The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-11-06
WASHINGTON, d. G.
Gbs $sbish.

g. 2NOs' i%"i0
The Compilation called "SEED-GRAIN FOR
r,,rcgr AND DISCUSSION" by Mrs. LOWELL, Is
...lscton of passages, arranged under partic-
= heads. from a great number of authors.
n. title. however, would lead US to expect
.,nething better than we find 1t. NO oouot
,t.-a IS much beautiful in style and expressive
:, vsred emotions in these pages. The vol
nm. Is graced, too, by some names whom we
ord as deserving all praise for their produc-
-. and the influence they have exerted, and
-. hope will ever exert, on the minds OF men,
., E, them for their duties in life, and prepare
.l.,, for the hour of death. Strange, however,
Ire is a positive avoidance of anything like
E.,i,e,iye Christianity in these pages. An
..iispt and careful effort has been exercised,
:, taking extracts from Jeremy Taylor, John
Have Cecil, Fenelon, and men of that stamp,
>. shut them out from uttering single word
g. Christ or the Gospel of the Son of God.
H,r woman could have gone through such
,,,ks as she must have done, to Gull out here
.,5tbere passages that might suit her purpose,
and M, now and then have felt the force and
t-.p,y of the Evangelical sentiments breathed
M, from their hearts, and full of suggestive
,5ught-real Seed Grsin-and how she could
t,re taken rather as it were the dry husks, and
mingled them up with passages from Panthe-
INC writer's, and persons who care nothing for
Revelation, and feel that she was doing right,
I, mystery to us. That, too, person search
.lC.oI Cra,n Co. Tbouubt opd niSnus-
son" should have passed by old Luther, and
chosen Fichte-ignored Robert Hall, John Eos
Ter. Dr. Chalmers, and Jonathan Edwards, out
o. whose writings, as well as many others we
could name, might be taken apothegms, real
gsms from the mine of thought, far beyond any
lsre giyen-is not less strange. This is not
such training by elements of thought and res-
s,niny as in our view is the happiest that could
BE- adopted. We have never seen Mrs. Low
els Theory of Teaching" but if these volumes
ss sn exemplifcation of the same, we should
not desire to see it exercised on any for whom
We felt a responsibility. Beauty or power of
language; smooth words, that flow on trippingly,
scarcely masking often the in6del feeling that
dictates their utterance; unmeaning phrases,
too Of diluted sentimentslity, or forcble express
SONS of mere intellectual power-can never
supply the life that is wanting the true Pro-
ueheau fire from Heaven. Has the authoress
lever heard of such a being as Jesus Christ
His name is not even to be found more than
three or four times in these extracts, and then
80 casually, one could hardly guess who he is.
Has sue never learned that the mightiest intel
lects earth has ever known have sowed no
Seed Grain for Thought" so rich in its prod
ucts as that which they have borne from the
garner OF God in his rereaLed truth? Has she
usyer imagined the possibility that, by refer
mug the soul to that communion with its God
aud Saviour to which there it is invited, she
would furnish higher elements of holy living,
than By turning away from such passages of
cOnmendation in the authors she has adopt
ed, and doing them the monstrous injustice of
nA4iag them appear in her extracts as if they
IS much ignored it all as herself? Is it hon.
81, too 50 to deal with writer's who, if living,
would protest against being thus presented?
Our readers will see that we regard these vol
unes as grandly defective. They may help to
make Intellectual reasoners, perhaps, but they
can do little or nothing to make earnest and
effective Christians. OF all the compilations
! give true tone to the mind and heart, by
ray OF choice thoughts and subjects of refec-
ION, this appears to us among the poorest. By
sading variety of authors, and even many
those here used, any one might chance to
nov that there is such book as the Bible
Gaining TO be the Word of God that Jesus
2sie out lessons of wisdom as never man spake;
laa IN his discourses and the writings of his
Apostles is the Seed of the Word of Life and
tai he who ignores such means. both of intel
lectaal and moral improvement, can never
make up his loss by turning TO the PHILOSOPHERS
o. men who neither know nor recognise God,
and care not for his claims to their obedience,
oFior hearkening to his teachings from Heaven.
IaeWhole tendency of this book is to inculcate
Ahi that we can build up to ourselves, by our
0Sn moral discipline simply, without it, right
e'asness good enough for the future world.
- Peasant and Grave History Of the Adventures of
'-S' Goct-luientoned Gentleman, the renowned Bar
-'ouew Pericree. By Member of the Philadelphia
S'f fhIladelphia: Whit & Yost. 1856
lLls volume aims to describe the Knight Err
F4alry u StaueTy. Reused by seeing in print
lie Free Soil speeches of Joseph Aspinwall
AID furnevai ekingham-mounting his Ro-
sHanie and taking bis housekeeper, Betty Doc
+ne' as his squire-this new Don Quixote
sA's forth TO do battle for the peculiar institu-
'0n and especially to enforce on all the sacred
''i'ahon, derived from the curse On Ham and
-s Mosaic Laws, to practice its share in its
o7''ngs At the same time, he recognises
e act that if this doctrine is true, no less is it
~ 'lH those who act upon it are equally bound
y iA'!en upon themselves the peculiar sign of
- covenant, and, like the ancient Hebrews,
'0Hs c'rcumciSed. One part of his mission,
-'n Is to proclaim and enforce this test Of
--sny On the abettors of Slavery. The yelled
s 'lle Is keen. The inconsistency of the Bible
-ucers OF the right of Slavery is happily
' And their follies exposed. There are some
'usa IN the book we could wish had been left
az though, with his models in view, it is easy
see now he was led on to insert them. Some
language is not so decent as it might be,
a., Tue main idea, that a curse rests on the
:, '@hs because descendants of Ham, and,
IreCre' not to help carry it out is disobedience
100 is aptly brought forward, and the alb
MY OF the Bible-advocates of Slavery is put
= s'eFing light, SO that it might seem as if
modern ehivalry would see their own faces,
" In mirror. Could we hope that few
p'es Sould perhaps end their vav into that