reader; or, a New and Practical System for the Acquisition of the Hebrew Language. By ELI NOYSE, A. M., Author of the "Introduction to the Hebrew Language." 12mo., pp. 204. Boston: Waite, Peirce, & Co. 1846. THE elements of the Hebrew language are, in this small book, clearly presented, and, in the hands of a competent teacher, the work will answer all the purposes of a Grammar and Reader. But we would warn all against the experiment of an attempt to learn Hebrew from this, or any other book, without the aid of a living teacher. Those who do this will find themselves wofully disappointed, or will be led into the notion that they have made themselves Hebrew scholars, when, before they can ever be such, they will be obliged to unlearn nearly all they have learned. The work before us is a beautiful specimen of Hebrew typography.

THE

METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW.

JULY, 1847.

EDITED BY GEORGE PECK, D. D.

ART. I.-Theology; explained and defended in a Series of Sermons. By TIMOTHY DWIGHT, S. T. D., LL. D., late President of Yale College. With a Memoir of the Life of the Author. In four volumes. New-York: Harper & Brothers.

IN estimating the character of a great man we naturally take into view not merely the original elements out of which the character has been formed, but the various influences by which those elements have been molded. It not unfrequently happens that great powers, owing to unpropitious circumstances, are scarcely developed at all; and a mind which, under adequate training, might have shone as a star of the first magnitude, never gives forth anything beyond a feeble and sickly light. On the other hand, it is no uncommon case to find an individual whose faculties originally scarcely come up to a respectable mediocrity, who, under the influence of favoring circumstances, reaches a commanding intellectual stature, and ultimately leaves behind him a bright and honored name. But the noblest specimens of human character are those in which eminent talents and propitious circumstances meet, always supposing that the moral qualities are, in some good degree, in harmony with the intellectual. It must be borne in mind, however, that it is not always that the circumstances which appear most favorable to intellectual development, are really so; for not unfrequently the mind is awakened to the most vigorous effort by the greatest obstacles, and it finds itself possessed of energies which, perhaps, might have remained dormant through life if those obstacles had not existed. It is the moral state of the soul that chiefly decides whether the particular circumstances in which our lot is cast are to operate favorably or unfavorably, in respect to the growth and useful direction of the intellectual faculties.

VOL. VII.-21