23. The Atonement: a Charge to the Clergy of the Frotestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, etc. By the Right Reverend HENRY U. ONDERDONK, D. D., Bishop, etc. Philadelphia: 1838. 8vo. pp. 38.

CONTRARY to our original intention, we have concluded not to meddle with the various newspaper criticisms which have been called forth in different quarters by this charge. We prefer to take up the subject in a somewhat more general shape; and without meaning to bind ourselves too closely by any promise, we are ready to express the hope that we shall hereafter be able to exhibit our views on this important subject in a more complete and defifinite form than we could do in connexion with the disquisitions adverted to. We are the more inclined to this, as the conclusions to which we have come are in some respects different from those generally adopted on any hand, and would require a fuller and more careful exhibition than we should be able to give in this number.

66

In the mean time, we are free to avow that, as against those representations which exhibit the atoning work of Christ as addressed to the JUSTICE of God," we think Bishop Onderdonk perfectly correct. That view of the atonement which insists upon regarding the passion of Christ strictly and literally in the light of a "payment" or a "legal penalty" exacted by "Divine Justice," we cannot but consider as contradictory to (not simply above) every dictate of reason-subversive of other plain and indisputable facts of revelation and by logical necessity involving consequences no less at variance with the scheme of revealed religion than with the necessary convictions of reason.

At the same time, we cannot attach any importance to the distinction upon which Bishop Onderdonk insists so strongly of addressing the atonement to the HOLINESS of God. We cannot conceive that the atonement can rightly be said to be "addressed” to one attribute of God more than to another, nor to all of them together.

In regard to this subject, we believe there is one question to which we are incompetent to return an answer; and yet it is precisely the question which the various theories are framed to solve -the question concerning the nature of the atonement. On this point, we believe Revelation has not instructed us. It has taught us plainly that the atonement had its ORIGIN in the Divine Benevolence that its OBJECT was to provide for the deliverance of all mankind from the evil of its fallen state-that the AGENCY-employed in accomplishing this object was determined by Divine Rec

NO. VII. VOL. IV.

32

titude and Wisdom, and consisted in the incarnation, passion, etc., of Jesus Christ.

But How it was that this agency accomplished this object; or in other words, WHAT IT WAS that the passion, etc., of Christ did, in accomplishing this object; or in still other words, IN WHAT MANNER the passion, etc., of Christ laid the foundation for human salvation — in regard to this we are ignorant. We adopt on this point the view of Bishop Butler. We do not believe it was the intention of scripture to explain it. All the explanations given, and the various terms employed in scripture (such as sacrifice, payment, ransom, propitiation, reconciliation) are adopted, as we think, either in relation to some of the collateral objects, or to give us a lively impression of the nature and magnitude of the blessed effects and consequences of the atonement. And the very diversity of the terms and metaphors employed, seems to us to imply manifestly the impossibility of construing either of them into a strict statement of the nature of the atonement.

24. How to Observe- Morals and Manners. By HARRIET MARPhiladelphia: 1838. Lea and Blanchard. 12mo.

TINEAU.

pp. 239.

THIS book is an evident pensée d'escalier; the author never thought of giving herself the sensible counsel it contains, until she had returned from her travels, and discovered how widely she differed from her own ideas of right, in the report she made upon the nakedness of the land she had visited. The whole introduction should be prefixed to the next American edition of her Travels, and Retrospect of Travels; it would serve to expose the folly of her sweeping judgments better than the best of criticisms, as may be inferred from the following extract, which gives us a fair idea of its general tenor:

"Every man seems to imagine, that he can understand men at a glance; he supposes that it is enough to be among them to know what they are doing; he pronounces confidently upon the merits and social conditions of the nations among whom he has travelled; no misgiving ever prompts him to say, I can give you little general information about the people I have been seeing-I have not studied the principles of morals — I am no judge of national manners.'

And so, throughout the volume, there are found the same just and liberal principles of observing, intended, perhaps, as a candid acknowledgment of her own narrow practice. Notwithstanding a little too much twattle, and a great deal too much credulity, the

book is one that should be read by every person preparing to travel, and especially by every one preparing a journal of travels for publication.

25. A Sermon preached in Trinity Church, New York, on Thursday, October 4, 1838, before the Annual Convention of the Diocese. By MANTON EASTBURN, D. D., Rector of the Church of the Ascension, New York. New York: 1838. G. and C. Carvill & Co. 8vo. pp. 18.

DR. EASTBURN's sermon before the last convention of this diocese, is a plain and affectionate enforcement of clerical duty in the matter of preaching, of conducting the worship of the Church, of pastoral influence, and of exertions for the general extension of religion It cannot fail to be read with profit; and we especially commend his remarks on the spirit and manner in which the public service of the desk should be conducted. The sermon bears marks of the good taste which distinguishes the author's performances.

