Again, he argues that David's palace and "city" were in the Low Town, inasmuch as "Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her," that is, she was "brought up from the Lower Town in Ophel." Yet, a few pages later, he endeavors to prove that Solomon's palace stood upon Ophel, in the Lower Town, below the Temple platform, " in the quadrangular area now the garden of El-Aksa.""

But these incongruities do not seriously detract from a work which is really a valuable contribution to the topography and archaeology of the Holy City.

HODGE'S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS (last edition).

J. P. T.

Darling's Encyclopaedia Bibliographica, published in London in 1859, gives the titles of more than three thousand separate books, which had then been written and published on the Apostle Paul and his Epistle to the Romans. It is not at all probable that that respectable bookseller, Mr. Darling, had discovered all the books on this subject which had then been written; and it is certain that the number has been considerably increased since. Every letter of every one of these books must have been laboriously traced by a living hand; every single type must have been placed separately in the composing-stick by the fingers of a compositor. There must have been proof-reading, justifying, press-work for every page, and then folding, stitching, binding, etc., for every volume, and some copies of each work must have found more or less of venders, purchasers, and readers. It would have been enough to drive the apostle crazy, if he were put upon calculating how many human fingers in all after ages would be meddling with his work; and the manner of meddling, in many instances, if he could have foreseen it, would have been still more trying. Of these three thousand writers and more, some probably wrote because they felt an impulse to write which they could not easily suppress; others, with the desire of doing good; others, excited by controversy; many, in the expectation of literary celebrity; a few, perhaps, that they might put a piece of bread in their mouths (and a small piece they probably found it); and all, with the hope of being read and attended to. How many of these three thousand have had their hopes realized? How many of them at this day are noticed or even known?

Yet with all these three thousand, the perfect commentary has not to this day been written. Perhaps each one of these books has done something, either positively or negatively, toward progress; they have, for the most part, afforded a harmless employment to the writers, and this is something:

"For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do";

1 Page 268.

and type-founders, type-setters, printers, paper-makers, bookbinders, publishers, booksellers, etc., have all had some share in the benefit. Well, one cannot help thinking, with the wise man, "of making many books there is no end."

This last edition of Dr. Hodge's work is a decided improvement on all the editions which have preceded it. The Apostle Paul does not seem to be quite so much under the pupilage of Dr. Alexander the elder as he was at first. He speaks rather more freely and breathes easier than he did. The book is very well and ably written, both as to matter and style. The expositions are good, except where the author is bemired in the intricacies of an abstruse and comparatively modern theology, which the apostle never heard or dreamed of, and which aid in the interpretation of the epistle about as much as the differential calculus would help a boy to understand the multiplication table.

In the fifth of Romans Paul says nothing about Adam's posterity having had a fair probation in him; he does not even give a hint that Adam's descendants might be justly punished for sins which they had never committed, provided only that God would impute Adam's sin to them, though it would be very wrong for God thus to punish them if he did not first make that imputation to them. Paul had never learned to call Adam the federal head and representative of his race; nor did he talk of forensic or judicial proceedings on the part of our Creator in his dealings with his creatures. All expressions of this kind are the inventions of men much further from Christ than Paul was; inventions probably at first well meant to escape from metaphysical difficulties; but as to all practical purposes at the present day, they are like helping a man out of the mire by covering him over with clay.

We do not know that there is any special objection to the use of such terms as theological technics or the metaphorical expression of the results of philosophical speculation; but we cannot see that they have, or can have, any other uses. Examine carefully Dr. Hodge's elaborate discussion of Rom. v. 12-21. Let us state a case by way of illustration; unhappily a case that is very familiar and of every day occurrence. A brilliant, prosperous young man becomes intemperate, and sinks down, down to brutal, senseless, idiotic drunkenness. He has an accomplished, sensitive wife, and beautiful, intelligent daughters. They suffer all the evils of poverty, hunger, cold, destitution, as much as, even more than he does, and tenfold more than he does, from the agonies of a conscious degradation. This is the fact, the hard, cruel fact, as it exists to this day in thousands of cases, and as it has existed every day for thousands of years. Now, does it relieve the matter at all, does it make the fact one whit more intelligible or easier to bear, to say that the husband is the federal head and representative of the wife and children; that in him they had had a fair probation, that therefore it is right in God to impute his sin to them, and having imputed it to them, it is then

right in him to punish them with so terrible a punishment for sins which they had never committed, though it would have been very wrong in him to do so if he had not imputed the sins of the husband and father to them? If it is unjust to make posterity suffer for the sin of the ancestor, how does it diminish the injustice, even entirely take it away, to add falsehood to cruelty?

It is a fact clearly stated by the apostle, that, as a consequence of Adam's sin, all his posterity sin and suffer. This fact has its counterpart in every page of human history. Everywhere and every day human creatures, and other creatures also, do suffer intensely for sins which they have never committed, and simply in consequence of their involuntary and unavoidable connection with others who have committed these sins. Now does it help the matter at all to call these sufferings punishments; to say that those who did commit the sins are the representatives of those who did not commit them; that in the former the latter had a fair probation, and therefore it is right that the sins of the former should be imputed to the latter, and that this imputation renders it right for God to subject them to the most terrible punishments for sins which they had never even dreamed of committing? It does seem to us that it must require a long theological training to acquire the faculty of finding relief in any such intricacies as these; as well call the gout music, and then insist upon it that it affords a most pleasurable sensation. We must think (with reverence be it spoken, and begging every-body's pardon) there is a vast amount of solemn nonsense spoken and written on this subject. There are mysteries and difficulties in the character and condition of God's creatures, so far as known to us; but the explanations and alleviations proposed by theologians are often tenfold more trying than the mysteries and difficulties themselves.

