the prospect of some fair Jerusalem of joy, and love, and faith. I. First and foremost of those windowed outlooks with which God has so graciously endowed us, is that of FAITH. The prophet said he "saw visions of God," and if he did, it must have been through this window of faith, because through it eternal realities become as though they were present. Other windows may become closed or dim ; the more reason why we should keep steady and bright this blessed outlook of faith into things spiritual and eternal. II. There is another window through which the soul may look out upon the ideal and the fair; and that is the window of HOPE. The natural attitude of the human soul is an expectant one. Hope is an important element in the Christian life. Life will go merrily on under the power of a sunbeam on a distant spot in the path. Through the window of hope we see the breaking of a golden dawn upon the distant prospect; the narrow chamber of earthly circumstances gives place to sweeter possibilities, which may become present realities under the transforming influence of Christian hope. III. Then there is the window of MEMORY. It may be that Daniel was not unmindful of this outlook into past scenes and associations. To be often at the window of memory keeps the heart young amid the ageing and withering influences of the present.--REV. G. OHLSON, in "The Sunday at Home." NAILS. 2 CHRON. iii. 9. Now at first, perhaps, there does not seem to you anything remarkable about these words. And yet, when we think of it, is it not very interesting that the historian should have thought it worth while mentioning the nails at all? He had so much else to tell aboutthe great porch, and the ceiling overlaid with fine gold, and the two cherubims of image work, and the vail of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen; and yet there, in the very middle of his description of these splendours, he stops to tell us the weight of the nails. 1. And our first lesson is very clear. It is that the smallest things are of use in God's service. Nails are very small; perhaps they seem to you very unimportant things, and yet how much they do! They fasten together the great beams which, without such fastening, would be useless. And so, insignificant though in themselves they are, nails have something to say to those children who are always imagining that because they are small and weak they can do nothing for God. "Wait till I am older and stronger," a boy or a girl says to his teacher, "and then, perhaps, I shall be of some use." 2. But secondly, nails, to be really useful, must be good nails; and we, if we are to please God and help others, must first of all be good ourselves. You all know what makes a good nail. It must have a good head and a sharp point, and be straight and bright, not crooked or rusty. And it is conditions very like these which go to make up a good child. Just as the clever workman gradually makes the nail with all its parts complete, so your parents and teachers are day by day trying to mould and fashion and polish you, to give you good heads and sharp points. 3. But the nails have a third lesson. Nails to be useful must be good, and they must also be in their right places. A nail in the wrong place not only does no good, it does much harm. How it destroys the wood! How it tears everything that touches it! 4. And then, lastly, look again at the nails used in the building of the temple. What kind of nails were they? They were golden nails Nothing else was good enough for God's service. The nails had to be just the very best nails possible, not brass, not iron, but gold. So with us. It will not do for any boy or girl to say, "Oh, I'm good enough, I don't see the need of being any better; I'm quite content!" But God is not content. He wants you to be not only good boys and girls, but best boys and girls-golden like the Temple nails.-Rev. G. MILLIGAN B.D., in "Morning Rays." THE SURVEY OF THOUGHT. THE KENOSIS. On the mysterious subject of "Christ's Knowledge," Prebendary Bassett writes an article in The Churchman dealing with the Kenosis, that voluntary humiliation and limitation of infinity which human faculties strive in vain to comprehend. Mr. Bassett explains that, as Christ had two wills, the Divine and the human, so in Him were two knowledges, the one pertaining to the Divine, and the other to the human nature, never mixed, and each operating in its own sphere. By collecting the passages in the Gospels where the knowledge of Christ is distinctly referred to, its character is in some degree expressed. Of the statement in Luke ii. 52, a modified interpretation is given, viz., that it embodies the impressions of an ordinary observer, who noticed the development of the physical frame and the increasing evidence of the mental abilities. And the limitation of knowledge concerning the Last Day (Mark xiii. 32) is understood to signify that the exact date of the great consummation was not entrusted by the Father to be revealed even by the Son. And as to the Kenosis, what He laid aside was "the form of God," the external and intelligible tokens of the Deity, not, of course, the essence or the attributes thereof, of which knowledge is an integral quality. In these investigations into Divine secrets the Athanasian Creed, says the writer, may be regarded as the safest guide. What goes beyond this dogmatic expression of faith is considered for the most part unwarranted speculation. THE USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW.