replace ourselves under the Episcopal close-corporation, which an obligatory successionalism creates, would be submitting alive to a fossilization. History of the Apostolic Church. With a General Introduction to Church History. By PHILIP SCHAFF, Professor in the Theological Seminary at Mercersburgh, Pa. Translated by EDWARD D. YEOMANS. 8vo., pp. 684. New York: CHARLES SCRIBNER. 1867. We have had occasion to use Dr. Schaff's work as a reference, and we are able to speak highly of its quality. Church History, rather than Theology, appears to us to be the learned author's forte. The volume opens with an extensive survey of the Literature of Ecclesiastical History, furnishing to the student a view of the whole. ground. These chapters are truly valuable, both from the views presented and from the impulse they are calculated to give, in our country, to this great department of Christian study. The ideal presented by Dr. Schaff of Church History is the true one; and, pursued in accordance with that idea, rich, practical fruit can be gathered from that field. In tracing the events, portraying the characters, and discussing the principles presented by his subject, Dr. Schaff shows the power of a master. He excels in giving a compact summing up of the entire materials of a topic. Even where we object to his process or conclusions, we feel that the views we oppose are stated in a standard and classical style. In going over the same ground with Pressensé, we find him no way inferior in learning or power of statement. But, by separating the discussion from the narrative, Pressensé has written a far more readable history. Effort is required to study Schaff; effort is required to stop reading Pressensé. We fully agree with Dr. Schaff, that the ultra-Protestantism which refuses to recognize European Catholicism as a Church, and as a great Christian development, plays dangerously into the hands of skepticism. He does not overstate the good done by medieval Catholicism. Modern Europe owes a vast debt even to the Papacy, and, we might add, even to some of its prominent vices. Nor need we say that the Church of Thomas à Kempis, Pascal, and Fénélon has afforded a saintship of high order. But when he uses that as an argument to prove that the Papacy is not Antichrist, however true the conclusion, it is not proved by the logic. He seems to us to forget, as he seldom does, the opposite phases that the same object often presents. Human governments, for instance, on one side, are truly the beasts that Daniel pictures them; but, on the other side, they are, with Paul, the ministers of God. In arguing that Papacy is not Antichrist because Rome is a true successional Church, does he not forget that Antichrist sitteth in the temple of God? 2 Thess. ii, 4. And when he argues from John that Papacy cannot be Antichrist, because Antichrist denies that Christ has come in the flesh, does he not overlook how John, in a secondary sense, declares that there were elementally many Antichrists, even in his own day? It is a fearful initial fact that Antichrist, if to be identified with the beast of the Apocalypse, is located by the apocalyptic writer at Rome. However we may doubt what this Antichrist is, no one can doubt where it is. And if Antichrist, at Rome, sitteth in the temple of God, then Antichrist is located and seated in the Romish Christian Church. Outlines of Wesleyan Bibliography; or, A Record of Methodist Literature from the Beginning. In two parts: The first containing the publications of John and Charles Wesley arranged in order of time; the second those of Methodist Preachers alphabetically arranged. By G. OSBORN, D. D. 8vo. London: Wesleyan Conference Office. 1869. Dr. Osborn's volume is very valuable as a permanent record, and as a convenient reference for the literary few. The enumerations presented by Dr. Osborn in his preface are noteworthy. During a period of a hundred and thirty years the Methodist ministry has furnished to England more than six hundred and twenty authors. A large share of these were self-educated men, so far as they were educated at all, prompted to thinking and writing by their religion. Dr. Osborn's title is unlimited, comprehending all Methodism; but his book knows nothing of the existence of our continent, or of any Methodism or Methodist authorship upon it. He does not notice even American Methodist books, like Stevens's History, which have been republished and circulated broadcast in England. His book should have been immensely large, (probably thrice its present size,) or his title slightly smaller. We may also note the fact that we receive the copy of this work, not from the Wesleyan Office, (which has no dealings with us,) but from Hodder & Stoughton, publishers for the English Independents. Neither Dr. Porter nor Dr. Lanahan has been able to establish any business intercourse with the English Methodist publishing interest-by which sleepiness we imagine the latter are the losers. We formerly noted the fact that Bledsoe's Theodicy, which originated with us, was republished in England by a non-Methodist house, and the notice of the work reached us by the Westminster Review. Studies in Church History. The Rise of the Temporal Power-Benefit of Clergy-Excommunication. By HENRY C. LEA. 12mo., pp. 515. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea. 1869. We noticed with high appreciation, in a former Quarterly, Mr. Lea's monographs entitled Superstition and Force, a gleaning from Church history, similar in character to the present. He has since published a sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church. These productions are remarkable for their scholarly research into original sources, and for their perfectly pure and impartial historic spirit. They deal in a most dispassionate manner with areas of history over which the storms of controversy have for centuries been sweeping. They are clear contributions to the great work of arriving at true and safe conclusions. Mr. Lea has not the grandly marching rhetoric of Lecky; but he possesses, we think, a calmer, clearer spirit, a more undisturbed discrimination, and a truer appreciation of the divine as blending and co-operating with the human in Church history. We may also remark by the way, that Mr. Lecky himself characterizes Mr. Lea's tractate on Celibacy as one of the most valuable works that America has produced." Mr. Lea's forte has thus far appeared in tracing the rise and progress of certain special institutes in history. His work is rather critical and colorless, leaving little scope for portraiture and pictorial sketching. 