a work of supererogation, performed by our substitute, and then transferred and imputed to us, so as to satisfy the requisitions of the law for our own active obedience. The last three statements are sometimes comprehended in the more general proposition, that the atonement was equal, in the meaning and spirit of it, to the payment of our debts, but it was not literally the payment of either our debt of obedience or our debt of punishment, or any other which we owed to law or distributive justice. Therefore, Fifthly, the law and the distributive justice of God, although honored by the life and death of Christ, will yet eternally demand the punishment of every one who has sinned. Sixthly, the atonement rendered it consistent and desirable for God to save all who exercise evangelical faith, yet it did not render it obligatory on Him, in distributive justice, to save them. Seventhly, the atonement was designed for the welfare of all men; to make the eternal salvation of all men possible; to remove all the obstacles which the honor of the law and of distributive justice presented against the salvation of the non-elect as well as the elect. Eighthly, the atonement does not constitute the reason why some men are regenerated, and others not, but this reason is found only in the sovereign, electing will of God. "Even so Father! For so it seemed good in thy sight." Ninthly, the atonement is useful on men's account, and in order to furnish new motives to holiness, but it is necessary on God's account, and in order to enable him, as a consistent Ruler, to pardon any, even the smallest sin, and therefore to bestow on sinners any, even the smallest favor." "These," Professor Park adds, “and such as these, are the various statements of the principles constituting what has been called for sixty years, the new divinity, so far forth as it regards the propitiation for sin."

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The design of the Essay, the author informs us, is to develop "the Rise of this Edwardean theory of the Atonement." This he does by 'detailing certain principles avowed, and certain statements made, by the four New England divines who seem to have exerted the greatest influence, either personally or by their writings, on Dr. Jonathan Edwards, Dr. John Smalley, and the other early advocates of the Edwardean scheme." Of these principles and statements, some, Professor Park remarks, "were probably designed to favor the view now called Edwardean. Others were not so designed; they suggested that view indirectly or by contrast; they intimated the necessity of a scheme more consistent with itself, and with other principles of these four theologians. It is the prerogative of clear thinkers, when they proclaim an error, to proclaim it in such a way as will suggest the truth to other thinkers equally clear."

Those "four theologians" are President Jonathan Edwards, the elder, Dr. Joseph Bellamy, Dr. Samuel Hopkins, and Dr. Stephen West. Dr. Park's argument from the works of these four writers is very elaborate, especially in the case of President Edwards, and is conducted with great acuteness and analytic power, and with great ingenuity and dialectic skill, and on the whole with decided success. The argument is least successful with President Edwards, though much the most space and ingenuity are devoted to him. It is most successful in the case of Dr. West, who was not a cotemporary, as were Dr. Bellamy and Hopkins, of Edwards, but a successor, indeed his immediate successor in the pastorate of the church in Stockbridge. The argument, in the case of of Bellamy and Hopkins, is more strong and decided, because they denied directly and decidedly, as Edwards did not, the doctrine of limited atonement-that Christ made atonement only for the elect; and also denied, more decidedly than did Edwards, the doctrine of imputation in the old Calvinistic sense. On the whole, we think the Professor does prove that the seeds of this theory of the atonement were sown in the works of President Edwards, germinated more and more in Bellamy, Hopkins and West, and produced mature fruit in Dr. Edwards; though he works so hard on President Edwards as to create the suspicion that he had, and felt that he had, a hard case in him.

Professor Fark calls this theory of the atonement the Edwardean theory. We prefer altogether another name, which he mentions as one of those which it has been called, the Governmental theory. We prefer it because it best describes what it names-the atonement, according to this theory, having a special relation to the divine government; inasmuch as the sacrifice of Christ, which chiefly constitutes it, answers the same purpose in the divine government as the penalty of the law remitted in the case of the believer-i. e., makes an equivalent expression of the feeling of the divine Lawgiver. We prefer it, also, because we dislike to see the name of any man, certainly of any uninspired man, given to a doctrine, or a system of doctrines, found in the word of God. It is time to have done with calling ourselves Edwardeans, or Calvinists, or Arminians, or any other name taken from any human Rabbi.

DISCOURSES ON THE ATONEMENT. -In this connection it may be well to mention that the American Tract Society have just published in a

The Atonement; Being five discourses by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol; Thomas Chalmers, D. D. LL. D.; William Archer Butler, M. A.; Robert Hall, M. A.; John Maclaurin. American Tract Society, 150 Nassau street, New York. 24mo. pp. 196. Price 20 cents. For sale by F. T. Jarman.

little volume, five Discourses on the Atonement, by well known English and Scottish divines; viz, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Thomas Chalmers, D. D., LL. D., William Archer Butler, M. A., Robert Hall, M. A., and John Maclaurin.

LEE'S ESCHATOLOGY.*-Messrs. J. E. Tilton & Co. have recently issued a volume on eschatology, of more than ordinary interest and importance. It is the result of much research and independent thinking, and deserves the consideration of all students of the Scriptures. The author has been embarrassed by the difficulties that attend the received interpretations of the New Testament in respect to the coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the Resurrection; and has sought for years to find those that are better. The conclusions at which he arrives are presented in the following summary:

"If the preceding exegesis be correct, then it is true that 'The Coming of the Son of Man' is not to be confounded with The Coming of the Lord.' The former refers to his coming as a man' to introduce and take upon himself the administration of the kingdom of God'-the Christian Dispensation. When that work was entirely accomplished, he was no longer the Son of Man.' Henceforth he was the Son of God in power.'

