vivid impression of the good which the Board has accomplished, and inspiring a livelier interest in the missionary work.

Psychology; or a View of the Human Soul, including Anthropology: adapted to the use of Colleges. By Rev. FREDERICK A. RAUCH, D. P., late President of Marshall College, Penn. Second edition. Published by M. W. Dodd, New York.

The

THE first part of this work, entitled Anthropology, treats of the influence of nature, race, sex, age, sleep, dreaming, &c. upon the mind, and on the other hand, of the power of the mind over the body. second part treats of Psychology, properly so called, the attributes and powers of a rational being. The whole is introduced by an able essay on life, both animal and vegetable, and on instinct. This table affords but a meager idea of the contents and interest of the book; every part of which abounds with views new to the American reader, if not original with the author. Indeed it seems to us, that every intelligent American who neglects to read it, is unjust to himself. The subject, which is of the highest importance, is enriched with an exuberance of illustration from all departments of learning, without a parallel among the productions of our press. Although Dr. Rauch was a disciple of Hegel, he was able, as he thought consistently, to rank himself with the evangelical party in the Lutheran church; and he is believed to have been a man of sincere piety. His speculative philosophy will not, as a system, find favor in this country. The greater part of this work, however, is devoted to empirical philosophy, or that knowledge which is derived from experience and observationwhich all confess lies within the Vol. I.

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reach of our capacities, and which under the luminous and vigorous pen of our author, can not but be intelligible to every class of readers.

Bibliotheca Sacra; or Tracts and Essays on Topics connected with

Biblical Literature and Theology. Editor, EDWARD ROBINSON, D. D., Professor of Bibl. Lit. in the Union Theol. Sem., New York. New York and London, Wiley & Putnam: 1843. No. I, February; pp. 204, 8vo. Price $1.

THIS new theological journal assumes the distinctive character of a "collection of tracts and essays," of such a nature as to be "of permanent value as a work of reference." That a work of this character, if judiciously and ably conducted, may be of inestimable value to future theologians, must be perfectly obvious. No such work existed in the country; and we rejoiced when this was announced. Yet we were impressed with the difficulties attending it. The efforts of a single man, however gifted and indefatigable, must be inadequate to sustain such a publication for a great length of time. The editor should possess great soundness of judgment, a thorough acquaintance with the present state of biblical and theological science, and a kind of foresight by which he can anticipate the future progress of theological knowledge and the wants of those who shall cultivate it. He should moreover have the assistance of a large number of able writers, who are willing to spend much time and to lay out all their strength upon certain insulated topics in theology, which have been too slightly handled by other writers. Of Dr. Robinson's industry, erudition and talents as a writer, we have a very high opinion. Of the resources from which he can draw materials for his own articles, it is sufficient to say,

in the language of the announcement of the work, "The editor's connections with Great Britain and Germany will enable him to avail himself of every thing new and important in the theological literature of those countries." From the same announcement we learn, that "the editor will have the aid of several of the leading theological writers of this country, as well as of some in foreign lands." But we are not informed how many, or who, among the learned, are his pledged collab orators, or will be active and efficient contributors to the work. For aught that appears, the work is to rest chiefly upon the shoulders of Dr. Robinson.

The first number or volume of the work, we have read with approbation and interest. It is, perhaps, all that ought to have been expect ed; but we confess, it hardly met the high expectations we had indulged before its publication,-not how ever from the want of a greater va riety in the subjects, as the editor appears to have feared. For we think, the more homogeneous the matter of each volume, the more value it will possess as a book of reference. This number contains three tracts, viz.

1. RESEARCHES IN PALESTINE, by the editor; compiled from various communications received at different times from the Rev. Eli Smith and Rev. S. Wolcott: (with a map of the country around the sources of the of the Jordan.) pp. 9-88.

2. SKETCHES OF ANGELOLOGY IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, by Moses Stuart, Prof. in the Theol. Sem., Andover. pp. 88-154.

3. THE REPUTED SITE OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, by the editor; in reply to allegations contained in the Oxford" Essay on the Ecclesiastical Miracles." pp. 154-202.

