baptism and the Pharisaic ablutions, in the relations which they severally sustain to the Christian ordinance. In the copious discussion of the patristic evidence, Mr. Wilson reaches the conclusion that, in the language of the Greek and Latin fathers, circumfusions, pourings, sprinklings, &c., are all veritable baptisms;' the result of this part of the discussion seems to bring the author to the first class of opinions indicated in the above extract from Dr. Beecher-namely, that the word having such various applications, the mode of baptism is of no

consequence.

The second part of Mr. Wilson's volume, devoted to the subject of infant baptism, travels over well-beaten ground, vindicating the practice from the most recent objections. This portion is necessarily more argumentative than critical, and the arguments do not admit of state. ment or discussion in this place.

Mr. Wilson has the advantage of being previously acquainted with Dr. Beecher's writings on the subject, as originally produced in the Biblical Repository, and now in the volume before us. The two books together will put the reader in possession of the present state of this great controversy (that is, the pædo-baptist side of it), which has somewhat changed its ground of late years; and the work of Mr. Wilson, if not better for study, will be probably read with the most satisfaction, from its breadth of view and unity of plan. It has also the advantage of being not only one of the very ablest, but the latest book on a subject which ought to be of absorbing interest, if a judgment may be formed from the number of books which have been given to it--no small library of themselves.

On Trees, their Uses and Biography. By JOHN SHEPPARD. London, Jackson and Walford, 1848. 24mo. pp. 176.

Gardening for Children. Edited by the Rev. C. A. Johns, B.A., F.L.S. London, Charles Cox. 32mo. pp. 168.

The Florist, for 1848. London, Chapman and Hall, 1848.

THESE books have lain some time before us. By the love we bear to trees and flowers we craved to notice them; but from the fear that they should be deemed beyond our province, we withheld our hand. There is, however, a sacred literature in these things, even when not in form sacredly handled; and the study and love of them seems to us so beautifully harmonious with all studious habits and all happy religious feeling, that although we might not think it our duty to point out the works which may promote the pursuit, and aid the cultivation of the knowledge and the feelings proper to it, we certainly do not imagine that we swerve from our duty in affording such indications. To the pursuit which has cheered many long years of studious labour, which have known no other relaxation but that which it has afforded, we owe some tribute, and it shall be paid.

The first of the above books is from the pen of one who cannot write what the public will not delight to read. His eloquent work on

Prayer

Prayer will last as long as the language in which it is written, and although many years have passed since it appeared, a child who knew that noble work might recognise the same masterly hand and the same happy heart in this little book of trees. Upon the whole, however, this esteemed writer excels most where he has room for thought, and to follow out the associations of his ideas. This is not the case here; the matter is so overlaid with facts, that space is not left for many of the rich thoughts which might have been expected. It forms the substance, with additions, of a lecture delivered before the Frome Institute and in Bristol. It will give us no idea of the numerous curious facts and fine remarks which the volume embodies, to say that the first lecture is devoted chiefly to the use of trees, and the second to various facts concerning them, classed under the heads, Individuality; Magnitude and Longevity of Trees; Trees signalized by Persons and Events; Lessons on Ancient Trees, &c. The book will be of interest and value to all who love trees, and it will no doubt induce many to exclaim with the author, 'I would beg a mule's burden of earth, rather than not have a little altar for the Dryads.' The book is enriched with many very excellent wood-cut portraitures of trees.

The Gardening for the Young is a capital little book, full of information and instructions which we can attest to be excellent, and forming an admirable guide to young people in the care of a garden. It will therefore materially tend to encourage and aid the formation of a taste for horticultural pursuits, which we believe to be productive of a larger amount of real enjoyment of the highest quality, during the whole course of life, than any other. Other pursuits are proper to, or enjoyed most in, some one time of life-childhood, youth, manhood, or age; but gardening supplies enjoyment for all ages, affording pleasures into which the merest child can enter with zeal, and exhibiting interests in which the profoundest philosopher can refresh his mind. For children especially, there is nothing which so much as a taste for gardening tends to form those habits of order, neatness, and industry, which, however formed, are of unspeakable importance to happiness and usefulness in all the pursuits and relations of life. But children are apt to be discouraged by the want of suitable guidance in the many little difficulties which arise to learners in this pursuit, and we feel that they will hail with intense satisfaction the large body of practical information in a small compass which Gardening for Children offers

to them.

