at work this would be impossible-but to point out certain tendencies in the active mind of the day, which seem to be leading towards a common result. In this sketch, we have been guided by a few simple principles. First, it has not seemed best to repeat the often told history of recent philosophical systems. We have regarded them simply as parts of a far wider whole, and as indications of the spirit we were in search of. Next, we have sought our materials, not in the past generation, but in our ownlooking as near as possible to the edge of the opening scroll of time following as closely as possible the margin of the waters that are slowly creeping up the beach; and being led, in consequence, to study our subject in intercourse with living minds, and in the crude and miscellaneous materials which no written system or history of philosophy has embodied or recognized, but which serve our purpose by showing the various forms of mental activity that characterize our age. And lastly, we have surveyed all, not as the advocates of any human system, but from the ground of common sense and common Christianity; reading in all, the action of some universal spirit, and hints towards the working out of God's truth; seeking to be just to all, to show where it was possible the germs of truth, and, in general, to avoid prejudice or censure, and to point out rather the part which each mode of living thought is performing, towards the attainment of the final and grand result.

Looking with this spirit upon the present, we have sought, however imperfectly we must have succeeded, to see the true position of the human mind. From the smallest to the most vast and comprehensive, we see that philosophy embraces every subject of human thought and interest. It is the most dignified and solemn language of the soul of man; and coming, as it must, to be regarded as that addressed by the greatest minds to the whole, and thought becoming thus of universal interest, the dignity and value of philosophy, as the interpreter of truth and the guide of life, must be continually increasing.

In the dim and remote possibilities of the future, the question seems to rise up before us, may not the result of so much labor expended in every form of thought, be brought to bear on the well-being of each? May not all

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truth, speculative and practical, be so moulded into unity, as to act with its full force on the life of every man ; just as the student or philosopher inherits the result of past ages of intellectual toil, and in daily life we reap, though imperfectly, the fruits of the wisdom and labor of our fathers? At least, while this is the end proposed, can progress ever stop?

And now, looking back once more over the field we have surveyed, we look forward again with joy and hope. We cannot shut our eyes to the obstacles which cramp and fetter the march of truth; which to some minds may perhaps seem to set at nought all the signs of good we have been pointing out. Enough there is, truly, of error, falsehood, bigotry, skepticism, mockery, indifference, and Epicurean selfishness, false political and social maxims, treachery, fraud, injustice, violence, oppression, meanness, heartlessness and sin. But, with the experience of the past for our inheritance, and with the precepts of Divine wisdom for our guide, we fear not for man. God is leading him on still, as he led Israel for forty years in the wilderness. "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?"

Yet our trust is not a blind reliance on the power of truth, or the goodness of Providence. "Truth is mighty, and shall prevail." But she is mighty as the inspirer of man's thought, and the quickener of man's action. She is mighty, because God has created the human soul, faltering, weak and often false though it be, yet with a capacity for truth, and a love of it. And the heart of man goes forth to welcome the truth, as her coming is proclaimed by prophets and holy men and the inspired ones of the race; and her tokens man binds upon him, and pledges himself to her sacred cause, and bears her spotless shield, and in the face of tyranny, error, and wrong, goes on valiantly to fight the battle of God, freedom, and humanity.

The spirit of our age speaks out in many a noble heart and free soul. Men everywhere join hands and hearts in the cause of truth; bearing up together the ark of her sanctuary through the rushing waters, rejoicing together at VOL. XXXVII. - 4TH S. VOL. II. NO. II.

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every new step of her triumphant march. The age is earnest, and its voice is strong; and it is looking out confidently into the future with glad and prophetic hope. As in the life of the man, so in the life of the race, we trace the conflict and alternate victory of right and wrong. Thought fights its way through doubts, and advances by a succession of spiritual triumphs. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now;" yet in hope of deliverance. And as, in the fancy of some modern reformer, the pale flashes of the northern lights are the mute sighing and aspiration of suffering nature after the heaven that is shut out from it, so the spirit of the age, the great soul of humanity, is reaching earnestly forward to a good and a glory yet unattained. Our age has given strong utterance to this hope; and in every form of living thought we still hear the prophet-voice that calls us to labor for the future. Prophets may wait long, and the world may wonder why they wait; "yet is their hope full of immortality."

