lines. "Oh! bow sorry I have often felt since the death of that devoted and excellent servant of God, the late Rev. William Jones, that there was no one else who would see it his duty to undertake such a task. Now, Mr. Moore, do not think I intend to flatter you, when I say that I believe you are just the person to take it up-you, who so long resided under his roof, and enjoyed his unbounded confidence."

With the latter part of the above quotation, we must certainly beg to differ from Mrs. Hanna. If we may judge from the volume, Mr. G. C. Moore's only qualification for the task he has undertaken, is, his long residence under Dr. Carson's roof; for, in other respects, there seems to be little in common between them; at least if our ideas of the views held by the late Dr. Carson be any thing like correct.

For

Mr. Moore seems amazingly fond of "giving flattering titles to men;" and appears to have a wonderful liking for the term " REV." example, we have the Rev. Alexander M'Leod,-the Rev. James Haldane, the Rev. William Jones,the Rev. Alexander Campbell. This appears to us exceedingly fulsome, and must prove very nauseous to every lover of New Testament Christianity. Moreover, we believe that such a style of writing would have proved very obnoxious to Alexander Carson himself. And with regard to all the names mentioned above, we are persuaded there is not one among them but who would disapprove the use of such a term, or of its application to sinful mortals, especially to themselves. With regard to the diploma of LL. D. conferred on Alexander Carson,

Mr. Moore makes the following reremarks.

Through the unsolicited kindness of the Rev. Dr. Maclay, of New York, the hono. rary degree of LL. D. was conferred by two colleges on Dr. Carson about the same time. One of those institutions is located at Jackson, in the State of Louisiana, under the presidency of an Episcopalian; the other is Bacon College, in the State of Kentucky.

44 Yes, to the "Western wilds" of America belong the honor which was rightfully the inheritance of Glasgow, Dublin, Edinburgh, or Oxford. But, to their lasting shame, these universities waived their claims to the greatest scholar in the British empire, because he fearlessly opposed many of their best supporters, or because he was identified with an unpopular denomination.

"When Moore, the poet, was offered a title in a foreign country he refused, de

claring that he would never be a count, knight, or lord, except conferred by his own country. But, to his transcendent condescension be it told, that although Dr. Carson well knew that all the universities in the world could add nothing to his literary accomplishments, and but little to his lilerary fame, still he cordially accepted the honors presented him, even from some of the most remote regions of a foreign land.

"The writer must confess, that grateful as he feels to those who intended to honor his preceptor, yet he has often been sorry that those distinctions were not withheld, or conferred upon those in Great Britain and Ireland who may need, or who might possibly be aided by them. But of what possible, or supposable, use could a doctorship be to Alexander Carson? All the letters in the alphabet, whether prefixed or affixed to such a name, only tend to degrade it. I would as soon prefix Mr. to the immortal names of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte, as prefix Dr. to the illustrious names of Jonathan Edwards, Robert Hall, and Alexander Carson!"

Although, as we have intimated already, this Life of Dr. Carson is not exaxtly the thing we should like, nevertheless the volume is not devoid of interest. Alexander Carson was no ordinary man, and any biograghical sketch of his character cannot but be interesting. Dr. Carson was not only a man of profound learning, but also of profound thought,-a bold and original thinker. His sentiments and

The nonsense contained, both in the couplet and in the quotation, is sufficiently manifest to the merest tyro in the knowledge of the Christian doctrine. But such is the gross ignorance prevailing in what is called the "religious world," that hundreds and thousands swallow such stuff as veritable truth.

The Work before us is divided into three parts, and then subdivided into chapters. Our readers may form some idea of its nature and character from the following analysis of its contents. Part I. -Introduction-Modern Rome

France Germany-England-The Present Condition of the Religious World.

Part II. The Primeval Cause -Bibliolatry--Church Establishments-Sectarianism ---The Antagonism which the Professors of Religion have ever offered to Philosophy and Science.

Part III-Religious Scepticism; its cure.-Introduction-The Restoration of the Lost Ideal to the Churches-The Subordination of Doctrinal Distinction to Unity of Action-The Complete Alteration of the existing Union of Church and State-The Recognition of the Use of all our Faculties Religious.

as

Part IV.-Religious Scepticism; its Mission.

