circle of topics with no apparent loss of mental force, he delivers himself with even more of his characteristic dignity and gracefulness of diction than on former occasions. Dr. Dana's style was formed long ago by a studious familiarity with classical models; and now that he is old its beauty does not fail. Professor Park of Andover seems to be, of all living men, Dr. Dana's favorite object of dislike and distrust. More than once in this short essay, that eminent teacher of theology is referred to, but not named. In one instance the allusion is so distinct, and is withal so instructive an instance of much that passes for argument in theological controversy, that we may be allowed to take it as a specimen. The venerable Doctor says: "The Bible declares, explicitly and uniformily declares the entire and awful depravity of man; a depravity, which, descending from the first progenitor of the race, has infected all his offspring. This is the doctrine which pervades the Scripture from beginning to end. The doctrine is strictly fundamental. It lies at the basis of the structure on which human salvation is built. It gives character, complexion and features to all the doctrines and provisions of the gospel. It directly follows, that as this doctrine is received or rejected, the gospel itself is received or rejected." . Such is Dr. D's statement of that doctrine concerning the character of the human race, which in his own view is "strictly fundamental." What is the doctrine as he himself states it? It is, "The entire and awful depravity of man, a depravity which, descending from the first progenitor of the race, has infected all his offspring." This, we are compelled to infer, is Dr. Dana's own statement of what is essential to the doctrine of "original sin in the sense in which it has been understood and maintained by the Church of God in all ages." And that there may be no mistake on the question whether "the modern theology," as he calls it, "repudiates" this "cardinal doctrine of the Bible," he quotes the following paragraph from a note appended to Professor Park's convention sermon: "Is it said, that a passive nature, existing antecedently to all free action, is itself, strictly, literally sinful? Then we must have a new language, and speak, in prose, of moral patients as well as moral agents, of men besinned as well as sinners, (for ex vi termini sinners as well as runners must be active;) we must have a new conscience which can decide on the moral character of dormant conditions, as well as of elective preferences; a new law prescribing the very make of the soul, as well as the way in which this soul, when made, shall act, and a law which we transgress (for sin is a transgression of the law') in being before birth passively mis-shapen; we must also have a new Bible, delineating a judgment scene in which some will be condemned, not only on account of the deeds which they have done in the body, but also for having been born with an involuntary proclivity to sin, and others will be rewarded not only for their conscientious love to Christ, but also for a blind nature inducing that love; we must, in fine, have an entirely different class of moral sentiments, and have them disciplined by inspiration in an entirely different manner from the present; for now the feelings of all true men revolt from the assertion, that a poor infant dying, if we may suppose it to die, before its first wrong preference, merits for its unavoidable nature, that eternal punishment, which is threatened, and justly against the smallest real sin. Although it may seem paradoxieal to affirm that a man may believe a proposition which he knows to be false,' it is yet charitable to say that whatever any man may suppose himself to believe, he has in fact an inward conviction, that all sin consists in sinning."" Dr. Dana evidently understands the word 'depravity' as meaning nothing less than sinfulness,' for he expressly says, a few lines farther on, that to speak of" sinless depravity" is "an abuse of terms." Professor Park then, in this quotation surely-whatever he may have said elsewhere-doos not deny one syllable of the doctrine of human sinfulness, as that doctrine is set forth in Dr. Dana's own statement. Instead of denying, either expressly or by any implication, that the sinfulness of man is "entire and awful," that it "descends from the first progenitor of the race," or that it "has infected all his offspring," the Professor, in that paragraph, is inquiring, with careful analysis, into the nature and just conception of that "entire and awful" sinfulness "which, descending from the first progenitor of the race, has infected all his offspring." He is inquiring what signification the laws of language, the teachings of the Bible, and the necessary conditions of human thought, requires us to attach to that word sinfulness. He holds that there is no literal or proper sinfulness without sin, no sin without sinning, no sinning but in the spontaneous working of a moral and responsible nature. It is in this sense of the word that he holds the doctrine of human sinfulness, "entire and awful," "descending from the first progenitor of the race," and "infecting all his offspring." But it seems that the venerable author of this introduction cannot understand such a doctrine of human sinfulness. Instead of interpreting a proposition about "depravity," or "sinfulness," according to the known and obvious nature of the subject, he follows some other rule. Nor is this logic by any means peculiar to Dr. Dana. There are many who would infer that because Prof. P., in the passage quoted, teaches this view of the nature of sin or sinfulness, therefore he denies that the sinfulness of men is entire and awful, descending from the first progenitor of the race, and infecting all his offspring. Such logic, though often employed by theological disputants, is as preposterous as if one were to infer that because sinfulness" descends," therefore it is subject to the law of gravitation, or that because it "infects," therefore chloride of lime might be advantageously employed in the case as a disinfectant. When we read that "God is a rock," shall we infer that the true, proper and obvious meaning of that preposition is rejected by those who insist that God is a Spirit? Can we not admit that an argument is weighty, and at the same time deny that its weight can be measured by notches on the lever of the Messrs. Fairbanks' platform balance? 