to be found "the reference to current discussions," in the form of very able and certainly very trenchant criticisms of Mr. Mill, Mr. Huxley, Mr. Tyndall, and Mr. Herbert Spencer. Though scientific and metaphysical discussions seem somewhat out of place in a work upon the Holy Spirit, and though the tone of these critical animadversions is not always what is usually conceded as "edifying," yet the discussions are able, and the earnestness and fervor of the author invest them with dignity.

Preachers will find this volume eminently quickening and useful, provided they are inspired to imitate only its excellencies.

GOD IN HUMAN THOUGHT.*-Dr. Gillett's elaborate work on God in Human Thought began with special researches in respect to Bishop Butler's analogy. His attention had been called to the condition of opinion in England when this work was written, and to the active controversies which had agitated England nearly a century before. The brief but significant sketch which Butler gives of the state of opinion concerning Natural and Revealed Religion in his time, had aroused the curiosity of our author as it had excited many others, with this difference in his case, that he was animated by it to a careful and thorough study of the principal writers on both sides, who had immediately preceded Butler. But he was not satisfied with these limits; although he might well have been content with having furnished the most minute, and on the whole the most complete account of this long-continued controversy which is to be found in the English language. Having finished this history, he was led to attempt a complete review of all the discussions upon the topics of Natural Religion which are to be found in ancient literature. Hence the title of his work, God in Human Thought. We question somewhat whether it would not have been wiser to have confined his researches within somewhat narrower limits. But we are not disposed to complain of a work which is marked with so much fidelity of execution and so much honesty of purpose as the two volumes before us. The research and painstaking which have been expended upon the work deserve the highest commendation. The pertinacity with which the author has followed out his bibliographic researches in a field parts of

*God in Human Thought; or, Natural Theology traced in Literature, ancient and modern, to the time of Bishop Butler, with a closing chapter on the Moral System and an English Bibliography, from Spenser to Butler. By E. H. GILLETT, Professor of Political Economy in the University of the City of New York, etc. In two volumes. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, & Co. 1874.

which had never before been gleaned, gives to this work a value which cannot easily be overrated. The picture of English thought and speculation during all the seething period which preceded and followed the great rebellion and the glorious revolution is at once complete and graphic, and the candid, and copious, and solid analyses and critical remarks are creditable to the author's acuteness and his fairness. He has had the advantage of following several able works which traversed the same ground, but his own contributions are more complete. We congratulate the author on achieving his task so well, and we congratulate the public on the important addition to its stores of knowledge and criticism, upon a theme which is always important, and which at present occupies the anxious thoughts of multitudes of men. We had scarcely expected to notice any omission in the bibliography of so careful and untiring an adept as Dr. Gillett. We do not find in his Index or his Bibliography either of the following referred to: John Brown, Essays on Shaftesbury's Characteristics, 1751, Philip Skelton, Opheomaches, or Deism Revealed, 1749. We ought not to omit to notice the concluding chapter on the Moral System, in which the author sets forth the argument of Butler in a positive form and gives a wider application.

VAN OOSTERZEE'S CHRISTIAN DOGMATICS.*-These volumes are a worthy companion to the work of Ueberweg on the History of Philosophy, which was the first installment of "the Philosophical and Theological Library." We might have preferred to use the Theology of Nitzsch, carefully translated and edited, but the labor of translating it would have been very great, and the miserable translation, forming a part of Clark's Library, could not have been adopted. Van Oosterzee is a learned, judicious, moderate theologian of the Church of Holland; soundly evangelical, without being rigid in his opinions, willing to admit difficulties where they exist, and to tolerate differences of judgment on controverted points. On such topics as Inspiration, and the Atonement, he writes in a tone of fairness, and with an appreciation of modern discussions. The references to books are mainly to Dutch and German authors. A more full bibliography is a desideratum. On

* Christian Dogmatics: A Text-book for Academical instruction and private study. By J. G. VAN OOSTERZEE, D.D., Professor of Theology in the University of Utrecht. Translated by John Watson Watson, B.A., and Maurice L. Evans, B.A, New York: Scribner, Armstrong, & Co.

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the whole, we commend the work to ministers and theological students as a valuable and able system of Christian doctrine; a system which is free from narrow and extreme views, and is more nearly on a level with the liberal evangelical thought of the times than any other work in English with which we are acquainted.

HENRY ROGERS' LECTURES ON THE SUPERHUMAN ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE* inferred from itself are written with the spirit which characterizes all his writings in defense of Revelation. They treat of the following topics: Some traits of the Bible which seem at variance with certain principles and tendencies of human nature; auxiliary arguments drawn from certain traits of the New Testament as contrasted with what might have been expected from the antecedents of the writers; arguments derived from coincidences between certain statements of Scripture and certain facts of History; indications of the unity of the Bible; a reply to certain objections founded on certain peculiarities of form and structure exhibited in the Bible; on certain peculiarities of style in the Scriptural writings; on the exceptional position of the Bible in the world; on certain analogies between the Bible and the constitution and course of nature.

