the bare challenge of his consistency in holding it. At the same time, the sacredness and value of the name, and its ability to command respect, depend on the genuineness of the homage and the reality of the life it betokens. We cannot deny that the name carries a very different meaning to the impartial student of history, and to the man of average worldly understanding and experience, from what it bears to the humble disciple or the devout thinker, who connects it with all he has learned to revere and love. The historian knows that the bitterest wars have been those of religious hate, and that the "most Christian" monarchs of Europe have been the worst enemies of civil and religious liberty. The man of average sense and experience knows too well of the petty wars of sects; the small, sanctimonious bigotries, the degenerate and secular character, of so-called Christian institutions; knows, too, that what is insisted on as the form of Christian doctrine, is mostly that which has the respect neither of scientific men nor scholars. Strong in popular custom and in vested wealth, the Church, as an organized profession of belief, meets a great deal of undermining scepticism and secret contempt. It is impossible for any one, thinking coolly, to anticipate that it will have any thing like the same prestige and power in another generation that it has in this. The approaching dethronement of the Pope, the almost consummated "disestablishment" of the Irish Church, the chafing of revolutionary waters against the foundations of Anglicanism, the divisions and weakness that are the inevitable result of the Voluntary system amongst ourselves, — all these are warnings, that, to preserve its honor or its strength, Christianity must league itself with whatever is noble and free in thought, and large of promise for humanity, and helpful towards the true life of nations, as well as what is devout and comforting and earnest in the realm of pious emotion and fellowship.

If the endeavor of what we have called "liberal Christianity" to effect this shall prove to be in vain; if the natural defenders of liberalism, those who have been nurtured in its beliefs and strengthened in its fellowship, shall find themselves forced, by the stress of their own logic, or by the distrust and

prejudice of Christian sects, to renounce a name that has been so noble and so dear, An we may be sure of the result. institution which claims to be and to do for mankind what the Christian Church claims to be and do, cannot afford to cut itself off from what is most courageous, strong, and free in the mental activities of the day. It will still be the effort and the aim of liberal Christianity to preserve that alliance. It will be the earnest desire and hope of its defenders not to relinquish so dear a birthright and so cherished a fellowship as are signified to them in the Christian name they vindicate; and it will augur ill for the purity, fervor, and height of religious aspiration, for the sweetness and depth of religious trust, if mankind shall be forced to choose between their birthright of freedom and their birthright of Christian faith.

ART. X.-REVIEW OF CURRENT LITERATURE.

THEOLOGY.

"SEVENTY thousand citations" of volumes and treatises in religious literature seem to indicate an Index * nearly complete, wonderful in its fulness, and far beyond the wants even of the most curious and critical theological scholar. Probably no library in this land could reckon thirty thousand works in its theological department, except by a very broad interpretation of the word "theology." This broad interpretation, indeed, is gaining favor, and a great deal is now associated with theology which, in the last age, would have been separated from it by a wide interval. In this "Index" of Dr. Malcom, for instance, "Mnemonics" is one of the titles; and no less than twenty-two works on artificial memory- Latin, French, and English—are catalogued. The art of remembering is certainly important in running over a list of seventy thousand works; but the art of selecting, on which Dr. Malcom has given no references, is even more necessary. In our time, all branches

* Theological Index. References to the Principal Works in every Department of Religious Literature. Embracing nearly Seventy Thousand Citations. Alphabetically arranged under Two Thousand Heads. By HOWARD MALCOM, D.D., LL.D. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1868. 8vo, pp. 488.

of knowledge cross each other and intertwine with each other. The channels of inquiry, in every science, run together on the broad plain of free investigation, like the channels of the Euphrates on the plain of Chaldea. The least diversion from the ancient way brings one into other provinces, anthropology, biology, phrenology, and all the “ologies." "Religious literature" now may reasonably mean all history, all philosophy, all science, all story of travel or adventure, or work or feeling, with which the soul of man has any thing to do. It may include subjects outside of human life. We saw, not long since, a small work on the plants of Palestine mentioned as "religious botany." Possibly a treatise on Paul's cloak might be placed under the head of "religious haberdashery," a topic which, in the growth of Ritualism, is likely to rise into first-rate importance. "Dancing" has always been a Biblical and theological subject, from the time of Miriam to the latest discussion in a Michigan Christian Convention: we are surprised that Dr. Malcom gives so short a list of works on a theme so fruitful and momentous. Surely we ought to have as much on this theme as on the kindred theme of "Backsliding," on which he has more than twenty references.

