Short Notices [pp. 567-576]

Short Notices.
declaration and command of Christ, "The Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat; all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe,
that observe and do," they inferred the right of the church to
make laws to bind the conscience. On this ground tories
and high-church men sought to impose on the church their
trumpery vestments, and their equally frivolous logical deductions. It was fetters forged from inferences our fathers
broke, and we, their children, will never suffer them to be
rewelded. There is as much difference between this extreme
doctrine of divine right, this idea that everything is forbidden
which is not commanded, as there is between this free, exultant church of ours, and the mummied forms of mediaeval
Christianity. We have no fear on this subject. The doctrine
need only be clearly propounded to be rejected.
SHORT NOTICES.
Sermons. By Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D. New York: Charles
Scribner, Grand street. London: Sampson Low, Son & Co. 1860.
Vols. I. II.
The unexpected death of Dr. J. Addison Alexander in the
prime of life, and in the full maturity of his extraordinary
talents, is a loss to the church and the world which cannot
be estimated. It was natural that those best acquainted with
his worth, should at once do all they could, by the publication
of his literary remains, to compensate for so great a loss. It
is to be lamented that these are so few. It was perhaps an
incident of his mental superiority, that he could never satisfy
himself. His ideal was always above the actual. The consequence was that he left many works unfinished. Many collections of materials in such a state as to be intelligible only-to
himself. Happily, this was not the case with his sermons.
Many, indeed, of his discourses, the recollections of which,
those who heard them cherish most fondly, cannot now be
found. These volumes, however, are proof that a sufficient
number were written out in full, and escaped destruction at
his own hands, to give some idea of his power as a preacher.
The impression which he made in the pulpit was less due to
567
1860.]