confidence in man; not because of innate suspicion that he may prove false, but that faith is voluntary and coercive; and though it may increase till apparently nothing can shake it, yet it is possible to withdraw it. But in the unchangeable promises of God there is a surer trust than anything earthly deserves, and the soul reposes with peculiar confidence in them; yet the belief is voluntary, and may by disobedience be destroyed. Were earthly friendship or love to God involuntary emotions, the one could never be broken nor the other fail. But it being otherwise, effort is needed to maintain both. "By the exercise of an emotion it becomes easier to exercise it again, and by disuse the power to use it is diminished. This admitted, there is cause for confidence with the pious, as every effort at obedience but the better fits them for duty. So considering the traveller to eternity as making each act of faith and obedience a remove in the direction of heaven, and at the same time a like remove from destruction, the pilgrimage of the pious becomes exciting and hopeful, or harrowing and doubtful. The last step must be taken that effects deliverance or ruin. All have their faces Zionward, or are hastening toward destruction. Each of us is now at some point in this way to life or death!" We hope that this thoughtful and discriminating book may find many readers. (54.) "A Theodicy; or, Vindication of the Divine Glory, as Manifested in the Constitution and Government of the Moral World. By ALBERT TAYLOR BLEDSOE, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in the University of Mississippi." (New-York: Carlton & Phillips; 1853; 8vo., pp. 365.) A mere notice can do no justice to a work so important and valuable as this. The title reveals the greatness of the author's undertaking-nothing less than a reëxamination of the problem which has baffled both metaphysics and theology for ages. We can only now indicate the author's outline. The introduction treats of the possibility of a Theodicy, showing that the failure of Plato, Leibnitz, and others, is not properly a ground of despair; and that the attempt is justified by what we know of the moral universe and of the nature of the human mind. The work is, then, divided into two parts, of which the FIRST shows that "the existence of moral evil is consistent with the holiness of God." This topic is treated in seven chapters, whose titles are as follows: "Chap. I. The scheme of necessity denies that man is responsible for the existence of sin; Chap. II. The scheme of necessity makes God the author of sin; Chap. III. The scheme of necessity denies the reality of moral distinctions: Chap. IV. The moral world not constituted according to the scheme of necessity; Chap. V. The relation between the human will and the divine agency; Chap. VI. The existence of moral evil, or sin, reconciled with the holiness of God; Chap. VII. Objections considered." The SECOND PART shows that "the existence of natural evil, or suffering, is consistent with the goodness of God." This is treated in five chapters, as follows: "Chap. I. God desires and seeks the salvation of all men; Chap. II. Natural evil, or suffering, and especially the suffering of infants, reconciled with the goodness of God; Chap. III. The sufferings of Christ reconciled with the goodness of God; Chap. IV. The eternal punishment of the wicked reconciled with the goodness of God; Chap. V. The dispensation of the divine favours reconciled with the goodness of God." The author gives, in conclusion, a summary view of the principles and advantages of the whole system. FOURTH SERIES, VOL V.-39 Mr. Bledsoe writes clearly and well. His style is more popular than has been usual in discussions of this sort, so that his book, while it will necessarily draw the attention of the deepest thinkers, is yet adapted to the perusal of all cultivated readers. We shall return to it again, for a fuller examination, as soon as possible. (55.) "Handbuch des Methodismus, von LUDWIG S. JACOBY." (Bremen: 1853; 12mo., pp. 388.) This work, prepared by our excellent missionary superintendent at Bremen, is designed to furnish the German nations of Europe with a better and more accurate knowledge of Methodism than has heretofore been diffused among them. It is divided into four parts: first, a brief history of Methodism from the beginning up to the present time, (pp. 1-198;) second, an account of the doctrines of the Church, (pp. 199–294 ;) third, the Church government of Methodism, (pp. 295-354;) fourth, the peculiar usages of Methodism, (pp. 356-388.) It is precisely such a compendium as is needed in Germany; and we should think it admirably adapted, also, for circulation among the Germans in this country. The work is not a translation, but is conscientiously and skilfully prepared from the original sources. We rejoice to see our system set forth before the scholars and Christians of