-Dr. Stanley Leathes, in The Churchman, assumes the Divine authority of the New Testament, that our Lord's verdict on any given question is final, and that the opinions of the writers therein are entitled at least to as much credit as the conjectures of modern critics. He then examines the way in which the Old Testament is used (1) by the Evangelists, (2) by the writers of the Epistles, and (3) by Christ Himself. (1) From this inquiry he gathers that the Evangelists regarded the earlier Scriptures "as something special and peculiar, possessed of a meaning independent of any reference to circumstances of the time, and only receiving the fulness of that meaning in the events which they recorded." Hence the conclusion is either that the writers really foretold future events, or that they spoke words which were intended by the Holy Spirit to have future application. (2) The Apostles looked beyond the historical circumstances of the Old Testament, and treated these as intended for individual edification, and emphasized the words of Scripture as used with purpose, and not at hap-hazard. (3) Christ rests upon Scripture as an authority by which He acknowledged Himself bound, and which even the devil (" perhaps in those days not so acute and learned as modern criticism has enabled him to NO, II.-VOL. I.-THE THINKER. G become ") could not dispute. Many historical details He expressly endorses; He does not regard them as mythical details useful for illustration, but as authentic accounts of occurrences which really happened; and He acknowledges the predictions of Scripture as, in some sort, a guide to His own career. EXEGESIS.-Exegesis differs from exposition in being scholarly and critical in distinction from explanation which is popular, adapted to pulpit and class use. The validity and inspiration of Scripture cannot be settled by subjective tests alone, but must be learned by the diligent use of critical appliances. Hence comes the utility of careful and sound exegesis. According to Dr. Marvin R. Vincent, in an address delivered by him to the Union Theological Seminary, U.S., the characteristics of such exegesis are five in number. 1. It is necessary, because, owing to changes of language, local colouring, historical and geographical allusions, &c., the modern reader cannot, unassisted, understand the import and bearing of the various writings of which the Bible consists. 2. It is critical. If we are to have a Bible cleared from the débris of false interpretation and unwarranted assumption, we must apply to its text the canons of philology, history, and grammar. But for unfolding the Divine element the spiritual faculties must co-operate with the critical. Applied separately they are liable to gross error; combined discreetly and reverently, they elicit the truth. 3. It is progressive, as revelation itself is progressive, both in the Bible and in the later developments of modern civilization, science, missionary enterprise, &c., all of which are new revelations of the principles embodied in the earlier stages, which devout criticism displays. 4. It must be modest and patient, ready to acknowledge that there are things which it cannot explain. 5. It must be courageous and candid, not ashamed to correct preconceived opinions, but content to arrive at the author's meaning, whether it agree with the student's sentiments or not. Dr. Vincent asserts roundly that the Scriptures, creeds and confessions notwithstanding, are the only infallible rule of faith and practice, provided they are read with the inner illumination of the Holy Spirit, and interpreted according to the canons of a reverent exegesis. THE FIFTY-FIRST PSALM: WHO WROTE IT?-Most ordinary Christians would be very loth to dissociate this penitential utterance from the event in David's life to which it has been commonly applied. Its historical setting gives it a power and an explanation which a mere congregational hymn could never possess. Canons Cheyne and Driver unhesitatingly deny the Davidic authorship, asserting that it was written in the name of the Church by some lyric poet in Exilic times. This position is traversed by a writer in The Baptist Magazine, who with much vigour upholds the traditional view, and, entering into detail, shows that the expressions against which exception has been taken are quite consistent with this opinion. He adds that the opposite theory may be "pleasing to the imagination, but does not commend itself either to the reason or the heart." PRODIGAL LOVE FOR THE PRODIGAL SON.-As an illustration of the value of verbal criticism in the exposition of Holy Scripture, we may notice a striking sermon just issued by Mr. Spurgeon, who deduces an exhibition of God's overflowing love toward the returning sinner from the use of the verb katepiλnσev, "kissed him much," "kissed him eagerly" (Luke xv. 20), a meaning possessed by the compound verb. GENESIS AND THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS. - Mr. J. S. Bryan reviews Dr. Murphy's "Commentary on Genesis" in the American Lutheran Quarterly Review. The commentator adopts the documentary hypothesis, holding that Moses made use of some eleven authorities in the composition or compilation of the Book. Mr. Bryan deems the evidence for this hypothesis weak and unconvincing, supporting his contention by the opinion of Lange and his annotator, who opine that the exegetical distinction in the Divine name has been carried to an unwarranted extent, and made to bear inferences which it is unable reasonably to support. The Mosaic authorship of Genesis is confirmed by the testimony of the whole Jewish world, including Christ and the Apostles, and continued to modern times. The opposite hypothesis is open to the following objections: 1. Moses makes no allusion to any documents consulted by him. 2. The distinction in the Divine names may be explained on the ground that the writer used the appellations accordingly as he wished to convey the notion of the universal God or the covenant God. 3. Logical, grammatical, and historical considerations prove the unity and integrity of Genesis. 