THIS excellent work has lately been pushed out of notice in this country by others of more recent production, which, however valuable, ought not to have been allowed to throw it into the shade. We say in this country, because it is not so in America; there our brethren are circulating it extensively on their own soil, and having caused it to be translated into many languages, are sending it to different parts of the continent of Europe by thousands. "Next to the bible," say several of their most eminent ministers, in an advertisement to which their names are appended, "it is the first book we would recommend to every person who wishes to know what the bible teaches respecting baptism." constant a load of official and other engagements; and afterwards a very precarious state of health, still continuing, have rendered writing irksome and often impossible. Pray accept my best thanks for your valuable little book. The plan is good-the argument is cogent-and the spirit liberal and kind; such as accords best with a controvertist embued with truly Christian principles. Both the arrangement and size render it much more fit for general circulation than Mr. Booth's volumes; and the temper will enable one to put it into the hands of an inquiring pædobaptist when we should shrink from so using Mr. Carson's extraordinary volume; though its argument together with its learning would, in my judgment, render it irresistible, were it not that its temper too often defeats its own purpose, by tempting a reader to hug his prejudices still closer about him, when the object is to induce him to cast his prejudices and errors away from him for ever. "Do not conclude that I undervalue Mr. Carson, I regard him as standing in the foremost rank of modern theologians, and think many if not all his positions are perfectly irrefragable. I only regret that he does not seem actuated by more of the spirit which dictated the 'I think myself happy, O A letter from the late Dr. Olinthus Gregory to the author has lately come into our hands, which has never been published, we believe, and as it gives the views of so eminent a judge of books respecting this and a kindred volume, we shall gratify many of our readers by subjoining it. It is dated "Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, April 24, 1837, and contains the follow-king Agrippa,' of Paul; and that the ing paragraphs: "I have for months had it in contemplation to write to you and offer what would then have been a tardy acknowledgment of your great kindness in sending me a copy of your valuable 'Scripture Guide to Baptism.' But the truth is, that, at first, too heavy and air of infallibility so often assumed repels from the perusal those whom we are most anxious to invite. His Examination of the Principles of Biblical Interpretation,' is a most masterly work, and, I know, is so regarded by some whom he has pounded to atoms under his critical pestle. I long to see its continuation." BRIEF NOTICES. The Chanter's Hand Guide, for the use of Churches, Chapels, Training Colleges, Schools, &c., containing the Psalter, or Psalms of David, the Canticles, &c. Pointed for Chanting, with Three Hundred and Seventythree Cathedral Chants, very many of which (written by the most eminent Composers and Organists in this country espressly for this work) are now first published; edited by JOSEPH WARREN, Organist and Director of the Choir of St. Mary's Chapel, Chelsea. London: Cocks and Co., New Burlington Street. Quarto. pp. 139. Cloth. Against the practice of chanting in divine worship, we know of no decisive argument. We cannot regard it as unscriptural, for we suppose that it approximates more nearly to the singing of worshipping assemblies in the days of the prophets and the apostles, than that kind of performance does to which we are accustomed, and which, because we are more accustomed to it, seems to us more natural. There would be difficulty at first, it is probable, in teaching the masses to chant, but this is a difficulty that would soon vanish, and there are but few places within our knowledge where what is meant to be congregational singing is conducted unimpeachably. We advocate simplicity in everything connected with the service of Christ; but the greater part of the chants in this book are far more simple than half the tunes in common use. To the chanting of the Psalms, however, we have strong objections, not referring to the style of music but to the words. It is granted that they are inspired words; but they were intended for the use of the worshippers of a temporary dispensation which has passed away. The pathetic strains in which it was suitable for the Israelites to address the Most High when they were groaning beneath the lash of Egyptian task-masters would have been utterly unsuitable to be part of the temple service, in the prosperous days of Solomon; and so the language which was fit to embody the feelings and describe the prospects of the church before the appearance of Messiah, in the days of its nonage, while the law was its schoolmaster, would be inappropriate now that the Son of God