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owing to his long search for such a result, and his intense attention to everything that might produce it, he perceived it, when others would not-in fact, others thought nothing of it when their attention was directed to it-he perceived it, and saw that the great object was gained; yet, he reverently adds, that, as it was not what any known facts or principles would have indicated, "it should be considered as one of those cases where the leading of the Creator providentially aids his creatures, by what are termed accidents, to attain those things which are not attainable by the powers of reasoning he has conferred upon them." This is a pious, but true and sublime conclusion. God presides over and aids inventive genius. To its keen eye, peering earnestly into the darkness, he shows the light.

For the rest, the lessons are plain, and very practical and urgent for us. 1. In the first place, find out what your peculiar endowments are, what talents are entrusted to you, what you are called to do. 2. Then, in the second place, do it-do it industriously and earnestly. But this is not enough. 3. In the third place, do it unselfishly, benevolently, relig iously, as the servant of God and the friend of man.

But, finally, the special lesson of this personal history is this: that every man should regard himself as called of God to his life's work, the particular thing for which he is fitted, by a sacred calling, a sacred commision. You are called of God to be a lawyer, a physician, an inventor, an artisan, a merchant, a teacher, or to any, even the humblest work, as truly as an apostle, a minister of the gospel, or a missionary, is called of God. And your work, if done aright in spirit and outward form, is as truly divine. Regard yourself, then, as called and commissioned of God for your life's work; and do it with a sublime and ennobling sense of being God's appointed officer. Do it with loyalty, with faith, and with fidelity.

ARTICLE XII.-NOTICES OF BOOKS.

THEOLOGY,

HAGENBACH'S HISTORY OF DOCTRINES.*-Dr. Hagenbach, Professor of Theology at Basle, a leading theologian of the evangelical school, is the author of several meritorious works. One of these is a history, in two volumes, of the church in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which presents an interesting sketch of religious movements and changes during this period, especially of such as belong to Germany, interspersed with biographical details. His principal production is the History of Doctrines, of which, the translation in the third edition, (including the amendments made in the author's second edition,) lies before us. It forms a part of the Edinburgh translations from the German, issued by Messrs. T. and T. Clark.

Hagenbach divides the history of doctrines into five periods; the first period extending from the close of the Apostolic Age to the death of Origen, (from the years 80-254,) and characterized as the Age of Apologetics; the second period, from the death of Origen to John of Damascus, (254-730,) called the Age of Polemics; the third period, from John of Damascus to the Reformation, (730-1517,) styled the Age of Systems, (Scholasticism in its widest sense;) the fourth period, from the Reformation to the rise of the Wolfian Philosophy, (1517– 1720,) described as the Age of Polemico-ecclesiastical Symbolism; the fifth period, (from 1720 to the present day,) the epoch of antithesis between faith and knowledge, philosophy and Christianity, reason and revelation. The best writers differ in their classification. One of the briefest and most ingenious arrangements of the subject, we have lately seen in Dr. Alexander's Letters. It is quoted from a German author. 1. Theology, the doctrine of God and the Trinity, which was fixed by the Greeks. 2. Anthropology, the doctrine of the fall and of grace—

* Compendium of the History of Doctrines. By K. R. HAGENBACH, Doctor and Professor of Theology in the University of Basle. Translated by Carl W. Buch. Third Edition. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. 1858. Philadelphia: Clark, English & Co. Two Volumes, pp. 496, 483.

including the Pelagian controversy-which was determined by the Latins. 3. Soterology, the doctrine of salvation-justification-which was defined by the Germans. Of course none of these general statements have more than a partial accuracy.

Hagenbach has some fine qualities as a historian of doctrines. He is uniformly candid, having no violent prejudice to color his narrative or warp his judgment. He does not write to make out a theory, and is under no temptation to construct history for such a purpose. He is well-informed as to the matter, and clear and unaffected in style. On the other hand, he is not so thorough in his knowledge of the original sources-the quellen-as some others are. In this respect he falls far short of Neander. Not that he is specially deficient in this regard,but we mean to say, simply, that he is not eminent. He is in the second rank, decidedly, when his learning is compared with that of Neander and Gieseler. Another defect is the want of a very high degree of theological acuteness. We miss the sharply cut, discriminating statements which one craves in a work of this nature. Here again, there is no glaring fault, but simply mediocrity. With these drawbacks, the volumes before us possess a high value. There is nothing to take their place, and they deserve to be consulted by every student who attends to this most interesting branch of theological science.

