to the Papacy. The American Editor has also given a brief account, by way of preface, of Döllinger's career as an author. Both parts of the work are quite important to students of Ecclesiastical History. The long discussion of the Donation of Constantine, for example, is quite valuable. But the contents of this little volume have, also, a pertinency to present questions and living controversies. Hence it will prove interesting to a circle wider than that of historical and theological scholars. Professor Smith's part in the volume is executed with his usual learning and

taste.

THE WRITINGS OF AUGUSTINE.*--Encouraged by the success of their publication of the Ante-Nicene writers, the Messrs. Clark have commenced to issue in a series the principal works of Augus tine. In form and appearance, the volumes closely resemble the former series. One of the two volumes before us includes a part of the Anti-Pelagian Treatises; and the other The Treatises relative to the Donatists. We hope that both of these valuable series of works will find many purchasers and readers on this side of the Atlantic.

WALKING WITH GOD.t-We reckon it among the good signs of the times that the contemplative side of Christianity attracts fresh attention. We shall say nothing of Dr. Prime's orthodoxy, but we find he is not afraid to use the favorite phrases of those who now make a "specialty" of "the higher life." In this and many similiar works, however, we note the tendency to paint Christian character in such colors as to make it less likely to be recognized in real life, whether in one's self or others. If all true piety must bear the test of such description, the caviler may say he cannot find it, and others, who in fairness as well "in charity" must be reckoned Christians, are tempted to despair of it in themselves. The book may be examined in another view, for Irenaeus has been known in the N. Y. Observer for many years as a most readable writer; indeed he is a representative of a class, not numerous, who have learned the art, not so generally learned as attempted, of successful writing in religious newspapers, that is, of

*The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. A new translation, edited by Rev. MARCUS DODS, A.M. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1872. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co.

+ Walking with God: the Life Hid with Christ in God. By SAMUEL IRENEUS PRIME. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. 1Єmo, pp. 101.

writing so as to be read and understood by the mass of readers and to make the papers where their signatures recur the more welcome in Christian families generally; and hence students of style may profit by seeing how they do it, and particularly in the example of Dr. Prime, whatever other merits he may have or want, they will find in brief sentences and clear, direct forms of expression at least one secret of effectiveness whether in the newspaper or the pulpit. He turns anecdotes to good account also. The third chapter opens with an interesting statement concerning Prof. Weir.

BEECHER'S YALE LECTURES ON PREACHING.* The merits of these remarkable lectures are so generally appreciated and have been so widely noticed, that it seems useless for us to review them to any length. They are familiar and discursive, but "not without a plan." They have the best sort of a plan-that of a living growth springing up in a real soil fecundated by a generous and practical thought. They were to meet the needs of theological students who were preparing to become preachers, and here was a man who comes straight up from the battle to tell them how to fight; they could ask him as many questions as they wished; he was there to be asked. He strikes right into the heart of the matter. He begins by saying that preaching is a living force exerted upon living men—a direct personal influence such as a mother exerts upon her child, and that its great object was to develop in men a perfect manhood, of which Christ himself forms the ideal. Here is the key-note of the lectures. Men are to be studied for the sake of reaching them-studied under every form and aspect of human nature, studied in the broad school of life. Nothing could be more useful to a preacher than the study of psychology from a physiological point of view, for we must find out what to build upon, and how to reconstruct character out of the materials we find in human nature. Mr. Beecher approaches preaching from the human side, thinking it to be the one least understood and the most neglected, thinking it to be the great secret of success which the apostles knew and practiced upon, but which has become a "lost art." This principal of adaptation in the preacher, combined with the grand motive-power of love, forms the theory

Yale Lectures on Preaching. By HENRY WARD BEECHER. Delivered before the Theological Department of Yale College, New Haven, Conn., as the first series in the regular course of the "Lyman Beecher lectureship on preaching." From phonographic reports. New York: J. B. Ford & Co. 1872.

of preaching, or the philosophy of saving men through preaching, laid down in these lectures, and practiced, it must be said, in a wide field, by the author himself. He believes that the gospel which raises men from sin to God, from death to life, is an incarnated gospel, that of the genuinely loving, sympathizing, intelligent, skillful, self-sacrificing, Christ-like preacher himself. Here is the living force-Christ in the preacher-Christ preaching in him. He saves men, though Christ makes him potential by his power and spirit, and by the impartation of all effective gifts. Whether this theory be accepted as the true one or not, the suggestiveness, life, force, fire, stimulating power of the lectures, were deeply felt; and they must, though of course in a fainter degree, be also felt wherever these lectures are read by minds desirous to learn how to be powerful in doing good by preaching.