Germany in a book so clear, sensible, and judicious. (56.) Of the following serials, sermons, &c., we regret that we can give nothing more than the titles: Catalogue of White-Water College, Centreville, Indiana, 1852-3. Anniversary Address before the Union Missionary Society, in the University of Michigan, delivered at Ann Arbor, June 26th, 1853, by Professor E. O. Haven. Catalogue of Danville Seminary, 1852-3. Anniversary Address of the Freehold Young Ladies' Seminary, by Robert Davidson, D. D. Catalogue of the Albion Female Institute and Western Seminary, 1852-3. First Annual Report of the New-York Young Men's Christian Association, presented May 16, 1853. First Annual Report of the People's Washing and Bathing Association, 1853. Thirty-Seventh Anniversary Address of the American Bible Society. Thirty-First Report of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Ecclesiastical Opposition to the Bible: a Serial Sermon. By Thomas H. Stockton. Thirty-Third Annual Report of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, 1853. The Cross of Christ. By Davis W. Clark, D. D. Letters respecting the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the American Tract Society. By W. Jay. ART. IX.-INTELLIGENCE. Theological and Religious. EUROPEAN. WE have received the second part of Reuss's "Geschichte der Heiligen Schriften Neuen Testaments," (Braunschweig, 1853, Svo., pp. 586,) completing the work. This second edition is brought down to the latest period, and affords the best compendium of the history of the literature of the New Testament of which we are aware. Like all other German books, it is most deficient in that part which treats of the works of English and American writers, of whom the author frankly confesses his ignorance. Die Auslegung des Vaterunser, von G. C. R. MATTHAEI," (Gottingen: 1853; Svo., pp. 162,) is an interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, offered as an illustration and application of what the author calls the "highest principle of New Testament hermeneutics." According to his view, there never has been a satisfactory exegesis of the New Testament, and never can be, without the application of this principle; which is the interpreting Christ's word according to Christ's own self-consciousness, 1. As to God-Father -Son and Spirit; 2. As to Revelation, the Messiah, and the Future Life. A critique is afforded of the various interpretations of the Lord's Prayer, given by the allegorical, the rationalistic, and the supernatural interpreters, and each is shown to be defective. Certainly we have found no German writer of late years SO straightforward, clear, and trenchant. Matthai is a moderate Hegelian, we believe-at least we should infer so from this acute book. A NEW volume of "Theological Essays," (London, 1 vol., 8vo.,) by Professor Maurice, has just appeared. Its contents are as follows: 1. On Charity; 2. On Sin; 3. On the Evil Spirit; 4. On the Sense of Righteousness in Men, and their Discovery of a Redeemer; 5. On the Son of God; 6. On the Incarnation; 7. On the Atonement; 8. On the Resurrection of the Son of God from Death, the Grave, and Hell; 9. On Justification by Faith; 10. On Regeneration; 11. On the Ascension of Christ; 12. On the Judgment-Day; 13. On Inspiration; 14. On the Personality and Teaching of the Holy Spirit; 15. On the Unity of the Church; 16. On the Trinity in Unity; Conclusion, on Eternal Life and Eternal Death. DORNER'S" Lehre von der Person Christi," though incomplete, is the most thorough and learned treatise on the doctrine of the Person of Christ that has yet appeared in any language. We are glad to see another volume announced as ready in Berlin, containing the history of the doctrine of the Trinity from the fifth century up to the time of the Reformation. The concluding volume of the work is promised before January, 1854. WE have received the first number of Herzog's "Real-Encyclopedie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche," (Stutgard, 1853, 8vo.) The work is intended to form a complete cyclopedia of the sciences connected with theology, and has among the names of its collaborators a number of the most eminent men in Germany, namely, Ullmann, Tholuck, Umbreit, Hagenbach, Gieseler, Müller, and others. It is to appear in monthly parts, ten to form a volume, and the whole work to be completed in about ten volumes royal 8vo. The part before us contains eighty pages, and extends down to the word Abraxas. THE election of a new General of the Jesuits is matter of interest to the entire ecclesiastical world. The late General ROOTHAN was perhaps the ablest head the Society was ever ruled by. Endowed with a mind of singular acuteness, he was a man also of great acquirements and skill and the recent revival of Jesuitism in all lands is due mainly to his distinguished genius and industry. It is said that during the later years of his life he was not only