we are not reviewing the work, only calling attention to it, leaving the reader to judge how far the author solves the problems involved in the origin and growth of Christianity, in a history which treats it as a merely "moral movement."

Mr. Allen is an independent thinker, a faithful and intelligent student of events, their causes and consequences; of men, their character, motives, aims, and the secret of their influence and power. He seems to us to combine to some extent, the lucid description and picturesque style of Macaulay, with the delicate insight and subtle analysis of Neander without his mistiness and wearisome detail. His sketches of early doctrines and heresies, the rise, development and fall of these, the early and the later Paganism of Rome, the several systems of philosophy and their relation to the Christian Gnosticism, the causes of the persecutions, the growth of the Church as a controlling force in its relation to the imperial power, the Arian Controversy, and many other matters so much written about, discover a method of treatment and grounds of judgment very wide from those of ordinary ecclesiastical historians. They show original study and a perfect mastery of the whole subject, and furnish pictures of men and passing events so vivid and clear that they at once fix themselves in the memory.

3. The Bishop Paddock Lectures. The Foundations of Religious Belief: The Methods of Natural Theology vindicated against Modern Objections. By W. D. Wilson, D.D., Presbyter in the Diocese of Central New York, and Professor in Cornell University. D. Appleton & Co.

For a notice of this excellent work see an article in the General Review on "Nature and Providence."

4. Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Christian Church. By Edward H. Hall. American Unitarian Association. 50 cts.

This is a theological and doctrinal survey of the same field covered by the historical sketches of Prof. Allen. The first chapter, “Paul and the Apostles," takes up the same subject discussed in the "General Review" of our last issue under the head of "Judaism in the Primitive Churches." The chapters on the "Views of the early Church concerning Christ," "Arianism and the Council of Nicæa," "Controversy concerning the Two Natures,” and “ Pelagianism," will be found interesting to all classes of readers, and, with the exception of a very few, probably informing to all. They give the other side" of the controversy and the "heresy" not generally reported, or very imperfectly, by orthodox historians. That on the Pelagian controversy we have read with special satisfaction as showing how trifling the weight which sometimes turns the scale in favor of this and against that. thus making truth heresy and falsehood orthodoxy. Read carefully, too, the chapter on "Trinitarian Heresies, which shows that the Church has had as much trouble with these as with their opposites. We dissent from some things, such as the following, for example, the logic of which we do not see:

"Either Catholicism is right, or doctrine is not essential to Christianity. As true Protestants, of course, our choice is clear. We hold Protestantism to be right therefore we must conclude that doctrine is not essential to Christianity." "I urge this upon you as the legitimate teaching of the Protestant Reformation; doctrine is not an essential part of Christianity, else Catholicism is right and Protestantism wrong." As if you could have the fruit without the tree; as if it were not essen

tial to know God, His goodness and purposes of redemption, in order to love Him and cheerfully trust in Him. And what is revelation, whether coming from the material or spiritual world, but information, knowledge, doctrine concerning the character and thoughts of God?

5. A Companion to the Greek Testament and the English Version. By Philip Schaff, D.D., President of the American Committee on Revision. With Fac-simile Illustrations of Mss. and Standard Editions of the New Testament. Harper & Brothers. $2.75.

The preacher, or Biblical student, who fails to possess himself of this volume loses a great deal of pleasure and instruction, and must necessarily waste a great deal of time if he is given to looking up questions pertaining to the literary history and criticism of the New Testament. It is proper to say, however, that those owning the American edition of Westcott & Hort's Greek Testament, have a considerable portion of the matter of this volume in the Introduction to that work; though Dr. Schaff has added to his "Companion" several new chapters, and important contributions from Drs. Abbott, Hall, Lee, etc.

The book is a complete Cyclopædia of all that is known concerning the language and manuscripts of the New Testament: the ancient versions; the quotations of the early church Fathers, both Greek and Latin; the various readings, their origin, number and variations; a complete history and list of all the printed editions of the Greek text from 1516 to 1881, from Erasmus to Tischendorf; a history of the authorized version, and of the Revised version, giving all the interesting incidents and details attending the work, and a list of the changes made, and changes recommended but not made, together with facsimiles of some of the most important and remarkable manuscripts and standard editions of the Greek Testament, itself a very interesting feature of the work.

In these chapters we have the results of years, of centuries of study and critical examination, by scholars of all nationalities and times, of the Vatican, Sinaitic and Alexandrine manuscripts, and their multitudinous successors, uncial and cursive; including the romantic story of the finding and recovery (in 1859) of the Sinaitic Ms. a valuable account of the earliest translations of the Greek text into the Latin, Syriac, Æthiopic. Armenian and Gothic tongues; and the comparative value of these as cr tical helps in the restoration and interpretation of the original text the Patristic quotations as aids in the same important work, as they show what was probably the reading of the manuscripts which were used in those times so near the apostolic autographs.

