Contemporary Literature [pp. 233-238]

CONTEMPORAR r L ITERATURE.
F ONTEMPORARY _ITERATURE.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ELDER JACOB KNAPP. With an
introductory Essay. By R. 7effrey. I2Mo. Pp.
34I. Vew York: SSeldon &, Co.
Elder Knapp has been for many years a warrior
for Jesus. His true place is in the front of the battle, in the heat of the contest. He is belligerent by
nature, and grace has turned the whole force of his
character against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
A Baptist by firm persuasion, he has maintained an
inflexible devotion to his conscientious convictions of
denominational truth, and has often felt it his duty to
use the distinctive doctrine of immersion as one of
the weapons of his warfare. He has been for forty
years a successful evangelist, winning, perhaps, full
as many souls to Christ and a godly life as any other
minister of the Gospel during this age. His power
has been in his oneness of purpose, his uncompromising hostility to sin in every form, his undaunted
courage in the denunciation of wickedness, his faithful warnings to the wicked, and his integrity of character and indubitable fellowship with God. Along
with his successes he has had bitter trials. No man
could enter upon a career of such marked antagonism to the prejudices of his contemporaries, to the
hypocrisies and flagrancies of bad men, without provoking decided opposition and creating for himself
malignant enemies. Calumny and abuse have been
heaped upon him, but holding the even tenor of his
way, he has triumphed over the wicked, and maintained his integrity and the purity of his reputation
for forty years. Hie has faults; he has made mistakes; his style is rough and eccentric; many of his
expressions are exceedingly distasteful, and some are
even blasphemous; his egotism is repulsive, and his
irreverence is painful. Yet these eccentricities are
natural to the man. They are not assumed and practiced as arts of a pulpit trickster, and their oddity has
doubtless been instrumental in drawing thethousands
to hear him, multitudes of whom come only from motives of curiosity, but go away with an arrow in their
heart. Omniscience only is to be the final judge of
the good and evil mingled together in the labors of
this Samson. The book is very readable and will
suggest many lessons to the reader.
THE WORD OF GOD OPENED. Its Inis/iratioz, Canzon,
and lIftepretatior Considered and Illustrated. By
Rev. Bradford K. Pierce. i6mo. Pp. 223. Nezew
York: Carlton & Lartahai. Cincinnati: HIitchcock
H& Walden.
This is a most timely and valuable little book. It
is exactly adapted to the wants of thousands who are
asking many serious and important questions about
the Bible. In brief, terse style, and in small compass,
the little volume answers these questions and imparts
the needed information. It compresses into the
smallest space possible the knowledge of the Bible
which is scattered through large and costly volumes.
The Origin of the Bible, Inspiration, the Canon, Rules
of Interpretation, etc., are the subjects which it discusses. To every Bible reader who desires really to
understand the Word of God, to every young minister who wishes the results of the best thought and
studies on the questions discussed, and to every faithful Sunday school teacher who is desirous of rightly
interpreting the Bible to the minds of children we
commend this little volume. The book is issued in a
very attractive form.
DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES. W4hat it hzas
Done, WhIat it is Doizg, anzd WhIat it will Do. By
Ransom H. Gillet. 121110. Pp. 414. Aewz York:
D. Appletonz & Co. Cincinznati: R. W. Carroll
&o Co.
We think it was the stalwart Luther who, when
finding and perusing the old Bible, exclaimed, "Either
this is not the Word of God, or the Catholic Church
is not his Church." And, indeed, the thought may
be carried still further. Doubtless the first impression
made on the mind of the great Reformer in his first
readings of the Book was that of the simplicity,
beauty, humanness, and divineness of Christian
truth and the Christian Church. But when he would
measure the Church as it was in his day with the
Church as he found it in the Word, then he would
exclaim, How is the mighty fallen! So as we read
the first pages of this volume, depicting the early history of Democracy, when it meant justice, fi-eedom,
human rights, the equality of the people, equal government for the masses, opposition to despotism, to
oppression and injustice, and then turn to its closing
pages and discover the purposes and aims of the
Democracy of our day, and contemplate the utter
abandonment of these great principles, we too exclaim,
How is the mighty fallen! Democracy in its early history was the true doctrine of America; true democracy
is in our day the real doctrine of the republic. It is
the departure of the great Democratic party from the
true doctrines of democracy which has wrought its
ruin; and one of the most painful things in reading
this volume is, to trace the defection of this party
firom its first faith and purposes till it has reached a
position of almost unqualified antagonism to the popular and humanitarian principles of its early history.
If it shall honestly return to its first faith it vAill again
conquer; but, alas! it only gives increasing evidence
of decrepitude and decay. This volume will not aid
in its restoration. Instead of being an exhortation
to repentance and to do their first works over, it confirms the party in its apostasy, and spends its strength
in denouncing what the true democrat fifty years ago
would have advocated.
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