DR. BELLOWS's RESTATEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.*-Dr. Bellows tells us in his preface that the recent evidences of public interest in his religious opinions have emboldened him to publish a volume of sermons. This volume is entitled Restatements of Christian Doctrine-with the running title of The Readjustment of Faith. We have shared somewhat in the general interest of the public, and on reading the announcement that the book was designed to gratify it, were emboldened to the confident belief that we should find in this volume what Dr. Bellows does believe. But on looking through it with aroused attention we are enabled to find but few, if any, statements of doctrine at all. We have found statements enough, and in that graceful and most felicitous diction of which the author is so dexterous a master, concerning the character which the true Christian doctrine is fitted to form. To the most of these we take little exception, indeed to nearly all we give our heartiest assent. We find also certain speculations about Human Nature, Sin and Moral Evil, which, with much that is well and wisely said there is blended now and then a vague speculation that is given at random, with little precision of doctrine and with scarcely any attempt at proof. We find a catholicity of spirit and disposition to find truth even in the hardest statements of orthodoxy, which does honor to the author's broad and generous nature, and is quite refreshing among the so-called Liberal Christians. We find a distinct recognition of the power and need of the Holy Spirit and of the corruption and power of Sin that would have been called mystic cant by the clear and precise Unitarians of another day. We find the most distinct avowals of the necessity of positive faith, of formal observances and of "a Christian year" of Holy Days and Holy Rites. We find the most decided refutation of the rejectors of a supernatural Christianity and the most just and earnest reproof of the temper and the wisdom of godless philanthropists. In short, we find almost everything but that which we seek for, viz, "Statements of Doctrine."

We do not find clearly defined nor earnestly proved what Paul or John teach concerning Christ or man or the kingdom of God, but only discourses mostly practical founded on the assumption that a certain form of Liberal Doctrine supposed to be held by the author, but not declared, is to be taken as the true. The defect of the author seems to be similar to that

* Restatements of Christian Doctrine, in Twenty-five Sermons. By HERNY W. BELLOWS, minister of all Soul's Church, New York. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1860. 12mo. pp. 434.

noticed by Lord Bacon of the schoolmen. "For the wit and mind of man if it work upon matter"-(the matter of the theologian being the Scriptures)" worketh according to the stuff, and is limited thereby; but if it work upon itself, as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless and bringeth forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit."

The author has a strong faith, indeed, that something might be done by somebody in the right direction, as appears from the following words:

"For my own part, I believe that the sober, historic Unitarianism of five-andtwenty years ago needs only to be rigidly examined, Scripture in hand, experience in full view, to prove the basis of a much nearer approach to a statement of doctrine in which universal Christendom can agree, than anything else which has been presented for ages. What has gone beyond it, has fallen into Deism; what has kept behind it, is still in motion; what has gone one side of it, is compelled, sooner or later, to fall into its track. It needs, I doubt not, some finer and more generous statement, to win the ear and heart of Christendom; but I feel a mighty confidence that, the first time now that Christian theology clears her trumpet and utters a not uncertain note, the voice of Channing will be the dominant of the strain. If, as a body, we could distinctly affirm, with a good conscience, the positive historic faith-leaving the frigidness of rationalism and the indefiniteness of sentimentalism aside-I think we should start the Christian world from its theological dreaminess, and articulate, in wholesome, credible, inspiring words, the truth that now sticks and sputters in the throat of Christendom.

"God grant us the utterance which our languid organs refuse, and give us the blessed privilege of speaking the word which would set chaos in order, and for an ecclesiastical ruin furnish Christendom with a Church!" p. 18.

We have looked for such an utterance in this volume, but alas, we are sorry to find in it from beginning to end little more than the same mournful refrain.

FERNALD ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE.*-This is a delightful book for the most part, written by a man of faith in God, who is not a blind and bigoted disciple of Swedenborg, but who receives him as a man divinely ordained to give men extraordinary insight into spiritual. truth. He quotes too largely from his favorite author, and uses too many of his fantastic notions, but there is withal an independence of thought and illustration which makes the book soothe the reader like a quiet, peaceful walk in "green pastures, and by the side of still waters."

God in his Providence: a comprehensive view of the principles and particulars of an active Divine Providence over man-his fortunes, changes, trials, entire discipline as a spiritual being, from birth to eternity. By WOODBURY M. FERNALD. Second Edition. Boston: Otis Clapp. 1859. 12mo. pp. 437.

PROFESSOR SMITH'S ECCLESIASTICAL TABLES.*-This is an admirable work, and cannot be recommended too highly to clergymen and students in Theology. It will be scarcely less useful to all literary men, and should be found in every library, in connection with the Atlas and Encyclopedia. The convenient arrangement, the comprehensive plan, the extent of research, the fullness of detail which characterize it, entitle it to the highest praise.

To give our readers a view of the arrangement and contents of the work, we open at Table III, A. D. 313 to 440. The history of this period is given in four pages, with a general heading at the top. The first page is ruled for three wide columns. The first of these, the widest, gives the General Characteristics of the church during the period. The second column, the contemporaneous history, on the setting of Secular events in which the church is developing an independent and yet connected growth. The third column gives the principal events that mark the advance in Culture and Literature. The second folio page is devoted to the External history of the church, which is given in three separate columns, headed respectively, The Church and the Roman Empire, Growth of the Church, Ecclesiastical Personages. The two next pages are occupied with the Internal History of the Church, under six headings, to each of which is assigned a column,-viz, Church Literature, in this instance Greek and Roman writers, in two parallel rows; Church Polity, Worship and Ritual, Discipline and Monasticism, Doctrines and Controversy, Heresies and Schisms.

