The notes, which are copious, seem to have been prepared with great care; and we should judge would be of real service to the learner; giving him assistance wherever it is needed, and allowing him to depend upon himself where it is not. The value of the work is much increased by the biographical and critical sketches which precede these annotations. A lexicon, in which we are glad to find the derivation and composition of words attended to, as well as some aid in the matter of quantity, concludes the whole. And we know of nothing, except a few slight misprints, which of course will disappear in a new edition, to detract from the merits we have recognised in it.

There is one objection, however, that will probably be brought against the work under review; which is, that the earlier portions are so difficult, as to require considerable proficiency in those who are to study them. This is undoubtedly true. But in the "First Lessons" of Mr. Sophocles, we have just the book which is wanted, to prepare one for its study. And further, it is the praiseworthy purpose of all our Colleges, we believe, certainly it is at Cambridge a fixed determination, to raise the standard of scholarship requisite for admission; and an acquaintance with the new text-book will argue about twice as great an amount of knowledge of Greek, to say nothing here of its quality, as would the study of the compilation it supersedes.

The Memory and Example of the Just. A Sermon, preached on All Saints' Day, to the First Church, by its Minister, N. L. FROTHINGHAM. Boston. 1840.

THIS Discourse, from a minister of the Congregational Church, delivered on All Saints' Day, is among the pleasing signs of the times. It is one among many proofs, that the undiscriminating hostility of the Puritan towards the persecuting Mother is continuing to abate; and that he is every day more willing to look backward, and see if, perchance, together with the superstitions and errors of the Church from which he seceded, and against whose wrongs he protested, he did not reject usages and observances, which a calmer judgment pronounces to be in themselves fit and beautiful, and of excellent service to the cause of religion. It shows, too, that if there are many among us, who not only look with contempt upon the achievements of former ages, but are prompt with a feverish love of change, and a dangerous haste to advance, to abandon, as time-worn and dead, the most cherished institutions of the present day, there are others, who, with a wiser philosophy, are ready to accept whatever promises to be of use to men's virtues, though it be drawn from the very VOL. XXIX. -3D S. VOL. XI. NO. III. 49

bosom of the dark ages. For ourselves, we doubt not that some truths and some customs have been left behind, as the world has moved on, a return to which would as truly give evidence of progress, as adopting on the ground of experiment any novelty whatsoever. Not that among such restorations of good things dropped by the way and forgotten, we should care to see an All Saints' Day brought again into honor, or, still more, days consecrated to particular saints. They are as well left in their present neglect. The righteous dead, the benefactors of their race, are always, without being bidden, freshly remembered by the generations that come after and enter into their labors. There is little need for this, of a set service and a consecrated day. The tendency has ever been to do them too much honor. Ingratitude and neglect are not the besetting sins of the human heart. Besides this, a day set apart to the special commemoration of holy men, places them too nearly on a level with Beings of a higher nature or office, to whom alone are due religious veneration and praise. To such commemoration, however, of the saints of old, as we find in the discourse of Dr. Frothingham, delivered in the course of the customary services of the Sabbath, we can see no objections, but much to recommend it.

But if we have no desire to see All Saints' Day introduced into the calendar of anniversaries, to be religiously observed on a set day, there are other days, we will here say, we could heartily wish were restored to the observance they once received from the whole Christian world, and, still indeed, from all but a very inconsiderable portion of it. We allude to Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, days which commemorate those great and affecting events in the Christian history, the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. The English Dissenter, the Presbyterian, the New England Puritan, have long agreed in their neglect of these days, full of interest as they are in themselves, and, rightly observed, helpful as they would be, we are persuaded, in the great cause of human improvement. But surely, the time has come, when, if the change should in itself seem desirable, these Churches might, without any apprehension of a new inroad of superstition, turn back and reinstate these venerable anniversaries in all their former honors. We never remember to have conversed with a Christian of our own denomination on the subject, who did not express the wish that Christmas, at least, might be kept with the customary religious services, and the traditionary signs of grateful joy. Yet, but few of our churches are open; and with the mass of our population, the day comes and goes almost without its presence being known or recognised. We trust and believe, that in not many years not only Christmas, but the other

days we have named, will be gladly entered among the number of our truest Sabbaths, and receive the observance that is due from all who inherit the rich blessings, with which their memory is associated.

Mr. Frothingham, in introducing the thoughts appropriate to the day of All Saints, which are of the past and in the past, is naturally led to speak of those, to whom we have already alluded, and of their movements, who hold in but small reverence the institutions or opinions of the present age, much less those of the ages that are gone, and whose doctrine, in the last analysis, seems to be, that each man's conscience, inward inspiration, or light, is the only authority, by which he is to be bound. These are his words;

"Who need be ashamed to be called an imitator of those who fear God and serve their generation, or a follower in the way that leads to life everlasting? And yet these honest old words, we can hardly deny it, have fallen into some dislike. It is common to listen to a very different kind of instruction, that bids us have little or nothing to do with anything that has gone before us, and exhorts every person to be, in and of himself, the most original person that was ever thought of. It professes to be so fresh from the perpetual fountain of truth, as to be wholly independent of those streams of time, that have flowed for the comfort of all the nations. It would have everything come directly from heaven, or from the soul's own being; and often, as is very natural, it makes but an indistinct difference between the two. It is so jealous of authority, that former beliefs are rendered questionable, by the very circumstance of their having been extended so widely and held so dear. It is so averse from imitation, that it cannot well hear of Christ himself as a model for tempted and suffering man. It is so unwilling to follow, that it mistrusts a foreign guidance, even to inherit the promises.' I would not be unjust in my constructions of another's language. I would not, especially, be injurious and assuming towards another's persuasion. But there seems to me a dangerous looseness of thought prevailing among us upon these subjects, and an anarchy of innovation, that call for the close attention and the plain word of those, who acknowledge the value of anything that ancient reverence has established, or who have intertwined their feelings at all with its hallowed associations.

