All the imaginations of the rationalists are demolished by the teachings of the Apostle John, and hence they are in mortal antagonism to him. John himself has given us a test by which we can very easily detect false teachers. "We are of God," he says, (I John iv: 6), "he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of the truth, and the spirit of error." So we know when to place those who do not accept the teachings of the apostles, and especially the teachings of John's gospel. The book before us represents a school of thought which seems to be growing, and those who wish to know how that school treats Christ may find out by reading this work of Prof. Stapfer. J. W. LAFFERTY. THE LEGIONARIES. By Henry Scott Clark. Pp. 385. Price $1.50. The Bowen-Merrill Co., Indianapolis. These are the days of many novels, some poor and some very good, and a man who attempts to read them all, will do little else. The best one can do is to read a few, and then learn from his friends and the reviewers about the others. Occasionally, however, one appears that no one ought to fail to read, and such is the novel whose name is given at the head of this article. It is a novel that will make more than a passing impression for several reasons. In the first place it is one of the best novels bearing upon our Civil War that has appeared, and then in addition to that fact, it shows decided literary merit. The author is unknown, but he is said to be a prominent judge of Indiana, which makes the book all the more remarkable, for though written by a Western man, it is an impartial story of the Southern side of the great struggle in its connection with Morgan's raid. A young Virginian moves with his father to southern Indiana just before the Civil War, and receives his education in France at one of the military schools. He returns at the beginning of the war, and though his mother refuses to leave his father's grave, who has died while he is absent, he enters the Confederate army and becomes one of Morgan's men. He follows him on his wonderful raid, but being captured he drops from the command and returns on a parole to his home. The book throws light on what is known as the "Copperhead Movement," explaining their motives, and relieving them from the charge of treason to the government. It also does full justice to Morgan, and must compel even his enemies to admire his boundless resources, his cheerful and undaunted courage, and the skill with which he led three thousand men over 500 miles through a hostile country, followed by generals and soldiers and opposed at every step by the aroused Home Guards, and only surrendering when the three thousand had dwindled to three hundred. The veterans of that war are passing away, but they owe it to their children to give them books that will teach them that the cause for which the South fought was a just one, and that the world's history has never yet produced a superior to the "man in gray," whether he trudged along the dusty roads of Virginia's great Valley, following Jackson, or rode gaily with plume and sabre following John Morgan to an unsung death. Gather up such books as these, and then in coming years the South will be justified of her children. J. R. B. MY LIFE AND TIMES. 1810-1899. John B. Adger, D. D. Presbyterian Committee of Publication. P. 681. Price, $3.00. Looked upon merely as a product of the bookmaker's art, this volume reflects great credit upon our Committee, for the binding is heavy and solid; the type is clear; and the paper, while heavy and white, is free from that peculiar glaze that plays havoc wiih weak eyes. It is, however, not so much of the book that we are speaking, as of the man portrayed in the book, a man who lived for eighty-nine years, and whose long life was as beautiful as a summer's day, and as pure as a mountain stream. Some may think that the writer is not the man to review such a book, yet a moment's thought ought to show that there is a peculiar fitness in it. If an old acquaintance were to undertake it, he might be accused of partiality, and thus his opinion would be impugned; but when a stranger to the man, the institution where he labored, and the very Synod where he spent his life, is moved to say that in all his reading he has never seen a pen-picture of a more beautiful life, these very facts add to the strength of his testimony. Sidney Smith claimed that he always reviewed a book first and read it afterward lest his judgment should be biased. In like manner the writer brings to the task no personal acquaintance whatever. To him this life is a sealed book, which he took up with no particular interest, but which grew on him rapidly, till he found himself reading into the small hours of the night, forgetful of time, and only thinking of the sincere and honest old gentleman of the Old School, whose life spanned nearly a century, and witnessed ecclesiastical controversies, wars and the founding a Church, that now covers the South, and has a large representation in the foreign field. The ancestry of Dr. J. B. Adger was Irish, and as he draws the character of his father, we cease to wonder at the character of the son. His earliest recollections begin with the war of 1812, or rather with its close, and taking that as a starting point, in a most delightfully natural way, he weaves together the gossip of his time and the experience of school boy days, till one almost imagines he is hearing some old man bringing up the past, with its old-time school-masters and its old-time customs. After a thorough training in the Charleston schools, he went North to school, and afterward to Union College, which was then presided over by Dr. Nott. While at college he was converted, and after leaving school he decided to prepare himself for the ministry. To that end he entered Princeton Seminary, where he was brought under the renewed influences of the Spirit. If he had received this blessing fifty or sixty years later, among the latter day saints, he might have been tempted to think he had received "the Second Blessing," but he merely looked upon it as it really was, as a rencwed manifestation of the same Spirit that first brought him out of darkness into light. His pen pictures of the Princeton men are very graphic. There were only three then, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Miller and Dr. Charles Hodge. What a distinctively college flavor that joke has in which he reports Dr. Alexander excusing himself for not taking exercise by saying, "Bodily exercise profiteth little." After leaving the Seminary he went to Armenia as a missionary, where he remained about thirteen years, doing excellent work as a translator during that time. As the slavery agitation and the extreme views of the Abolitionists began to effect the receipts of the Missionary Board, they gave the slaveholding missionaries to understand that their presence might endanger the contributions, so Dr. Adger concluded to devote himself to work among the slaves in his own land. What seems to us the right and Christian thing to do, met at first with great opposition in Charleston, owing to the fears of a negro insurrection and their former experiences of an attempted one, that it was hatched in a negro church. The Episcopal Church began a similar movement at the same time, but they met with little opposition. Before Dr. Adger could carry out his scheme, a mob threatened the building where it was proposed to hold services, and a public meeting was held where its feasibility was discussed. He carried his point finally, and for five years he gave his splendid abilities to the work, and when he laid it down Dr. Girardeau took it np. His war reminiscences are very interesting, though in places sad, and if any worshipper of the "Boys in Blue" does not wish his idols to be shattered, he would do well to skip this portion of the book. In a few pages, from his own personal observation, he gives descriptions of the pension drawers that place them among "Kirk's lambs." To the future historian and those who would know through what struggles our Church has passed, the chapters on "The Controversies" will be of great interest. He devotes much space to the Evolution Controversy, and upholds Dr. Woodrow in his position. Beginning the book as a stranger, we put it down with a feeling of regret that we did not know him in the flesh. When we think of Dabney, Witherspoon, Plumer, Hoge, Adger, Girardeau, and that host of mighty dead, we hear ringing in our ears the words of the old prophet, "Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?" J. R. B. Theological Seminary, RICHMOND VIRGINIA. SESSION OPENS LAST WEDNESDAY IN SEPTEMBER. SESSION CLOSES LAST WEDNESDAY IN MAY. FACULTY. THE REV. WALTER W. MOORE, D. D., LL. D., THE REV. CHARLES C. HERSMAN, D. D., LL. D., Prof. of Biblical Literature and the Interpretation of the Testament. THE REV. THOMAS C. JOHNSON, D. D., LL. D., THE REV. THOMAS R. ENGLISH, D. D., THE REV. GIVENS B. STRICKLER, D. D., LL. D., For catalogue, or other information as to course of study, rooms, etc., apply to Dr. ENGLISH, Clerk of Faculty and Intendant, Richmond, Va. |