cion has subsided, and a taste for German learning, or rather for thoroughgoing research itself, has vastly increased.

This propitious change is particularly manifest in the departments of Biblical Criticism and Ecclesiastical History. Intimately connected as these two departments are, it could hardly be expected that either should rise or sink alone. Both rose together at the time of the Reformation, under the auspices of Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Beza and the Magdeburg Centuviators; and both sunk together at a subsequent period. And both are now rising again in company,—biblical criticism having naturally enough taken the lead in this country. Much might be said to our present purpose, on the increased and rapidly increasing means for the pursuit of such literature, from the multiplication and endowment of seminaries, and the increase of books, and the higher demands for learning in the ministry. But both the facts and their influence are too obvious to require illustration.

A further and most powerful cause of the increased attention to the history, especially to the antiquities of the Church, as well as to biblical criticism, is found in the controversies between rival sects, and in the grand contest which the Church as a body has to sustain against her skeptical foes.

When the remarkable era of Bible Societies arose on the Church, near the commencement of our age, she seemed herself, for awhile, awestruck and lost in holy wonder and peaceful delight. The gowned prelate and the humblest dissenting presbyter, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Quaker, the dullest formalist and the most raving fanatic, the Antinomian, the Arminian and even the Socinian, all found themselves strangely met together, not for some dread and unearthly struggle for final supremacy, but, for the first time, on a common platform, and in the metropolis of Protestantism, in the presence of thousands of every name and grade, with blandest eye and accent, to greet each other as Christian brethren. Delight followed the surprise of so unwonted a meeting; and the surprise increased the delight. How they were all brought there, none could tell. A voice, better than that of the Hermit, seemed to have summoned them to a holier crusade against the common foe. Their pledges of unity appeared, and were sincere. The voice of their cordial greetings rolled far and wide through the ranks of their diverse communions, and were fondly-alas! too fondly-received as the pledge, not only of a new era in Chris

tian activity, but also of a new dispensation, in which the voice of sectarian strife should be heard no more. And, indeed, for a season, a goodly one, the harsh notes of immemorial discord died away to a whisper. It was soon discovered, however, that the age for ending all controversy between religious sects had not yet come; (nor would we by any means intimate that the amicable discussion of disputed points, should ever be entirely dropped in this world ;) it was found, or imagined to be found, that some sects had begun rather adroitly to avail themselves of the quiet truce, for the goodly purpose of bringing all Christendom into a still closer union,-an exact union with their own right views and usages. And, from that moment, whether it were suspicion or fact at first, the wild-fire again spread from sect to sect. For a long time, the voice of contention, if not so harsh and criminating in all sects, has been at least as strong and decided as ever. The temporary suspension, though followed to a good extent by the milder spirit it was fitted to infuse, has yet, by the blasting of hopes so fondly cherished, been likewise followed by a more deliberate and decided purpose, in perhaps every sect, to maintain its own ground and spread its dominion;-in some with more, in others with less of sectarian zeal and sectarian measures.

In the mean time, every sect has advanced with the rapid advance of our population. And their own increase is carefully registered by many of the sects, and loudly heralded in their periodical reports as though it were a proof that themselves are soon to fill the land. New sects, too, if really new sects there can now be, are rising up, for instance, the Mormons,—all claiming to be the original and genuine stock of Israel.

And there is yet another circumstance bearing directly and strongly on our subject. Nearly all these sects are rapidly rising into eminence in regard to learning, as well as numbers. This is the fact, with more than one which, a few years ago, were glorying in their ignorance; now they have their theological seminaries. They discarded and contemned all traditionary evidence in respect to doctrinal truth and ecclesiastical rites and offices; now they are exploring the antiquities of the church, in zealous quest of proofs in support of their own peculiarities; and sentences from the early fathers grace their controversial pages and are familiarly rehearsed to their congregations. Instead of complaining, however, we count it all joy that it is so.

A resort to this additional and legitimate source of argu

ment will ultimately have its benign and elevating effect on every sect. We only adduce the fact in its bearing on ecclesiastical literature. Every sect, if not every minister, has begun to feel its indispensable importance. The Baptist, the Congregationalist, the Presbyterian, the Quaker, the Prelatist -all zealously plead prescription. And even the Mormons not long since, employed an enlightened Jewish convert to teach them Hebrew! What, then, is to be the fate of that sect, if such there be, that shall neglect to defend itself against weapons drawn from the ancient arsenal? And how is this defence to be made, except by weapons from the same source? When the Protestant Reformers were overwhelming the Pope with this armor, he put the youthful Baronius in a course of training for this species of defence, and bade him devote his life to the writing of Christian Annals for the support of his tottering throne. And, next to political machinations and the civil sword, it proved its best support.

