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will it work better than any other system, when these are absent it will work no more badly. When this spirit of intellect, of toleration and of faith are gone, or are greatly deficient, in vain are the host of orthodox creeds, in vain the most nicely balanced and accurately written forms of discipline. All is weakness. When these are present, extended creeds and unchangeable forms give less assistance, than they occasion inconvenience. The orthodox understanding, and the well-ordered heart need them not, but the gospel is still transmitted in purity and the churches have rest and are edified. An enlightened and fervent church, give to their ministry all the deference which they ought to ask, and watch over the purity of Christ's household, as those into whose care, has been committed this sacred trust. They hold fast to the form of sound words, as rigidly as it is desirable they should and preserve the usages which have been consecrated by time, as long as they are decent and becoming, but they keep themselves from a superstitious and idolatrous veneration of either.

The two leading maxims of this system, in which are condensed its characteristic spirit, are the following. That we frame every present judgment by the word of God. That we be ready to receive whatever new truth shall be made known to us from the same word. "I charge you," said the pureLinded Robinson to his emigrating church, "before God and his blessed angels, that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveal anything to you, by any other instrument of his, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry; for I am fully persuaded, the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his holy word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the Reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments of the reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; whatever part of his will our God has revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things."

This last peculiarity, has made the Congregational churches the friends of an independent Biblical study, and a free and fearless investigation of theological science. Of the results of such inquiries, they have had no reason to be afraid, for they

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have never incased themselves in a set of opinions, from which they have counted it heresy in the least to swerve. Hence are their churches, the friends of all that is new, if it be approved to their consciences, and of all that is old, until the new is shown to be better. They combine the two elements of perseverance and progression, and they go on easily, while they are united upon essential truth and tolerate unessential differences.

But their grand peculiarity is, that they do not suffer from an excess of government. In churches, in which there are higher and lower courts, ascending in due gradation and confederated into one vast frame-work of polity, discipline on the one hand is seen to nod and slumber as she does in the Episcopal chair, or else to agitate the whole church which she essays to purify as in the Presbyterian body. Hardly a question can be raised in a local church, under the care of the General Assembly as now constituted, which cannot be made to shake and agitate the vast confederacy and array against each other in hot and often bitter strife, the ministers and elders from one end of the land to the other. That which under the Congregational system, could not be kindled into a flame, can be made to scorch and devour as far as Presbyterian rule is felt. At most, only a few neighboring churches are agitated by a conflict, which under other circumstances, might not only shake a numerous denomination, but expose it to the scoffs and jeers of a profane world.

And still, so little sectarianism do we cherish in New England, that there is very little anxiety felt or effort made that Congregationalism with these important advantages, should be extended beyond our own borders. It would indeed be pleasant to see an arrangement made in the household of our elder sister, by which if she must needs retain her courts of appeal, the highest should be what is now the lowest, but further than this, under present circumstances, she does not greatly desire a change.

Least of all is it desired, that a crude theology, an intemperate and mistaken zeal, should seek to make their advances under the fair name of Congregationalism, and that where the New England spirit, with its grave and searching wisdom, is not cherished, her name should be dishonored, because her form and discipline yields not the natural fruits of its chosen and native land. For Congregationalism of this sort we have as little sympathy, as we feel for Presbyterianism of the highest tone, and for the Episcopacy of the Oxford divines.

We cannot dismiss the volume before us, without again expressing the keen interest with which we have perused its pages, and the high obligations which we owe to the author for this most important contribution to the ecclesiastical history of New England. Though it professes to record the history of a single church only, it includes a history of the moral character, the ecclesiastical controversies, and the theological opinions, which have distinguished successive generations, since the planting of the New Haven colony. These are discussed in the characteristic manner of the author, and in a style which cannot fail to interest any reader, whose attention or favorable opinion it is worth the while of any one to regard. Few books are written so well as this. We have graphic delineation of character and of manners, grave and thorough discussion of principles, and oftentimes a fervid eloquence, all of which are clothed in pure and accurate English. A vigorous pulse beats in every sentence, which will keep the reader awake, without wearying or disgusting him, through affectation or straining for continued effect.

