THE

METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW.

JANUARY, 1841.

EDITED BY GEORGE PECK, D. D.

INTRODUCTION.

THE present is an eventful and an interesting age. Improvements are exceeding, in number and importance, those of all former periods. The various plans for the melioration of human condition are assuming new modifications, and acting with accumulated power. The useful arts, and the institutions of benevolence, are so enlarging their compass, that the defects and embarrassments of the social state are in a way soon to be covered by remedies as near sovereign as the present condition of things will admit.

Among the great instruments of human improvement the press occupies a conspicuous position. It seems especially designed by Providence to exercise a restoring influence upon the understanding and conscience; but it is a lamentable fact that it has not unfrequently been pressed into the service of folly and corruption. To wrest this grand engine from the hand of error, and to employ it in its legitimate work, no effort should be deemed too great a sacrifice. The press should be fully employed in the great object of enlightening and reforming the world: it should furnish every variety of instructive and useful reading; and especially should it correct its own errors, and counteract the evil tendencies it has occasioned, and of which it is the only effective remedy.

With our venerated founder these were cherished objects; the evidence of which is abundant in his voluminous publications. We have received from his fertile and powerful pen numerous and various works, from the penny tract to the ponderous volume; all contemplating the same noble object,-the improvement of the character and condition of human society. This great and good man, early in his course of usefulness, fully estimated the importance of VOL. I.-1

a periodical which should contain multum in parvo (much in little) for general circulation and popular use. Hence came into being the Arminian Magazine. This finally gave place to the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, which deservedly ranks among the best periodicals of the class.

In 1818 the Methodist Magazine was commenced, and issued in monthly numbers under the supervision of the book agents at NewYork. This work continued to be issued in its original form until the year 1829. 1829. It was then thought that the Magazine should no longer sustain the character of a mere miscellany, as the Advocate and Journal, now in successful operation, could do ample justice to merely transient and miscellaneous matters. The work was accordingly thenceforward issued quarterly, under the title of the "Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review." Upon the occasion of this change, the editor, Dr. Emory, in his "prospectus," presents the reasons for the change in the following language:

"For this class of periodicals there is certainly a greater vacancy in the department of theological journals, at the present day, than in any other; and particularly in our own denomination. There is danger, too, of satisfying ourselves, on one hand, with light and transient reading, and, on the other, with light and transient writing. We yet need a journal which shall draw forth the most matured efforts of our best writers, whether in the ministry, or among other intelligent and literary contributors; where also they may have room for ampler and more exact discussion, in a record which shall endure for the inspection of posterity. There are very many also in the wide circle of our friends, who have both taste and adequate means for patronizing such a work; and one such is highly desirable, as well for their satisfaction, as to lead others to the cultivation of a similar taste."

At the late General Conference it was resolved to commence, after the close of the volume for 1840, a new series of the work, in an improved form, under the title of the "Methodist Quarterly Review." The design now is to give the work more fully the character of a Review than it has heretofore sustained, but not in the least to depart from the general purposes contemplated in the former series. Its pages will be devoted to theology, ecclesiastical polity, education, science, and general literature. These subjects will be discussed mostly, but not altogether, in the form of reviews.

In extended and elaborate reviews we shall present our readers with the substance of many of the leading publications which from time to time issue from the American and European presses, accompanied with such criticisms and remarks as their character shall demand; and in critical notices shall give our views of the general character of many others. By these means we hope to render much assistance to our readers in ordering books which they may wish to procure, as well as to afford them the means of obtaining the information contained in many others, which they may not have the means or desire to purchase.

For further particulars as to the plan of the work, and our editorial course, we would refer the reader to the prospectus published by the Agents, to our editorial in the July number, and to the present number, which is offerd as a specimen.

Such a publication is deemed especially important at the present time. Theology is liable to suffer from the extremes which characterize the age. Adventurous speculation, reckless skepticism, and tame credulity enter largely into the spirit of the times. The grossest errors of the dark ages, together with every species of novelty, find a ready reception even among minds claiming the advantages of a high state of cultivation. And is this any time for the Methodist press to sleep, or to be partial and tame in its instruments of attack and defense? Surely not. If there were ever a time when the true Wesleyan theology, in its clearness, simplicity, and power, required all the means of diffusiveness and extension which can be commanded, the present is that time. A medium for a thorough and full discussion of such topics in theology as have been buried in the mists of false philosophy or unbridled dogmatism is now with us absolutely necessary. And shall the Methodist Episcopal Church prove recreant in such an emergency? Indeed, she cannot. She will fortify every point, and fully equip herself for the important part she is destined to act in the great conflict now in progress between the simple, unsophisticated doctrines of the gospel, and a theology merely speculative on the one hand, or purely dogmatical on the other.

