which serves to brand every clear exposition of any tenet they reject. As near as we can discern the bearings of their theology it is as follows:.

Christ, as second in the Trinity, is head of the human race; for whom he has made an atonement, not by substitution, but by sacrifice of himself wholly and entirely to the will of God, to meet whatever sufferings may result. Identifying themselves with him in such utter self-consecration to God, men are justified in him, and saved through him. So blessed is that headship of Christ, and so efficient is his satisfaction unto God for all the sins of all the race, that his atonement is very likely, perhaps very sure, to result, at some future flowing period, in the course of the rolling æons, in a complete and blessed redemption for all. The Bible contains the true word of God; is inspired; it is not known or definable in precisely what sense, but in such a sense as is no other book; so that it is the apex of the pyramid of all existing records. Miracles are not evidential; for the real evidence of truth is its own self-evidencing truthfulness. They were simply mighty works, well suited to awaken an uncultivated age, for the purpose of drawing men's attention, awakening and training their minds to an exalted view of the character and mission of the Son of God. To a student of modern science they are ill-suited as means of "evangelical demonstration." The freest range is to be allowed to modern criticism in judging and rejecting parts more or less of the sacred canon, although the whole book is generally accepted as Bible. "Bibliolatry," however, is hardly better than Mariolatry, as being an obstacle to the true freedom of the human spirit, and a check upon a genuine religious feeling. In this way the advocates of this "renewed theology" believe that the intuitions of the human spirit can be satisfied, the demands of the age can be met, the utmost desirable scope can be allowed for religious individuali ties, a most scholarly theology can be maintained, a true spiritual religion, amounting to a refined Methodism, can be "enjoyed," and Christianity, on its revised foundations, can stand the revolu tions of mind and the shocks of time.

It is difficult to read Mr. Maurice without believing that, in spite of his solemnly accepting the formulas of ordinary theology in a sense diverse from their apparent original intention, he is a man of a genuine earnest religious sincerity. As matter of fact, he is said to be a man of eminently pure life and fervent benevolence. There cannot be a doubt that he really feels that he and his school are rescuing Christianity from wreck in the present and coming age by placing its theology on a tenable basis. He proposes to

shape our religion to the demands of the waning nineteenth and coming twentieth century. This he would do, not by the wholesale surrenders and trenchant assaults of Theodore Parker; but by insensible modifications, by conciliatory restatements, by enlargment of cautious freedoms, and yet by retaining all that does not contradict or enslave the intuitions, and by insisting on the superior-ity of the rich religious spirit to the dry theological "dogma."

Besides Mr. Maurice, other able and scholarly writers have contributed to the volume. Mr. Hughes, of Tom Brown fame, shows how gracefully the "renewed theology" can sit upon a refined English layman. Rev. Francis Garden, sub-dean of her majesty's chapel royal,. discusses the atonement. J. M. Ludlow, in a dialogue, maintains that honest doubt is not always condemnable want of the spirit of faith; and the same Mr. Ludlow, in two "Lay Dialogues," discusses with much acuteness the laws of nature and Comte's Positive Philosophy.. A Complete System of Christian Theology; or, a Concise, Comprehensive;. and Systematic View of the Evidences, Doctrines, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity. By SAMUEL WAKEFIELD, D.D. 8vo, pp. 664. New York: Carlton & Porter. 1862.

The 'need has long been felt of a system of Theology, compact, yet complete, better calculated for our candidates for the ministry, and for our reading and reflecting laymen, than any extant.. Watson is, as a whole, unsurpassed in the English language as a sys-tematic theological author. His work has had no little influence in disciplining the minds and forming the views of our ministry.. It is very undesirable, indeed, that his Institutes should be struck from our course of studies. But it needs no little acquaintance with the nomenclature of theology, and no little logical training, to read his work with combined pleasure and profit. A work on the basis of Watson, in a similar style, with a less elaborate structure of periods, more brief as a whole, yet furnishing a discussion of some important topics omitted by Watson, was therefore a real desideratum. The task was undertaken by Dr. Wakefield, and has been performed so well that we have hardly any fault to find with it, unless it be in the form of a regret that the work was not entirely original and independent, giving us Wakefield alone and letting Watson stand in his own untouched position. Dr. Wakefield's name has hardly been known to the Church as that of an able theological writer, and the completeness of his success, attested by the more than ordinary routine compliments of the press, has taken some of us by surprise.

Why should not this book be in the hands of our laity, in their libraries, and, in handsome form, upon their tables? Every layman, FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XV.-11

at any rate, who voted for lay delegation, attesting thereby his belief that the laity have some interest in the doctrines and discipline of the Church, is, we think, bound to purchase and peruse it. To have read well its pages would be no ordinary advantage to any man. To have mastered its contents is to be no mean theologian. As editor of the work, we are bound to say that we are not to be held as believing all we have indorsed for publication. There are points in which the author bases himself upon Watson, in which we concur with neither. There are points of philosophy in which Mr. Watson followed the prevalent theories of the Locke philosophy which Dr. Wakefield has preserved, and which we should have expunged and replaced with the reverse view. There are some minor points of theology in which we differ from him. By way of compromise the author did make some concessions to the editor in expunging some views; and the editor has conceded other points in which he could not concur. Yet, as a whole, as to the main outlines of our Arminian Wesleyan theology, we know of no work. which can be pronounced a truer and completer representation than the volume before us.

