the principal editions of Jerome's works; of previous lives of the saint; and the plan of the present biography. First Division: 1. Birth and youth till his complete conversion to an ascetic life; 2. Ascetical and literary labors till his second journey to the East; 3. Jerome during the last twenty years of his residence at Bethlehem; 4. During the last fifteen years of his life. Second Division: 1. As a Christian writer in general; 2. As a translator and interpreter of scripture; 3. As a literary historian and biographer; 4. As a polemical and dogmatical theologian; 5. As an ascetical and practical theologian; 6. Estimate formed of Jerome by Christian writers in his own and subsequent ages.

Some perhaps may wish that Dr. Zöckler had given us more general pictures of Jerome's time, for example of the state of theology, of the preachers, of the practical characteristics of the church, etc.; he does, however, afford us many glimpses of the men and things of the age. The extracts from his letters are of great interest in this respect. If the space allotted to these notices allowed it, we should have been glad to introduce our readers not merely to the skeleton, but to the rich variety of substance gathered around it. The more such detail works are studied the clearer will be our conception of the early ages of the Christian church, and consequently the greater our ability to understand primitive Christianity. No one will lay down this Life of Jerome without thankfulness to its author. We may mention here that Dr. Zöckler is also the writer of a History of Asceticism, which is the fruit of long and careful study of the original sources; and that in conjunction with Lic. Grau, whose work on the Semitic and Indo-Germanic Nations we noticed in our April Number, he is about to edit a Journal whose aim will be to meet current objections to revealed religion in general, and Christianity in particular.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRist.

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Die Auferstehung Christi und ihre neueste Bestreitung. Von Prof. Dr. Beyschlag, Halle. Berlin: L. Rank. London: Asher and Co. 1865. — A small, popular, clear, but able little book on a great subject. The argument is directed chiefly against the views set forth by Strauss in his last Life of Jesus; and are, to our mind, most convincing. We should, indeed, like to see a good translation circulated by thousands throughout the land. But to all who read German we warmly commend the original.

THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH.

Die Weissagungen des Propheten Jesaia. Prolegomena zu einem neuen Handbuch der Auslegung. Von Dr. Fried. Hosse. Berlin: Verlag von Wiegandt und Grieben. 1865.-The author announces in this introductory work his intention to issue a Commentary on Isaiah, in which, more

than in the numerous commentaries already published, the prophet's utterances shall be interpreted in the light of their connection with the New Testament. A secondary object is to furnish a work in which the errors of Luther's translation shall be noticed, and new translations be adequately defended. As to the Prolegomena themselves, they consist of a condensed discussion of five topics: (1) The composite parts of the book of Isaiah. It is divided into two parts, viz. chh. i.-xxxix. and chh. xl.-lxvi. ; the first subdivided into five collections: chh. i.-xii., xiii.-xxiii., xxiv.-xxvii., xxviii.-xxxv., xxxvi.-xxxix., and a brief summary of the contents given. (2) The critical question concerning the genuineness of the whole book. The author, contrary to the assumption of the great majority of German scholars, defends the unity of the book. He not only shows that the objection, that in the second part the prophet speaks of exile and desolation as already real, applies equally to passages in the first part, such, e.g. as i. 7-9, xi. 11-16, where a condition of exile seems to be assumed, and is inapplicable to passages in the second part, such as lvi. 9–12, lvii. 1, 2, where the exile is represented as still future. This reply the objectors easily obviate, in their way, by saying that the passages in question are interpolations. But he goes further, and adduces positive internal evidence of a unity of authorship. This he finds in several expressions common to both parts of the book, but peculiar to Isaiah; e.g." The Holy One of Israel"; "The Mighty One of Jacob"; "standard for the people"; "the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," etc. This section contains many suggestions which may well make one, even from a merely critical point of view, question whether an adherence to the oneness of Isaiah is any proof of superficiality. (3) A sketch is given of the historical relations of the prophet, and an attempt made to fix the date of the different oracles. (4) The fundamental ideas that characterize Isaiah's prophecies. These are: The designation of God as "the Holy One of Israel "; the term "servant of God" as applied to the Jewish people and to God's messenger; the revelation of God's glory as the final cause of his ways. (5) Prophecy and fulfilment. Here are given some general remarks about the principles to be observed in considering the relation of Old Testament prophecies to New Testament history. The work gives evidence of careful scholarship, and the promised commentary will, we trust, prove to be a useful accession to exegetical literature.

THE LIFE OF BENGEL.

Nach Stutt

Johann Albrecht Bengel. Lebensabriss, Character, Briefe und Aussprüche. Nebst einem Anhang aus seinen Predigten und Erbaunngsstunden. handschriftlichen Mittheilungen dargestellt von Dr. Oscar Wächter. gart: S. G. Liesching. 1865. - The Life of such a man as Bengel must be welcomed by all Christians. Dr. Wächter says in the preface: "My work is that of a compiler, on whom fidelity, even to the old-fashioned

expressions, was specially incumbent." Accordingly, a large part of the book consists of extracts from Bengel's letters and other writings. These, however, are so arranged as to present a very readable sketch of the life and characteristics of Bengel. The outward incidents of his life are few; the chief interest of the biography consists in the picture it gives us of the inner life, the social and religious character of one whose labors have already become the heritage of all Christendom, but whose piety, though reflected in his works, deserves to be, as it here is, exhibited in a still stronger light. If it is true that the biographical literature of Germany is comparatively meager, the deficiency cannot be owing to the lack of interesting subjects and of suitable materials. Of this the work before us is one proof, and we hope it will be followed by others.

ARTICLE IX.

RECENT ENGLISH AND AMERICAN WORKS.

LIFE OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. By William Forsyth, M.A., Q.C. New York: Charles Scribner and Co.

