question, whether they may, or may not, rely on guarantees essential to their safety and prosperity. And here, to the solution of this question new difficulties arose. The men on the stage were to a large extent political partisans, elected as such in a time of strong political excitement, and who, now elated with victory on the one hand, or chafing under defeat, and burning with indignation on the other, stood in the attitude of antagonists, unwilling to yield any thing; and the events of the last few months, fresh in the minds of all our readers, have filled the hearts of Christian philanthropists with inexpressible sadness and anxiety. And here we stand to-day-our Union virtually dissolved-our States dissevered-a new Republic organized—our people alienated, hated, and hating one another-our National prosperity blighted-and the cause of Constitutional Liberty every where dishonored.

Foreseeing in the early part of the Session of the late Congress, that the Committees of the Senate and of the House would prove powerless for good, and believing Disunion, with all its terrible calamities, to be as unnecessary as it would prove fearful, we have looked for the proposal of some plan of adjustment by which our present troubles might be settled, and settled for all time.

And here we ought to allude to the action of our several Bishops, who, one and all, we believe, in the spirit of their Master, have pointed the faithful of their flocks in prayer to HIM Who maketh men to be of one mind in an house. Many an anxious, agonized heart has thus been soothed and strengthened, and GoD in Heaven, we trust, has heard and answered.

Knowing as we do that there are real differences of opinion. in the North and the South on the subject of Slavery, and that these differences are conscientiously and strongly held, we have seen no plan of adjusting our National troubles except. by dividing our common Territory between the North and the South, by giving to that dividing line Constitutional authority, and then leave the North and the South to work out their own destiny, each in their own way, and upon their own responsibility. This was our plan of adjustment. The North, we think, should have at once proffered this to the South, with VOL. XIV. NO. 1.

14*

the assurance that every Constitutional guarantee should be preserved inviolate. And we here take this occasion to mention, with our strongest expression of gratitude and honor, the name of one who, amid the loudest surges of the storm, has still caused his voice to be heard in words of peace. We mean the Hon. JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, United States Senator from Kentucky. When the present excitement shall have passed by, and men can look coolly upon the danger in all its appalling magnitude, that name will be linked with WASHINGTON, and held in veneration as long as the Union shall be remembered on the pages of History.

What the future of the Republic and of our common country is to be, it is impossible at the time of our present writing to predict. Hope, or fear prevails, as the field of vision is changed. But Disunion is so unnatural, and we believe so unnecessary, and so surely fraught with fearful evils, that the re-establishment of our Nationality, on a firmer basis, and with still more glorious results, we shall not cease to look and to labor for. The great majority of the people of the North are thoroughly loyal in feeling to the Constitution, and will be true to all its obligations. With a better understanding between the North and the South, with every just cause of offense removed, and every honorable guarantee secured, we wait to see the old Flag wave once more over a re-united and glorious Confederacy. But there is another and a great work to be done. A healthier public sentiment must be created. Men who live as alarmists and fomenters of National discord, must be taught their place. Treason is Villainy, whether in the Pulpit, the Lecture Room, or the Newspaper and has no more right than Blasphemy or Licentiousness, to skulk behind that miserable cant term of "Free Speech." Like every other great crime against public virtue, it is to be suppressed always and everywhere. Above all, the GoD of Heaven must be the GOD of our People, and His Will their guide. And, to this end, the Church must meet the self-willed individualism and the pretentious Infidelity of the times, with a bolder front, a firmer faith, a warmer heart, a more heroic self-sacrifice, and a wiser adaptation of the Gospel to the practical wants of the age. Church Missions, Church Homes, Church Hospitals,

Church Schools and Colleges, must be brought to bear upon the sympathies of men. The rising generation must be educated to truer views and nobler aims. Canting Indifferentism is Treachery in times like these. The desperate maladies of the age demand positive not negative treatment; the Gospel remedy in its purity, not humanitarian quackery.

What the result of the disruption of the Confederacy is to be upon the Church, upon her organic Unity, and her plans of Church Work, this is now a great question, and one to which as Christian men we must address ourselves. The Church thus far has a clean record; she has been true to her God, her country, and herself. A few factious men within her have not disturbed her harmony. Let it be our united counsel and prayer now that the sacred bond of Brotherhood between Churchmen, North and South, be not weakened, much less severed. One in Faith; One in affection; One in the memories of a noble past; One in the perils around us and the duties before us; One in so many of the tenderest human ties-surely the bond that binds us together in One Communion and fellowship in the One Body of CHRIST, is so strong that the raging passions of the hour cannot sunder it. In any event, there is no necessity that the Church be disunited; provision can easily be made for existing relations between the several States; while the manifold evils and inconveniences that must attend a division of our National Church, greater, we are sure, than some seem now to anticipate, render such separation utterly impracticable. Let the Church, North and South, East and West, still be One, a glorious, loving, working Church, and standing as ever upon her immovable foundation, the ROCK CHRIST JESUS, she shall still cast her calm, clear, Heavenly light upon the angry waters; and GOD, "Who stilleth the raging of the sea, and the noise of his waves, and the madness of the people;" He Who is wonderful in His holy places; even the God of Israel, He will give strength and power unto His people." He will bring order out of confusion, and light out of darkness.

