LITERARY NOTICES.

The Annotated Paragraph-Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments, according to the authorized Version, arranged in Paragraphs and Parallelisms; with Explanatory Notes, Prefaces to the several Books, and an entirely new selection of References to parallel and illustrative passages. Genesis to Solomon's Song. New York: Charles B. Norton, 1858. 8vo. pp. 720.

All who love the pure Word of God, are greatly indebted to Mr. Norton for this beautiful edition of the Sacred Scriptures. It is a reprint of the larger Paragraph Bible of the London Religious Tract Society, which is the sufficient guarantee that it is no denominational or sectarian effusion foisted upon the public under the sacred name of the Bible. As to the text, it is simply the standard King James' version, the version of our childhood and of our Bible Society. The only change in this respect, is that the divisions of chapters and verse, which every tolerably intelligent reader of the Bible knows were arbitrarily made, and often most unfortunately, are dispensed with, figures indicating them being placed in the margin, so as to admit of as easy reference as under the old arrangement. The poetical parts of the Bible, in this edition, are also thrown into the poetic form, at once catching the eye and preparing the reader for the poetic sentiment. No one who has not used a Bible printed in this manner can tell how great an effect is produced by such simple typographical changes. It often clears up a passage which before had been veiled in impenetrable obscurity to the mere English reader. The old chapter and verse division is practically a commentary, and often an erroneous commentary, upon the Word of God. He never gave us the Bible cut up piecemeal in that way, and our children, to say nothing of those who are more advanced in years, are constantly imbibing false impressions of Scripture from the simple cause that they read the Bible in this disjointed way. Sentences are unhesitatingly cut asunder, and paragraphs are found partly in one chapter and partly in another. How many times, for instance, have the readers of the eleventh chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, utterly missed its grand argument because the twelfth chapter is made to begin a few sentences sooner than it should.

It is well to have a common standard for every version of the Sacred Scriptures, and to guard it rigidly against the entrance of glosses and mistranslations, but it surely is time that ignorant faith in the inspiration of commas and typography should no longer stand in the way of our having the divine Word as nearly as possi ble in the form in which it was given to man. The charter of our American Bible Society we believe restricts it to the publication of the Bible in the old chapter and verse form. We hope the time is not remote when that restriction will be removed, or if that is not to be, we hope that private publishers will produce editions like this of Mr. Norton, and the London Tract Society, in a way to bring them within the reach of all.

Mr. Norton's edition comprises as yet but half of the Bible, reaching from Genesis to Solomon's Song. The other half will soon be issued, however. This edition contains also several maps compiled from the most recent authorities, and brief historical prefaces to each book, together with copious marginal references, and a sufficiency of practical and critical notes to make it eminently adapted to use as a family Bible. We hope it may have, as it deserves, a large sale.

A Christian Gift; or Pastoral Letters. By Rev. F. DE W. WARD, late Missionary to Madras, and author of "India and the Hindoos."

Mr. Ward, who, after many years of Missionary labor in the service of the A. B. C. F. M. among the Hindoos, very reluctantly left his chosen field of employment, compelled by the ill health of his wife, is now pastor of a church in Geneseo, N. Y. These Pastoral Letters, eight in number, on the Elements of a Complete Christian 60

VOL. XI.

Character, on Popular Amusements, on Extent of Responsibility, on a Sabbath well spent, on Reading the Bible, on Reading, on a Day well spent, on Conduct before the world-are addressed and dedicated to the youth of his flock. They are affectionate in spirit and pertinent, timely, just and judicious in matter, well fitted to be useful to Christian youth everywhere.

