The Christ of History: an Argument Grounded in the Facts of his Life on Earth, by John Young, M. A. Taking for granted merely the manhood of Jesus of Nazareth-that such a person actually existed, and that the Evangelists give a truthful account of his life and ministry-Mr. Young deduces a very strong argument for his supreme divinity. He does this by considering the social position of Jesus, his poverty, his want of patronage and formal education, the shortness of his earthly course, the obstacles to his ministry, and the moral condition of the age in which he lived. He then takes up the work of Christ among men, his doctrinal teaching, especially with reference to the immortality and accountability of the soul, and the unity, spirituality, and moral perfections of Jehovah; and asserts, that under the conditions amid which Jesus was placed, such knowledge and such spiritual opulence and power were morally and even physically impossible to a mere human mind. God never acts in defiance of the nature and laws of the soul,

but always in harmony with them. We speak with reverence, God could not act in defiance of the laws of the soul which he has himself established. This is not the region of miracle, so called; and mere physical omnipotence has no place here. Mind is not to be forced. God could destroy the soul; but, continuing to be what it is, God can act upon it only in harmony with its laws. Now, the fact that a young man, only thirty-three, a poor man, a Galilean carpenter, uneducated, unprivileged, and unpatronized, rose to a profound, far-reaching, lofty wisdom, and to an illumination and wealth of soul which are without example in history, stands in direct contradiction to all other psychological experience, and to all ascertained psychological laws. But it is a fact, nevertheless; and there must be some ground on which it can be explained. Jesus cannot have been merely what he seemed to be, and his mind cannot have been merely human, and in all respects constituted and conditioned as other human minds are. In sober reason, there is no choice left to us but to believe in an organic, an essential, a constitutional difference between him and all men; in other words, in an incarnation, in this unparalleled instance, of Divinity in humanity. Admitting an original, an incomprehensible union between the mind of Christ and God-admitting a mysterious and

constant access of Christ's mind to the infinite fountain of illumination, of excellence, and of power, such as was possible to no mere human being-then, but only then, we can account for spiritual phenomena which-all facts as they are -on no other ground are explicable or even believable. It is only by the admission of the real union of divinity with the human soul of Jesus Christ that a solution can be found of historical and psychological difficulties, which are otherwise as insurmountable as they are undeniable. The idea of incarnation in all its meaning is, indeed, incomprehensible; but we can very distinctly comprehend that it must be

true nevertheless, because, otherwise, facts of which we have the fullest evidence are ab solutely unbelievable. The incarnation is a profound mystery; but intelligence and candor will allow that this is the very region where mystery was even to be looked for. We are compelled to believe that this mystery is a truth; because, if not, the marvelous phenomena of the life of Jesus, which we cannot deny, are not only a mystery, and one even more inscrutable and insupportable, but a direct contradiction.

The conduct of the argument is highly creditable to the skill of the author, and the book is worthy the attention of all earnest thinkers. Robert Carter & Brothers.

There have been published several histories of the acts and doings of the celebrated Council of Trent. The first was that of SARPI, published in London, in folio, in 1619, which has been several times translated, and of which an

English version was printed in 1676. Truthful, but severely sarcastic, Sarpi's work was ex

Still

ceedingly popular, and an antidote was prepared and published by the Jesuit PALLAVICINI. According to Ranke, both these authors were mere partisans, and each distorted and discolored facts to suit his purpose. In 1834 the Rev. Joseph Mendham published in London "Memoirs of the Council of Trent, principally derived from manuscript and unpublished records;" and in 1852, a more concise and thorough treatise upon the subject appeared from the pen of the Rev. T. A. Buckley. more recently L. F. BUNGENER, author of those well-known works "The Priest and the Huguenot," and "The Preacher and the King," published, in French, a "History of the Council of Trent," which has been translated, and has already passed through two English editions. It is by far the most complete and readable history of that memorable conclave that has been given to the public. An edition, under the careful and pains-taking supervision of Dr. McClintock, has just been issued by Harper & Brothers, of which it is not too much to say that its value has been greatly enhanced by the division of the book into convenient chapters, the correction of a few passages in the translation, and the occasional notes of the American editor. He has also added a summary of the Acts and Decrees of the Council, in chronological order; and the Protestant student

will need no other history of the means whereby the blundering and blasphemous dogmas of the Romish hierarchy were stamped, for all time, with the signet of infallibility.

