T

in him? This has been so clearly seen by the churches of Christ in general, that it is not only those which are called Baptist Churches, but all the Churches, who refuse to admit to the Lord's Supper, or into church-membership, any whom they consider to be unbaptized. If a man--for instance, one of the Society of Friends-has been a consistent Christian for years, has followed the Lord diligently and zealously, has done good by his pen and by his preaching, and is welcomed by all persons, who rejoice in seeing the work of the Spirit, as a thorough Christian,-if that person should come to recog nize that the sacraments are obligatory, and that he should come to the table of the

Lord, there is no Church that would receive him unbaptized. Neither the Roman Catholic, nor the Anglican, nor the Presbyterian, nor the Independent Churches, would receive such a one, unbaptized. such a one, unbaptized. And, therefore, the fact of his having made a profession of faith in other ways, has not appeared to any of the Churches of Christ as a reason why an unbaptized person should not, at any point in his heavenward course, be baptized, when he comes to recognize his error.

The chapel so long held by Rev. T. Mortimer has been purchased for Mr. Noel's use, and he will soon commence his regular ministry in it as a Baptist preacher.

THE French find themselves unable to prevent the absolutist reaction at Rome. "Pius IX. appears to be more and more influenced by retrograde counsellors. He has named a commission of Government, composed of Cardinals Della, Genga, Vannicelli, and Altieri, to whom the Romans feel profound aversion. All their liberties are suppressed. The Inquisition has resumed its functions. The most moderate and most respectable journals of Florence and of Turin can no longer pass the frontier of the pontifical States. The best citizens are imprisoned or exiled. There is no longer the question of the Statute, nor of any of the institutions which were established by the Pope himself. In one word, it is despotism which reappears the hideous despotism of Gregory XVI.--the most odious tyranny now existing in Europe." The French Government is pledged, through M. de Tocqueville, and indeed by Louis Napoleon himself, in his letter to M. Ney, to procure some degree, at least, of constitutional freedom for the Romans. Whether this pledge was given in good faith, and will ever be redeemed, remains yet to be seen.One of the first victims of the Inquisition was, as our readers have already learned

from the daily papers, Dr. Giacinto Achilli, a Protestant of above five years' standing. "Formerly Vicar of the Master of the Holy Palace, under Gregory XVI., Professor of Theology and Professor of Moral Philosophy at the College of the Minerva; he subsequently became a Protestant, and is well known, both in England and in many other parts of Europe, as one who, from conscientious motives, had quitted the Roman Catholic Church. He exercised the right which the de facto constitution of Rome gave him to take up his residence there, and to labour in the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures, and in the propagation of his principles among those who were disposed to hear him." He is confined in the Castle of St. Angelo, a prison for political offenders: and though, in a letter, dated July 12th, he says, "I have never mixed myself up in political affairs, much less shall I do so now; my mission is too innocent to cause me any fear till the return of the Pope," it is greatly to be feared that the vengeance of the Papal power will wreak itself upon his head, under the pretext that he has committed political offences. Steps have been taken in his behalf, by friendly parties in England and France, but with what results is not yet known.

AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.-The 40th Anniversary of the A. B. C. F. M. was held at Pittsfield, Mass., on Tuesday, Sept. 11, and was very largely attended. The interest of the occasion was greatly increased by the fact that an unusual number of returned missionaries was present, among whom were Messrs. Dwight, Van Lennep, and Bliss, of the Armenian Mission; Mr. Thompson, from the Syrian

Mission; Mr. Poor, from Ceylon, and several others. During the year 12 missionaries, 6 male and 22 female assistant missionaries, making in all forty persons, have been sent to different missions under the care of the Board :-viz., 2 to Madras, 2 to Madura, 6 to Ceylon, 8 to South Africa, 2 to the Sandwich Islands, 3 to Syria, 4 to Salonica, 2 to the Armenians in Broosa, 3 to the Nestorians of Persia, 4 to the Choctaws, 2 to the

