and in the Christian consciousness it is the Divine Spirit that completes this connection. But at this point there is a prevalent scepticism among those who, in general terms, would call themselves Christian believers. They can trace no avenue by which God can enter into direct communion with the human soul. But do we know how our fellow-men speak to our souls, how Nature addresses our souls, how the knowledge of events reaches our souls? We can trace voices, objects, and occurrences from their impulse upon the organs of sense, through the nerves, to the brain, but no farther; and the throbbings of the nerves and the vibrations of the brain no more account for the ideas that reach the soul, than would the quiverings of a violin-string or the pulsations of a drumhead. The passage from the brain to the soul is for our philosophy as broad a chasm, as inexplicable a mystery, as that from God to the soul, a chasm too which can be overleaped, a mystery which can be approximately solved, only by assuming the Divine presence and agency as the medium of intercourse between brain and soul, by assuming that in God our souls, as well as our bodies, literally "live, and move, and have their being." But if we are compelled to believe that God is our medium of communication with the outward world, we admit the existence, and the perpetual openness to him, of avenues of intercourse, along which he is surely as competent to transmit his own voice, as the voice of Nature or of man. con In this argument, we indeed presuppose the existence of the soul as an independent, immaterial essence; though we admit that the word immaterial — a negative term veys no clearly defined, positive conception. But that there is something in human nature which is not material, we know, if from nothing else, from the phenomena of memory. If the unnumbered words, dates, facts, and experiences that lie in our memory have each made some permanent notch, furrow, or mark, of whatever kind, or however minute, in the brain, the brain would have been too full in very infancy for another entry. It is, physically, as impossible for a life-record to be kept within the compass of a human brain, as it would be to keep a year's accounts of the United States treasury on a - sheet of note-paper. There is then for each of us an immaterial centre of conscious life, a soul, whose existence we can demonstrate, but whose mode of action, though within our perpetual experience, is so entirely beyond our comprehension, as to compel our belief in the Divine agency in and upon it at all times. The exertion of that agency for our highest good presents itself, then, not as a separate and profounder mystery, but as an intrinsically probable, inseparable, and most congenial part of the great mystery of our existence. The grounds of scepticism to which we have referred are speculative. We apprehend that a condition of mind ranging from indifference to utter unbelief is, also, often produced by defective manifestations of Christian character. Christianity suffers in the esteem of those beyond its pale, because it does so little for its disciples. But so far as its work is imperfectly wrought, Christians in fact are chargeable only with a portion of the blame. While it is their duty to exert, it is their necessity to receive, influence. While they are bound to elevate the general standard of character, they are in part drawn down by it. Yet, with all the abatement to be made on this score, it seems a mere truism to say that Christianity has produced more and better specimens of moral excellence than any or all other modes of religious culture. Were we to classify the men of the last eighteen centuries according to their belief or non-belief, as Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, Pagans, Infidels, and were we to select from each catalogue any number of names of the eminently good, we should find on the Christian list a series from St. Paul downward, every one of whom would confessedly hold a higher rank on the scale of moral excellence than the noblest exemplars of virtue on either of the other lists; and on analyzing their characters and interrogating their self-consciousness, we should ascertain that they derived from, and ascribed to, the faith and ordinances of Christianity whatever of good there was in them. The most perfect blossoming and fruitage of humanity have been on scions grafted upon the Christian stock. Admit that these greatly good have been but few, still the argument derived from their excellence is not invalidated by their fewness. A single watch shows as much skill as a thousand would. One world is as clear an evidence of the Divine attributes as myriads of worlds. One Christian, if he be the most perfect of the sons of men, and if his religion have made him so, is as thorough a demonstration of the unparalleled worth and power of Christianity as a regenerated universe would be. We would go even further. Were not pre-eminent excellence to be found in the Christian camp, did the Author of our religion stand alone and unapproached, as he stands alone and unequalled, — still did we perceive in Christianity doctrines which, if heartily embraced, motives which, if made supreme, influences which, if cordially welcomed, could not fail to create perfect characters, and were there in no other ethical or religious system an array of doctrines, motives, and influences adapted to produce a like result, we should be constrained to accept Christianity for what it is capable of effecting. This is our mode and ground of preference in all other departments of thought. Did we demand to see the perfect embodiment of principles before adopting them, there would not be a republican in the world. Political principles and institutions which, in the only country that has made trial of them under favorable auspices, leave