this respect our author imitates Mr. Carlyle very successfully, and evidently with a hearty good will. An incautious reader may sometimes peruse pages from either of these authors, without ever suspecting that he is not reading stray leaves from some Calvanistic sermon. The words are the same, but the thinking reader perceives, that there is no community whatever of meaning and spirit. A poetical, mystical, transcendental sense, has been infused into the language, both of the Scriptures and of the old Calvinistic divines. In this sense we are forced to understand the language above.

But to proceed with our author's creed. Christ dying for us is several times alluded to, but his dying for sins, never. Of the moral government of God and of the forgiveness of sins there is not one word, nor any intimation that any is needed. The poor patient discovers in the course of one of these conversations, that this noble hearted woman, (for such she truly is,) has been the guardian angel of his life. He reproaches himself most severely for his ignorance of her past kindness to him, and calls himself an idiot and an ingrate for his treatment of her. But for all his past ignorance and contempt of Christ, there are no confessions, no self-reproaches, and no petitions for forgiveness. That was all the fault of the ministers, that they did not preach better. If they had exhibited to him Christ as this woman had now done, he would long ago have been a Christian. Why then should he blame himself for what was so obviously the fault of the ministers? Yes, here is a conversion by the method of the imagination-a conversion without one confession of sin towards God or petition for forgiveness from God. And this is the doctrine preached by a distingushed clergyman of the English establishment-one who we are told, is shortly to visit this country, for the purpose of officiating at the consecrating of a Protestant church. This is the gospel of the imagination. It ought to be entitled "religion reduced to a fine art, or salvation without repentance or forgiveness."

In the progress of our hero towards his conversion, he at length falls upon that ancient stumbling block of the sceptic, miracles. The difficulty which he meets is one which is often met among ourselves, especially in dealing with those who are in any degree imbued with the doctrines of the transcendental school. A miracle is not unfrequently, and perhaps not very inaccurately, defined to be a suspension of the established laws of nature by an immediate exertion of divine power. Against miracles as thus defined, the objector declares that he is shocked at the thought, that God should suspend and violate

his own laws. Our author answers in substance that this is a false definition, that in events which seem to us miraculous, God does not suspend or violate the laws of nature, but only works by higher laws, with which we are not acquainted.

Now we submit that this is not the answer which the case calls for. The whole plausibility of this objection lies in a failure to notice an ambiguity in the word law. The primary and most proper meaning of the word, is a rule of duty. In this sense of the word we are shocked at the idea that God should suspend or violate his own laws that he should give laws to his subjects which he himself disregards. But this is not all the meaning of the word, when we speak of the laws of nature. By this phrase we mean to describe the uniform methods in which the powers of nature act, or rather in which God acts through them. It is a figurative use of the word law. We mean to say, that natural phenomena follow a uniform course with as much regularity as though they were invested with free will, and obeyed a law which God had prescribed for them. In the phrase "laws of nature" there is therefore no implication of a rule of duty either to God or man. It is dead matter to which those laws are addressed, or rather on which they are impressed. The phrase expresses the customary methods by which God governs the material universe. Is there then anything shocking, revolting, in the thought that God, for the purpose of conferring the highest benefits on mankind, sometimes deviates from his custom and makes universal manifestations of his power and presence? Our consciousness answers, no! We do not believe that any candid man can profess to be morally shocked at this view of a miracle. And yet this and this only, is the view of miracles exhibited in the Scriptures and received by the great mass of sober-minded Christians in every age. And miracles as thus defined cannot be successfully assailed by any weapons which can be drawn from the storehouse of metaphysics. They must stand or fall with the evidence exhibited in support of them. We have no fear for the result.

There are other points in this creed which are invested with grave importance, and are well worthy of examination. But we have transcended our limits and exhausted the patience of the reader. We will only say in conclusion, that while we are cheerful to concede to this book power of conception, vivid coloring, graphic painting, we can go no farther in commendation. The author's spirit is throughout characterized by pride and bitterness, his views of political economy are shallow and false, and will lead any man who adopts them into impracti cable schemes and pitiable delusions. His religious views are

preeminently superficial, unsound and unpractical. He hates the doctrines of the Reformation with a cordial hatred, but proves himself too ill-informed what they are to state them with any semblance of correctness. He writes a book to advocate the cause of the workingmen, and in it holds up to derision the life-labor of such a man as William Carey, one of the noblest workingmen England ever produced. He speaks in exalted terms of Jesus Christ, but utterly discards whatever is most characteristic in His life and teachings. That such a book should be devoured with the avidity it is, without producing much evil, is surely what we are not prepared to believe.

And yet we will not, cannot wholly condemn the book. The Roman Senate returned public thanks to the general who had fought and lost the disastrous battle of Cannæ, because he had not despaired of the Republic. And we confess a similarly kindly feeling towards any man, however mistaken, who calls earnest attention to the sufferings of the neglected and famishing laborer. And so far as this author has contributed anything to accomplish this result, he deserves the thanks of his generation. To impart the blessings of Christian civilization to the laborer is the great problem of this age, and must be solved, or all our hopes are doomed to a bitter disappointment.