The institutions and government of the church must have due attention. Various questions which many may have supposed long since settled, relating to ecclesiastical polity, are still mooted, and the principles which they involve are to be contested over and

over again. Hence the necessity of being always prepared to defend and explain our own peculiar institutions at length when need requires.

The missionary, sabbath school, and temperance cause, as also our schools and colleges, will come in for a share of our sympathies and co-operation.

Experiments in science are daily bringing to light the secrets of nature, and so enlarging the sphere of human contemplation and enjoyment. It is of immense importance that all branches of the community should keep pace with the progress of scientific discovery, at least so far as the useful arts are affected by this means. It shall be our object to keep our readers sufficiently advised upon this subject.

We hope to pluck now and then a flower from ancient and modern literature, for the gratification of our readers. But those whose morbid appetites can only be satisfied with the creations of a disordered imagination can have little to hope from our labors, or those of our correspondents. The Review will deal in sober realities. And though all due pains will be taken to gratify a welldisciplined taste, its great object will be to make its readers wiser and better.

For the encouragement of our readers we will just say, that, from the light which already shines upon our way, we can have no doubt of complete success in our efforts to procure good materials. We have the pledges of several of the best writers in the country that they will render us their aid. All that now seems necessary is an adequate list of subscribers, and to this important element of success we trust our agents will help us without delay. If motives are necessary to secure the co-operation of the preachers, surely it will be sufficient to remind them, that by assisting in the circulation of the Quarterly they will not only, in the same proportion, diffuse useful knowledge, but will aid the most worthy objects of the solicitudes of the church,-the superannuated preachers, and the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the field of labor.

In conclusion we beg to say, that, feeling as we do our utter insufficiency for the arduous and responsible duties devolving upon us, we most earnestly ask the prayers of the whole church, that the Father of all our mercies may direct and succeed our humble efforts to promote his glory and the best interests of mankind.

ART. II.-The Lives of the Apostles of JESUS CHRIST, drawn from the Writings of the early Christian Fathers, and embracing the New Testament History. Illustrated with ample Notes, historical, topographical, and exegetical: with References to Authorities, containing a large amount of valuable matter; now first translated into English from various Ancient and Modern Languages; besides numerous Original Views and Explanations. With numerous Engravings. New-Haven: Published by YOUNG & UHLHORN-рp. 650.

THE apostles of Jesus Christ were altogether a peculiar class of men. Without those attractions which draw upon the great and mighty men of the earth the gaze and admiration of wondering multitudes, the place they occupied, and the high spiritual office they filled, present them on the page of history in a light far more interesting and important than that in which the most renowned of this world's sages and noblemen appear. In the faithful mirror of impartial biography how do Cesar and his minions appear in contrast with Christ and his apostles? or Herod Agrippa compare with "James, the brother of John," whom "he killed with the sword?" or the high priest and his persecuting council with Peter, whose imprisonment they procured, and the devout disciples whose prayers prevailed with God for his deliverance? or Felix and the second Agrippa with Paul, whose inspired eloquence caused the one to tremble, and the other to confess himself "almost" persuaded "to be a Christian?" In a word, in what other class of men, whose names have been deemed worthy on any account to be handed down to succeeding generations, do we see so much to admire, so much which may be rendered subservient to the best interests of society in general, and the spiritual edification of the pious in particular?

Few subjects, it will readily be admitted, afford a wider scope for amplification than the lives of the apostles. The simple narrative of their labors is indeed contained in a narrow compass in the original record. This is a peculiarity of the inspired writings. To multiply incidents beyond what was necessary to render the canon complete, or to swell the account by inferences and reflections, appears to have been no part of the work of the Spirit in revealing truth to man. But the inspired data is sufficiently ample, even in this department, to suggest to the mind of the pious author trains