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1851.]

Public Libraries.

879

in English, Doddridge, Biscoe and Humphrey. The book has in truth been strangely neglected by the ablest living commentators, perhaps on the ground of its supposed freedom from difficulties. As an historical, simple narrative of facts, it may be thought to require but little elucidation. But it is the cursory reader only who will experience no difficulty. The numerous references to the Old Testament, the want of a definite chronology, its occasional want of coincidence with Josephus and other profane authors, the absence of contemporary information where we most need it, and sometimes the very artlessness of the narrative, render the labors of the commentator very perplexing. To the solution of these difficulties, a large amount of information has been made to bear, drawn from lexicons, reviews, special monograms, etc. No accessible source of knowledge has been neglected.

We may add that the style is simple, terse and exact. There is no display of knowledge or philological gifts, while the reader feels, all the time, that he is in the presence of a master. We heartily commend the volume as one of the richest fruits of sacred learning which our country or the language has borne. It will be another conclusive evidence of the distinguished services which our theological seminaries are rendering to the churches and the world.

II. PUBLIC LIBRARIES.1

There are only four libraries in this country which contain each 50,000 volumes and upwards, viz. Philadelphia, 60,000; Harvard University, 56,000; Congress Library, 50,000; Boston Athenæum, 50,000. If the smaller libraries at Harvard are included, the number of volumes is 84,200, belonging to one literary institution; so there are at Yale College 50,481 volumes. Probably some of the smaller libraries, e. g. of Brown University and the Astor Library, are more valuable than some of those just mentioned. The Astor Library will probably soon be one of the first in the number of volumes. The whole number of public libraries, mentioned by Prof. Jewett, exclusive of those of the public schools, is 694, of volumes, 2,201,632. The whole number of libraries containing each 1000 volumes and upwards, is 423, aggregate number of volumes, 2,105,652, average size 4,977. The States stand in the following order, in respect to the number of volumes in the public libraries, New York, 1,756,254; Massachusetts, 415,658; Pennsylvania, 287,519; District of Columbia, 148,673; Ohio, 104,634; Connecticut, 98,638; Virginia, 89,180; Maryland, 84,565; Rhode Island, 79,341, etc. The great preponderance of New York over Massachusetts is owing to the libraries of the public schools.

The labors of Prof. Jewett in this unpretending volume reveal several gratifying facts. One is that a good foundation is laid in many places for valuable libraries. The books are not a miscellaneous assemblage of nonde

1 Notices of Public Libraries in the United States of America. By Charles C. Jewett, Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, being an Appendix to the Fourth Report of that Institution. Washington. 1851. pp. 207.

scripts, but have been selected with care by accomplished scholars. We may name among this number, the libraries of Brown University, the University of Vermont, Columbia College, S. C., the Astor Library, that of the Theological Seminary at Andover, etc. Another encouraging circumstance is, that the books are widely diffused. Germs of libraries at least are started in every State of the Union. There is diffusion, if not concentration. A third fact is that provision is making more and more for the steady increase of libraries by setting apart permanent funds for this purpose. We may mention, again, that one of the most important facts of an encouraging nature is the appearance of Prof. Jewett's volume. It makes an excellent beginning. It lays bare the nakedness of the land. It shows how little attention our colleges and public institutions have paid to this subject, and how meagre many of their collections are. We hope it will stir them up to a zealous emulation, and that Prof. Jewett's next Report will be of a far more animating character, and three times the size of the present.

III. LETTERS OF HENRY MARTYN.1

"There is no modern name dearer to the church, than that of Henry Martyn." Such loveliness of character, and such entire consecration to the Master's service, are rarely found united to such gifts and attainments in scholarship as were his. There is a moral sublimity in such a life and such a course that we see not in the career of a " Warren Hastings." It is good to commune with a mind so pure, with a heart so devoted, with a life conse crated to so blessed a work. Sargent's Memoir of him has been read with deep interest wherever the English language is spoken, and has contributed not a little to form that missionary spirit which is so peculiar and hopeful a feature of the piety of our day.

