PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, No. 180 BROADWAY, JONATHAN LEAVITT, WILI AM ROBINSON NEW YORK. A constant supply of all Books needed in a Theological, Class▷ cal and Primary Education. Also, BIBLES of all the different kinds, from PLAIN and POLY. GLOTT 32mo., to BAGSTER'S elegant FOLIO, London Edition. All the BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES, in common use; A va riety of HYMN BOOKS. SCHOOL BOOKS, in every variety and quantity, at the lowest Pearl-street prices. Country merchants and all wanting books, are requested to call before purchasing elsewhere, MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. An assortment of a Religious and Moral Character; with BIOGRAPHIES, MEMOIRS, TRAVELS, &c. &c. NEW AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS on every subject of interest, regularly received. Among many Valuable Works Published by L. L. & Co. are the following: CALMET'S DICTIONARY OF THE BIB” E REVISED, with large additions. By Prof. ROBINSON. With ma s and plates. Royal 8vo. sheep. Also, AN ABRIDGMENT for young persons, with maps. 12mo. sheep, ་་ A sufficient testimony to the excel acy of this great Dictionary of the Bible is, that it has been trans ated into the Latin, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish languages. This book is one which, to those who are studying the Bible, it will be expensive not to purchase.”— Spirit of Pilgrims. COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. No. 1, Ps. 1-3, [To be published in periodical numbers.] By GEO. BUSH, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature, in the New-York City University. 1834. No. 2 in Press. As the several Psalms have no special connection with each other, and each of the numbers may be considered complete on the portion it embraces, a periodical issue was thought preferable to a delay of two pr three years in publishing the entire work. The numbers will be publis a ed at intervals of about three months, at 50 cents a number, and tą 15 extend to ten or twelve. SCOTT'S FAMILY BIBLE, 6 Vols. 8vo. sheep. RECOMMENDATIONS OF BARNES' NOTES. From Abbott's Religious Magazine. We have previously, in a brief notice, recommended to our readers Barnes' Notes on the Gospels. But a more extended acquaintance with that work has very much increased our sense of its value. We never have opened any commentary on the Gospels, which has afforded us so much satisfaction. Without intending, in the least degree, to disparage the many valuable commentaries which now aid the Christian in the study of the Bible, we cannot refrain from expressing our gratitude to the Author, for the interesting and profitable instructions he has given us.The volumes are characterized by the following merits. 1. The spirit which imbues them is nighly devotional. It is a devotion founded on knowledge. It is a zeal guided by discretion. 2. The notes are eminently intellectual. Apparent difficulties are fairly met. They are either explained, or the want of a fully satisfactory expla nation admitted. There is none of that slipping by a knot which is too common in many commentaries. 3. The notes are written in language definite, pointed and forcible. There is no interminable flow of lazy words. Every word is active and does its work well. There are no fanciful expositions. There are no tedious display of learning. There may be passages in which we should differ from the writer in some of the minor shades of meaning, There may be sometimes an unguarded expression which has escaped our notice. We have not scrutinized the volumes with the eye of a critic. But we have used them in our private reading. We have used them in our family. And we have invariably read them with profit and delight. We have just opened the book to select some passage as an illustration of the spirit of the work. The Parable of the rich man and Lazarus now lies before us. The notes explanatory of the meaning of the parables, are full and to the point. The following are the inferences, which Mr. Barnes deduces. 66 From tuis impressive and instructive parable, we may learn, "1. That the souls of men do not die with their bodies. "2. That the souls of men are conscious after death; that they do not sleep, as some have supposed, till the morning of the resurrection. "3 That the righteous are taken to a place of happiness immediately at death, and the wicked consigned to misery. "4. That wealth does not secure us from death. How vain are riches to secure "The rich, the beautiful the gay, as well as the poor, go down to the grave. All their pomp an apparel; all their honors, their palaces and their gold cannot save them. Death can as easily find his way into the mansions of the rich as into the cottages of the poor, and the rich shall turn to the same corruption, and soon, like the poor, be undistinguished from common dust, and be unknown. 5. We should not envy the condition of the rich. "On slippery rocks I see them stand, "6. We should strive for a better inheritance, than can be possessed inthis life. "Now I esteem their mirth and wine. 7. The sufferings of the wicked in hell will be indiscribably great. Think what is represented by torment, by burning flame, by insupportable thirst, by that state when a single drop of water would afford relief. Remember that all this is but a representation of the pains of the damned, and that this will have no relief, day nor night, but will continue from RECOMMENDATIONS OF BARNES' NOTES. year to year, and age to age, and without any end, and you have a faint view of the sufferings of those who are in hell. 8. There is a place of suffering beyond the grave, a hell. If there is not, then this parable has no meaning. It is impossible to make anything of it unless it is designed to teach that. 9. There will never be any escape from those gloomy regions. There is a gulf fixed-fixed, not moveable. Nor can any of the damned beat pathway across this gulf, to the world of holiness. 