GENESIS AND Semitic TradITION. By John D. Davis, Ph. D., Professor of Semitic Philosophy and Old Testament in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1894. (Pp. 150. 64x32.) $1.50.

These essays make a very useful volume, and deserve the attention of those who are strongly opposed to the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Scriptures as it is held by the dominant majority of the Presbyterian Church in America at the present time. The point to be specially noticed is, that those who maintain the doctrine of plenary inspiration do so by exercising great liberality in the interpretation of difficult passages. They are as far as possible from being mere literalists. To them, as to others, the Bible is what the Bible means.

Fourteen subjects are treated in the present volume, among which are "The Creation of the Universe," "The Sabbath," "The Creation of Man," "The Helpmeet for Man," "The Serpent of the Temptation," "The Deluge," and "The Tower of Babel." The essays are accompanied by thirteen elegant illustrations reproducing the most important Babylonian tablets bearing upon the texts. The reasonable liberality employed in interpretation appears notably in the chapter on "The Helpmeet for Man," which the author is inclined to think may be a vision like that which Paul had when he "knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body." Under this view the account is simply a "method employed by God to reveal to man those truths regarding woman upon which the moral relations rest. In a symbolic manner man is taught that woman is one blood with him, that she equally with him is the handiwork of God, that she was created for the man, was committed unto him by God, and has her place by inherent right at man's side as help and companion " (p. 53).

THE COMPREHENSIVE TEACHERS' BIBLE: with Revised Helps and a New Concordance, and an Indexed Bible Atlas. London: S. Bagster & Sons; New York: James Pott & Co. (Minion type, pp. 585, 188, 305. 72x42.)

THE HOLY BIBLE: With The Cambridge Companion to the Bible. London: C. U. Clay & Sons; New York: James Pott & Co. (Minion type, pp. 998, 412. 7x438.)

We welcome these new Teachers' Bibles. They are well printed and bound. Their maps are clear, and those of the Cambridge Bible are new. The type in the Bagster "Helps" is clear and large, and the helps have been revised and improved. Perhaps the most marked improvement is in the concordance, which in the previous editions of the Bagster, so excellent in other ways, was so condensed as to be a frequent disappointment. We have tested the new concordance with satisfactory results. The Bagster is a general favorite already, and will find increased popularity in view of these improvements. The Cambridge has a handsome page, is of convenient size, and has a new clasp, dispensing with the band.

Its helps are the work of such scholars as Drs. Ryle, Perowne, Lumby, Murray, Davidson, Robertson Smith, and Watson. Its maps show the results of the latest surveys. And with all these improvements, the scale of prices is low, when the quality of the work, both literary and mechanical, is considered.

STUDIES IN BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. By Joseph Jacobs, Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History, Madrid. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1894. (Pp. 184. 52x338.) $1.00.

This is a collection of Essays which have appeared from time to time during the past ten years. They show much learning, and well repay perusal. The author insists, with justice, that in biblical criticism more attention should be paid to what may be called "survivals," that is, to the customs which originated under conditions of society long since passed, and have survived amid the new conditions. What is called the Junior Right in Genesis, that is, the right of younger members of the family to inheritance, is believed by the author to "account for the existence in Genesis of almost all the so-called 'immoral' narratives of the book, and would thus throw more light on the composition of the latter part of the book than any amount of literary analysis" can do (p. 22).

CANONICAL AND UNCANONICAL GOSPELS. With a Translation of the Recently Discovered Fragment of the Gospel of Peter, and a Selection from the Sayings of Our Lord not found in the Four Gospels. By W. E. Barnes, B. D., Fellow of Peterhouse, and Theological Lecturer at Clare College, Cambridge. London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co. 1893. (Pp. xii, 112. 5x3.)

