revised and enlarged London Edition, with an Introduction, Chronology of the History of Philosophy brought down to 1860, Bibliographical Index, Synthetical Tables, and other Additions by Ch. P. Krauth, D.D., Philadelphia, Smith, English, & Co.; New York, Sheldon & Co.; Boston, Gould & Lincoln, 1860.

THIS work, which is held in high esteem in Great Britain, has met, and justly, a welcome reception from the press in this country, as filling a place no other volume occupies. The numerous terms introduced of late, from the Germans chiefly, into metaphysics, render to most readers a glossary indispensable. Exact definitions of the leading terms belonging to our own language in psychology, logic, morals, and aesthetics, are also especially serviceable to students of those branches. And they are furnished here. The vocabulary is amply comprehensive in those spheres, and the definitions, in place of being drawn from ordinary dictionaries, are taken in a large measure from scientific treatises; and are confirmed and illustrated by quotations from the most authoritative authors. The volume has received important accessions also from the pen of the editor, in a Synthetical Table of the subjects embraced in mental, moral, and metaphysical philosophy; and in a Biographical Index of Authors with their period and the titles of their works.

8. NOTES ON NEW TESTAMENT LITERATURE, AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. By Joseph Addison Alexander. New York: Charles Scribner. 1861.

THE Notes on New Testament Literature present a brief statement of the principal themes that are usually treated in Introductions to the New Testament, and to its several books, and of the different modes in which they have been handled and the views that have been held of them. They display the minute and comprehensive knowledge, the fine discrimination, and the excellent judgment for which Dr. Alexander was distinguished. Though occupying less than a hundred and fifty pages, they indicate the views he entertained on every principal topic, and form a more full, perspicuous, and satisfactory outline of the general subject, than has been drawn, so far as we are aware, by any other pen.

The Notes on Ecclesiastical History present a like sketch on that subject. The sphere and aim of such a history, the sources whence information is to be drawn, the periods into which it

should be divided, the mode in which events should be grouped, the plan and character of the chief histories that have been written by Greeks, Latins, Germans, French, Italians, and English, and the leading features of the successive centuries, are given in a bold and rapid outline that enables the reader, at a glance, to see the vast reach of the subject, its great actors and events, and the manner in which the chief movements of the several periods led to those by which they were severally followed.

*

9. A SELECTION OF HYMNS. Designed as a Supplement to the Psalms and Hymns of the Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia: Wm. S. & A. Martien. 1861.

THIS fresh array of tasteful hymns, gathered, as we learn from the Preface, and arranged by the Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D.D., is highly suited to be, as it is mainly designed, the medium in families by reading, as well as singing, of awakening, cherishing, and giving utterance to the thoughts and affections that belong especially to the higher forms of the believer's life. It has many gems, and is neat, warm, and inspiring throughout.

10. THE DIFFICULTIES OF ARMINIAN METHODISM; in a Series of Letters addressed to Bishop Simpson, of Pittsburgh, by William Annan. Fourth Edition, re-written and enlarged. Philadelphia: Wm. S. & A. Martien. 1860.

THIS work was occasioned by assaults by Bishop Simpson and others of his denomination on the views of the great doctrines of the gospel held by Presbyterians, that are in contravention of the system generally entertained by the followers of Wesley. It is employed mainly in pointing out the insurmountable difficulties, the hopeless self-confutations and subversions with which Arminian Methodism is embarrassed; and while marked by candor and courtesy, displays a high order of discrimination, a strong grasp of principles, and an effective power of logic.

11. TWELVE LECTURES ON THE GREAT EVENTS OF UNFULFILLED PROPHECY, which still await their accomplishment, and are approaching their fulfilment. By Rev. Isaac P. Labagh, Rector of Calvary Church, Brooklyn. New York: published for the author. 1859.

THE themes which the author treats are, the restoration of the 44

VOL. XIII.-NO. IV.

Israelites, antichrist, the two witnesses, the overthrow of Romanism and Mahommedanism, the judgments that are to fall upon the nations, the battle of Armageddon, the binding of Satan, the new dispensation, the resurrection and reign of the saints, the distinguishing features of the Millennial, and the New Jerusalem dispensation. The views he advances are antimillenarian, though differing widely on several of the subjects from those generally entertained by premillennialists. While he rejects the theory of spiritualization on which antimillenarian expositors wrench the prophecies of the restoration of the Israelites, the personal coming and reign of Christ, and the resurrection of the holy dead at the commencement of the thousand years, from their true meaning, and convert them into predictions of events which they neither express nor resemble, he yet unfortunately divests the symbolical prophecies in a large measure of their representative office, and interprets them on the assumption that the actors and events they foreshow are to be the same in kind as the symbols themselves. His style, and the point with which he presents his thoughts, may be seen from the following passages:

"The difference between the captivity of the ten tribes and the two tribes is very marked and peculiar, as the sins which caused their expulsion from their land are very different. The ten tribes were expelled for their idolatry. The sacred historian informs us (2 Kings xvii. 16-18), that they made molten images, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal; therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. He removed them out of his sight, so that they are hid from mankind, especially from the church of God—in other words, lost to the knowledge of the civilized world.