Such, as it seems to us, are the lessons of the hour. Such are the duties imposed upon us as American Churchmen at the present National Crisis.

EDITORIAL.

WITH the issue of the present Number of the AMERICAN QUARTERLY CHURCH REVIEW, we announce the removal of our Publishing and Editorial Offices from New Haven to New York. The facilities of every kind, in our new and more central position, for conducting the Review, and especially our ability here to bring to its pages a far greater variety and amount of literary resources, have for years suggested such an arrangement, but which until now, we have been unable to effect. With a subscription list now well established, with a corps of Contributors thoroughly in harmony with the spirit and aims of the work, we expect to make the Review, in a far greater degree, an element of power in the Church and the Country. We have no change to announce in the general character of the work. The Unity and peace of the Church on the basis of the Prayer-Book-a firm adherence to the Divine Institutions and to the great Doctrines of the Gospel as witnessed to by the Primitive and Reformed Church, with such measure of individual liberty as is consistent with true loyalty to the Church herself-and a more vigorous prosecution of Church work in its various departments as demanded by the wonderful exigencies of the age-these will still be primary objects, and leading principles in conducting the Review. We desire also to say, that, in these perilous times, there are certain great questions of Social Polity which must be met in a manly way, and boldly discussed on the highest of all principles, a true Christian Philosophy. To call things by their right names; to be positive, but not needlessly personal; to be temperate, but not tame, timid, or time-serving; to be earnest, but not narrow, or one-sided; to be charitable, and still to be loyal to the Church, and valiant for the Faith-this will be our study.

The scope of the Review will be broad enough to engage the attention of many who are not Churchmen. In Literature and Art, in Philosophy, Theology, and History, the discussions of the Review will be genial but thorough. On our list of Contributors some new names are engaged, of the highest reputation.

The Department of Ecclesiastical History alone will be worth more than the cost of the Review. Besides rare historical documents, not to be found elsewhere, the record of Current Events comprises full and accurate lists of Ordinations, Consecrations, &c., and other facts, Domestic and Foreign, suitable for our pages and worthy of preservation, and so arranged as to be easily referred to.

Testimony to the efficiency of the Review during the thirteen years of its establishment is before us, and of the very strongest character. Sixteen Bishops of the American Church have shown their interest in the work by writing for its pages.

Our publishing and editorial Offices are at No. 14 Bible House, Astor Place, New York City, (near the Rooms of the Domestic and Foreign Committees,) to which address, all Letters, Communications, Books for notice, &c., must be directed. N. S. RICHARDSON,

NEW YORK, April, 1st, 1861.

EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

COMMENTARY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, by Dr. A. THOLUCK. Translated from the Fourth Revised Edition. Philadelphia: Smith, English & Co.

This edition of the author's Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, differs so greatly from the First, (translated, in Clark's Cabinet Series, nearly thirty years ago,) as to be almost a new work. The difference, in our judgment, is wholly and immeasurably in favor of his first attempt. Dr. Tholuck had not then lost the feelings of reverence and humbleness of mind consequent upon his conversion to the truth. These qualities impressed themselves upon his early work-so that it was both profitable and pleasant to read. As to the present edition, there is a shocking absence of these qualities, so that it is impossible for any one who worships the Lord Jesus, to read it without distress and indignation. A comparison of the introduction to the first edition, with that which accompanies the present, exemplifies, to a mournful degree, the truth of the saying, "evil communications corrupt good manners."

The volume is wanting in almost everything that we mean by a Christian spirit. The words of our Saviour, and of inspired men, are handled as though they were common words, at best words of deep spiritual insight, into which Dr. Tholuck seems to think he has sometimes penetrated deeper than the authors themselves. He discards, with contempt, the orthodox views of Inspiration, and treats the holders of such views with a patronizing air, that would be amusing if it were not so distressing. It is incomprehensible to us, how any real Christian believer can assume an attitude towards the words of Inspiration, such as are taken throughout this book. In discussing the question of the identity of the Discourse of our Lord, called the Sermon on the Mount, as given by St. Matthew and by St. Luke, he pronounces them the same, giving the preference to St. Matthew, whose "arrangement generally is correct." As to St. Luke, who was not present at the delivery of the Discourse, it is by no means certain through how many removes he received his information-but undoubtedly at least secondary. "Yet, the discrepancies are not of such a nature, that we must conclude from them, that the author has taken the text of Matthew, and wilfully changed it in the interest of some doctrine or tendency." (We trust St. Luke will be properly grateful for so noble à concession on the learned Dr. Tholuck's part.) "All we are at liberty to conclude from these differences is, that St. Luke's informer (whether the information was oral or written) possessed less accurate knowledge. Thus Schleiermacher already remarked, as to the source whence St. Luke drew his information; our reporter appears either to have occupied an unfortunate position for hearing, in consequence of which he failed to catch all that was said, so that here and there he seems to have missed the train of thought; or, to have drawn up his account sometime subsequently, when a good deal of the discourse had escaped his memory." There is, however, one omission of St. Luke's, "which would appear to be wilful," and to have grown out of his Pauline tendencies, were it not that a prevalence of a "Judaizing element in other parts of his Gospel," fortunately comes in to save his truthfulness. "Certain formulæ of transition