No portion of the matter embraced in this volume, has been previously given to the American public. It is slightly abridged from the English edition; but the entire contents are just as they came from the pen of Martyn as contained in his Journal and Letters. Those who have read his life, will not fail, we think, to read this volume. And it will give them a new view of the depth of his piety, of the superior excellence of his character, and of the strength of his devotion to Christ, while it will show them the secret of his eminent attainments in piety. The reading of such a book cannot fail to quicken a Christian in his course, and induce him to aim at a higher standard of piety and usefulness. It is one of that class which is greatly needed to stay the tide of worldliness which is rising in the church, and to increase the spirit of missions in our colleges and seminaries.

J. M. S.

1 Journal and Letters of the Rev. Henry Martyn. Edited by Rev. S. Wilberforce. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1851. 12mo. pp. 466.

1851.]

Dr. Spring's Lectures.

881

IV. DR. SPRING'S LECTURES.1

Dr. Spring is too widely and too favorably known as an author, to need any special commendation. Without any remarkable gift of originality or genius, and without any attempt at greatness, his productions are uniformly good and useful, and in every instance have obtained a wide circulation. His writings are evidently not hasty effusions, but his most matured thoughts. They exhibit enough of the scholar, and of the fruits of learned research, for the popular mind; they breathe, throughout, the spirit of a cheerful, spiritual, and practical piety; they are clothed in chaste and beautiful language; and they cannot fail to make a strong and healthy moral impression. Few of the writers of this age will leave a more precious legacy of sanctified thought to the Church than Dr. Spring.

The work before us is unlike any of the author's previous productions in its plan. Under the somewhat fanciful and far-fetched title of "First Things," it embraces and discusses a great variety of topics involving the great facts and moral lessons first revealed to mankind, and which form the groundwork of theology and of human society, as ordained of God. Intellectually, we think this work decidedly superior to either of the author's other works, but not equal to his " Attractions of the Cross," and others we might name, in moral power. While there is enough of the popular and practical element in it, to make it interesting and instructive to the mass of intelligent readers, there is yet enough of the "strong meat of the Word," enough of learned research and criticism, and elaborate reasoning, of science and philosophy, to commend it to the select class of minds who love "the deep things of God," and who are capable of appreciating abstract reasoning and learned investigation. It is a timely and able defence of the truth Some against many of the prevalent specious and popular forms of error. portions of it deserve to rank high for their scientific value, as for instance the chapter on "The Unity of the Human Race," in which he most conclusively refutes the theory to which we regret that Prof. Agassiz has lent his sanction and advocacy, and establishes beyond all controversy the Scripture doctrine of the common origin of the whole human race. The argument here given, mainly from Scripture, is the most thorough and satisfactory that we have anywhere seen. The chapter, too, on the Law of the Sabbath, is a most admirable specimen of lucid and conclusive reasoning. We might specify several other chapters as highly interesting and instructive, did our space permit. While, therefore, we should beg to dissent from some of the author's statements and reasonings, we do most cordially commend these beautiful volumes as full of mature and rich instruction bearing on the most important facts and doctrines of theology, and our sacred literature in general.

J. M. S.

1 First Things: A Series of Lectures on the great Facts and Moral Lessons first revealed to mankind. By Gardiner Spring, D. D. In two vols. 8vo. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1851.

This history embraces the period from De Soto's expedition in 1539 and the settlement of the country, to the final establishment of the Spanish government in 1769. It is written a little too much on the plan of Scott's "historical romances," to suit our taste, or to attain to the rank of a standard authority. And yet it is a book of real value and remarkable interest. It gives a rapid and graphic sketch of the events of more than two hundred years of struggles with adverse fortune, of long and bloody wars with the native Indians, the fierce Natchez tribe, the powerful Choctaws, the undaunted Chickasaws, and the unconquerable Mobilians; and it has treasured up many most interesting materials, many of them of a highly romantic character, for the use of some future historian. It is a pity the author, having such materials and facilities at hand, and evidently so competent to the task, did not give to the world a sober, veritable, and standard history of that immense region once comprehended in the limits of Louisiana, and whose colonial period under the Spanish sway the public know so little of. His work has an interest, a highly romantic interest, as it is, but it lacks some of the essential qualities which give chief and enduring value to works of this character. J. M. S.