"There is abroad a wild and dislocated mode of speculation, openly seeking to detach itself as much as possible from all former methods; disregarding the institutions that are left standing yet, and the persons that have departed. It is very apt to usurp the name of movement and progress, as if there were no real advancement, or wish for it, but among its own partisans ; as if all the rest of the world were bent on standing still; as if the proper sign of life were convulsion, and whatever is not a spasm, were a sleep."— pp. 9, 10.

In a note, appended to another passage of the Discourse, in which he speaks of the same philosophers, Mr. Frothingham says, a manifesto, calling upon the friends of universal re

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form,' to meet and discuss the claims of the Sabbath, the ministry, and the Church, to the respect of the community, has been lately drawn up with a singular confusion of ideas, and published in the newspapers. The slight allusion here made to it is all that the discourse had room for, and may be thought more notice than it deserves." Since this notice was taken of the projected meeting, the "convention," as the meeting was termed, has sat, and adjourned; but to this time no report has appeared of its proceedings. We have little curiosity to see any such report, and should hope that those gentlemen who called the convention would rest satisfied with the discredit they have already brought upon themselves, the religion they profess, and the community in which they live, nor seek to increase it by sending forth to the world an account of discussions, which can have no other effect than to cause a still further alienation in men's minds from the best

supports and defences of human virtue. We suppose there is no injustice in saying this, for the very fact of calling such a convention is a sufficient indication of enmity toward the institutions which were to be the subjects of discussion. The language used in the manifesto admits but of the same interpretation. Its spirit is hostile. And we certainly think it discreditable, that a few discontented spirits should publicly summon together the people to discuss the claims of institutions to a common respect, about which there was no more doubt that they were useful, at least, if not of divine warrant and origin, than there was that the sun was in the heavens at noon-day. Why not call a convention to see whether our courts of justice are an institution deserving of public honor, or whether they ought not to be abolished? for these are not perfect institutions, nor do they answer all their ends; whether our public schools and colleges are worthy of support, or whether they ought not rather, because of their manifest imperfections, to be also abolished? Whether the institution of marriage be not an antiquated prejudice, and a slavish bond, and ought not to be abolished? Were it any the less a public insult to call the community together to discuss the validity of institu tions like these, than those they did actually hold up to reproach, the Sabbath, the ministry, and the Church? And can any

one doubt, whether the laymen, the ministers, and the women, who have, with designs of so questionable a character, discussed these minor institutions and subordinate topics, will, these being passed upon, next call together the same community to discuss the claims of Christianity itself, as a Divine revelation, and of that rock, on which society next reposes, marriage? If so, they have more faith in the self-restraining power of universal reformers, by profession, than ourselves.

Not that we are the enemies of freedom of speech, but that we love modesty. Not that we are the foes of progress, but that we are the friends of moderation. Not that we would oppose improvement, but that we have no respect for modern Jacobinism. Everything certainly is open to discussion. We would shut no man's mouth. Not only the Sabbath may be disputed, but all law, human and divine. And if any choose to summon conventions for the purpose of such debate, they have a right to do so, and we would defend them in the right. But is such discussion, we too claim the like freedom of speech, - in such bodies wise, or decent, or profitable? Are popular assemblies a fit tribunal, before which to treat questions, that demand for their consideration the calm and patient research of the student? What should be our judgment of a young man or woman, who, because, upon a few hours' or days' inquiry, he or she harbors a doubt of the divine warrant, or expediency of institutions, with whose foundations successive ages have professed themselves satisfied, comes forward, and on the ground not of any new knowledge or argument, but of his or her intuitions, calls them in question, or boldly denies their validity, and summons society together to do the same? We refuse them not the privilege of doubting,we refuse them not the privilege of making speeches, we deny them not the right of conventions, but we ask whether there be such a virtue as modesty? whether rashness be a vice?

We are led to doubt, whether reform, progress, still more, universal reform, be a legitimate object for any man or body of men to propose to themselves, if by reform and progress be meant going forward and leaving all that is old, as well as all existing institutions behind, as time-worn and dead, or looking upon them with distrust. By dwelling upon this idea of progress is there not great danger of nursing a spirit of discontent with whatever is, simply because it is - cherishing a morbid desire of change. But whether this be just or not, truth, on the other hand, is a perfectly legitimate object for both individuals and associations to set before them; for then the mind has bound itself within no narrow limits, as in the former case; it has not with a vanity so extreme as to savor of insanity, pronounced the best institutions of the present and the past to be defective or injurious. It leaves itself free to seek for that which is better in every direction, not only in the future, but in the past also. And we apprehend, that progress is sometimes to be made with quite as much certainty by going backwards as forwards. It often happens, we imagine, that in the hurry to advance, valuable truths have been dropped by the way, noble institutions abandoned, which it would be a higher mark of wisdom to go humbly back acknowledging