from the unphilosophical use, by Mr. Greenfield, of our a and o, for alef and ain; but surely this must seem simplicity itself, compared with an attempt to represent (distinctly?) as three breathings, alef, he, and ain, by the same h, preceded for the first and second by the smooth and rough mark of the Greeks, and for the third, a minute n above the line; combined with similar devices of Gesenius, to distinguish the shewà both pure and mixed, we boldly challenge any uninitiated lover of the Muses to pronounce, e. g. the titles of the conjugations, (pp. 41, 42,) which we have been content in quoting to leave room for, by the tolerably adequate device of what we call apostrophe, to represent our unaccented a, e, o, or the French e sourd. In conclusion, we do this great work, in little compass, the best service of inviting, as it does, the calm deliberate attention of comparative philologers— nay, of all classical as well as Hebrew scholars, who will all find here much valuable matter, full of suggestive, even if not always of confessedly conclusive, wisdom; and will thank the learned author for thus following so stoutly, yet not blindly or implicitly, our mighty masters, Grimm and Bopp, and all their following of Indo-German critics, and explorers in the vast primeval forest of comparative philology.

We consider Mr. Charles Ingham Black's 'Messias and Anti-Messias,' (Masters,) a very remarkable and ingenious work. Its object is to develop in the several dispensations the anti-christian idea, or principle always working against and confronting the personal Messiah, and subsequently fighting against His Church, as a visible and personal Body. The anti-christian principle, a single but multiform spirit, Mr. Black detects in heathen philosophy and religion, in the great heresies, and in certain modern intellectual systems. There is too much learning and originality in this small volume to make it popular, but few works of the day exhibit a higher cast of thought and a more discriminating course of reading. Without accepting all its positions, we recommend this volume as far in advance of the sciolism and shallowness of our common theological literature.

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We are not familiar with the name of the Rev. Thomas Wilson, M.A. of C.C.C.Cambridge, author of 'Spiritual Catholicity,' 'Travels in Syria, Palestine,' &c. It appears, however, that this gentleman is still an English clergyman, and has undertaken, in connexion with the Rev. J. A. Giles, D.C.L., to publish an edition of the Hebrew Scriptures, with the object of diverging considerably from the point of view occupied by ecclesiastical authority in 'this country,' that is, as it is afterwards expressed, of abandoning 'the dilapidated citadel of "Bibliolatry." In deference, however, to episcopal ' notice, Dr. Giles, as a clergyman on active duty, has become convinced of 'the propriety of withdrawing from the joint editorship' of Mr. T. Wilson's undertaking though his deference to his diocesan, whoever the Bishop may be, has not deterred Dr. Giles from supporting the collective work by his critical and historical erudition, nor from publishing at Mr. Chapman's, a work which we have not seen, 'Hebrew Records;' concerning the age, authorship, and authenticity of the Books of the Old Testament,' and advertising a similar publication on the Christian Records.' Part I. of Mr. Wilson's undertaking, The Holy Bible, &c. with Notes, Critical, Practical, and Devotional,' (John Chapman,) is before us. It would be most fair to Mr. Wilson to give in his own words 'a brief abstract of such reli

'gious and theological principles as form the groundwork of his commen'tary :'

'I.—Supernatural claims for the Bible are denied, not only from a belief that its Writings are all within the scope of the Human Spirit and Understand'ing, but also in pursuance of a principle which ignores "supernaturalism" 'altogether as being destitute of rational or religious congruity with the Will and Way of the Creator as revealed in His Works...... Let it not 'be thought that a reverential Commentary upon the Hebrew Scriptures 'must needs involve an acceptance of Mythology for History, Poetry for Prose, or Fiction for Fact. The world has had enough of a mental 'prostration that tends little to the honour of God or Man. The Bible abounds in words and thoughts which, if imposed as of divine authority, 'cannot but derogate deplorably from the "reasonable service" which in 'these latter days it is man's highest privilege to offer to his Maker. Yet may Biblical "wars of the Lord" be no less worthy of annotation or analysis than the classic themes which have so often occupied Church 'scholarship on cantos of a Trojan Iliad or choruses of a Greek Drama.' -p. iv.

II. Miracles." Miracles," as meaning exceptional phenomena, worked by the agency of invisible Powers, to impress the imagination or arrest the attention of Man, are not denied. All that is denied is the religious 'obligation to believe them on reported testimony.'—Ibid.

IX. Atonement and Imputation.-These transcendental doctrines, like 'those of fatalism and predestination, can be explained as involving recon'dite truths in reference to the Infinite, but nevertheless may be fallacious and perilous when mooted in connexion with the Finite. It is india'putable, for example (to borrow a physical illustration), that everything on our earth gravitates towards the Sun, yet for a man to regulate his 'movements according to solar rather than terrestrial attraction would ' ensure his destruction. From the beginning of the Pentateuch to the end ' of the Apocalypse there is a divine voice warning and saving all who will "listen-" If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at thy door." "Let no man deceive you," says the Apostle; ""whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap!”—P. vi.

