come, because some very just things, of the hitherto popular theology in the church; and may be justly ranked among the true friends of liberal Christianity at the present time.

In this volume we find the substance of a course of lectures delivered in one of the London churches on the first Mondays of certain months in the years 1845 and 1846, according to the provisions of a will made by Robert Boyle in 1691, "that eight sermons should be preached each year in London for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels, to wit: Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans; not descending lower to any controversies that are among Christians themselves." The first four lectures are devoted to a very clear and able notice of the principal religions of the world, Mohammedanism, the Hindoo faith, the Brahmin, Buddhism, the old Persian faith, the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Gothic,the last four to the relation of the religions of the world with the Christian. The first of this last series is an attempt to show how Christianity can satisfy the cravings of Mohammedans; the second how it can satisfy the Hindoo; the third how Buddhism may be approached by it; the last lecture treats of the preaching of the gospel to the Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and Goths, the form of this preaching, resistance of it from the doctrine of an evil principle, Mohammedan protest against it, Hindoo protest, modern infidel protest, and how Christianity is established by all, as the great want of the race.

The views entertained by the author of the great principles of Christianity, are such as we believe worthier of being presented to the votary of Paganism, than others more contradictory and unwelcome, which have from time to time been offered him by professed Christian teachers. It seems to be a settled conviction of this writer, that unless we can give the Pagan a Christianity that will more than fill the place of his own religion,-that will be adequate to all his moral wants, we shall not enter upon a hopeful mission with him. And from what we have read, it seems to us that the author of this work has in mind a faith such as would furnish this supply. In one place he gives us as comprehensive a statement of Christianity as we have ever met with from any source. He speaks of Jesus as the prophesied king in the Scriptures whom the Jewish people should see. "For such a one, these prophets say, David and his line were the preparation,-He would readily establish a universal kingdom. Now Christians affirm that the ground of universal society is the revelation of this king. This Son of God, they say, has been manifested; He in whom this perfect image dwelt; He has exhibited that image in the life and acts of a man, in the poverty and death of a man; He, as a man, has exercised dominion over the powers of nature; as a man, wrestled with spiritual evil; as a man, triumphed over death; as a man, ascended to the right hand of God; 18

VOL. XII.

H

He having so united man to God, has sent down his spirit among men, that they might be one family, and glorify the of all in Him. The universal kingdom, say they, must be a kingdom; the Lord of it must be a suffering man who is Son of God. That which makes it one, and enables men to a edge God as one, must be a uniting, reconciling Spirit, wh them above the broken forms and shadows of earth,-abov material things, in which there is nothing but division, into unity, the perfect, absolute love."

In the conclusion of the book, the author has some excel marks in vindication of foreign missions,-the finding out man wants,―man, not only in cotton-spinning Manchester, Birmingham, but man in Persia and Thibet, and everywhere book deserves a full review; but as this is a brief notice o conclude by earnestly recommending it to our readers. It is thought, and will bear close studying.

J.

4. Practical Christian Socialism: a Conversational Expos the true System of Human Society; in Three Parts, viz: i. mental Principles. ii. Constitutional Polity. iii. Superiority Systems. By Adin Ballou. &c. &c. Hopedale: Published Author. &c. 1854. 8vo. pp. 655.

A full exposition of the principles and theory on which thor has founded the Community of Hopedale, in Milford, together with a statement of the organization which he pro a substitute for the present form of human society. Mr. Community-system is broadly distinguished, in two very im respects, from other recent systems of the kind with which acquainted. 1. It is instituted throughout on religious_pri with a Creed, or profession of Christian faith; and 2. It is ded by a strict morality, stricter indeed, or at least more than the ethical rules that are commonly recognized by the tian world abroad. "Total Abstinence," "Non-resistance plicity in dress and manners, moderation in the expense of and separation from all the present forms of civil governm among the requisites prescribed. Especially is it distinguish the vicious looseness of other Community-systems, by its re on illicit sexual love, and by the sacredness with which it rega marriage-connexion. On these two essential elements, religiou and strict moral regulations of an authoritative kind, the speaks with uncompromising decision, and exposes the m arising from the neglect of them in Fourierism and other So schemes.

His theory of Christianity seems to us to be marked with Neoplatonic speculation, and to be a good deal affected by th tion, rather epidemic among us, of reducing the Universe to

formula as our petty systemizing faculty may devise. According to him, God, the infinite and unapproachable, can not be directly known to the finite understanding. He becomes known to us only through what the Author calls "the Christ-spirit." This Christ-spirit is, if we understand him, the spirit of God somehow personalized into a finite organism, without any change of its moral properties. It pervades the world, ready to be employed anywhere as a vehicle of communication from the Creator to his creatures. Jesus was the person in whom this Christ-Spirit appeared in full measure, thus revealing to men the otherwise unknown and unknowable Father. He revealed God as a Being of infinite love and holiness, good unto all, good even in his judgments, which he inflicts with a view to the good of the sufferers. Jesus alone had complete divine authority; he alone was fully inspired. Others were, and many still are, partially inspired, in various degrees, by the Christ-spirit, but not beyond the liability to error. Even the prophets and apostles were, in some respects, fallible. The atonement which Jesus made was not a reconciliation of God to man, but the reverse. There are various orders of spirits, as those of angels, men, &c.; but all are only personalizations from out of one general mass of created spirit, called

Soul-spirit," which has its rank next below the Christ-spirit. Man, as born into this world, needs to be regenerated, by having the latent spiritual life within him vivified and brought into action. He is, by birth, neither wholly corrupt, nor wholly pure; and, by his Will, acting freely within certain limits, he can obey the requisitions of his Creator, or disobey them. He is under an economy of strict retribution, which follows him into the next life, recompensing him there according to his character, as well as here. At death, or shortly afterwards, he passes into the immortal state by a resurrection in a spiritual body. There is, however, to be another and simultaneous resurrection of all, in some period of the future, when all shall have been brought into moral subjection. Universal salvation and blessedness will be the result of Christ's mediation. Finally, the Author thinks that all souls will be eventually absorbed in God, and, if we understand him, lose their personality, either partly or wholly, in the great Fountain of Being from whom they at first proceeded.

