regarded it as of too small importance, whether an event was ten or eleven days sooner or later, to give themselves much trouble about it. We do not undervalue chronology, for the grand connexion of events by cause and effect is linked to the order of time. Mrs. Willard, by devising a series of maps corresponding to the principal epochs of our country's early history, and by her late invention of the " American Chronographer," may justly claim to have done for American chronology what no other writer has done. But as the astronomer, in calculating the appearances of the heavens, finds that the visual angle of the distance between any two bodies, becoming less and less as they recede, is at length nothing, so in history, ten or eleven days, at a hundred years' distance, becomes, to the mental vision, an imperceptible difference in time. It matters as little whether the day kept in honor of the Pilgrims' landing, is or is not the actual anniversary, as it does whether Christmas, which is celebrated by so great a part of Christendom, is or is not the real anniversary of our Lord's nativity. If the events, with their consequences, be duly and gratefully apprehended, that is all which is essential.

In Mr. Wilson's attempts at the correction of Mrs. Willard's style, we shall not follow him through the minutiae of his hypercriticism; in which, however, he has made sundry incorrect assertions, and some unfair quotations. Of the words which he cites as incorrectly used, there is not one in which the definitions given by Mr. Webster in his large dictionary do not justify Mrs. Willard. We would not assert that there is not a word in Mrs. Willard's books used in an incorrect signification, but this we do assert, that Mr. Wilson has not found one. In winding up his article, he uses expressions by which he would have it believed, that he only stated, here and there as it happened, some small part of the errors which he had detected in Mrs. Willard's books. But in the paragraph preceding we find, from observing the pages to which he refers, that he had looked regularly through the questions in small type at the foot of the pages in the small history, where he gleaned a few colloquialisms, which, though proba

bly contained in the first edition, have been since corrected.' After dealing in this small way, we can hardly suppose, especially considering Mr. Wilson's zeal "for the cause of education," that he would keep from the public any thing which he supposed to be inaccurate.

We have now, out of respect to your readers, replied to Mr. Wilson's main charges against Mrs. Willard's history, keeping within the limits of the defensive, as we shall avoid controversy. X. Y.

ARTICLE IX.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1.-The Book of Peace. A Collection of Essays on War and Peace. Boston: Geo. C. Beckwith. New-York: M. W. Dodd.

HERE is a series of fifty-two essays, or tracts, in nearly 500 closely printed pages, on a variety of important and interesting topics connected with the subject of peace-the history of the cause, its principles, and its measures, or modes of operation ;-sketches of war, its nature and effects;-testimonies of eminent men in different ages against war, both Pagans and Christians, warriors, statesmen, philosophers, men of letters, ministers of the Gospel;-the points of glaring contrariety between war and the Bible, the Old Testament as well as the New ;-the possibility of abolishing the custom ;-military discipline, or the treatment and punishment of warriors, both on land and sea;-various illustrations of war, especially in modern times, as in the Russian campaign, the Peninsular wars, sieges, battles, etc., etc.;—the suicidal folly of preparations for war;-waste of property by war, a very comprehensive view;-loss of life by war, a most startling array of facts;-war-debts of Europe, authentic, but almost incredible;-substitutes for war, four mentioned, but only arbitration and a congress of nations discussed at length, and these as fully as most readers will need or wish ;-inefficacy of war as a mode of protection or redress;-safety of pacific principles, illustrated

'Three of these have been corrected since the publication of Mr. Wilson's article, also, three or four slight errors in point of fact, and about as many in the arrangement of sentences.

with singnlar brevity, yet with much fullness of facts and examples; -military hospitals, or the treatment of wounded sick and disabled soldiers;-war-prayers, unchristian ;-militia-drills, superfluous even on the war-principle, and attended with great expense, and bad moral influences; the United States Navy a useless waste of money and morals;-answers to a great variety of objections to the cause of peace ;-war a destroyer of souls ;-influence of war on domestic happiness; the strictest principles of peace consistent with the legitimate operations of government in controlling and punishing its own subjects; claims of peace on Christians, on women, etc. ;—the chief evil of war seen in its moral nature and results ;-criminality of war ; -war unlawful under the Christian dispensation, etc., etc., etc.

This book certainly comprises a rich and brilliant constellation of genius, learning, and taste. Here we have the able and eloquent productions on this subject of Erasmus, the prince of modern scholars; of Neckar, the illustrious financier of France; of Robert Hall, perhaps the finest mind, certainly the most accomplished writer of the last age; of Chalmers, in some of the most vivid and powerful strains of his eloquence; of the gifted Channing, of Worcester, and Ladd, Noyes, and Clarkson, and others not unknown to fame. The work is a casket of the richest gems on peace; a judicious selection of the best articles or essays that have ever been written on the subject, with a considerable number, obviously prepared for the volume with much care, ability, and taste. It contains a vast amount of information in a small space, enough for most minds, on nearly all the points connected with the cause of peace. It is a rich thesaurus of facts, statistics, and anecdotes illustrating the nature and effects of war, and the ways or means by which an end may be put to this great scourge of the world. The variety of its topics and its style, can hardly fail to interest every class of minds; and the names of the different authors are a most ample guaranty for the great value and excellence of its contents. We wish it, what it richly deserves, a circulation through the land, and a careful perusal by all patriots, as well as by all the professed followers of the Prince of Peace. We hope hereafter for a fuller exhibition both of the book and the subject.