This is a very effective presentation of the documentary evidence for the genuineness and authority of the four Gospels. The argument proceeds in general upon the old lines so ably followed by Westcott, and presents with convincing force the new evidence from the "Gospel of Peter," giving proper attention also to the recent discussions concerning the uncanonical Gospels and the uncanonical sayings of our Lord. The conclusion arrived at by the author is that “we find no trace whatever of Gospels substantially different from our own" (p. 83). The work is worthy of highest commendation.

THE TRIAL AND Death of JESUS CHRIST: A Devotional History of our Lord's Passion. By James Stalker, D. D. New York: A. C. Ármstrong & Son. 1894. (Pp. xv, 321. 536x34.) $1.50.

The wide popularity of Dr. Stalker's small volume on "The Life of Jesus Christ" will make the present one specially acceptable to the reading public. It fully sustains his reputation for simple statement and clear discussion of the many questions relating to the personal life of Christ. It unites in a remarkable degree scholarly ability and devout appreciation of the deep meaning of all the details connected with the last hours of the Saviour's life on earth.

CHRISTIANITY AND EVOLUTION. By James Iverach, D. D., Professor of Apologetics and Exegesis of the Gospels in the Free Church College, Aberdeen. New York: Thomas Whittaker. 1894. (Pp. 232. 52x3.) $1.25.

This volume belongs to "The Theological Educator" series, which is edited by Rev. W. Robertson Nicoll, editor of The Expositor. It concedes the most essential claims of evolution, but declares the attempt to follow the development of mind from the lower animals up to man an impossible task. The work is critical rather than constructive, and cautions against rash and wholesale acceptance of theories in advance of proof. The work is well done; but a more positive treatment of the question, which assumed less previous familiarity with the subject, with less attention to controverted points, and more to what may fairly be considered as established, would have made a more serviceable volume for this excellent series.

CHRIST THE CENTRAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. Principal Cairns, D. D. New York, Chicago, and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Co. (558x3.) $1.00.

This volume consists of six separate tracts, bound together, making altogether 294 pages. Their titles are: "Christianity and Miracles at the Present Day," "Christ, the Central Evidence of Christianity," "The Success of Christianity and Modern Explanations of It," "Present State of Christian Argument from Prophecy," "Is the Evolution of Christianity from Mere Natural Sources Credible?" "Argument for Christianity from the Experience of Christians." The tracts are all conservative in character, and contain a very clear and convincing presentation of the ordinary lines of argument in support of the supernatural claims of the Bible.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE CHRIST: A Study of Christian Evidences. By Bradford Paul Raymond, D. D., President of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. New York: Hunt & Eaton; Cincinnati: Cranston & Curts. 1894. (Pp. x, 250. 44 x234.) 85 cents.

Dr. Raymond's presentation of the Christian evidences is clear and convincing, taking into account all the most recent objections and presenting with much force the new external evidence which has been brought to light in recent years. The volume will be most helpful to the more inquiring minds among lay readers.

OUTLINE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE. By David Allen Reed, Instructor in the School for Christian Workers, Springfield, Mass. New York and Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Co. (Pp. 107. 52x3.) 75 cents.

A concise, comprehensive, and most convenient handbook for the systematic instruction of Bible classes in the doctrines of the Bible. It is also recommended by the fact that it has proved itself successful by a long use previous to publication.

BIBLE CLASS EXPOSITIONS. By Alexander Maclaren, D.D. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. 1894. (5%x34.) $1.00 per volume. The Gospel of St. Matthew. In two volumes. (Pp. vii, 255; vii, 238.) The Gos pel of St. Mark. (Pp. viii, 247.)

These volumes were written for the Sunday-School Times and form a very convenient and valuable commentary on the first two Gospels. They are evangelical in spirit and sufficiently thorough to be of permanent value.

