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Physiology of the Soul and Instinct, as distinguished from Materialism. With Supplementary Demonstrations of the Divine Communication of the Narratives of Creation and the Flood. By Martyn Paine, A.M., M.D., LL.D. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1872.

UNQUESTIONABLY this is an able work, displaying both range of learning and power of thought. Though published in America, it deals with questions which will for some time to come in our own country attract a large share of attention. We most heartily thank Dr. Paine for this very seasonable contribution towards the solution of what really are the problems of the day.

The starting-point and aim of our author will be best indicated by quoting a few of his own words.

"In the spiritual essence of man we meet with a subject upon which nothing has been yet said in proof of its existence but what revelation and metaphysics teach, nothing of its physiological evidences, while materialism has occupied the whole physiological ground, with the advantage of dedicating its labours to the senses and to the indolence of mankind."-P. 18.

"It must be allowed a misfortune that the subject of mind, as distinguished from matter, has been in the keeping of metaphysicians. Learned, and able, and devoted as they may have been to the prerogatives of reason, and with all the lustre they have shed upon mind, they have considered the spiritual part of man too abstractedly from his organisation. This has contributed to the reaction which now assumes the form of undisguised materialism.”—P. 25.

"The author has been actuated by the belief that no subject can offer greater interest to the whole human family; and from its intricacies and entire want of demonstration at the hands of physiologists, and more especially on account of the prevalence of materialism, he has supposed that a service might be rendered to every contemplative mind, to the materialist himself, by affording reliable evidence of the existence of the soul as an independent, self-acting, immortal, and spiritual essence. . . . But more than all, the author has supposed that if the doctrine of materialism can be shown to be erroneous, and a perfect conviction of the existence of the soul as an independent, self-acting agent can be established, it would hardly fail to enlarge and strengthen our conceptions of creative power, of our dependence upon that power; and of our moral and religious responsibilities. Such a conviction, arising from demonstrative proof, which appeals to the senses as well as to the understanding, it appears to the writer, has been wanted by the human family, however they may be disposed, in the main, to accede to revelation, or to listen to the natural suggestions of reason."-Preface.

The want above referred to Dr. Paine seeks to meet, and in Chapter II. furnishes us with a demonstration, based upon physiological premises, of the "substantive existence and self-acting nature

of the soul." Of the contents of this long chapter it would be impossible in a short notice like the present to furnish any adequate account, and we therefore commend it to the careful perusal of our readers as well worthy of their attention.

But whilst thoroughly sympathising with the aim of our author, we cannot but think that he has attempted too much. Granted that he has discovered certain physiological facts for which no material cause can be assigned, but which at the same time we cannot think as uncaused, yet with regard to the absolute nature of their cause physiology enables him to predicate nothing. He may be right in saying that it is non-material, but as a physiologist he cannot declare it to be mental. Consciousness alone reveals to us the world of mind of which, apart from its testimony, we know nothing. The senses may make us acquainted with facts which, for their explanation, demand other than material causes; but any knowledge of these realities we may possess must, in the nature of things, come through other channels. Hence, therefore, we think that any attempt to contemplate our mental experience from its physiological side only is a fatal mistake. The facts of physiology are all realities presented to external observation, whilst, on the other hand, the validity of our judgments regarding spiritual phenomena can be certified by consciousness only. The two orders of facts, though variously related, are perfectly distinct. The physiologist may perhaps throw some light on the material and vital conditions of the existence of acts and states of mind, but he can tell us absolutely nothing of the characteristics of the mental phenomena themselves. To consciousness alone can we appeal, and what consciousness gives must be accepted. To assume the mendacity of consciousness is, in the language of Hamilton, "to suppose that God is a deceiver and the root of our nature a lie." Such a supposition would necessarily be suicidal. If, in the pursuit of truth, our faculties are not trustworthy guides, our labour is vain. It would then be impossible to show why one opinion or theory is to be preferred to any other. In fact we should have no power to discriminate in any instance between truth and error.

Now, it is a fact of mental science that consciousness gives the most unequivocal testimony against the materialistic theory. We are conscious of the existence of a self as the subject of certain classes of mental phenomena. If we know anything, we surely know that we are not our thoughts, nor our feelings, nor our volitions. When conscious of a given thought, we do not thereupon infer the existence of an unknown or unrevealed self as the basis of that thought. The thought and the self that thinks, together constitute the complex object of a single act of consciousness. Further, we are conscious not merely of a personal self, but of an abiding and unchangeable self. Our thoughts, feelings, and purposes pass away, but self continues and is ever the same. Physiologists, on the other hand, tell us that the particles of the body are continually changing. Consequently, if there is no self-personality distinct from

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the material organism, we cannot be the same persons for a day, or for even two successive moments. For obvious reasons materialists never deal with this argument against their fundamental dogma. They pretend not even to understand it.

We notice that our author too often forgets the principle that language strictly applicable to the realities and facts of physiology, loses all significance when employed to describe mental realities. The practical disregard of this truth has been the source of much error and confusion in modern speculation. The physicists sin most grossly in this respect. To take but one illustration. What intelligible meaning can any man possibly attach to Professor Tyndall's statement, that our different sensations are so many modes of the molecular motion of the particles of the brain? The very supposition that we are to distinguish one feeling from another by a comparison of the various modes of molecular movement is nonsensical. It would be just as rational to attempt to classify our thoughts by reference to their various shapes.