We wish before closing to say a word in strong approbation of the monthly publication, The Florist, which has just closed its first volume. It is supported by the most experienced florists and amateurs of the day, by whom it is undertaken as a labour of love, its profits being expended in the improvement of the work. It is conducted in a thoroughly honest and generous spirit; the information it affords is of the most valuable character, and fully up to the knowledge of the time; and the most experienced growers of favourite plants unreservedly disclose in the most liberal manner the secrets of their art, in contributions worth, to amateurs, their weight in gold of the types in

which

which they are set up.' Whether it regards the matter, the print, or the engravings, this publication is a decided advance upon everything of the sort that has previously appeared. That it is under the superintendence of Mr. Edward Beck, of Isleworth, will be a sufficient recommendation to all who know anything of floriculture.

All these works are pervaded by a wholesome spirit of pious reference to the great Author of every flower that grows, which it is most refreshing to witness, and which tempts one to hope that the mantle of the pious old herbalists has descended upon this generation.

The Paragraph Bible. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, according to the Authorized Version; arranged in Paragraphs and Parallelisms, with an entirely new selection of References to parallel or illustrative passages, Prefaces to the several Books, and numerous Notes. London. The Religious Tract Society, 1849. 12mo. pp. 937.

THIS neat volume appears to be a new edition of a work which has for some years been circulated by the Tract Society. We are glad of the opportunity of giving it our most cordial commendation. We know

not any pocket Bible which in the same degree realizes the great conditions of highest usefulness with freedom from any possible ground of exception by any denomination of Christians. It is a most carefully prepared volume. Few, perhaps, but those who have been, like ourselves, engaged in similar labours, can thoroughly understand what large amount of time, what solicitude, research, and labour the preparation of this small and unpretending volume must have exacted. The arrangement of the text into paragraphs and parallels, although the most conspicuous feature of the volume, is only one of the various utilities which the book comprises. The parallel references are copious, and most admirably selected. The plan of adherence to the Authorized Version would seem to restrict the edition to the various renderings which the margin in that translation exhibits; these are accordingly preserved, but others are also offered, particularly in the New Testament, and although these are, for the most part, judiciously chosen, we have some doubts whether their introduction, especially when points of doctrine are involved, may not be quoted as a departure from the safe and unassailable ground with which most people expect the Society under whose auspices the volume is produced to keep its feet. For the same reason it might have been wished that the short notes, which become numerous in the Epistles, had been confined to simple illustration, as, beyond this, special interpretations of disputable texts are scarcely avoidable, even by such judicious care as is in this work manifested. The notes, however, cannot fail to render the book more really acceptable and useful to the mass of readers for whose benefit it is intended, and has arisen, probably, in the desire for the utmost usefulness. But some of the same reasons which deter the Bible Society from issuing Bibles with any notes, will be supposed to confine this Society to the simply illustrative class of notes—that is,

notes

notes in explanation of facts and circumstances respecting which no differences of opinion can be entertained.

In the Prefaces to the several books also, the Editor often necessarily touches on matters on which different views have been held. This he for the most part indicates; and, upon the whole, taking the design of the work into account, this difficult part of his task has been no less judiciously than skilfully performed.

We have not the means of comparing this with former editions; but there are manifest signs of recent additions and improvements. The work is enriched with valuable tables and neat maps, and, taken altogether, the volume combines in the smallest possible compass so many useful helps, as to be a perfect treasure to the great mass of Bible readers, and fully merits the large circulation which it has doubtless realized. The copy we have is in too small a type for the aged and tender eyed. The tendency of modern publications is by close printing and small type to restrict the most useful works to the new generation; but the old one ought, if only for pity, to be allowed some share in the good things that are now abroad in the world.

BIBLICAL INTELLIGENCE.

WE are glad to learn that Mr. Josiah Conder, who has enriched our theological literature with the Literary History of the New Testament and other valuable works of great ability and research, has now in the press a volume of much promise-The Harmony of History with Prophecy, in the shape of an Exposition of the Apocalypse. In the announcement of this work it is justly stated, that numerous as are the works upon the Prophecies, there are few complete Expositions of the Book of Revelation. A compendious Commentary, in a popular form, bringing down the historical interpretation of Fulfilled Prophecy to the present time, and combining the results of modern criticism with practical instruction, will, it is presumed, be regarded as not a superfluous or unacceptable undertaking.'

