Where do we find such hopeful views, favorable representations, and earnest pleadings for the Indian on the part of the Church? They are not found in any of the current Annual Reports of Missionary Societies.

These pleadings of the Honorable "Commissioner of Indian Affairs," are creditable to his humanity, statesmanship, and Christianity. Would that his tones might arouse a hopeless, effortless Church to action in behalf of the wronged, wretched, perishing Indian, within sight of her very portals!

This sketch of the present condition of the Indians in America is sufficient, we hope, to enable the Church to take a practical view of this department of missionary labor. The field is extensive, its sufferings are extreme, its claims paramount.

And yet, from the present showing, it would seem that there is not a single Church in earnest to save the souls of the red men. And why not? We have seen, from the success attending missionary efforts among them, their susceptibility to receive Christianity and be saved by it; a success which, compared with that among any other heathen of whom we have read, has been unequaled, all things considered. Surely the gracious providence of God did not send us here to destroy, but to save them. Yet, while as a nation we have steadily prosecuted the former, as Christians we have utterly failed in the latter. Christian love for perishing heathens finds a field as legitimate in America as in Africa, Asia, or Europe. To Christian love, the soul of the Black Foot or Flat Head, the Apache, Camanche, or Pueblo Indian, the Esquimaux, or Patagonian, is as precious as that of the Caffre, or Hottentot, or the worshipers of Juggernaut. The Indians are undoubtedly a doomed race; they must fade away before the white man; and this is used as an argument to withhold missionary effort. On the contrary, it is the voice of God, speaking to us in his providence, "What thou doest do quickly!" We should make haste to snatch them from ruin, and requite them in a measure for our poisonous presence. This long-neglected, suffering department of American missions we would press upon the conscience of every American Christian. The lengthening shadow of the receding Indian toward the setting sun, as it falls upon the graves of his sires trodden under our feet, admonishes us that his day is near its close, and that we must make haste to save him.

Especially would we call upon the Methodist Episcopal Church to put on strength, and gird herself anew for this department of labor. Methodism, since its introduction into America, in its various. branches, has done more for the native race than all other denominations besides. If success is an evidence of adaptation to a work,

then Methodism is pre-eminently adapted to this missionary field. If success in such a work is evidence of the Divine approbation, then Methodism has been honored with it above all others. From the tabular view given, it will be seen that considerably more than half of the whole number of Christian Indians at the present time, are connected with Methodism. While Methodism has seven thousand three hundred and sixty-two members, all the other denominations of Christians have only four thousand nine hundred and fifty-five. How much the present salvation and future hope of the Indian tribes seem to depend upon Methodism! And if she prove unfaithful to their interests, whither shall they turn for help? Will the Great Spirit, the red man's God, raise up another people to look after these lost sheep in the wilderness? Why should Methodism turn away from this home field, in which she has proved her adaptation, met with the Divine blessing, and gathered hundreds and thousands of pagan souls into the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and where there are yet thousands and hundreds of thousands to be saved, to experiment in untried and unblest fields far away? To save herself not only from the charge of indiscretion, but the guilt of neglect, we hope that she may have a sufficient reason to render for passing by the perishing at home, to give the bread of life to those in regions beyond.

ART. VI.-INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; its Nature and Proof. Eight Discourses preached before the University of Dublin, by WILLIAM LEE, M.A. Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857.

New-York:

ATTENTIVE observers have, for some time past, seen indications of an awakening of the public mind, relative to the dogma of "Inspiration." A re-examination of the whole subject, and a re-statement of its evidences, seem to be demanded; and this, very possibly, may render necessary certain modifications of its positions. On the European Continent, our Teutonic kinsmen and fellow-Protestants have been discussing the subject for half a century, and it is well known that whatever subject occupies their patient attention and study, their discussions are at length reproduced among us; though usually in a modified and mitigated form. That the free discussion of this subject should awaken a lively public interest is certainly not strange; the matters in question are too great and the opinions

to be reviewed too venerable to allow the subject to be opened without arousing a lively interest in the Church. Still we see no cause for apprehending any such conflict of opinions as would seriously interrupt the peace of Evangelical Protestantism, or at all endanger the stability of the foundations of the faith.

The first signs of the indicated movement appeared in the form of disquisitions designed to strengthen the old positions and maintain the landmarks of a hyper-orthodoxy. In these we were served with treatises and discussions, varying in extent from fugitive essays to stately volumes, asserting in the boldest, and sometimes in the baldest style, a verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, at once mechanical and non-rational; and this theory has been eliminated and amplified to the last details of the subject. A little later, as to the commencement, but mostly cotemporaneously as to its progress, was seen a counter movement, resulting in the production of a mass of crude neological and rationalistic discussions, presenting certain specious though really antiquated objections to the whole doctrine of inspiration, maintained from both philosophical and theological stand-points. The third stage of this movement is now passing before us. The necessity of reviewing the whole subject is conceded, and men whose orthodoxy is beyond suspicion, and whose piety and learning give much authority to their opinions, are ready to declare, that while their confidence in the Bible as a record of the Divine counsels is undiminished, they find it impossible to defend their opinions by the arguments most relied on, or to adopt the theories of inspiration hitherto chiefly in vogue.

