but at other times they cover more ground than the discussion which they introduce; sometimes too, the discussions might have gained in force by being restricted in range. Still, the author has confined himself to "Bible thoughts and themes," and writes with the intent to instruct and bless mankind.

THE EARLIER YEARS OF OUR LORD'S LIFE ON EARTH *-In this first of a series of six volumes, Dr. Hanna makes a valuable contribution to the large list of works devoted to Jesus and his life on earth. Writing in a style remarkably fresh and spirited, without any parade of learning, and having the advantage of personal familiatity with many of the localities mentioned in the gospel history, he has been very successful in giving vivid sketches of events familiar to every reader of the Bible. Should the remainder of the series be executed in the same way, we think the work, while open to criticism in details, will deserve to be put in the foremost rank of popular presentations of the life of Christ.

It is, of course, a mere slip of the pen when the author allows himself to say (page 123) that Jesus "had no earthly parent;" but it is an obvious, perhaps a common misapprehension of the text, when he cites the aged Simeon's words, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," as an "expression of his desire." (page 63.) The nunc dimittis is surely not a prayer. Dr. Hanna contradicts himself, as well as the scripture, when he affirms (page 118) that when Joseph and Mary went up with Jesus to the passover, they had not been in Jerusalem since the time when they presented him as an infant in the temple. The hypothesis that Simon was the son Alphaeus, and that he was called the Canaanite [Cananite] because of his connection with the village of Cana, are altogether, too farfetched and improbable to support any conjecture concerning the family for whose sake Jesus changed the water into wine. Some such blemishes as these excite the wish that the work had received a more thorough revision, by which it would have gained in accuracy without losing in popularity.

The Earlier Years of our Lord's Life on Earth. By the REV. WILLIAM HANNA, DD., LLD., [D.D., LL.D.] New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 530 Broadway. 1870. 12mo. pp. 400.

THE FAMILY AND THE CHURCH.*—The Position of Father Hyacinthe, in relation to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church, is so conspicuous, every help to a knowledge of the man and of his principles is important. Inasmuch as he has never been an author of books or pamphlets, those who would become acquainted with him, and cannot hear him, are compelled to accept the reports (generally imperfect and fragmentary, though sometimes revised by himself) of his spoken discourses. A volume of such reported discourses, hastily collected but carefully translated, was com mended to our readers in the last Number of the New Englander. Another volume is now before the public; and in its contents it is the complement rather than the orderly sequel of its predecessor. In the first volume, we have the fourth of the five courses of Advent conferences, that on the relations of Christianity to Civil Society on the State. The present volume gives us the third of those courses, and the fifth,-on Domestic Society or "the Family," and on Religious Society or "the Church." It contains, also, the memorable speech at Malines on "the education of the working classes," and a brief tribute to the memory of Bishop Baudry, who had been his teacher in theology, and whom he honors as his spiritual father. A spirited and well informed essay on "Father Hyacinthe and his Church," by the Hon. John Bigelow (reprinted from Putnam's Magazine), forms an appropriate Introduction; and Bishop Dupanloup's Letter to his clergy against the dogma of Papal Infallibility is given as an appendix. The two volumes contain everything that Father Hyacinthe has written or revised for publication.

It has been given out, on we know not what authority, that the great preacher has been released by the Pope from the monastic vows that bound him to the Carmelite order, and has been restored to the ranks of the secular clergy; and from this it has been inferred that, by some surrender of the principles professed in his letter to the General of his Order, he has made a dishonorable peace with his adversaries at Rome. We have no private or special information which authorizes us to contradict the story;

* The Family and the Church. Advent Conferences of Notre Dame, Paris. 1866-7, 1868-9. By the Rev. Father HYACINTHE, late Superior of the Barefooted Carmelites of Paris. Edited by LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON. With an Introduction by JOHN Bigelow, Esq., late Minister of the United States at the Court of France. New York: G. P. Putnam & Son.

but we will venture to say that whatever else may be true, the author of the two volumes has not so humbled himself as to accept the "doctrines and practices which call themselves Roman but are not Christian," and that, if Pius IX. has relieved him. from excommunication and restored him to a standing in the secular priesthood, that restoration is because of some very significant hint from the emperor of the French, or rather from the very liberal statesman who is just now governing at Paris in the name of the emperor. The story of Father Hyacinthe is not ended. If he lives he will be heard of in the great conflict which is soon to shake the Roman Catholic nations. The author of these discourses, and especially of the speech on "The Education of the working classes," cannot be silent long at such a crisis.

The great conflict of the present time--after the conflict between the Supernaturalism of Christianity and the mere Naturalism of unbelieving science-is that between Spiritual Christianity and Formalism. In the Roman Catholic Church, Formalism predominates. In Protestant communions, it takes the shape and bears the name, just now, of Ritualism. On one side is a religion of faith, of love, of spiritual communion with the one invisible and infinite object of worship, and of joy in the help of an unseen and ever living Saviour-a religion which grounds itself on the great objective truths of the Christian revelation. On the other side is a religion which lives and has its being in outward institutions, which works by sacerdotal manifestations, which makes much of costumes and attitudes, and which rejoices in the stageeffect of imposing ceremonies-a hierarchical religion investing its priests with dominion over the conscience by setting them as mediators between the soul and God. Those who would know on which side Father Hyacinthe is found, and is likely to be found, in the conflict between Formalism and Spiritual religion, may satisfy themselves by reading in this volume the discourses on the Church-particularly the first, on "The Church Universal," and the last, on "The Conflict between the Letter and the Spirit in the Jewish Church.”

PATER MUNDI.*-The author of "Ecce Colum" could not well be expected to write a dull book on any subject, much less one in which God and Nature were the chief topic. But whether he could be able to clothe the skeleton of a two-volume argument for Theism--often so dry and grim in other hands-with the flesh and muscle, the life and beauty, that charm us in " Parish Astronomy," could only be shown conclusively by the production of a work like that before us. Pater Mundi, though from the nature of the subject not likely to be so generally popular as Ecce Colum, will, nevertheless, by the glow and magnetism of its rhetoric, and the enthusiastic earnestness of its tone, as well as the strength of its argument, br sure to command every where appreciative and admiring readers, and prove, we trust, of special value to those who are inclined to regard science as hostile to religion. The author affects, however, no judicial impartiality in conducting his argument, but purposely throws himself into it with all the feeling and earnestness of an advocate anxious to carry a point. It is in this magnetic glow, indeed, that the strength of the book chiefly lies. The logic of it could be put in a nutshell. But that logic is vitalized and made effective by the force and richness of the illustrations drawn from the various fields of science. It is these all glowing, often with poetic fervor, that rivet the attention at once, and carry the reader insensibly on from topic to topic. In some of the lectures, indeed, the argument assumes the elevation and almost the form of a grand poem. The sixth, for example, like a sublime ode, returns, strophe by strophe, with each point made in the argument, to the same exultant chorus, which becomes at once a quod erat demonstrandum to the understanding, and an inspiration of faith to the heart.

The second volume promises to be even more attractive than the first; for it is to be still more replete with the marvels and sublimities of the sciences, as illustrative of the argument. We welcome the work, then, as a valuable contribution to Natural Theology, especially for general readers. It is too much forgotten by many that God may be studied in flower and forest, in storm and star, and in the soul of man, as well as in Moses and the pro

* Pater Mundi; or, Modern Science testifying to the Heavenly Father. Being in substance lectures delivered to senior classes in Amherst College. By the REV. E. F. BURR, D.D., author of "Ecce Colum." In two volumes. Vol. I. Boston: Nichols and Noyes, No. 117 Washington Street. 1870. 8vo. pp. 294.

phets. The glowing pages of Pater Mundi teach impressively that the God of Revelation is the God of Nature as well.

The title sufficiently indicates the general scope and object of the work. There are eight lectures in this volume. Having heard most of them as delivered, and since read them with added interest, we can cordially reccommend the work as one that will be found both interesting and instructive. Its general boldness and originality of style may be inferred from its striking dedication:

"To the HEAVENLY FATHER to whom we dedicate our Sabbaths, our Sanctuaries, and ourselves, THESE VOLUMES, in illustration of his being and greatness, are reverently inscribed."

In

IMMORTALITY.*-Perowne's Four Sermons on Immortality treat the subject within narrow limits in a far more comprehensive and many-sided way than is common even with theological lecturers. The Lectures are entitled-The Future Life. The Hope of the Gentile. The Hope of the Jew. The Hope of the Christian. the first, the modern theories are satisfactorily, though, of necessity, not very exhaustively discussed, in the three forms of scientific materialism, philosophical pantheism, and necromantic spiritualism. In the second, are expounded the conceptions of the future life which were taught and held respectively by the Egyptian, the Greek, and the Oriental. In the third, the Hope of the Jew is discussed at length, and in this is examined with some care and scholarship the oft mooted questions, how far a tuture life was revealed to the Hebrews by their prophets and inspired teachers, and how fully and distinctly they recognized such a life in their practical faith. We cannot say these questions are as sharply discriminated as we fancy they might and ought to be, but we find some very good thoughts upon each. The Hope of the Christian, or the Christian doctrine of the future life, is the theme of the last lecture. This hope is made to rest on two facts, the Resurrection of Christ and the inner life of the spirit, and is confirmed by the consideration of the analogies of Nature. The discussions of all these topics indicate a mind fully alive to the questions of the times, and accustomed to thorough and independent investigation. While, as we have said, they are neither

Immortality. Four Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge. Being the Hulsean Lectures for 1868. By J. J. STEWART PEROWNE, B. D., VicePrincipal and Professor of Hebrew in St. Davids College, Lampeter, etc., etc New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. 1870.