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he was capable. Beyond his reach was an enlightened happiness, founded on the reconciliation of the soul to God, that it might be at peace with itself. Man had no power to remove the evils of which he was conscious, still less to introduce a better order of things. Now, it is contrary to all analogy-to all reasonable presumption, nay, it may safely be pronounced impossible, that such a social, moral and intellectual condition of the world should develope the principles taught in the Gospel, and give them a fixed existence in the person of Jesus Christ. We can conceive no more direct antithesis. Experience does not teach us that sin produces virtue, or infidelity faith. We cannot imagine that a state of moral decay and spiritual destitution should, from acknowledged natural causes and without a higher impulse, suddenly present just the reverse,-should attain the consciousness of unity with God, inward peace, spiritual life and happiness, the brotherhood of the race, a common destiny, and the hope of immortality, as these are exhibited in the life and instructions of Jesus Christ. The facts of his existence and peculiar agency find their satisfactory explanation, not in the progressive developement of a corrupt social condition, evermore hastening to decay and death, but only in a special divine influence, in the direct interposition of the Supreme Being. If we suppose a miraculous agency, that by supernatural power, and in a manner transcending ordinary experience, Christ was qualified for the mission he sustained, then the whole subject is not only clear, but the unfavourable moral and religious circumstances of the age furnish a sufficient cause for the interposition. As Christ is the introducer of a new creation, not resulting from any elements of nature or history known to us, but flowing from the eternal fountain of being, we cannot but regard him, his character and life, miraculous in the strict meaning of the word. And if he, under such circumstances in the midst of a world lying in trespasses and sins, realized the idea of the Perfect and Holy, and gave to the world a specimen of perfect humanity, without spot or stain, it is but reasonable to expect, that his whole intercourse with men would be accompanied by results which have a clear affinity to his character; that is, that miracles should mark the course of this greatest miracle, and designate to all subsequent ages the epoch of this spiritual change in the history of mankind.

The last remark is intended to convey the idea, that the existence of the Christian Church cannot be satisfactorily accounted for on any

hypothesis, which excludes a real, miraculous agency. There is in the world a religion admitted to be a pure and spiritual system, adapted to the nature and condition of men; there is a church, the visible symbol of it, the outward manifestation of the invisible kingdom of God. It exists, and has for ages existed, exercising an extensive and powerful influence upon the condition and fortunes of the world. Here is a great fact. Where shall we look for the cause? If we say, that as a revelation of God to man, as a new spiritual creation, Christianity at once falls into the category of miracles, the effect is sufficiently explained. If Jesus could convince himself of the reality of his divine mission without the consciousness of miraculous powers, it is not conceivable by us, that without the exhibition of such powers he could firmly plant that conviction in the minds of others. He arose from the midst of the people to whom he preached; his brethren and friends were known to them; and they were fully justified in asking the question, "Whence then hath this man this wisdom?" In our judgement, the only answer to this question,-the only way of establishing his claims, and of introducing a spiritual salvation into a sensual world, was, to show by undeniable miracles that God was with him, and to confirm his predictions by their fulfilment in his own history.

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The Christian Church is built upon the truth of the resurrection of Christ. The Apostles preached this resurrection as if they believed it to have been, not a tradition, not a merely natural event, not the return to life of one who had been only apparently dead, but a real, indubitable miracle. If they had been aware of an uncertainty on this point, could they have preached it with such an overwhelming power of persuasion, as to have induced others to believe it as an indubitable fact, and to unite in a social community for the purpose of preserving and perpetuating this belief? The Jews, even Christ's disciples, did not expect a suffering, dying Redeemer. They looked for a permanent earthly kingdom of God. Hence they had formed no idea of his resurrection. It was an event contrary to all their expectations of the Messiah. How then could they have become so convinced that Christ did die and rise again, as to make it the corner stone of their religion, and to affirm that "if Christ be not risen, men are yet in their sins," without a hope of immortality? That the Apostles did not look for the resurrection of Jesus is evident from the fact, that after his death they became disheartened and considered their enter

prise as abandoned. What but the certain knowledge that this event had occurred could have produced the change in their feelings, which led them to preach salvation to the world through a crucified and risen Redeemer ? Men have sacrificed themselves for fictions, believing them realities; but the Apostles were not persons likely to be misled by vain imaginings. The practical tendency of their minds, their sobriety and plain common sense, are manifest from their writings and the record of their actions. Is it possible that a man of enlightened intellect and capable of moral discrimination, like Paul, could have been converted from being a violent opponent of Christianity, if he had not had the fullest persuasion that the facts recorded in the life of Christ actually occurred ?