Sioux, and 2 to the Ojibwas. The usual editions of the Annual Report and of the Annual Sermon have been printed and distributed. The monthly issue of the Missionary Herald has been 17,800; and that of the Dayspring over 40,000. There have been published also a new edition of Tract No. 5, a revised edition of the Missionary Manual, and a second edition of the Narrative of the Revival of Religion among the Nestorians of Persia. It is proposed to publish the Dayspring in a small pamphlet form, adapted, in its character, to juvenile readers; and to issue a larger sheet, to be called the "JOURNAL OF MISSIONS," designed for the adult portion of the community. This matter is so far matured, that a specimen number of the "Journal of Missions" was distributed at the meeting. The receipts of the Board for the year ending the 31st of July last, were, from all sources, $291,705 27; while the expenditures for the same period were $263,418 47; the receipts being greater than the expenditures by $28,286 80. The debt of the Board on the 1st of August, last year, was $59,890 78; from which if we deduct the excess of receipts above expenditures for the year just ended, we have a remainder of

$31,603 98, which is the amount of the present indebtedness of the Board. Of the $291,705 27, received during the financial year, $44,050 15 were contributed toward the payment of the debt of the previous year, thus reducing it to $15,840 63. It will be observed, however, that the receipts, irrespective of the debt, were $247,655 12, which is $15,763 35 less than the unavoidable expenditures. This deficiency, added to what remains of the debt of the last year, makes the present indebtedness of the Board, as stated above, $31,603 98. The Committee hope that this debt will, by the close of another year, be either entirely liquidated or greatly diminished. The grant of the American Bible Society for the year was $2,500; that from the American Tract Society, $6,300. The want of labourers is severely felt. On this point the Prudential Committee say, "that the Board is suddenly in danger of being arrested, if not turned back, by a want of qualified and ready agents. Thirty-eight missionaries are now needed, and at the most only five can be relied on to supply this pressing want, and no prospect appears of any material relief for years to come."

WE have to record the death of Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, one of the most eminent and distinguished theologians and philosophers of Germany. In our April number (page 339) we noticed the final volume of his Compendious Commentary on the New Testament, and translated a passage from his preface, going to show (what was known from other sources) that a great change had passed over his mind in the course of time,—that though still far from orthodoxy, he was no longer the reckless rationalist of thirty years ago. Born on the 17th of January, 1780, at Ulla, near Weimar, he was in his 70th year when he died at midsummer, 1849. After studying at Jena, he became Professor Extraordinary of Theology there in 1807; was transferred to Heidelberg as Professor of Theology, in 1809; and to Berlin, for the same chair, in 1810. In 1819 he was dismissed, having incurred the anger

of the government by a letter to the mother of Sand. In 1821 he obtained the Professorship of Theology in the University of Basle, and held it up to his death.

We have received from the author a copy of a very remarkable book,-being no less than an anti-Calvinistic "Exposition of the Ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, by JAMES MORISON." (Kilmarnock, 1849: 8vo., pp. 569.) The work has arrived at too late a period for an extended notice, so that we must content ourselves now with briefly indicating its character and dicating its character and scope. We know nothing personally of Mr. Morison, but gather from his Preface that he is a minister in Kilmarnock: though it puzzles us to imagine how, holding such doctrines, he can be connected with either the Established or the Free Church; and we know of no such name in the Wesleyan ranks. But what is far more to the purpose, it is clear that he is an