ART. II.-THE MORAL OF STATISTICS.*

Ir is at least fortunate, that in our day, we stand in no dread of any such result as came, we are told, from the "numbering of the people" in the time of David. For it must be admitted, that no work can be more useful to every citizen, in relation to the subjects of which it treats, than that which gives at a single glance, as it were, the complete condition of his nation. Statistics, to be sure, are not generally amusing, though they may be, even in them, food for mirth. But certainly if figures do not lie, a census compendium must be the most truthful book one can consult. That it has much to teach him, who is will

Statistical View of the United States, embracing its Territory, Population, white, free, colored and slave; Moral and Social Condition, Industry, Property, and Revenue; the detailed Statistics of cities, towns, and counties; being Compendium of the Seventh Census, to which are added the results of every previous Census, beginning with 1790, &c., by J. D. B. De Bow, Supt. of U. S. Census. Washington, 1854.

And that it is

ing to be instructed, we can very easily see. invaluable to the man who would know of his country, calculate the rate of its progress, morally as well as materially, ascertain the extent and variety of its resources, and try to estimate its future course and destiny, no argument is needed to prove.

The book before us, we regard as most valuable and instructive. Of convenient form, of concise, and yet sufficiently ample statement, without the bulk of the large quarto volume, issued soon after the census of 1850 was taken, and with all its information, that would be needed for a correct view of the national condition, and even more; in every sense of the word, a compendium, it is well deserving the study of every American citizen. Scarcely a question can be started relating to the welfare and prosperity of the nation which will not be helped to its solution by the facts here presented. True, there is something of deep and really solemn import beneath all this outside of material fact. The genuine character of the nation, and its inmost life, do not appear on the surface. But the facts serve as fingerposts to point the way to what is concealed beneath. They help not alone to furnish materials for argument, but also to reveal the real truth of national life. They show us to ourselves, make us cognizant of what we have to do, and what to do it with; make us conscious also of powers, by which we may use the opportunities we are favored with, and thus achieve the most magnificent results for all human life.

There can be no question, that the American Republic was designed by Providence to accomplish a work in history surpassed by no nation under Heaven. Settled at a time, when democratic principles were becoming rooted in the English Constitution, and Protestantism had given assurance of its triumph; settled in one section by Protestant Englishmen, exiles for conscience' sake, who were to give direction, for the most part, to all its future career; a new world, just far enough remote from the old, to escape the evil influence of European corruptions and vices, and just near enough to feel the good influences of what was best in European civilization; with all its broad Atlantic slope now fronting that civilization, and the stagnant and decaying semi-barbarism of Asia barred out by the Rocky Mountains; founded on the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and in a good degree now transferred by them, America presented and presents the grandest scene for the growth of a noble nation. It has had the opportunity of becoming a power among the nations. We do not think that the opportunity has been wholly neglected. It was to develop a

new idea of government, put in practice a new system of religion, and realize a new theory of civilization. The worth of individual manhood, nay, the superiority of individual manhood to factitious rank, caste, the State, the Priesthood, was to be vindicated. In making this vindication sure, the cultivation of the soil, commerce, the subjection of nature to the human will, popular, intellectual and religious education, Republicanism, Protestantism, all were to unite. They all have furnished themselves to Anglo-Saxon energy, and perseverance, and daring, and a part of the result is now before the world. What that result is thus far, it is our task to inquire, with the help given us by the labor of Mr. De Bow. What it is yet to be, those labors may serve to indicate.

Of course our national life is too short to justify us in making any very broad generalization from what little has yet been done. It is not two hundred and fifty years since the first permanent English settlement was made upon our shores. It is but little more than three quarters of a century, since we have been an independent nationality. The country is by no means settled yet; nor is it all explored. We are but half grown. What has been done is but the promise of what mature years will do. It is but natural that we should make some mistakes. Our warm blood hurries us into excesses. The prudence of age does not belong to us, and must not be expected of us. But our youth is lusty and vigorous, and we may well hope-though now is the dangerous time of our national life-for a maturity, of which we shall not have cause to be altogether ashamed.

What then have we? What have we done? What are we yet to do? The facts and figures in the volume before us may help to elucidate these questions.

In his "introductory remarks," Mr. De Bow gives an interesting account of the mode of taking and making up a census in this country, as also the mode in Great Britain. As all our readers are doubtless well acquainted with the method of the work with us, though not probably sufficiently considerate of the amount of labor to be performed by the different marshals and their assistants, the clerks in the office at Washington, and the final revision of the countless array of figures, but it is not necessary to stop on our way to notice it. Yet it might be worth considering, what labor is performed, what tire is spent, what anxiety and care are undergone, that the facts may all be spread correctly before the country, and the information which they convey should be as reliable as it is possible to make it. The British system of taking the census is widely different from our own. Throughout the United Kingdom the