66 Poems. By RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, Author of "The Study of Words," English, Past and Present," "Lessons on Proverbs," "Synomnyms of the New Testament," "Calderon," etc. New York: Redfield. New Haven: Durrie & Peck. The name of Professor Trench is honorably known in this country. His two volumes of Biblical exposition-one on the Parables, the other on the Miracles of our Lord-though sometimes they follow too closely those fantastic methods of interpretation which an enlightened reverence for the sacred text suspects, and which sound exegesis repudiates, are nevertheless rich in learning, in profound thought, in the power of suggestion, and in a truly evangelical spirit. Other works of his-such as that on the English language and that on the significance of popular proverbs-have added to his reputation among those readers who love to think, and who value a book in proportion as it guides and stimulates their own thinking. But till now he has been little known among us in the character of a poet. Some essential and characteristic elements of poetic genius might indeed be discerned in those works of his by which so many American readers have been instructed and charmed. The accuracy and felicity of diction, the exquisite sense of the power that slumbers in words, the sentiment, the fancy, and sometimes the flashes of imagination, indicate the poetic faculty. Yet we dare say that many of Professor Trench's admirers in this country have never suspected that the learned expositor and lecturer is also a poet. The editor of this volume-the Rev. J. A. Spencer, who by the Puseyistic affectation of dating his preface, "Easter Even, 1856," writes himself down as of a school with which his author has no great sympathy-has done a good work in making the selection, with the approbation and aid of the author, and in thus introducing to the American public one of the most gifted of living religious poets. A specimen or two of the pieces that have particularly pleased us, will do more than a great deal of description and criticism, towards giving an idea of the author's poetic style and power. We take the following from the close of the poem entitled "The Story of Justin Martyr." It describes the change which had taken place in the aspect of the outward world, when the philosopher, long weary in his fruitless search for truth, had become a Christian, and had received into his soul the light of life: VOL. XIX. We parted, each upon our way I homeward, where my glad course lay With scarcely strength enough to grieve: The waters at my feet were bright, And breaking into isles of light; The misty sunset did enfold A thousand floating motes of gold; The red light seemed to penetrate Through the worn stone, and re-create The old, to glorify anew; And, steeping all things through and through, A rich dissolving splendor poured Through rent and fissure, and restored And tower and cornice, roof and stair, That Earth which is to be." Many of these poems are "from Eastern sources,"-gems which the author has picked up in the field of his own various and excursive learning, and which he has set with exquisite workmanship. Among these, is a series of "Proverbs, Turkish and Persian," translated in couplets. Some of these are full of wisdom expressed in Oriental beauty. This, for example, Or this, "Speaks one of good which falls not to thy lot? "Be bold to bring forth fruit, though stick and stone Or this, "What will not time and toil? By these a worm Or this, "There is no ointment for the wolf's sore eyes Or this, "The word unspoken thou canst any day Speak, but thy spoken ne'er again unsay." The "elegiac poems," in another part of the volume, are evidently connected with the author's own experience. Some of them are so exquisite in their style and finish that they remind us of the most beautiful in Tennyson's In Memoriam. How few are the households in which these two simple stanzas can be read without tears! A Discourse on the Completion of Fifty Years Service in the Ministry of the Gospel Delivered by request in the North Church, New Haven, Feb. 25th, 1855. By SAMUEL MERWIN. New Haven: T. H. Pease. The Rev. Samuel Merwin, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1802, was ordained to the pastoral office in the Church of the United Society, (now commonly called the North Church,) in New Haven on the 13th of February, 1805. His resignation of that office, and his dismission from his charge, took effect by the approbation of an Ecclesiastical Council on the 29th December, 1831. In less than two months from that date he was inducted into the pastoral office in the church at Wilton, in Fairfield county. There his ministry, less laborious than in New Haven, was prolonged till (in his own words) he "felt that the evening of his life drew near-the twilight hour was passing-its projecting shadows lengthened on the plain;" and then obtaining again a release from official responsibilities, he returned to the home of his youth in New Haven, with a determination not to take upon himself again the pastoral care of any church. He justified himself in that decision not only by the consideration of his advanced age, but by the "secret consciousness" of bodily infirmities forbidding the assumption of new responsibilities. Yet he could not willingly relinquish all the work of the ministry, but held himself ready for every opportunity of professional service, whether in the pulpit or elsewhere, till since the publication of his half-century sermon. The record of "Father Merwin's " ministry in the United Society, where he counted among his not remote predecessors the younger Edwards, covers one of the most significant and instructive periods in the ecclesiastical and religious history of New England. It was preeminently the period of revivals of religion. The first religious awakening in the town of New Haven since 1743, took place in 1807-8, under his ministry and that of Moses Stuart, then pastor of the First Church. Another took place in 1815, when Dr. Taylor had become (since 1812) the successor of Stuart. Another came in 1820 and the following year. The years 1828 and 1831 were also memorable years in Mr. Merwin's ministry. His memorial sermon dwells with grateful recollection on those periods of "the joy of harvest." Of the few who complete fifty years of service in the ministry, only here and there one is equally privileged in this respect. At the close of his personal narrative the author speaks thus of his return to New Haven after his second resignation of the pastoral office: "This, the place of my earliest love and longest labor; earliest tears and re joicings in sympathy with the people of God and the spiritual kingdom of the Redeemer. This favored and all but "holy city" of the Palestine of the West, made such by Him who has here so wonderfully recorded his name as, in a figure, to enshrine the very ground by his Spirit and grace copiously descending. The spot, to me, above every locality of earth beside, of grateful reminiscences, cheering consolation, and joyful hope; adjacent to the tranquil shades, the academic bowers and consecrated halls within which I felt the first pulsations of holy life, and drew my first Christian breath. "Nor has anticipated opportunity for active service thus far failed of realiza |