resurrection could be profitably inferred from Ex. iii. 6, where Jehovah declared himself to be the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, Professor Toy declares that the passage contains "in the intention of its author no hint of immortality, but merely the declaration that God would be faithful to the promises made to the fathers" (p. 394, note).

But we have not space to follow farther the views of our author either by way of statement or of criticism. The volume is important as revealing what is the logical and necessary outcome of the rationalistic criticism which is now coming to prevail with reference to the Old Testament, and shows clearly enough that this discussion does not relate to mere literary questions, but involves the very foundations of the Christian system. The next generation is to be concerned not with the trustworthiness of Old Testament history, but with the authority of the New Testament, and the question will be settled largely in connection with that of the credibility of miracles and with those relating to the true conception of God's relations to the universe.

Ein Beitrag zur Papst

ROME UND RAVENNA BIS ZUM 9. JAHRHUNDErt. geschichte. Von Paul Luther, Dr. Phil. Berlin: Speyer und Peters. 1889. Pp. 68.

The Bishop of Rome, now an imperial monarch, an infallible sovereign, was at first but one among many bishops, at best but primus inter pares. Through long centuries he usurped more and more the rights of his fellowbishops, and built up his own power out of the ruins of the privileges of others. Christianity spread in the ancient world just as Rome was changing from a republic into an empire; and the church, coming closer and closer to the state, was caught in the drift, and the early Christian republics, under presiding bishops or elders, were petrified into an imperial system in which the Bishop of Rome became pontifex maximus, and, when the cmperor left the West, largely Caesar himself. Rome and Ravenna were both seats of empire in the West. Hence their bishops both caught ideas of wide rule, and in their conflicts can be seen the rights of all primitive bishops asserted in various ways. Luther shows that for centuries the archbishops of Ravenna, supported by civil rulers, maintained their independence against the Popes. Finally they were forced to submit to Nicholas I. (d. 867), although under the German emperors, the archbishops, as successors of the exarchs, often successfully defied the papacy. Not till Rudolph of Hapsburg renounced imperial claim to Ravenna did the Popes secure the full submission of the archbishops of that diocese. The detailed description of the long struggle, to 962 A. D., by Luther, gives a vivid impression of the growth of the papacy into a great ecclesiastical monarchy.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH from the Planting of the Colonies to the End of the Civil War. By S. D. McConnell, D. D. New York: Thomas Whittaker. 1890. $2.00.

This is a work creditable alike to the scholarship, literary taste, and heart of its author. In the brief narrative of three hundred and eighty-one pages he

gives a clear picture of the English Church in the colonies, and then traces the growth of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In telling the story, large space is "occupied in examining the religious character and habits of those among and upon whom the church has wrought." He finds that "she has thriven among Puritans and Quakers, Baptists and Presbyterians, Dutch, Germans, and Irish, has taught them all something, and learned something from them all." That is the language of generous appreciation and willingness to learn, which runs through the whole work. He well shows that the toleration shown by the Maryland colony was not because of its Catholicism: the Calverts believed and practised religious liberty, but "the Roman Church did neither the one nor the other." Besides, the Catholics in Maryland did not dare persecute. He also points out that the Pilgrims were men "wise beyond their time;" and yet that it was the Puritans of Salem who had most influence in the making of New England. These men saw, what McConnell admits was true, that the Church of England, with the theories she held, could never become the church of the colonies. Her theories were defective, and, worse still, unworthy ministers in her communion, "a painful feature for more than a generation," and in the South up to the Revolution, were a great hindrance to the Episcopal Church in America. In the South the minister, so often unworthy, "was content to be a lackey; but in the North "the Puritan conception of the ministerial office had early made itself felt," and the minister was the chiefest man in the community, the censor of morals, the stern disciplinarian." Such were the influences making the cavalier, Tory, aristocratic, Episcopal South, as compared with the severer principles that moulded the Parlamentarian, liberal, democratic, Congregational North.

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McConnell describes unsympathetically the "Great Awakening" under Edwards and Whitefield, and makes the Episcopal Church since then the "best accredited representative" of Christian nurture in opposition to the conversion view of religion. Then came the Revolution, in which the church, tied by theories, bishops, and Toryism, to England, almost perished. It reappeared 1780 as the "Protestant Episcopal Church." The history of this period of its life is clearly set forth by our author. Again Episcopal theories cost much valuable time and opportunities. Finally bishops were got with both the Scotch and English succession. For a long time the mission spirit was weak; while Methodists and others were occupying the land. Not till 1835 was a new departure taken by the church; and state limitations broken through in order to spread the gospel. Evangelical men and High Churchmen were both active, and the church divided under these leaders. This movement injured the church by making it too ecclesiastical, and "segregated too sharply from the common moral life of humanity."

The change for the better has led towards the theory of the Episcopal Catholic Church in America, the Unity of Protestant Christendom-the liberal Plan of Union finally formulated by the House of Bishops; but not before the sectarian spirit had cost her a generation of lost ground.

McConnell is a reverent Broad Churchman, in sympathy with all earnest

Christians, and well shows the great, the radical changes which his church has made in the direction of greater efficiency and Christian unity. His book is written with candor and truthfulness; it clearly summarizes the leading features; it is well printed; and should be read by every friend of the growing spirit of the reunion of Protestant Christendom.

DIE FORTDAUER DER GEISTESGABEN IN DER KIRCHE.
Cremer. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann. 1890. Pp. 32.

Von Dr. Hermann

In this suggestive essay, by the well-known author of the New Testament Lexicon, he illustrates afresh the position of the Reformers, as the only true position in reference to the wonderful gifts of tongues, healing, etc., bestowed upon the apostolic church. "Those manifestations were a peculiar privilege of the primitive church; and we must recognize the historical fact that they have now disappeared. Nay more; we dare not even venture to pray for their return or for a second such outpouring of the Holy Ghost, without leading ourselves into the very temptation from which the Lord taught us to pray for deliverance. We no longer need such things; what we need is something else." But this does not mean, he continues, that the Holy Spirit has disappeared from the church, or that spiritual gifts have been lost to her. On the contrary, the church can now receive all gifts, even the most extraordinary, more wonderful even than those of prophecy and healing. Christ wrought miracles like those of the apostolic church, but he promises something greater to the disciples, for he had not yet finished his work.

The work of the Spirit, converting men, creating faith, and making us temples of the Holy Ghost, is greater than even the great works which Jesus did. New Testament miracles happened, as all miracles must happen, "in connection with the proclamation of the divine will, through which proclamation they are verified as miracles." Hence miracles and revelation ceased together. The living word, which we now have, is greater than the miracles, which have passed away. Through it we have extraordinary gifts, which effect far more than miracles could do. The needs of our age are twofold, and for them we need twofold extraordinary gifts. One of these consists in the fact that our bitterest need lies in the social sphere, and cannot be met but by extraordinary gifts, the gifts of love and gospel service, for the gospel alone can save. The one great gift is the gospel. The other is the gift "to be able to set forth and witness to the gospel as gospel," to preach it in burning love, that it may be received in saving faith.

The first gift that our times need, calls for and equips men of extraordinary endowments. The second gift is needed by all who stand in the service of God. Such gifts far excel those of tongues, healing, and prophecy, and make them obsolete and needless.

THE SERMon Bible. Matthew i-xxi. New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son. (Pp. 410. 38x6%.) $1.50.

The first volume of the New Testament is fully up to the standard of the

Here are not merely

four Old Testament volumes noticed in our last issue. plans and outlines, but condensed sermons, and references to the best homiletic material to be found in the works of English and American preachers. The selections are carefully made, and the work of condensing is well done. There is great danger in the use of works of this character. They have a legitimate use, however, as homiletic studies; but should be used, if at all, with caution and a tender conscience.

A SHORT EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. Designed as a Text-Book for Class-Room Use and for Private Study. By George B. Stevens, Ph. D., D.D., Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation in Yale University. Hartford, Conn.: The Student Publishing Company. 1890. (Pp. vii, 240. 54x3%.) $1.25.

cess.