J. H. A.

ART. II. SKETCHES OF THE REFORMERS.*

A BIOGRAPHICAL as well as historical interest belongs to the memorable periods in the world's annals. If, when we look at the threefold province of history, as concerned with events, with men, and with opinions, we pronounce the last its highest department, we certainly shall not regard the second as the lowest. What interest indeed have events for the philosophical observer, except as they reveal the character of agents or the progress of the race? But besides the general stamp of humanity which must be borne on the historian's page, those periods which are signalized by the most remarkable occurrences are also most deeply impressed by the traits of individual character. The men of an age and the events of an age correspond

* Sketches of the Lives and Characters of the Leading Reformers of the Sixteenth Century. Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Socinus, Cranmer, Knox. By EDWARD TAGART, F. S. A., Minister of the Chapel in Little Portland Street, Regent Street. London. 1843. 8vo. pp. 168.

to one another. Often it is difficult to say, whether we owe the age to the men, or the men to the age. Always do we see their mutual dependence and reciprocal action.

Of no point in the history of the world are these remarks more obviously true than of the era of the Reformation, which called forth protest and Protestantism from the bosom of the Romish Church. The men who led on that movement were suited to the time, and in return the time formed the men. We do not see such men now. We sometimes fall in with a poor imitation of their character, a man of the nineteenth century who tries hard to remind us of Luther or Knox; but the comparison which he is anxious to invite is fatal to his pretensions. The actors in the great Protestant Reformation had a bearing, as well as a work, of their own. We cannot mistake them as we look through the ages. There they stand, the objects of an admiration that marks them, while it numbers them among the great ones of the earth.

And yet there was a singular variety of character among those champions of the true cause. How unlike were they, while each seemed to fill the place for which he was needed in a common enterprise. We have often thought that the Reformation constitutes a dramatic period in the flow of the world's affairs, as complete in the parts performed by the different actors as it is perfect in the unity of its subject. Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Melancthon-to say nothing of others less prominent in position or less decided in opinion, nothing of those who, like Erasmus, remained in the Communion of Rome, though at heart Reformers, and who by retaining their connexion with that Church gave a greater breadth to the drama we are contemplatingtaking only those four whom we have named, how different were they from each other. Luther, impetuous, violent, strong as the surges of the German ocean, yet generous, noble-hearted, and true. Calvin, despotic, narrow, and possessing few of the gentler sensibilities, but thoughtful, studious, and inflexible. Zwingle, wise, laborious, patriotic, and liberal. Melancthon, whose moderation was at once his fault and his glory, who seldom loses our respect, and never our love. Not one of these could have been spared. They occupied different posts in the same onset upon ecclesiastical power and theological error, and

they exhibited the relation of the new faith to the wants of different classes of mind; showing how great was the need of reformation, when it was welcomed by such various intellectual and moral sympathies.

The Reformers of the sixteenth century were not faultless men. They had great faults. Rome need not try to blacken their memories; the truth leaves stains enough upon the characters of some of them. We find it hard to call Calvin a good man. Still they were all extraordinary men, and the least worthy of admiration among them all possessed traits which may claim for him respectful mention, as well as rendered services which entitle him to grateful remembrance. History needs not to exaggerate their virtues, as it should not attempt to hide their defects.

It is for the calm tone of justice in which they are written, that we like Mr. Tagart's "Sketches of the Leading Reformers." They lay no special claim to praise for their literary execution, though they lack not the merit of a graceful style of composition. They enter into no historical inquiries, or critical discussions. They are precisely what the title indicates-sketches of the lives and characters of six very remarkable men, whose influence upon Christian opinion is felt in our day, and must be felt to the end of time. The volume contains six Discourses delivered in the chapel of which the writer is the minister, with a few pages of Notes subsequently prepared. The discourses should therefore be examined in view of their original purpose, as designed for the instruction of a promiscuous audience, and as intended to present within the compass of a single lecture such an account of the individual who is the subject of remark as would convey the most instruction to an audience of this kind. Under this view they must certainly be considered successful and useful productions. To the scholar they may appear superficial, or to those who read only for entertainment may seem to be deficient in liveliness; but they who are not familiar with the history of early Protestantism, and who desire just the information which without labor on their part shall give them an insight into the most important movement of modern times, as seen in those by whom it was guided, may find both pleasure and advantage in the perusal of these "Sketches." Some surprise may at first