cause are pursuing their great object with increasing activity and zeal; that their ranks are thronged, more and more, by men of the most elevated wisdom, office, and consideration in our country; that the highest authorities, both of professional and non-professional men, are daily adding their testimony in favour of the doctrine of total abstinence from ardent spirits, as conducive to health and strength, both of body and mind, and as ministering to all the best interests of individuals and of society; and that as far as the experiment has proceeded, the result has uniformly and triumphantly confirmed their testimony.

Each of these reports, with its annexed documents, is so rich in facts, in reasoning, and in impressive and solemn appeal, that we could earnestly wish a copy of both, and especially that of the American Temperance Society, might be placed in every family in the United States. We would especially recommend them to the attentive perusal of every honest opponent of the cause which they aim to promote, and of every honest doubter concerning that cause, in our country. There are few subjects on which we feel disposed to plead with our fellow citizens with more heartfelt earnestness than this; because we are firmly persuaded there is no subject, (unless it be the preaching of the glorious Gospel,) more intimately connected with all the temporal and eternal interests of men. We will cherish the hope-notwithstanding the immense mass of our fellow citizens who still occupy the seats of opposition or indifference-that the time is not far distant, when the use of ardent spirits, as a common drink, will be banished from all decent society; and when the habitual use of any stimulating drink will be generally regarded, as we are persuaded it ought universally to be, as equally unfriendly to virtue, health, and longevity.

VIII. The Ecclesiastical Catechism, being a series of Questions relative to the Christian Church stated and answered, with Scripture proofs. By ALEXANDER M LEOD, D. D. Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, New York. Seventh edition, from the third British edition. New York. Bunce, 18mo. pp. 144, 1831. This Catechism was first published twenty-four years ago. The fact of its having reached the 7th edition in this country, and the third in Great Britain, affords proof enough that it is held in high estimation by enlightened and serious readers.

On the subject of Church order and discipline, there are so

few treatises of sufficient brevity and plainness to be profitably put into the hands of the mass of professing Christians, that we do not wonder Dr. M.Leod considered a work of the kind now before us, as a real desideratum among the popular manuals of the day. His vigorous and well furnished mind might be expected to produce a rich and instructive volume. This he has certainly done, and we recommend it to our readers, especially to our youth, as, in general, excellent, and one that will abundantly repay a perusal.

The following table of contents will show what may be expected by the readers of this manual:

Chapter I. Of the Christian Church. Chapter II. Of Church Fellowship. Chapter III. Of Church Government. Chapter IV. Of Church Officers. Chapter V. Of Church Courts. Chapter VI. Of Religious Worship. Chapter VII. Of Church Discipline.

At the close of the volume, Dr. M. has added a body of notes, intended more fully to explain and justify some of the views exhibited in the preceding chapters, than was convenient without unduly extending and encumbering his Catechism. These form a valuable addition, which no intelligent reader will allow himself to pass over lightly in the perusal.

In one of the notes added to the present edition, the author attacks, with some severity, the doctrine of a volume on the "Ruling Elder," lately published, viz. that this class of Church officers ought to be ordained with the imposition of hands. This doctrine, Dr. M. pronounces "contrary to Scripture, sense, and reason;" as having "nothing in the Bible, or in the approved example of the Church of God to authorize it;" as a mere innovation; as maintained by no other than nominal Presbyterians; and as mischievous in its tendency as it is unwarranted. We will not undertake at present, at least, the defence of this doctrine. It may all be as Dr. M. has so confidently and unceremoniously alleged. And yet we confess it would have suited our taste quite as well, if the learned and excellent author had found it convenient to refute the doctrine in question, by sound argument, and by undoubted ecclesiastical testimony, instead of loading it with reproachful names. Much as we feel the force of his authority, we estimate the force of solid proof still more.

This is a very small deduction, however, from the value of the volume. Its various and decisive excellence is so great, that we could wish a copy of it to be possessed by every family in the United States.

Select List of Recent Publications.

THEOLOGICAL.

Hinton on the Means of Religious Revival, with Introductory Essay. New edition.

Boston.

The Scriptural Directory to Baptism, or a faithful citation of the principal passages of the Old and New Testament, which relate to the mode of administering this ordinance; with the sacred text impartially examined, and the plain meaning exhibited, and made clear to the understanding of every one who is willing to know the truth. By a Layman. Philadelphia. [An ingenious pamphlet, in which the mere juxta-position of Scriptural authority throws great light upon the vexed question of the mode of baptism. We are unprepared to subscribe to the whole extent of the author's conclusions.]

A Plain and Familiar Treatise on the Mode of Baptism, in which it is shown that Sprinkling is the Scriptural mode of administering that ordinance. By Cornelius Bogardus, Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, in Wynant's Kill. Troy, 1831. 12mo. pp. 132.

A Discourse on the Witnessing of the Holy Spirit, in regard to the Divine Adoption of true believers. By Rev. Robert M. Laird. Princess Anne, Md. Analysis of Dr. Livingston's Lectures on Theology. In numbers. N. York. Hall on the Faith and Influence of the Gospel, with an Essay by Dr. Chalmers. Edinburgh.

Morrison's Counsels for the Communion Table. London. 32mo.

Edward's on the Will. With an Introductory Essay by the author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm. London.

Bishop Hall's Contemplations, Russell's edition, without abridgment. London. 5 vols. 8vo.

Lee's Analysis of Archbishop Secker's Lectures. London.