PAUL OF TARSUS* reminds us of Ecce Homo in many particulars and like Ecce Homo is anonymous. It is not equal to that volume in singleness of aim, nor in the sustained energy and interest with which its aim is constantly enforced. It is, however, worthy to be compared with it in the breadth of its views, in its consistent adherence to a thoroughly historic spirit in all its inquiries, and in its high moral and religious tone. Like Ecce Homo it is suggestive and awakening in its influence rather than decisive and satisfying. It is better fitted to stimulate to new and fresh studies than it is to confirm the faith in any entire body or system of conclusions already accepted. The author does not propose to defend any one of the received creeds or systems of doctrine as a whole, but rather to show how large a portion of these creeds is to be traced to the forming hand of Paul. But while the spirit of the treatise is critical, it is not in the least sceptical. While it may tend to unsettle the confidence of the reader in the traditionary creed of Christendom in respect to some points which are deemed of great doctrinal and practical importance, it is fitted to confirm faith in the truth and claims of supernatural Christianity. The supernatural and incarnate Christ is accepted as an historic truth. The claims of Christ upon every individual and his capacity to satisfy the wants of every individual and to regenerate human society are distinctly and unequivocally recognized. The facts of human

*Paul of Tarsus; An Inquiry into the Times and the Gospel of the Apostle of the Gentiles. By A Graduate. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1872.

sinfulness and helplessness, and of consequent social corruption and degeneracy, are also emphatically and fervently enforced.

The points in which the author dissents from the views commonly received are the following. He finds a larger portion of the human element in the gospel narratives, and in the interpretation of the person and work of Christ by the first preachers of Christianity, than is usually recognized. Hence, he ascribes the form which Christianity finally assumed with respect to the Judaism which it displaced and the heathenism which it overcame very largely to the individual genius of the great apostle. The author emphasises more positively than most believers in supernatural Christianity the antagonism in which Paul was placed toward the other apostles and the singleness and independence with which he reared Christianity as he interpreted it upon Christ as the cornerstone. Much is made of the personal peculiarities of Paul. The author does not deny that his interpretations were far more enlarged and spiritual and profound than those of the other apostles. Nor does he contend that these interpretations were not decided and confirmed by the divine Spirit, but the impression which his argument continually enforces is that this divine truth was developed, wrought through Paul's individual reasoning and reflection, and appeared as the natural product of his human thinking. The reader may reasonably hesitate to assent to much which the author writes. He may find frequent marks of haste in his conclusions and of rashness in his assertions; but the man must have a very narrow and a very dull mind who is not excited to read the story and writings of Paul with new interest by the comments of this able historical critic and painter, and whose conceptions of the divinity of the Christian system are not enlarged and elevated by its vivid representations of the Christ whose person and glory awakened Paul of Tarsus to a new life.

It is a feeble and inadequate commendation of this work to say that it is in most respects more than worthy to be set over against the St. Paul of Rénan. Its freedom from the technical methods of modern defences of Christianity, and its occasional dissent from the well-established conclusions of the schools of theology, rather increase than diminish its capacity to be useful to that large class of readers who are estranged from both apologetic and theological literature. To the defenders of Christianity in the schools and its expounders from the pulpit, this independent contribution to historical criticism and New Testament interpretation is a very

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important contribution. Any preacher who would come to the New Testament with so to speak a fresh eye," and find in its familiar pages new aspects and applications, would do well to read this very suggestive volume.

CHANNING'S PERFECT LIFE* consists of twelve posthumous discourses, which are now given to the world for the first time by his nephew. The subjects of these discourses are, The Religious Principle in Human Nature; God Revealed in the Universe and in Humanity; The Universal Father; The Father's Love for Persons; Trust in the Living God; Life a Divine Gift; The True End of Life; The Perfecting Power of Religion; Jesus Christ the Brother, Friend, and Saviour; The Essence of the Christian Religion; Perfect Life the End of Christianity; The Church Universal.

This volume will be a welcome gift to Dr. Channing's admirers and readers, of whom there are a large number in different parts of the world. Others will open the volume with some interest, to learn whether his ordinary pulpit discourses differed materially from his more elaborate productions. They are characteristic of their author in the excellencies and defects of his methods of thought and of style. The excellencies and defects of Channing are now a memory of the past rather than an inspiration for the present or the future.

DR. WILLIAM M. TAYLOR'S "THE LOST FOUND," etc., consists of six discourses, the first two upon the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, and the remainder on the parable of the Prodigal Son. They will be read with curiosity by many who may be eager to know something of the new preacher who has become so attractive in one of our leading congregations. Many who have heard some or all of these discourses will be glad to peruse what gave them so great delight in the hearing. They are simple, clear, abundant in illustrations, and animated by a fervent and affectionate spirit. The volume is printed in a very attractive form.

* The Perfect Life. In twelve discourses. By WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, D.D. Edited from his manuscripts. By his nephew, WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1873.

The Lost Found, and the Wanderer Welcomed. By WILLIAM M. TAYLOR, D.D., Minister of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co.

1873.