School Presbyterian Church, and say, "These are my epistles, known and read of all men." Professor Smith represented the Old School Calvinists of the New England type. He held firmly to the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, and, though an admirer of Schleiermacher and Dorner, gave no place to their theories of future probation. He sustained a deterministic doctrine of the will, holding, according to Dr. Stearns, that the immanent preference of the will "is free in that it is spontaneous, that it is a choice, that it expresses the true tendency of our moral nature; but not in the sense of having been brought into existence by a deliberate act of choice involving power to the contrary. Only executive acts of the will are deliberate. At the beginning of our moral career we find an immanent preference in full possession of our souls; when God comes to the soul in his regenerating grace, he creates a new immanent preference. But in neither case can we be said ourselves to be the authors of it. Its freedom is a quality of it, but not dependent upon its authorship" (p. 212). With such a view of the will Dr. Smith was, of course, hampered in defending the position which had been maintained by the original members of the New School Presbyterian body. Their evangelical activity rested upon a profound assumption of the freedom of the will. Under the instruction of such a teacher the pathway back to the body of the church from which they had been separated was direct, easy, and logical. It is difficult to see how evangelists like Finney and Beecher, who were so active in the Presbyterian Church in initiating the movement which led to the separation of 1837, could have found any basis for their pungent appeals to conscience, while maintaining that "only the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit can transform this immanent preference of sin into the immanent preference of God and holiness," and that “the sinner, while wholly responsible for his sin, is yet entirely dependent upon the sovereign grace of God," or again while holding that all men come into the world in a state that is in a true sense sinful, and that is antecedent to all actual transgressions" (pp. (217-219). But we need not discuss at length the points of theology here raised. Suffice it to say, in conclusion, that the volume gives a faithful representation both of the person, the work, and the theological system of Professor Smith, and will be invaluable to those who desire to get an adequate view of the progress of religious thought in America during the latter half of this century. OBERLIN LECTURES of 1892. THE PULPIT AND THE PEW. By Rev. David O. Mears, D. D., pastor of the Piedmont Congregational Church, Worcester, Mass., author of "Life of Edwin N. Kirk, D. D.,” “The Deathless Book," etc. Oberlin, Ohio: Edward J. Goodrich. 1892. (Pp. 128. 5x2%.) These lectures present, in attractive form, the views of a successful pastor and author, upon various practical themes connected with the work of the Christian minister. The first lecture sets forth the conserving power of 527 the pulpit; maintaining that the pulpit is a permanent necessity for the propagation of the higher principles of Christian faith and morality. The second lecture treats of "The Limitations of the Sermon." Among these are the man himself and the conditions of the people, but especially the gospel itself, which furnishes to the preacher his themes. The preacher stands upon a lofty platform of revealed truth, and loses his power the moment he gets off from it. The final lecture, on "The Duties and Rights of the Pews," is especially stimulating and valuable. The pews are helpful, first, in maintaining a form of belief which enforces the words of the pulpit. A preacher who seriously departs from the written or unwritten creed of his parish ceases to be a power with them. It is well, therefore, that the congregation should appoint its own teacher; but, secondly, it is of supreme importance that the faith of the church be enforced by the life and practice of its members. We commend the little volume most heartily to both the pulpit and the pews. HYMNS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: Edited by Captain R. Kelso Carter and The distinctive character of this book is not indicated on its title-page or in its preface. It is something more than a mere attempt to give a variety of new hymns and lively tunes interspersed with a good selection of those that are old and standard. It can hardly be classed as the golden mean "between the Scotch Psalter and the Salvation Army Song Book," as its preface seems to assume. Its characteristic is the devotion of some of its hymns to tenets, prominent among which are Chiliasm, sanctification, and "Divine Healing." The character of the hymns which express the sentiments produced by belief in these doctrines is sufficiently indicated by the following extracts from a hymn by Captain Carter, entitled "The Unchanged Healer." (No. 268.) "Jesus, thou ever art the same, To-day and yesterday are one; My guilt and inbred sin were borne; For me thy loving heart was torn. Away my fears, I come to Christ, Refrain: For me the Lord was crucified; My sin and sickness on the tree." Many of these hymns display no little ability, and the tunes to which they are set are original, with easy and pleasing melodies. The miscellaneous hymns are all good, and the congregations of Christians who hold to these special tenets are to be congratulated on having a hymn-book which sets forth their views so well. We do not care to discuss these theories, and hence forbear to criticise the hymns, even though a few of them do not seem to display the best of taste. For its purpose the book is a good one: but the publishers and editors are hardly justified in their "belief that a book has been at last prepared that is fully suited for a modern church hymnal, and at the same time adapted to the needs of the prayer-meeting and general gospel work." W. E. BARTON. GOSPEL SINGERS AND THEIR SONGS. By F. D. Hemenway, D. D., and Chas. M. Stuart, B. D. New York: Hunt and Eaton; Cincinnati: Cranston and Stowe. (Pp. 195. 