has come, and brought in that new and better covenant which is established upon better promises. Parts of the Psalms, indeed, proceed on such general principles that they may be used with propriety; but the very allusions and references which made others so admirably appropriate to the state and relations of the men for whom they were originally designed unfit them for worshippers belonging to the "dispensation of the Spirit." The Jewish covenant was essentially national, and in many respects worldly; and it is not surprising that the adherents of national churches should without hesitation adopt language that seems to us uncongenial with the system now established by our spiritual King. This book appears to us to be excellent in its kind. Mr. Warren has fulfilled his own intentions in masterly style. The volume is at once handsome, scientific, and comprehensive. Warren's Psalmody. Parts I., II., III. Price Twopence each. London. 8 pages each part. The editor states that in compiling and arranging this collection of psalm and hymn tunes, he has "not only included all the more ancient psalm tunes that have been for years omitted from the service of the church, and which ought never to have been forgotten, but he has also arranged, from authentic sources, the more favourite tunes that are still in use; and going as it were to the fountain-head, has cleared them from all that meretricious ornament which in so many collections destroys the purity of these fine old melodies." The tunes with an accompaniment ad libitum, for the are in score for one, two, three, or four voices, organ or pianoforte. Our musical friends will do well to make themselves acquainted with this publication. The Working Classes of Great Britain: their present Condition, and the means of their Improvement and Elevation. Prize Essay. By the Rev. SAMUEL G. GREEN, A.B. London: Snow. 16mo. pp. 180. Our first glance at this volume afforded us great pleasure. The author's grandfather was for forty years an esteemed country minister. The author's father has long sustained the pastoral office, and is still living in unabated vigour of body and of mind, adding to his claims on the esteem of his contemporaries, and observing with complacency the course on which his son has entered. The author himself, now pastor of the baptist church at Taunton, is exercising his growing powers energetically in various departments of Christian labour. We were glad therefore that when there were fortyeight competitors, he should have been deemed worthy of the prize, and we are yet more glad that the internal evidence furnished by the volume should favour the presumption that the adjudicators determined correctly. The work was occasioned by the announcement that fifty pounds would be presented to the author of the best essay on the Improvement of the Social, Intellectual, and Moral Condition of the Working Classes. The donor was Mr. John Cassell, and the adjudicators Messrs. Edward Swaine, Edward Miall, and Thomas Spencer. The author's reputation as a man of ability and benevolence may henceforward be considered as established. The sentiments maintained in this work are such as nine-tenths of our readers will approve, and the style in which they are illustrated and enforced will excite universal admiration. The True Idea of Baptism. By LORD CONGLETON. London: Ridgway. 8vo. pp. 24. The right honourable peer to whom we are indebted for this pamphlet is the son of that Sir Henry Parnell who carried the motion that terminated the Wellington ministry, in the year 1830, and who was afterwards paymastergeneral of the forces. This nobleman's examination of the doctrine of baptism has brought him to the conclusion "that baptism is not the means whereby a man is born again of the Holy Spirit, but the outward and visible act whereby penitent and believing sinners do, outwardly and visibly, obtain the remission of their sins." He shows that "it does not follow, from this view of baptism, that all who have been baptized have been received by God, and have obtained the remission of their sins; because baptism being, according to scripture, the exclusive privilege of those who truly repent and believe, those who get baptized without so repenting and believing, have neither part nor lot in this matter; but to such as do truly repent and believe, it is God's outward and visible act of receiving them and of remitting their sins." His observations on detached passages of the apostolic writings on the subject are interesting though brief; and he deduces thence that general view of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, and of the practice of infant baptism as its origin, which we have presented to our readers in an earlier part of our present number. He concludes by saying, "Thus I would hope that I have not endeavoured in vain to set forth the true idea of the cleansing value of the waters of baptism, a value founded entirely upon the completeness of the atonement, in the shed blood of the Son of God, as manifested by God's raising him up on the third day, even through faith in the same. Where that precious blood saves without respect to the state of the conscience, and without faith, we may be quite sure that it saves without baptism." Family Pictures from the Bible. By MRS. ELLET, Author of "The Women of the American Revolution." London: Peter Jackson. 