XXX. Marriage as it is and as it should be. By Rev. John Bayley of the Virginia Annual Conference, author of "Confessions of a converted Infidel, &c." New York: M. W. Dodd. 1857. pp. 175. The topics discussed by Mr. Bayley are the nature and importance of marriage; imprudent marriages; marrying for beauty; for money; proper age; marrying religiously; second marriages; the faithful husband; the faithful wife; the duty of parents. The principles appear to be generally sound and the suggestions judicious. XXXI. Salvation made sure, or An Attempt to show that all Christians do not obtain the full Assurance of Hope; that all Christians can obtain it; the way to obtain it; and the Importance of obtaining it. With an Appendix, containing some Remarks on the Nature of spiritual Darkness. By Rev. William Bacon. Seventh Edition. Auburn: William J. Moses. 1856. pp. 156. We are very glad to see that this is the seventh edition of so good a book. Works on experimental piety are, we regret to say, far less common than formerly, and this, we fear, is an exponent of the public mind. The importance of assurance and the nature of spiritual darkness, touch upon the most important and tender feelings of Christian experience. We agree with Mr. Bacon in regard to the importance of striving after and attaining to the full assurance of hope, and of walking in the light of Christian joy. The cause of our dwarfish piety is its want of spontaneous enjoyment; "the joy of the Lord is your strength." We make comparatively small advances in the Divine life, because we go so reluctantly about our spiritual duties; we do not "mount up on wings as eagles." To succeed in anything it is almost essential to take delight in it; the low, nervous, anxious kind of piety of our time is dishonoring to God and enfeebling to "Delight thyself in the Lord and He will give thee the desire of man. thy heart." XXXII. Juvenile Books published by the American Tract Society: New York and Philadelphia. 1. Short Stories for Children. By Charlotte Elizabeth. pp. 327. 2. Little Joseph, and other Books for Children. 3. The Light of Life, and other Books for Children. These books seem to be well suited to their purpose. The Tract Society excel in beautiful engravings, and generally manifest much skill in adapting means to ends. These stories appear to keep in view the fact that children must be taught by narrative; by the concrete and not by the abstract. It would be well if we practiced this more with "children of a larger growth." V. Kennedy. The Divine Life. VI. Jay's Devotional Readings. VII. Rev. J. E. Edwards' Travels in Europe. VIII. Mrs. Sigourney. Examples from the Eigh teenth and Nineteenth Centuries. ib. 337 ib. 338 ib. XVIII. W. C. Prime. Boat-Life in Egypt and Nu XXIII. Miss Beecher. The Bible and the People. 347 ib. ib. ib. ib. XXXII. Juvenile Books of the American Tract Society. ib. THE PRESBYTERIAN QUARTERLY REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1857. No. XXIII. ARTICLE I. 1. The History of the Life and Sufferings of the Reverend and Learned John Wickliffe, D.D., Warden of Canterbury Hall, and publick Professor of Divinity in Oxford, and Rector of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, in the Reigns of K. Edward III, and K. Richard II. Together with a Collection of Papers relating to the said History never before printed. By JOHN LEWIS, A. M., Minister of Meregate. London. 1720. pp. 405. 2. The Life of Wielif. By CHARLES WEBB LE BAS, M.A., Professor in the East India College, Herts, and Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. London. 1832. pp. 454. 3. John De Wycliffe, D.D. A Monograph. count of the Wycliffe MSS. in Oxford, British Museum, Lambeth Palace, and Dublin. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, D. D. London. 1853. pp. 583. With some AcCambridge, the Trinity College, 4. Die Vorreformatoren des vierzehnten und fünfzehnten VOL. VI.-23 Jahrhunderts, Erste Hälfte: Johannes Von Wykliffe: durch FRIEDRICH BÖHRINGER. Zürich. 1856. pp. 643. Ir is related of Napoleon, that, in one of his more pensive moods, speaking freely of his own eventful career, and seeking to anticipate for himself the final verdict of history, he drew a vivid picture of the steadily shrinking dimensions of his renown. Then his achievements filled libraries. By and by a volume would suffice; then a chapter; then a paragraph; and then a line; till finally, perhaps, there would remain only his name. It was a true picture, and has a philosophy underlying it, which worldly ambition would do well to learn. It was true, not of Napoleon pre-eminently, but equally and inevitably of all the heroes and architects of mere earthly kingdoms, whose place in history must eventually be determined, not by what they were in themselves in respect to force and faculty, but by what they were and what they achieved in relation to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Only this kingdom endures, traversing the centuries, and binding the names of its heralds, martyrs, and champions into one undying fellowship of sweet and goodly renown. It is not the grossly wicked only whose memory must rot, but the memory of all must rot whose names are not linked with the fortunes of that kingdom, which, like the stone cut out of the mountain, will keep on expanding till it has filled the earth. Frederick the Great, of Prussia, the ablest monarch of his century, was born in 1712, and died in 1786, in the 75th year of his age, and the 47th of his reign. David Brainerd was born in 1718, six years later than Frederick, and died in 1747, thirty-nine years earlier than he. And even now it may well be questioned, whether the name of Brainerd is not on the lips of more men, and oftener on their lips, by two if not by ten to one, than the name of Frederick. In mere fame, it may well be questioned, whether the Connecticut missionary has not already eclipsed the Prussian monarch. Such is the reward of those who toil and suffer, even in supposed obscurity, for the glorious kingdom of our Lord. The name of Wycliffe is no exception to this law, but rather |