There are few books which have come under our notice which furnish more materials for thinking than the volume under consideration. It abounds with statements which must make the ears of many to tingle. After referring to the existence of infidelity in former ages, and its continuation in our own, the author observes,

"Daily do we hear that our institutions are being sapped, our morals depraved, our religion undermined, by its insidious and ogen attempts. Under a variety of names,

we are told, its baneful power is felt in all churches is cited; the recklessness of a large ranks of society. The emptiness of our

part of our people upon sacred subjects is adduced as proof positive that we are going to darkness and destruction, through the folly or wickedness, or both, of sceptics and hydra-headed monster devouring his victims daily. Socialism, Communism, Pantheisms Spiritualism, are given as a few of the forms of its manifestation, Revolutions are said to be its immediate production; and anarchy its certain and constant attendant. All the evils which afflict humanity, socially or

unbelievers. In a thousand forms is this

politically, are proved to owe their potency to this the arch evil. Beneath the terror excited by the constant contemplation of its effects, and the fear of its increasing growth, men become prophets of disaster, and foretellers of ruin.

The means and the manner by which the monster evil has been met, and its direful effects counteracted, are, in our author's opinion, totally unsuited, criminations and recriminations have neutralized all the arguments. He says,

"In such a state are we at the present time. The philosophy and the religion of to-day are opposed. The preachings of our divines, and the teachings of our thinkers are antagonistic. The life of our people is unchristian, their condition still more so. The spirit of God seems to have forsaken our No blessing temples and our dwellings. comes from the former to the latter. Everywhere are our churches pointed at as things outside the people's heart. The priest has ceased to be the guide, consoler, and teacher of man. Any, rather than their pastor, would the sheep consult. Priestdom has

ceased to be a function; its sacredness has departed; and with it, apparently, though we believe not really, much of the christian life of this land.

"Surely something must be wrong somewhere. Believing as we do in the truth of Christianity, and its future application to all the parts of life, we pause and ask ourselves seriously, Why is this? The reasons given are far from satisfactory. They settle

nothing. Few of them are at all tenable. It cannot be for the want of preachers; they abound. It cannot be for the want of Bibles; they exist in unnumbered millions, and very often produce a contrary effect to what their distributors expected. It cannot be that the people of this country are parsimonious in supporting religious institu

tions; they abound everywhere, and millions of pounds are consumed in their support. Reports of Missionary Societies, home and foreign; of Bible distributions to the English Cottager and the African Hottentot; of Christian labours in all parts of the world, are every day being thrust upon our notice; and yet our people are ignorant, disgusted, and antagonistic. Never was such an enormous expenditure for such little results; never such an amount of labour for

such a wretchedly small amount of fruit. Again, the question forces itself upon us, Why is this? We propose in the following pages to endeavour to afford a somewhat

satisfactory answer."

We must not lengthen our extracts too much, otherwise we should like to transcribe from the introduction, the author's description of the various phases which infidelity assumes, and the different states in which it may be found. But the following definition, or classification of its characteristics, will be of some service to our readers, as it will enable them to recognize the monster under every shape in which he may be met with every day and every hour.

"Under one or other of our four definitions may be arranged all that is needed for the proper understanding and due appreciation of the nature of infidelity, its history, its mission, and its cure. We will now give them in consecutive order.

1. Infidelity exists amongst a people when they are untrue to their own accepted

idea of God, and sink below their own standard of religious excellence.

2. That is infidelity which denies religious controul, and man's responsibility to God.

3. That is infidelity which sets up virtue, human perfection, or any temporary and mutable power in place of the one and

immutable God.

4. That is infidelity which from a recklessness, a love of pleasure, and worldiy freedom, looks upon religion as a restraint, and the idea of a retributive God as an idle fancy, promulgated from interested motives, and kept up for purposes of police and social order. In these four categories may be included all the minor distinctions and the varying manifestations of this spiritual phenomenon."