General of his Order, but de facto Pope. It was also Roothan who authorized, presided over, and conducted to a successful issue, a scheme for adapting the course of studies in Jesuit schools to the actual requirements of the age, proceeding in the spirit of Dr. Wiseman's book on the connexion between science and religion. In other words, it was he who guided Jesuitism into its present position of educational power, and made it possible for the successors of the men who imprisoned Galileo to exhibit themselves as teachers and advocates of modern science. The new General is PETER BECKS, a Belgian, and the third of that nation who has been counted among the successors of Ignatius. He is said to have (exoterically) as strong an admiration for saintish fables as Father Newman, and quite able to nourish the infatuated youth of this generation who go over to Rome to satisfy their morbid appetite. He can give them legend and falsification to their heart's content. He was born February 8th, 1795, and entered into the Order October 29, 1819. He subsequently filled the Rectorate of the Seminary at Löwen, and afterward the government of the Order in the Province of Austria. According to the New-York Tribune, "his character, his talents, his tried discretion in the most delicate emergencies, are a guarantee that he will prove a worthy successor to the distinguished Father Roothan. He was elected with great unanimity by the General Congregation, and his accession to office is hailed by the Society of Jesuits as giving promise of the richest fruits for the benefit of their Order." The same account states that the General Congregation which made the election was the twenty-second since the establishment of the Order, and consisted of fifty-two members-fifteen from the department of Italy, with the provinces of Rome, Naples, Sicily, Turin and Venice,-nine from France, including the provinces of Paris, Lyons, and Toulouse,-twenty from the department of Germany, with the provinces of Germany, England, Austria, Belgium, Gallicia, Holland and Maryland, and three from Spain. The number was completed by the addition of Father Pierling, the Vicar General, and one assistant from each department. The solemnities are opened by the cele bration of mass by the vicar, after which the whole company of members of the Order present, with a crucifix borne before them, and singing the Veni Creator, walk in procession to the hall designated by the vicar, which, after the members have entered, is closed and guarded by some of the members selected for the purpose. The electors fast on bread and water, and are not allowed to leave the hall until the choice is decided. One of the members, appointed by the congregation, admonishes them in a Latin discourse, to keep a single eye to the glory of God and the benefit of their Order in making the choice. Each member then receives a card, on which he writes, in a disguised hand, the name of his candidate, adding his signature in a way that it shall not be read by those who count the ballots. After all the members have prepared their votes and returned to their seats, the vicar, the private secretary, and the assistant, take the following oath to make true declaration of the votes: "I call God to witness, from whom nothing is concealed, that I will truly receive and declare the votes, and will perform my duty with pure purpose. I also swear, in the view of the Divine Majesty and of the whole Order, that I will admit no one who has not a right to be admitted, and I will exclude no one who ought not to be excluded." The private secretary then turns to the vicar, with the words, "My father, give your vote in the name of Jesus Christ." The vicar rises, kneels before the crucifix, makes the sign of the cross, and takes the oath which is inscribed on the back of each ballot. I take Jesus Christ, who is Eternal Wisdom, to witness that I choose for the General-in-Chief of the Society of Jesus, him whom I regard as the fittest for the office." Then rising, he deposits his vote in the urn, showing it to the assistant. He then salutes the crucifix, returns to his seat, and says to the secretary, the assistant, and the members generally, "Let each now give his vote in order." The provincials sit on the right, the other members on the left, according to the date of their admission into the Order. When the members, in accordance with their oath, have all given their votes, the secretary takes them from the urn, counts them aloud, and hands them one after the other to the vicar, who examines them and reads them aloud, or causes the seeretary to read them, giving only the name of the candidate, and concealing that of the voter. After all the votes are thus announced, if any one has more than half, he is elected. Otherwise, they proceed to a new balloting, which may be repeated four or five times, but after the fifth trial it is optional to continue the