to Yale College to commence his preparation for the ministerial work. But, after remaining here for a short period, he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton. Before closing his studies at the latter institution, he was called to a professorship in Centre College, where he had graduated. This call he accepted. Subsequently he was licensed to preach and ordained, but he declined all solicitations to accept the pastorate of a church. This he did, not from any failing of interest in or inclination toward the duties of the pastoral office, but because the Providential summons seemed to his mind to be in another direction. His destiny was to be an educator. Calls came to him from various quarters, and, in the course of his life, he was either a professor or the presiding officer in several collegiate institutions and theological seminaries. Everywhere he seems to have had great success as an instructor, a disciplinarian, and an organizer. The testimonies given by his pupils and acquaintance represent him as remarkably well adapted to influence the minds of the young. For a period of one or two years, he laid down his collegiate work, and became the minister of a church in Baltimore. But his reputation as a teacher had become so great that he was not suffered to remain in that position. His last years were spent in his native state, in the Presidency of Transylvania University and Centre College. The breaking out of the war, in 1861, disappointed his hopes for those institutions and saddened his closing life. He was a gentle spirit in the midst of the contentions of the border land between the North and the South. He did everything to calm the strife, and waited for a better and brighter day. In the darkest time of the conflict-when all was most uncertain-he passed away, on the 26th of May, 1863. But little known in the eastern States, he was a useful and an honored man in the west and south. His friend, the biographer, has rendered a kindly service in perpetuating his memory to a later time, by recording the story of his life in this pleasant volume. Quite a number of Dr. Green's sermons are inserted in the book—following the biography. They will give the reader an idea of the style and character of his pulpit efforts.

BIOGRAPHY OF DR. GEORGE JUNKIN.*-Dr. George Junkin was a man of so much prominence as a representative of the Old

*The Reverend George Junkin, D.D., LL.D. A Historical Biography. By D. X. JUNKIN, D.D. "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1871. 12mo, pp. 609.

School section of the Presbyterian Church, that the story of his life, of necessity, includes the story of some of the conspicuous actions and events of that part of the Church. The two things in which this distinguished gentleman became a leader of his party, were the great movement which resulted in the division of the Presbyterian body, and the agitation connected with the subject of slavery. The writer of the biography attempts to sustain and defend the action of his brother in reference to both of these matters. He has been as successful in this attempt as the possibilities of the case would allow. At this late period, it is no easy undertaking to paint in very attractive colors the trial and condemnation of Albert Barnes, or the violent course of those who drove him and his associates out of the synagogue. The less the public attention is called to a review of that crisis in the history of Presbyterianism, the better it will be for the good fame of those who sided with Dr. Junkin. It is a little remarkable-though not altogether unnatural-that, just as the new-born harmony of the reunited denomination is becoming a subject of much satisfaction and thankfulness, the advocates of the narrow views, which are professedly laid aside, or widened, or bidden to keep silence, should come forward with a glorification of the old combatants on their side of the question. Reunion and universal good feeling are excellent things, but, as they begin to be realized, it seems to be desirable that the right and wrong of the original disruption should be brought out clearly-so such men are apt to think, in all such We agree to receive you into our fellowship again, they say to the opposite party-we agree to give up the discussion of the old points for the present-but-do not forget that our party was right in the past controversy. Those sainted fathers and elder brothers of ours did not err or sin in the well-remembered crisis. The wrong was with your fathers. With this admitted, we will generously forgive them, as they are mostly out of this world, and as the controversy is as far from present scenes as they are. We will have a delightful harmony, but-please to recollect, always, that our friends were obliged, as conscientious defenders of the truth, to do just what they did.

cases.

The present Dr. Junkin has presented the history as fairly as could be expected under the circumstances, and with as much freedom from a controversial spirit. But the action of his brother and the whole story of the events of those days might well be left to forgetfulness; and we cannot but feel that it would be better

that the life of these leaders of the Old School party should be altogether unrecorded, than that the narrative of their action in those unfortunate events should be again pressed upon the public attention, with the claim that it was right.

