free from common place and cant, and so overflowing with genuine feeling, that they catch hold of the reader's warmest sympathies at once, and suggest the most precious trains of thought. The style in which the volumes are issued is very beautiful, and worthy of the work. Two of thre have been issued, and this series is to be followed by a second, entitled, Hora Biblica Sabbaticæ.

3. Greek Reading-Book, for the use of Schools. By Rev. J. A SPENCER, A.M. D. Appleton & Co.

THIS work, designed to be the first reading manual for the Greek student, begins by early and ingenious lessons in construction, illustrating successively the various principles of grammar and particularly the particles. If not a substitute for the grammar, it is at least such a repetition of grammatical rules and principles as to serve as an admirable drill. The second part is composed of Frederick Jacob's wellknown Greek Reader, to which are added some of the best passages of the Cyropædia and Anabasis. The Notes follow these, and then a convenient and copious lexicon--the whole making a portable volume, which we must say, is beautifully and accurately printed. Mr. Spencer's Notes are excellent-a little too profuse perhaps, and offering too much assistance to the pupil, to meet the rigid notions of some teachers but they are concisely stated, and replete with learning and good sense. The work will be found a very convenient text-book.

4. The Germania and Agricola of Caius Cornelius Tacitus, with Notes for Colleges. By W. S. TYLER, Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages in Amherst College. Wiley and Putman.

We wish that Prof. Tyler had given an edition of the History, and other works of Tacitus, in the same scholarly and tasteful style, with which he has edited these two gems. The spirit and genius of the author have been nicely appreciated; and besides presenting an accurate text, emandated by the results of German criticism, the illustrative notes bring the student into that close sympathy with the beauties of the author, which give a zest and a meaning to the work of translation. Considered as helps, these Notes are certainly admirable-they touch rapidly and precisely upon the point of difficulty, and convey to the pupil the information he needs, and no more. It is a finely executed work in all respects, and can be commended to teachers with a degree of confidence that all classical text-books do not deserve.

5. Pictorial History of England. Harper & Brothers.

We have briefly indicated, several times, the high estimate which we had formed of this work. We should be glad to notice its completion more at length, if there were space. In the higher sense of the word, the work can scarcely be called a history. It is rather an industrious collection of elements, much of which has been hitherto suffered to lie in comparative obscurity, and from which a history might be constructed, which should better picture forth the life and genius of the British people than any yet written. The peculiarity of the work, aside from its pictorial illustrations, consists in its copious and careful details of the condition of the people. While other histories engross themselves with the wars, the vices and successions of kings, the movements of cabinets and the intrigues of politicians, this opens the unknown but highly interesting page of popular life. We think it a candid, well written and very accurate portraiture of the most interesting features of British history; and though it will not supersede Hume, nor forstall Mr. Macaulay's anticipated labors, it may be commended as on the whole, for popular use, the best work of the kind extant.

6. A Greek Grammar, fort he use of Schools and Colleges. By E. A. SOPHOCLES, A.M. A New Edition. Hartford: Huntington.

WE may characterise this Grammar as eminently thorough and practical. Its prime attention is directed to those principles of grammar, and features of the language, which the pupil needs first and most familiarly to know; and in some of these, it far exceeds, in extent of illustration, any school grammar of the Greek that we know of. The thorough drill in which it exercises the learner at the outset, in the peculiarities of accent, literal and syllabic changes, and contractions, &c., is to be

specially noticed. It is equally full in illustrating the inflection of words, and especially of the verbs, which are presented ingeniously and perspicuously. In these two departments the principal merit of the book lies. Its explanation of syntax is feeble and not equal to the excellence of the preceding parts. As a practical work for beginners, it has this conclusive proof of its adaptedness, that it has been selected by several of the best colleges and institutions, as the one best fitted for the purpose.

7. Cyclopedia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes. By Rev. K. ARVINE, A. M. With an Introduction, by Rev. GEORGE B. CHEEVER, D.D. Leavitt, Trow & Co.

THERE is great industry evinced in the collection of these anecdotes, and skill in their arrangement. The compiler professes to have extracted from the principal collections all that were deemed suitable to his scope, and to have added from other sources, such as the files of newspapers, and other repositories, a vast number besides. They are generally left to stand in the same phraseology in which he found them, and consequently have no kind of unity; but they are well classified, and accompanied with copious indexes, topical and scriptural. The work forms by far the most convenient, as it is undoubtedly the most complete, collection of interesting facts, incidents, and anecdotes, that can be found. The value of such a work as this, for the purposes of the preacher, the teacher, the parent, is too obviously great to need to be mentioned. It is finely printed, and issued in parts, eight of which will complete the work-price 25 cents each.

ERRATA.

