Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-01-04

State which boasts OF her love oil State rights
and adherence Of Federal Capitalization.
LITERARY NOTICES
The CONFLICT OF AGRs. BY Edward Beecher, D.
D. Third edition. Boston Phillips, Samson. 4
Co. For sale by Gray 4 Ballantyne, 7th street
Washington D. c. volume, PIP. $50.
This work has caused great commotion
among the Doctors Of Theology in or land.
DR.. Beecher has vensured to solve the enigma
of all ages in the grand debate, which Milten
has told us, first began in the regions Of the
damned, where he says, Book II, Paradise
LOST
90thcrs sat apart, on hin retired,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
0fProvidencc, Foreknowledge viii, and Fate,
Fixed Fate, Free VIII, Foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end in wandering mazes lost
The author deems it in his power to shed
light upon the great debate of "The Moral Re-
lations Of God and Man" It is grand enter
prise, and the author Of this volume has enter.
ed upon it in the maturity and strength Of
manhood, after years Of accumulated intellect
ual wealth, evidence of all which peryades this
work. We shall not presume TO decide the
question whether the solution is successful or
n0 We leave IL to the conflict Of minds whose
business it Is, and whose duty it is, to contend
olrnestly for the faith delivered to the Church
olGod in the revelations Of God--in His Word
ard in His Works. There is but one God; and
hb revelations however made--in Providence,
L 81 - ovat,ox~
atain to the entirety Of truth, agree Doctor
Blecher believes he has attained to desired
eud, and We hope to see his book read, and his
Arguments fairly met. He does rot raise
min Of straw, to show the vigor Of his arm in
knocking it over Witness the opening of
Chapter V, where be says
THE first point Of attack has ever been, as
wei have already stated, the doctrine of the ex-
istepce, in new-created being, of a sinful ma
turs for which he is liable to just punish
med, and that anterior to any knowledge, will
or choice, Of his own. How, is it asked can it
be honorable or right for God SO to deal with
any new created being! To this question no
one has ever been able to give any more salts.
factory reply than those we have considered
Doctor Woods takes distinctly the
ground Of mere faith and mystery; that is he
comss distinctly to the conclusion that it can
not hs INDICATED on any principles Of honor
and right known to the human mind" We
remember, from infancy, how often we puzzled
our tiny brains with the famous distich--
+" In Adams fall
We sinned ALL"
And in this, wo doubt not, tho readers of this
notice nave all sympathized. Certainly, those
who were indoctrinated into tho depths Of mys-
teries opened to the children Of New England
in the once famous aNew England Primer
DR.. Beecher thinks no has hit the egg upon
the end in rcviving the old Grecian notion Of
prc-existcnt state Of the soul. He says, page
4s9, chapter xv--
81 allege, then, I. That system based ON
pre- existence is the only one which admits and
requires such principles MS explain what the
Church Of God H. and develops system cen.
tcring in God and the Church, according TO
tho Scriptures.
"2 1t is the only system which demands or
even allows Of a natural and consistent devel.
| opment OF that view OF God which is peculiar
to the Scriptures sc.
or these postolates there arc eleven We
have quoted only Of the two first.
We hope the answers 10 this new theory
may he as Christian in their temper, and by
men as thoroughly fitted for the task, as the
author Of the Conflict of Ages lf so, good,
and only good, will result from this new con
hict Of mind with mind We confess to our
apprchensions, the foundation-stone Of stones
Of stumbling is not yet reached; and this is the
origin Of sin. Sir Christopher Wren, when asked
how the drop-ceing Of Westminster Hall was
constructed, and If he could not build aroof like
IL, replied Tell me how one Of those drops il
maintained in its place, and will erect On.
other roof like this The existence Of sin under
the government Of God, infinite in power and
goodness, is the last difficulty to be met and il
matters not TO most minds whether the stones
u stumbling reach high as On Egyptian pyra.
mid, or o few courses Of stone above the desert
| waste. The chain Of causes reaches from the