that we are to remember that we may idolize long prayers, and frequent preachments, and that they make up an external religion to us, instead of that godliness, which is indispensable and internal, and an ever flowing fountain of all comely and profitable actions and deportments towards God and towards men.' p. 493.

That false, hollow, outside religion, he says, will lead men to abstain from the true spirit, for it will, as it were, stay the natural hunger and thirst" after religion on these poison gourds, and men will not seek the true, wholesome food.

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"And they will the more easily abstain from it, there being another poisonous viand, that swells them, so that they are ready to burst again, which is that highly esteemed knowledge called orthodoxness, or rightness of opinion, of which the apostle said, 'knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.' This seems so glorious in their eyes, that they fancy themselves angels of light, and fit to enter into the presence of God, if they be but neatly and elegantly trimmed up in these fine ornaments of Orthodoxality. Besotted fools, blind and carnal, that think to recommend themselves to the Majesty of Heaven by being arrayed in these motley coats, that striped stuff of their own spinning. They think themselves fully possessed of the life of Christ, and that they are very choicely religious, though charity to their neighbor be cold, and they have attained to no measure of true righteousness and holiness. Herein chiefly lies the mystery of hypocrisy, in all the churches of Christendom, counting all pious that are but zealous for the ways and opinions of their own sect; and those that are not for it, be they never so unblamable and cordial Christians, they are either hated as heretics, or at best pitied for poor moralists, mere natural men."— p. 494.

With one more extract, we will close our desultory remarks upon this volume.

"But, indeed, this is the fate of all almost that are more than ordinarily wise, to be accounted little better than mad. For they, having either higher or contrary apprehensions to the vulgar, and consequently acting many times contrary to them, they can hardly escape the suspicion of madness; the multitude of their judges, even the meanest of them, having not so mean a conceit of himself, but that he is ever infallible in those things which he has for so long a time together held as true, without any control of himself or of others. And I remember a passage somewhere in Trismegist, where the instructer in high mysteries, when he had enlightened his son Tatius, forewarns him of the reproach he

would undergo from the vulgar, that he would certainly seem to them as a man distracted.

"And this also was the condition of Democritus, whom the people, out of over-much pity and officiousness, desired Hippocrates to use his best skill to cure, as troubled with the phrensy; which he, intending to set to, the next day, was over night advertised by a divine vision, or dream, that it was not Democritus that was mad, but the people." - p. 411.

The Mystery of Iniquity,* we fear, will furnish little instruction to the modern reader. It is occupied mostly in exposing the false doctrines, absurd pretences, and wicked conduct of the Church of Rome. It, however, contains passages of considerable beauty and power. But the book, as a whole, wants life, and is the feeblest of his productions. So far as we can learn, it was but little read, and never reprinted. It is not so replete with the author's curious learning, nor adorned with so many fine quotations from the classic philosophers, and the schoolmen, as his other theological treatises. At the end of this work, the author has added some account of the design he had in his philosophical and theological writings. He says;

"Wherefore that there might be a turning unto righteousness, as well as a running after knowledge, and that the pretence to, or real skill in philosophy, might be no prejudice to any one's faith and persuasion of the truth of the Christian religion, I did set myself freely to search also into the most rational grounds of all such philosophical speculations, as could any way pretend to have any moment for either the corroborating or enervating any principle of faith, or what truths are recorded in the Holy Scriptures. And now I can allow to all the world, that there is not real clashing at all betwixt any genuine point of Christianity, and what true philosophy and right reason does determine or allow ;`

A modest Inquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity, the first part containing a careful and impartial delineation of the true idea of Antichristianism, &c. London, 1664 1666. Synopsis Prophetica, or the second part of the Inquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity, containing a compendious prospect into those prophecies of the Holy Scripture, wherein the reign of Antichrist, &c. is prefigured, or foretold. Fol. Lond. 1664. (Both parts are contained in the same volume.)

The Apology of Dr. Henry More, &c., wherein is contained as well a more general account of the manner and scope of his writings, as a particular explication of several passages in his Grand Mystery of Godliness.

but as Aristotle somewhere speaks, there is a perpetual peace and agreement between truth and truth, be they of what nature and kind soever. Nay, all the philosophy, that I give but a probationary countenance to, is so far from clashing with Christian truth, that it were to me, next to the Bible, the greatest corroboration of my faith in all the grand strokes of our religion, that I can imagine or desire.' Wherefore he conceived it was assigned to him to manage the truth of our religion in such a way as should be most gaining upon men of a more rational and philosophical genius, the present age abounding so much with such."" - p. 482.

This he effected by referring the doctrines of Christianity to

"Those eternal and immutable rules of divine reason, which God has engraved on every man's spirit, and without which, whatever prophecies there are, or instructions in the Holy Writ, it were impossible for us to be ascertained of them, or indeed of any meaning in them."- p. 108, et passim.

