Dividing English Rationalism into three departments,-philosophical, literary, and critical,-Dr. Hurst finds the modern origin of the first in Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In this he agrees with Dr. Rigg, whose "Modern Anglican Theology" gives the best view of the theological philosophy of Coleridge, and of its influence upon religious thought in England, that we know of. The parentage of literary Rationalism in England is attributed by our author to Thomas Carlyle; while the critical Rationalism of the "Essays and Reviews " is a recent, but inevitable fruit of the seed sown by the transcendentalists of the Coleridgean school. The culmination of this so-called criticism has already arrived in Colenso, of whose singular episcopal career a copious sketch is given. This is followed by a very valuable chapter on the present state of parties in the Church of England. The Low Church still includes the greater part of the Evangelical clergy; but it has passed its prime, and shows obvious signs of division and decay. The High Church includes the old normal Churchman, or Anglican, as he learned in the last decade to call himself; the Romanizing Churchman, or Puseyite; and the indifferent or political Churchman. The Broad Church includes, first, the energetic class of writers and preachers, of whom Arnold of Rugby was the type, called by Dr. Hurst the First Broad Church; secondly, the avowed Rationalists of the "Essays and Reviews," named the Second Broad Church; and, thirdly, a class of hangers-on, who belong to the school by accident of place or circumstances. Dr. Hurst's final chapters treat of the rise and progress of Rationalism in America. We must not forget to mention the valuable Appendix of Literature at the close of the volume, in which Dr. Hurst gives a copious list of modern writers on both sides of the Rationalistic controversy. It manifests not only the industry of the author, but also great accuracy and extent of information on the literature of the subject. Nowhere else can so copious and complete a bibliography of Rationalism be found. Our survey of Dr. Hurst's volume suffices to show that it is a work of great value, and also that it is very timely. It treats the history of Rationalism with a fulness and completeness rivalled by no other English writer, and evinces industrious and extended research and copious learning. It gives a map of the field of free thought in the present age, showing fairly its length and breadth, where it trenches on the domain of faith, and where it reaches into the dark territory of unbelief. For ordinary readers it contains all the information on the subject they will be likely to need; and for theological students it is an excellent introduction and guide to the study of modern aberrations. A few thoughts suggested by the book will close this paper. 1. The antichristian school of modern thought is called Rationalistic. But this does not imply that Christianity either ignores or disparages reason. Man is rational, and revelation presupposes reason. In fact, revelation to man is impossible, if man has not a reasoning faculty to which it can be directed. Having this endowment of reason, man must use it. It is the greatest gift of God to man within the sphere of nature, as revelation is the greatest gift of God to man within the plan of grace. The infidel could seek no higher triumph than the admission, on the part of the Christian, that man must forego his reason in order to accept revelation. To dissever faith from reason, or to set the one over against the other in hopeless antagonism, is really the aim of all unchristian philosophy. It is precisely the first task of reason to examine the veracity of our religion, and it is the glory of Christianity that the whole of its religion is “a reasonable service." After the verification of the evidences, reason has the further task of apprehending and connecting the truths given by revelation; and this is the function of theology as a science. In fact, the fullest use and the highest culture of reason is not only compatible with the Christian mode of thought, but is imperatively required by it. 66 2. It is not wise in the defence of Christian truth to abridge the domain of reason, or to stigmatize its highest exercise,—if kept within its proper line,-as Rationalism, in the bad sense which that word has acquired. The difference between the Rationalist and the believer lies more in the material upon which reason is to work, and in the limits of its field of operation, than in any use of reason itself. The orthodox doctrine is, that both in philosophy and theology the first truths are given, and that reason alone could never find them: the Rationalist asserts that a complete system of truth, or all the truth that man is capable of knowing, can be found by unassisted reason. It was Herbert of Cherbury who laid down the principle of the sufficiency of our natural faculties to form a religion for ourselves; and this is, really, the fundamental principle of infidelity. One of the chief tasks of Christian apologetics is to show that this principle is itself irrational. 