8vo., pp. 212. The intention of the authoress of this volume is, by a familiar presentation of the family histories of the bible, to illustrate the importance of religion in regard to the social relations of life. The idea is a good one; and if there is not as much boldness of outline or liveliness of grouping as we might have expected from the title, there are, nevertheless, many delicate strokes and not a few interesting portraits. The spirit of the whole is evangelical and catholic; though, perhaps, in one picture the old masters might appear to have been somewhat too closely followed, where we are told of John the Baptist, that "his hands laid on their heads the sacred waters of baptism," and afterwards that "The hands which had placed the waters of regeneration on the repentant people were in chains." The volume is tastefully got up, and contains two good engravings, and will, we doubt not, be both an acceptable and a useful present, especially to those who have but recently become heads of families.! A Letter to the Most Noble the Marquess of Lansdowne, on the Reform and Extension of the Parish School System of Scotland. By ROBERT S. CANDLISH, D.D., Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter. 8vo. pp. 20. Dr. Candlish stands midway between two classes of educationalists who are agitating in Scotland for an increased supply of government instruction. Of these, the party belonging to the established church seeks an extension of the present system on its essentially sectarian basis; whilst the other party, consisting of men of different denominations, is seeking for the establishment of a new system on a catholic footing. Dr. Candlish, and the majority of the Free Church Assembly, which he may be taken to represent, ask Lord Lansdowne, in the letter before us, so to alter the present system, that whilst it retains its exclusively presbyterian character, it may cease to be managed by the established presbyterian church ;-that is, he proposes that whilst the teachers shall be constrained to subscribe the presbyterian standards, and whilst none but presbyterian bodies shall have the right of visitation, yet that this right shall be given to each of the existing presbyterian churches, and that certificates from them shall be of equal value with those of the established church. The whole appears to us to be an arrogant attempt on the part of its propounders, to obtain for presbyterian dissenters privileges from which they would debar the other dissenting bodies of Scotland-the congregationalists, the Wesleyans, and the baptists. Regarding, as we do, all governmental interference with education as uncalled for and pernicious, we object on higher ground to the scheme suggested; and to us, we confess, it does appear strange that these men who have so recently and so severely suffered from the bondage of Egypt, should yet so manifestly hanker after its flesh pots; that those who have done so much by means of the voluntary principle should be so devoid of faith in its inherent power;-and most of all that they should forget that the education of a people consists in something besides reading, writing, and accounts, so that whilst these may be performed, there may be, for want of development and exercise, a destitution of that life which alone can elevate the individual or secure for the nation happiness and honour. A Plea for the Spiritual Element of Educa tion. In Two Letters. Originally addressed to the Editor of the Edinburgh Advertiser. By E. R. HUMPHREYS, LL.D., Member of the Council of the College of Preceptors of England, and Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland. Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter. 8vo., pp. 12. A brief but plain and earnest enforcement of the propositions that education is essentially defective where, along with mental, there is not also a moral training; and that this is only to be secured by the employment of religious men inculcating religious truth. These things we believe as firmly as Dr. Humphreys; but hold ing at the same time that any interference on the part of government with religious teaching is an intrusion and an injury,—that is, that for a government to endeavour to spread religious truth is wrong in principle and baneful in practice, derogatory to Christianity and unjust to the citizen, these propositions afford to our minds one of the strongest arguments against the conclusion to which Dr. Humphreys arrives, that it is the duty of the people of Scotland, by making mutual concessions, to secure an extension of the present national educational system. Blackfriars Wynd Analyzed. By GEORGE BELL, M.D., Author of " Day and Night in the Wynds of Edinburgh." Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter. 8vo., pp. 44. The "wynds and closes " of Edinburgh correspond to the "courts and alleys" of London, only that they are more contracted, more populous, and more filthy than even these. Of one of them Dr. Bell has made a minute investigation, and now presents us with the interesting but most appalling details. We could scarcely have believed, had we not ourselves been witnesses of the fact, that in so handsome a city as our northern capital haunts like this could be tolerated; and the pamphlet ought certainly to awaken earnest attention to the subject in the minds of the inhabitants of a place in the adornment of which they spend such large sums, and of which they are so justly proud. But the pamphlet contains matter important on both sides of the border. The evils lamented are in kind universal, and demand an effort on the part of all, for their own sakes as well as for those of their miserable victims. We agree with Dr. Bell that "there is a giant-power in a sound religious education," yet that "something must be done ere education can tell upon them with effect." To clevate the condition by improving the abodes of the poor is a work to which Christians at this day are emphatically called, and which is of no less importance, and demands no less self-sacrificing zeal, than other fields of missionary labour. It has been proved, by the society in London, that clean and salu brious accommodation can be provided at an equal cost to that which is paid for miserable and pestilential hovels, and we entreat those of our fellow Christians who have capital to invest, to pay attention to this mode of making an employment of their money, at once profitable to themselves, and eminently beneficial to their degraded fellow countrymen. The pamphlet of Dr. Bell is very interesting, though we should have been glad if he had turned it to a somewhat more practical account, by suggesting some radical remedy for the evils lamented. Though we believe that restricting the number of licensed spirit-shops might, to an extent, be beneficial, yet the evil lies far deeper, and while whiskey is demanded, we are convinced that it will be supplied. The only way in which dram-dealers can be effectually driven from a locality is by starving them out. We have far more confidence, even in the case of the drunkard, in the voice of persuasion than in the arm of the law. The Tabernacle and its Furniture. By JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A. Editor of the "Pictorial Bible," &c., &c. With Illustrations by W. Dickes. London. 4to. Price 3s. 6d. A thin quarto volume from which sabbath school teachers may derive much aid in elucidating the Mosaic writings and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and which ministers also will find convenient for occasional reference. It contains a clear description of the sacred vestments, utensils, and apartments belonging to the moveable sanctuary erected in the wilderness, with six appropriate engravings. The Book of One Hundred Beverages. By WILLIAM BERNHARD. London: Houlston and Stoneman. 32mo., pp. 64. This little book was written "to supply, and by supplying to increase the growing demand for beverages of an unintoxicating character." It is not however adapted to those persons alone who abstain uniformly from fermented liquors; we can cordially recommend it to all who drink water, tea, or coffee, as well as to those who wish to gain information respecting liquids which are less commonly known, but adapted to the constitution in different states of health. The observations on the qualities of several kinds of water, are themselves worth the purchase money of the whole. Pictorial Half Hours. Edited by CHARLES KNIGHT. London: Post 4to. Parts I. & II. Each 96 pages, price ninepence. We believe that there is no other way of driving out of families pernicious but amusing publications, than by introducing others which are both interesting and instructive. To endeavour to confine the reading of youth to religious books would be on many accounts injudicious, and we therefore welcome such works as that before us. With pleasure we adopt the editor's remarks, "That faithful and spirited copies of the greatest productions in painting and sculpture; representations of the most renowned monuments of ancient and modern architecture; accurate delineations of objects of natural history; sketches of beautiful scenery; characteristics of classes and occupa tions; and original designs illustrative of history and literature;-that these are the most valuable accessories to knowledge can scarcely be denied by the least imaginative reasoner. As instruments of education there is no intelligent teacher who is unconscious of their value." "To supply the want thus indicated," he adds, "Pictorial Half Hours was undertaken." It is published in twopenny numbers as well as in ninepenny parts, each number containing several illustrative woodcuts-one or more for every day of the week. The Herald of Peace. July 1850. Quarto, pp. 12. This is the first number of a new series, in which the quarto form is substituted for the octavo, in furtherance of plans which are to be developed hereafter. |