Hudson's Bay; or, a Missionary Tour in the Territory of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, by the Rev. John Ryerson. Toronto: G. R. Sanderson, This is a very neatly-printed volume of letters, giving an account of the author's tour, and of the condition and prospects of the several Wesleyan Mission Stations within the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company. It is illustrated by several well-executed wood-cuts, and breathes throughout a spirit of hopefulness

rest, for the purpose of producing a perfectly elegant general effect; and no doubt he spent much time and pains in the attainment of his object.' This is no doubt true. Brummell put in practice, he hardly knew why, the principles of harmony and contrast of colors long before Monsieur Chevreul wrote his theory and explanation of those principles.

"He had quite as correct an eye with regard to harmony of shape as to that of color. The highest in the land were not ashamed to seek a sort of professional opinion from this man as to the propriety of their costume. The Duke of Bedford once did this touching a coat. Brummell examined his grace with the cool impertinence which was his grace's due. He turned him about, scanned him with scrutinizing, contemptuous eye, and then taking the lappel between his dainty finger and thumb, he exclaimed, in a tone of pitying wonder, ‘Bedford, do you call this thing a coat?"

"But he did not spare his own relations. He was one day standing in the bow-window at White's, amid a knot of well-dressed admirers, when one of them remarked, 'Brummell, your brother William is in town. Is ho not coming here?' 'Yes,' said Brummell, ‘in a day or two; but I have recommended him to walk the back streets till his new clothes come home.'

"Brummell however may be excused if he became vain of his power. For a season he was undoubtedly the very King of Fashion, and a terrible despot he was; but he was flattered by kings, or by their representatives. The Prince of Wales passed long matutinal hours in Brummell's dressing-room in Chesterfield-street, watching the progress of his friend's toilet. The progress was occasionally so extended that the prince would dismiss his equipage, invite himself to dinner, and the master and pupil, Arcades ambo, set to, and make a night of it."

"George Brummell's wardrobe, indeed, dwindled down to the suit in which he died; but the wardrobe of the other George sold, after his death, for upward of fifteen thousand pounds. How many a poor man might have been warmed beneath the cloth the sovereign never used! The original cost of the wardrobe would not have surprised Alexander; but we do not live in the days of the Macedonian; and in the area of high-priced bread, England was half-appalled at the thought that a hundred thousand pounds had scarcely purchased what was sold for fifteen. Among it all was a celebrated cloak, the sable lining of which alone had originally cost eight hundred pounds. Lord Chesterfield, as little nice about wearing a cheap cast-off garment as one of his own lackeys, procured this mantle for little more than a fourth of the original price of the lining.

"Brummell never recovered the effects of the wager which he won by telling Wales' to 'ring the bell,' and which order, although obeyed, was followed by another for Mr. Brummell's carriage.' He struggled indeed long, and not unsuccessfully, to retain his place among dandies and wits; but his prestige gradually failed, play went against him, liabilities increased, and creditor were clamorous. He put a bold face on his ugly position, and was never more brilliant or at his ease than the last night he appeared at the opera-one Saturday night, when, with the Sunday before him, he had determined to fly leisurely to the Continent, and leave his creditors to regret their confidence in him."

H. P. Andrews. It is written in an unpretending style, and with the manifest intention of doing good. Boston: J. P. Magee.

A Visit to China and Japan, being the last in the series of Bayard Taylor's descriptive journeys, is before us in a stout duodecimo volume from the press of Putnam & Co. His former works, "Journey to Central Africa," and "Lands of the Saracen," were widely circulated; and the present volume-in some respects the most interesting of the three-is marked by Mr. Taylor's usual acuteness of observation and vivacity of description.

