The conduct of a Romish mob in burning the Bibles and destroying the houses of Protestants was truly disgraceful. The life of Dr. Kalley was in the greatest danger.

VIII. MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY.-Within these last few weeks, property, which it is conjectured may yield little less than £100,000, has been bequeathed to found a University in Manchester. To this sum it is expected another £100,000 will be added by public contribution; and in a few years Manchester may possess a University which, while not inferior to any existing establishment in its means of general education, will at once take, as regards practical science, an unrivalled position.

XI.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

I. The Select Works of the REV. DAVID CLARKSON, B.A. Edited by the REV. B. H. COOPER, B.A. with Historical Notices of the Author, by the REV. JOHN BLACKBURN. London, 1846.

The Wycliffe Society has done good service to the public generally, and to nonconformists in particular, by this publication. The character of Clarkson has been hitherto but little known, and his works much neglected; but happily all the light that could be shed upon the former has now been communicated, and the latter have been wisely collected and placed in an attractive form before the world. The treatises of this volume are principally controversial, and embrace topics much overlooked in the controversy between churchmen and dissenters of the present day. Whether right or wrong, the reasonableness and duty of dissent are now usually contended for on the abstract ground of the unlawfulness of ecclesiastical establishments. The fathers of our nonconformity, however, insisted much on the unscripturalness of diocesan episcopacy, and the evil of imposing forms and ceremonies on consciences opposed to their adoption. These and cognate subjects are the topics embraced in this volume, and they are discussed with much learning, candour, and Christian forbearance. We incline to the opinion that these questions will again be thrust on the attention of dissenters, by the assumptions of the high church party, who, with the Rev. Dr. Hook at their head, are evidently disposed to rest their exclusive claims rather on the ground of churchmanship than on the fact that they are in alliance with the state. It is, with such a prospect before us, incumbent on dissenters to render themselves familiar with all the points at issue between them and the Episcopalians of this country; and with a view to this we would earnestly recommend them to study attentively the works of Clarkson. We feel that much praise is due to the editor of the volume for the care and learning with which he has conducted it through the press. It was evidently a labour of love, and he has discharged it right well. It is pleasant to find a man of sound scholarship, like Mr. Cooper, devoting himself to such an employment, and consecrating his varied attainments to the editing of our older divinity; and it furnishes one proof amongst many that our young ministers are entitled to the growing confidence of their fathers and of the churches generally, and are preparing to carry on the work devolved on them by the men of the passing generation. At the same time we have great pleasure in referring, in terms of unqualified approbation, to the appropriate and beautiful sketch of the life and writings of Clarkson, furnished to this volume by Mr. Blackburp. It has greatly augmented the

value of the work, and will be read with interest by intelligent and devout minds. We cannot conclude this notice without urging our readers to encourage the conductors of the Wycliffe Society in their praiseworthy design of reprinting other rare treatises of our Puritan ancestors.

II. Tracts on Liberty of Conscience and Persecution. 1614-1661. Edited for the HANSERD-KNOLLYS SOCIETY, with an Historical Introduction, by EDWARD BEAN UNDERHILL. London: J. Haddon. 1846. Svo.

The object of the Hanserd-Knollys Society is to do for the early literature of the Baptists what the Parker and Wycliffe Societies are doing for that of the Reformers and the Independents. The following is the society's plan: To reprint, by an annual subscription of ten shillings and sixpence, all or such of the works of the early English, or other Baptists, as the Council shall decide. The series will include the works of both General and Particular Baptists; records and manuscripts relating to the rise and formation of the Baptist Churches; translations of such works as may illustrate the sufferings of the Baptists and the extension of their principles, together with such documents as are to be found only in large historical collections, or may not yet have appeared in an accessible form. On the baptismal controversy, only those treatises will be given which are of acknowledged worth or historic value. The whole will be accompanied with biographical notices of the authors, and with such notes and illustrations as may be essential to their completeness. The publications will consist of works produced before the close of the seventeenth century.. With a body of three thousand subscribers, the Council will be enabled to issue three octavo volumes annually.' Believing that 'to the Baptists belongs the honour of first asserting in this land, and of establishing on the immutable basis of just argument and Scripture rule, the right of every man to worship God as conscience dictates, in submission only to divine command,' the Council have made a very suitable choice of the first series of works for publication. Our space does not permit us to enter into a detailed examination of these tracts; but we strongly recommend them, with Mr. Underhill's elaborate introduction, to the attention of our readers.