Cottage Residences: or a Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Cottage Villas, and their Gardens and Grounds, adapted to North America. By A. J. DOWNING. Fourth Edition, Revised and Improved. New York: John Wiley, 1853. From the first appearance of this work, some ten years since, dates a new era in the history of the Domestic Architecture of our country. The influence of Mr. Downing is now seen and felt in well nigh every village of the land. Seldom has it been granted to an individual to see such wide-spread results arising so soon from his labors, as the late lamented author of this work witnessed as the fruits of his. The contrast between the style of our houses and the disposal of our grounds now and that prevalent ten years ago is most striking. Mr. Downing had the rare good fortune, if we may use the term, to find his labors appreciated in the time of them, and himself welcomed as a public benefactor. When, scarcely a twelve-month since, he fell a victim to the criminal recklessness which wrapt the Henry Clay in flames, the responsive lamentation from the bills of New England, the prairies of the West, and the far off borders of the Pacific, told how large a place he had in the nation's regard. And though we regret his early loss, we rejoice that he has left so much of his labors in a form to be perpetuated. What he might have done in another score of years we know not. What he actually did we have, and they too may have who shall come after us. In his books Mr. Downing yet lives, and among them there is none more valuable than the one so widely known as his Cottage Residences. It is one of the books of which we never tire, which we love to open and read at any time. On its first appearance it took its place as a standard treatise, and that place it is likely to retain. Eminently adapted to our own time and country, there is not a person about to build the humblest dwelling who may not profit by its suggestions. The present edition, moreover, was revised and prepared for publication by the author just before his death. It contains, therefore, his maturest thoughts upon the subject of Domestic Architecture. Several new Designs we perceive inserted in this Edition, and portions of his treatise on landscape Gardening, as well as some miscellaneous suggestions, the whole making a work unusually complete.

We are glad to see the present issued as a cheap Edition, in conformity with the long cherished wish of the author, for while the work was always worth its price, it was, nevertheless, beyond the means of some who would be greatly profited by it. There is no longer any reason why any one sitting down to build a house, should not profit by the ownership of Downing's Cottage Residences.

Rural Essays, by A. J. Downing. Edited, with a Memoir of the Author, by GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS; and a Letter to his Friends, by Frederika Bremer. New York: Geo. P. Putnam & Co., 1853. 8vo. pp. 557.

Just as we were writing our notice of the Cottage Residences, and feeling very thankful that a new edition of that had been given to the world, Mr. Putnam laid on our table fresh from the printer and binder, the above named portly octavo. But not a whit too large is it. There is not a chapter or a page which we would spare. It contains the wealth of Mr. Downing's mind in regard to what may be called the esthetics of living. The habitual readers of the Horticulturist will recognize in its successive chapters those brief but complete editorials which prefaced each number of that Magazine, and which were always the best thing in it. To those not familliar with that periodical, we may say that the present volume contains Mr. Downing's maturest views upon the whole subject of building, and the care of gardens and fields, from the humblest cottage to the stateliest mansion, and from the parterre of flowers in the door yard, to the trees and shrubs of the park measured only by hundreds of acres. It deserves to be purchased by the citizen living amid

brick walls and walking daily over our stone pavements, that when he comes home at night and sits down in his slippers, he may turn over its pages and be reminded thereby of the open soft carpeted country where perchance his boyhood was passed. It deserves to be bought by him who having accumulated wealth in the marts of trade begins to think of building him a residence away from the city's din, that he may know how to build wisely. And it deserves to lie on the table of every dweller in the country, that he have the help of so complete a guide in respect to the whole matter of domestic architecture, and the culture and adornment of the earth. It must take its place as a domestic classic.

The memoir of Mr. Downing which accompanies the volume, is written by a friendly hand, and by one who could appreciate his subject. We only regret that it does not tell us more of one who was so truly and so largely a public benefactor. We should like, and many we think would like to learn more minutely how he grew from boy to man, and how he occupied himself from day to day. But we are thankful for what we have. Mr. Downing has in an important sense, written his own life in his books and in thousands of pleasant dwelling places and tasteful fields which have caught many a grace from his elegant mind and truly refined

taste.

A Centurial History of the Mendon Association of Congregational Ministers, with the Centennial Address, delivered at Franklin, Mass., Nov. 19, 1851, and Biographical Sketches of the Members and Licentiates. By Rev. MORTIMER BLAKE. Boston Published for the Association, by Sewall Harding. 1843.