VI. ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. Charles Ferme or Fairholm seems to have been born in Edinburgh, and to have obtained his education there. In 1584, he joined the university. In 1589, he was chosen one of the regents of the university. In 1600, he became minister of the town of Fraserburgh and principal of a college there. In 1605, in consequence of the persecutions of the episcopal party, he was imprisoned more than a year, and then cruelly banished to the Highlands. In 1608, he wrote, "a thousand deaths hath my soul tasted of; but still the mercy and truth of the Lord hath recovered me." He was freed in 1609. He then went back to his post at Fraserburgh, where he remained till his death, Sept. 24, 1617. The Analysis of the Epistle to the Romans was written at the request of certain ministers and probationers. It was first published in 1651. Through the exertions of Dr. Alexander, it is now reprinted in a very attractive form, in what appears to be a very exact and faithful translation, occupying 378 pages. Principal Adamson, through

1 Louisiana: its Colonial History and Romance. By Charles Gayarre. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1851. pp. 564. 8vo.

2 A Logical Analysis of the Epistle to the Romans, by Charles Ferme, translated from the Latin by William Skae, M. A.; and a Commentary on the same Epistle, by Andrew Melville in the original Latin, edited with a Life of Ferme, by Wm. Lindsay Alexander, D. D. Edinburgh, Woodrow Society, 1850. 8vo, pp. 520.

1

1851.] The Third Volume of Davidson's Introduction.

883 whose auspices it was first published, calls it " eruditionis, pietatis et exacti judicii plenam." Dr. Alexander adds: "So sagacious, exact and perspicuous a Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, I had not had before the good fortune to peruse." Those will be much pleased and edified who would see the great thoughts in this epistle brought out in a condensed manner, and with all the precision of logical rules and forms. Of course, an epistle so full of feeling, of impassioned digressions, where the logic is Pauline and not scholastic, will suffer somewhat by the application of scientific formulae. The remainder of the volume is occupied with a Commentary on the Romans in Latin, of the famous Andrew Melville, now first printed from the manuscript. It was not intended for the press by the author, and does not afford a specimen of Melville's full powers as a commentator. It was prepared by him as a book of notes to be used in lecturing on the Romans. The theological world will be much indebted to the pious and zealous labors of Dr. Alexander and his coadjutors in rescuing the contents of this volume from destruction.

VII. THE THIRD VOLUME OF DAVIDSON'S INTRODUCTION.1

This volume closes the New Testament, and extends from the First Epistle to Timothy to the Apocalypse. It includes three Indexes- - of the Hebrew and Greek words illustrated, of Scripture texts explained, and a general index of subjects. It is printed with admirable accuracy and beauty. It contains about 200 pages more than the second volume, and 250 more than the first. We are not without hopes of furnishing at no distant day, from some competent hand, an extended review of the entire work. In the meantime, we recommend to our readers who are interested in biblical studies, and who wish "to give a reason for the hope that is in them," to procure this work. It starts questions, if it does not in all cases satisfy them, of the deepest interest. It deals with subjects of the profoundest intellectual and moral character, radically affecting our dearest hopes for time and eternity. It will show with what prolonged and desperate skill and acuteness the Gospels and Epistles have been attacked, and with what triumphant success they are, in all important cases, defended. All, who are set for the defence of the Gospel, would do well to familiarize themselves with questions relating to the integrity and divine authority of the Scriptures, some of which are handled in our secular reviews, which give a tone to not a little of our popular literature, and are gravely argued and decided in our village lyceums. On some of these subjects, difficulties are felt by intelligent persons in our country congregations and Bible classes, where it may be little

1 An Introduction to the New Testament, containing an examination of the most important questions relating to the authority, interpretation and integrity of the canonical books, with reference to the latest inquiries. By Samuel Davidson, D. D., LL. D., Professor in the Lancashire Independent College, near Manchester. Vol. III. 8vo. pp. 656. London: Bagsters, 1851.