III. CALVIN AND SERVETUS: the Reformer's Share in the Trial of Michuel Servetus historically ascertained. From the French: with Notes and Additions. By the REV. W. K. TWEEDIE. Edinburgh: John Johnstone. 1846. Fcp. 8vo.

It would have been well if much of the time spent in angry crimination and recrimination on this mournful chapter of the history of the Swiss Reformation had been devoted to a patient investigation of the facts of the case. These have only been fully brought out in the pamphlet of M. Rilliet, of Geneva, published in 1844, under the following title: 'Relation du Procès Criminel Intent à Genève, en 1553, contre Michel Servet, redigée d'apres les Documents Originaux,' and of which the present work is an able translation, prefaced by a very fair summing up of the case, to which, however, we would add one reflection, obvious enough, but sadly neglected in practice on both sides in such discussions as this: never may evangelical truth be so mixed up with the name, or writings, or character, of any man whatsoever, as to be made, even in the slightest appearance, to stand or fall by the verdict which history or criticism may pass on those who have at any time been its defenders!

We cordially recommend to our readers this most interesting work: but we cannot forbear-as the matter is obtruded upon our notice in the very first page of the preface-from expressing our great regret that Mr. Tweedie

has gone out of his way to rake up an old charge against a great man of the present day, who is certainly sufficiently abused on other grounds, and a charge, too, which rests on a false quotation. We do not attribute the falsification to our author; for we are aware that every time that the chargé is repeated which it has been usque ad nauseam, especially in the north-the same misquotation is made. The fact is, that in the celebrated sentence referred to, the words really stand thus: Man shall no more render account TO MAN for his belief."

IV. A Century of Scottish Church History: an historical Sketch of the Church of Scotland, from the Secession to the Disruption. With an account of the Free Charch. By the REV. JAMES DODDS, of the Free Church Belhaven. Edinburgh: John Johnstone. 1846. 24mo.

This compact and well-written little work will be peculiarly acceptable to many of our readers for the complete account which it furnishes of the proceedings of the Free Church since the disruption. Its tone is calm and Christian, and we have not observed in it any very strong expressions of that jealousy for church principles, which has led some of the Free Church party to decry the views respecting Christ's kingdom which are entertained by brethren with whom they must ere long fraternise. This jealousy, in deed, we firmly believe, only requires Christian moderation on our part to overcome it: meanwhile events, the greater teachers of principles, are fast driving our brethren out of that inconsistent position which they at present occupy, as, to use the words of the writer before us, a church selfendowed, but protesting against voluntaryism?'

V. The Writings of the Doctrinal Puritans and Divines of the Seventeenth Century. Vols. I.-IV. Tract Society. 1846. 24mo. Superfluous as it is at this time of day to recommend the matter of these volumes, we only need give a simple statement of their contents and form They constitute the first portions of a series, one volume of which is pube lished on the first of every alternate month, containing upwards of three hundred pages, well got up, for one shilling. The works as yet included in the series are the following: Vol. i., Howe on the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and, The Redeemer's Dominion over the Invisible World: Vol. ii., Select Devotional Works of Bishop Hall: Vol. iii., Charnock's Discourses on Christ Crucified; and, A Discourse proving Weak Grace Victorious: Vol. iv., Bishop Hopkins's Practical Exposition on the Lord's Prayer; and, On the Doctrine of the Two Covenants. The remaining volumes announced for the present year are: Vol. v., Thomas Watson's Saints' Spiritual Delight; A Divine Cordial; and, The Holy Eucharist: Vol. vi., Bishop Reynolds's Israel's Prayer in Time of Trouble; and, the Life of Christ in the Believer. Truly a rich feast of old divinity, offered almost without money and without price!'

VI. The Lord's Supper. By the REV. D. KING, LL.D.

Johnstone. 1846.

Edinburgh;

This book is a good compendium of information on the topic it discussés. Less elaborate and learned than some treatises we have perused, it is well adapted to instruct those who have read but little on the subject. Three introductory chapters on the institution of the Lord's supper are followed by dissertations on the ordinance, as illustrative of the scheme of salva tion, as a commemorative institution, as a medium of fellowship, and as a seal of the covenant. Several valuable notes on controverted points are placed in an appendix. A devotional and practical spirit pervades the body of the work, and we hope that the esteemed author's most sanguine

expectations of usefulness, to his own church and to others, will be realised by its publication.