66

66

It is not our business, at present, to analyze this mixture, and to separate what is speculation from what is Scripture doctrine. We therefore pass over the hypotheses of a Christ-spirit," and of a Soul-spirit," &c.; but we can not refrain from reminding our Author that his theory of absorption, if indeed it extend to the absorption of our personality, is nothing less nor more than what used to be called by the ungracious name of annihilation. For no one ever meant, by annihilation, any thing else than the resolving of the elements of our being back into their sources, with the loss of our personality and of our personal consciousness. It makes no odds to us,

whether we are said to be blest into annihilation, or cursed int hilation; the thing is the same, whichsoever of the verbs we before it.

We find no fault in the moral code which he proposes, ur be that he carries the doctrine of Non-resistance too far. V not clearly, indeed, just how far he does carry it,—whether he the infliction of any corporeal wound in self-defence, or the ma of an assassin to save our own life. It is plain, however, th regards it as unlawful, in every possible case, to inflict death for the sake of protecting ourselves, or the public, from destru If this be an extreme, as we think it is, there still is so little d of its being generally acted on, that it is not worth the wh combat the theory. We can not deny that something may b in its favor from the literal form of certain precepts in the Testament, and yet more from the examples of Christ and the tles, when viewed apart from the peculiar circumstances in they stood. But we have never been able to see that simple defence conflicts, as does the spirit of retaliation and cruelty any of the great principles of the gospel. Whether or not we s use it, seems to us to be, in most cases, a question of exped rather than of absolute principle.

A characteristic feature of Mr. Ballou's Community-syste the isolation of all its members from the fashions, tastes, and pu of the world around, while they still mingle with the world. must all accept the religious faith, the new set of political and maxims, and the code of moral regulations, that are here presc and the whole process of their lives must be modified accordi If we may judge from the phraseology used in this book, they be likely to form for themselves, to some extent, even a new di

The plan on which his Community is constructed, may b scribed in general terms as embracing two classes of members, outer circle, and an inner circle. Those without may live in n borhoods occupied chiefly by the unreformed world, and may their property as individuals, but are expected to associate with other, under the advice of more perfect Communitists, for m improvement in the new science, and for enjoyment of the new s peculiarities. But the other class, the thoroughly conformed, r together, though in separate families if they choose, on a terr owned exclusively by the Community, and hold their propert joint-stock or common-stock. Here, we suppose, the industrial economical arrangements are not essentially different from thos Fourierite and other Socialistic Communities.

With us, the central objection to this scheme appears to lie ag its fundamental element, Socialism. Of this characteristic, we expressed our views at some length in a former volume of the Q terly; it is therefore needful, here, only to add a consideratio

two. It seems evident to us that such an arrangement as this can never call forth the energies of the human character to the degree in which they are brought out in the natural form of society. A Community is, in this respect, a sort of plantation cultivated by servants under gentle overseers, where the cares, competitions, hardships, and hazards of life are borne, not by, but for, the individual workers, and by superintending agencies. It keeps the individuals themselves in perpetual non-age. To institute a system for the purpose of relieving mankind from the personal responsibilities of managing their own concerns, will be found, in the long run, to do them no favor, whether the system be designed for this world, or for any other world. It is an attempt to set aside the method which the Creator has provided for disciplining, developing, and educating the human race. Here is the mother-error that gives birth to all Socialistic theories, and even to some religious theories. We ought indeed to seek for every help that will aid men in working out the problem of their existence; but still we must let them work it out, and we must let them do it under their own responsibilities, or we shall spoil them.

5. A History of Greece, from the Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest. With Supplementary Chapters on the History of Literature and Art. By William Smith, LL. D., Author of the Dictionaries of "Greek and Roman Antiquities," 99 66 Biography and Mythology," and "Geography." With Notes, and a Continuation to the Present Time, by C. C. Felton, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard University. Boston: Hickling, Swan, and Brown. &c. &c. 1855. 8vo. pp. 670.

Of Dr. Smith's work, a notice was given in a former volume of the Quarterly. The opinion which was there expressed of its great merits, is confirmed by the voice of all whose judgment of its character we have learned. Unquestionably, it is without rival the history of Greece for classes in academies and colleges, and also for such readers in general as have not time or inclination to master the numerous volumes of Grote. The present edition, by Prof. Felton, is thoroughly and very neatly executed. His Continuation of the history appears to us, from the brief opportunity which we have had for examining it, to be a worthy complement of the original work. Indeed, his reputation as a scholar, and as a writer of sound and cultivated taste, renders any commendation from us needless. He has added a number of illustrative notes to Dr. Smith's part of the book, and somewhat more than a hundred pages of supplement, to bring the narrative down to our times. In this latter portion, considerable space is given to an account of the Greek Revolution of 1821, and to the modern literature, and present condition, political and social, of the people. The Professor's recent visit to the coun