three or four millions of slaves with no hope of emancipation, which permit a vast amount of official corruption, which not unfrequently elevate unfit men and bad men to higher places of trust and power than they could reach under a less popular administration, and which every year disgrace some one or more of our great cities by the excesses and atrocities of mob-law, might have a very strong case established against them, did we reason concerning them as we are too prone to reason about religion.. We are republicans, not because the world has yet beheld the perfect working of republican principles, but because, as we look into their working power, we see in them that which, if embodied in its entireness and its purity, would constitute a model nation, a perfect commonwealth. The same course of argument, applied to Christianity, negatives whatever unfavorable inferences might be drawn from the imperfections of its disciples, and throws us back upon the intrinsic merits of VOL. LXXXV. — NO. 176. 22 the system for the sole ground of our decision with reference to its divine origin and its claims on our belief and reverence. But while we need not examples of Christian excellence to refute our scepticism, the exhibition of such examples is of the very highest value as subsidiary to our faith, and as enlisting our affection and our sympathy in the conclusions to which we are led by our logical judgment. In the volume before us, designed as it is to furnish an antidote to scepti cism, Dr. Turnbull has done well to give us a choice selection of somewhat detailed Christian biographies. We have the life of William Bentley, one of the uneducated pioneer Baptist ministers of New England, a convert of the venerable Dr. Stillman, who from early manhood to a late old age labored with signal success and perpetual self-sacrifice for the salvation of souls, and whose courage, zeal, fidelity, and tenderness attested his close kindred of spirit with the equally plain and unlettered men who first went forth from Galilee with the message of the crucified Redeemer. We have next a sketch of Harvey Miller, a man whose extensive learning, ready wit, racy colloquial powers, eloquent address, and commanding talents were consecrated with undivided aim to the service of the Gospel, and whose death-chamber could hardly have been nore radiant with the light and peace of heaven, had it been one of the "many mansions" behind the veil and beyond the shadow of death. Then we have a vivid portraiture of Daniel J. Glazier, called to his reward just as he was girding on his armor as a Christian minister, whose novitiate presented the ripe maturity of all evangelic graces, and whose perpetual aspiration for heaven, clear insight, and ardent love seemed prophetic of his early translation. We have given but an imperfect outline of a book of a very high order of merit and usefulness. It is a precious contribution to religious literature and to the Christian evidences. Its narrative style and its variety of character and scene cannot but conciliate the interest of readers of every class; its reasonings, incidental and conversational as they are, are profound and cogent; and its devout spirit must insure for it an enviable mission among those who need such helps for their faith and piety. ART. X.- CRITICAL NOTICES. 1.- Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, held in the Year 1788, and which finally ratified the Constitution of the United States. Printed by Authority of Resolves of the Legislature. Boston. 1856. THE different historical societies and the governments of the several States are beginning to manifest sufficient pride in preserving the more important documents of our history, to insure their rescue from the oblivion, and even destruction, with which, unless printed, they are always threatened. To those readers who, like ourselves, believe that all history should be read in the original authorities, the pride which induces the publication of those authorities affords the highest satisfaction. The General Court of Massachusetts has just now done a very creditable thing in republishing the contemporary report, made for the newspapers of the day, of the debates in the Convention of 1788. In the order for its reprint, power was given to the committee to add other illustrative documents; and much more than half the volume consists of matter new to most readers of the present day. Nearly a hundred pages, indeed, are printed from manuscript authorities for the first time. Of the wholly new matter a part is the original journal of the Convention, the only official report made of its proceedings. A more curious part, however, consists of Judge Parsons's minutes of the debates, which frequently supply valuable illustrations of the formal record. The Judge's notes are brief; but they show a great lawyer's power of seizing the very marrow of a speech, and in many passages they supply omissions in the journal which it is indeed difficult to account for. Whoever will read these debates will have added ground for confessing that there is very little new under the sun in the way of constitutional argument. It might be hoped that the careful perusal of the volume would be a decided check to the passion for advancing, as new theories of the Constitution, the views which were presented seventy years ago. In addition to the publication of these reports and minutes, a series of extracts from the press of the day gives us some insight into the popular feeling of the time. Two of the old Convention ballads, which had almost vanished, even from tradition, are here preserved, as well as several letters from distinguished public characters, which show the interest felt throughout the country in the progress of discussion here. It is worthy of regret that, in the publication of works like this, by a |