THE CHURCH OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES." -This volume proceeds from the pen of one of the most amiable and accurate of the Unitarian scholars. It is written with all the exactness and elegance which we should expect from him. Its object is indicated by its title, to exhibit within a brief compass a satisfactory portraiture of the men and the times, in the first three centuries-and especially to ascertain how far the doctrine of the Trinity was taught in their writings, or was received by the church in the times when they lived and wrote.

As a contribution to the history of those times, it is critical and of no inconsiderable value, for it is evidently the product of learned and original research, by a scholar who has brought to his task a cool and discriminating judgment. As an argument in support of the conclusion that the doctrine of the Trinity is not warranted by Scriptural

* The Church of the First Three Centuries: or notices of the lives and opinions of some of the early fathers, with special reference to the doctrine of the Trinity; illustrating its late origin and gradual formation. By ALVAN LAMSON, D. D. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co. 1860. Svo. pp. 362.

testimony, we do not count it of any considerable cogency. The argu

ment assumes several forms, the first of which is that the early fathers did not receive the doctrine of the Trinity as it is now held in the church. Let this be granted. Does it follow that therefore it is not true! These fathers were in many respects far less qualified to interpret the Scriptures, than the scholars of later times, through the defect in the power of judgment, as well as the influence of traditional superstitions and errors. We have the Scriptures in our hands, and perhaps can interpret them better than they.

But it will be urged, This ought not to be presumed, for surely they lived so near the times of the apostles, that if the doctrine had been received in the life-time of the apostles, the tradition of it would have survived till the second or third generation after their time, and therefore, from the absence of such tradition, we may safely infer that it was not held by the teachers of the first generation. This inference is not warranted for two reasons. It is not contended that the doctrine of the Trinity was held in the apostolic times, in a form developed more fully than the Scriptural statements would indicate. Certainly it is not held that the conception and language prevalent in the infant church took the form of a precisely and distinctly developed doctrine. Tradition would of course transmit no more than the Scriptures and church doctrines had furnished to its hand.

But again, as we pass from the apostolic age in which the Spirit dwelt to those which immediately followed, we leave a clear-sighted though unscientific faith, and find a dimsighted and bewildered fantasy, which seemed to be incapable even of comprehending the import of the written word, and much less of transmitting any traditions with sure and safe retention. The argument from the presence or absence of traditions, which should purport to supply any defects in the New Testament record, must be dismissed as invalid.

But the author presents the argument in another form. The doctrine of the Trinity, which gradually shaped itself into form in the hands of the early Christians, was wrought by them from the speculations of P'hilo and Plato, and not from the testimony of the sacred writers. If this should be conceded it would not warrant the inference that the Christian student now who makes the testimony of the Scriptures the sole foundation of his creed, would not be forced to accept the doctrine of the Trinity. If Philo and Plato wrote of a Logos and of Triads, as doubtless they did, it would necessarily happen that those who were influenced in their thinking by their mystical and fantastical philoso

phizings, should draw illustrations from their writings, and aid their conceptions of certain relations in the divine essence which are clearly implied in the teachings of the Scriptures, by the analogies and reasonings which these writings furnish. But this does not at all prove that their doctrine did not rest for its ultimate authority to their minds, on the declarations of the Scriptures concerning the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. To these declarations we must come at last, and to the views of the Divine Nature which these declarations of necessity involve and require.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.*-It is one of the favorable signs of the times, that theological study is at present, at least in this country, so manifestly becoming more distinctively biblical and historical, rather than merely speculative. While the spirit of inquiry is growing continually more thorough, not to say radical, it is encouraging that the direction of its search is towards the fountains of truth. The disposition now so manifest, both in and out of the church, to sift anew the fundamental principles of Christianity, as revealed in the Bible, is naturally accompanied by a desire to trace the workings of those principles in their applications to human society, and note the modifications which Christian institutions and Christianity itself have undergone in the centuries that have elapsed since their first promulgation. This awakened interest in the history of Christianity and of the Church, is indicated by the many works which have recently appeared on one branch or another of the subject-especially on the history of the first three centuries. These works differ from each other according to the point of view, aim, and spirit of their respective writers.

In the volume before us, Dr. Killen has taken a comprehensive survey of the Christian church, in its history, doctrine, worship, and constitution, during the first three hundred years of its existence. As professor of Ecclesiastical History and Pastoral Theology to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, his predilections have naturally led him to look at his subject from the Presbyterian stand-point. Yet it is by no means to be inferred that he is a prejudiced writer, or that he has not discussed most questions, if not all, in a fair and candid

*The Ancient Church: Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution, traced for the first three hundred years. By W. D. KILLEN, D D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Pastoral Theology to the General Assembly of the New York: Charles Scribner, 124 Grand

Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

street. 1860. pp. 656.

VOL. XVIII.

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