the preacher with an ecstacy of delight, in the excursions. of his imagination, or learning, or philosophy, they found themselves let down upon the platform of evangelical

faith.

Tholuck differs from our preachers not less in the plan (we avoid the ominous word skeleton) of a discourse, than in the materials. He does not always hunt after propositions on which to rear a pyramid of demonstrations, but frequently gazes upon a passage of Scripture, generally of greater extent than texts with us, like an admirer of a work of art, views it in its different aspects, drinks in the sentiment almost to intoxication, and then spreads the contagion of his enthusiasm by his graphic delineations, profound reflections and stirring appeals. He holds at his command criticism, logic and philosophy, though he never introduces them in their stiff scholastic forms, in the manner of Aristotle or Euclid. Instead of dissecting a living form in such a way as to deprive it of life, his genius broods over matter with a vital energy. There is a vernal influence that always attends him. Like Homer, and Shakspeare, and Göthe, he has a kind of primeval philosophy, the simple truth of nature,-that is above the rules of art. This comparison, however, is not designed to indicate the degree, but simply the kind, of his excellence. We entirely agree with the translators in regard to the faults of his discourses.

The fifth sermon of the specimens contained in this volume, will illustrate what we have said of the structure of his discourses. The subject is the Penitent Thief. Instead of a single sentence, five verses, taking in the whole scene, constitute the text. Most American preachers would take the single point of late repentance and discuss it. Tholuck, on the contrary, in his characteristic manner, fixes his contemplative eye on the whole spectacle, and finally gives vent to his feelings by exclaiming, "A narrative full of instruction. We will first inquire what the passage contains, that is fitted to awaken emotions of sublimity; secondly, what, that should excite in us feelings of shame; thirdly, what, that is liable to be perverted; fourthly, what, that may bring relief to the distressed." The first thought of the preacher very naturally related to him, who, in an hour that would seem ill fitted to making great promises, said, "This day

shalt thou be with me in Paradise." The scene is viewed as a symbolical painting:

"Behold! the King of glory on his throne! The crown adorns his brow. His arms are stretched out to embrace the whole world, and place it at his heart. Above the throne shines the regal title,— 'This is Jesus the King of the Jews.' At the right and the left are the two great divisions of the world; at the left the unbelieving world, who revile him; at the right, the converted world, who do him homage; and he himself is between them, imparting blessedness to the one, punishment to the other, bending from his throne to open the gates of paradise for the penitent transgressor. Of a truth, there is in this spectacle an inward greatness and sublimity, against which no heart of man can harden itself; and even from the lips of an unbeliever, the instant he turned his mind to the spectacle and considered it, there was forced out the expression of astonishment, 'Truly this was the Son of God!"

The ideas embraced in the second division are substantially these: What strength of faith must have been necessary in order to believe in Christ at that inauspicious moment! How could such a hope be born at such an hour? How ought we, before such an example of faith, to blush for the unbelief which we still cherish, notwithstanding all the evidence that has been accumulating ever since the resurrection of our Lord!

The liability of this passage to perversion is thus introduced:

"Is it then a fact, I hear you inquire, can the last spasmodic breath, with which the profligate breast is able to utter a 'God have mercy on me,' drown in silence the loud cry of a long, vicious life for vengeance? Is it a fact, that there are no blood-spots so dark, and so great, that they cannot be washed away by that solitary tear, which falls from the glassy eye of a dying sinner? Oh happy me! so let me drink deeper of the intoxicating cup of pleasure;-I had only moistened my lips at its very brim! Oh happy me! Do I then have my portion in both worlds; the joys of salvation and of the present life? Let me first pluck the chequered, the sweet poison-flowers in the garden of time, ere I hasten to your spotless lilies, which bloom in the garden of your eternity!

"Look at this! how the brightness of heaven, which lies over the spectacle that we are contemplating, is changed into the yellow reflection of hell, for our blinded, diseased eyes!"

At the close comes in the celebrated passage it is too late," with the touching contrast, "Sinner, while thou standest on this side the grave, it is never too late; to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.'

"Whether the voice of thy God will come to thee again thou knowest not; but whatever nights of darkness or mountains of sin may lie behind thee, to-day, he says, it is not too late."