VII. Pastoral Addresses. First and Second Series. By J. A. JAMES.

Tract Society. 1846. 16mo.

These admirable tracts are too well known to need any elaborate commendation from us. The cheap form in which they are now published wil increase their circulation and usefulness. The one is sure to be connected with the other, as it would be difficult for Christians to read the addresses without profit. They are a fair sample of the author's ministry, the enduring popularity of which is founded on its efficiency in the conversion of sinners and in the building up of the church of Christ.

VIII. Pastoral Exhortations; or, the Church Instructed, and the Young Invited. Two Sermons, preached in Trinity Chapel, East India Road, Poplar, London, by the REV. George Smith, on Sunday, May 31, 1846, being the fourth anniversary of his settlement as the Minister of that place. London: John Snow. 1846. 12mo.

The connexion of the preacher with this journal is, in our opinion, no reason for withholding from a valued friend and coadjutor the impartial judgment and well-deserved commendation, which we should bestow on the work of a stranger; but it is, perhaps, a reason why the expression of that judgment and commendation should be uttered in the simplest possible terms. We will, therefore, only say of the sermons, that we have found in them all those excellences which we anxiously look for in the production of a friend, and that we are much deceived if they do not both give unmingled satisfaction to the people of his charge, at whose request alone they were published, and confirm and increase his well-earned reputation in all our churches.

We wish especially to call the attention of our readers to the introduction from which those, who may not already be aware of the facts, will learn. with pleasure that there is among us at least one worthy successor of Thomas Wilson, and will also see, with devout gratitude to the Giver of all grace, how soon and how richly earnest Christian effort may be rewarded with its appropriate fruit. We cannot refrain from mentioning the most gratifying fact, that on the very day on which these lines pass into our readers' hands, services will be held to re-open Trinity Chapel, after an enlargement rendered necessary by the increase of the congregation, the large expense attending which, we have good reason to believe, will be entirely liquidated on that occasion, through the earnest efforts of the people, led and sustained by the renewed munificence of the founder of the chapel. Oh, that all who have the means would 'go and do likewise!' IX. Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus, and to Philemon. By ALBERT BARNES. Reprinted Verbatim from the American Edition. London: Aylott and Jones. 1846. 12mo.

The character of Albert Barnes, as a commentator, has been now for a long time established in this country as well as in his own. His commentaries are among the best and most generally useful of those of a particular class. The present volume is one of an uniform series, which is intended to include the whole of the author's biblical works. It has been carefully edited by the Rev. Ingram Cobbin.

X. Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. By the Rev. ALBERT BARNES. London: G. Routledge. 1846.

sq.

This is a volume of another uniform edition of Barnes's Commentaries, well got up, and extremely cheap.

ALEXANDER ON THE EARLIER PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH.*

THE great and peculiar interest which, among the prophetical books of the Old Testament, attaches especially to the writings of Isaiah, 'the great evangelical prophet,' has procured for us a rich literature of commentaries, designed, in some way or other, to illustrate his sublime prophetical compositions. We are happy to have to announce an increase of this literature by the appearance of Professor Alexander's work-'The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah." If, for the purpose of a just estimation of the merits of Professor Alexander's labours, we ask what real advance has already been made in the interpretation of the book of Isaiah, and what materials have been collected in aid of a further advancement, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that there exists in this case an astonishing disparity between the great amount of labour, in the form of philological, historical, and antiquarian research, hitherto expended, and the comparatively small effect this labour has had in establishing a well-grounded basis of interpretation. This is owing partly to the considerable difficulties inherent in the book itself, partly, however, and certainly in no small degree, it has been the result of the erroneous preconceived views with which commentators have entered upon their task, and the arbitrary and unprincipled manner in which they have executed it. This is a fact so palpable as not to admit of contradiction, but, as it would seem, not yet sufficiently recognised and practically attended to. It is, therefore, on the one hand, natural and requisite that the biblical interpreter, who undertakes

& The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah. By Joseph Addison Alexander, Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey. New York and London: Wiley and Putnam. 1846. lxxi. and 652.