Stray Leaves from the Book of Nature. These papers, from the pen of M. Schele De Vere, of the University of Virginia, were originally published in Putnam's Monthly. They are full of striking facts and suggestive illustrations, betraying the hand of a ripe scholar and an ardent admirer of God's handiwork throughout his visible creation. They are here presented in all the beauty of the typographic art, as indeed is everything that comes from the press of Putnam & Co.

New Church Miscellanies; or, Essays Ecclesias tical, Doctrinal, and Ethical, by George Bush, is the title of a volume of articles on various subjects from the editorial columns of the New Church (Swedenborgian) Repository. Mr. Bush is a scholar, and a man of unquestionable honesty of purpose. He utters his sentiments fearlessly, even when differing from those professedly of his own faith; avows his belief in the "verily preternatural origin" of the tableturning humbug, although he doubts whether the "puling mawkishness" attributed to the spirit of Swedenborg, by Judge Edmonds and others, really came from that great luminary; and brings all his powers to bear, in the longest article in the volume, on the great curse of Southern Slavery. Those who are not convinced by the professor's arguments will, nevertheless, be pleased with his candor and the clearness and purity of his style.

Foot-Prints of an Itinerant is the title of a large duodecimo volume, printed at the Methodist Book Concern in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is a record of scenes and incidents in the life of the Rev. Maxwell P. Gaddis, a superannuated minister of the Cincinnati Conference. In that section of country where the tracks of the author are still visible, his book will doubtless be sought and read with eagerness. Its circulation, however, will by no means be confined to that locality, as many of the incidents are of general interest, and are told in a pleasing

ed; and he who had detected vulgarity in the odor of a rose, became, in his degraded hours, ere death relieved him, offensive to a degree that turned sick and disgusted the charity of all but of the sisters who nursed him."

A Pocket Diary has become almost one of the necessaries of life. That of Carlton & Phillips for 1856 is a trifle larger in the size of its pages than those of former years, and is made, we are glad to find, of better paper.

The Sure Anchor; or, the Young Christian Admonished, Exhorted, and Encouraged, is the title of a neatly-printed volume from the pen of Rev.

reader :

"In the midst of the mourners at Wesley Chapel I had the pleasure of meeting, every night for more than one week, the lamented President of the United States, the late General William H. Harrison. I was struck with the deep interest he manifested in our altar exercises. He generally staid till a late hour, standing up during the singing, and in a lowly kneeling posture in time of prayer for the penitents. On one occasion he spoke to me in the following deeplyaffecting and interesting manner:- Brother Gaddis, I know there are some of my political opponents that will be ready to impugn my motives in attending this revival meeting at this peculiar time, but I care not for the smiles or favors of my fellow-men. God knows my heart and understands my motives;' and then, laying

his hand upon his breast, he exclaimed with much emotion, and with a fervor that I shall never forget, 'A deep and abiding sense of my inward spiritual necessities brings me to this hallowed place night after night."

Olie; or, the Old West Room. The Weary at Work, and the Weary at Rest, by L. M. M. (Mason and Brothers.) A pleasing narrative, at least so we are informed by a lady in whose judgment of such matters we place more confidence than in our own. It is touchingly dedicated to the author's "Sister Ann, whose eye

looked so lovingly on its merits, so forgivingly on its faults, but who passed to the silent land ere the last page was written ;" and perhaps a few words from the preface may induce the reader to seek a more intimate acquaintance with Olie herself. "In the great world of art," says the author, "a rude cottage sometimes forms a pleasant contrast to the stately mansions around it; so like some rustic cottage among the statelier palaces of the great thoughtworld was this story framed; not to display any intricacy, mystery, or regularity of plot, but with the hope that to some tear-dimmed eye, a few buds of beauty, a few green memories might spring up and twine around the Old West Room, and no aspbrood hide among their leaves."