A history of New England theology is still a desideratum. An accurate statement of the opinions in theology that have marked the successive periods of its history, and of the transitions from one set of views to another, with a just and adequate view of their effect upon the preaching of the day and their remoter influence on the prosperity of religion, is greatly needed, and would be received with eager thankfulness by hundreds of readers. It might also contribute to the peace of the ministers of New England, by showing them that the suspicions and questionings of the present day, are not a new thing among the pastors of these churches,-that present differences are not wider than those that are past, and that we have every reason to exult in the confidence that those tokens of the presence of Christ, which have been so abundantly bestowed since the planting of these churches, will be continued till New England shall become a name and a praise in the whole earth.

ARTICLE XIV.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1-Hebrew Grammar by George Bush. New York, 1839. 8vo. Gesenius's Hebrew Grammar, translated from the eleventh German edition, by T. J. Conant, Prof. in Lit. and Theol. Inst., Hamilton, N. Y. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1839. pp. 325.

We have looked at a number of the sheets of Prof. Bush's Grammar. It is the second edition greatly enlarged and modified. Indeed it may justly claim to be a new and independent work. The first edition, though unfortunate in the style of its typographical execu tion, was not without decided merits. It showed its author to be a zealous and successful laborer in this interesting and important field. The second edition, we presume, has been entirely rewritten, and many portions of it reinvestigated. The type employed in printing the volume is good. The paper also receives a fair impression. No one will have cause to find fault with the compositor or proof-reader. We have not space here to go into an examination of the merits of the work. Indeed this would not be practicable without an extended and thorough examination of the whole ground. This, if we had the ability, the limits of a literary notice would not admit. We can only say, that we hope the author will be remunerated according to his merits. It is in some respects an unfavorable time for a new Hebrew Grammar to make its appearance. We have the standard Grammar of Prof. Stuart, which has now reached its sixth edition. Dr. Nordheimer's production is everywhere regarded with favor, as being a very able and philosophical work. Then we are soon to have Prof. Conant's Translation of Gesenius, to say nothing of Ewald and of other German writers. On the other hand, there is a wide and increasing demand in our country for Hebrew Grammars. Multitudes at least commence the study. Not a few students will wish to own two different Grammars, while every teacher will endeavor to be in possession of all the accessible helps. There cannot of course be a large sale for four different Grammars of a dead language, but still we trust that all will find students and patrons, for all are worthy of commendation, though of various merit.

Professor Conant's translation comes out in a very attractive form. Indeed we have no occasion to say anything in praise of it, when we have mentioned the worthy typographer. Mr. Folsom and the uui

versity press at Cambridge bid fair to rival the Aldine establishments or those of the Stephenses in the old world. The paper is of the purest white, while it is sufficiently firm. The English type presents a beautiful appearance, while the Hebrew is by no means deficient in good qualities. The form of the letter is not so graceful, however, as that employed by Tauchnitz in Hahn's Bible. Some of the letters also appear to be somewhat dim. The book is printed, so far as we can judge, with exceeding accuracy. It is, moreover, we are assured on good authority, well translated. We have read portions of the larger Grammar of Gesenius, the Lehrgebäude, to which he frequently refers in his Manual, but we have no copy of the edition from which Mr. Conant has translated. The translator has resided, we believe, sometime in Germany. He has likewise been commendably patient and persevering in his labors on the present volume. The pages which we have read bear indubitable marks of faithful attention, and of a clear and discriminating mind. The English sentences are constructed in an easy and natural manner. Gesenius, indeed, is not obnoxious to the charges so frequently made against his countrymen-of sentences blind by their involution and interminable in their length. He has a simple and straightforward manner. Of the merits of his Grammar, it would be supererogation to say a word.

2.-On the Foundations of Morals. Four Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge, Nov. 1837, by the Rev. William Whewell, fellow and tutor of Trinity College. With Additional Discourses and Essays, by C. S. Henry, D. D. Professor of Philosophy in the University of the City of New York. New York: E. French, 1839. pp. 239.

Professor Whewell is well known to many of our readers as the author of one of the best of the Bridgewater Treatises. He is one of the leaders among the eminent scientific individuals of the United Kingdom, and was, one year, we believe, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In the work of which we have given the title, he has entered the territory of morals, and has given us four instructive and valuable discourses. One reason for writing and publishing these sermons is the use by the university of Cambridge of Paley's Moral Philosophy. "I do not think it can be doubted," says the author, "that the general currency which Paley's Moral Philosophy has acquired, (a currency due in no small degree to the adoption of the work by this university,) has had a very large share in producing the confusion and vacillation of thought respecting the grounds of morals, which is at present so generally prevalent in England, even among persons of cultivated minds." The writer whom Whewell adduces as the principal representative

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