and a Biographical Notice of Joseph C. Cabell, J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Va.-We need not add a word to the title page of this volume to insure it the attention of all who are interested in higher education. The University of Virginia is, perhaps, the most prominent institution of the country, and we have here the history of its conception and birth, which throws no little light upon its rapid growth and present maturity. There are features of the plan which we do not think adapted to the condition of the country, and we have seen nothing to satisfy us that it is safe to presume upon diligence, where there are no motives to enforce it. But that to a young man who is ambitious and aspiring, the University offers rare and signal advantages, there can be no doubt. It has a learned Faculty and a well digested distribution into schools. The opportunities are ample, but we fear that too much is left to the discretion of the student. The system of examinations deserves the highest praise, and if some expedient could be found to make every man undergo them, the system would be very nearly perfect.

1. Why do I live? American Tract Society. pp. 206.

2. The Well in the Valley. "Who, passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well." Ps. lxxxiv. 6. American Sunday School Union. pp. 430.

3. By whom is the world to be converted? or Christians Christ's representatives and agents for the conversion of the world. Philadelphia. Presbyterian Board of Publication. pp. 108.

The above are from the untiring pen of our Reverend brother, Thomas Smyth, D. D. of Charleston. In sickness or in health he wearies not in literary labour, striving to reach those by whom his voice cannot be heard, in defence of the truth, or in efforts to promote Christian activity, and practical piety. The first of these little books is an earnest, encouraging, and awakening appeal to the Christian heart. Its title may have been suggested by his own stricken health. "The best and most useful lives" says he, " have sometimes been the sickliest; and the feeblest body has often encompassed the happiest as well as the holiest spirit." P. 20. It is the blessed privilege of the children of God, that though their outward man perish, their inward man is renewed day by day. The Well in the Valley is designed to exhibit the privileges and obligations of the Lord's Supper. It offers itself as an affectionate guide to those who are enquiring, or should enquire whether they ought not openly to profess Christ, and become united with the visible church. The views it ex

presses on this point are those of our Directory for Worship. Chap. ix. These unpretending volumes which aim at the heart, may do as good service for Christ and his church, as the larger and more elaborate volumes of the same author. They are all eminently practical, appealing to the religious sensibilities of those to whom they are addressed.

1. A Spiritual Treasury for the Children of God consisting of a Meditation for the Evening and Morning of each Day in the Year, upon Select Texts of Scripture, humbly intended to establish the Faith, promote the comfort, and influence the practice of the followers of the Lamb. By WILLIAM MASON. In Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Philadelphia Presbyterian Board of Publication. vol. 2, pp. 506, 508.— A beautiful edition of a well known and deservedly esteemed work.

2. A Series of Tracts on the Doctrines, Order, and Policy of the Presbyterian Church. vol. 9.

3. Isabel, or a Sabbath Well Spent. By Rev. JAMES HAMILTON, D. D. London. A Tract.

4. A Treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers. By JOHN DALLIE. PP. 456.

5. A Glance Backward at Fifteen Years of Missionary Life in North India. By the Rev. JOSEPH WARREN, D. D. pp. 256.

6. The Articles of the Synod of Dort, translated from the Latin, with Notes. By the Rev. THOMAS SCOTT, D. D., with an Introductory Essay, by the Rev. SAMUEL MILLER, D. D., late Professor in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. pp. 260.

7. The Wedge of Gold, or Achan in Eldorado. By the Rev. W. A. SCOTT, D. D. pp. 162,

8. Domestic Duties. By Rev. RUFUS BAILEY.

pp. 120.

9. The Childs Scrap Book. Compiled by the Editor. pp. 144.

10. Gleanings from Real Life. By S. S. EGLISEA, author of Lizzie

Furguson. pp. 180.

11. The Bishop and the Monk. pp. 166.

12. Footprints of Popery. pp. 180.

13. A Method for Prayer. By Rev. MATTHEW HENRY. pp. 273.

14. The World and its Influences. pp. 120.

15. An Explanation of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. By THOMAS VINCENT. pp. 364.

16. Lessons for the Little Ones. By a Teacher of Infants. pp. 180.

17: Children of Abraham: or Sketches of Jewish Converts, being in part a sequel to Leila Ada. pp. 119.