10. We see the amazing folly of those, who suppose there may be an end to the sufferings of the wicked, and who on that supposition seem willing to go down to hell to suffer a long time, rather than go at once to heaven. If man were to suffer but a thousand years, or even one year, why should he be so foolish as to choose that suffering, rather than go at once to heaven, and be happy at once when he dies? "11. God gives us warning sufficient to prepare for death. He has sent his word, his servants, his son; he warns us by his Spirit and his providence, by the entreaties of our friends, and by the death of sinners. He offers us heaven, and he threatens hell. If all this will not move sinners, what would do it? There is nothing that would. "12. God will give us nothing farther to warn us. No dead man will come to life, to tell us what he has seen. If he did, we would not believe him. Religion appeals to man, not by ghosts and frightful apparitions. It appeals to their reason, their conscience, their hopes, and their fears.It sets life and death soberly before men, and if they will not choose the former they must die. If you will not hear the Son of God, and the truth of the Scriptures, there is nothing which you will or can hear; you will never be persuaded, and never will escape the place of torment." If we have any influence with our readers. we would recommend them to buy these volumes. There is hardly any Christian in the land, who will not find them an invaluable treasure. Extract of a Letter from a distinguished Divine of New England. It (Barnes' Notes) supplies an important and much needed desideratum in the means of Sabbath School and Bible Class instruction. Without descending to minute criticism, or attempting a display of learning. it embraces a wide range of general reading, and brings out the results of an extended and careful investigation of the most important sources of Biblical knowledge. The style of the work is as it should be, plain, simple, direct; often vigorous and striking; always serious and earnest. It abounds in fine analyses of thought and trains of argument, admirably adapted to aid Sabbath School Teachers in their responsible duties: often too, very useful to Ministers when called suddenly to prepare for religious meetings, and always helpful in conducting the exercises of a Bible Class. Without vouching for the correctness of every explanation and sentiment contained in the Notes, its author appears to have succeeded very nappily in expressing the mind of the Holy Spirit as revealed in those parts of the New Testament which he has undertaken to explain. The theology taught in these volumes, drawn as it is from the pure fountain of truth, is eminently common sense and practical. It has little to do with theory or speculation. The author appears not to be unduly wedded to any particular school or Bystem of theology, but to have a mind trained to habits of independent thinking, readily submissive to the teachings of inspiration, but indisposed to call any man master, or to set up anything in opposition to the plain testimony of the Bible. We would here say, once for all, we consider Barnes' Notes the best commentary for families we have seen.-N. E. Spectator, RECOMMENDATIONS OF BARNES' NOTES. Ir the degree of popular favor with which a work of biblical instruc tion is received by an intelligent Christian community be a just criterion of its value, the volumes which the Rev. Mr. Barnes is giving the Church are entitled to a high place in the scale of merit.-N. Y. Evangelist. From Review of the Gospels in Biblical Repertory. We have only to say further, by way of introduction, that we admire the practical wisdom evinced by Mr. Barnes in selecting means by which to act upon the public mind, as well as his self-denying diligence in laboring to supply the grand defect of our religious education. Masterly exposition, in a popular form, is the great desideratum of the Christian public The Notes are always readable, and almost always to the point. Nothing appears to have been said for the sake of saying something. This is right. It is the only principle on which our books of popular instruction can be written with success. Its practical value is evinced by the extensive circulation of the work before us, as well as by the absence of that heaviness and langour, which inevitably follow from a verbose style, or the want of a definite object. Mr. Barnes' explanations are in general brief and clear, comprising the fruit of very diligent research. We have been inuch pleased with his condensed synopsis of the usual arguments on some disputed points, as well as with his satisfactory solution of objections. But Mr. Barnes' has not been satisfied with merely explaining the language of the text. He has taken pains to add those illustrations which verbal exposition, in the strict sense cannot furnish. The book is rich in archæological information. All that could well be gathered from the common works on biblical antiquities, is wrought into the Notes upon those passages which need such elucidation. In general we admire the skill with which he sheds the light of archeology and history upon the text of scripture, and especially the power of compression which enables him to crowd a mass of knowledge into a narrow space without obscurity. While the explanation of the text is the primary object kept in view throughout these notes, religious edification is by no means slighted. Mr. Barnes' devotional and practical remarks bear a due proportion to the whole. From what we have said it follows of course, that the work before us has uncommon merit. Correct explanation, felicitous lustration, and impressive application, are the characteristic attributes of a successful commentary. Though nothing can be added in the way of commendation which is not involved in something said already, there are two detached points which deserve perhaps to be distinctly stated. We are glad to see that Mr. Barnes not only shuns the controversial mode of exposition. but often uses expressions on certain disputed subjects, which in their obvious sense, convey sound doctrine in its strictest form. What variety of meaning these expressions may admit of, or are likely to convey, we do not know; but we are sure that in their simple obvious meaning they are strongly Calvanistic in the good old sense. The other point to which we have alluded is Mr. Barnes' frankness and decision in condemning fanatical extravagance and inculcating Christian prudence. With respect to Mr. Barnes' style we have little to say beyond a general commendation. The pains which he has wisely taken to be brief have compelled him to write well. |