Fox's Book of Martyrs, complete in one large octavo volume of more than a thousand pages, in double columns, on good paper and clear type, with numerous spirited wood-engravings, has been published by the Messrs. Carter of this city. The intrinsic value of the work itself, increasing as it does with the lapse of time, and the very low price at which it is sold, will insure its extensive circulation, and remunerate, as we trust, the enterprising publishers.

beyond the title." Dr. Clark's "Life and Times of Bishop Hedding" is reviewed by Dr. Curry ; with his usual ability and candor. He falls into a sad blunder, however, in his "Query" relative to the ballots cast by the General Conference when Messrs. Soule and Hedding were elected bishops. The biographer's statement is perfectly clear, and, doubtless, correct. We may add, too, (for the reviewer has paid some attention to critical hymnology,) that his substitution of the word "cross" for charge, in the verse

quoted from the poet of Methodism, strikes us as equally unnecessary and unhappy. An article "Huc's Travels in China," with more than the usual number of discriminating book no

on

tices, closes the number.

From our Boston correspondent we have notices of a few volumes recently published in that city. He says: In the world of literature, the work of Bayne, entitled The Christian Life, Social and Individual, is making quite a sensation among religious readers. It is written by a Scotch Calvinist, familiar with the writings of Carlyle and Comte, and a warm admirer of the former as a literary man, but an earnest and powerful protestant against his pantheistic and positive philosophy. The charm of the volume These are given as actual illustrations of the is found in its almost inimitable biographies. principles he has previously laid down. We have sketches of Howard, Wilberforce, Budgett, Foster, Arnold, and Chalmers; that of Budgett,

the successful merchant, is one of the finest

specimens of this style of writing that we have ever read. It will produce upon the mind, in its few pages, a better idea of the man, a profounder respect for him, and a higher appreciation of the principles that guided him, than even the complete and admirable life by Arthur.

Dr. Mahon's work upon material spiritualism is finding great favor among our thoughtful His theory is very much that of the absent editor of the NATIONAL, if we apprehend it correctly, and therefore must be orthodox here.

The Unitarian Sunday-School Society is issu ing a series of volumes, the last of which,

ranks second to no similar publication in the land. The number for October is more than

the relative merits of the German and English

systems of education,-a modified translation from the German of Jahn. It is followed by an admirably-condensed sketch of the life and labors of the great and good Niebuhr. The Rev. S. Comfort discusses, briefly, the vexed question relative to Jephthah's Vow, presenting, forcibly, the argument in favor of the consecration, rather than the immolation of the Judge's daughter, as held by Josephus, and maintained by Michaëlis, and more recently by Dr. Kitto. "The Geology of Words' is an amusing and instructive essay, founded mainly on the recent publications of Trench. By one of those vexatious blunders which sometimes escape proofreader, author, and editor, the writer is made to say, "The Diversities of Purley is a book of which even literary men often know but little

before the minds of this important arm of the militant Church. There is scarcely a sentence in the volume that will not meet with the

hearty sympathy of evangelical teachers. It is

with some surprise and great pleasure that we read

"A mere intellectual faith, a belief in Christ as a holy teacher alone, as the Messiah of the past, may be suf ficient to some minds; but it serves not the soul in

the hour of deep self-questioning, when the surging waves of conscience and memory rise in their gigantic force, and the holiness of God, and his perfect law, stand a vivid reality before the soul, disclosing all its secret and hidden depths. It serves not amid the daily duties and toils of life; the cares, anxieties, and perplexities; the joys and griefs of each passing hour, when the soul needs a more than human helper to sustain its composure, to preserve its rectitude, to quench the rising passion, to impart peace. No; a living Saviour does the soul need; & sense of the personal sympathy, the ever-quickening influence of a present Christ; to feel even now the thrilling touch of the Master's hand, and, like the disciple of old, trustingly to repose on his breast."