Dr. Wakefield's style is a very clear, solid, straightforward expression of the thought. He has few, if any, sentences that require a second perusal to be understood by any reader who knows the meaning of the terms. He has a true skill in analysis; and the lucid and exhaustive division of the matter, marked by the proper typography, greatly facilitates the systematic mastery of the subject by the reader, and renders it an admirable recitation book. We advise not the removal

of Watson from the course of study, but the placing Wakefield in an earlier place as an introductory to the later study of the Institutes.

Perfect Love; or, Plain Things, for those who need them, concerning the Doctrine, Experience, Profession and Practice of Christian Holiness. By J. A. WOOD, of the Wyoming Annual Conference. 12mo., pp. 314. Boston: H. V. Degen & Son. 1862.

It is at the present time specially important that the doctrine of Christian Holiness should be maintained with explicit clearness and unshrinking firmness, as it was presented in the latest expositions of Wesley, and yet that it be guarded from overstatements, overactions, and foreign elements, which tend to adulterate and bring it into disrepute with many truly evangelical Christians. The volume before us makes no very elaborate attempt at this kind of discrimination. It is simply an effort to awaken a desire and an earnest seeking for holiness, written with considerable freshness of style, backed by the author's own experience. For that very important purpose it is perhaps adapted to be effective.

One chapter there is, however, which seems to us not only foreign to, but requiring to be kept entirely separate from, the subject of sanctification. We are somewhat acquainted with the pages of the eminent masters of "Holy Living and Dying," with Kempis, and Jeremy Taylor, and Henry More, and Fenelon; and while we recognize in some of them a decided tendency to a holy repose, a sanctified quietism, and in others admissions that excited manifestations are an unavoidable incident, we do not recollect in any of them a chapter implying that shouting or falling is any desirable accompaniment of a work of God, or are any proper part of Christian sanctification. There are, indeed, usually in every period of great religious excitement unavoidable overactions of this kind. The Bible attests that in a ruder age religious earnestness sometimes manifested itself in shouting, leaping, and dancing. But it is a sad thing when these incidentals are by weak persons exalted, as they sometimes are, to regular institutions, and made tests of the genuineness and the exaltedness of piety. Such persons will graciously admit that some who are Christians do not shout, but perhaps it is "because they have nothing to shout for." Where this test of piety and superior holiness becomes established in a given Church, those who have no other qualifications are sure to adopt this route to distinction. To disregard the standard of civilization around them, and to overlook and override the feelings of fellow-Christians, are, in their view, a religious merit, a triumph of militant piety. More intelligent and thoughtful Christians either, like Edward Irving, bow in submission to these self-anointed dictators; or, browbeaten and disheartened, silently retire, carrying their influence and means to build up the institutions of other Churches, which rise in power and success around us, and leaving us a residuum of feeble piety without influence or hold upon the community, a standing quotation against Methodism, and an argument against all profession or attainment of higher religious life. In such a community you will hear it said, "There are members enough gone from us to other Churches to form here, by themselves, a powerful Methodist Church." To steer clear of these evils without checking the spirit of a true Christian zeal, and producing a reactionary coldness, is often a difficult problem. It requires the application of a skillful, loving, chastening hand upon the part of the wise pastor.

Sermons Preached and Revised. By the Rev. C. H. SPURGEON. Seventh Series. New York: Sheldon & Co. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1862. The seventh series means the seventh volume. This fact fully decides that Spurgeon stands the test of publication, of criticism,

and of semi-infidel ribaldry, and is entitled to be considered an immovable "institution." We rejoice that it is so. Setting aside his unnecessary streaks of Calvinism, his Sermons cannot fail to conduce to "the spreading of scriptural holiness throughout the land." A Manual of Worship, suitable to be used in Legislative Bodies, in the Army and Navy, and in Military Academies, Asylums, Hospitals, etc. Compiled from the forms and in accordance with the common usages of all Christian denominations, and jointly recommended by eminent clergymen of various persuasions. 24mo., pp. 132. Philadelphia : George W. Childs. 1862.

The prayers and lessons of this beautiful manual are adapted to a great variety of public occasions, and are suitable for every religious denomination. They are recommended by such authorities as Barnes, Durbin, Hodge, Stockton, Bellows, and President Woolsey of Yale.

Philosophy, Metaphysics, and General Science.

The Origin and History of the English Language, and of the Early Literature it Embodies. By GEORGE P. MARSH, author of "Lectures on the English Language," etc., etc. 8vo., pp. 574. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co. 1862.

It is a remarkable fact that it should be reserved for this late day, and for an American scholar to make the requisite thorough researches, and bring within possession of the ordinary purchaser a philosophical, practical, and eloquent history of the origin and early progress of our English language. Most scholars, writers, and orators use our language as they find it, adopting the practice of authors whose genius has secured them eminence as their standard, regulating themselves by the laws deduced by grammarians from existing facts; but the genesis and early growth of our motherspeech are as deep in primeval mystery to them as the springs of the Nile to the classic ages. Mr. Marsh's works, particularly his present volume, together with the noble and inspiring example he sets, will, we think, do much toward inaugurating a new era. The handlers of our language will feel the deep necessity and a proper ambition to master its history and its philosophy. Mr. Marsh demonstrates that it is a history and a philosophy full of interest for the liberal mind. He carries a rich enthusiasm, unalloyed with eccentricity, through all his labors. His style is rich and roundly rhetorical. His numerous quotations from our ancestral authors form an old anthology. Let our young scholars, especially, and our aspirants for a full mastery of our hereditary English, treat themselves to a thorough study of Mr. Marsh's volumes.

The period covered by Mr. Marsh's history extends from the