A theological index, then, in its largest sense, would be a universal index, an assorted catalogue of all books on all subjects, whether of heaven or earth or of the underworld, of fact or of fancy, of works written by laymen as well as ministers, and on "lay topics," too, if we may use such a phrase. It would reject nothing as irrelevant, or insignificant, or morally unsuitable. If the lives of excellent men and women are to be classed in its pages with the good apostles, why should it not give the lives of eminent modern traitors, like Jefferson Davis, to be classed with Judas Iscariot, who receives due attention? If Solomon and Saul were "theological characters," why should not Henry the Eighth, who was as passionate as the one and as sensual as the other, be referred to as a "religious" person, especially when it is considered that he is the father of the English Church? If petty sects Bogomiles and Junkers and Davidists—are honored with notice, why should not parties in Parliament, Whigs and Tories, who have legislated for the Church and the Church-rates, be recorded as "religious"? On equitable principles, the men and things which have had most influence upon the progress and the fortune of religion in the world have the best claim to notice in a theological index.

But an index of this large and universal kind is clearly not to be expected. If it is impossible to make a catalogue of single libraries,

like the great library of Munich or Paris, or the British Museum, how shall a catalogue of all the libraries - English, French, German, Italian be made, even with the aid of miracle, and by a commission like the seventy translators of the Hebrew Bible? The index itself would make a library, and would need, in turn, to be indexed and digested. Failing this, the numerical limit is perhaps as good as any. A certain number of titles may be resolved upon, and the decree be passed that the work shall close when that number is reached. The compiler may resolve to stop with five thousand, or ten thousand, or twenty thousand titles; or, if he be very hopeful and industrious, like Dr. Malcom, to extend it to seventy thousand; a number large enough to satisfy all reasonable desire, and a good Scriptural number too,precisely the number of men that Solomon sent to Lebanon to bring cedar for the temple. Thus far it may go, but no farther. As many titles on as many subjects as can be conveniently treated may be admitted up to that mark; but at that mark the gates must be shut, and all other applicants must stay "out in the cold."

We would not intimate that Dr. Malcom has prepared his "Index on this principle; yet he might have done so without altering very much its appearance, its quality, or the balance of its parts. There are subjects with which he is familiar, on which he has given references enough for a large library; while there are others of equal or superior importance, with which he was not so well acquainted, on which the references are few, where they might have been, and ought to have been, numerous. A Baptist will have naturally an exaggerated notion of the importance of the works which illustrate his peculiar tenet, and we may excuse his copia verborum in the bibliography of this theme. But a dozen columns of Baptist and Anabaptist titles, with an average of more than fifty references in each column, are certainly redundant in an index which gives less than a column of titles under the head of "Charity." We cannot, indeed, be sure that all the titles under any particular head include all the works referred to as dealing with that general subject. The Arabs have a dozen names for the sun; and the graces of the gospel take many names in their English dress. If we add to the references under Charity the references under Benevolence, Almsgiving, Love, and kindred titles, there is nothing to complain of on the score of number. It is fair to say, however, that, in his large array of works about the Baptists and their creed, Dr. Malcom is impartial. He mentions about as many who have written against the Baptists as have written in their favor. The student may get the

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antidote and the bane together, and may take his choice among the authorities on either side. Whatever other defects may be found in Malcom's "Index," wilful unfairness is not to be charged against it. So far as his knowledge goes, the compiler allows both sides of every question a fair chance for a hearing. No theological hatred appears in his pages. Transcendentalism may be classed with Atheism, Neology, and Rationalism; but then Atheism is classed with the "Existence of God," and is represented by a respectable body of writers. We cannot accept Dr. Malcom's judgment in his list of references under this head. It is absurd to call Spinoza and Ferdinand Christian Baur the advocates of Atheism. The list of works under this head is made up very carelessly. And even more inaccurate is the list of works under the head of "Neology," in which Michelet, an ultra-Hegelian, and Volkmar are presented as authors on the orthodox side; while Frederic Denison Maurice is classed with the radical heretics, Paulus and Strauss and Semler.

This inaccuracy in the disposition of writers is the most serious fault we have to find. with Dr. Malcom's "Index." In attempting to separate the writers pro and con, he makes very strange mistakes, and puts not a few of his authors on the wrong side. While he attempts to define Rationalism, and show how Rationalists are distinguished from Atheists and Deists, his classification of writers shows that he has not studied the subject with any thoroughness, and knows very little about it from writers at first hand. He represents Röhr, for instance, as an opponent of Rationalism; while Michelet, who under "Neology" was orthodox, here comes into his proper place. He mentions 66 Compte" (name misspelled) as writing in favor of Rationalism. He might as well call Tom Paine a Baptist because he did not believe in Pedobaptism. He reckons among rationalistic works Combe's "Vestiges of the History of Creation;" thus settling a longdisputed question of authorship, and classifying a work that had no place before. The "Essays and Reviews" are rationalistic. Donaldson's "Jasher" is rationalistic. De Wette's "Introduction" is rationalistic. So is Reinhard's "Ethics," and Gesenius's "Thesaurus,” and the "Christian Gnosis" of Bauer, as the name is frequently printed. The jumble of authors under this head is extraordinary. Buckle's work, Lecky's work, even the superficial work of Hurst, are not mentioned. Neander's "Life of Christ" is cited; but a parenthesis tells us, that, though "written against Eichhorn, it is not much more orthodox." On the principle by which this list of authors has been