66 The Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the Continent of South America. By JAMES ORTON, M. A., Professor of Natural History in Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. With a New Map of Equatorial America, and numerous Illustrations. 12mo., pp. 356. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1870. Professor Orton brings vividly into view that beautiful valley of the Amazon that spreads broadly enough to take in the entire area of our own inhabited States, under a sun blander than shines upon Italy, where reigns not an eternal summer, but all the seasons blend in one gentle, uniform, Paradisaic temperament. It is one of the events of the age that the Amazon has been opened to commerce. The Coming of Christ in his Kingdom, and "The Gates Wide Open" to the Future Earth and Heaven. Adventism, Millenarianism, and a Gross Materialism Exposed and Refuted, and the True Nature of Christ's Kingdom, as promised in the Latter-Day Glory of Earth, and the Consummated Glories of Heaven, Unfolded. By a Congregational Minister. 16mo., pp. 337. New York: N. Tibbals & Co. The theory of this writer is, that there is no personal second advent of Christ; that the judgment-day to every man immediately succeeds death; and that the millennium is the predomi nance of Christianity in the future, perhaps endless, history of the earth. We have to dig out his theory as buried in a vast mass of irrelevant and trashy matter. The external finish of the work is in keeping with its internal. Rambles through the British Isles; or, Where I Went, and What I Saw, in England, Ireland, and Scotland. By Rev. R. HARCOURT. With Sixty Engravings. 12mo., pp. 349. New York: N. Tibbals & Son. Mr. Harcourt is a young Methodist minister of New Jersey, whose lot, without any demerit of his own, it was to be born in Ireland. His contributions to our "Ladies' Repository" have, we believe, been very acceptable to its readers. His Rambles through the Isles of his native Britain are full of historical recollections, as if he were tracing the memories of the perceptions of his own spirit in a former state of existence. But he lives in the present as well as the past, and the living scenes and characters of Britain are alive in his pages. Home-staying people see all those things all the more vividly through the eyes of an acquaintance and friend, and there are thousands, we trust, who will be glad to view them through Mr. Harcourt's trusty optics. A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Joseph Peck, who emigrated with his Family to this Country in 1638; and Records of his Fathers' and Grandfathers' Families in England; with Pedigrees extending back from Son to Father for Twenty Generations; with their Coats of Arms and Copies of Wills. Also an Appendix, giving an Account of the Boston and Hingham Pecks, the Descendants of John Peck of Meudon, Mass., Deacon Paul of Hartford, Deacon William and Henry of New Haven, and Joseph of Milford, Conn. With Portraits of Distinguished Persons, from Steel Engravings. By IRA B. PECK. 8vo., pp. 442. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son. 1868. The name of Peck, Peke, or Pek, as it has been differently spelled, claims a high antiquity and a broad diffusion through Europe and America. The pedigree traced back to Joseph Peck is to be found in the British Museum. The present noble octavo has been gotten up by the author with great labor, care, and expense. It contains, among other fine and life-like engravings, excellen: likenesses of Drs. George and Jesse T. Peck. The Earlier Years of our Lord's Life on Earth. By the Rev. WILLIAM HANNA This is the first of a series of volumes completely giving the Life of Christ in its successive periods. It is far superior to the ponder ous and misty Life of Christ by Lange, but inferior, at least in pictorial power, to that of Pressensé. It is a very valuable contribution to Christological literature. The History of Rome. By THEODOR MOMMSEN. Translated, with the Author's sanction, and additions, by Rev. WILLIAM P. DICKSON, D.D. Preface by Dr. LEONHARD SCHMITZ. New Edition in 4 volumes. Vol. II. 12mo., pp. 598. New York: Scribner & Co. 1870. The present volume of this great work has emerged from dissertation into history, so as to be to many minds more interesting. We shall give a full review of the entire work in our next Quarterly. The Young Shetlander and his Home. By Rev. B. K. PEIRCE, D. D. Eleven Illustrations. 16mo., pp. 336. Blue and gold. New York: Carlton & Lanahan. San Francisco: E. Thomas. Cincinnati: Hitchcock & Walden. 1870. Dr. Peirce here depicts with graceful pen a most interesting character amid very unique scenes. A fascinating volume. Politics, Law, and General Morals. The Bible in the Public Schools. Arguments in the case of John D. Minor, et al., versus The Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati, et al. Superior Court of Cincinnati. With the Opinions and Decisions of the Court. 8vo., pp. 420. Cincinnati: Robert Clark & Co. 1870. The enterprising publishers have embodied this great trial in a noble octavo. The interest of the question, the ability displayed by the Counsel, the suspense of the appeal to a higher court, have attracted great attention to the case. We read Mr. Stallo's speech with admiration for its ability, and profound sorrow for its exertion on the wrong side. Educational. A German Course. Adapted to use in Colleges, High Schools, and Academies. By GEORGE F. COMFORT, A. M., Professor of Modern Languages and Esthetics in Alleghany College, Meadville, Pa. 12mo., pp. 498. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1870. Professor Comfort's name is familiar to our readers, if from no other reason, from his scholarly contributions to our Quarterly. He spent a period of his life in Europe with all his eyes and ears open. The present course is one of the results, of which there will, we trust, be many, of his acute and comprehensive observations while abroad. It is on the Ollendorf plan, yet with some |