3. Modern controversies gather more and more around the person of Christ. All the questions of the older Deistic and Rationalistic controversies, such as the integrity of the Scriptures, the nature of inspiration, the possibility of miracles, were but preliminary skirmishes before the close grapple at the main position of the battle-field. The person of Christ is the very heart and life of the Christian system; it is fitting and necessary, therefore, that it should be the final centre of the conflict between faith and unbelief. So long as the majestic figure of the perfect Man, the Son of God, remains in its ineffable grandeur at the head of the march of humanity, so long is Christianity master of the intellect as well as of the heart of the human race. The great task of Christian theology, therefore, in our time, is to set forth the person of Christ historically, so as to satisfy the intellectual as well as the moral requirements of the age, in a Life of Christ springing from the heart of the church, in which all the demands of criticism, of history, and of faith shall be met and harmonized. M. VOL. XIV.-FIFTH SERIES. SELECT LITERARY NOTICES. [The insertion of any article in this list is not to be considered as pledging us to the approbation of its contents, unless it be accompanied by some express notice of our favourable opinion. Nor is the omission of any such notice to be regarded as indicating a contrary opinion; as our limits, and other reasons, impose on us the necessity of selection and brevity.] The Life and Reign of David, King of Israel. By George Smith, LL.D., F.A.S., Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, &c. 8vo. Longmans. -When the advertisement of this volume first caught our attention, we felt a doubt as to the necessity of an additional Life of King David; two elaborate works on the same subject having been long since supplied by Dr. Delany, an Irish clergyman, and Dr. Samuel Chandler, a Nonconformist divine of eminent learning and ability. Delany's volumes are distinguished by elegant scholarship, considerable ingenuity, and a warm admiration of David. Chandler's work is elaborate and argumentative; and contains a large amount of Hebrew criticism. Both these eminent men deemed it necessary to defend the conduct of David against the assaults of infidel objectors. Yet, excellent in many respects as are the works we have now mentioned, we had not read many pages of this before we were convinced that there was room for another biography of the Hebrew monarch. Dr. Smith has exhibited a just appreciation of the personal godliness of which David was in the main an eminent example; has thrown a strong and steady light upon the state of religion among the He. brews in the time of David; has clearly shown what is to be understood by the "tabernacle of David," as distinguished from the place of sacrifice; and has pointed out why our blessed Lord is, by way of eminence, called the Son of David, and is said to occupy David's throne. He has also described, in their real turpitude, the sins into which David fell, the penalties with which they were visited, with the fact of their full and free forgiveness. These subjects are so treated as to magnify the mercy of God, to enforce the duty of constant watchfulness and prayer, and effectually to guard against every antinomian abuse of the Divine clemency. We cannot make ourselves answerable, in every instance, for the application of the Psalms to the events of David's life; but we are not prepared to offer objections to what Dr. Smith has advanced on the subject. We thank him very sincerely for this additional produc tion of his fertile mind. It is characterized throughout by an honest independence of thought, without any approach to an offensive dogmatism. We have read the whole with satisfaction and profit; and we earnestly recommend it both to ministers and private Christians, all of whom are, or ought to be, diligent students of the Bible. They will here find considerable aid in the examination of an important part of sacred history. Lamps, Pitchers, and Trumpets. Lectures on the Vocation of the Preacher. Illustrated by Anecdotes, Biographical, Historical, &c. By Edwin Paxton Hood, Minister of Queen-square Chapel, Brighton. London: Jackson, Walford, and Co. 1867. Remoter Stars in the Church Sky, being a Gallery of uncelebrated Divines. By George Gilfillan. Lon• don: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder. 1867. (From the Pulpit Analyst.) Manual of Hermeneutics for the Writings of the New Testament. By J. J. Doedes, D.D., translated from the Dutch by G. W. Stegman, Jun. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1867. An Inaugural Address delivered in the College Chapel, Didsbury, on Friday, September 20th, 1867. By the Rev. W. B. Pope. London: sold at 66, Paternoster-row. 1867. The works here grouped together have all more or less reference to the Christian ministry, either in its preparatory stages or in its full exercise. But when we have noted this one tie of connexion, we have mentioned all they have in common. "Lamps, Pitchers, and Trumpets" is intended to give the reader some knowledge of the various men who, in the Christian Church, "have illustrated the genius and success of the pulpitits method and its power." Many of the extracts from the sermons of great preachers are aptly chosen, and will be frequently perused by the possessors of the book. But with regard to the matter of the work, we have no great encomiums to bestow. Mr. Hood lacks critical power, at least he does not display it in this instance; and that order, which is to a treatise what clearness is to a stream, nowhere appears in the course of the Lectures before us. Quaint stories moreover abound in the