earnest man, seeking for the truth most faithfully, and sparing no labour or pains in his work. The present volume is almost an encyclopædia of information in regard to the exegesis of the ninth chapter of Romans. In the copious Prolegomena (seventy-five pages) we have critical accounts of nineteen distinct anti-Calvinistic expositions of the chapter, with brief biographical sketches of their authors, forming a very acceptable addition to the literature of the subject. » The body of the commentary (426 pp.) consists of eleven expository Lectures;—a form adapted, says Mr. Morison in his Preface, "for use and usefulness, even to those who are ignorant of the learned languages." But for the sake of more learned readers there is a large body of critical and exegetical notes, in which the language of the apostle is often scrutinized, not merely sentence by sentence, but word by word. Three Appendices follow,-1. Showing that Romans IX, 6-13, is not to be interpreted allegorically:-II. That Romans IX is not to be interpreted throughout upon an allegorical principle:-III. That it is every man's duty to become one of the elect of God. As we have said, the work is laboriously and faithfully executed-but it is marred by prolixity, excessive minuteness, and frequent Scotticisms of style. We cannot, by any means, endorse all of Mr. Morison's interpretations, but yet deem his work a most valuable contribution to theological literature, and shall seek to recur to it again more at length hereafter.

A convenient catalogue for the use of theological students and book collectors is proposed by Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, in Gottingen, entitled "Bibliotheca Theologica, oder geordnete übersicht aller auf dem Gebiet der Evangelischen Theologie erschie nenen Bücher.”

The first issue contains a list of works in Evangelical Theology for 1848, systematically arranged, and furnished with an alphabetical Index. The catalogue can be had on application to Mr. R. Garrigue, New-York.

The Apostles' Creed is an object of special attention just now in this country. A full treatise on the subject from the Roman Catholic side has lately appeared, namely, “De Symboli Apostolici Titulo, Origine et Antiquissimis Ecclesiæ temporibus auctoritate; dissertationem theologicam scripsit, PET. MEYERS. Cath. Relig. Doct. in Gymnas. Trevir. Prof." (Treviris, 1849, 8vo., pp. 210.) It attempts to show that the creed is really, and in form, of apostolic origin, with the exception of the two articles descendit [Christus] ad inferos,

and Communionem Sanctorum; the former of which, it argues, was added in view of the Apollinarian heresy, the latter by Pope Gelasius, or Gregory the Great.

Rev. W. Cooke, whose lectures on Christian Theology were noticed in a recent number of this Journal, has since published a work entitled "Theiotes; or, an Argument on the Existence, Perfections, and Personal Distinctions of the Deity, intended as an Antidote to Atheism, Pantheism, Unitarianism, and Sabellianism.” (London, Partridge & Oakey, 1849.)

Wieseler's excellent work on the Chronology of the Apostolical Age, up to the deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul, is to be translated by Rev. Thomas Gordon.

We are glad to see announced among the recent publications of the Methodist Book Room, London,-"The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M. A., to which are appended Selections from his Correspondence and Poetry, with an Introduction and occasional Notes, by Thomas Jackson, 2 vols. 12mo."

We continue our statements of the contents and tendencies of the principal European theological journals.

The Biblical Review (July, 1849, London, Jackson & Walford, pp. 150, three shillings. sterling) always contains able articles onGerman theology, or translations from German sources. The contents of the July number are,-I. The last Ten Years in German Theology, (mainly translated from the Theologische Studien und Kritiken :)— II. Remarks on Ephesians iv, 12–16 :— III. On the Theology of Pascal's Pensées: -IV. A very interesting sketch of the Person and History of Neander, with a translation of his oration on the three hundredth Anniversary of Luther's birth-day:-V. The Demands of the Age upon Theology :VI. Is the Bible from God:-VII. Select Letters from Schleiermacher to Sack:— VIII. Montgomery's Christian Life:-IX. Miscellanies and correspondence.

The Theologische Studien und Kritiken for July, contains an unusually valuable list of articles. Art.. I. is a review of Julius Müller's Lehre von der Sünde, by De Wette, whose death (mentioned in another page) took place only a few days before the publication of this article. In it he attempts to rescue his own view of the nature of sin (the socalled sensual theory) from the overwhelming blows which Müller had aimed against it.. Art. II. is on the "Testimony of the Fourth Evangelist to his own person,” by K. L. Weit