His discourses* contain little that is remarkable. But his divine dialogues have been long and justly admired.† The form of this work is that of a series of Platonic dialogues, between a lover of God, a deeply thoughtful man, a wary man, a pious politician, a critic, a materialist, and a Cartesian. They "are all free spirits, mutually permitting one another the liberty of philosophizing, without any breach of friendship." Our limits forbid us to make extracts, which are the less necessary, since this is the least rare, and most readable of all his writings.‡

London, 1692, 8vo.

+ Divine Dialogues, containing sundry disquisitions and instructions concerning the attributes of God and his Providence in the world, collected and compiled by the care and industry of Franciscus Palæopolitanus, 2d ed. Lond. 1713, 8vo. To this is annexed a "Brief Discourse of the true ground of the certainty of faith in points of religion, together with some few plain songs or divine hymns, on the chief holy days in the year." A volume of his letters has been published, 8vo. Lond. 1694, and a "Collection of Aphorisms," made by him; 1704, Lond. 8vo. His Manual of Ethics has been translated into English by Southwell. Lond. 1690. We have seen a work referred to, called " Pathomicia, or Love's Loade-Stone, a Drama, by Henry More;" 4to. 1630; which, perhaps, belongs to our author, though it is doubtful that he published a Drama at the age of sixteen.

Most of his theological writings are collected in a volume with the title, "Theological Works of Henry More, D. D.," &c., containing the Grand Mystery of Godliness; the Mystery of Iniquity; Exposition of

The character of this great and good man may be delineated in a few words. Love of God was his prevailing sentiment. This burned at the centre of his soul. It warmed and enlightened his solitary speculations, and transcendent devotion. His chief desire was to live the divine life, and perpetually renew God's image in his heart. He strove to secure to others what he sought and won for himself. This was his sole desire in writing. He never sought fame, and scarcely welcomed it when it came uncalled for. He loved truth, with a deep, tranquil affection. He loved truth as a bride, not for what she brought, but for what she was. Animated with a spirit so pure, looking to objects so lofty and noble, he could not fail to be glorified while he ran. He revered the divine spirit in man, and saw the goodness of God in everything that lives, as a star reflected from a drop of dew. He felt it in the balmy wind of evening, which he loved so well. He saw it in every change of human affairs. His love had cast out fear; his hope was changed to an absolute trust in God. From this a shade of mysticism stole over him, which lessens none of his beauty. His intellectual faults were numerous; he was sometimes crushed by his own weapons. He had the learning of a giant, so his march was usually slow, and sometimes tedious. He would have written better, if he had referred more to life, and less to his common-place book. But these faults were merely accidents, the stain of a pedantic age, which did not injure the calm beauty of his soul. He had attained an eminence in Christian graces; had passed from virtue to goodness, and from fearful hopes to Christian tranquillity.

T. P.

the Epistle to the Seven Churches; Grounds of Faith in Matters of Religion; Antidote against Idolatry; Appendix to the same, with some Divine Hymns, "according to the author's improvements in his Latin editions." London. 1708. fol. Besides those already named, we have seen but two other works of Dr. More, viz., a Discourse of the Real Presence, 4to. Lond. 1686, (2d edition,) and a volume of tolerably good Discourses." Lond. 1692. 8vo.

ART. IV.― Lecture on War. By WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. Boston: Dutton & Wentworth. 1839. 8vo.

pp. 50.

THE decided and yet discriminating character of this lecture precisely meets the wants of the times. The moral aspect of war cannot be brought out too strongly. Amid the multitudinous cries of policy, of passion, of national pride, it does the heart good to hear the calm, strong voice of moral truth; and no one has done more to give a healthy tone to the agitating discussions of the day than the author of the discourse before His influence is not confined to our own country. It is stamping itself upon the age in which we live.

us.

To those who are familiar with Dr. Channing's writings the Lecture on War contains perhaps no new doctrines. It is but a particular application of the great central truths in unfolding which his life has been spent. It is distinguished for the power with which it lays bare a subject that has been disguised and consecrated by the homage of the world, through all the ages that are gone. There is no denunciation. It does not throw a shade over the characters of the great and good men, who have distinguished themselves in war. And yet there is no compromise. We cannot but be moved by the simple, solemn earnestness of its tone, the beauty, freshness, and almost startling force of its illustrations, the clearness with which it unfolds, and the confidence with which it applies, the great principles of moral and religious truth. The general views are almost precisely those which we had before entertained. Should we differ from it at all, it would be in laying greater stress than it might warrant upon the useful influence of war in the early stages of society.

It is a mistake to suppose, that, because principles are unchangeable, their results will be always the same. It is one unchanging law that causes the clouds to rise, the rain to fall, the moon and planets to revolve. Because the law remains the same, its operations must vary with the circumstances under which it acts. It is so in the moral world. The law of justice is one, unchangeable; but its results are as various as the instruments it employs, and the circumstances under which it works. It delights the good, it torments the bad; it makes the virtuous free, for the vicious it forges chains, builds prisons, secludes them from the eye of man.