3x5.) 80 cents. The substance of this book is an essay by the late Professor Hemenway of Garrett Biblical Institute. It has been abridged-we wish it had not been -by Mr. Stuart, who has added two very good chapters on the hymns of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century. There are few omissions that may not be pardoned for lack of space, and the same excuse is sufficient to cover cases in which controverted points are passed over with a mere statement of the author's opinion as fact, as in attributing "Veni, Creator Spiritus" to King Robert II. It might be suggested that too exclusive reference is made to the Methodist Hymnal. A reader of the book might be in doubt concerning the existence of any other hymn-book in the modern church. But when all possible deductions have been made, it remains to be said that this little book contains a surprising amount of information, which the small price makes available to many who cannot obtain more expensive works, and that thus it meets a real need. Most heartily do we commend it to all who wish the main facts of hymnology concisely stated and at trifling cost. It is the cheapest work of its kind, and for many people it will also be the best. THE PUBLIC USES OF THE BIBLE: A Study in Biblical Elocution. By George M. Stone. Hartford: The Student Publishing Company, 1890. (Pp. vi, 189. 54x3%.) $1.25. The author of this volume has been very successful in eliciting interest in the Bible by the mere reading of it to public audiences, as elocutionists read Shakespeare or any other standard literature. The aim of this book is to illustrate the extent to which elocution may aid in the interpretation of the Bible. By elocution, however, the author means a much higher intellectual exercise than is usually-comprehended in the use of the term. The practical pastor will find the volume most suggestive and helpful in his work. THE BIBLIOTHECA SACRA. BY ARTICLE I. THE HISTORY AND DEFINITION OF HIGHER CRITICISM. THE REV. HOWARD OSGOOD, D.D., PROFESSOR IN ROCHESTER THEO- IN his "History of the Old Testament in the Christian Church," Diestel says that the special novelty in Eichhorn's treatment of the Old Testament is found in his application of "higher criticism, that is, careful separation of the original and later parts of a book." What the meaning of this higher criticism is, we can learn only by its history, for no two of its disciples define it alike. Criticism in its simplest, widest meaning is nothing more than decision, judgment. By necessity we are all critics; we are compelled to balance the "for and against of all matters brought before us every day that we may reach intelligent decisions. To oppose criticism as an operation of the mind is bald self-stultification, for the very opposition is criticism. No intelligent man would hinder the freest exercise of the mind, for only by that can intelligence be continued and increased among men. Criticism is also used in a special sense, of the art of judging works of literature or art. Here, too, no one has any right to impose 1 1869, p. 608. restrictions. Liberty is the first requisite for truth, discovery, progress, as well as for the right preservation of what has previously been gained. The truth has nothing to fear from liberty. It has fought for liberty through the centuries, and flourishes where liberty is best understood and practised. There seems to be one apparent, but not real, exception to this liberty. Men agreeing in certain fundamental views of the Bible or of society, unite in a society to maintain and defend these views. If one of these men in the use of his liberty reaches views which, in the minds of those with whom he formerly agreed, are subversive of any of their fundamental views, what is his duty? To deny his liberty and retract his views? Certainly not. To maintain his views in that society and deny the liberty of other men who will not receive them? Certainly not. But, if he is one who understands and maintains the liberty of other men as well as his own, he will preserve his liberty and theirs by maintaining his views among others who willingly receive them. This is both the gospel and the law. It is with criticism and the critic in their technical signification, meaning judgment and a judge of literature or art, that we are now concerned. Wide knowledge and judgment educated by theory and practice are supposed to be essential to the critic. The centuries show us that birth is as indispensable to a critic as to a poet. Cobet, than whom this century has known no finer exemplar of the classical critic, repeats the story, "nec quemquam fieri criticum, sed nasci ut poetam" in his "De Arte Interpretandi." Neither poet nor critic can be ground out by any known process. Learning does not make the critic. Cautious judgment and careful statement do not make the critic. That a critic's opinions may gain the assent of any large number of the well-informed and judicious in his own line of study there is need of a large, genial, healthy mind, open to light from 1 Leiden, 1847, p. 21. |