balloting, or to enter into a compromise. In the last case, electors are chosen from each department by an absolute majority, who elect the General by a simple plurality, being limited, however, to candidates who have received at least three votes on the former trials. The choice being determined, the vicar announces it. unless it has fallen upon himself, and in that case it is declared by the secretary, who makes out the decree, which receives The whole comvicar first, then the seal of the Society. pany of the fathers, the the secretary, pay their respects to the new General, kneeling and kissing his hand. If the choice has fallen on a person out of the congregation, but present in the city, the assembly do not leave the hall until they have called him into their presence and paid him their fealty. If he is at the distance of eight or ten days' journey, he is sent for, the congregation suspending their labours until his arrival. It is not permitted to decline the choice. After the act of obedience, the father who has charge of the keys of the hall, announces that the election is completed, the ballots are burned, and the congregation return in procession to the church, singing the "Benedictus Dominus," when a Te Deum is performed, and the usual prayer said to the Holy Trinity and the Virgin. The election of Father Becks took place at Rome on the 2d of July. The following votes were cast:Very Rev. Father Becks Very Rev. Father Pierling, VicarGeneral .. ...... 35 10 THE thirty-seventh volume of the "Library of the Fathers," (published by J. H. Parker, London,) contains the translation of St. Augustine on the Psalms, Vol. V. TAUCHNITZ, of Leipsic, has just published "Canones et Decreta Concilii Tridentini ex Editione Romana A. MDCCCXXXIV Repetiti. Accedunt S. Congr. Card. Conc. Trid. Interpretum Declarationes Ac Resolutiones ex Ipso Declarationum Thesauro Bullario Romano et Benedicti XIV. S. P. Operibus et Constitutiones Pontificia Recentiores ad jus Commune Spectantes E Bullario Romano Selectæ. Assumpto Socio FRIDERICO SCHULTE, J. U. D. Edidit EMILIUS LUDOVICUS RICHTER, J. U. D. Et In Lit. Univ. Berol. Prof. Publ. Ord." The work is published in imperial 8vo., and costs, in this country, about $4 50. IF it be true, as a recent earnest and well-informed writer remarks, that the GREEK CHURCH is eventually destined, chiefly through the power of Russia, "to regain the whole of the Græco-Eastern Empire, and even to cover Asia, and extend to the uttermost shores of the East ern and Southern Ocean," the present character and condition of that Church becomes matter of the gravest interest. Great attention has been paid to the subject of late, and the following works are among its fruits, namely:-" Dissertations on Subjects Relating to the Orthodox' or Eastern-Catholic' Communion. By W. Palmer, M. A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. 1 vol., 8vo.:History of the Holy Eastern Church. By the Rev. J. M. Neale, M. A. General Introduction. I. Its Geography. II. Its Ecclesiology. III. Its Liturgies, &c. In two large volumes, demy 8vo. :-Appendix to the Introduction to the Holy Eastern Church: containing a List of all the Sees in the Holy Eastern Church, with the Names of the Possessors as they existed in 1848. Translated from the original Russ, with Notes. By the same Author: The History of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, from its Foundation, A. D. 44, to the death of Hierotheus, 1846. By the same Author. 2 vols., demy 8vo. :The Doctrine of the Russian Church, being the Primer or Spelling Book, the Shorter and Larger Catechisms, and a Treatise on the Duty of Parish Priests. Translated from the Slavonic-Russian Originals, by the Rev. R. W. Blackmore, M. A., formerly Chaplain in Cronstadt. Demy 8vo. :-A Harmony of Anglican Doctrine, with the Doctrine of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East, which may serve as an Appendix to the volume entitled, The Doctrine of the Russian Church,' recently published by the same Author, Demy 8vo. :-A History of the Church of Russia. By A. N. Mouravieff, Chamberlain to His Majesty, and Under-Procurator of the Most Holy governing Synod, St. Petersburgh, translated by the same Author. Devotions Enjoined by the Holy Eastern Church, (pamphlet.)" "Lehrbuch der Katechetik, zugleich eine Apologie des Katechetischen Lehrverfahrens, von G. I. PLATO, Professor zu Leipzig." (Leipzig, 1853, 12mo., pp. 367.) This book is a repertory of valuable information on the subject of catechization, arranged in a clear and scientific order. A BRIEF treatise, exhibiting a parallel view of the theological systems of Romanism and Protestantism, is a desideratum in the English language. A valuable manual, in German, lies before us, entitled "Das Bekenntniss der Evangelischen Kirche in seinem Verhältniss zu dem der Römischen und Griechischen, von Dr. A. HAHN, Professor zu Breslau." (Leipzig, |