The philological treatment of this passage (Rom. v. 12-21) is exceedingly defective. Dr. Hodge makes no account whatever of the Greek article (vs. 15, 17, 19) which Paul here uses with such significancy and precision. On Dr. Hodge's exposition the passage ought to teach, and must teach, clear, blank universalism, that is, the final restoration of all mankind, without exception, to holiness and happiness.

Chap. vii. 12-25 Dr. Hodge understands of the converted man, and of the converted man exclusively. But he admits, what, indeed, every one sees at a glance, that the preceding verses from vi. 1 are designed to show that the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to sin, but to holiness; that, as man is, it is the law that leads to sin, and it is the gospel, and the gospel only, that does or can, in the present state of things, lead to holiness. If, then, the conclusion of the apostle's arguments on this point (vs. 7-25) applies exclusively to the converted man under the gospel, and not at all to the unconverted man under the law, has he not reversed his own argument, and shown conclusively that as to producing sanctification the gospel has no advantage over the law - that both law and gospel

here are equally inefficacious? Does not the very exigency of the apostle's argument require that the subject be not considered here as converted or unconverted, but as under the law or under the gospel; as seeking, whether converted or unconverted, to become holy by the law rather than by the gospel? This brings everything to its proper place, and makes the argument complete. As matter of fact it is true that every man must be either converted or unconverted; but abstraction is often a very important element in carrying on a sound argument.

We are on the whole gratified with the exposition of that most brilliant and exhilarating chapter, the eighth, though to some statements and criticisms we should take exceptions; and substantially the same remark we should make on the exegesis of the ninth chapter.

On the eleventh chapter Dr. Hodge does not tell us distinctly what it is that the Jews fell from, nor what it is that they are to be restored to. That it was not the opportunity of individual salvation that they fell from is perfectly plain, for, so far as this was concerned, they stood on precisely the same ground that the Gentiles did, and actually quite as many of the Jews in proportion to the whole number were then converted and saved as there was of the Gentiles (see Acts xxi. 20; xi. 21; v. 15; v. 5; ii. 94). What was it, then, that the Jews had lost, and which must be restored to them? Nothing, unless it was their pre-eminence as the church of God on earth. In what particular method their restoration will take place Paul does not say; the fact of such a restoration he distinctly affirms.

Our judgment of this commentary is, on the whole, very favorable, both as to its ability and great correctness. It has decided merits as well as glaring faults; and will well reward a discriminating and diligent study.

The great theological conflict, beginning with what is generally called the New Haven controversy, wrong as it was in some of its incidents, has resulted in great good. It has led to more careful definitions; it has at least partially dethroned the old dogmatists, whose word before was law; it has made necessary a closer and wider study of dogmatic history and the original scriptures; and has increased a mutual charity by enlarging the basis of investigation. The commentary of Dr. Hodge, as it appears in this edition, could not have been written at Princeton twenty-five years ago.

C. E. S.

MANNING AND BROWN UNIVERSITY.1

The title of this volume expresses the double purpose of its author; namely, to furnish a biography of Dr. Manning and a history of Rhode Island College under his presidency. Such a work will be read with

1 Life, Times, and Correspondence of James Manning, and the Early History of Brown University. By Reuben Aldridge Guild. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 1864.

delight by the friends of sound learning, and especially by the Alumni of Brown University; for common tradition ascribes to Dr. Manning eminent abilities as well as usefulness, and to the college under his administration marked success. Moreover, the recent centennial anniversaries of the college and the Baptist church in Warren, remind us that a memoir of him who was the first president of the one and the first pastor of the other has not appeared too soon. "Nearly three quarters of a century have elapsed since he passed from earth. Of all Dr. Manning's intimate associates, and of his numerous pupils, not one is now living to aid by personal recollections any endeavor to embody, in a suitable form, memorials of his character and deeds." It is also to be remembered, that the records necessary to a proper delineation of his life were liable to perish, as, indeed, many of them had already perished. "The greater portion of Dr. Manning's papers," says Mr. Guild, "being loosely kept in barrels, were, through a sad mistake which good house wives sometimes make, unfortunately destroyed. These papers comprised, without doubt, private diaries, important narratives, records pertaining to the church, the college, the association; in short, ample materials for his own personal history and the history of his times." We are therefore grateful to the accomplished librarian of Brown University for gathering up the scattered leaves which remain, and by careful study preparing for us this goodly volume.

But was it wise to unite the biography and the history in one work? Would not the former have been more interesting and equally instructive, if only such references to the college had been made as were necessary to a description of the labors and character of Dr. Manning? And would not the latter have been more instructive and equally entertaining, if it had been given to the public in a volume by itself? Why attempt to carry along two distinct threads of narrative, and thus distract the reader's attention? It must be weighty reasons which justify a writer in undertaking so difficult a task. Do they exist in the present case? Dr. Manning, it may be said in reply to this question, was the head of the college during his entire public life. For it he labored with great singleness of purpose and persistency of effort. For it he sundered, though with deep regret, the ties which bound him to the church in Warren. For it he at last resolved to withdraw entirely from the pastoral work which he loved. For it he wrote and journeyed and prayed. His letters bear witness to his perpetual solicitude for its prosperity, his unwearied endeavors to increase its usefulness. More than any other man the founder of the college, he was also more than any other man its life and soul for above a quarter of a century. He was a leader in nearly every movement which affected its interests while he lived, and the history of its progress is therefore the history of his enterprise and action. If now it be added, that very little is known of his childhood and youth, we shall be able to see why a biography of Dr. Manning, occupied chiefly, as it must be, with his public life,