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The common doctrine of national exclusiveness, too, is more Jewish than Christian, more disposed to regard the nation as the chosen people, than to protect its interests on the ground of a generous love that would befriend all men, and therefore befriends those most whom national ties have brought nearest. True nationality is but one form of good neighborhood. The nations of Christendom have yet to show that they are of the Christian, not of the Jewish school. The nation, proudest of the Christian name, has often exercised the prerogative of the people divinely elected, and with Jewish exclusiveness, without its divine sanctions, has invaded foreign climes, as if every Canaan were its rightful land of promise.

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Hence the frequent justification of war against the infidel. Spain, England, nay even our own Puritan fathers have warred against savages as by divine right. Even now there are those who defend the recent attack of England upon China, on the ground of opening a way for the Gospel of Christ into the heart of that vast nation. One of the ablest writers of our day, Maurice, in his "Kingdom of Christ," seems to claim for every nation the rights of the Jewish theocracy, and to connect the State in its warlike character with the Church and its divine sanctions. picture of the Bishop of Winchester consecrating the banners of a regiment that was recently victorious in India, would make no poor representation of some scene in Jewish history, some priest or prophet imprecating curses upon national enemies or imploring blessings upon the Jewish arms. Croly, in his interpretation of the Apocalypse, regards England as the modern Israel, and holds up Pitt, Nelson and Wellington as it were the second Moses, Joshua and Gideon. Undoubtedly there is much power in the belief that a nation has an exclusive mission, and its statesmen and soldiers are not only promoting their own success, but the glory of God. But we need not go back to Moses for the true source of the nation's power and the true fidelity of the citizen. Christianity has principles of its own to apply to every interest of life, to the race and nation as well as to the individual.

When we assert the superiority of the Gospel over the Law, we by no means favor that social radicalism and vague spiritualism that war with all established institutions,

breaking down family subordination, national government, and church order. The Gospel exalts these institutions, instead of overthrowing them. The love of God and the love of man, prompted by faith in Jesus, tend to create a nobler civilization, in which the energy of ancient systems is retained, blended with the mild genius of Christianity. A truly Christian state of society comprises within itself the great elements of the earlier dispensations, and develops them in their fullness. Thus the progressive ages of social order are like the progressive stages of the material creation. As each being in the scale of creation, whether mineral, vegetable or animal, contains the elements of each inferior creature, and man rises above all and unites within himself the excellence of all lower beings, and with reason added is a world in miniature, so each successive revelation carries with it the great principles of its predecessors. The first dispensation was to the family of Abraham, the second to a nation made up of families, the third to a race made up of nations, and Christianity at once exalts the family and the nation, the home and the State, whilst at the same time it builds up a broad communion of believers, a spiritual church, whose love is bounded by no lines of merely domestic or national limitation. Let us then, as we honor family union and civil order, honor the ancient dispensations which have done so much to consecrate them, and while we accept the free, broad Gospel of Christ, let us not forget what God ordained of old through Abraham and Moses.

In closing what we have to say of the relation of the Old and New Testaments, let us not sink the fervor of Christian faith in the discussions of critical study. In devotional hours let the Law and Prophets rise before us in connection with the Gospel, as their great representatives did on the Mount of transfiguration. There appeared unto the apostles Moses and Elias talking with Jesus. Let the Law in its stern justice and prophecy with its sublime yearnings stand before us in company with our Saviour, and bear testimony to him as the fulfilment of the righteousness of the Law and the aspirations of the Prophets.

S. o.

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

Vital Christianity: Essays and Discourses on the Religions of Man and the Religion of God. By ALEXANDEr Vinet, D. D., Professor of Theology in Lausanne, Switzerland. Translated, with an Introduction, by ROBERT TURNBULL, Pastor of the Harvard Street Church, Boston. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 1845. 12mo. pp. 355.

WE Confess that we are somewhat at a loss to explain the very high praise bestowed on this volume of Discourses or Essays, by some whose opinions should not be lightly pronounced. We are aware of the facility with which commendatory letters, or notes, extracts from which are intended to forestall public opinion, and procure a favorable reception to the volume they precede or accompany, are obtained by publishers, editors, and translators. Still the very little critical discrimination which often marks these epistolary advertisements, coming frequently from men well known in the walks of literature or theology, is something we cannot fully comprehend. Undoubtedly the religious character of the discourses before us, added to a certain smoothness, polish and vivacity of style, will cause them to be cheerfully welcomed by a portion of the religious public. This we can readily conceive, and have no fault to find with it. It is true, we do not regard the discourses as very stirring performances; they are not remarkable for depth, and though evidently the production of a fresh and ardent, and we may add, vigorous mind, they are marked by no original expositions of Christian doctrine, and open, as it seems to us, no new and striking trains of thought. Yet they are lively and animated productions, and those who have no objection to their theology may read them, we doubt not, with pleasure and profit. The best of them, we think, are those which are most strictly practical.