The course of Dr. Junkin on the slavery question was equally indefensible. The author labors, through page after page, in the vain hope that he can justify what his brother did. We used to hear, years ago, such representations of the wisdom of treating the advocates of the slave system with great gentleness, lest they might get angry, but the war blew them away as with a whirlwind. This volume is published just ten years after the taking of Fort Sumter, and, therefore, just ten years after the last foundation for all its defense of the old notions was utterly destroyed. The fact is, that this venerable gentleman and all who sympathized with him-however honest they were in the views which they maintained-had no apprehension of the demands of the crisis. The slave power was determined and aggressive. It looked with supreme contempt on these excellent persons, while, at the same time, it took possession of them and employed their energies in its own service. Eloquent appeals to the popular mind to be quiet and to conquer prejudices were made by men who fancied themselves to be wisely working for the removal of the institution. But those eloquent appeals were really appeals in behalf of the increase of its power. They were weapons seized from the North and its friends by the arch-enemy of freedom. Dr. Junkin, like many other doctors and old-fashioned statesmen who tried to save the Union, was mistaken; and it is better freely to acknowledge it than to attempt to make out a case for them, as if, after all, they may have been right. The question between Dr. Junkin and Mr. Barnes may possibly be an open one, even after the day of reunion has come. But the question between Dr. Junkin and the anti-slavery men is settled forever against him; and the effort to settle it on the opposite side, or to show that it is still undetermined, is one in comparison with which "the damming up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes" would be an easy thing. The New School party and the men who learned the truth from New England-whatever may be true of their theology -shine brightly and clearly in their right sentiments here. There is something, as we cannot help believing, in their theological system which gave them such a nobler position on the great moral question of the country's history.

Dr. Junkin, however, was a true patriot. He was not, like some of the politicians of his party, a man ready to abandon his country in the hour of her need, or to advise the mild course when the enemy had assailed the nation's life. From the outbreak of the war, he was a firm, unyielding, and self-sacrificing advocate of the cause of the Union. The day for action, even to his view, had come, and the time for persuasion was ended. The story of his leaving the Southern college with which he was connected is worthy of a place in the annals of the conflict. He proved himself a true man, and the readers of his biography will pardon much that may seem unwise or mistaken in the earlier days, because of this heroic stand which he took at the end. Had his brother left his life where he left it-with no late defense of the wrong views, but with the act that contradicted and, as it were, atoned for them-the book would have honored its subject more perfectly than it has done.

The reader of this volume will find much that is interesting in it. The man, of whom it gives the life-story, was a man of unusual powers and prominence. He was a distinguished preacher and teacher and leader in the Church. He was decided and firm in his opinions, and fearless in his defense of them. He was an earnest Christian, but with that want of toleration for others which characterized the party with whom he was associated and among whom he was educated. He was one whose biography may properly have been written and may well be read. If his biographer had written it, without defending the course which he took on the great questions to which reference has been made, we should have only commendation to bestow upon the book.

GENEALOGY OF THE STRONG FAMILY.*-Dr. Benjamin W. Dwight, of Clinton, N. Y., has rendered, in this book, a service to the family whose name it bears, which can scarcely be overestimated. With indefatigable industry and an enthusiasm which knows no bounds, he has searched out all the branches of a race, which is as strong in members as it is in name. In two volumes of 750 pages each, he has given an account of some 30,000 persons, and has, thus, enabled any one of the race who examines the book to trace out his

*The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Mass. By BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT, Author of The Higher Christian Education and of Modern Philology. Albany. N. Y.: Joel Munsell. 1871. 8vo. 2 vols. pp. 768,

relationship in every direction. The recording of such a family history is a great and important work. It is a part of the country's history, and shows how the best character of the nation has been gradually developed. Dr. Dwight's method is, by far, the best that we have ever seen in any genealogical book. In the first place, he abandons the absurd course of most writers of his class, who limit themselves to the lines of the male descendants, as if the daughters had not as much claim on the family as the sons, and their children had not the family blood and inheritance as fully as the sons' children. The glory of a family, indeed, in the successive generations, is often most conspicuous in the descendants of the female line. Dr. Dwight gives the daughters and the sons an equal place, and, in this way, gives, as every genealogist ought to give, the history, not of one half of the family, but of the whole of it. He, also, presents the line of descent in each family within the general family, instead of giving each generation by itself. In this way, every person is enabled to find, at once and without long searching, his own descent from the original stock, as well as the line of his immediate ancestry and relatives. No one can examine the book, without perceiving the great advantage to the reader of this method of giving the genealogy. Dr. Dwight is connected, on the maternal side, with the family to whose record he has so generously devoted so much of his time. It is quite remarkable to notice how many distinguished persons are found within the circle of the descendants. The good old stock of New England is seen in its excellence in such a book. The fathers and mothers of our early history shine out in their virtue and in the vigor of their mental power, as one after another of their posterity, in the progress of the generations, is continually rising to eminence or blessing the world by his influence.

This book must, from the nature of the case, have a limited circulation. But to all interested in family-histories we heartily commend it. Its author ought to be abundantly repaid for his labor of love.

MISCELLANEOUS.

HALF-HOURS WITH MODERN SCIENTISTS.-Messrs. C. C. Chatfield & Co., of New Haven, have collected in a volume the essays on scientific subjects which they have heretofore published in the separate numbers of the "University Scientific Series." The contents are: On the Physical Basis of Life. By Prof. T. H. Huxley.