But Tholuck is only one of the contributors to this interesting volume; we must, therefore, pass on. The next writer, from whom copious selections have been made, is Rückert, known chiefly as a critic and interpreter of the New Testament. We have before us two articles from him, the one on the Gifts of Prophecy and of Speaking with Tongues; the other, the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead, a commentary on the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians. We should have much to say respecting this commentator's peculiar character and attitude, as an interpreter, were it not that his translator has performed the task far better than we could hope to do it. For those whose minds have been puzzled by the views of Neander, Billroth, Olshausen and Bleek on Speaking with Tongues, the article of Rückert on the same subject, will furnish, in part at least, a welcome relief. As to Billroth, he once said in our hearing, he did not understand the subject at all, but, as a commentator, he must say something, and he did the best he could. The current theory in Germany is that of Neander, given briefly on page 87. With this, Winer substantially agrees. The various modifications of this theory, by Tholuck, Olshausen, Billroth, Bleek, and others, relate to the character of the (unintelligible) words which were uttered in an ecstatic state. Tholuck is perhaps the most original. He supposes that they who spoke with tongues spoke in the primitive language; and that the gift had a symbolical import, intimating that the spiritual dispensation of Christ, when it shall become universal, will remove the curse of the confusion of tongues, and that the human race will again speak one and the same language! Rückert, as though he had been born and educated in Scotland, is perfectly free from this misty German omniscience, and for this reason has a strong claim on our sympathy.

The same clear, common-sense, and independent views characterize his comment on the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians. One of these views has struck us as particularly just; and that is, that the apostle

does not reason with the logic of metaphysics to compel the assent of an opponent, but with that of oratorical impression, intended as much for the heart as for the intellect. A consequence that would cast an impenetrable gloom over the prospect of the believer, while it would be no argument to convince an infidel of the doctrine of the resurrection, would startle those with whom Paul had to do, and so fill their hearts with anguish as to make them shrink back from the sentiments which they had incautiously avowed, and would thus effectually answer his purpose.

The nature of these two pieces by Rückert is such, that it is impossible to gain any adequate idea of them by extracts. They must be viewed as a whole, in order to be properly estimated. Our general impressions of Rückert, as a biblical critic, can be stated in a few words. His intellectual powers are strong; his perceptions uncommonly clear; and his reasoning acute. His judgment is independent, but by no means sure. He is well versed in philology, and yet often errs in judgment when he comes to the final decision. His views of interpretation are nearly right in their general character, but they sometimes become ultra. His adherence to his principles, and recklessness of consequences, would be good, if those principles were perfectly correct, and were always rightly applied. We commend to the reader's particular attention note A, by the translator, page 293.

What lover of the classics, or of philosophy, and literature, will not feel a pleasure in noticing, as the title of one part of the volume before us, the Life of Plato, by W. G. Tennemann? "But it requires so many pages," some one will say, to state and weigh all the evidence for and against a single unimportant incident in the life of the philosopher, that it becomes tedious." Gentle reader, you have not a spark of antiquarian enthusiasm. What can be uninteresting that relates to Plato, the father of the whole race of philosophical æronauts, or to Grecian life and manners at a period so universally enchanting in its historical recollections?

As it is intimated "that another volume is in the course of translation, which will be entirely devoted to Plato and Aristotle," we shall defer our remarks upon the biography of Plato till a future occasion.

VOL. IV.-NO. XV.

50

It only remains for us to notice the "Sinless Character of Jesus," by Dr. C. Ullmann.

We regard this as an uncommonly valuable article, deserving the careful study of every Christian minister. We may safely say, no American, nor Englishman, could have produced such an essay. It bears the stamp of the German mind and German scholarship in their highest excellences. We believe that this treatise, philosophically digested, would, engrafted upon our views, prove a vigorous scion, giving a new and fresh growth to what is almost withered among us. It would lead us out of our beaten path, and conduct us into others, which, though, in themselves, neither better nor worse, would multiply our points of observation, and thus fill us with larger conceptions of the vast scale on which moral truth can be viewed from such a centre as the character of Christ. Though the production was designed expressly for the Germans, and has already wrought powerfully upon them in elevating their views of Christ's character, it is capable of effecting, in another way, very much good for us. Its beneficial results would not consist so much in the adoption of the doctrines advocated, as in the free scope which it might suggest to our minds in contemplating the nature and bearings of Christianity.

It has become the mode with many of our theologians, to make the character of Christ, as an infallible Teacher, the connecting link between history and the inspiration of the Scriptures. Christianity is first examined and established as a mere matter of history. Whether the Scriptures be inspired or not, the gospel account of Christianity is substantially true, as a part of the world's history. The New Testament, regarded as an ordinary uninspired book, and other notices of the origin of our religion, prove, historically, that Christ was an incomparable and infallible teacher. This divine Teacher promised the apostles supernatural aid, so that, in their apostolical office, they would be unerring guides of the church. Both Christ and these apostles testify to the inspiration of the Old Testament, and the latter, as inspired teachers, are either directly or indirectly the authors of the New Testament. Without further remarking upon this method of proof,-for it is only one of many, we observe that each of the links in the chain of