10. The support given to the freedom of the will, and the safe and solid foundation laid for this freedom, in the subjection of the will to law, is another interesting feature. A recent reviewer* has intimated that we need no metaphysics of the will; but the truth is, we cannot avoid that inquiry if we would. The long and bitter controversies connected with the will may fill us with weariness and disgust, and may have a tendency to turn us away from such discussions; but while the will is a constituent element of the human soul, we ought not to think lightly of its philosophy. A system of mental philosophy must be defective without it. The fault of most treatises on the will is, that they have not taken a sufficiently broad and comprehensive view. Writers have very often taken some particular or exclusive view of the subject, and have pushed opinions, with the zeal of controversy, to an extremity where truth itself, by being distorted, or thrust out of its relations, becomes error. Thus the freedom of the will, on the one hand, has been pushed to that point which would emancipate it from the control of reason, or conscience, or motives of any sort; and invest it with a sort of omnipotence which annihilates itself; while, on the other hand, the doctrine of necessity, or the law of cause and effect, and the subjection of the will to motives, has been pushed to the destruction of the essential freedom of the will. By either process, the freedom of the will is, in fact, destroyed. This result is effectually prevented in the work before us. Having closed the examination of the intellect and the sensibilities, and considered the relation which the will bears to these other departments of the mind, the author proceeds to establish these three propositions :THE WILL HAS ITS LAWS-THE WILL HAS FREEDOM-THE WILL HAS POWER. Each of these propositions, as it seems to us, is well sustained, and all of them are essential to a just view of each one separately. The freedom of the will is seen to be secured, rather than destroyed, by a just exhibition of the laws which pertain to it. The same remark applies with equal force to the power of the will. It can be happily exercised only in harmony with the laws of the mind. It is seen, moreover, that each department of the mind has an important influence over the others, and that the highest degree of mental freedom can be secured only by the harmony and balance of all the mental faculties.

* New-York Review, July, 1840.

11. One of the most practically useful characteristics of the work is, the light it sheds upon the business of education. The great truth, that all the intellectual, sentient, and voluntary powers are susceptible of cultivation, is clearly brought out; and the necessity of this cultivation to the perfection of the mind is strongly impressed. The practical hints upon the culture of the understanding, the memory, the affections, the moral sense, and the will, are among the most valuable "thoughts on education" to be found in any book

extant.

12. We notice last, but not with the less pleasure, the philosophical basis laid for several of the leading truths of Christianity. No effort is made to give the work a theological cast, or to carry out its principles to theological conclusions. These subjects are left in just that form which we might expect from a clear-headed philosopher, who should study with prayerful earnestness the Bible and the human soul in connection with each other, till the adaptation of the one to the other is clearly seen, and the influence of the study of both is distinctly felt in his own heart. But the attentive reader cannot fail to see that several of the most important disclosures of the Bible are identical with the truths discovered in the human soul. Let us notice, for example, the doctrine of human depravity as connected with the fall of man.

In the second volume, which embraces the sensibilities, the writer treats, first, of emotions, and then of desires, or desirous states of mind. In this class are arranged the instincts, appetites, propensities, and affections, in the same order as here enumerated, and all these mental states, save the instincts, he supposes may have both an instinctive and a voluntary action. The affections he divides into two classes, the malevolent, and the benevolent affections. In the latter class are enumerated the parental, filial, and fraternal affections, love of the human race, love of country, the affection of friendship, of sympathy, and of gratitude.

Having traced out, and illustrated these important principles of the mind, the author remarks,

"In order to preserve the other principles of human nature in the position which the great Author of that nature has assigned to them, and to render their action just in itself, and harmonious in its relations, we have reason to believe that there was originally in the human constitution a principle of love to the SUPREME BEING."

This affection he supposes to have been analogous in its nature and operations to the other benevolent affections, having like them both an instinctive and voluntary action; but differing greatly in degree or intensity of action, being, in this respect, in correspondence with the high and holy nature of the object to which it was rendered with all the energy of which the mind was capable. That man possessed originally such a principle, he supposes must be evident from analogy, considering the relation man sustains to God, and the duties which grow out of this relation. Further proofs of this are drawn from the Scriptures; from those passages which describe man at his creation; also those which require supreme love to God; and those which contemplate the renovation of our nature, and the restoration of this principle.

The relation of this affection to the other principles of our nature is then traced with philosophical precision, and the natural results, both of the existence and of the absence of this principle, upon all the other affections, and upon the whole character, clearly indicated.

