ical, clear, and euphemistic, but these improvements will not balance the needless variations and positive errors that we think he has introduced. Take the first Psalm: "The wicked shall not rise up at the judgment, nor sinners at the assembly of the righteous." Note. "The rising up referred to is that of the resurrection, and the judgment post-resurrectionary." We find no reason in the Psalm, or in the use of, to manufacture thus an argument for the annihilation of the wicked. Of Ps. vii. 11, "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day," we have this translation: "God is a righteous judge; but a mighty one foams with rage every day." Note. "God is not the being who is angry every day. The Mighty One who is the subject of this infirmity is elsewhere called Satan." But see Ps. lxxvii. 14-16, Sawyer's translation. On the Book of Proverbs we find these strictures: "The continual repetition of the proverb about the contentious wife is disgusting"; "The doctrine of the rod in this poem, as applied to children, has a degree of asperity which marks a rude, uncultivated people."

Mr. Sawyer has singular views on the dates of the sacred writings, and these views he has woven into his translation, in the text and notes. The Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, first and second Samuel, and Kings, according to his theory, were not written out as we receive them till about B. c. 500. Moses not only did not write the Pentateuch, but had no knowledge of Hebrew letters. David did not write any of the Psalms, nor the major prophets the books assigned to them. Nay more. "All the books of the Hebrew Bible are anonymous, not excepting the later prophets, which are memoirs or memorials of the prophets, professing to represent their labors, and not authentic documents given under their hands and certified from their pens." Vol. II. 293. "None of them can date back beyond the Babylonian Exile"; p. 295. Even "the introduction of letters among the Hebrews [was] subsequent to the time of David." The book of Proverbs may have been composed, Mr. Sawyer thinks, as late as B. C. 150. Canticles" may be assigned to B. c. 140." Job "belongs to the last period of Hebrew literature." These assumed data set the received age and authorship of the sacred books of the Old Testament all afloat. To these novel notions of the translator we should add his theory that nothing in the Pentateuch is historically reliable before the times of Esau and Jacob. The accounts of the creation, of Adam and Eve, the fall, the death of Abel, the deluge, call of Abraham, offering of Isaac, etc., are to be taken allegorically. The persons named before Esau and Jacob were not real persons. They were "stock men," representatives or types, and not separate persons.

With such strange theories about the composition of the canon and its historical verity, we of course are in doubt how much Mr. Sawyer can serve revealed religion by his translations. Those only should use his volumes who are able to weigh his assumptions and oppose dicta to dicta, while we confess to his giving us new light on many passages. But with his novelties, crudities, and heresies, his very light has a suspicious glare. We give his translations this credit, that they furnish another strong evidence to the unapproachable excellence of our com. mon version.

Spots on the Sun, or the Plumb-Line Papers. Being a Series of Essays, or critical examinations of difficult passages of Scripture; together with a careful inquiry into certain dogmas of the Church. By Rev. T. M. HOPKINS, A. M., Geneva, N. Y. 12mo. pp. 367. Third edition. Geneva, N. Y.: William J. Moses. 1862.

WE have here eight essays on difficult passages in the Word of God and doctrines in the Church. The themes are those stirring ones for critics on which there have always been struggles in the theological world: "Sampson and his Foxes," "The Dial of Ahaz,” "The Resurrection of the Body," "The God-likeness in Man," "The Inexorable element in Law," "Did Christ preach the whole Gospel ?" "Stopping of the Sun and Moon," in two parts. Mr. Hopkins takes up these topics with great earnestness, and with a purpose to shed new and useful light. They have evidently been much and long in his mind, and he writes as one who loves the truth, and feels that wrong is done to it by the popular views on these subjects. Most commentators have found it difficult to manage those three hundred foxes, but Mr. Hopkins catches them napping, as he thinks, under an erroneous translation. The word by, fox or jackal, he derives from by, which he says means "to compress, squeeze together, bind." So the word rendered foxes, he renders bundles, and so translates the passage thus: "Then went Sampson and took three hundred bundles of grain," etc. But Gesenius does not sustain his definition of the word, and we feel the need, in reading the essay, of illustrative passages in the way of proof. The writer shows more ability in presenting the difficulties of the passage than in sustaining his proposed explanation. If his derivation and definition of the word rendered "foxes" can be sustained, he will give much aid on a difficult passage.

"The Dial of Ahaz" is resolved into "A flight of Stairs," or something on which shadows could fall, and so mark the progress of the sun. He convicts our translators of an anachronism, and so of start

ing a whole train of false ideas on this passage, by using the words "dial" and "degrees." No such chronometer as a dial, he affirms, was in use till centuries after the days of Ahaz. The account of the stopping of the sun and moon by Joshua he regards as an interpolation, and the position is argued at great length and in various ways. Part second of this essay, being a reply to one who had reviewed Mr. Hopkins, we regard as a blemish to the volume, in its personalities, spirit, and general style. The defects are more obvious as being found in a biblical criticism.

We commend the author for his moral courage in attacking these translations and dogmas, though with equivocal success. The essays are too wordy. The difficulties are stated and restated with tedious repetition and much authorial personality. The "foxes" could all have been despatched in one fourth the space by an economical use of ammunition, and “The Dial of Ahaz” would have been a stronger article in twenty pages than in its present fifty. Still we should remember that the essays were originally "Plumb-Line Papers," and designed for popular rather than scholarly readers.