This is a commendable attempt to bring the results of critical study within the reach of ordinary students, and is carried out with a good degree of sucEach chapter is in the first place analyzed and paraphrased, and then commented upon verse by verse, with constant reference to the original Greek, and with sufficient introduction of Greek words to serve as a help to those who have only a moderate acquaintance with the language. The paraphrases are excellent, and are in themselves valuable commentaries upon the separate chapters. The tone of the commentary in general is also excellent, and the author duly recognizes the inspired character of the work. His loyalty to the true conceptions of the Bible appears to good advantage in the treatment of Paul's argument from the word "seed in iii. 16, where he sums up his views by saying that Paul's method does not draw more "than according to the typical view of prophecy which is pervading in the New Testament, can be justly claimed to be involved in the passage. The essential idea is: The promise to Abraham meets its true, ideal fulfilment only in Christ" (pp. 134, 135).

THE PARABLES OF OUR SAVIOUR expounded and illustrated. By William M. Taylor, D. D., LL. D., Pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York City. Fourth Edition. New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son. (Pp. viii, 445. 6%x31⁄2.) $1.75.

This exposition of the Parables, a copy of which comes to us with Dr. Taylor's new volume on the Miracles, has been before the public some five years, and its excellences are too well known to need particular mention. Although the author's work is "that of a belated gleaner in a well-raked field," he has gathered here a sheaf of the finest of the wheat. The very fact that so much has already been written on the subject gives the author an opportunity to show the unfailing richness of the theme. Whoever reads the book will be benefited.

THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR expounded and illustrated. Uniform with the above, by the same author. (Pp. vi, 449.) $1.75.

Two things make an exposition of the miracles from the pen of Dr. Taylor

sure of a cordial welcome,-the little work on the "Miracles in their Relation to Christ and Christianity," which, originally delivered as a series of lectures at Princeton, has proved so valuable to a wide circle of readers, and the wellknown merit of his work on the Parables, which has passed to its fourth edition. The aim throughout this volume is expository rather than apologetic: a synopsis of the author's former work on miracles is given in the first chapter, but the book, as a whole, is devoted to setting forth the "parabolic teaching of the miracles" rather than to their evidential value. Every reader of either of the works above referred to will wish to possess this. It is in every respect worthy a place beside them,-and we know of no better words that could be said about it.

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM. By Edwin Johnson, M. A. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, and Company. 1890. (Pp. xvi, 499. 61⁄2 x5 3⁄4 •) This book is a curiosity. At first we thought it to be ironical, like Whateley's celebrated “Historical Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte,” but as we proceeded it became clear that the author is really in earnest. He writes in a straightforward manner, with forcible and elegant diction, being so much absorbed in his theme as to appear utterly unconscious of any weakness in his argument, and has the rare literary power of using with perfect ease vast treasures of erudite information. The book is also printed in elegant style, and published by one of the best English houses. Wherein, then, the reader will ask, is the phenomenon? The answer will be sufficient when we detail the argument of the volume.

The author maintains that Christianity is not the ancient religion which it is generally supposed to be, but that it is a product of the literary activity of the Basilian and Benedictine monks in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and is the result of the powerful anti-Semitic tendency which resulted in the Crusades of that period. With our author there is no haggling over a few centuries more or less respecting the date of the Old Testament books, since, in his view, these books are all the product of Spanish rabbis in the tenth or eleventh century. The genuine traditions of early biblical history came down through the Moslems. But the rabbis of the time of Maimonides (whom he would assign to somewhat later period than is ordinarily done) supported their claims by tracing out a descent, through the younger son of Abraham, where the Moslems were able to establish connection with Ishmael the older son.

One's breath is almost taken away by the calm confidence with which the author sets aside all the early Christian literature. As the early historians of the Roman Empire, writing several hundred years after the event, traced its origin to miraculous events connected with the legendary heroes Romulus and Remus, so the monks of the Middle Ages connected the ecclesiastical dominion of Rome with the miracles surrounding the legendary name of Christ. Nothing is allowed to stand in the way of this theory. The works of Josephus and Eusebius and those of all the early ecclesiastical writers are declared to be forgeries of mediaeval monks. No one, he declares, can peruse these