NEW VOLUMES OF THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.1

Six new volumes of this series are before us. Dr. Watson's point of view is well shown in the following extracts from his Introduction:"It has been said that 'the inspired condition would seem to be one which produces a generous indifference to pedantic accuracy in matters of fact, and a supreme absorbing concern about the moral and religious significance of facts.' If the former part of this statement were true, the historical books of the Bible, and, we may say, in particular the Book of Numbers would deserve no attention as history. But nothing is more striking in a survey of our book than the clear unhesitating way in which incidents are set forth, even where moral and religious ends could not be much served by the detail that is freely used. . . . No writer could be inspired and at the same time indifferent to accuracy. If there is one thing more than another on which we may rely, it is that the authors of these books of Scripture have done their very utmost by careful inquiry and recension to make their account of what took place in the wilderness full and precise. Absolute sincerity and scrupulous carefulness are essential conditions for dealing successfully with moral and religious themes; and we have all evidence that the compilers had these qualities" (pp. 13, 14, 15).

Canon Farrar's Second Kings next attracts attention. The vigor and directness of his volume on First Kings are not lacking here. In the first chapter he plunges into questions of criticism and Old Testament ethics quite up to the depth of the ordinary reader. David's smiting of the Moabites is characterized as "one of the horrible atrocities against which the ill-instructed conscience of men in those days of ignorance did not revolt." The statement that Elijah received his commands from “the angel of the Lord," he says, "may only be the recognized phrase of the prophetic schools, putting in a concrete and vivid form the voice of inward inspiration." The ethics of Elijah's calling down the fire to consume the host sent to apprehend him is treated from the standpoint of Christ's words with which he heads the chapter, "Ye know not what manner of

1 Edited by the Rev. W. Robertson Nicoll. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. $1.50 per volume.

2 The Book of Numbers. By Robert A. Watso n. 1894. Pp. 414.
3 The Second Book of Kings. By F. W. Farrar, D. D., F. R. S.

Pp. 496.

spirit ye are of," and, finally, while the story is regarded as having an historic kernel, the commentator follows the opinions of "the great students and critics of Germany, to whom we are indebted for the flood of light which their researches have thrown on the sacred page" and who "with almost consentient voice regard these details of this story as legendary." This treatment certainly has the merit of not halting between two opinions, but the length to which it goes will surprise some readers.

Professor Bennett's exposition of Chronicles1 is quite in line with Professor Adeney's work on Ezra and Nehemiah in the same series. It dates the work between 300 and 250 B. C., and says of its material that it "is of a very mixed character, partly borrowed from the older historical books, partly taken down from late tradition, and partly constructed according to the current philosophy of history."

Dr. Maclaren finishes the Psalms with the same careful scholarship and deep sympathy with the book to which we have already called attention in noticing the previous two volumes.3

The reader will be somewhat surprised that Dr. Marcus Dods, who so sensibly treated of First Corinthians, does not also treat of the Second Epistle. However, Rev. James Denney, who writes this exposition, is already favorably known to the readers of this series from his treatment of Thessalonians, and has given here a careful and practical discussion of the subjects covered by this epistle.

Mr. Moule's exposition of Romans is more of a commentary than most of the volumes which have preceded it. The text is given in boldfaced type, and runs down the page, interspersed with comments which the eye at once separates from the text.

These volumes complete the New Testament, and bring the end of the Old into sight.

SERMONS ON THE INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSONS FOR 1895. By the Monday Club. Twentieth Series. Boston and Chicago: Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society. 1894. (Pp. 383. 68x34.) $1.25.

Notwithstanding frequent pastoral changes, the Monday Club maintains its continuity, and continues to present what we believe is really the most valuable series of commentaries upon the Sunday-school lessons. To the present volume twenty-four different persons have made contributions.

1 The Books of Chronicles. By W. H. Bennett, M. A. Pp. 464.

2 The Psalms. By A. Maclaren, D. D. Vol. III.

Pp. 461.

Bib. Sac., Vols. 1. p. 557; li. pp. 716,717.

Psalms xc.-cl.

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. By Rev. James Denney, B.D. Pp. 387.

The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. By Handley C. G. Moule, M. A. Pp. 437.