326 passions, and Divine helps; and these seen in the unit, but lost in the many, are the real moving forces, the determining causes of all his action." It is highly refreshing to greet this outspoken utterance in days when science is treated by so many of its advocates as the rival of religion, and the antagonist of revelation; and we would suggest that Dr. Reynolds might give his able pamphlet a more permanent and enlarged form. THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF THE REV. DR. JAMES BAKER was born at Mid- As The narrative, however, of this life and these labours might have been much better written than we find it. We think it would have gained not ! Dr. Baker "lisps awful." Se! -Pp. 28, 213, 216, 244. Dr. Baker thinks his mer tongue would be improved by an infusion of Scotticisms, and therefore insists on a perpetual confound ng of would and should, will and shill - Pp. 28, 29, 33, 36, et prsim. 66 Dr. Baker has "à tol 1% humbling sense of his unworth west, sinfulness, and ingratitude." _P_60. Dr. Boker loves “cering komynOS preaching."- P. 61. When on the sea-shore, the leaned doctor would entertain his lonel leisure by "assuming the authotry of Canute," and with the same success "He also strikes out the novel ide, of trying to pin down with has walking cane the waves of the advancing *ie, and is reminded by his failure of unsuccessful endeavours to festen, on viction upon sinful hearts."- P 24 h We should be discourteous to the university which conterred its d vin *y diploma upon Dr. Baker if we did ni assume that his attain:>entscholarly accomplishments were as to justify so honourable an vand. wish it were poseble to banish 2!! And yet we find him writing, “I di Pagan classies out of our s Horace, Homer, &c." P. :). colleges, and instead of Casing, thed, hools and years' do not find that during his x et se vett pay deney over Au-tir, € he ever delivered a single prelestia to whatever, we will hope that the the students, or occupied any char mates of that institution have not been doomed to see any part of their late President's aspiration realised. The following passage by the compiler of this volume, we hope in great charity that we have failed to understand. If such hope is not in accordance with the fact, we can only say that the biographer's notions of honour and decency are very different from ours. Let our readers mark that Austin College was the first institution of the kind in the whole country, that it had received warm and practical encouragement and support from the first men of the State; and that there was a well-grounded expectation of a vote of funds from the Texan Legislature. Yet, the author writes:-"As to his (Dr. Baker's) efforts for the College during his six tours, we have seen how he toiled, and how he succeeded. Six tours to beg for the College out of the State! He became more and more reluctant to beg in this way. It was very well when he first began. Texas was then small in population, and indefinitely deep in debt; but when that population so swiftly doubled itself, when that debt disappeared, leaving Texas with millions in its chest for present use, and incalculable resources for the future, with the steward in Scripture, it was his feeling, 'to beg I am ashamed.'" "Two resources were left him; one was a visit to England, Ireland, and Scotland; and he felt confident, &c. &c.” -P. 537. Equally confident are we, but of a very different thing, namely, that when the College was looked upon as almost a national institution, and when there was the strongest hope of endowment, or subscription from a State, as such, with millions of ready money waiting to be used, and with the moral certainty of indefinite increase, it would have been unpardonably audacious and insolent to have resorted to the alternative proposed. One word more as to our preceding references and quotations. It is to suggest to the filial piety and good sense of the compiler of this volume, that the exposing of these instances of his revered father's weakness, or errors, has no excuse; was not essential even to perfectness of portraiture; and is, beyond all controversy, out of place, and offensive in a book which, by the bold avowal of its author, is designed for the highest Christian usefulness, and to contribute to the growth of men and ministers as truly consecrated and disinterested as he in whose real life these errors had no discoverable practical effect. PILGRIMAGE FROM THE ALPS TO THE TIBER; OR, THE INFLUENCE OF ROMAN ISM ON TRADE, JUSTICE, AND KNOWLEDGE. By Rev. J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Edinburgh: Shepherd and Elliott. THOUGH the visit to Italy, of which this book is a record, dates as far back as 1851, we are glad to welcome a second edition of it, and to