(4.) Its chronological relations; and a commentary on the first three chapters.

There is not a more interesting book in the Old Testament than the Book of Judges, nor is there a book in which, notwithstanding the difficulties it presents,-difficulties religious, moral, historical and chronological-distinct traces of the Divine hand are more discernible. Nay, further, the very magnitude of the difficulties it contains, especially of the religious and moral difficulties, heightens our certainty that God had to do with its composition. If it had been a merely human record of assassination, murder, treachery, apostacy, confusion and other crimes, it could never have been such as to edify and instruct. Dr. Bachmann has shown the divine purpose which pervades this history of the foundation of the Jewish polity with learning and ability.

Bunsen's Bibelwerk.

Das Reich Gottes und das Leben Jesu
Bunsen's Bible-Work. The Kingdom of God and the
London: Asher &

Life of Jesus.) Leipzig: Brockhaus.
Co. 1865.

We are informed that Bunsen occupied his mind for full thirty years with the subject of the Life of Jesus,' the first sketch of the present work having been made in the years 1823 to 1834, and the last revision completed shortly before his death.

What are the results at which-a man so eminent both as a statesman, a scholar and a theologian arrived? He divides the 'Life of Jesus' into five periods :-(1.) From his baptism to the imprisonment of John and his own; return to Galilee from Judea-nine months, from February to December, 780. (2.) The interval between the imprisonment and the execution of John-three-and-a-half months, from the end of December, 780, to shortly before Easter, 781. (3.) From the feeding of the 5000 to his arrival in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles,54 months, Easter to September, 781. (4.) From the feast of Tabernacles, 781, till his entry into Jerusalem, Easter, 782. (5.) The Passion Week (Easter, 782), the Resurrection, and the forty days with the Disciples. Besides these sections a prior one treats of the youth of Jesus. The latter he regards as the vehicle of philosophical and religious ideas, the key to which is given by the Gospel of John. The temptations of Christ were inner conflicts which he underwent, and narrated to his disciples. The miracles are partly real, as for example, the cures performed; partly not real, as for example, the conversion of water into wine, and the feeding of the 5,000. In the former case, Jesus had by him a large bottle of very good wine which he mixed with a great deal of water; in the latter case, the feeding was the work of a a general spirit of self-sacrifice on the part of those who possessed eatables, awakened by Christ's example. The death of Jesus was a state of complete unconsciousness in which, as in a swoon, sensi'bility had ceased, but from which an awakening was possible.' His resurrection was not in opposition to the laws of Nature, though an historical fact. After showing himself to his disciples a few days in and round Jerusalem, and in Galilee, he withdrew probably into Phenicia, where he died a natural death. This is the Life of Him who, as Bunsen says, was the most perfect revelation of the Divine in humanity! This is the result of thirty years labour! How Bunsen could be the sincerely pious man, that all who enjoyed his acquaintance, believe him to have been,

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and, at the same time, cherish such views of the Life of the Saviour,' is a problem which no one will solve on this side the grave. That the work contains many things worthy of attention we need scarcely say; but as a Life of Jesus it is totally unsatisfactory, and presents one of the most melancholy signs of the times.

Leipzig:

Geschichte der Protestantischen Theologie (History of Protestant Theology). VON PROF. FRANK, JENA. Breitkoff und Härtel. London: Asher & Co. 1865. This work covers to some extent the same ground as that by Dr. Dorner of Berlin (noticed in our October number), but differs from it both in spirit and design. Professor Frank, we believe, inclines to rationalism, and he exhibits the successive systems of theology that made their appearance in Germany in fuller detail, than Dr. Dorner's plan allowed him to do. The definition given of Protestantism in the first volume, would be considered by most orthodox theologians likely to vitiate a good part of the work. It is as follows: Protestantism is the free surrender of the self-determining subject to true Chris'tianity, as the ideal religion.' But whatever its rationalistic defects, it supplies much carefully sifted material in a readable shape.

Origin of the Four Gospels. By CONSTANTINE TISCHENDORF. Translated under the Author's sanction, By WILLIAM L. GAGE. London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder.

This is a revised and greatly enlarged edition of the pamphlet entitled 'When were our Gospels Written,' recently published by the Religious Tract Society. The pamphlet was written for popular use. This is more adapted for scholars. It is a very able conspectus of the historical evidence for the genuineness and authenticity of the Gospels.

Short Arguments about the Millennium. By BENJAMIN CHARLES YOUNG. London: Elliot Stock.

The New Creation. By JOHN MILLS. London: Elliot Stock.