The history of the Manuscripts is intensely interesting, and worth all the book costs. We have been over the ground many times, but it is always fresh and attractive. The same thing can be said of the history of the Printed Text and the Authorized Version, which is alive with curious and useful information respecting the gradual recovery, from Erasmus to the Revised Version, of a purer original text. It shows how invaluable is the service which Textual Criticism has rendered toward a truthful translation and understanding of the New Testament Scriptures. And at this point we desire to commend this volume to the laity of our own and of all churches. They need the information which it contains, that they may be able to comprehend and appreciate the nature and aim of the work done in the Revised Version; and be attracted to the study of it in order to understand the extent and value of its corrections and new renderings, and the authorities on which they rest.

We cannot close without a word of admiration for the Facsimiles from the great manuscripts; and the most curious editions of the Greek

Testaments, beginning with the Complutension Polyglott, the first ever printed. They are a study by themselves, and add greatly to the value and the interest of the work. The list of the printed editions numbers 923; and to show the faithfulness of Dr. Hall, by whom it was prepared, 251 of these are on record for the first time.

6. United States Salary List, and the Civil Service Law, Rules and Regulations. By Henry N. Copp. Washington, D. C. 35 cents.

Beside giving a list of all the government salaries from the President down to the village postmaster and the custom house clerk, and of some 20,000 federal offices arranged by States and Territories, we have the Act establishing the Civil Service Reform, and specimens of the examination questions put to candidates for office. This last is a curious and interesting portion of the pamphlet, and amply worth the price of the whole. All who contemplate seeking office under Government will see what sort of an ordeal they must pass through in order to be successful. The questions take in History, Geography, Government and Laws, Book-keeping, Arithmetic, Grammar, Letter-writing, etc. But these are nothing compared to the problems given to a candidate for the office of Examiner in the Patent Office.

7. Arius the Libyan: An Idyl of the Primitive Church. D. Appleton & Co. $1.50. We have read this book with increasing interest to the end. It is a lively picture of social and religious life in the Primitive Church, or the Church of the third and fourth centuries. It places us among the people, and enables us to see with their eyes, to take in their surroundings, to discover how their new faith touched and affected their political and civil conditions, their relations to the government and laws, to their neighbors and kindred, to the public games, and the immoralities and nameless practices of the prevalent Paganism in the midst of which the Christians were living. It helps us also to see their calm, brave bearing under persecution, the unfaltering resolution with which they would go to death rather than deny the Lord that bought them out of bondage to idols. It shows us, too, how easy it was in those times to start a mob of heathen fanatics, and set them to the work of murder, burning and plunder a thing not impossible in these days, as Christian "baiting" of the Jews in Russia and Austria, and the Mohammedan massacre of Christians in Cairo, have demonstrated.

As to the characters so sharply and strongly drawn, and ascribed to Arius, Constantine and the Eusebii, bishops of Cæsarea and Nicomedia, we cannot speak so approvingly. The author makes a perfect saint of Arius, a compound of atheist and fiend of Constantine, and unprincipled hypocrites of the two bishops named. History does not justify such portraits as these. Constantine was bad enough beyond question, but he was not an incarnation of all evil. The reader will find a far more just and reasonable estimate of the man in Stanley's Eastern Church. The description of the debate in the Council of Nicæa, chapter ix.. is a splendid piece of painting; and the Alexandrian manuscript and Theckla, and the forged text of the three witnesses (1 John iii. 7, 8.) are brought in with grand effect.

8. The Scriptural Idea of Man. Six Lectures given before the Theological Students at Princeton on the L. P. Stone Foundation. By Mark Hopkins, D.D. Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.00.

The name of Dr. Hopkins will attract attention to this new contribu

tion to the old question "Was man created by God, or was he evolved from matter by forces inherent in that?" Of course the Doctor sets his face against that doctrine of evolution which excludes God as the Creator; and the first lecture shows not only that he has done some discriminating and close thinking on the subject, but that he has the faculty of putting his thought into intelligible English. Darwin, Spencer, Tyndall and Fiske. are all cited to the judgment seat of his logic, and sharply cross-questioned. In the second and third lectures, we are instructed as to what is meant by man being created in the image of God. Man is like God in knowledge, feelings, freedom and causative power. Under this head there is a sharp criticism of the definitions of consciousness by Hamilton, Dr. Calderwood and others; and in the discussion on causation in its relation to the freedom of will and choice, we have some nice distinctions which we leave to the judgment of those given to splitting hairs. See also page 122. Lecture iv. deals with the moral nature, without which we could not be in the image of God, without which there could not be Personality. In the fifth Man is considered as male and female, as having dominion, "the king and priest of nature." Marvellous is the correspondence between man and nature, very suggestive of Swedenborg's doctrine of "Correspondencies" "This doctrine is true, and has been too much neglected by us." The last lecture treats of man in his present corrupt and sinful state, in which he has lost the moral image of God. The Man Christ Jesus reveals to us all the capabilities and possibilities of human nature. And here we have an argument designed to show "the impossibility that Jesus, as he stands be fore us in the Gospels, should have been the product of his age."