A large portion of this treatise is taken up with the statement and examination of various scientific doctrines " conflicting with the revealed existence of the soul, a future state of being, and the existence of a Personal Creator." Dr. Paine experiences little difficulty in demolishing that form of the materialistic hypothesis which has been based upon the assumption of the transformation of forces. We have elsewhere shown that forces, though often correlated, are never convertible. The theory of Spontaneous Generation hardly deserves the refutation our author gives it. In failing to clearly distinguish between life and a living organism, its advocates are at the outset guilty of an oversight which invalidates all their reasonings. The life exists before the organism. Life is in order that the organism may be. Without one jot or tittle of evidence, the believers in spontaneous generation assume that vital powers are nothing but material forces. They tell us that the life itself is destroyed in the destruction of the organism! We shall next be told that when the human body is destroyed by fire, the soul ceases to exist. This, it seems to us, must be accepted by those who maintain that mental and vital powers are but the transformed forces of inorganic matter. We have this conviction, in common with our author, that materialism and scepticism cannot reach a lower depth! Any movement now must be in the right direction.

Considering the aim and purpose of the treatise, we think Dr. Paine should not have embraced in it so many topics. There is a lack of unity in the discussion. The style, too, would have been much better had the author allowed his materials to steep longer in his mind. Far be it, however, from us to appear to depreciate this really valuable book, which we cordially commend to the notice of our readers.

Systematic Theology. By Charles Hodge, D.D. London and Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons.

THE second volume of this noble work has reached us, bringing down the systematic exhibition of Christian doctrine to the end of

the Doctrines of Redemption, and to the threshold of that branch of theology which deals with the appropriation and enjoyment of salvation. We reserve a more full examination of the work till the appearance of the third volume, which may almost immediately be expected. Suffice now to say, that it is most certainly the best work on Systematic Divinity at present in the English language constructed on Calvinistic principles. That it is so intensely and uncompromisingly Calvinistic is to us no slight drawback. It is also, in our estimation, a fault that the work so pertinaciously deals with modern theories and objections. These belong to Historical and Controversial Theology, and cannot be thoroughly discussed in the space given to them here. A work written on this principle must needs become, in a few years, comparatively obsolete. We want some manual, or some large work, of Systematic Theology, that shall lay down the doctrine with as little reference as possible to current opinions. To the majority of our readers doubtless this very fact will be a recommendation. What we count a drawback, they will count a great advantage. To them, if they are votaries of the Westminster Confession especially, the volumes of the venerable doctor leave hardly anything to be desired.

The term "venerable" reminds us that Dr. Hodge has just been receiving a most honourable tribute, in what the American papers call a "semi-centennial celebration." The Princeton University has recognised the extraordinary worth and most valuable labours of their Professor by the creation of a Theological Professorship, with an endowment of 50,000 dollars, and by the presentation to the veteran Professor of 15,000 dollars. The American Presbyterians have done well. The object of their benevolence, however, has deserved all and more than all that they have done. May the close of his life be a lengthened one, and filled with benediction!

Messrs. Nelson deserve the warmest thanks of the English Churches for this transplantation from the American soil.

DEVOTIONAL WORKS.

Christian Counsels. Selected from the Devotional Works of Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai. Translated by A. M. James. London: Longmans. 1872.

Christ the Consoler. A Book of Comfort for the Sick. With a Preface by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Carlisle. London: Longmans. 1872.

THESE are devotional works of considerable merit. Every book of real value in this department deserves grateful mention, seeing that so many manuals of devotion are published which are either vitiated by erroneous teaching, or are weak, sentimental, and sapless. We should very much like to have the opinions of a number of devout and intelligent people on the whole question of devotional reading. How it may best contribute to Christian life, what books have most approved them

Literary Notices.

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selves as helpful, and to what class of readers,-these are questions upon which the experience of our friends, if we could collect their suffrages, would throw much light. Meanwhile, between one friend and another, a better service can scarcely be rendered than the recommending of a book which has wrought with wholesome power on the reader. It may easily happen that what was well timed and helpful to one will fail really to come at the heart of another; still, friends know something of each other, and need not be quite in the dark as to what is and is not appropriate.

The Christian Counsels of Fénelon, it is almost unnecessary to say, are those of an elevated and saintly spirit. The deficiency which they have in common with the works of many of the best Roman Catholic writers is, however, a serious one. The analysis of sin is close and unsparing, and the lines of Christian character are drawn with delicate skill, but the justification of the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ is only obscurely and imperfectly taught. It may be answered that such a fundamental doctrine is presupposed, and that a "Christian Counsellor " offers guidance only to those who are possessed of the great initiatory truth. We allow so much force to this reply as to admit that works of this class may prove valuable to those who have found in our Lord Jesus Christ "the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world;' but experience protests against a perilous taking for granted of a fundamental truth, which is not merely all-important up to a particular time, but continues to be essential in the whole scheme of Christian teaching, as it is in the whole experience of Christian life.

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The second of the books above named we commend with hearty and grateful approval. It is the very best book of its kind we have met with for a long time, and we are quite sure it has become dear to many of those for whom it is specially designed. Its plan is that of conversations between a suffering disciple and the Lord. The confessions, prayers, inquiries of the servant, are partly in the writer's own language and partly taken from Scripture and the best religious authors, while the replies of the Lord to the voice of the disciple are never in the words of the writer, but almost exclusively in the language of Holy Scripture, the only exception being certain passages from the De Imitatione Christi. This plan is carried out with skill and tact, and much real spiritual insight.

The Treasury of David. Containing an Original Exposition of the Book of Psalms; a Collection of Illustrative Extracts from the whole range of Literature; a Series of Homiletical Hints upon almost every Verse; and Lists of Writers upon each Psalm. By C. H. Spurgeon. Vol. III. Psalm liii. to lxxviii. London: Passmore and Alabaster. 1872.

WE give a very cordial welcome to the third volume of Mr.

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