avail ourselves of it, that we may evolve a few points of comparison between the impressions and forecastings of 1851 and the realisations of 1859. We naturally look with especial interest upon what Dr. Wylie has to tell us about Piedmont-that ark of Italian liberty in the black deluge of its despotism. He found it in a state of nascent constitutionalism, and with equal piety and philosophy, he attributes its happy anomaly to the presence and prayers of its Waldensian subjects. These furnish both a natural and moral reason. Seeds of liberty, especially when sown in religions forms and watered with the tears of pious men, have a silent and permeating life in them, and often produce their fruit in forms and places that are wholly unexpected. What Puritanism has been to the England of the present, the faith of the Vaudois may be to the Italy of the future; and heartily we pray that it may. The Piedmontese themselves speak of their constitutionalism as a miracle-the death of Charles Albert making way for a new and plastic sove 66 a reign was probably the means of it. He himself would probably have followed the reactionary example of his brother sovereigns. When in 1848 he gave his subjects a constitution none had asked it, and few there were who could value it, or even knew what a constitution meant." There was no public opinion in the country. It would have been revoked at any moment, and there was no moral power in the country to offer effectual resistance. Radetzky had unaccountably and suddenly stopped at the Sardinian frontier in the midst of his victorious career, when he was expected to march upon Turin. Victor Emanuel proved to be good-natured, easy-minded man, who loved the chase and his country seat, and found it more agreeable to live on good terms with his subjects, and enjoy a handsome civil list which his Parliament has taken care to vote for him, than to be indebted for his safety and á bankrupt exchequer to the bayonets of his guards ;" a constitutional monarch simply by accident; and so under the guidings of God's good providence the constitution was saved, and, said General Beckwith to Dr. Wylie," should the constitution live three years longer, the people of that time will have become so habituated to the working of a free constitution, and public opinion will have acquired such strength, that it will be impossible for the monarch to retrace his steps, even should he be so inclined." Its condition has been thrice realized, let us hope that the prediction will be fulfilled. The spirit of liberty is difficult to kill. What in 1851 was eager hope, has now become moral certainty. Dr. Wylie gives us a very vivid impression of the power and curse of Popery in Piedmont in 1848, the most priest-ridden country in Europe "the paradise of priests." The demonstration is furnished by some formidable statistics from La Presse, the domains of the church representing a capital of 400 millions of francs, and a yearly revenue of upwards of seventeen millions, while the popula tion was only four and a half millions; now this incubus has been thrown off in great part, and this tyrannous priesthood proved powerless, save to corrupt. The vigour and independence of the press is justly eulogised, and the formation of a public opinion is largely attributed to its emancipation. We cannot follow Dr. Wylie further; his pictures of travel are vivid, his moral lights strong, and his heart sound. We are glad to see his volume in a second edition. THE STORY OF A POCKET-BIBLE. London: Religious Tract Society. FOR the mere novelty of the thing, I shall review my own history here. The journal relates the adventures of my possessors at various periods of my history, since I left the bookseller's hands to become the choice and prize of an ingenuous child of six years old on his birthday. From him I passed into the hands of men in business, worldly families, Romanists, sceptics, working-men, and dissolute drunkards, endeavouring to diffuse a healthful influence everywhere, and meeting sometimes with saving and triumphant success. These will cheer the soul when read of, and perhaps may stimulate some who peruse this prefatory notice of my fortunes, to try amongst their acquaintances the benefit of the gift of A POCKET BIBLE. THE ECLECTIC. APRIL, 1860. I. THE KIRK OF SCOTLAND. The Church History of Scotland from the Commencement of the Christian Era to the Present Century. By the Rev. JOHN CUNNINGHAM, Minister of Crieff. 