THE best modern life of Cicero hitherto, has been that of Middleton, first published more than a century ago. But Middleton's work was an almost indiscriminate panegyric, and he hardly goes beyond the public and political life of the orator. If Middleton erred on the side of over praise, certain later writers, especially among the Germans, of whom Drumann and Mommsen may be particularly noticed, have indulged in what can hardly be considered as anything but studied detraction. Even Mr. Long, who with care and ample scholarship has edited an admirable edition of Cicero's speeches, speaks of him sometimes in a tone of cold severity, as one who "as a man does not command admiration or respect"; who "falls far below the measure of a generous, sincere, and noble character." These words, not to be cruel and unjust to a great reputation, should be based on a broad foundation of facts, and this basis we believe cannot be found. That Cicero was sometimes vacillating, undecided in great emergencies, constitutionally vain, and sometimes weak, must be allowed. He was not a soldier; he was not Caesar; he may have been wanting in physical courage; but he knew-none better the corruption and dishonor of the times, the craft, duplicity and violence everywhere prevalent, the small trust to be placed in public men, and the constant danger to the state from the unscrupulous and unprincipled. If he had personal foibles and faults, as a statesman and patriot he was noble-minded, true, and sagacious. He en

tered on no mean or unworthy courses, and he seldom failed to foresee the result of state policy. The conspirators against Caesar would not admit Cicero to their counsels, because they feared his caution and timidity; but if he had joined them he never would have suffered the political blunders which led to their destruction. The spirit of Niebuhr and Erasmus will enable us to judge more fairly of so great a man as Cicero than the narrower and colder criticism of some of the moderns. Niebuhr says: “I love Cicero as if I had known him, and I judge of him as I would judge of a near relation who had committed a folly ;" and Erasmus, in the preface to the Tusc. Quaest., says: "I can never read the works of Cicero on Old Age, or Friendship, or Duties, or his Tusculan Disputations, without fervently pressing them to my lips, without being penetrated with the pro-1 foundest veneration for a mind little short of inspired by God himself. I would rather that Scotus and all that set should perish than be deprived of the works of Cicero. I feel a better man for reading Cicero; whereas reading the Schoolmen is as ice to my soul."

Mr. Forsyth avoids the faults of indiscriminate eulogy on the one side, and of unsympathizing criticism on the other. He sees and allows the foibles and errors of the great orator, but he sees also the virtues, and endeavors fairly to strike the balance. He gives us, as far as possible, his private life, interweaving his familiar letters so as to make the man live again, and we see him, not only contending against Catiline, or defending Milo, but travelling to Terracina and Brandusium, enjoying for the first time the splendors of Athens, or entertaining Caesar on the 20th of December, B.C. 44, at his villa near Puteoli, and, notwithstanding the trouble of taking care of a thousand guests, "acquitting himself, as he says, like a man."

This work of Mr. Forsyth is of real value, because of its sound learning and its honest judgment of a very great Roman, and because it brings the source of knowledge within the easy reach of us all.

"What a blank there would have been," says Mr. Forsyth, "in the annals of Rome and the history of the world if Cicero had never lived...... The more we think of all we owe him, of all he did, and wrote, and spoke, the more shall we be disposed to agree with the prophetic judgment of the historian' who says: Vivit vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam...... Citiusque e mundo genus hominum quam Ciceronis gloria e memoriâ hominum unquam cedet.'"

The style of Mr. Forsyth is plain and direct, if not especially picturesque. He gives us what we most desire, a clear and intelligible idea of the man, Cicero, and the turbulent times in which he lived.

DISCUSSIONS ON THE GOSPELS, in two Parts. Part I. On the Language Employed by our Lord and his Disciples. Part II. On the Original Language of St. Matthew's Gospel, and on the Origin and Authenticity of the Gospels. By Alexander Roberts, D.D. Second edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. pp. 571. Cambridge and London: Macmillan and Co.

1864.

"The object of the First Part of this Treatise is to prove directly from the New Testament itself that Greek was widely diffused, well understood, and commonly employed for all public purposes in Palestine during the period spent on earth by our Lord and his apostles" (p. 1). “That Greek was in several important respects the then prevailing language of Palestine; that it was in particular the language generally employed in public intercourse; the language which a religious teacher would have no hesitation in selecting and making use of, for the most part, as the vehicle of conveying his instructions, whether orally or in writing, and the language, accordingly, which was thus employed both by our Saviour and his apostles" (p. 5). "While it is now generally said that our Lord spoke for the most part in Hebrew, and only sometimes in Greek, what I venture to maintain is, that he spoke for the most part in Greek, and only sometimes in Hebrew" (p. 16).

In his Second Part Dr. Roberts contends against the supposition that Matthew's Gospel was originally written in Hebrew and Greek, also against the supposition that it was written in Hebrew alone. His reasoning in his First Part must incline, if not necessitate, him to adopt the opinion, which he defends very decidedly, that Matthew's Gospel was written in the language in which it has been transmitted to us. In accounting for the origin of the Gospels, Dr. Roberts rejects the theory of the Ur-Evangelium, also the theory that one evangelist copied from another; and contends that "our Lord Jesus Christ spoke in Greek, and the evangelists independently narrated his actions, and reported his discourses in the same language which he had himself employed” (p. 486).

Thus we see that the theory pervading the entire volume, and subjecting other speculations to it, is, that the Greek language was generally used by our Lord in his religious instructions, and therefore we have not merely his ideas, but his identical words, preserved in the Gospels. This theory, so contrary to that generally maintained, needs to be supported by very strong arguments. We think that Dr. Roberts has not established his theory, althought he has evinced much ingenuity and an excellent spirit in defending it. This Treatise abounds with good and useful thoughts.