9. The Sonnets of Milton. Edited by Mark Pattison. D. Appleton & Co. We have here twenty-four sonnets of Milton, an Introduction by the Editor of some fifty pages, setting forth with much learning and nice dissection the nature and purpose of the Sonnet, with the rules to be observed in its composition, and copious historical and critical notes on each. These notes constitute the chief value of the editor's work, and are interesting and curious from a purely literary point of view, and rich in biographical information regarding the immortal poet. The mechanical make-up of this charming parchment volume is perfect and “beyond compare."

10. Biblical Study: Its Principle, Methods, and a History of its Branches-Together with a Catalogue of a Reference Library for Biblical Study, By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages in Union Theological Seminary, N. Y. Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.50.

The author dedicates his book to Dr. Hitchcock, President of the Union Theological Seminary, and to Dr. Dorner, Professor of Theology in the Berlin University "the survivors of two noble Faculties, to whom he owes his theological training." This dedication indicates the character of his work, which, while it accepts all the established results of the freest criticism of the Bible as a collection of sacred books, yet holds to it as containing a supernatural and inspired revelation of divine truth-inspired not in the letter or form, but in substance of doctrine. He thinks the Scriptures need not fear the most searching criticism. If they are the Word of God they will vindicate themselves; the battle will end in victory. The Church doctrine of inspiration may suffer some, but the authority of the Bible is not therefore undermined. It is necessary to determine exactly what is put in peril by the Higher Criti

cism, so-called; whether Inspiration itself, or some false theory of inspiration, or the authority of some school of theology. Whatever may have been the church doctrine concerning the Pentateuch, Psalter, or any other book of Scripture, it will not deter conscientious scholars from accepting and teaching the results of an honest historical and critical study of the writings themselves.

In the chapters on the Languages of the Bible, the Bible and Criticism, the Canon of Scripture, the Text of the Bible, the Literary Study of the Bible, and the Higher Criticism, the author has gathered a large amount of facts respecting the principles, methods and conclusions of the different scholars engaged in studying the origin, composition, style, authorship and authority of the several books of Scripture. All who are interested may by aid of these get a very good view of the whole field of controversy, and understand the exact position and relative value of the several questions at issue. As a historical review of Biblical criticism it would be difficult to find in the same space a more compact, manly and impartial statement. Dr. Briggs is not a narrow partisan : he is not afraid to do justice to the real service which the critical school has rendered in clearing the way toward a discriminating and just decision touching the character and proper use of the several classes into which the sacred books are naturally divided.

We regret the narrowness of our space which will not permit us to quote some pregnant paragraphs that we had intended to give the reader; but we trust that our clergymen will give this book a diligent study. It contains the substance of many costly volumes, and puts into condensed form facts and arguments which in these are drawn out into a tiresome length of words. Altogether the book is a remarkable one to come from the Union Theological Seminary. A most useful feature is the Catalogue of Books of Reference for Biblical Study, divided into three classes; those for the general public, those for theological students, and those for theological seminaries, - though we do not see the need of distinguishing between the last two. We cannot close without a word for the chapter on "Hebrew Poetry,” which is an able exposition of the characteristics, structure, varieties and beauties of the productions of the Hebrew psalmists and prophets, with some fresh and interesting renderings of the original texts.

11. Don't: A Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties more or less Prevalent in Conduct and Speech. By Censor. D. Appleton & Co. 35 cents.

An amusing and, what is better, a useful little booklet. Its suggestions are not new, but are put in a way to make them remembered. It ought to be in every house where children are growing up. It is needed. We have met with boys and girls of from eight to sixteen years, and some older, in public conveyances, in parlors, and at hotel tables, whose manners and speech would have been greatly improved, if some judicious friend had occasionally said "Don't." Some of the hints seem unnecessary, and yet many apparently well-bred people are not unfrequently guilty of the mistakes of speech and improprieties of conduct here condemned. It is said that more copies of this book have been sold than of any other since the days of Helen's Babies." One copy taken up from our table and looked at has sold at least a dozen others.

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12. The Hymns of Luther. In the best English Versions and the Original Text. Together with the Musical Arrangements Written for or Associated with them. Edited