The Canon of the Holy Scriptures examined in the Light of History. By Professor L. GAUSSEN, of Geneva, Switzerland, Author of "Theophneusty," "Birth-Day of Creation," etc., etc. Translated from the French, and Abridged, by EDWARD N. KIRK, D. D. 12mo. pp. 463. Published by the American Tract Society, 28 Cornhill, Boston. 1862.

THIS is an abridgment of Prof. Gaussen's work that fills two 8vo. volumes, and presents both parts of the great argument for the canonicity of the common version of the Bible- the Historical, and that which appeals to God's guardian care of his Word through the centuries, and to its effect, by divine grace, in the hearts of believers; or, as the author expresses it, "The Method of Science and the Method of Faith."

This volume gives us only the former, and contains an exhaustive discussion of the historical argument. The internal character of the Scriptures must continue to be, as it has always been, the more convincing argument for their canonicity; but that which is presented here challenges, and should receive, careful study. Any one who has never pursued this inquiry, would be surprised to find how complete is the evidence for the Bible as it is. It is difficult to conceive how it could be more so.

Prof. Gaussen begins with the New Testament, because, as he says,

"the proofs which show the canonicity of the books of the New Testament equally establish that of the Old." He traces the notion of a canon of the New Testament to the days of the apostles, describes its first formation in the last half of the first century, and then establishes its genuineness and authenticity by the most incontestable evidence of "Catalogues," "Councils," and "Fathers." Difficulties and objections are considered with patience, and shown to be without any substantial foundation.

The canonicity of the Old Testament is established on the clear and explicit testimony of the Jews, of Jesus Christ, and of the apostles. This abridgment is of great value, although scholars would much prefer the entire work of Prof. Gaussen, which was published as a sequel to his volume on the inspiration of the Scriptures.

Christian Self-Culture; or Counsels for the Beginning and Progress of a Christian Life. By LEONARD BACON. Boston: American Tract Society. 1863.

16mo. pp. 270.

THIS treatise travels substantially the route of Doddridge's “Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." The well-known name of its author is a sufficient index of its method and spirit. Its style is plain and direct; its atmosphere is intellectual; its theology business-like. It professes not to deal with truth doctrinally; yet a doctrinal substructure must hold up every discussion of the beginning, particularly, of the Christian life. To that which underlies and shapes this treatment of the supreme question of the soul's regeneration, we should give an assent with qualifications; hardly regarding the clearing up of the subject in chapter second as adequate to the occasion. The brevity of the explanations interferes with the writer's wonted perspicuity. The chapters on the cultivation of the religious graces are analytical and instructive. A warmer glow of spiritual fervor, as in Doddridge's ever quickening book, would better balance the ratiocinative tendencies of this volume, and clothe it with a much more persuasive power. It strikes us that, in the whole development of his theme, much too great a proportionate emphasis gathers about that little word "self" in the leading title, giving an undue preponderance to the human over the divine element in the work of Christian culture. The inquiry is a vital one, whether the true way to excite our most earnest coöperation with God, in this 'culture,' be not to put a very much stronger stress on the fact which Christ affirms "Without me ye can do nothing." This truth is indeed assumed in these pages; but they are not so steeped in its power and presence as we could wish.

We are indebted to the same publishing society for several smaller and more popular publications.

The Life of our Lord upon the Earth; Considered in its Historical, Chronological, and Geographical Relations. By SAMUEL J. ANDREWS. Crown octavo. pp. xvi., 624. New York: Charles Scribner. 1862.

THESE pages furnish ample evidence of careful and reverent study. They show a patient habit of research, and a familiarity with the best literature of the subject in hand. If the author does not always give us his judgment of a quæstio vexata, he puts before us the most reliable materials from which to form a decision of our own. His plan assumes the historical truthfulness of the Gospel records; hence he does not take up the Straussian controversy. Nor does he enter upon the inspiration of the writers, nor attempt any spiritual applications of the discourses of Christ; while the discussion of points of learned criticism is often quite elaborate, as the title-page foreshadows. The point of view throughout recognizes the supernatural elements of the narrative; indeed, he carries this somewhat beyond the common understanding, in making, for instance, the flowing of the blood and water from our Saviour's side, a miraculous incident. The spirit of the work is also evangelical. But, could the author have connected some devout, if not doctrinal, observations with the treatment of, for example, the temptation, the transfiguration, the various miracles of Jesus, and the affecting closing scenes of the history, it would have relieved the progress of his labors of a somewhat arid atmosphere. We know, however, that it is very difficult to combine the peculiar unction of a "Life of Christ" like Jeremy Taylor's with a scholarly work like this -perhaps it is quite impracticable. Our author has well accomplished all that he proposed to do in his unusually well conceived and written preface. The preliminary essays upon the dates of our Lord's birth, baptism, and death, are valuable. His birth is assigned, with a strong probability, to December, A. U. c. 749; his baptism, to January, 780; his crucifixion to April 7th, 783.

Lyra Coelestis; Hymns of Heaven. Selected by A. C. THOMPSON, D. D. 12mo. pp. 382. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1863.

THE editor of this volume has brought together, from many authors and languages, a rich body of poetry illustrative of the various aspects of the heavenly life. Books of this kind are elevating to the moral feel