2 Vols. Edinburgh: A. & C. Black. TIME was when mention of the "Kirk" of Scotland awakened south of the Border anything but the ideas of moderation, peace, and love which we are wont to associate with a Christian community. The most glorious figures in its history appeared as stern, unbending fanatics; the most stirring events were clouded by visions of wild enthusiasm and unrighteous resistance to the powers that be. Happily matters are changed; the accurate investigations of M'Crie and others have dispersed many of the prejudices raised by the writings of Sir Walter Scott and other superficial writers. The sneer at the psalm-singing, snivelling Covenanter who is made to repeat inappropriate portions of Scripture, and the sympathy with the bold, dashing cavalier, red-coated and gold-laced, has given place to a more just appreciation of the merits of both parties. It is now admitted that the Covenanters were neither fanatics nor persecutors, and that the ultraism into which they at last undoubtedly fell was the consequence of their isolation and persecutions rather than of their principles. In truth, they were the noble-men of Scotland, standing out for civil liberty and Gospel truth in a generation of knaves and cowards; rugged, if you like, and bare, like the hill-sides on which they sought shelter, but athletic mighty men, heroes in the truest sense where heroism was but a rare quality. Indeed, viewing the History of the Church of Scotland as a whole-at least during Reformation times, we learn to form a juster estimate of the peculiar service which it discharged, not only in the cause of religion but in the interests of civil liberty. With a Parliament utterly corrupt and worthless, which would vote any measure patronised by the Court or enjoined by the people the confession of faith or the covenants to-day, and bloody persecutions to-morrow; with a nobility utterly debased and sycophantic, the general assembly and the pulpit of the church were VOL. III. CC the only places in which the truth was fearlessly spoken. In consideration of this inestimable boon which even now might sometimes be coveted, we are willing to pardon appearances of extravagance and disloyalty. It was surely something when James VI. could be publicly reproved from the pulpit, or Andrew Melville could shake him by the sleeve, calling him "God's silly vassal," and characterising to his face his elaborate kingcraft as "devilish and pernicious" mere mad folly." A very different scene, indeed, from that when the English bishops in their lawn sleeves, upon bended knees, humbly responded to his most sacred Majesty's pedantic argumentation. and " Whatever, then, makes us better acquainted with the real history of a Kirk to which the country owed so much, we are prepared to hail as a more than common addition to our literature. It may seem strange that with the well-known enthusiasm of the Scotch for their country and Kirk, no complete or satisfactory history should hitherto have been composed. Preparatory labours, indeed, are not wanting, ancient chronicles, narratives, diaries, and correspondences have been published in abundance; and the labours of the historian who has the diligence to peruse these records and the capacity to form an independent opinion upon them, have been greatly lightened in consequence. It was, therefore, with no small degree of expecta tion that we took up the two ponderous volumes which are the occasion of this article, and with equal disappointment that we laid them down. We cheerfully admit that the author displays considerable diligence and even learning; nor could his narrative be other than interesting. But the student has not gained a single new fact by it; and though the compilation is both detailed and on the whole accurate, the author seems to have culled his opinions as well as his facts, at second-hand; worst of all, he appears to us to lack cordial sympathy with what constitutes the core of the History of the Kirk. After this we shall, at least in the meantime, waive our objections to a style which, from studied affectation, occasionally descends to extreme looseness, and defer special objections to the narrative till we discuss the events to which they more particularly apply. The very commencement of the History of the Church of Scotland has a peculiar interest. Passing over a period more or less involved in gloom, we find ourselves in the Island of Iona, with St. Columbs preaching the Gospel and founding the first Christian Institution in the country. These preachers were unlike those whom Rome had sent forth, and, despite the remarks of Mr. Cunningham, we are inclined to agree with Neander, that, had the distinctively "British Confession" continued in the ascendant, the course of the Germanic churches would have been differently shaped. Granting that much superstition connected itself with the religion of the Culdees, any opposition to the undisputed supremacy of Rome was an important element, however trifling the points may seem on which it was raised. But even this latter concession we are not prepared to make. |