Thus, wherever we open the book, we have a picture of the times, in the great events, principal personages, &c., which made it what it was, spread out in chronological relations distinctly before the eye. Indeed, the eye cannot glance over it in the most careless manner without alighting upon some fact or name worthy to be noticed, and which, seen in its place, will not be likely to be forgotten or lost. If we refer to a page to fix a date or verify an impressiou, we shall scarcely fail to notice some new name or event which will be worth remembering in such a connection. The occasional, and preeminently the frequent use of these tables, will contribute greatly to preserve and renew our knowledge.

*History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological tables: a synchronistic view of the events, characteristics, and culture of each period, including the history of Polity, Worship, Literature, and Doctrines; together with two supplementary Tables upon the Church in America, and Appendix, containing the series of Councils, Popes, Patriarchs, and Bishops, and a full Index. By HENRY B SMITH, D. D., Professor in the Union Theological Seminary of the City of New York. New York: Charles Scribner. 1859. folio. pp. 93.

The history of the church in America is original with the author, and shows faithful and laborious research, with great skill in the arrangement of his materials. Some inadvertencies quite inexcusable in respect to the theological opinions of the late Dr. Taylor, have already been noticed in the newspapers, and the following sentence reads very oddly at New Haven: "The polity of New England was Congregational, and not an Independency pastors, teachers, ruling elders, and deacons were the recognized officers, (seven pillars at New Haven.)"!! The "seven pillars" at New Haven were in no sense officers of the church; but by their mutual covenant first constituted themselves into a church, which, when thus organized, proceeded to the election of its officers. See "Bacon's Historical Discourses."

These blemishes are slight and inconsiderable when weighed against the general truthfulness and exactness of the volume.

PROFESSOR HODGE'S EXPOSITION OF II CORINTHIANS.* This commentary is so like those volumes which have preceded it in its excellencies and defects, that we need not criticise it at length. We give an extract or two, as some of our readers may not have the opportunity to judge of the author's manner. The passage which we quote also is instructive as showing that much Theology can be foisted into an exegetical commentary. The passage commented on is 2 Corinthians v, 21.

"He was made sin, may mean either, he was made a sin-offering, or, the abstract being used for the concrete, he was made a sinner. Many of the older commentators prefer the former explanation; Calvin, and almost all the moderns, adopt the latter. The meaning in either case is the same; for the only sense in which Christ was made sin, is that he bore the guilt of sin; and in this sense every sin-offering was made sin. . . The only sense in which we are made the righteousness of God is that we are in Christ regarded and treated as righteous, and therefore the sense in which he was made sin, is that he was regarded and treated as a sinner. His being made sin is consistent with his being in himself free from sin; and our being made righteous is consistent with our being in ourselves ungodly. In other words, our sins were imputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to us. . . .. His sufferings and death were penal, because inflicted and endured in satisfaction of justice. And in virtue of the infinite dignity of his person they were a perfect satisfaction; that is, a full equivalent for all the law's demands."

"The very idea of substitution is that what is done by one in the place of another, avails as though that other had done it himself. The victim was the

* An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. By CHARLES HODGE, D. D., Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1860. 12mo. pp. 314.

substitute of the offerer, because its death took the place of his death. If both died there was no substitution. So if Christ's being made sin does not secure our being made righteousness, he was not our substitute. Righteousness does not here mean inward rectitude, or moral excellence. It is true that the word often has this sense; and it is true that the work of Christ does secure the holiness of his people, and was designed to produce that effect, as is often asserted in Scripture. But this was neither its only, nor its proximate design. Its immediate end was to reconcile us to God; to propitiate him, by the satisfaction of justice, so that he can be just and yet justify the ungodly. As the apostle is here speaking of the sacrificial effect of Christ's death, that is, of the proximate effect of his being made sin for us, the word righteousness must be understood ir. its forensic sense. It expresses our relation to the law, not our inward moral state. It is that which justifies, or satisfies the demands of the law. Those who have this dikatoróvn are dikatót, just in the sight of the law, in the sense that the law or justice is satisfied as concerns them. It is called the righteousness of God, either because it is from him as its author; or, because it renders us righteous in his sight.".

"There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in which the doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearly stated than in this. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to us. He bore our sins; we are clothed in his righteousness. Imputation conveys neither pollution nor holiness. Christ's bearing our sins did not make him morally a sinner, any more than the victim was morally defiled which bore the sins of the people; nor does Christ's righteousness become subjectively ours, it is not the moral quality of our souls. This is what is not meant. What is meant is equally plain. Our sins were the judicial ground of the sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction of justice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground of our acceptance with God, so that our pardon is an act of justice." pp. 148, 149, 150, 151.

PAUL THE PREACHER.*-It was a happy thought of Professor Eadie to treat the discourses of Paul in a half exegetical, half popular way, and thus to make the Acts of the Apostles a living history fraught with fresh interest to modern Christians. No method is so well fitted to accomplish this object as to fix the interest upon the striking discourses of the noble apostle. As expanded and illustrated by the author, these discourses are made to comprehend the chief points of Christian truth, as it was proclaimed in the earliest days of the church, and also to bring in a series of striking pictures, the chief incidents of persecution and trial, of travel and flight, of imprisonment and arraignment, which make the book of the Acts so fraught with stirring interest. The historic

*Paul the Preacher; or, a popular and practical Exposition of his Discourses and Speeches, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. By JOHN EADIE, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Biblical Literature to the United Presbyterian Synod. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1859. 12mo. pp. 453.