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'X. Punishment for Sin.-All violations of divine or natural laws are believed, both from Theory and Experience, to entail corresponding 'penalties. These penalties are not to be regarded as proceeding from the vengeance of a wrathful God, but as part of the training discipline of Him 'who chastens the Son he loves. The infinite duration and intensity of 'punishment, as usually taught by Churches, is a demoralizing and irreli'gious dogma. Infinity admits neither of degree nor discrimination; whereas the Bible speaks of "many" stripes or "few," in proportion to the offence. The shades of merit and demerit among the best and worst of men, mingle so imperceptibly as hardly to be humanly distinguished. Hence "Judge not," "Condemn not.”—Ibid.

In fulfilment of these promises, Mr. Wilson speaks of 'the stupendous ' unreason of making our justification dependent upon a mental conviction ' of the authenticity and genuineness of the whole Bible,' p. 7. The commentator is profoundly persuaded that either covenant is totally and

'irreconcilably opposed to the idea of propitiating the Creator by infliction, or endurance of a painful and bloody death,' p. 11. The Bible chronology is of course abandoned; 'the first eleven chapters of Genesis are devoted 'to mythological or sacred poetical legends . . . the opening panorama of Heaven, Earth, Darkness, and the Deep, is a sublime effort of poetical genius.' 'Man's first disobedience is a sacred drama,' and 'the loss of Eden a myth.'-Pp. 83, 84. By way of a concluding specimen, both of the principles of this new Christianity and of the nonsense in which it is preached, we subjoin a portion of the Retrospective Note on the Mytho

logical Tradition of Genesis,' p. 83 :

'We may believe the astronomy of Genesis to have been current with shepherds of Shinar. In better accordance, however, with later conclusions, vegetable and animal life is described as rising in physiological gradation 'from grass to cattle, from the moss of the rock to the fruit-tree yielding 'fruit, through fish, fowl, and creeping thing, up to the beast of the field, ' and Man, the divine climax, moulded in the likeness of his Maker.

"The element of Time is specified, but particularises no definite intervals 'between granite and the lichen, the trilobite and the mammalia, or any 'other of the intermediate stages of organic or inorganic existence. The 'six days are by some extended indeed to periods of a thousand years 'each, but even this moderate attempt at secularizing Mosaic measure'ments is not authorized by a candid construction of the text. The Insti'tution of the Sabbath being referred to the repose of Elohim on the 'seventh day, renders it nearly certain that the writer restricted the forma'tion and sanctification of his Cosmos to the lapse of a week, or one quarter ' of the moon's sidereal course. Such an apotheosis of the National Festival sufficiently explains the otherwise insignificant limitation of Elohistic activity.

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'At least two different traditions seem to have been interwoven into the 'account of the creation of ADAM. They appear best reconciled by sup'posing the name to be collective for an androgynous Human Being-" In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them." 'Woman, according to the Jehovistic account, is only subsequently sepa'rated into distinct existence from that state of integral union, in which 'she was first formed with her partner, "bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh."...

The incongruity of various traditions or shreds of traditions, conscientiously but inartistically interwoven, renders it perhaps impossible to reconcile any explanation of the general narrative with all its particulars 'expressed or omissions understood. It is allowable, however, to suppose 'that the apologue of the serpent, the fruit, and the fig-leaf, represents the 'desire of life, of love and of knowledge, as first insinuating itself gracefully and persuasively into the bosom of the more gentle, fervid and 'imaginative half of humanity. Eve, or "maternal life," listens to the 'subtle charmer twining round her genial heart, and acting on irresistible 'impulse shares the reserved fruits of paradise with her entranced consort. For a while, the serpent's words are justified; our first parents are as Gods-but, alas! a rising cloud overshadows the hour of ecstasy.

"medio de fonte leporum

Surgit amari aliquid.”

The proud anticipation of generic immortality through an endless series of representatives stamped in their own image, is darkened to the awakening pair by a degrading consciousness of virtue gone out of them, a depressing perception of life lost as well as of life bestowed. The ‘abashed spirit, daunted for a while by sensuous triumph, now profits by the lull to resume the soul's supremacy of divine right-they for the first time know that they are naked, and feel that they are ashamed. A painful presentiment that perpetual generation is incompatible with individual immortality, embitters the sweetest fruit with a deadly twang of dust and ashes-they for the first time know and feel that they shall surely die. The soul blushes for the body, and death greets life with a grim smile— grim but not hostile, for all flesh is grass; and how could it spring young and green without the scythe of that stern mower of the mortal harvest?'