But if we could overlook the conduct of Paul, we cannot lose sight of that significant fact-the Church. This has maintained its existence, and exercised a power to which that of no other institution can be compared. Its impress is distinctly marked upon the condition of the whole civilized world. Jews and Gentiles acknowledged a crucified Jew as the Son of God, and admitted his claims to the spiritual obedience of mankind. It cannot be supposed that they were brought to this recognition by a doctrine, or an idea, however important. Doctrines and ideas have great power over the human mind; but they require for their fullest efficacy, not only intellectual cultivation, but an historical basis and occasion. Probably no wilder fiction ever disturbed the imagination of men, than that of accounting for the existence and influence of the Church by supposing that the first Christian communities developed the characteristics of the Saviour, and imbodied them in his person, and then that this invention wrought the moral wonders connected with the spread of Christianity. It is idle to resort to such expedients to account for the Church, when the great problem may be so satisfactorily solved by the literal facts of the Evangelical history. The Church itself existing now, existing eighteen hundred years, with its sanctifying influences upon the human race, is the most convincing testimony that could be offered, that the Apostles possessed the faith which they labored so earnestly to excite in others, namely, that Christ both suffered death and rose again.

If the question be proposed, why in this connexion we urge these acknowledged truths, we have an answer ready, which, however, we must for the present defer.

J. M. M.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS, including a Critical Survey of Moral Systems, translated from the French of Jouffroy. By William H. Channing. In two volumes, 12mo. pp. 346, 366. Boston: Hilliard, Gray & Co. 1840.

THESE Volumes constitute the fifth and sixth of Mr. Ripley's "Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature." In selecting works to be translated for this collection some regard, we suppose, must be had to the sort of book most in demand. But apart from this, and looking only at the advantages likely to accrue to our own literature from the undertaking, we are satisfied that the selection ought to be confined almost exclusively to works of science and history. Works of this description suffer the least from the process of translation; and besides, we stand most in need of them; and it is also precisely in these departments that modern continental literature is the richest. For this reason we are glad to see, in the volumes before us, the Prolegomena to Jouffroy's great work on Natural Right in an English dress; and we shall look with confidence to the same quarter for an equally accurate and felicitous version of the succeeding volumes of the original as they appear.

Among living philosophical writers we know of none more worthy of being studied than Jouffroy. In the perfectly lucid and masterly manner in which he unravels a perplexed question, or traces the leading and pervading error of a system to its true source, he is, as it seems to us, without a rival. And then, though an avowed and consistent Eclectic, availing himself of whatever is good in all systems, he differs from his master Cousin in borrowing more largely from the doctrine, and certainly from the spirit, of the English and Scotch, than from the German. We feel the more at home in reading these volumes, as so large a portion of them is given to an examination, at once candid and profound, of celebrated English authors. Perhaps it is not going too far, to say that Hobbes, Smith and Bentham never had justice done to them until in this work; neither have the great merits

of Price, with whom Jouffroy agrees more nearly than with any other writer, been so distinctly stated before. We also welcome his earnest defence of the soul's essential freedom, and of the eternal and immutable obligations of right, and the pains he takes to explain skepticism to itself, and convince it of its own unreasonableness. And his sobriety, his modesty, the caution with which he proceeds, and his singular fairness of mind,-these are not qualities of such common occurrence among speculatists and critics at the present day, as to be undeserving of notice. In using such strong language of commendation, we would not be understood to mean that the work is faultless. Of this, however, we are sure, that it can hardly be read attentively by any one without doing something to disembarass his mind on some of the most perplexing questions in morals, and confirm his faith in goodness and his reverence for truth.

SACRED PHILOSOPHY OF THE SEASONS; illustrating the Perfections of God in the Phenomena of the Year. By the Rev. Henry Duncan, D. D., Ruthwell, Scotland. With important Additions and some Modifications to adapt it to American Readers. By F. W. P. Greenwood. In four volumes, 12mo. pp. 389, 391, 401, 416. Boston: Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb. 1839.

THE title of this work indicates its character. It is peculiar in its plan, and not common in the execution. Its scientific accuracy we are not qualified to examine severely, but we can trust those who have prepared it, at least the American Editor, whom we all know. He has not performed the task of a mere nominal editor or publisher, but very carefully revised every part, made important alterations-in such a way however as not to impair the integrity or genuineness of the work, annexed useful notes, and thrown in some purely original matter of a religious character. The influence of the whole is religious, and for this we most prize it. There is a great amount of information, but it is too multifarious to be thorough. Every thing in the physical world, in the phenomena of the year,' is touched upon, and of necessity much is left incomplete. Yet we believe all that is said may be relied on, and it is enough for the plan of the work,

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