"The fate of Judah was to be different, viz. a dispersion and scattering abroad in the sight of all nations. They were not to be hid, but to be seen and known everywhere. No opposition or persecution was threatened to the ten tribes; but this was to be the fate of the two tribes for many long ages: a proverb, a by-word, etc.; no rest for the soles of their feet, etc. This dif ference in their punishment is attributed to the difference of their offences. The ten tribes counterfeited deity by their idolatries; the two tribes murdered him by crucifying the Lord of glory. The ten tribes had no knowledge of the Messiah (except the wise men from the East were a delegation from their nation to learn the meaning of the star which had appeared

to them). The two tribes heard his preaching, saw his miracles, and had full evidence of his divine character, and yet put him to death; and for this they have had to bear reproach, and contempt, and exile for near eighteen centuries. It must be confessed that the crimes of both Israel and Judah were exceedingly aggravated, and that God has shown them no favor, though they are the seed of his ancient friend. He has been faithful to all his threatenings, and, as he said, Though I make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee, but will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee unpunished.'

"It is a remarkable fact, that almost all the prophecies which speak of the restoration of the children of Israel to the land of their fathers, speak of it as a deliverance from bondage, oppression, contempt, and exile, and as the mercy of God displayed towards a penitent and obedient people. The ten tribes will renounce their idolatry, and the two tribes their enmity to Christ, and both will submit to his authority. Certainly, if those prophecies have been fulfilled literally in the judgments they threatened, they will be literally fulfilled in the blessings they promise. By what consistent rule of interpretation can we explain the portion already fulfilled literally, and that still to be fulfilled, in a figurative sense? Take, for example, the prophecy of Ezekiel, chap. xxxvi. 16-24, in which he says, 'The word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways, and by their doings. Wherefore, I poured out my fury upon them for the blood they had shed, and on the idols wherewith they polluted it; and I scattered them among the peoples, and dispersed them through the countries.' Certainly all this has been literally accomplished. 'Wherefore,' he adds, I will take you from among the Gentiles, and gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land' (surely the gathering must be as literal as the scattering), and ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers.' Surely this is no other than the land of Canaan, for what other was given to their fathers?

"So also in the prophecy of Isaiah, chap. xi. 11–13. It shall come to pass that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time (the first was the deliverance from Egypt), 'to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamoth, and from the islands of the sea, and he shall assemble the out

casts of Israel' (i. e. the lost ten tribes), and gather together the dispersed of Judah (i. e. the two tribes), from the four corners of the earth. The dispersion here spoken of never took place until after the destruction of Jerusalem. This prophecy has no intelligible meaning, if it refers not to the restoration of the seed of Abraham to the land of Canaan-the two dispersed and the ten lost tribes-and so of all the rest. The same rule of interpretation which applies to the part of a prophecy that is past, must apply to that part of it which is future.

"And why is so much importance attached in Scripture to this event? Because it will show in such a striking light the covenant faithfulness of God, and the certain reliance that may be placed on his word. His promises never fail; though long delayed, they are fulfilled at last. The covenant with Abraham concerning the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession to his seed, though long seemingly inoperative and dead, has still a vitality and energy which will surprise the world, when it begins to work and produce its promised effects. The land and the people, so long separated, will again be united, and the greatest wonder in the history of nations be accomplished, viz. that a people lost for more than two thousand five hundred years shall be found, and a people dispersed and scattered all over the earth for nearly two thousand years, shall be gathered and united, and both the lost and the dispersed be constituted one happy family, in a land which has been out of their possession for so many centuries. The Lord of Hosts hath sworn saying, 'Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.'

"The wondrous preservation of the Israelitish race through so many ages seems to indicate a glorious future yet in reserve for them. Influences which would have annihilated any other people, have failed to crush them, or extinguish their hopes of national resuscitation and restoration to the land of their fathers. How many nations have been overthrown by war and conquest, and have disappeared from among the families of the earth, while they in the lands of their enemies, have outrode the storm of state, and the political revolution by which kingdoms and empires have been overthrown. Where are the proud Assyrians and Babylonians, the warlike Carthaginians, the learned Egyptians, the Parthians, Lydians, Phenicians, Trojans, ancient Tyrians, Lacedemonians, Spartans, and others whose antiquity is of later date than the Hebrews? They have all passed away, and their descendants cannot be identified. But