easy, where the truly serious in proportion it may be to the very amount of their knowledge itself are brought into the greatest straits. No one can question the learning of Thiersch; it is of the very highest order. And just as little room is there to question his piety and profound practical sincerity. He wrestles with the problem of his book evidently, not merely as a theoretic scholar, and much less as the organ merely of a theological party, but as one who feels that issues of life and death are suspended for himself and for the world on its proper solution. No one can follow him, without feeling that the subject is full of embarrassment, as well as big with importance, and that it is regarded throughout by the lecturer himself, whatever it may be for others, with intense interest and concern. When we hear of such a man seeking refuge from the difficulties of the church question, by falling in with the belief that nothing less than a new apostolate, sent forth with fresh commission directly from Christ himself, can restore Christianity to its proper form, and that such new apostolate has in fact appeared of late among the Irvingites-we may be well assured that there is here truly a nodus vindice dignus, that the difficulties in consideration are neither few nor of light account, and that to meet them properly is a task which calls for more than common earnestness in any part of the world. It is hardly necessary for us to add, that we have no sort of faith in the solution of the knot in this way. No scheme can command our regard, which nullifies virtually the doctrine of the indestructible life of the church, as well as the Divine promise on which that doctrine rests, by assuming a full failure and frustration of all the sense the church had in the beginning. We have no patience on this ground with that bald Puritanism, which fairly buries the church for a thousand years and more, in order to bring it to a more striking resurrection in the sixteenth century. As little can we be satisfied, on the same ground, with the visions of Emanuel Swedenborg; they proceed throughout on the assumption that the church as it started with the Apostles has run itself out, both as Catholicism and Protestantism, and that the world is to be helped now only by a new revelation appointed to take its place. Irvingism involves more or less distinctly, as it seems to us, the same dismal thought; and if this be so, it needs no other condemnation. If it come to a necessary choice between such a view and Romanism, the advantage lies decidedly we think on the side of this last. It is easier to believe that the original powers of the church still flow in this communion, though hidden for the most part from our common Protestant sight, than it is to suppose that they have perished entirely, and now need a " Lazarus come forth," or a second edition of the word "On this rock," to come once more into full play for the salvation of a dying world. But, as we have seen, we are not thrown at once on any such desperate election. We may cast ourselves upon the theory of historical development, so as to make Protestantism itself, with all its painfully acknowledged miseries, the main though by no means exclusive stream, by which the general tide of the original Christian life is rolling itself forward, not without fearful breaks and cataracts and many tortuous circuits, to the open sea at last of that grand and glorious ideal of true Catholic Unity, which has been in the mind of all saints from the beginning. It is but fair to add in the case of Thiersch, for whom we entertain a more than common affection and respect, that he is by no means unhistorical in his own mind, but altogether the reverse; and that so far as the objection here noticed has any weight, it is to be regarded as holding by implication only against the system, in whose plausible meshes he has allowed himself to be recently caught. His theory agrees in many respects with the scheme of historical development; only he counts it necessary to include in this the idea of such a failure of the first life of the church, as makes it necessary now that it should be called forth again from the grave as it were of its own past history by a second supernatural gift of the same sort. J. W. N. MAYER'S CHURCH HISTORY.' THE title of this work is not to be judged exactly from the contents of the volume here offered to the public. It belongs rather to the whole plan, of which in the mind of the excellent author the present volume was intended to be only the threshold or vestibule. The history of the Reformed Church of Germany, in the strict sense, belongs to a later period, which it would have been necessary to take up in a separate volume, had the author been spared to execute his full task. As it is, the work before us is a History of the Swiss Reformation, and this only in part; for it does not come down even as far as to the death of Zuingli, but stops short with the posi 1 History of the German Reformed Church. By Rev. LEWIS MAYER, D. D. Late Professor of the Theological Seminary of the German Reformed Church in the United States. To which is prefixed a Memoir of his Life, by Rev. ELIAS HEINER, A. M. Minister of the First Reformed Congregation in Baltimore. Volume I. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co. Pp. 461, 8 vo. tion into which things were brought at the close of the year 1525. On this first chapter of Helvetic Protestantism, however, it contains much that is not to be found in ordinary church histories, at once both interesting and instructive. The book is brought out in very handsome style. Mr. Heiner's Memoir of Dr. Mayer appeared in the last number of our Review; and we cannot do better now perhaps, in bringing the History itself before our readers, than to present in full the brief Prefuce with which it is introduced from the same hand. PREFACE TO DR. MAYER'S HISTORY. One of the greatest events which ever occurred among mankind, was the Reformation at the commencement of the sixteenth century. For a long time, the grossest abuses, both in Church and State, had everywhere prevailed. The pope had audaciously assumed the supremacy belonging to Deity himself, in spiritual matters; and now he assumed the supremacy in worldly matters also, giving the kingdoms of the earth, far and near, to whom he pleased. This completed in his person the character of" Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself as God." To such lengths in blasphemy and wickedness did he proceed, that he sold indulgences to sin. Making use of the power which his predecessors had usurped over all Christian churches, he sent abroad, into all kingdoms, his letters and bulls, with ample promises of the full pardon of sin and eternal salvation to such as would purchase the same with money. The cup of his iniquity was now full. God raised up ULRICK ZWINGLE and MARTIN LUTHER, to check the Man of Sin in his impious course, and to beat back the fearful tides of corruption which were now sweeping over the earth and deluging the church. Enlightened by the word and Spirit of God, they began to cleanse the church from the pollutions and abuses of popery, and to spread abroad among the people the blessed knowledge of the word of God. As the truth spread far and wide, tens of thousands were subdued by its power, and whole churches, and whole communities, and, at length, whole nations, awoke from their long spiritual sleep, and were led to rejoice in the great salvation of the Scriptures. The event of the Reformation produced a new and glorious era in the church and in the world, and its beneficial results will be felt by mankind, to the latest age. Whoever, therefore, largely contributes to the better understanding of its origin and progress, may be regarded as a benefactor of his race. The volume which is herewith offered to the public is a complete and an ably written history of the Reformation in Switzerland, the birthplace of the church, as reformed by Zwingle and his able coadjutors. It is generally known that the reverend author was engaged in writing the history of the German Reformed Church, and that the first volume, embracing the origin and progress of this church,—and, incidentally, of the Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, and Presbyterian churches also,-was ready for the press. For some years, this important work has been anxiously expected. Except D'AUBIGNE and EBRARD, no church historian, it is believed, has done justice to the noble Swiss reformers, and to the people whom they converted, under God, from the abominations of popery, and organized into comparatively pure Christian churches. Neither their character nor work seems to have been properly understood. The want of a good history of the German Reformed Church, in the English language, has long been felt; and it is, therefore, gratifying to know that the work before us is supposed to answer well the demand in question. Among other things of interest and importance, it does ample justice to ZWINGLE, BULLINGER, ECOLAMPADIUS, BUCER, and, indeed, to all the great and distinguished men who originated, and carried on with so much ability and success, the glorious reformation in Switzerland. At the same time, it does full justice to LUTHER, MELANCTHON, CALVIN, and others, in its notices of the reformation in Germany, France, and other countries. All denominations of Christians, but especially the churches of the Reformation, will read this work, it is believed, with pleasure and profit. The high origin and deeply interesting history of the German Reformed Church are here brought fully and clearly to the view and consciousness of the reader. The second volume of the work, designed to embrace the history of the German Reformed Church in the United States, is not fully written out, and will have to be completed by another hand. Much time and great labor have been expended on it, and the history making thus far perhaps three hundred pages, comes down to about the year 1770. A great portion of the material for the remainder is collected, and partly arranged. The Synod of the German Reformed Church, at its late meeting in Martinsburg, Va., recommended the completion of this volume, and also the publication of the one now offered to the public. The author was not permitted, in the order of Providence, to witness the publication of the work, upon which the last years of his useful life were expended, but his own memory is embalmed in the annals of the German Reformed Church. Whilst he rests from his labors, the influence of his work will be perpetuated by this valuable contribution to the history of the church which he loved and served during a long life devoted with patient self-denial to its best interests, and to which, in death, he has bequeathed a legacy that will be appreciated by all candid Christians. Baltimore, Md. E. H. THE MERCERSBURG REVIEW. SEPTEMBER, 1851. VOL. III.--NO. V. BAILEY'S FESTUS. FESTUS: A Poem, by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY. Barrister at THE last great poem of the age! We have little fear that the time will ever come when Smelfungus Redivivus need throw down his pen in despair, declaring that critics must cease to criticise because authors had ceased to write. The present century properly claims the maternity of Reviews, and statistics of the present time would show that it has been increasingly. prolific; and yet, if Reviews have any mission to discharge at all, they are scarcely sufficient for the labor ready prepared to their hands. Notwithstanding the practical business character of the present age, it is emphatically an age of authorship; and, while the great facilities and inducements which it affords may elicit much that is worthless and trashy, we cannot help thinking that it gives birth to more golden thought than any preceding one, and that in its womb there are mighty travailings of spirit, the offspring of which a future age will recognise and cherish. There are, doubtless, great eras in the world's history and in national history, when, in correspondence with the outward phase of the age, VOL. III.NO. V. 26 |