We have received the two first Numbers of a new American publication, The Theological and Literary Journal, edited by David W. Lord. Its primary design is 'to refute the prevailing methods of interpreting the prophetic Scriptures, and unfold the true laws of their explication.' Until the principal branches of that subject have been discussed, and the works concerning it that are now considered as of authority reviewed, one article in regard to it, and sometimes more, will appear in each Number. It is to treat also of other theological themes as occasion requires, of morals, science, and literature generally, either in independent articles or in reviews of books. There is much in this publication that will be interesting to the students of prophecy, and even those who cannot subscribe to all the views of the Editor will find cause to regard his abilities and learning with respect. Nearly one-half of the first Number is occupied by a searching and somewhat disparaging review of Stuart's Commentary on the Apocalypse, the writer of which seems to think that the Revelation has been neglected by Biblical scholars—an opinion in which we are very far from concurring. An equally large proportion of the second Number is taken up by an article on the harm of Symbolical Representation; and this will probably be of the most interest of all the contents of the two Numbers to the class

of

of readers for whom the publication is intended. The papers not on prophecy are executed with ability and judgment.

But that it has become common to see the same impulses simultaneously operating wide apart, it might excite surprise to find a Quarterly Journal devoted to investigations of prophecy appearing in this country at the same time with the above -both also, among other points of analogy, advocating the pre-millennial advent of our Lord. This is the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, two of the principal papers in the first Number of which ( How should Unfulfilled Prophecy be Studied?' and The General Scope of the Apocalypse') are on the same subjects as the two principal articles in the first Number of the American publication. The English Journal is, however, more exclusively than the American devoted to unfulfilled prophecy, and is hence more exclusively addressed to those who take interest in the study; but this is a large and increasing proportion of the religious public, and the work has every chance of the success which we desire for it.

Our Quarterly List of Foreign Publications in Sacred Literature usually affords in the most compendious form much of the information which might otherwise appear in our Biblical Intelligence, which is therefore (to avoid repeating the same intimations in another shape) rendered at times comparatively meagre in its intimations. These lists are in our judgment far more useful than any separate announcement, as they enable the reader to see at one view all that has lately been done in this branch of foreign literature. That all' continues to be but little this quarter; the same causes which have checked literary production in this country having still more seriously operated on the Continent. The great scholars of Germany are still doubtless at work, but they abstain from producing the results of their labours till the subsidence of political excitement affords them the hope of finding readers. The first season of calm will doubtless bring forth in abundance the fruits which have been silently ripening during the storm.

We have before us the two first Numbers of a new weekly publication, of a class still peculiar to Germany, called the Freie Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung, which the second title describes as being the organ of the democratic development of religious church objects and life in Germany? It is founded and edited by Dr. Ludwig Roach, and which is more ecclesiastical than some of its contemporaries and more literary than others, adopts as its leading object the separation of the Church from the State, and the School from the Church.'

We have seen a Prospectus of the Pastoral-Kirchenzeitung für die EvangelischLutheranische Kirche a monthly publication, the first Number of which is to appear in February, 1849. It is to be distinguished from all existing periodicals, by the exclusive appropriation of its pages to matters connected with the service of the ministry. It will be published at Berlin, and the Prospectus is signed by G. Ch. H. Stip as Editor.

The Germans, who seem to watch our religious affairs and development much more narrowly than ourselves, have now taken up the subject of Irvingism-a name (Irvingismus) which much strikes the eye now in looking over German publications. A long article on the subject runs through several recent Numbers of Tholuck's Anzeiger.

The Rev. J. R. Tiele has published a Chronology of the Old Testament from Adam to the return of the Jews from Babylon in the first year of Cyrus (Chro nologie des Alten Testaments, &c.). It is designed for theologians and educated persons, particularly students in history. It is illustrated with six engraved plates. The work has not come under our own notice, but is spoken of very favourably in the German reviews as an important work, executed with ability and thorough knowledge.

Tischendorf has lately published the first half (containing the Gospels) of the second Leipzig edition of his Novum Testamentum Graece, and the remainder was to appear in December, and probably has been produced, though we have not yet seen it announced.

The