We are not sure that we understand the writer when he says,

"All nations have enough of that absolute religion which is older than Christ to have in their own hearts a standard by which they may be judged, without our measuring them by one of which they never heard, or having heard have not adopted. A pious, just, and true Mussulman is a religious man, however much he may differ from our form of faith and mode of worship. He has enough of the Spirit, and distributes enough of its fruits, to merit the name of a child of God. There is a light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." This is very loose Theology, and utterly at variance with the christian doctrine. If this be the author's real sentiments, he himself cannot be a believer in christianity, as the apostles understood the matter. On the contrary, they taught that

there was no other name under heaven, nor given among men whereby they could be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ." But, according to our author, one religion is as good as another, the false is as good as the true,-the religion of man is as good as the religion of God. If he will take the trouble to examine Paul's epistle to the Romans, ch. ii. he will find a very different doctrine taught. The apostle there admits that the gentiles, or those who were ignorant of the true religion, were, partly through tradition, and the law of nature or conscience, made a law to themselves; that is, that they were sinners; but he does not say either there or any where else, that this law of nature or conscience, or any of their systems of false religion, however closely adhered to or practised, could make them children of God. DIVINE TRUTH and obedience thereto can alone do that. On subjects of this nature

we consider our author to be greatly at fault, and very likely to mislead his readers. He seems perfectly aware of the prevailing errors, and can expose them with a masterly

hand; but, unfortunately, he does not appear to be acquainted with that TRUTH which can alone supplant them. (To be continued.)

We select the following extracts from a Prospectus which has been handed to us relative to an improved version of the New Testament in the Spanish language. By thus introducing the subject into the Christian Advocate, we conceive the important object will meet the eyes of some which the prospectus may never reach.

The Spanish tongue, next to the English, is at present the most widely spoken of any language; and of these two only is it true, that the sun never sets upon the regions where they are commonly used.

"do

For want of a better version of the Bible in Spanish, translations from the Latin Vulgate, and others-all of them the work of Romish Ecclesiastics-have been the only versions which have hitherto been circulated. These translations contain serious inaccuracies and corruptions of the text. Such as penance," for "repent: "God salutes thee," or "God save thee Mary," for "Hail, Mary;" and " worshipped the top of his staff," for worshipped (leaning) on the top of his staff," &c., &c. Many untranslated words are introduced from the Greek into the Spanish, to most of which an objectionable ccclesiastical meaning is attached, and for which plain and significant Spanish equivalents are not wanting.

PROPOSED REMEDY.

To obviate these evils, it is not intended to attempt a new translation, but it is simply proposed that the New Testament as already translated by Torres Amat, be revised by competent persons, and carefully corrected in all the cases above referred to, so that a faithful version may at once be put into the hands of all who may be willing to purchase it.

of Barcelona, first published this translation at Madrid, in 1823, and on account of the troublous times, and the poverty of the Clergy, he was mainly assisted to print it by subscriptions from Great Britain. It was then declared to have merited the entire approbation of the most learned men in Spain. It now ranks high as a literary work, as well as a generally correct translation, and is more acceptable to modern Spaniards than any other extant, on account of the purity of the language and the correctness of the idiom. It has repeatedly been reprinted without the notes, and in 1849, it underwent a revision under the direction of the Christian Knowledge Society, the chef aim of which was to conform it to the authorised English version. This edition, which is comparatively expensive, still retains some of

the inaccuracies above referred to. Don Juan Calderon, Professor of Spanish Literature, now resident in London, (the same person who was employed by the Christian Knowledge Society to revise this translation,) is anxious to give it a further revision, taking the original Greek only for model.

In order to facilitate and at the same time greatly to extend the circulation of the Word of God in countries where it is not known, it is proposed immediately to print the several books of the New Testament in separate parts- each Gospel and Epistle, &c., being neatly stitched in a stiff and coloured paper cover, upon which will be printed the simple title of the book, and a table of all the books of the New Testament, Large Pocket siz : in a clear brevier letter, and divided into paragraphs.

ESTIMATED COST OF A FIRST EDITION, to consist of 5000 copies of each book, or 1800 New Testaments bound, and 42,000 portions. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS.