questions which have two sides, when he was liable to cross swords with other critics. That the author has been cautious and reserved, even to extremes, every reader of his work will at once perceive. On the whole, it is well that he was so prudent. His work should not support any theory, or favor any particular edition of the New Testament-not even Tischendorf's. It should serve as an encyclopedia of reference for the use of all critics of the New Testament text, and hence should be as impartial as possible. So, while some may perhaps be disappointed because his views do not coincide with theirs, yet all will feel that the work is that of a patient searcher after the truth, and, where opinions were necessary, they are given as the result of an impartial examination of the evidence. For instance, Dr. Gregory gives as his opinion that the Curetonian, Peshitto, and other Syriac versions are but four species of one original version, dating from the latter part of the second century, the Curetonian being nearer the original than the others; that the Egyptian version can justly claim for itself a great antiquity; that the oldest Latin translation had its home in Proconsular Africa, was made up little by little, and that it dates from the second century; that the translator of Irenaeus was nearly contemporary with Irenaeus himself. On these and many other points there are conflicting opinions-high scholarship being ranged on both sides. But Dr. Gregory's way of stating his opinion is so candid and courteous that no one can take offence. Besides, full and exhaustive references to all the literature of the different subjects, well up to date, are given in the footnotes. This is a very valuable element of this work, for references are much needed here, and much increases its usefulness. We very much wish a reference had been given to Zahn's "Geschichte d. N. T. Kanons" in the discussion as to the origin of the Latin version. We also wish that the true character of the text of Codex Bezae were more correctly stated. Dr. Gregory's statement on page 954 is very partial, if not absolutely incorrect. This work is very opportune. It reveals the actual condition in which the material for the criticism of the text of the New Testament lies. It points out what must yet be done in this important field of work. Within the last quarter of a century three great editions of the New Testament have appeared-Tregelles', Tischendorf's, and Westcott & Hort's. These followed close upon the heels of predecessors and in all probability will have successors. But these Prolegomena raise the question, Is the material of Text Criticism yet in such a condition as to warrant another constructed text of the New Testament? A decidedly negative answer is given by the facts presented. Of the whole vast amount of material included by the Greek uncials and cursives, the MSS. of the most important versions and the patristic quotations but one portion-the most valuable, it is true --has been examined and sifted to a degree sufficient to make its testimony of a character to be depended upon. The remainder is yet an al This is particularly true of the most unexplored mine of rich material. Greek cursives and the Syriac version. in the field of text criticism is work upon the history of the cursive MSS. and of the MSS. of the different versions, in order to determine in what relation their text stands to the uncial texts. A laudable beginning has been made in the now partially completed edition of the Latin Vulgate by Wordsworth and White, though we regret that the editors have not been more careful in their use of the collations of the MSS. used by them.1 Dr. Gregory's work is a call to the world of New Testament scholarship -pointing out its duty in this line. From an American who has won for himself an enviable place in Europe, it comes with especial force to American scholarship. Dr. Scrivener's words will bear repetition: "Out of the long array of uncollated manuscripts which swell our catalogues, let the student choose from the mass a few within his reach . . . or exhaust the information some ecclesiastical writer of the first six centuries can afford; or contribute what he can to an exact acquaintance with some good ancient version, ascertaining . . . (where this is attainable) the literary history of its text. . . . He will be helping to solve that great problem which has hitherto in part eluded the most earnest inquiries, the investigation of the true laws and principles of Comparative Criticism." The harvest is great; where are the laborers? EDWARD E. NOURSE. JENA, GERMANY. HISTORY, PROPHECY, AND THE MONUMENTS. By James Frederick McCurdy, Ph. D., LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages in University College, Toronto. Vol. I. To the Downfall of Samaria. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1894. (Pp. xxiv, 425. 6%x358.) $3.00 net. This volume meets a long-felt want, and is prepared with such thoroughness, and written in such a judicial spirit and clearness of style, that it is likely for many years to be the standard book upon the subject. For more than a quarter of a century new material of the highest importance has been accumulating respecting the development of civilization in Western Asia and in Egypt; but, for the most part, this information has been scattered in a variety of learned periodicals and monographs, which are beyond the reach of any but the favored few. With ample knowledge of the facts, Professor McCurdy has brought these scattered fragments together, and with rare powers of generalization has presented them in a well-arranged and readable volume, covering the period to the downfall of Samaria. It is to be followed, in due time, by a second volume completing the history. 1 Cf. E. von Dobschütz, Studien zur Textkritik der Vulgata, Leipzig, 1894. 2 Introd., 3d ed., p. 520. The work will serve several important ends. Not only does it present the facts in a manner which commands the confidence both of the scholar and of the general reader, but it will be specially useful in clearing the air of two classes of misconceptions. It dispels both the misconception of those who have imagined that the biblical history of the earliest times was completely to be upset by the revelations of the Babylonian monuments, and that of those who have expected minute and specific reaffirmations of biblical history, with little enlargement of view. While neither of these expectations has been realized, the result must prove eminently satisfactory to all. The history of the Bible is confirmed to a degree which removes all reasonable doubt of its genuine character; while the horizon has been greatly enlarged, so that the history of Israel appears, while equally important, far more intricate in its relations, and really more wonderful in its revelations of divine Providence, than it has heretofore been thought to be. It is due to the writer of the volume, however, to say that he has left the reader to draw his own inferences upon these points, having written the volume with scarcely any distinct reference to its apologetic value, but throughout in the calm temper of one whose quest is the truth, and not the support of any preconceived opinion. It now seems beyond reasonable question that the Semitic language and the main features of Semitic culture were already established in Babylonia 4000 years B. C.,-Sargon the First having, as early as 3750 B. C., penetrated to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and even to the Island of Cyprus, while his immediate successors extended their conquest down to the valuable mines which have been so long worked in the Sinaitic peninsula. As to the origin of this civilization, it seems now pretty clear that it was independent of, and older than, that of Egypt, and was the product of races occupying Northeastern Arabia, who from that point spread upwards along the fertile valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris (pages 99, 137). The author properly sides with those who reject Sayce's theory, that the earliest civilization was Akkadian, and regards the Semitic as the older. To the Babylonian Semites we owe "the arts of writing, of measuring and marking off terrestrial and celestial spaces, of navigation and elaborate architecture," and, what was more important, the skill which enabled man to redeem the marshy plains of the Euphrates Valley, and to place them under such cultivation that for thousands of years they were the garden of the world—an achievement which modern science is likely to be long in re-accomplishing. The original settlement of Palestine seems to have been effected from the north by tribes which were either themselves Semitic or had lived in close association with the Semites. The reader of these early annals is, however, likely to fall into error through a misunderstanding of the words "city" and "king," since the cities of those days were not the organized units with which Western civilization has become familiar, nor VOL. LII. NO. 205. 13 were the people capable of association into anything like the compact civil corporations of modern times. Most of the cities of Canaan were, according to modern ideas, insignificant, and their "kings" extremely restricted both in the range and character of their authority. The word Malk is about as pervasive in Western Asia among peoples of Semitic descent as Casar is among the royal heads of Europe, or Cohen among the descendants of the Jews. History amply sustains the representations of society in Palestine which are made in the records of the Pentateuch. Among the most important discoveries yet made which reveal the condition of Palestine before the period of the Exodus is that of the Tell-el-Amarna tablets, of which a full account is given by our author. These tablets, discovered in the valley of the Nile in the year 1888, number no less than three hundred and twenty documents, and are proved, by various lines of evidence, to have been written in the fifteenth century before the Christian era, while Israel was still in bondage to Pharaoh. These documents consist of letters, written for the most part in the Babylonian language, and addressed to the Egyptian court existing at that time. The larger number of them were from various officers, or vassals, in Syria and Palestine, revealing the important fact that the Semitic, like the French at the present time, was then the court language of the world, and that the knowledge of writing was universally practised by the ruling classes in Palestine long before the age of Moses. These letters from Palestine reveal a political condition which would be the natural preparation for the state of weakness and dependency which seems to have existed at the time of the conquest by Joshua. Jerusalem was already numbered among the "cities" of the region. Though the language of these tablets is Semitic, it is not Hebrew, and it is written in cuneiform characters; so that the origin both of the Hebrew alphabet and of the Hebrew dialect still remains among unsolved problems. The most which can be said, is that the revelation made by this discovery concerning the spread of Semitic literature at this early date renders it entirely credible that the Pentateuch should have been written in the age of Moses, i.e., so far as the linguistic argument is concerned. The permanence of these tablets which have preserved the writing of the long-forgotten scribes of Palestine for more than three thousand years, makes short work of many hasty inferences which have been drawn by such egotists as the late Robertson Smith, concerning the impossibility of preserving extensive literature from the ravages of time during the long periods of early history. Professor McCurdy would place the Exodus about the year 1200 B. C., during the reign of Rameses III., instead of that of Mernepthah, whose reign he thinks to have been nearly one hundred years earlier than the Exodus. This inference rests largely upon the fact that it was not until this later date that Egyptian influence had so lost its hold in Palestine as to be insignificant during the period of Joshua (page 204). But space forbids our even touching upon a tithe of the most inter esting subjects treated in this comprehensive and elegantly printed volume. Its possession and perusal will be almost a necessity to those who attempt a thorough study of the Old Testament times and of Old Testament literature. LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. Described by Adolf Erman. Translated by H. M. Tirard. With 400 Illustrations in the Text, and 11 Plates. New York and London: Macmillan & Co. 1894. (Pp. xii, 570. 8x434.) $6.00. The rapid advances made in Egyptian explorations have created a pressing demand for a full and authoritative work presenting the facts in their most modern aspect. This want is now happily supplied for the English public by Mrs. Tirard's translation of Professor Erman's great work on "Life in Ancient Egypt." The work commends itself to the reader by the orderly arrangement of the matter, the numerous references to original sources of information, the clearness of its literary style, the abundance of its illustrations, and the beauty of its printing. The illustrations are freely drawn from the great works of Wilkinson, Lepsius, and Perrot-Chipiez. Only nus could such a large number have been incorporated in a volume of moderate price. The generous size of the page favors the convenient introduction of a great variety of illustrations without interfering with the letter press. The subject is treated in topics, and is limited to the period extending from the fourth to the twenty-first dynasty, or about the year 1000 B. C. After a brief but vivid description of the Land and the People, we find chapters on The History; The King and his Court; Political Conditions under the Old and New Empires; The Police and Courts of Justice; Family Life; The House; Dress; Recreation; Religion; The Dead; Learning; Literature; The Plastic Arts; Agriculture; Arts and Crafts; Traffic and Trade; and War. Each of these subjects is treated with all the fulness that could be desired. The author's treatment of the prehistoric period is conservative, as is his position upon the chronology of the Empire. Menes is placed by him at 3200 B. C., with the statement that he may have been much earlier, but that the data are too indefinite for accurate computation. The chapter on Religion is mainly limited to a plain statement of the most interesting facts, with little comment upon the philosophy of their development. His view is, that originally the country did not possess a common religion, but that each town and community had a special divinity, and that a process of simplification had gone on during the prehistoric period until, in the time of Menes, all the gods had been identified with Ra, or Rê', as he spells the name. This, however, is wholly theoretical; for, as the author admits, the tendency in later times was to confusion. The attempt of Amenhotep IV. to return to the earlier simplicity of faith proved futile in presence of the strong attachment of the common people to polytheism, |