But this brings us to say, that we have controversies from without, that imperiously demand an acquaintance with the doctrines and usages of the early church. This same popery, if met at all to any good purpose, is still to be met with the sword of the Spirit in the right hand, and the shield of ecclesiastical history in the left. Both are indispensable to the success of any combatant in this long and recently reviving conflict. Prescription is here, indeed, the main plea. And who can dea! with such an argument, without knowing the grounds on which it rests?

Infidels, too, and skeptics of every class, from the days of Voltaire and Gibbon and Hume, have delighted to assail Christianity within the citadel of her own literature. Generally, they hate the Word of God too bitterly to study it enough to learn even its more plausible points of assault. But history is often their delight, as it has been so extensively their triumphant boast. To glean the scandal of the church and her inconsistencies, and place them in their most revolting attitudes, and then charge the whole on Christianity itself, has been their favorite and most successful mode of warfare, from the early periods of Celsus and of Porphyry, down to the now famous Strauss, who is at this moment agitating Germany afresh by another publication,-" The Christian Dogma in its contest with Science."

Nor are these contests confined to those who move in the SECOND SERIES, VOL. VI NO. I. 19

higher walks of literature. It is truly marvellous to see with what celerity the essence of some new moral malaria is invisibly wafted, by the prince of the power of the air, from a German or a French university to the lovely prairies of our far West. There our domestic missionary has to meet it in all its virulence; and if too ignorant of the history of his own religion to comprehend or cope with the new difficulty, both he and his religion are branded afresh with the stigma of stupidity.

Nor are these contests, whether from within or without, merely so much matter of unmitigated regret. Like their own baleful instigator, they are yet made to subserve some useful purposes. They are the needful fire to burn up the wood, hay and stubble in the fabric of every sect, and of the whole church. What, we may ask, would that church have been, had she never been assailed by foes from abroad? Just what, in many respects, the quiet dark ages were making her. For what friend would ever have had the heart to shiver her unsound arguments for the truth? And who can tell the amount of paralyzing superstitions that would have continued to cluster around those spurious materials?

But our limits, at the close of the present No., forbid a further pursuit of these topics, if we would reserve any space to speak of the work before us.

And truly, one of the many lessons we may learn from the facts now briefly presented, is that of the increasing need of this kind of books. General histories of the church, we have already in considerable number. But they are either too large and expensive for most readers, or altogether too defective, in the kind of information here presented. Mr. Coleman has given us a very judicious compendium of the rites, ceremonies, manners, polity, etc. of the early Christians, embodying a vast amount of matter in a simple and perspicuous style and form. The work does not profess to treat of doctrinal history, nor to give any connected view of the general history of the church; but for the wide range of topics in regard to practice which it presents, it is exactly the sort of book which every minister and every student should have by him. It contains an explanation of numerous terms, and a full statement of innumerable things, which the common historian has no time to present. And some readers, especially those already acquainted with the general history of the church, may be deeply interested in reading it through in course.

Mr. Coleman has enjoyed the best helps in the compilation of his work, which Christian literature affords; as will be seen by his preface and by a brief but valuable introduction to the work by Prof. Sears, of Newton Theol. Sem. And we are happy in being able to add, that he has availed himself of these helps to good purpose. Most of it is in the form of an abridged translation of the several portions selected from the more voluminous works of Augusti, Siegel and Rheinwald. We have compared the greater part of the first 200 pages with the originals, and are fully satisfied in respect to the general accuracy and faithfulness of Mr. Coleman's presentation of the views of his authors. He does not attempt a literal translation in all cases; nor could he, consistently with his purpose of abridging their works as much as possible. We have noticed, indeed, a number of passages in which we think he has mistaken the meaning of the original. Nor would it be a difficult task to point out many instances in which we should prefer a different rendering of single words or phrases. But this is only a matter of course with any translation from a foreign language. Nor would the general reader be edified at all by a list of real or supposed errors, as he only wishes to be assured of the general trustworthiness of the performance; and we shall have the means of informing Mr. C., in a more private way, of any emendations that would better please us in a future edition.

In comparing the translation, we have been struck, even more strongly than we anticipated, with the difficulty and extreme responsibility of the task Mr. C. has here assumed, of giving an abridgment of such a work as that of Augusti, and on such a subject. The great stress of the difficulty is in deciding as to what can be safely omitted. Augusti's first work was in twelve volumes. This he subsequently reduced to three large octavos. And for Mr. C. to abridge this abridgment to the limits of a single volume, without omitting any thing essential in a book designed for authoritative reference on points of controversy among jarring sects, must be seen by any one, who will make the comparison, to require no ordinary degree of knowledge, judgment and toil. Were not the original within our reach, we should have preferred to pay a higher price for a larger work; but the present state of our reading public would hardly warrant the increase. At a future day, we hope Mr. C. or some other American will venture to give us about twice as large a work on the subject. We say American, for Americans