says, "Mind is a self-acting substance, and hence its activity and independence." "Now, we hold it to be an incontrovertible fact, and one of great importance, that the true determining cause of any given volition is not any mere anterior incitement, but the very soul itself, by its inherent power of will." "A mere incitement can become a motive, only so far as sanctioned by the will; so that it is not so much the motive that determines the will, as the will that gives strength to the motive." He says that Pseudo necessarians, perverting the proper doctrine of philosophical necessity, have represented man as having all his thoughts and feelings determined by an external cause, and thus as the mere creatures of circumstances." He advises the true necessarians to drop "the word necessity as ambiguous, (to say the least of it,) and as unhappily associated," etc. He admits, however, that the law of cause and effect extends to the will, and "reigns over it," and he is a stout advocate for the certainty of sinful volitions in the unregenerate. If we might be allowed to indulge in our national vanity, we would suggest that our author's phraseology might be much improved by the perusal of our American treatises on this subject.

Mr. M'Cosh supposes that conscience judges " of acts of the will, and acts of the will exclusively;" that all moral character belongs to the will as distinguished from the sensibilities; that our natural emotions and natural affections are neither virtuous nor vicious in themselves, etc. He thus distinguishes between the doctrine of total depravity, as presented in the Scriptures, and the doctrine of total depravity, as exhibited by Helvetius and Rochefoucauld. Holiness he defines as "something more than the mere love of promoting happiness. It is not so much the love of promoting happiness as the love of that pure love which seeks the promotion of happiness." Notwithstanding his verbal difference from Pres. Edwards, on the nature of true virtue, it is easy to see that the difference is merely verbal, and that in fact he coïncides on this theme with our countryman, whom he denominates “a philosophic divine, whose intellectual and spiritual clearness of perception in theological subjects appears to approach nearer the angelic, than has been the attainment of any other in these latter days.”

In the Fourth Book, the author sums up the results of the preceding, and considers the "Reconciliation of God and Man." Notwithstanding a few errors, this, and the foregoing Books, are in harmony with the general spirit of the evangelical scheme, and evince a love of manly discussion, and no small degree of philosophical acumen.

XI. RELIGIOUS REVIVAL AMONG THE ARMENIANS.1

Asia Minor, next to Palestine and Greece, is perhaps the most interesting country in the world. But, besides all its natural advantages, and its historical associations, it is now specially interesting to the people of this country,

1 Christianity revived in the East; or, a Narrative of the Work of God among the Armenians of Turkey. By H. G. O. Dwight, Missionary at Constantinople. New York: Baker & Scribner, 1850. pp. 290

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Lyell's Geology.

455 from the fact that it is the seat of a flourishing Christian mission, or rather missions. The light of the Gospel is reïllumining its old seats. A cordon of missionary posts is establishing around the whole of this vast region, from Constantinople to Tocat, Trebizond, Erzrûm, Oroomiah, the mountains of Kûrdistân, the ancient Nineveh, Tarsus, Aleppo, Antioch, and Smyrna, in addition to innumerable lesser lights that native hands are kindling in the interior. If we are not mistaken in providential signs, the garden of the Lord, in a physical sense, is soon to become a paradise in spiritual beauty. Everything betokens a brighter day. The most active parts of the native population, those which have the most physical and intellectual stamina, are fast becoming acquainted with Christian truth, and throwing off the superstitions of ages. Armenians and Nestorians, if not Jews and Greeks, seem to be destined to become the illuminators of the regions in which they live and traffic. Mr. Dwight's volume gives a faithful and trustworthy account of the origin and progress of these wondrous changes among the Armenian communities. Its simple details are fraught with interest, not only to the Christian, but to the scholar and the philanthropist, who rejoice in the spread of civilization and knowledge. To the student of church history, too, the book will be specially attractive. Mr. Dwight is a veteran in the service, having accompanied Rev. Eli Smith in a tour of observation in Armenia and Persia, in 1830. He has also been an eye-witness of much which he records.

XII. LYELL'S GEOLOGY.1

We refer to Sir Charles Lyell's works, from the interest taken in geology by many biblical students. The Manual and the Principles of Geology, (8th edition, thoroughly revised, 1850,) are the standard treatises on the science. The author has visited larger portions of the earth's surface, than perhaps any other geologist, except it may be the venerable Humboldt. American readers will take a deeper interest in his treatises than in those of most others, from the fact of personal acquaintance, or from his numerous illustrations drawn from our continent. His style is easy and unencumbered, while it does not lack the precision of science. The common reader who does not desire to plunge into the technicalities of geology, will find many pages of pleasant reading. The traveller among the Alleghanies, or the White Hills, who wishes to make the most of his time, would do well to have in his memory some of the main facts and features of this science. The author writes in a strictly scientific spirit, but it were to be wished that he would occasionally refer to those "final causes," which characterize Hugh Miller's treatises, showing that He who weighed the mountains and holds the sea in his hand, is not forgotten by the student of his works. The two vol

1 A Manual of Elementary Geology; or, the Ancient Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants, as illustrated by geological monuments. By Sir Charles Lyell, M. A., F. R. S. Third and entirely revised edition. London: John Murray. 1851. pp. 512, 8vo.

umes of Lyell appear in beautiful form, and with apposite and abundant illustrations. The catalogue price of the Manual is 12 shillings, that of the Principles, 18 shillings.

ARTICLE X.

SELECT BIBLICAL AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

UNITED STATES.

THE biblical and theological works lately published, or in press, so far as we know, are not numerous. A great proportion of the educated talent of the country is employed, as would be expected, on books for day schools and Sabbath schools, on works of a practically religious character, on occasional addresses, sermons, lectures, etc., and on newspapers and periodical publications. The number of works of an elaborate character, and of permanent value, is consequently small.