These Arguments about the Millennium' are short, but they are very much to the purpose. They are also opportune. Zealous and persistent efforts, on a wide scale, are continually being made to spread the views which are controverted in this volume, and though it may be difficult (inasmuch as they are as numerous and variable as those who hold them) to meet these views in all their developments, we think Mr. Young has succeeded in refuting their main positions, and in proving that the second Advent of the Saviour will not be pre-millennial, that the establishment of his kingdom will not be sudden, that it will not be a temporal one, nor his reign on the earth personal.

The New Creation' of Mr. Mill differs from the 'Short Arguments' in the fact that, rather than disproving the theories of others, he is engaged in maintaining one of his own. He holds that the New Heavens and the New Earth predicted by Isaiah indicates, not the final state of perfect happiness, but the change which is being made in the souls of men by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. By the New Heavens we are to understand that Divine system by which the inhabitants of the earth

NO. XCIV.

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will be made partakers of a spiritual nature and become obedient to 'the will of God, and by the New Earth that happy condition of the human family when this renovating work shall have been effected."

These views are clearly stated and well sustained. Mr. Mill's book will be read by those who are interested in the subject of which it treats with great satisfaction, but it would have been more acceptable had some of the chapters been compressed.

The Ground and Object of Hope for Mankind. Four Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge in November, 1867. By the Rev. F. D. MAURICE, M.A. London : Macmillan.

Were not Mr. Maurice capable of expressing distinct meanings in lucid and nervous English, he would not have been so often complained of for failing to do so. His readers have no cause to complain here. Every sentence is simple in language, natural in construction, and obvious in meaning. The object of Mr. Maurice is to rest the hope of the missionary, the patriot, the churchman, and the man, in the millennium of the future upon an intelligent and secure basis. Why do we hope that the kingdom of Christ will be established? Many Christians whose faith is very strong and assertive, would, we fear, find it difficult to give a conclusive answer. With many it is largely an instinctive desire; with some it is chiefly a conclusion based upon prophecy and miracle. Mr. Maurice relies mainly upon the moral power of truth. The missionary, he thinks, is not to trouble his hearers much with lectures on the evidences. Although equipped for it as few men have been, Paul on Mars' Hill did not; he simply proclaimed the living God and the risen Christ. We think, however, that there was a good deal of argumentative reasoning as well as of fervent proclamation in Paul. Mr. Maurice's intense intuitionalism as it has led him to undervalue or reject certain aspects of Christian doctrine-the judicial aspect of the atonement for instance-so it has led him to disparage unduly certain historical and logical forms of Christian evidence. Our Lord did not disparage the evidence of the prophets, nor the evidential use of miracles, although he gave the superior place of nobleness and power to the spiritual elements of truth.

Still faith in God and in truth is the grand hope of all who do hopethe missionary and the patriot, the churchman and the man. If a man deems himself a Jew simply because he is not a Gentile, if belief in one God is simple denial of many Gods, if being a churchman is simply not being a dissenter, a man's basis of hope is narrow and false. This Mr. Maurice propounds in true and noble words. We wish, however, his thoughts were somewhat more cleanly cut. There is a nebulous haze about them which makes them indistinct. Mr. Maurice thinks in a somewhat dense atmosphere of mysticism or theosophy. Only very careful readers, we may say practised thinkers, can feel sure of the precise form and value of his idea. If the clearness of his expression were equal to the depth of his meanings, Mr. Maurice would be a teacher of great and permanent power.

The Hero of the Desert; or Facts more Wonderful than Fiction. By the Rev. JAMES SPONG. London: the Book Society. Under this title, The Hero of the Desert,' Mr. Spong has given us a series of essays or meditations on the life of Moses. Taking for the

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foundation of his remarks successive chapters of the record in Exodus, he has illustrated and enforced the lessons which they teach.

There are many to whom this very attractive volume will be acceptable as a book for Sunday reading, and it will doubtless be a favourite with a large circle who desire to occupy their leisure with devout and profitable thought. It is simple, evangelical, and earnest; singularly free from many of the faults which characterise the so-called Christian literature of the day.

Bible Class Studies on some of the Words of the Lord Jesus. By JESSIE COOMBS. London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder.

Miss Coombs has been encouraged by the reception given to her Thoughts for the Inner Life' to put forth a second series of 'Short Meditations, or Sermons,' which, we presume, were prepared as 'Bible Class Papers.' They are neither profound nor critical, but they are intelligent, graceful, and tender, and appeal wisely and powerfully to all that is noblest and purest in life. The volume is an excellent example of the class of devotional works to which it belongs.