"The phrase "The Coming of the Lord,' as used by the Apostles, refers to a period in the history of Christians, and of each Christian in particular, when a CLUSTER OF MOMENTOUS FACTS shall simultaneously occur. The feeble faith and earthly estimates of the Christians of our day fix upon death, considered as the termination of the animal life, and of the present social and earthly relations, as the great fact. The clear-visioned faith and spirituality of the Apostles and inspired writers saw chiefly, and almost only, in this cluster, the Parousia-the fact that then there would come over them such a change in the mode of their being, as to render them like the glorified Jesus, like saints, like angels: so that henceforth Jesus and saints and angels would be to them 'present' in the same sense that men in this life are, when together, present to each other. To them, the death of the body was only as the throwing down of the scaffolding, that the building might appear, and be in fact ready for occupancy.

"We have further come to the conclusion, that the Judgment is contemporaneous with the Coming of the Lord-that the word Judgment, as used in the Scriptures, is nearly equivalent to the modern word government in all its functions: and that judgment was given to the Messiah when the government was placed upon his shoulders. So that he has judged men-given them not only law but award, ever since he was constituted the Son of God in power,' or, in his own words (Mat. xvi, 27) rewarded every man according to his works.'

6

*Eschatology; or, the Scripture Doctrine of the Coming of the Lord; The Judgment, and the Resurrection. By SAMUEL LEE. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. 1859. 12mo. pp. 267.

"And we have found that the Resurrection-the development and commencing exercise of the spiritual body, is one of these facts. The 'change' by which the mortal gives place to immortality, is 'in a moment.'

"And finally, the Anastasis, by which is meant a Future Life, dates in all its completeness from this epoch.

"We have found in the Bible no 'Intermediate State'-that state which is neither probationary, punitive, nor remunerative, and has therefore no place in the moral administration of God.

"We have not found the Bible teaching an 'End of the World.' An end of the present alov (dispensation) it does indeed teach; but no end of the kócμos (world.") pp. 250, 251, 252.

The argument in support of these positions is presented under the following heads: The Coming of the Son of Man; The Co.ning of the Lord; The Judgment; The Resurrection; Prophecy Restored. In treating of these topics, the texts appropriate to each are distinctly considered and thoroughly discussed. We cannot enter into an extended criticism of the interpretations given by the author. This would involve a critical review, instead of notice, of the volume. The distinction made between the coming of the Son of Man, and the coming of the Lord, is new to us; and if it can be sustained, involves important inferences. We are struck with the ingenuity and force of the exposition given of the passages which relate to the destruction of Jerusalem and the winding up of the Jewish dispensation. We are not, however, convinced that the declarations of the writers of the New Testament can in any way be reconciled with the rejection of the received opinions concerning the day of judgment and the resurrection of the body. We trust the volume will receive the attention which it deserves, and that it will open the way for the more thorough discussion of the subjects of which it treats. The earnest student will find the volume very instructive and full of the seeds of thought.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.*-Messrs. Carlton & Porter have done the public a service in issuing an elaborate treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, &c., by Rev. R. W. Landis. This work has been prepared as a reply to the modern theory, promulgated with so much confidence by Dobney, and reiterated so earnestly by Prof. C. F. Hudson, in the work entitled Debt and Grace. This theory is taught with great zeal by its now numerous adherents, and the influence of it may be traced in many congregations and churches. Those who believe

*The Immortality of the Soul, and the final condition of the wicked, carefully considered. By ROBERT W. LANDIS. New York: Carlton & Porter. pp. 568.

12mo.

that the soul is naturally mortal, and that eternal life, in the sense of continued existence, is the gift promised in the gospel to believers in Christ, are now very numerous, and it is time that the attention of ministers was distinctly called to the peculiar features of this new theory and the arguments on which it rests.

Mr. Landis has read much on the subject and has made himself familiar with all the ancient and modern learning that respects the doctrines in dispute. Indeed we think his learning rather embarrasses than assists his argument, for ordinary minds who do not care so much to know what others have taught, as what the scriptures teach. For clergymen, however, the results of his reading are of special value, as they constitute a digest of opinions and references, which will be eminently convenient in preparing those arguments, which in the pulpit and in conversation they will be forced to construct and present against the plausible but superficial heresy that is creeping about so insidiously. We do not agree with all the expositions of the book, but we believe it will be eminently useful.

TREATISE ON THEISM.*-Messrs. J. P. Lippincott & Co. send us a handsome volume by the accomplished and estimable Professor Wharton, on Theism and the modern skeptical Theories. The design of the author is well stated in the Preface.

"My object, in the preparation of the following work, has been to present the theistic argument, and the replies to the prominent modern skeptical theories, in such a shape as the best to impress the American mind of the present day. I have sought to reach this object in three ways:-First, by selecting from the vast material before me such main topics as seem most likely to affect those whom I address; second, by relying almost exclusively on this country as the basis for induction and illustration; and, third, by reducing the argument to such an analysis as will best subserve the purposes of students."

This object is most felicitously executed in the volume. The author has shown fine powers of philosophical exposition in stating so clearly and simply the leading atheistic and skeptical theories of modern times. The dryness incident to the subject-matter is relieved by interesting narratives and well-chosen illustrations. The work will be attractive in the parlor, and useful in the study and the class-room. Students of Philosophy and Theology will find it a very convenient manual, which will aid and abridge their researches.

*Treatise on Theism, and on the Modern Skeptical Theories. By FRANCIS WHARTON, &c., &c., Professor in Kenyon College, Ohio. Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott & Co. 1859. 12mo. pp. 395.