Professor Stuart's Commentary on Ecclesiastes, in a duodecimo volume of 350 or 400 pages, will soon be published by Mr. Putnam of New York. The Introduction fills 103 pages, and discusses the general nature of the book, its special design and method, diction, author, credit and general history, ancient and modern versions and commentaries. The book of Ecclesiasties is of a practical, moral and religious character, from the position of an Israelite, not of a Greek or of an Egyptian. Its great theme is the vanity and nothingness of all earthly efforts, pursuits and objects. The writer gives a picture of the conflicts and struggles which he passed through in his inquiries. The final conclusions to which he comes, (not the objections which he considers,) are to be taken as the index of his ultimate and established opinions. It is not the treatise of a sceptic, or of an Epicurean, but of a practical, religious, Jewish philosopher. There can be no doubt but that the whole proceeds from one writer. It has every mark of unity. The diction is that of the later Hebrew, with some mixture of Chaldaisms. Solomon does not appear to have been the author of the book, as he is introduced as only occasionally, not constantly, speaking; the general condition of things indicates a period very unlike that of Solomon; the style and diction are quite different from those of the Proverbs written by Solomon. Who the author was, we have no means of knowing. The time in which the book was written was perhaps between 535 and 455 B. C. Among the mass of commentators, Knobel, 1836, and Hitzig, 1847, are decidedly the best, and " in a critical respect are worth all the rest." The commentary is strictly and minutely exegetical.

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Prof. Hackett's Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles will be published in a few weeks by John P. Jewett & Co. of Boston, in an octavo of 400 or 450 pages.

It is stated, that Dr. J. A. Alexander of Princeton is about to publish a new edition of his Commentary on Isaiah in a condensed form.

Pres. Hitchcock of Amherst College has in press a work entitled "The Religion of Geology and its Collateral Sciences."

An edition of the Philippic Orations of Demosthenes is in the press at Cambridge, under the editorial care of Prof. M. J. Smead of William and Mary College, Va.

The edition of Horace by Prof. Lincoln of Brown University, with various readings, notes, etc. will soon be published. The text is printed with great beauty and correctness.

Dr. E. A. Andrews's Latin Lexicon, on the basis of Freund's great work, and on which he and his assistants, Prof. Robbins of Middlebury College and Prof. Turner of Union Theol. Seminary, have been employed several years, is published. We shall endeavor to furnish a brief review of it in our next Number.

A Selection of Reading Lessons in Greek, with explanatory Notes, is preparing by Prof. Felton of Cambridge. The selection will be entirely new, and will introduce the student to a wider acquaintance with Greek literature than has been common in works of this character.

Prof. Owen of New York has in preparation a new edition of the Iliad. A new edition of Kühner's Latin Grammar, with Exercises, a Latin Reader and Vocabularies, translated by Prof. Champlin, has been published. The same author's Preparatory Latin Exercise Book, being an Introduction to the Latin Grammar, translated by Prof. Champlin, is in press.

Schmitz and Zumpt's classical series of books, reprinted by Lea and Blanchard of Philadelphia, consists of Livy, I., II., XXI. and XXII. books, Caesar's Commentaries, Virgil, Sallust, Curtius de Alexandri Gestis, a Latin Grammar, and Kaltschmidt's Latin Lexicon. It is furnished at a very cheap

rate.

A new edition of the Index to Periodical Literature, published about two years ago, under the auspices of a literary society in Yale College, is prepared and will soon appear. The author, Mr. F. Poole of Danvers, Ms., has enlarged the plan, so as to cover the whole ground of the leading periodicals, without regard to the General Indexes published by the proprietors of some of them. It will make an 8vo. volume of 600 or 700 pages, and will doubtless be welcomed by all libraries, and by many individuals.

Libraries. The number of books added to Harvard College Library, during the year ending July, 1850, was 1751, besides 2219 pamphlets. To the Massachusetts State Library in 1850, 365 volumes and 46 pamphlets and plans were added. The Astor Library, New York, now has 28,369 volumes; the State Library at Albany, more than 20,000 volumes, valued at $100,000; about half are law books. During the last year 1600 volumes were added to the library of the Philotechnian Society in Williams College, see Bib. Sac.

1850, p. 404. An effort is now making with encouraging success, to procure a library for Amherst College.

The prosperity of oriental and biblical studies in this country is essentially depending on the prosperity of the Theological Schools. The elementary study of Hebrew is as yet mostly confined within their walls. Accordingly, their condition is a good index of the interest which is felt in the study of the original languages of the Bible, as well as of systematic theology. We here put on record a statement of the numbers at the principal theological schools in the United States at the beginning of the half century.

The entire reading public have been absorbed for several months with the papal question. In one month, 180 books and pamphlets appeared, besides newspaper articles without number. To us, who live three or four thousand miles from the strife, there is something not a little amusing in this new-born and overpowering zeal, especially considering the apathy with which the strong papal tendencies in the church of England have been regarded for many years. We apprehend now that the subject will not be probed to the bottom. The papal question needs to be considered as an European question; the elements of the strength and weakness of the Catholic church should be viewed apart from all local controversies; the bearings of the union of the church and State in England on the growth of Catholicism, the elements in the English church favorable to that growth, the position of Ireland as affecting the general question, etc., should be carefully investigated. Dr. S. T. Bloomfield has published a supplementary volume to his Critical, Philological and Explanatory Annotations on the New Testament. He speaks of having collated a large number of MSS., either before wholly unknown, or but little known, and only partially examined. He has revised the whole text. He differs "almost in toto" from Lachmann, and in a great