HALL, D. D. pp. 127.

18. Faith and Works. By L. H. CHRISTIAN. pp. 138. 19. Little Nelly and the Dying Irish Girl. pp. 144. 20. The Sower and the Seed. By JOHN 21. William Bartlett: or the Good Son. 22. Rhymes for the Nursery. pp. 91. 23. The Presbyterian Juvenile Psalmodist. Pp. 256.

pp. 108.

By THOMAS HASTINGS.

24. The Child's Catechism of Scripture History. By Rev. J WALLACE. Kingstree, S. C. pp. 179.

25. The Duty of Praying for Others. By Rev. WILLIAM ROMAINE. PP. 82.

26. Forgive us our Debts. By JOHN HALL, D. D. pp 34.

27. The First Sabbath Excursion. pp. 72.

28. Aunt Sarah's Stories. pp. 55.

29. Little Kadore, the Royal Beggar Boy, and Maurice Sullivan. pp. 36. 30. Annie Grey, and Other Sketches. By OLIVE. 31. Death Bed Triumphs of Eminent Christians. Rev. FORBES BURNS. pp. 191.

pp. 72. Compiled by the

Minister. p. 203.

32. The Classmates, or The College Revival. By 33. Calvin and His Enemies. A Memoir of the life, character, and principles of Calvin. By the Rev. THOMAS SMYTH, D. D. pp. 180.

34. Witnesses for Christ, or the Poet, the Hero, the Statesman, and the Philosopher. pp. 72.

35. Petra, or The Rock City and its Explorers. pp. 79.

36. Backbiting Reproved, The Visit, and Other Sketches. By CHARLOTTE ELZIABETH. pp. 144.

37. Learn to Say No, or The City Apprentice. pp. 122. Written for the Board of Publication.

38. Daniel Baker's Talk to Little Children.

pp. 68.

39. The Paradise of Children, an address to boys and girls. By the Rev. N. MORREN. pp. 72.

40. The Christian in the Church. By JOHN M. LOWRIE. pp. 47. 41. The Transformed Island. A Story of the South Seas.

42. Sabbath School Theology, or Conversations with a

JOHN HALL, D. D. pp. 94.

pp. 72.

Class. By

43. Gems from the Coral Islands, or Incidents between Savage and

Christian Life of the South Sea Islanders. By the Rev. WILLIAM GILL. Rarotonga. pp. 282.

44. Gems from the Coral Islands, Western Polenesia. By the Rev. WILLIAM GILL, Raratonga. pp. 232.

The above are all publications of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and bear their respected imprimatur. We bid them a cordial welcome amongst us. A truly Presbyterian literature must be a blessing both to our church and our country.

Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord. By RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, M. A., Vicar of Itchen Stoke, Hants; Professor of Divinity, King's College, London; Examining Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Oxford; and late Hulsean Lecturer. Second ed. London: John W. Parker, West Strand. 1847. Pp. 467. On Miracles. BY RALPH WARDLAW, D. D. " What sign showest thou, then, that we may see, and believe thee? What dost thou work?"-THE JEWS TO JESUS. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, No. 285 Broadway. 1853. Pp. 295. An Inquiry into the Proofs, Nature, and Extent of Inspiration, and into the Authority of Scripture. By the Rev, SAMUEL HINDS, M. A., of Queen's College, and Vice-Principal of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford. Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter, for B. Fellowes, Ludgate Street, London; and J. Parker, Oxford.

1831.

ALL the departures from the ancient faith concerning the authority of the Scriptures, which have distinguished modern speculation, may be traced directly, whatever may be said of the perverseness of the heart as the ultimate cause, to an insuperable repugnance to the admission of miracles. The supernatural has been the stone of stumbling and the rock of offence. The antipathy to it has given rise to open infidelity, on the one hand, and to the various types of criticism, on the other, which, in consequence of their agreement in rejecting everything that transcends the ordinary agencies of nature, have been classed under the common name of Rationalism. If the immediate intervention of God, either in the world of matter or of mind, is assumed to be intrinsically incredible, nothing