The philosophical basis thus laid for the Scriptural view of depravity is worthy of careful attention, as it embraces the whole range of man's original state, the effects of the fall, the recovery of the soul to holiness, and the divine influence concerned in this transformation. The doctrine of man's dependence, as well as his freedom and accountability-his perfect obligations to serve Godand the necessity of this service to the highest elevation and perfection of our nature-the wrong which the sinner, by transgression, inflicts upon his own soul-are seen in a clear and strong light; while yet all these truths seem the natural and necessary results of purely philosophical inquiry, no less than the attestations of divine revelation. The whole scope and spirit of this philosophy, in short, is eminently Christian; and the service it may render to all denominations of believers, and to the cause of Christian education, is a reason for its extensive circulation. There are various prospective bearings of correct views, and of the general study of mental philosophy, which we deem of great importance; but which our limits forbid us to indicate at present.

ART. VI.-1. Lectures on Homiletics and Preaching, and on Public Prayer; together with Sermons and Letters. By EBENEZER PORTER, D. D., President of the Theological Seminary, Andover. 8vo. Andover and New-York, 1834.

2. Lectures on Eloquence and Style. By EBENEZER PORTER, D. D., late President, &c. 8vo. Andover and New-York, 1836.

MANY and various have been the attempts to define eloquence; but widely as philologists differ in their definitions of the word, true eloquence is never mistaken, and always appreciated. A counterfeit may deceive for a season: fustian and bombast may be imposed for a while on a part of the community; but the genuine coin carries with it intrinsic evidence of its value, and real eloquence passes current everywhere and at all times.

It matters not, therefore, whether, with Isocrates, we call eloquence the power of persuading; or, with Aristotle, the power of inventing that which is persuasive. Whether, with Cicero, we say that eloquence is speaking in a persuasive manner; or, with Quinctillian, that it is the science of speaking well. Nor yet, to come down to modern times, is it of much consequence, whether we take Dr. Campbell's definition, and say, that eloquence is the art whereby the speech is adapted to produce the speaker's end; or, with a recent lecturer on the subject, who has acquired some reputation, insist upon it, that eloquence is simply speaking out, because, forsooth, it is derived from two Latin words bearing that signification.

It were an easy task, to show wherein each of these definitions is defective; but not so easy to give one that shall not be liable to the same or similar objections. Specially would it savor of presumption to attempt this, when it may be fairly questioned whether each successive definition is not more defective than its predecessor.

Nor is it only by the enlightened and the educated that eloquence is understood and its claims appreciated. It arrests the attention of the ignorant, and even the untaught children of the wilderness confess its power. It is potent, nay, omnipotent, so far as any thing human may claim that attribute, for good, or for evil. The pages of all history, sacred and profane, are full of its achievements.

History, moreover, and the biography of cloquent men, throw

much light on the question, if they do not settle it, whether eloquence is an acquired art or a natural gift; for even those who hold to the latter of these opinions must admit, that patient study and persevering toil have accomplished much, where nature had done but little. Nor will it be denied, that although an individual may have a natural genius for eloquence, as some have, by nature, a taste for painting, or music; in the one case as in the other, perfection is, and can only be, the result of well-directed and unceasing effort.

It would, therefore, seem to be a ready inference that from Christians, and especially from the Christian ministry, the eloquence of the pulpit should receive a high degree of attention, and that its study, and every thing likely to promote it, should be sedulously fostered and encouraged. This, therefore, is our present object not so much formally to review the works named at the head of this article, as to call to this subject the attention of our younger brethren in the ministry: to arouse the energies of Christ's ambassadors; and to urge upon those, whom the great Head of the church has called to this responsible duty, the absolute necessity of studying to show themselves approved unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed.

The object of the pulpit orator, whether we consider his authority, his message, or his responsibility, is paramount to all others. He is called and sent forth by the great Governor of the universe: the message which he bears is HIS; to HIM is he accountable for the manner in which he proclaims it. It is true, that no man is answerable for talents with which he has not been endowed. True, also, that the minister of Christ is not responsible for want of success in his efforts to win souls. But it is equally true, that the great Head of the church will hold that man guilty whose talents have not been improved as they might have been; and whose efforts have not been proportioned to the magnitude and difficulty of the work assigned him. It will admit an argument too, whether, in most cases, the inefficacy of the gospel be not owing to the inefficiency of the preacher. That gospel, an inspired apostle declares to be the power of God. Skill to wield that power, like skill in any other pursuit, is to be obtained only by study and perseverance.*

* "When I look at the great men of Rome, and see Cicero at the head of her senate, and Cesar at the head of her armies, in the daily habit of private