So far, and so far only, can we go along with the admirers of these discourses, among whom we cannot but express our surprise to find some whose theology, if not their taste, we should have supposed, would have revolted at no inconsiderable portions of them. We do not discover in them anything of the philosophical acuteness which is claimed for them, nor anything which entitles them to the praise of containing a refutation of what is called the infidelity or skepticism of the age. We do not think that this skepticism is to be overcome and its fortresses to be thrown down by such weapons. The objections the author combats, it is to be observed, are levelled chiefly against

the Trinitarian and Calvinistic doctrines, and we do not therefore feel bound to reply to them except by saying, that Christianity, as we understand it, does not teach these doctrines.

L.

Letters from New York. Second Series. By L. MARIA CHILD, Author of Philothea, etc., New York and Boston. 1845. 12mo. pp. 287.

THE habit of looking on the common sights, occurrences, duties and relations of daily life with an eye to their moral aspect and spiritual significance is so rare, that we ought to welcome any attempts like these of Mrs. Child, not only for their own intrinsic merit, but for the example they afford and for the good sign they hold out. And yet we are not among those who think the indefinite multiplication of this sort of writings would be an unqualified benefit, or a wholly desirable acquisition to our literature. This volume announces itself as a continuation of the similar collection of letters published some months ago, and is in the same happy, striking, philanthropic vein. Mrs. Child's sympathies are always on the side of humanity and virtue, faith and hope. She pleads eloquently for the humble, the poor, the unfortunate; she hates war, slavery, and the pride of wealth. And not seldom her noble sentiments stir the whole heart. We are sorry to observe occasionally the least leaning towards something that bears the bad semblance of "Come-out-ism,"-a disposition to indulge in flings at venerable objects associated in many men's thoughts with the ordinances and institutions of the Gospel. No person, we insist, ought even to enter on that path, except it be one whose mind or heart has never derived impulses of strength, directly or indirectly, from these very Christian ordinances and institutions. Others must expect to be charged with ingratitude as well as impiety for such rude attacks; and Mrs. Child, whose heart is so full of the spirit of Christ's religion, would feel deeply wounded, we are sure, if she were accused of either. She is a Swedenborgian, but her soul is too large to wear the gear of any sect. Here and there we find in her pages a conceit that is doubtful in point of taste, - such as calling Grecian statues "petrified melodies." There is rather too frequent use of one of the personal pronouns, and an exceedingly frank disclosure of personal wishes, impulses, habits and notions, which would be quite suitable for a private diary or a familiar epistle to a friend, but which in a published work suggest the reflection, that they might be omitted without seriously impairing the value of the book. To say, for example, in bald terms, "If I were as rich as John Jacob Astor, I would do thus and thus," is not well; it places the reader at liberty, if

indeed it does not invite him, to ungallantly dispute the assertion by an unpleasant reference to the maxim about the transforming effect of circumstances on cases. And then it is a sort of public rebuke of Astor, which Astor has a right to reckon a grievance. To say, as in the Letter on Valentines, "My mind has a troublesome habit which compels it to fly high above the surface of things, or dive into the hidden caves beneath," is an expression of gross vanity ill-concealed by a piece of wretched affectation. But Mrs. Child is undoubtedly a woman of remarkable character and the finest qualities, not only of uncommon genius and insight, but of pre-eminent kindness, heartiness, application and industry. Her moral courage is in nothing more completely demonstrated than in the fact, that she is willing to entrust to a common-sense world passages that are so near the verge of propriety and good taste as those relating to Ole Bull and his violin. We should not be surprised if some readers, knowing her through her books alone, should have formed a conception of her as a home-forsaking person, with a weather-beaten bonnet, double-soled shoes, a green umbrella and a huge portfolio, plunging and prying about all the corners of New York city for materials to correspond about. She is no such being; but a true, genuine woman. The passion for a wider sphere, as they call it, does not unsex her, nor render her neglectful of domestic duty. It is a great comfort to speak of the productions of an individual who can be told of her few faults, is open to conviction, and loves plainness of speech.

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18mo.

H.

A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Sanctuary. Boston:
J. Munroe & Co. 1845. pp. xxvii, 558.
Christian Hymns for Public and Private Worship. A Collec-
tion compiled by a COMMITTEE of the CHESHIRE PASTORAL
ASSOCIATION. Boston Crosby & Nichols. 1845. 18mo.
pp. xxxii, 454.

We announced the preparation of these new Collections of Hymns for the use of our churches in a previous number, and we hope hereafter to devote an article to a consideration of their merits. We have now room only to say, that from a cursory examination we believe them both to be excellent compilations, and worthy of the attention not only of congregations recently formed, but of many societies in which older books are now in use. The first named, prepared by Rev. Mr. Ellis of Charlestown, contains, besides the hymns-658 in numberselections from the Psalms, arranged for chanting or responsive reading. The other volume, though of smaller size, contains 908 hymns, and is printed in a very neat type.

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