The Tables of Stone. A Course of Sermons Preached in All Saint's Church, Cambridge, during the Michaelmas Term, 1867. By HERBERT MORTIMER LUCKOCK, M.A. London: Macmillan & Co.

The Second Table of the Commandments. A Perfect Code of Natural Moral Law and of Fundamental Human Law, and the Criterion of Justice. By DAVID ROWLAND. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

Inasmuch as the decalogue enfolds the eternal principles of human piety and virtue it must ever have an important place in religious teaching. If the teacher be competent its exposition will touch all the great theological and moral questions of every age. It proposes the standard, and every form of error is error in proportion to its deflection from it.

Mr. Luckock devotes eight sermons to the Ten Commandments, the Third and Fifth, and the Eighth and Tenth being considered together. Of course the survey of Idolatrous, Pantheistic, Polytheistic, Deistic and other systems opposed to the First and Second Commandments, in a couple of sermons, must be very cursory indeed; and we are compelled to say it is as superficial as it is cursory. Mr. Luckock fails to lay hold of great root principles, which are the key to all truth and error. He simply seizes surface characteristics. Idolatry, for instance, is not even conceived in its true genesis, it is treated as a gross substitution of material things as objects of worship for the spiritual God, which is only its second stage of development; its first being the use of material things as symbols of the spiritual God. Mr. Luckock simply attributes its origin to human depravityhe can find no philosophy or rationale of it; had he done so he would not, with so much simplicity and gravity, have argued for the proper use of the cross in baptism. Mr. Luckock, too, has a reverential regard for the legend of Constantine's fiery cross, which, he says, was an immediate revelation from God, and a plain direction to take the cross as the symbol and banner of his faith.'

Mr. Rowland is an able advocate of absolute and eternal morality

as opposed to the utilitarianism of Paley, Bentham, and Mill, whose systems he subjects to acute, and, we think, just criticisms. With most philosophers and theologians of the absolutist school, he finds the ultimate basis of right and wrong, not in the will but in the nature of God. These distinctions are found in his being, beyond this we cannot carry inquiry. He finds identity, too, in God's laws and man's moral nature. We agree with Mr. Rowland's general principles, and we cordially commend his treatment of them.

In Memoriam James Hamilton, D.D., the beloved Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Regent-square.-This attractive volume, which, though not published, is nevertheless placed in many hands, forms a charming memorial of the saintly, loveable, and accomplished man, whose loss so many of us feel acutely. It contains a brief record of his life followed by four sermons of unequal but of sterling merit, showing extraordinary diversity of literary conception and expression, but breathing the same spirit. These sermons were preached by Dr. Candlish, the Rev. Henry Allon, the Rev. John Matheson, and the Rev. W. Brock. Seventeen extracts are appended from sermons or addresses delivered by other honoured members of different religious communions in reference to the departure from among us of the beloved James Hamilton. They breathe one spirit of chastened gratitude that so beautiful and holy a life had been lived, that such high and varied powers had been witnessed by many. The speakers all seemed drawn nearer to the Father's house, in which their brother is now at home, and in the spirit of one of the sermons, they smile through their unbidden tears at the little while' that parts them from him. Heroes of Discovery: Magellan, Cook, Park, Franklin, Livingstone.— By SAMUEL MOSSMAN. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas.-Young people and half-educated people need to have information condensed for them and put into a popular form; and the more careful and scholarly the process of condensation the more valuable the result. It demands great learning to make things simple. Mr. Mossman has compressed into a moderate sized and very readable, although we can hardly call it a graphic volume, an account of the lives and discoveries of the great travellers whose names appear upon his title page; that is, he has given us the essence of many large volumes in one small one. This is necessarily at the cost of what is often the distinctive charm of books of travel -the detailed diary of the traveller. The art of biography is not a very common one, and it consists of much more than a condensation of facts. Mr. Mossman has hardly been critical or careful enough in his narratives. He could perhaps hardly be expected to know that Mungo Park's Account of the First Exploration, written by himself,' one of the most pleasing narratives in the English language,' was really written from the traveller's notes by Mr. Bryan Edwards, as publicly affirmed by Mr. Edwards at a meeting of the African Association; but there are many other blunders which a little care would have prevented. Yorkshire, for instance, is robbed of the honour of having given birth to Captain Cook. When Mr. Mossman wrote more fear than hope gathered round the fate of Dr. Livingstone. We trust the great discoverer will yet read the minute details which Mr. Mossman gives of the manner and circumstances of his death. His book, however, is a very excellent one for young people and village libraries.