The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-07-17

plain, common-sense way, too, OF using their
arguments, characteristic of the Scottish down
right mind, differing in this respect from the
may and mystic speculations of many of the
German writers, who so wrap up the plainest
truths with the technicalities of transcendentsl
philosophy, that, after the cover is removed, the
shell broken, and we get to the inside, while
we lind only some very oommonly-received idea,
or just such as may have often passed through
our minds, we wonder an author could not at
once have told us what he meant Yet there
is no want of profound thought, logicalsequence,
or solid demonstration, in these writer's of Scot
land. They are skilled in analysis, adopts in
reasoning, but they choose to follow out their
trains of induction in their own way, even if it
be somewhat homelier one, because it better
meets the wants of those minds with which
they have to deal. These traits are most evi,
dent in the volume before us. The numerous
references show that it is learned work. Facts
strewed everywhere through the realms of ma
ture and the visible creation are appealed to.
Physical science pours out its treasures for
their use. Inanimate and animate nature fur
nish them with the illustrations they require.
1t is impossible for US to do more than glance
at the plan of the work in its most marked out
lines, and which is carried out in numerous de-
tails with skill and excellent effect. Two great
principles or methods of procedure are sup
posed to be kept in view in the constitution OF
the material universe-one, the principle of
order; the other, that of special adaptation.
The first book is devoted to these. Order ia
considered in respect to number, time, color,
and form. Under each of these branches are
many interesting remarks. The need of special
adjustments to the benefcsnt operation of the
forces of nature; that these adjustments are de-
signed, and not casual; their obviousness and
completeness are the points selected as the di-
visions in the subject of the principle of special
adaptation. In the second book, entitled, eco
ordinated facts, giving indications of common
order and adaptation throughout the various
kingdoms of nature" there is an extended ref
with the forms and colors of plants. An ex-
animation is made in this regard, as to the YER
tebrate skeleton, and especially the teeth also,
to the other classes of animals, as the mOlluscd,
articulata, and radiota; to the nervous, vascu-
lar, and muscular systems; the community of
plan, with special notifications in the develop
ment of organized beings; geology; inorganic
objects on the earths surface and the heavens.
A rich variety of illustrations, furnished by
these different departments of the kingdoms of
&c oil
clear by drawn figures, are here used with much
effect. The third book, which is on the inter
probation of the facts, is divided into three
chapters, embracing several sections. Here
are considered the argument from combined
order and adaptation; the correspondence be-
tween the laws of the material world and the
faculties of the human mind typical forms OF
nature and revelation, embracing the types OF
the Old Testament, typical numbers, and the
typical system of the New Testament. An ar-
pendix gives selected list of plants, iilustrs'
ting associations of color, and the relations 81
form and color. The work has short index
which we should be glad to have found more
extended and particular, as such book seems
to require, and which would much enhance its
value We can only add, after this full synop
sis, that our readers who will carefully examine
it for themselves will not feel that their time
or attention has been wasted in its perusai.
Yet we warn them, too, it is a book that re
quires something more than hasty glance or
casual look, to avail themselves of its various
and profitable instruction. !
"THE TINE OF THE End" prophetic period, develop
ing az predicted an increase of knowledge respecting
the prophecies anu periods that oEetel the end Illus
rssd by the history of prophetic interpretation the
pecation of the Church. and the various computations
of the times of Daniel and John by whc
generally them between 1890 and 1890 Also
sour Present Position in the Prophetic Calendar i;h
his rApocalypuc Seven. sealed Scrplln by ihe Rev. =
b. Elliott, A. NJ. Lectures on The Nature and Nearness
of the Advent by the Rev. John Cumming, d. D. Let.
lures on the New Heavens and New Earth, by DR.
Chalmers, Dr. Hitchcock, and John Wesley; and the
testimony of more than one hundred witnesses agsns
the modern whitbyan theory of a millennium before the
advent BY "A CongregatoHalisL Boston: John P
Jewe,t & Co, 1856
We have given this long title, as by it we
think our readers will get as correct an idea Of
the book as any notice we could write. Tie
greater portion of the volume is extracts from
other authors, and its main value, of course, is
in its being com pend, in moderate size, Of
the opinions of numerous writer's on the prophe
cies relating 70 the millennium, the coming Of
Christ, and the end of the world. Who LAYS
claim to the labor of compilation, we are not
informed. He might have done worse in his
selections and yet, in noting various omissions
of other commentators on the subject, we think,
too, he could have done still better. 1t is q
singular collection of authorities, where few
verses or so of hymn figure as an expression
of views by one man, alongside of the grave
arguments and deductions of learned com
mentator or divine, treating on the subject ex.
pressly; an extract of six or eight lines from
from Calvin, a sermon from Chalmers is here
a page or two from another writer, little por.
ton of periodical, testimonies of all sorts and
sects, made in all methods and ways, have a
place. We must not forget to notice, too, the
Chart, or Sevsn-sealed Scroll, with its red and
yellow colors, and the various periods marked
out so definitely, which is pre6xed to the work
by which she that readeth may run"
CExrREvILLE, WAYNE Co., IND,
June 80, 1885,.
To the Editor of the National Era:
am one of the comparatively few Free Soil
men, vet not inconsiderable in numbers, of this
State, who, since the Know Nothing irruption
of 1884, and the consequent decentralization
and final dissolution of the Free Democratic
party of l848 and 1852, up to quite rece2t