The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-23
VIEW or VIEW BooKs.

REV VIEW or NEW BOOKS.
IHE HISTORY AND PHmosoPHY OF MARRIAGE;
OR, PoLYGAMY AND MoNoGAMY COMPARED,
by ga Christian Philanthropist.' Pub
hshed by James Campbell, Boston Phia-
delphia agents, Olaxton, Remsen q Haffel-
finger.
This little work is worthy of notice as the
most able and candid argument in favor of
polygamy that has appeared, certainly in
modern times; and, so far as we are aware, it
stands alone as an argument IN favor of q
plurality of wives from a Christian stand
point. The writer tells us that he is a New
Englander, educated in the straightest sect
of the Puritans, and taught to esteem mono
gamy as the cornerstone of our modern
social system and as one of the
surest conservators of Christianity. He
was led to change his views by travel
in various countries and intercourse with va
rious people. He found that polygamy was
nowhere forbidden in either the Old or the New
Testament, but that, on the contrary, there
were many passages that seemed to rounte-
nance it, and he also found that missionaries
laboring among the heather were accustomed
to take broader view of the subject than is
common in civilized countries and to permit
q plurality of wives among their converts
when it appeared expedient for them to do
so. He therefore was induced to study
the matter more closely than is common, and
in this work he gives the result of his investi-
cations, and comes to the conclusion that
polygamy is not only proper, but that it would
obviate many of the evils that modern society
is afflicted with. The subject is treated with
candor and evident integrity that entitle
the author to a respectful consideration, and
it is well that intelligent people should hear
all that is to be said on both sides Of this
great subject.
We do not find the arguments advanced in
favor of polygamy at all conclusive, and the
best that can be said for it is that it is nei-
ther expedient nor polite in any other than
the most primitive stages of society. Poly
gamy becomes abhorrent when women are
raised in the social sphere to their proper po-
sition; and it can only exist where the sex is
ignorant and in state of servitude, as it is
in most of the Oriental countries. The work
before us will not be likely to convert many
to the peculiar views of the author, but it is
worthy of the perusal of those who desire to
know all sides of great subject.
MAN IN GENESIS AND GEOLOGY. By Rev.
Joseph p. Thompson, ID. d., LII. ID. Pub
lished by Samuel r. Wells, New York.
The author of this work is we'll known as
the pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle
Church in New York, and he has an excellent
reputation as Biblical scholar. The revela-
tions made by geologists as to the actual
formation of the earth and the mode of crea-
tion have sorely troubled the theologians, who
first denied the facts, and when denial could
no longer avail they have accepted them with
reluctance and endeavored to explain them
in such manner as to jar as little as possible
upon the sensibilities of those who accept
the Scriptures as a guide. Most of
the theological attempts to reconcile
Genesis and geology have been specimens
Of special pleading rather than sound argu-
ment The Scripture students refused too
persistently to look at the subject from any
but one point of view, and they have been
entirely unable to keep pace with the march
of science 1t is perhaps just as well that
there should be this reluctance on the part of
theologians to accept new scientific ideas
until they have been fully demonstrated, and
the conservatism of the clergy has been a
valuable CHECK upon tu0 OlSpOolJlOu lOO OlJGu
evinced by scientific investigators to jump
at conclusions and to overturn old opinions
for insufficient reasons.
Dr. Thompson, like most of his predeces-
sors in the same field, has pet theory upon
which he bases his argument, and he is only
partially successful in the object he has in
view. He displays thorough knowledge of
the scriptural side of his subject, and also of
the theories of Darwin, Owen, Huxley, Lyell,
Vogt, and others, and his work gives a review
of the whole question in compact and read
able shape.
From j. B. Lippincott & Co. we have
received ASPECTS of Humanity" little
work of fifty-four pages, which has proved
entirely too hard nut for us to crack
Seventeen pages are devoted to a greeting
s'to students, predatory remarks which We
suppose are intended to explain the object
of the work, and a postscript setting fortf
the further views of the author. Ninetee1
pages give us "Aspects of Humanity" in
series of verses, the purport of which we arr
utterly unable to understand, and which
appear the merest doggerel, and the balanc
of the book is taken up with an appendix o
Illustrative excerpts from various writer's
Besides this, we are furnished with a sup
Elementary advertisement apologizing tC
the periodical press for previous neglec
on the part of the author, and some six page