The volume whose title stands at the head of this paper, is among the early fruits of this new phase of the public thought, and it bears in itself clear indications of the influences which gave it being. It is evidently the production of a writer of respectable erudition, and of an eminently conservative turn of mind. By virtue of the former he finds himself compelled to abandon the old mechanical theory of a verbal inspiration, as quite untenable; but though thus cut loose from his traditional moorings, his constitutional conservatism effectually restrains him from falling to the other extreme, as is often the case with theological reformers. It might be difficult to give in detail his own theory, should we attempt it, since, if we do not mistake the matter, he has not fully developed a theory; and even in what he has written, the several parts seem to be but imperfectly adjusted. Probably these are only his first thoughts, vigorous, indeed, but crude, which time and further study will mature. At some future time, (for he will surely write again,) we shall see him more satisfactorily developing his system, and both fortifying and

illustrating his opinions. The present volume, meanwhile, will serve a good purpose pro tempore; but because it belongs to a transition period in the history of its subject, as well as on account of its intrinsic imperfections, it cannot continue long; nor will it hereafter serve any other valuable purpose than to mark the transitions of the prevailing opinion for the time being.

As we shall probably have but little occasion to notice the book particularly in our further remarks, we may as well at this point say whatever may be needful to give the reader a general notion of its character. The volume, an octavo of six hundred and seventyeight pages, is made up of eight lectures, headed severally: 1. The Question Stated-2. The Immemorial Doctrine of the Church of God-3. The Old Testament and the New-the Logos the Revealer4. Revelation and Inspiration-5. Revelation and Inspiration (continued)-6. Scriptural Proof-7. The Commission to write-Form of what was written-8. Recapitulation, Objections Considered: illustrated with numerous and rather extensive foot-notes, principally citations from ancient Christian authorities, and a long list of appendixes, of much the same character. The argumentation is learned and generally logical; but the style is heavy and the method somewhat confused, and the whole work is deficient in clearness and vivacity. The book is a perfectly safe one, soundly orthodox, and yet sufficiently progressive to save it from the charge of stubborn conservatism; but unless the reader brings to its perusal either a lively interest in the subject, or an unusually large share of patience, he will scarcely reach the last page. In our further remarks we shall refer to it, as may be convenient to illustrate the points of our own discussion, without assenting to its conclusions further than we explicitly indorse them, nor yet in any case pretending to hold the author responsible for the use we may make of his positions and arguments.

The connection of a confidence in the Scriptures, not very widely different from that commonly entertained, with all that is really valuable in religion, is more intimate than is often suspected. Though merely speculative theism is no part of religion, yet it is among its essential conditions; for in order to the worship of God, he must be known. It is also sufficiently proved, as matter of fact, that this necessary knowledge can be attained only by the aid of revelation; and further, that among all pretended revelations no other can be found at all deserving attention, except those recorded in the Bible. The whole question is thus narrowed down to the two alternatives; the recognition of the Divinity of the Scriptures, and the negation, or rather the ignoring of all religion. True, there are

those who hesitate to accept either of these alternatives, but we think unwisely, and the common convictions of mankind seem to be steadily and rapidly subsiding in this position. Advocates of relig ion are more and more generally agreeing to recognize the Bible as the record of certain Divine communications to our race, so attested as to entitle them to command their convictions and dictate their conduct. Here there is substantial unanimity. Beyond this there may be, among the same persons, very wide discrepances, both as to modes of interpretation, and the precise sense of the enunciations, as to which men may hold either part, consistently with the profession of the Christian name.

In conceding this authority to the Bible, two points are assumed: first, that God has in some way communicated to mankind certain truths and doctrines, which could have been gained by no other means; and, secondly, that he at first authenticated these revelations as given by himself, and afterward the record of them as correct and inspired. The first implies the Divine origin of the matter of the Bible, and the fact that certain persons have been made media of communication between the Divine and the human intelligences. The second recognizes a providential superintendence of the imparted revelations, so as to secure their faithful transmission with all requisite credentials to other persons and to future times. These two are the essential elements of a belief in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; where they are found, though they allow ample verge for differences as to specific points, we are compelled in all fairness to confess the fundamental soundness of their professors; where these are not found, though there may be large pretensions to a reverence for the Bible, yet there must be an entire want of reliance upon it as the word of God, and the sole and sufficient rule of life. Both of these points are also necessarily included in any adequate notion of the inspiration of the Scriptures; since in this Divine interference that inspiration consists,

The term "inspiration," which has been chosen by common consent to express the Divine agency in the Scriptures, is among the most unfortunately ambiguous in our language, and probably has contributed not a little to the prevalent misunderstanding of the subject. Any degree of mental elevation, occasioned only by natural causes, and induced upon the mind in its normal state, is styled an inspiration. This is the inspiration of poets and orators, the enthusiasm of genius, the lofty power of awakened thought. But all this has nothing to do with either receiving or recording a Divine revelation, and is therefore quite another thing than the inspiration of the Bible. That inspiration includes the gift of certain intellect