The first article is, both as to matter and form, a supplement to Dr. R.'s great work, entitled "Biblical Researches in Palestine;" and it

should be appended to that work, or rather, be incorporated into its next edition. As it is a mere supplement to another work, and as several of the most important portions of it had previously been spread on the pages of other periodicals, we have some doubts of its claim to a place in a collection of tracts intended to be "of permanent value as a work of reference."

The second article is a general treatise on Angels, and is written in the usual flowing and popular style of the learned author. It bears of course much resemblance to the article "Angels" in our biblical dictionaries, and to the chapters on good and evil angels in our best systems of theology. The author does not aim to propagate any new views or any favorite opinions he may entertain. Nor does he attempt to settle and decide upon all the important questions which relate to his subject. Indeed, we should have been gratified, if the learned author had given us more distinctly his opinions on several points which he has but slightly touched. For instance, has each individual man and child a guardian angel to attend him from the cradle to the grave, as the Romanists believe?

Did the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Word and Son of God, ap pear in the form of an angel, on several occasions, to the early pa triarchs and others under the Old Testament; and if so, which are the texts that speak of these manifestations? On the whole, this ar ticle gives a good popular view of the biblical doctrine concerning an gels, and it will doubtless be read with interest by most persons into whose hands it may fall. At the same time, we have doubts whether such popular summaries of theolo gical knowledge are exactly suited to the specific character of this work. They seem to us to belong rather to those journals which aim at immediate usefulness, than to

disposed to make his work the vehicle of useful instruction, not only in all other departments of general knowledge, but in the higher departments of morals and religion. We see no reason why it should fail to merit the patronage of the public.

Self-Cultivation. By TRYON ED

WARDS.

Counsels of the Aged to the Young.

By A. ALEXAnder, D. D. A Pattern for Sunday School Teachers and Tract Distributors, and a Word for All. By J. A. JAMES.

THESE little volumes, by three popular authors, have just issued from the press of John S. Taylor & Co., 145 Nassau Street, New York. They have, all of them, that chief excellence of a book, a fitness to do good. They have also the charm of elegance. There are no better works of the kind.

CONGRESS.

THE twenty seventh Congress, just expired, has been in many respects remarkable. It was elected by a party suddenly and surprising ly triumphant in every part of the Union, and its expected destiny was, to relieve and to reform. Convened by a presidential proclamation at the earliest practicable period, earlier indeed than the election of some of its members, it has been in session, with only two short vacations, from the last day of May, 1841, to the fourth of March, 1843. Its first assembling was under the cloud of a great national bereavement. The brave and honest old man whose personal popularity had been a chief element in the success of the party which had inscribed his name upon

its banners, had been struck down from the presidency by death. The Vice President had succeeded to the vacant chair, according to the provisions of the constitution; and the heads of departments, as nominated by the lamented Harrison, were still in their places; but Mr. Tyler had not succeeded to the chieftainship in the party that had elected him only to an office which, though sometimes honored by the occupancy of able and accomplished men, had never been found to require any superior qualifications. Confidence and a good understanding between the individual administering the government and the leading minds in the national legislature, instead of existing beforehand and preparing both to move harmoniously in one direction, were to be created by act

ing for common objects. How it happened that a mutual understanding and reciprocal confidence between the President and the majority in Congress did not result from their acquaintance and intercourse-how it happened that what seemed to be earnest attempts on the part of the President to make himself understood by Congress, and earnest attempts on the part of Congress to accommodate their proceedings to what they understood to be his views, were entirely unsuccessful,-we will not undertake to explain. At the end of the first or special session, the great body of those members of Congress who belonged to the party which had elected General Harrison to the presidency, united in an address to the public virtually denouncing Mr. Tyler. Thenceforward that party, out of Congress, was not indeed dissolved into its original elements, but was disheartened and weakened. Public opinion as expressed in elections was against Mr. Tyler, and against those from whom he had separated; and the next Congress will commence with a decided majority of the identical party which suffered so signal a defeat in the great election of 1840.