4. The results of the disintegrating view, if applied similarly to the rest of the Old Testament, would reduce the whole to a jumble of confused fragments, which no two critics would arrange in the same manner. THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL.-The craze for discovering what are called "The Lost Tribes of Israel" has evoked a literature of immense extent, and ranging from puerile theories to recondite research. An article in the American Lutheran Quarterly Review by Mr. J. M. Boland takes a different view from that usually found in writings on this favourite subject. This theorizer considers that Judah alone was guilty of crucifying the Christ, and is now suffering its punishment; and that Israel, ten-tribed, is somewhere enjoying the blessings promised to her in prophecy. This "somewhere" signifies the various localities where the Anglo-Saxon race-the lineal descendants of Isaac-are found. These tribes are supposed to have migrated from Assyria to Central and Northern Europe, changed language, customs, physical peculiarities, and become in process of time Teutons. The theory is confirmed by a comparison of the prophetic blessings of Jacob and Moses with the leading characteristics of the eight chief nations of Europe. The hypothesis above stated has been started by two writers in America, pursuing their investigations independently, and arriving substantially at the same conclusion. The matter is curious. Has it a leg to stand upon? and will it bear impartial criticism? ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL.-There are two articles in late numbers of the American Sunday School Times which treat of questions connected with the Fourth Gospel. The first is by Dr. G. P. Fisher, and asks the question, "Does it profess to be by St. John?" "There can be no doubt," he replies, "that the book itself implies that it was written by St. John, though the author, from modesty, withholds his name, and expresses his individuality only by periphrasis. No pseudepigraphic writer ever took such elaborate means to create a false impression of authorship. If the writer did this, he devised an unworthy trick, which would be utterly alien from the spirit which he exhibits throughout the work. If it was composed by John's disciples after their master's death, why did they use a circumlocution in speaking of him, instead of giving his name openly, without disguise?" The second article deals with this Gospel as 66 a book for its time." Professor Porter points out that St. John adapts his message to his audience. The first preachers of the Gospel convinced their hearers that Jesus was the Messiah-St. Paul delivered Christianity from legalism; St. John satisfied the desire of Hellenism for a revelation of God by presenting Jesus as the Word of God. He announces, He announces, "There in that truly human life is the Logos for which you have been searching far off"; not a mere ideal, but a human Christ, whom he had seen and known. Thus, John's mission was to teach a real faith in a living person, in whom believers could see and know God, through whom "the Divine light and life are perfectly imparted, and the spirit's needs perfectly satisfied." THE JOHANNEAN CONTROVERSY. By Professor W. SANDAY, D.D. (The Expositor). The point now arrived at is the relation of the Fourth Gospel to the Synoptics. Measured by this standard, six grounds of discrepancy are maintained: (1) That Christ's ministry is laid in Judæa; (2) that it lasted two and a half years; (3) that the crucifixion is assigned to Nisan 14th instead of 15th; (4) that the hours of the day are differently reckoned; (5) that the history is wanting in progression, especially on the point of our Lord's declaration of Messiahship; (6) at the same time there is a general heightening of His claims. Objections one and two are shown to be groundless, as there is abundant reason to believe that our Lord very frequently sojourned in Judæa, the accounts of the Synoptists being incomplete, and their chronology entirely defective. As regards the third plea, Professor Sanday, while owning that a strong case can be made out for either theory, is now inclined to hold that the Synoptics' supper is the Paschal meal; that the phrase "to eat the Passover" may, as Edersheim affirms, be applied not merely to the Paschal lamb, but also to all the sacrifices of this feast, especially to the Chagigah, or peace-offering brought on Nisan 15th (John xviii. 28), and tapaσkevỳ toû táoxa may mean "Friday in Paschal week" παρασκευὴ πάσχα quite as well as the "day of preparation for the Passover." The discrepancy in the reckoning of time must await further elucidation, none of the solutions offered being quite satisfactory. As to the "deep-seated difference respecting |