An "Association" of Ministers of the Gospel, in fellowship with Congregational Churches, as such associations have grown up in New England, is an institution which none but a Congregationalist can fairly understand. A Presbyterian naturally compares it with a " Presbytery," and unconsciously mixes up with his conception of it, some of the notions proper to his own theory of Church order. A Methodist as naturally compares it with a Conference;" and he indistinctly perhaps, but inevitably, imputes to it attributes, powers, and responsibilities, which are wholly foreign to its nature. A Baptist is familiar with the Congregational polity, and with "Associations," but the Baptist Association is an association of Churches meeting by their officers and delegates for devotional and missionary purposes; and when he hears of an Association among the Congregationalists, it is somewhat difficult for him not to presume that it is the same sort of thing with that which is known by the same name among the Baptists. An Episcopalian, of course, moves and thinks in a sphere so remote that it would be hardly respectable for him even to put on the appearance of having informed himself about the institutions and arrangements of "Dissenters." And Congregationalists themselves, in some parts of the country, are sometimes so ill informed in regard to their own system, that they set up Associations of the Baptist sort, only less Congregational in constitution, and flatter themselves with the thought that they are reproducing the arrangements of New England Congregationalism.

At

"Constant meetings of ministers" were recognized as desirable at a very early period in the history of New England; though the Cambridge Platform, 1648, makes no allusion to any such thing. At what time societies of ministers were first formally organized to meet at stated intervals, cannot now be ascertained. the date of Cotton Mather's Magnalia, 1697, something of the kind seems to have been in existence in most parts of the country, so far as the country was then settled. At those meetings, the members "informed one another of their various exercises, and assisted one another in the work of our Lord." In particular, Mather gives us the constitution, or covenant, of the association with which he was connected, and which had its meetings "once in six weeks, or oftener if need be," at the College in Cambridge. Under the provisions of the Saybrook Platform, 1708, Associations were constituted, in Connecticut, with new powers, and were for a season a part of the law of the land. One of the powers conceded to associations by the Saybrook Platform was that of examining and "approbating," or as it is now called, "licensing," candidates for the ministry. In the absence of any other ar

rangement for the purpose, the same power was gradually assumed by associations in Massachusetts and elsewhere; though there is no trace of any such usurpation in Mather's time.

The Mendon Association makes some figure in the vicissitudes and progress of New England theology. Having completed a century from the date of its formation, it has very properly asserted its claims to a place in our ecclesiastical history. Many a pamphlet and many a volume has been published to record the history of particular churches and parishes, but with the exception of some papers several years ago in the American Quarterly Register, conducted by the late Dr. William Cogswell, this we believe is the first published history of a New England Congregational Association.

In many respects, this volume is valuable. Out of such materials the religious history of New England and the ecclesiastical history of Congregationalism will hereafter be digested. Perhaps the most interesting portion of the volume is that which is occupied with biographical notices. Seventy-seven ministers of the Gospel, who are or have been members of the Association, are duly chronicled, among whose names the most eminent is that of Nathaniel Emmons, who was fifty-four years sole pastor of the Church in Franklin, and who survived almost fourteen years after his resignation of the pastoral office. His eminence as a theologian and as a theological teacher, both before and after the institution of theological seminaries, made Mendon Association famous; and so stern and sturdy was his adherents to the strictest Congregationalism, that while he lived, the Association never united with the General Association of Massachusetts. One hundred and twenty names of those who have been-not "licensed" but-" approbated" by the Mendon Association, as candidates for the ministry, are also accompanied with brief biographical sketches.

A Gospel Glass, representing the miscarriages of Professors; or a call from heaven to sinners and saints, by repentance and reformation to prepare to meet God. By LEWIS STUCKLEY. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 285 Broadway, 1852. This is the reprint of a book, first published nearly two centuries since, and smacking of the quaint outspoken style of religious treatises in those days. It illustrates the piety of the Puritans in faith and practice, and we would commend its attentive and prayerful perusal to the author of "The Scarlet Letter," before composing another fictitious representation of our godly ancestry.