volume, utterly out of place in any treatise professing to set before young men a writer's views as to the "method" and "power" of the pulpit. Mr. Gilfillan directs his attention to the discovery of the "remoter stars in the church sky." In other words he would erect a monument to the memory of comparatively unknown ministers. The work of inscribing memorials upon nameless graves is pre-eminently one of goodness and of love. This species of writing has been carried to a high degree of perfection by the author of "Rab and his Friends;" but itssuccessful execution demands powers which Mr. Gilfillan does not possess. The man who allows such a blot to remain upon his printed page as the phrase "a Divine pet," when his theme is Divine wrath, and who has not removed it in reprinting, has yet to learn the use of the file. But our chief dissatisfaction with Mr. Gilfillan is, that he deals with The living ministers. minute painting of a preacher's personnel, and a critique upon his peculiarities, must be very distasteful to a "remoter star," supposing him to have any feeling. After all, we learn something from this Gallery. It presents a lesson not entirely superfluous for a generation that seeketh after a "sign." The uncelebrated and humble do a work in their obscurity that enlightens and blesses their own sphere. The steady but lowly light still shines on by its own radiance; and, if it be any consolation to the light-bearer, he may cherish the thought that there are some who see and appreciate it. The Messrs. Clark have placed young English theologians under another obligation by introducing to their notice Dr. Doedes, of the of the University of Utrecht. A want has often been felt, and complaints have been frequently made of the absence of a Manual of Hermeneutics. Large and exhaustive works are well known, and the results of hermeneutical study are presented without stint to all sincere inquirers into the sense of Scripture. But there are many who prefer grasping the principles of a science in skeleton, learning something of its history, and discovering how the questions treated of by it have come to wear the face they are now presenting, before they commit themselves to any adept in the science. This Manual meets such a want very efficiently. The history of the various exegetical schools is written in an exceedingly clear way; and it cannot fail to impress itself upon the mind of a student of theology, as an outline map imprints the formation of a country upon the learner of geography. A sketch of this kind is peculiarly valuable for reference before reading an author; for by discovering the class under which he falls, we may know beforehand on which side his secret and unconscious bias will lie, and may thus be on our guard against his prejudices. No one man can know everything, but the omission of some names in this work can scarcely be explained on the theory of want of space; and the student of English interpreters, especially, will have to apply the principles here inculcated writers of whom this manual says nothing. The chapters on the "task to the interpreter of the writings of the New Testament has to perform," and on the method of interpretation," are equally valuable with the history of hermeneutics. A great amount of suggestive matter is contained in a few sentences; and although the nature of the work lays it open to the chance of becoming "bony," there is that in the writer's treatment which quite redeems it from this charge, and renders it, not indeed pleasant reading, but useful-very helpful to the memory and the intellect. Some of the statements about strictly literal renderings, and theexistence of only one sense, require, from our point of view, a touch of moderation; but Dr. Doedes himself says enough to prevent a careful reader from falling into serious error on this point. Though the size of Mr. Pope's Inaugural Address, delivered at the Didsbury Theological Institution, and the specific objects contemplated by it, precluded the idea of presenting a formal and scientific exposition of the proper training of candidates for the Christian ministry, it will nevertheless repay reading by all who, to adopt its language, having found themselves free from the periodical trials of examiners, have determined to "be to themselves inquisitors." Many Methodists will turn with mingled curiosity and hope to this apologia pro labore suo issued by the present occupant of the Theological Chair at Didsbury. If anywhere a latent and unac knowledged suspicion has lodged in men's minds that "the long and blessed labours" of Dr. Hannah were to be succeeded by any line of teaching less Methodistic, or less purely evangelical, this Address will utterly dispel such baseless illusions. Of course-and this pamphlet gives evidence in its structure and its language of the fact-the new teacher will wear his own garment, and use his own voice, seeing with his own eyes, and hearing the Babel of the doubters and the gainsayers with his own ears; but the impress of his Tutor is still on him. Reverence for God's word written, as the sole standard of Christian doctrine, will still distinguish the utterances of this school of the prophets; and if they learn another language or profess another creed, they will not have learned this speech, or been moulded into their beliefs, by the instructions received from their Tutor. We would draw especial attention, on the part of those who are beyond |