THE article in our last number, on the Saracenic Literature, by Rev. Dr. Beecher, was injured in many places, we regret to say, by errors of the press, for which there are no other apologies than unavoidable haste in the examination of proofs, and a very obscure manuscript. So far as the correction can be made by a note, we would now repair the mischief. There are some errors which are so obviously typographical that the reader needs no advertisement of them. Others are more adapted to mislead.

On p. 154, line 15, for Alhakim, read Alhakem.

155, twice,

'

"Matazalians," Motazalians.

"" 156, 11th line from the bottom, for Albategui, read Albategni.

"Ebu Aluam,
"Roman

"Ebn Eluam.
"Romance.
"Evil.
"Denina.

It will be seen that most of these errors occur in the spelling of unusual proper names, which being obscurely written, were not strangely misread. A few other mistakes occur in the number, which will be readily perceived.

THE

BIBLICAL REPOSITORY

AND

CLASSICAL REVIEW.

THIRD SERIES, NO. XVI.—WHOLE NUMBER, LXXII.

OCTOBER, 1848.

ARTICLE I.

PULPIT ELOQUENCE AS AFFECTED BY DIVINE INFLUENCE.

By REV. J. FEW SMITH, Prof. of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology, in the Theological Seminary, Auburn, N. Y.

ELOQUENCE has always held a high place in human estimation. The orator commands admiration." He wields a mighty power. It is a great thing to rule the minds and hearts of men; and this is his prerogative. It is his to stir up the deep waters of the soul; to summon every passion from its secret chamber, and arouse it to activity; to throw burning coals upon the conscience, and dart the lightning flashes of truth in upon the mind. And it is a noble sight to look upon, and it may well enkindle the loftiest ambition, to behold a man master of eloquence, swaying assembled thousands; fastening upon himself every eye in the vast assembly, looking through each eye, into the heart, throwing his own thoughts and feelings into their souls, convincing their reason, deciding their judgment, and carrying them as one man with himself. Eloquence has had such triumphs; and they are among the proudest that human intellect has ever achieved: and, therefore, it is a great and noble thing to be truly eloquent. It is a noble thing to be the defender of innocence; the asserter of justice; the advocate of truth: to convince men's understanding, and to persuade them to that which is right-and this is the province of Eloquence; for Eloquence, in its highest form, is speaking well in behalf of that which is right.

What is true of Eloquence in general, loses none of its force when applied to the particular department of Pulpit Eloquence. There, too, it is a noble power, commanding admiration; and there especially it is speaking well in behalf of that which is THIRD SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 4.

1

right. But Pulpit Eloquence has a province peculiarly its own. It is distinguished by its object and its nature. Its object-the highest that can be contemplated by a believer in Christianityis to persuade men to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness:" to induce sinful men to enter that kingdom, and those who are therein to increase in conformity to its holy statutes. In its nature, it is an instrumentality rather than a directly efficient power. It does not produce its effect on men simply by its own energy, or by the direct influence of means which itself employs; but is dependent for success in the accomplishment of its desired end, upon another, and distinct, independent power. The Roman or the Grecian orator, the orator of the Forum, or of the assembly, acted directly upon the human beings before him. He relied upon himself, upon his skill and ability in the use of language, upon his acquaintance with human nature, and the particular facts before him, and upon his knowledge of the character and circumstances of those whom he was addressing; and not upon any extraneous and higher power. The Pulpit Orator, however, aiming at an object of transcendent worth, is conscious that that object is not to be obtained simply by his might, but by the effective operation of the Holy Spirit. This distinguishes his position from that of every other speaker. The work desired is to be accomplished by him as an instrument in the hand of the great, Almighty Spirit. And while that work is worthy to employ the noblest eloquence that ever thrilled the heart of man, and has enlisted the warm affections of Him who spake as never man spake, he is yet dependent for success on an independent

Power.

Now, this great fact, which gives to the speaking of the Pulpit one of its chief characteristics, is made by some persons a ground of objection against the cultivation of Eloquence by those who are to preach the gospel; and causes others to deny even that there is such a thing as pulpit eloquence. Happily, both these classes are few in number: and the increased regard which is given to the study of Sacred Rhetoric, and of Elocution, in our Theological Seminaries, and the tributes that are paid to the pulpits of our land, afford, perhaps, a sufficient reply to these objections. It is not our present purpose, therefore, to defend, otherwise than incidentally, the study of Rhetoric and Oratory by those who are called to preach the gospel. Neither do we propose to dwell at length upon the nature and characteristics of Pulpit Eloquence, and the proper means for its cultivation. fully admitting the great doctrine of dependence on the Holy Spirit-nay, insisting upon it, as the Christian preacher's ground of confidence and encouragement-we wish to offer some remarks on the influence of this doctrine on the Eloquence of the Pulpit or the Preaching of sacred Truth.

But