Notes on the Gospels, critical and explanatory, incorporating with the Notes on a new plan the most approved Harmony of the four Gospels. By MELANCTHON W. JACOBUS, Professor of Biblical Literature in the Western Theological Seminary at Alleghany City, Pa. Mark and Luke. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, No. 285 Broadway, 1853.

An inspection of this Commentary has impressed us with the conviction, that its compression into a single volume would not have diminished its value. It contains, however, among many common places, such as must occur to any reader who has intelligence and reflection enough to desire aid in the study of the Bible, much that will prove suggestive and helpful.

On Miracles. By RALPH WARDLAW, D. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, No. 285 Broadway, 1858.

The nature of this treatise forbids any analysis in a brief notice. We commend it to the thoughtful sceptic, and hope to find an opportunity to refer again to the theme which is here ably discussed.

The Child's Matins and Vespers. By a Mother. Boston: Crosby, Nichols & Co., 111 Washington street, 1853.

This Manual was evidently written from an earnest desire for the good of the little ones. We wish that the Mother herself had known better the good Shepherd, who carries the lambs in His bosom. Then she would have heard His voice, and led her children to His feet, and bade them ask of Him forgiveness and a blessing; but she alas understands not these precious words, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," and would attempt to show God without Christ, and Christ without God. We had rather our babes should learn of Jesus from the Evangelists, and lisp their trustful prayers in childish simplicity to Him who was once an infant, and yet God manifest in the flesh. If they comprehend not the mystery of His Being, they can have faith beyond that of many an adult in His goodness and love, and we all must become as little children before we enter the kingdom of heaven.

A Digest of the Laws, Customs, Manners, and Institutions of the Ancient and Modern Nations. By THOMAS DEW, late President of the College of William and Mary. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway, 1853. pp. 662. The above title gives a clear view of the scope of the work. The manner of it is somewhat peculiar. It is in the form of questions, and a series of hints, short statements of facts and topics, by way of answer. The answers are in the form of the briefs of the lecturer and lawyer. We presume that President Dew did not write his lectures, but merely put down the leading topics which he expanded orally. Or we might compare the answers to the notes which a careful and faithful student would take of his lectures, if they had been written. It must be understood that the questions embrace the most important points and are arranged in a carefully studied and logical order; and that the answers exhibit a thorough acquaintance with the subject. We are of opinion that the work will furnish very valuable aid to the teacher and also to the private student of history. It will suggest a multitude of interesting topics for more thorough investigation, and will indicate those points which are to be most carefully studied.

Exposition of the General Structure of the English Language; being an attempt to furnish an improved method of teaching Grammar. For the use of Schools and Colleges. By JOHN MULLIGAN, A. M. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway, and 16 Little Britain, London. 1852. pp. 574.

We observe in the Introduction that Language, in the opinion of the author, is something artificial,—an invention of man; but in an Appendix to the introduction, he informs his readers of "another theory of language; first advanced by the philosophical grammarians of Germany,-that language is a spontaneous growth." The author withdraws his first opinion and adopts the "theory" of Becker. The author purposes to teach the Elementary principles of General Grammar in connection with the particular grammar of our mother tongue-a plan which we entirely approve of, but we fear our author is not sufficiently acquainted with the present position of philosophical grammar successfully to carry it out. A mere reference in an appendix of two pages to the prevailing philosophical system is surely a bad omen to begin with. On an examination of the treatise, we find not much to counteract the first impression. This Grammar is a departure in some important respects from our ordinary English Grammars, but it does not exhibit in our opinion the true system of philosophical grammar, though it does show no inconsiderable power of independent investigation.

Memoir of Mary L. Ware, wife of Henry Ware, Jr. By EDWARD B. HALL. Third Thousand. Boston: Crosby, Nichols & Co., 1853. 12mo. pp. 434. This is a beautiful life of a beautiful character. The character was not beautiful in the romantic incidents of an existence diversified by strange adventures, or by the fascinations that gather around a splendid career in society-but it was beautiful, if self-sacrifice, consistency, cheerfulness and security can make a beautiful Christian