2.-Critical History and Defence of the Old Testament Canon. By M. STUART, Professor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. Andover: Allen, Morrill & Wardwell. New York: Mark H. Newman, 199 Broadway. 1845. pp. 452,

12mo.

The Christian world will, doubtless, feel grateful to Prof. Stuart for this contribution to the critical history of the Old Testament Canon. The Old Testament has been especially assailed of late; and even in a work entitled "Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels,"

Mr. Norton, its author, has made a bold attack on the genuineness and authenticity of the books of the Old Testament. It was time, then, for some able critic to take up the subject and enter upon a critical history and defence of the Canon. This, Prof. Stuart has done,

we think, with a master's hand, and with great effect.

His object, especially, is to show that the Jewish Canon, as received by the Jews, in the days of Christ and the Apostles, was declared by them to be of Divine origin and authority, and so treated. This, we think, he does show; and, being shown, it follows that it has received the sanction of one from whose decision there is no appeal; and that they, who admit the Divine origin and authority of the Christian religion as developed by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament, must be very inconsistent, if they reject the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.

The man who can stand up boldly before this critical defence of the Old Testament Canon, and declare himself an unbeliever as to its Divine origin and authority, may as well yield the genuineness of the New Testament, and place himself in the ranks of universal skeptics.

3.-The Preacher and Pastor. By FENELON, HErbert, Baxter, and CAMPBELL. Edited and accompanied with an Introductory Essay by Edwards A. Park, Bartlet Professor in Andover Theological Seminary. Andover: Allen, Morrill & Wardwell. NewYork: M. H. Newman. 1845. pp. 468, 12mo.

New works we have, to some extent, on the duties of the ministry of reconciliation, but they cannot, nor should they, supersede the old standard volumes, which have enlightened and refreshed so many of God's under-shepherds in days gone by. And although we need a very few new things adapted to the age, yet Fenelon, Herbert, Baxter, and Campbell, contain all the essential points, and speak with an emphasis and authority, which no living author can possess.

As Lamb said, "books that are books," so we say that ministers who are ministers, will find in this volume incitement, instruction, and consolation. Let them hold communion with these holy men, in respect to their duties and encouragements, and they will find their hearts burn within them, as they turn over the pages of this volume, or when, having laid it down, they pursue their pastoral labors.

We like this reproduction of the old standards, and hope to see more issuing from the same useful press.

4.-The True Grandeur of Nations. An Oration delivered before the Authorities of the City of Boston, July 4th, 1845. By CHARLES SUMNER. Boston: Wm. D. Ticknor & Co.

For a Fourth of July, this is certainly a rare and unique performance. Quitting all the topics of war, military glory, and martial patriTHIRD SERIES, VOL. 1. NO. IV.

50

otism, so hacknied on that occasion, Mr. Sumner launches forth at once on the broad theme of Peace as the chief want and glory of the times, and begins with the startling proposition, “in our age there can be no peace that is not honorable, and no war that is not dishonorable." The whole oration is in the same strain of bold, sweeping denunciations against war, as incompatible with Christianity, disgraceful to mankind, and immensely injurious to their highest interests, the legacy of a bygone barbarism, and a foul libel on the civilization of the age.

It is a treatise, rather than an oration, and fills more than a hundred pages, and no inconsiderable part of them with small and dense type. It discusses first, the character of war, next the evils it occasions, then its insufficiency as an instrument of justice, and finally the causes or influences which still conspire to perpetuate the war-system. On the last point, Mr. Sumner puts forth his greatest strength, and comes out boldly against preparations for war as not only expensive beyond endurance, but unnecessary, and likely to produce the very evils they are designed to prevent.

We cannot follow Mr. Sumner through his long and elaborate discourse; but, while its perusal must, as its delivery did, occasion diversity of opinion respecting the correctness of some few positions which he takes, no fair mind can refuse its admiration of the talent and learning, the eloquence, taste, and manly spirit evinced through the whole performance. It is a splendid production, and would do credit to any mind. We do not assent to every one of his positions, nor deem his logic always correct, or his rhetoric entirely faultless; but the oration breathes throughout an excellent spirit, corruscates with beauties of style, and contains a vast amount of truth that well deserves to be pondered by every friend of God and man.

We feel little disposition to carp at such a noble contribution to the cause of Christian philanthropy; but, were we to criticise Mr. Sumner's oration, we should say, it attempts far too much for the occasion; its style is too diffuse, ambitious, and ornate; its logic too often takes to itself the wings of a declamatory rhetoric; it is sometimes deficient in metaphysical and moral discrimination, and is quite overloaded with the lumber of a pertinent but superfluous learning. There certainly was no need of quoting more than a hundred authors, in half-a-dozen languages or more, of disfiguring the foot of almost every page with learned references, and adding to the whole an appendix of some twenty dense pages in minion. We may admire the scholarship that could do all this, but must protest against the wisdom of such a tax on the patience of modern readers.

We should be glad to make a few pregnant extracts on some points of great interest, such as are found on pp. 47-50, 51-53, etc.

The chief heresy of our author, however, "the head and front of his offending," will be found on pp. 58-64. Read and ponder!