26. Sermon preached at the opening of the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia, September 5, 1838. By the Right Reverend WILLIAM MEADE, D. D., Assistant Bishop of Virginia. Philadelphia: 1838. 8vo. pp. 34.

THIS is an excellent discourse, characterized by the firm, intelligent, and affectionate attachment to the Church, and at the same time the truly catholic and christian spirit for which its author is so eminently distinguished. His object is, in speaking of the "old paths" recommended in scripture, to trace the harmony between our Church as settled by the reformers, and the church of the primitive times of christianity, in the matters of doctrine, rites, and discipline-rejoicing in all adherence to the "old paths," exhorting to a return from all deviations, and warning against the peculiar dangers of the times. We have not room to show the manner in which this object is accomplished; we can only recommend the discourse, as rich in the fruits of study and reflection, and well deserving a careful reading.

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Christmas Gift. La Fontaine's Fables. [January,

27. A Christmas Gift from Fairy Land. New York: 1838. D. Appleton and Company. 12mo.

Books are often bought, merely because they are pretty to look at; and to all who select solely or chiefly on that ground, we strongly recommend " A Christmas Gift from Fairy Land." Nothing could be prettier than it is, in its whole getting up-paper, printing, illustrations, and embellishments. And there our praise must stop; children must not be imposed upon by the title-they will be sadly disappointed, if they expect it will transport them to fairy land-it will be far more likely to transport them to the land of Nod. And it is a shameful imposition, too, to hold out such an expectation of delight at the season of merry Christmas, and have it all turn out a cheat. And yet as it claims to be a fairy book, children must read it it is their appropriate department of literature, and they are the best critics in it. Should we ever hear of its being read a second time, by any little boy or girl who has at command the real old Fairy Tales, or the Arabian Nights, or Robinson Crusoe, or any other of the like works of genius, marked even with the thumbings of the hundredth perusal, we will acknowledge our error, and record the fact for the benefit of the author.

28. Fables de La Fontaine. Avec des notes Historiques, Mythologiques, et Grammaticales, à l' usage des Colléges et des Ecoles. Par F. SALES, A. M. Boston: 1838. Chez J. Munroe et Companie, et Perkins et Marvin. 12mo. pp. 336.

IN no department of literature has our country made so great progress, within the last twenty-five years, as in the knowledge of the most used of the languages of continental Europe, and no literary institution has contributed so much to this advancement as Harvard University. It was the first to furnish instruction to all its pupils in these languages, and to establish a professorship for lectures on the literature of the most cultivated nations. The governors of the college, for their first professor, very judiciously made choice of one of the most elegant scholars of our country, and by his talent, zeal, and learning, the department of modern languages and literature became one of the most efficient in its instructions, and most attractive to the pupils of any in the college. His successor is of the same high character and acquirements, and has fully sustained the credit, influence, and importance of the de

partment. The editor of this new edition of Fontaine's Fables, has been the principal instructor in French and Spanish, under the direction of the professors above referred to, from the first organization of the professorship to the present time; and in that period he has published several valuable works to facilitate the acquisition of the languages in which he instructed. This last publication is every way worthy of his reputation as an editor, and it is particularly useful; La Fontaine's Fables being an exceeding pleasant and profitable book for a learner of French, but somewhat difficult to read on account of the frequent idiomatic expressions. This difficulty Mr. Sales has removed by judicious explanatory notes, and also enhanced the value of the volume by prefixing a short account of French versification. Its typography is beautiful, and although we have not read every line and letter of the volume, we may venture to pronounce it immaculate, seeing the name of the American Baskerville as its printer.

29. Dillaway's School Classics.-1. Cicero de Officiis. Cura C. K. DILLAWAY. Accedunt Nota Anglica. pp. 197.

2. Cicero de Senectute et de Amicitia. Pp. 158.

Accedunt Note Anglica.

3. Cicero de Oratore. Accedunt Nota Anglica. Tom. ii., pp. 226. Cura C. K. DILLAWAY. et 1838. Perkins et Marvin.

Tom. i. pp. 229. Bostonia: 1837

ALL the above well chosen classics for the use of schools are beautifully, and as far as we can judge from a hasty reading, correctly printed from the text of Olivet and Ernesti. The form is very convenient for the purpose to which they are to be applied; the notes are sufficiently copious, and of the explanatory kind, most serviceable to young linguists; and the volumes in every respect highly creditable to both editor and publishers. There is no Latin prose writer whom we are more pleased to see made familiar among us than Cicero, and none of the works of Cicero more beautiful, instructive, and elevating, than those with which Mr. Dillaway has presented us. The morality of the Officia is as lofty as any morality, not christian, can be ; 'nothing in friendship was ever truer than the maxims of Lælius; nor any consolations of old age more philosophical than those which are made to fall from the lips of the elder Cato; nor any instructions in oratory better than those given in Cicero's three dialogues on that subject.