These topics are all treated with the spirit and ingenuity which characterize Mr. Rogers' writings. We apprehend, however, that in the controversy between the assailants of Revelation and those who defend it, neither the attack nor the defence are carried along the whole line in a general assault and defence, but that the chief interest in the contest gathers about, here and there, some important redoubt or position, on the taking or holding of which everything depends. The discussions of Mr. Rogers are in one sense fully abreast with the times and are always eloquent and interesting.

DR. PEABODY'S COURSE OF LECTURES ON CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE consists of ten Lectures, which were delivered on the Ely Foundation of the Union Theological Seminary in 1874. They are written in the flowing and elevated style which the

*The Superhuman Origin of the Bible Inferred from Itself. By HENRY ROGERS, author of "The Eclipse of Faith." New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co.

1874.

+ Christianity and Science. A series of Lectures, delivered in New York in 1874, on the Ely Foundation of the Union Theological Seminary. By ANDREW P. PEABODY, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Christian Morals in Harvard University. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1874.

accomplished author never fails to use, and in the spiritual conceptions of Christ and Christianity by which his writings are always distinguished. Many of the positions taken in these discourses are strong and striking. Many single arguments are forcibly presented and eloquently illustrated. The ethical and spiritual superiority of the Christian system above every other are powerfully vindicated. The character and claims of Christ as a supernatural personage in human history, are asserted in terms that are neither doubtful nor compromising. Looked at as a collection of striking thoughts or arguments, the volume should rank very high for its beauty and its strength. Considered as a strong and coherent argument, it lacks clearness in its statement of the matter of Christianity and logical sharpness and coherence. This is especially unfortunate in an argument that proposes to place Christianity on a strictly scientific basis. The evidence for Christianity is arranged under the three heads of Testimony, Experiment, and Intuition, neither of which is sharply separated from the other, as actually treated and applied by the author. The intuition which is said to confirm the divine origin of Christianity is surely not the same as scientific intuition. It is the same with experiment, only the experiment is internal and is made the basis of a brief but decisive argument, such as is open to the common sense of the feeblest understanding, and the most uninstructed human being.

Notwithstanding these deficiencies, the volume is characterized by so much beauty and spiritual power, and eloquent illustration and enforcement, as to deserve a wide circulation.

STRENGTH AND BEAUTY.*-It is enough to recommend this work,-rightly described as "Discussions for Young Men,"-that it is from the pen of Dr. Hopkins, and in his own best method and style. It is without preface, and consists of nineteen discourses— the title of the first being given to the volume-which, as we are told and should readily conjecture, were originally "baccalaureate" addresses. They are not the less sermons for the omissions of the texts, which may be often easily supplied from the introductions. As might be expected from the author, they all have to do with great principles of thought and action, and while profound in their views, are singularly clear in statements and illus

* Strength and Beauty. Discussions for Young Men. By MARK HOPKINS, D.D. New York: Dodd & Mead, Publishers. pp. 361.

trations. Among the particular titles, besides that of the volume, we may mention "the Manifoldness of Man," "God's method of social unity," "the Bible and Pantheism," "the Body the Temple of God," "Faith, Philosophy, and Reason," "Higher and lower good." Among those that at once drew our attention is that on "Spirit, Soul, and Body," or man's "tripartite" constitution, in which we observe that he assigns more than most writers do to the second as compared with the first of these divisions. And here we find an instance of the changes that have taken place among New England divines at once in philosophy and theology, in the mode of thinking and still more in forms of statement, when it is said (p. 189), "In it (the spirit) there may be a consciousness of the immediate presence of God with us." Nor do we dissent from the freedom of the statement. The mechanical appearance of the book, as well as the excellence of its contents, makes it an admirable gift, for the season, to young men.

THE SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHY.*-President McCosh's elaborate work upon the Scottish Philosophy cannot fail to be warmly wel comed by every student of speculative science. It is written con amore, as it could not fail to be, by a son of the North, who was himself trained in the philosophy which has made Scotland so honorable, and in its university lectures, which have never failed to recognize philosophy as the Queen of the Sciences, ever since Hutcheson, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, attracted students to Glasgow, from England and Ireland, as well as from the parishes of Scotland. The plan proposed by Dr. McCosh gave ample liberty in selecting his materials, and he has produced a work which is unlike an ordinary history of philosophy, and includes much information and many sketches of men and of society which are interesting to the general reader. The treatise will become a standard book of reference, and a necessity for the library of every student. It is printed in a style which befits its place in our literature.

It consists of fifty-eight Articles or Chapters, and an Appendix of those valuable MSS. collections, and a carefully compiled index.

* The Scottish Philosophy; Biographical, Expository, Critical, from Hutcheson to Hamilton. By JAMES MCCоSH, LL.D., D.D., President of the College of New Jersey, Princeton. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1875.