New England, but the Puritan principles have proved mightier than their adversaries.

Had not Congregationalism extended its domain by sending its missionaries, planting churches, and disseminating its ideas through its children, we doubt if the loyalty of the Northern and of the Middle States could have been preserved. The valor which has won the fight, and sloughed off the ulcers of secession and slavery, has come from the virtue and constancy of Puritan Christianity.

Congregationalism has, therefore, an interest in the conservation of our free government, which pertains to no other church order; and, at this crisis, the progress of the two and their preservation are correlative. Destroy our republican institutions, and these churches would be merged in ecclesiastical forms suited to monarchial ideas; and on the other side, if New England Congregationalism were to perish, there would be small hope for the life of the Republic, notwithstanding the great multitude of loyal members in churches of a different constitution.

Why have our Congregational churches never taken root South of Mason and Dixon's line? Because their principles were hostile to Southern ideas and institutions. What will save these subdued rebels and their States to the Republic? Nothing but the reception of the elements of Puritan Christianity. It is notorious that the majority of Northern emigrants, who, before the war, had settled at the South, were among the vilest rebels, and worked vast mischief to the government. How was it that these men, educated in our schools, became the uncompromising advocates of slavery, and the right of secession? The answer is in the fact that Southern society was so impregnated with these errors, that a young man who went there found both pecuniary gain and social standing depended on his subserviency, and he was speedily transformed by the subtle and irresistible power of the opinions which swayed the community in custom, conversation, commerce, and policy, and which girded him with their moulding energy in his amusements, his toils, and his devotion, on change, in the saloon, the steamboat, the theatre, or the sanctu

ary. The individual was lost in this social influence as a pure drop falling from the clouds is lost in the salt wave of a receding tide.

What will hinder this for the future? Nothing but the marshaling and organizing of those eternal truths which oppose these falsehoods, in vital combinations, disciplined and invigorated to resist with associated strength the evil and encourage the right. Withdraw the army, and the Southern territory would be held mainly by the former slaveholders, their old prejudices embittered by defeat, ready to entrap the unwary who ventured within their enchantments to abjure their convictions of justice and humanity, by the chaffer of trade, by the promise of profit, by the hope of political preferment, and by the solemn quotation of Scripture. Neither Richmond, nor Savannah, nor Mobile, nor New Orleans would be secure for a thorough loyalty, were the general government to withdraw its forces; and already Northern tradesmen are striving in some of these cities to thrive by retailing the old curses against abolitionism and denouncing the Freedmen's Bureau. How is this to be hindered, when it is incumbent upon the government to relinquish its gripe and permit a return to self-control as speedily as possible? The most feasible, economical, and powerful method of guarding against this peril and preserving freedom, is by the establishment of churches of the New England faith and order, which shall combine the disintegrated loyalty and the piety of the South into organic union with Northern ideas. Every such congregation, with its free pulpit, is a testimony for the supremacy of law and truth, and must work like leaven for the renovation of public morality, holding the community to sound views of political economy, and to the higher faith in charity, and right, and Christ. The best men from the North would naturally seek such a sanctuary for a religious home, and be thereby brought into the atmosphere of true republicanism, while enlarging the social forces of loyalty and liberty by their active coöperation. Herein lies the grandeur and promise of that responsibility which God has laid upon the churches which retain the principles and the order of the New England

fathers. No other denomination can work so readily and so efficiently and economically for the regeneration of the South. The same enthusiasm which marshaled loyal armies at the call of danger to the Republic, should inspire this movement to secure our triumph by crushing out the spirit of secession and planting there the love of liberty and righteous law, by securing all just rights to the emancipated, by diffusing the blessings of education, and by laying deep the foundations of good order and virtue and religion.

The mind falters in striving to imagine the glory of that new era which is opening upon our country, if we are faithful and vigilant. The present winter may be one of severe hardship to some sections, but by another harvest the call for benevolence in feeding the hungry and naked will have ceased, and labor will be in the quiet exercise of its industries. The return of prosperity will soften animosity, and the failure in the trial of strength will produce, even among rebels, content with existing arrangements. This recovered empire, whose Titanic energies put forth in the bloody wrestle are now working for the common good, rescued from the bane of weakness and dissension, must leap to the foremest rank by the development of its immense resources. Everything is hopeful, if we remain true to those principles which have conquered in this terrible conflict, and are earnest for the reformation of the South, and not for reconstruction under the old process of State sovereignty and the nationalizing of slavery. Never has a Christian people been summoned to a nobler task than that which is waiting for us in the education and evangelization of emancipated millions, and of their former masters. Never could the Church pray more confidently for the gift of the Holy Ghost in setting apart those gifted to lead in this heavenly service. We must seize the passing moment, ere society has fallen into the ancient mould, and cast it into a higher form. We must not, however, expect instantaneous success, for the spiritual grows to its harvest far slower than the material, and in neither do we reap on the day of sowing; yet if faithful to our country, our ancestry, and our God, we may rejoice in the hope of realizing the dream of philanthropy and the expecta

tion of prophecy, to the amazement and confusion of those who have deemed our Republic doomed. That peril which saddened the farewell of Washington, and which troubled the soul of every large-hearted and patriotic statesmen, has passed, and we are fairly at sea, beyond bar and quicksand; let us thank God and take courage! Let us, with the spirit of loving kindness, and words of gentleness, seek to enlighten and conciliate those who have misunderstood and therefore hated us, while we pray and labor to render this continent the refuge of the oppressed, the home of the free, the citadel of virtue, and the sanctuary of vital Christianity. Then will the seed corn brought over in the Mayflower have borne its fruit, and our country become that New England to found which the Pilgrims became exiles, and in hope of which they gladly toiled, suffered, and died.

ARTICLE XI.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

THEOLOGICAL.

ESSAYS ON THE SUPERNATURAL ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.*Several of these Essays appeared originally in the New Englander, and the interest which they excited as well as the general favor with which they were received, led the author to rewrite them, to add others to them, and thus to make a somewhat complete series of Papers bearing upon the general subject described in the title. The contents of the volume are as follows: The Nature of the Conflict of Christian Faith with Skepticism and Unbelief; The Genuineness of the Fourth Gospel; Recent Discussions upon the Origin of the First Three Gospels; Baur on Parties in the Apostolic Church, and the Character of the Book of the Acts; Baur on Ebionitism, and the Origin of Catholic Christianity; The Mythical Theory of Strauss; Strauss' Restatement of his Theory; The Legendary Theory of Renan; The Critical and Theological Opinions of Theodore Parker; An Examination of Baur and Strauss on the Conversion of St. Paul; The Nature and Function of the Christian Miracles; The Testimony of Jesus concerning Himself; The Personality of God: in reply to the Positivist and the Pantheist. These topics are all treated by Professor Fisher in his uniformly clear and scholarlike manner. His treatment of each of them shows perfect familiarity with the most recent discussions by other writers. His well known lucidness of statement brings all the points which he makes within the easy comprehension of the attentive reader. It is rare that we find such subjects treated in a manner at once so thorough and so readable. The statement and refutation of the negative theories of F. C. Baur is alone worth the cost of the volume, for it supplies a want which has hitherto been unsatisfied in English, critical, and theological literature. The ignotum pro magnifico has had full oppor

* Essays on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity, with special reference to the Theories of Renan, Strauss, and the Tübingen School. By Rev. GEORGE P. FISHER, A. M., Professor of Church History in Yale College. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1866. 8vo. pp. 580. New Haven: Judd & White. Price $3.50.