Bishop Jebb's Pastoral Instruction. London and Edinburgh.

Conversations on Infant Baptism. By Charles Jerram, A. M. Reprinted by Latimer & Co. Philadelphia.

Prayers and Collects, translated from the annotations of Calvin on the Book of Ezekiel; to which are prefixed some remarks on the doctrines contained in them. By Rev. Edward Murray, Chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester. Lond. The Truth of the Gospel History, argued from our Lord's conduct with reference to his own crucifixion. By Rev. A. Johnson. London.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

Memoir of the Rev. Benjamin Allen, late Rector of St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, by the Rev. Thomas G. Allen; to which is added, the Funeral Sermon

delivered by the Rev. G. T. Bedell, D. D.; also the History of the Bible Classes of St. Paul's Church, which was written by Mr. Allen in England, and published since his death for the benefit of his family. Philadelphia.

Life of Sir Isaac Newton. By David Brewster, L. L. D. Edinburgh and New York.

Female Scripture Biography: including an Essay on what Christianity has done for Women. By Francis Augustus Cox, A. M. 2 vols.

The following are British Publications.

Third and last volume of the History of the Christian Religion and Church during the three first centuries; translated from the German of Dr Neander. By Henry J. Rose, B. D. London.

The Sacred History of the World, from the Creation to the Deluge, attempted to be philosophically considered, in a series of Letters to a Son. By Sharon Turner.

London.

Tod's Life of Cranmer, 2 vols. 8vo.

Darnell's Life and Correspondence of Isaac Basere, D.D. 8vo.

Memoirs of Pearce. By his Son.

Life of Rev. E. Erskine.

Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland. By W. M'Gavin.
Doddridge's Correspondence. Volume V.

Rev. Dr. Burton's Lectures on the Ecclesiastical History of the first Century.
Grove's Missionary Journal.

BIBLICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL.

A Hebrew Grammar, with a copious Syntax and Praxis. By Moses Stuart, Professor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover. Fourth edition.

Coleridge's Introduction to the Study of the Greek Poets. Philadelphia. Polymicrian Edition of the New Testament, with a centre column, containing References, Explanations, &c. illustrated with Maps. New York.

A new and condensed edition of Taylor's Calmet's Dictionary, 1 vol. imperial 8vo. Boston.

Hurwitz's Hebrew Etymology and Syntax. Edinburgh.

Grammatik der hebraischen Sprache des A. T. in vollstandiger Kurze neu bearbeitet von Georg Heinrich August Ewald, a. o. Professor zu Gottingen. "Ewald's Compendious Hebrew Grammar," 8vo. pp. 304. [The German philologists, while they plead for the necessity of copious Grammars, seem to feel that something of a less appalling kind is demanded for beginners; and therefore both Gesenius and Ewald, (the only two men who seem to stand on the highest platform of rivalship,) have compressed into a small compass the substance of their elaborate works. The great aim of the Gottingen Professor appears to be originality, and especially an antipodal opposition to Gesenius. A necessary result is much obscurity, much hypothesis, and perhaps some error. The work displays immense research, and opens some veins of interest

ing inquiry on the subject of vowel changes, but compares ill with the lucid arrangement of Gesenius' Elementarbuch.]

Irving's Lectures on the Apocalypse, 4 vols. 12mo. London and Edinburgh. Ritchie's Lectures on Romans, 8vo.

Worcester's Scriptural Biography, accompanied with an Atlas. 12mo. Boston.

SERMONS AND ADDRESSES.

Spruce Street Lectures. Lecture I. The Inability of Sinners considered.' By the Rev. Dr. Fisk. Lecture II. 'The Fall of Man and its Effects.' By the Rev. Dr. Janeway. Philadelphia. Russell & Martien.

An Address delivered to the Graduates of Dickinson College, on Wednesday, September 28, 1831. Carlisle. pp. 21.

The Christian Citizen; or the duty of praying for Rulers. Two Sermons, preached in the Chapel of the Theological Seminary, Andover, on the State Fast, April 7, 1831. By Ebenezer Porter, D. D.

Influence of Religion on Liberty. A Discourse in commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims, delivered at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1831. By the Rev. B. B. Wisner.

Salvation achieved only in the Present Life, requiring a resolute Effort, and forfeited inexcusably by the neglecters of the Gospel. A Sermon from Luke xiii. 24. By the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D.

The Methodist Preacher, or Monthly Sermons from living Ministers. Edited by Shipley Wells Wilson, Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Vol. 1 and 2. Boston, 1830. pp. 194 and 202. 8vo.

British Sermons.

Rev. J. Younge's Sermons, 8vo.

Rev. A. Ollivant's Sermons, 8vo.

C. J. Fenwick's Sermons, 8vo.

Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood's Sermons..

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Friend. A Series of Essays, to aid in the formation of fixed principles in Politics, Morals, and Religion, with Literary Amusements interspersed. By S. T. Coleridge, Esq. First American, from the 2d London edition. Boston.

[This may truly be termed a farrago; but it is such a one as Coleridge only could concoct. There is here fine criticism, classic wit, poetic dreaming, and some grains of sound doctrine, but so obnubilated with the fumes of German metaphysics, that we become giddy, and lose all power of comprehension. It reminds us of the sounds produced by a noble organ, out of tune. Mr. Coleridge stands up for the defence of orthodoxy; but his orthodoxy does not strike us as genuine or safe. By giving to the Atonement an influence merely subjective,