Had General Harrison been spared, it is possible that the result might have been different. Yet there were difficulties in the nature of the case, which neither the popularity of the good President,' nor the statesmanship of his advisers, nor the ability of the leaders in Congress, would have been altogether likely to over

expected to relieve the wide commercial distress of the country. How this was to be done-by what specific enactments all those evils which had been imputed, not unreasonably, to the policy of the two preceding administrations, were to be suddenly remedied-was not very distinctly understood. The leaders in Congress appear to have projected a series of measures which were to be acceptable, some in one quarter, and some in another, and which taken together, in all their relations, would constitute a system of policy under which the country was to emerge, speedily, from its embarrassments. The north was supposed to demand a tariff of duties so adjusted as to afford protection to the manufacturing interests; and the north was therefore to be gratified and relieved by a protective tariff. The south and west were supposed to require some national institution which should rectify their miserably disordered currency; there was therefore to be a national bank, with notes every where current, equalizing exchanges, and facilitating the restoration of the old commercial intercourse between those great producing regions and the commercial emporiums on the Atlantic. The new states, brought to the verge of bankruptcy by their ill devised and ill managed schemes of internal improvement, were to have their credit restored, and were to be enabled to pursue their undertakings, by a distribution of the proceeds of the public lands. To relieve in all parts of the country those active and adventurous business men whom the late reverses had overwhelmed, and to remove that vast amount of private indebtedness which had been contracted when all men were delirious from the inflation of the currency in 1835 and 1836, old scores were to be wiped out, and new books were to be opened, by a general bankrupt law. These measures were to be adopted singly, and each by a differ

ent majority, but when adopted, and carried into operation, they would constitute a system in which every part would help to support and invigorate the whole. Had Harrison lived, the complete system might have been adopted. But the bank and the distribution were defeated by the veto of Mr. Tyler. The bankrupt law having stood just long enough to do whatever evil it was capable of doing, and thus to make itself unpopular, has been repealed by the same votes that created it. The protective tariff alone remains to be repealed by the party now coming into power. The great measures projected for the relief of the country may be considered as having failed.

The reformation of abuses and corruptions in the government, is a thing readily, and let us believe honestly, promised by all parties, but very difficult of performance. In this respect, the late Congress has not accomplished all that was expected from it, nor even all that it attempted. The expenses of the government have indeed been very considerably reduced, not only by the abolition of that old nest of jobbing and peculation, the Florida war, but in some other particulars. One measure of reform, the bill for the reduction of the compensation of public servants, not excepting members of Congress, was carried in the House of Representatives by the votes of those who were about retiring to private life, against the votes of those who are, or who expect to be, re-elected. It was afterwards materially changed in the Senate, and was thus lost. The loss of this bill leaves the patronage of the President without any effectual diminution. The greater the compensation of the various officials who hold their places at his pleasure, the more reason will he have to expect that they will bestir themselves in his favor. Of course all that was promised, in 1840 and before, about

abolishing the connection between the patronage of the government and the elections, is now disregarded.

A standing topic of complaint with the people, is the length of the sessions of Congress, the time which is consumed not in the proper business of Congress, but in windy discourses about matters and things in general, which are delivered and afterwards printed for effect on the people, as electioneering documents, and tons of which are sent by mail to all parts of the country, under the franks of the members. The late House of Representatives signalized itself by the adoption of several regulations for the despatch of business. In consequence of these regulations, that Congress has been able to complete a greater amount of business-has passed a greater number of public and private acts, than any of its predeces

sors.

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Yet it has not accomplished this without sitting more months, more days, and more hours,' than any former Congress. Some of those regulations, though perfectly justifiable on the ground of necessity, were better suited to a debating club than to a dignified representative body, legislating for millions. It does not tell well for our national character, that our House of Representatives is compelled to have a rule that no speech shall exceed one hour in length. True, there is nothing unreasonable in the rule itself; neither Franklin, nor Sherman, nor Ellsworth, nor Madison, nor Ames, in such Congresses as we once had, would have needed more than an hour to say all that such men deemed it necessary for them to say on any one topic of discussion. Of all the great speeches that ever swayed the decisions of a Roman senate, or of a British parliament, how few have ever exceeded the compass of an hour. But suitable as such a rule may be to a school of rhetoric, it seems out of place, and therefore out of taste, in a legislative assembly.