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Sermons by the late Rev. David Welsh, D.D. With a Memoir, by A. DUNLOP, Esq., Advocate. Edinburgh: W. P. Kennedy. 1846.

This volume will require a separate article. To neither the memoir nor the sermons could we do justice in less; and as we have only had time to finish the reading of the former and to commence the latter, we find it impossible to do more than merely advertise their publication, and very cordially recommend them to the notice of our readers, till we are able to return to them and consider them more at length.

Israel's Sins and Israel's Hopes; being Lectures delivered during Lent, 1846. By Twelve Clergymen of the Church of England. London: Nisbet & Co.

1846.

A valuable volume; but having only had time to glance at it, we are unable to be more particular. The names, however, of the Lecturers are sufficient to recommend it.

The Tabernacle of Moses, Spiritually and Practically Considered, in Sixteen Discourses. By the Rev. WILLIAM MUDGE, B.A. Rector of Pertenhall. Second Edition. London: J. Nisbet & Co.

Every scribe which is instructed into the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which brought forth out of his treasure things new and old." Upon this principle the author proceeds, in opening up to his people the truths he found in the Tabernacle.

His work is one of the best of its kind. It gives an interesting and solid Scriptural exposition of truths laid up for us in the "Tabernacle;" "the Ark of the Covenant;" "the Table of Shewbread;" "the Candlestick;" "the Vail;" "the Altar;" "the Olive Oil;" the Priesthood;" "the Loaves;" "the Manna;" "the Silver Trumpets;" and a few more articles of the Mosaic ritual.

There is no Puseyism lurking in this volume, but, on the contrary, a store of Protestant and vital truths may be found.

We do not think the writer always successful in what he thinks he finds in particular types; and occasionally the style lacks correctness; but the merits of the work throughout are substantial. No Bible reader, to whom the word of God is "sweeter than honey and the honey-comb," can fail to be refreshed in perusing these pages. And why is it that we so seldom explore the pastures on which Christ's flock fed in ancient days? Are they not still green? Why do we act as if we had forgotten the teaching of our Shorter Catechism, "the word of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old as well as the New Testament," are our rule to direct us to "glorify and enjoy God?"

Songs for Wayfarers. By the Rev. J. C. FAIRBAIRN. Edinburgh: J. Johnstone, 1846.

Wayfaring men we are; experiencing each day the weariness, the danger, the hunger and the thirst, of the wayfarer. We are strangers on the earth as all our fathers have been. We are thankful to have our way cheered with melody,-melody which ever sounds in our ears like greet

ings from home. We are still more thankful to have songs put into our lips, that with them we may beguile the tedious toilsome way. And therefore we are glad to meet with one who, like the author here, can solace us with a song. He has given us a very pleasant little volume,— one in which there is much not only of the spirit of the pilgrim, but of the mind of Christ. It will, we trust, prove a refreshment to many.

Spiritual Songs; respectfully dedicated to the Members of the Evangelical Alliance. London: J. Nisbet & Co., 1846.

This is a thin 8vo, of sixty-four pages, beautifully printed, and externally most attractive. One opens it with pleasure, and not a little prepossession in its favour. And truly there is much in it to fulfil the expectation. Several of the hymns are beautiful, and all of them of a superior cast. The only one which we positively dislike, is that to the Holy Spirit, in which there are expressions with which we cannot sympathise. It is quite Scriptural to address the Spirit as "the Dove;" but to go on addressing him as "Royal Bird," "Bird of Glory," is not so. As we have thus condemned one hymn, let us do our author the justice of printing another at full length. There are others equal to it; but we like it, and it may be useful in those days of conformity to the world. "THE CHRISTIAN MAIDEN'S HYMN,"

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world."—1 JOHN ii. 15. "Shall the Christian maiden wear

Flowers or jewels in her hair,

When the blood-stained crown of thorn
On her Saviour's brow was borne?

Shall the Christian maiden's breast
Beat beneath the broider'd vest,
When the scarlet robe of shame
Girt her Saviour's tortur'd frame?
Shall the Christian maiden's feet
Earth's unhallow'd measures beat,
When beneath the Cross's load
Sunk the suffering Son of God?
Shall the Christian maiden's song
Earth's ignoble strains prolong,
When her Saviour's troubled breast
Sought in hymns* its sacred rest?
Ne'er such sin and shame be said
Of a holy Christian maid;
Christian maids should live and die
As beneath their Saviour's eye.
Jesus! bless this simple strain;
Let it not go forth in vain;
Grant me souls to crown my lay,
Souls to grace thy Judgment Day.

"And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives."

Matt. xxvi. 30.

Lectures on Foreign Churches, delivered in Edinburgh and Glasgow. May 1845. First Series. Edinburgh: W. P. Kennedy, 1845. Lectures on Foreign Churches, delivered in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1846. Second Series. Edinburgh: W. P. Kennedy, 1846.

These lectures will require a fuller examination than a mere critical paragraph can afford them, and this we shall endeavour on another occasion, if the Lord will, to give them. The importance of the subject calls for this as well as the excellence of the lectures themselves. Meanwhile we are glad to have an opportunity of calling attention to them, and promoting their circulation. We do not know any works more suitable for congregational libraries, and yet we are afraid that they have been overlooked in this respect. It is just on such subjects that our people require to be more fully instructed, and a most effectual way of doing this would be for each library to furnish itself with these lectures, and each minister to recommend them, if not from the pulpit, at least in every other way by which he can contrive to make them known.

The Interlineary Hebrew and English Psalter, in which the construction of every word is indicated, and the root of each distinguished by the use of hollow and other types. London: Bagster and Sons, 1845. Hebrew Reading Lessons; with a Grammatical Praxis, and an Interlineary Translation. London: Bagster and Sons.

Both of these works will be found of great value to the student of Hebrew, in the first stages of his progress. More advanced scholars will not require any such helps, but a beginner will be greatly aided by them. They are printed with great accuracy and beauty.

Tentamen Anti-Straussianum. The Antiquity of the Gospels asserted on Philological Grounds, in refutation of the Mythic Scheme of Dr Frederick Strauss. An Argument, by O. T. DOBBIN, LL.D. London: Ward and Co., 1845.

Dr Dobbin takes good care to let us know that he thinks his argument an important one. And so it is. But he is long of coming to the point. He wearies our patience a little at the outset, and keeps us in suspense for nearly the first third of the book, introducing his subject rather circuitously, and with too many words. Nevertheless the work is really a vigorous and learned one. We got so interested in it that we never rose from our seat till we had finished its 114 octavo pages. Both the scholar and the logician will appreciate it.

The History of the State and Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution. By WILLIAM CROOKSHANK: with Preface and Notes, by the Rev. J. R. OMOND, Monzie. Two vols. Perth: J. Dewar and Son, 1845.

It is perhaps fourteen years ago since we first read Crookshank's history, though since that time we have often dipped into it and consulted

it. Its exactness and fidelity need not be praised here; they are well known. Though destitute of ornament or embellishment, it commends itself at once by its calm and truthful air. It has long taken a high place in Scottish Church history, and it is not likely to lose it. Certainly this new and handsome edition, which was much needed, will aid very effectually in bringing it more widely into public acquaintanceship, by making it a far more readable volume than it used to be.

It has suffered nothing from the editorial hands through which it has passed. Nay, it has been largely a gainer. Mr Omond's preface and notes, though brief, are valuable additions, which will make Mr Dewar's edition the completest, and we doubt not, in time coming, the standard edition.

The Presbyterian's Armoury. Notes of the Debates and Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines, and other Commissioners at Westminster. By Mr GEORGE GILLESPIE. With Memoir of his Life. By W. M. HETHERINGTON, LL.D. Edinburgh: Robert Ogle, 1846.

The Presbyterian's Armoury we have more than once, on former occasions, most earnestly recommended to our readers. It is a republication of the most valuable of those many able ecclesiastical works in which the seventeenth century was so fruitful. They were scarce and dear. But the times called for them. The wants of our people and our ministers and students called for them; and we are truly thankful for the present edition. We trust the circulation will meet the publisher's wishes, and encourage him to proceed.

The present is one of the most curious and valuable of the series. It is now published for the first time from the original manuscript. It not only gives a vivid picture of the Westminster Assembly, but illustrates and explains their proceedings. Dr Hetherington's Life of Gillespie at the commencement adds greatly to the value of the work. Though necessarily brief, seeing materials were scanty, it is most interesting, and forms an admirable introduction to these republished works of George Gillespie, now completed in two volumes.

Closet Hymns and Poems. By JAMES EDMESTON. London:
Religious Tract Society.

These closet hymns are not all new. We recognise some "old fami liar faces." But they are precious, and though not remarkable for vigour or imagery, they are sweet, and breathe rich fragrance.

The Believer's Mortification of Sin by the Spirit, (first published in 1677,) to which is added an Essay on Hypocrisy. By ALEX. CARMICHAEL. With a Preface, by the Rev. W. K. Tweedie. Edinburgh: W. P. Kennedy. 1846.

It is about sixteen years since we first laid our hands on the old edition of this book. We had never heard of it before, and we have never seen it since. We remember to have read it with avidity and delight, not only because we were then much enamoured with old divinity, but

because of its real excellence. We scarcely expected to see it reprinted, but we were not the less on that account rejoiced when this elegant new edition found its way into our hands. We are greatly in Mr Tweedie's debt, both for the republication itself, and for the excellent though brief preface with which he has introduced it to the public. Who that looks round on the state of the Church in the present day can fail to see the necessity for calling Christians to more of the inward life of godliness. It is an age of externalism,-an age also perhaps too prone to be "heady and high-minded." And a book like the present was one of the most suitable that could be found for breaking us down and recalling us to the realities of thorough closet-work in the presence of Jehovah himself, which in a day of" committees," and "boards," and "societies," and "meetings," may too easily be supplanted and forgotten.

Letters on Personal Christianity. By A CHRISTIAN. London: Walther. There is much precious truth, freshly spoken, in these letters, and (bating a needless assault upon the Church of England at the commencement,) very excellent throughout, as the following extract may show:

"May the Lord be with us in all we do, that we may positively glorify him! I do feel daily, with greater oppression, that He is not glorified. And when I say this, I do not mention it in the way in which it may be mentioned oftentimes; for it would well become the most faithful condition of the people of God to acknowledge, and to feel the little glory that is rendered Him; while, in fact, they were glorifying Him in the way in which we are not. But this is not the case with us: we are not glorifying Jesus as we wish to do; and the oppression which this sometimes occasions me is overwhelming; and indeed I would have it so, for any thing is preferable to insensibility. Yet I do hope, and expect from the Lord, that He will not suffer it to continue so. His glory is, indeed, I trust, the only object you and I have. We have nothing else to care about, nothing else to occupy a single thought; and, as his glory is connected with this separation, it becomes much more plain to us, that our desire to follow Him utterly, is not an ignorant desire, nor one that frustrates the purpose of the Lord. And, with an assurance that the object we have before us is according to his mind, we are upheld to prosecute it, and to attempt it again and again, even though we have often failed, and do fail still.

"I do not say that we bring no glory to God-far from it; I believe we do. But it is not the extent of glory which is proportionate to the truth we know. And nothing should ever be our object that is short of a glory perfectly corresponding, in extent and practical operation, with that, which the truth we know is, by the Holy Ghost, capable of producing.

"I believe that the present failure is mainly assignable to the awful condition in which we have been standing, and to the faithlessness that has been involved in such a condition, and that still (sometimes imperceptibly, and sometimes to our own detection of it) mixes itself with our proceedings, and thrusts its leaven into the holy things of the Lord.

"I feel, very surely, that the Lord will not allow it to remain so; and

VOL. XIX. NO. III.

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