Mr. Bolton's Hulsean Prize Essay on the Evidences of Christianity as exhibited in the writings of its Apologists down to Augustine,' (Macmillan,) is an able and scholarly digest of patristic passages on the several topics of ⚫ antecedent probability,'' antiquity,'' prophecy,' 'miracles,'' reasonableness of doctrine,' superior morality,' and success of the gospel.' The work is highly creditable to its author.

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Mr. C. Hardwick's History of the Christian Church from the Seventh Century to the Reformation,' is in form the first instalment of a series of theological manuals, proposed for publication by Macmillan of Cambridge, an undertaking which we shall watch with interest; but in substance Mr. Hardwick has produced a substantial treatise on the Mediæval Church. It is, of course, but a directory to the subject, cast in the more favourable form of German hand-books, full in references and authority, systematic and formal in division, with enough of life in the style to counteract the dryness inseparable from its brevity, and exhibiting the results rather than the principles of investigation. Mr. Hardwick is to be congratulated on the successful achievement of a difficult task.

The late Mr. Macvey Napier, editor of the Edinburgh Review, has left two remarkable biographical sketches, Lord Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh,' which have been published, or rather reprinted by Macmillan. Mr. Napier as far exceeds Macaulay in conscientious adherence to mere facts, as he falls below him in style. In the life of Bacon we observe a just conception of the great Chancellor equally removed from Basil Montagu's idle heroworship, and the disparaging tone of more recent biographers; Mr. Napier is, however, more concerned with the philosopher than the jurist and politician: and in the sketch of Raleigh we observe notice of some new facts, and a clear vindication of some, at least, of the points misunderstood in Raleigh's career.

Commander Burrows has printed a very engaging and interesting paper on Pitcairn's Island,' (Whitaker,) which he delivered in the shape of a lecture.

'An Analysis of the Church Catechism in a tabular form,' (J. H. Parker,) is sound in itself; but we own to an impression that the clergyman who cannot analyse the Catechism for himself, is not fit to catechise. We do not wish to encourage mere lazy vain repetitions in catechising.

'Russia and Turkey, the present Crisis foreseen and foretold,' (Masters,) is the republication of some able political letters which appeared in the 'Morning Chronicle' and 'Guardian' at various times, pointing out the dangers accruing from the attempts making to establish a nominal Protestantism in the East. These letters are the production of one personally acquainted with oriental questions, and are very important. In connexion with this subject, we would announce to our readers that an important document is in course of signature, circulated by an influential committee, which is addressed to the heads of the orthodox Churches, protesting against, and disavowing, the schismatical proceedings of Bishop Gobat. Signatures may be sent to Mr. Neale, of East Grinstead. That there is ample ground for this appeal, the following Paper, circulated by the Committee, sufficiently proves :

Copy of a Letter commendatory from William, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Eastern Patriarchs; on occasion of the Mission of the late Bishop Michael Alexander.--(From the Ecclesiastical Gazette, vol. iv. p. 142.)

To the Right Reverend our Brothers in Christ, the Prelates and Bishops of the Ancient and Apostolic Churches in Syria and the countries adjacent, greeting in the Lord :

'We William, by Divine Providence, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan, most earnestly commend to your brotherly love the Right Rev. Michael Solomon Alexander, Doctor in Divinity, whom we, being well assured of his learning and piety, have consecrated to the office of a Bishop of the United Church of England and Ireland, according to the ordinances of our holy and apostolic Church, and, having obtained the consent of our Sovereign Lady the Queen, have sent out to Jerusalem with authority to exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the Clergy and congregations of our Church, which are now, or which hereafter may be, established in the countries above mentioned. And in order to prevent any misunderstanding in regard to this our purpose, we think it right to make known to you that we have charged the said Bishop our Brother not to intermeddle in any way with the jurisdiction of the Prelates, or other Ecclesiastical Dignitaries bearing rule in the Churches of the East, but to show them due reverence and honour, and to be ready on all occasions, and by all the means in his power, to promote a mutual interchange of respect, courtesy, and kindness. We have good reason to believe that our Brother is willing, and will feel himself in conscience bound, to follow these our instructions; and we beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to receive him as a brother, and to assist him, as opportunity may offer, with your good offices.

We trust that your Holinesses will accept this communication as a testimony of our respect and affection, and of our hearty desire to renew that amicable intercourse with the ancient Churches of the East, which has been suspended for ages, and which, if restored, may have the effect, with the blessing of God, of putting an end to divisions which have brought the most grievous calamities on the Church of Christ.

'In this hope, and with sentiments of the highest respect for your Holinesses, we have affixed our archiepiscopal seal to this letter, written with