persistently and successfully for the enfranchisement of mind, both deserve to be enrolled among the benefactors of the world.

even.

We rejoice in the efforts made to do honor to the memory of the founder of Providence. But to commemorate the services of his "loving friend," there is no fitting monument, no shaft of marble, no statue of bronze, no memoir of his life and labors, no worthy biography And yet he was second, probably, to none of his contemporaries, in moral worth, in intellectual power, and in the fruitfulness of his labors. The results of his labors it is impossible to estimate. These constitute his memorial. They are blessing the world to-day. The great principle with which his life was identified, for which he toiled and suffered, has not been killed, or banished from the earth, but has triumphed in the neighboring colonies, compelling them one after another to give it an asylum, until it is welcomed and honored in every state of the Union. And now liberty of conscience is declared to be a principle of international law.

NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.

C. E. BARROWS.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Synoptical and Eclectic Interpretation of the Gospels, with Prolegomena concerning their Genuineness, Authenticity, Inspiration, Language, Date, etc., accompanied by Pictorial Illustrations, Maps, and Facsimiles of Manuscripts. Vol. I. Gospels of Mathew and Mark. Athens. 1872.

Ερμηνεία συνοπτικὴ καὶ ἐκλεκτικὴ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων, μετὰ προλεγομένων περὶ γνησιότητος, αὐθεντιας, θεοπνεύστου, γλώσσης, ἐποχῆς αὐτῶν κ. τ. λ., μετ ̓ εικονογραφιῶν γεωγραφικῶν χάρτων, καὶ πανομοιοτύπιον χειρογράφων. Τόμος Α'. Εὐαγγέλια κατὰ Ματθαῖον καὶ κατὰ Μάρκον. ̓Αθήνησιν. 1872. This volume, of three hundred and eighty-four octavo pages, is anonymous. It is, however, known to be compiled by the Rev. George Constantine, a native of Athens, and lately a missionary of the American and Foreign Christian Union. Mr. Constantine received his collegiate and theological education in this country, at Amherst and Andover, and is favorably known to the gentlemen composing the faculties of those institutions, and to many other Christian people in this country. He is now among us, partly for the purpose of securing material encouragement in the prosecution of the important work of which this volume is the beginning. The time seems to have come, when works of this character are called for by the Greek people; and in dedicating this volume "to all throughout Hellendom who are interested in the study and distribution of the word of God," Mr. Constantine knows that he is not dedicating it

to a class of persons which has no existence except in his own imagination, but to a real and growing company of his countrymen, partly within and partly without the boundaries of the little kingdom of Greece. It is a good work which he has undertaken; and probably no man in the kingdom is better qualified to perform it than himself. Himself a Greek of the Greeks, he knows the wants of his countrymen. Prepared by adequate classical and theological attainments, and a familiar acquaintance with the works of the ancient Greek and the best modern Protestant commentators, and combining an earnest Christian spirit with much practical good sense, and with the fruit of several years of missionary experience, he has produced a work well adapted to the Greek mind, and to the present state of biblical learning among his countrymen. Without professing to give the results of the latest criticism, this volume gives a large amount of exegetical knowledge, which will be of novel interest to most of the class of readers for whom it is especially designed. The Prolegomena occupy about twenty pages, and condense into that space much sound argument and appropriate information. The volume contains specimen fac-similes of the four most ancient and valuable manuscripts.

We are glad to learn that Mr. Constantine is likely to secure that cooperation, from his many friends in Amherst and elsewhere, which will enable him to go on with his timely and well begun work. As a specimen of the manner in which it is executed, we cite his remarks on Matt. v. 3, the first sentence of the "Sermon on the Mount."

The poor in spirit; not the poor in intellect; the truly poor in spirit (Isaiah lxvi. 2) is that servant who, conscious of his moral poverty, grieves and mourns because he has abused the talents, which were given him by the Lord for the benefit of humanity and for his own glory, and has squandered them upon the gratification of his own passions, and upon fleshly vanities (Psalm li. 17). But now, humbling himself before God, he implores his mercy through Jesus Christ. The rich, on the contrary, is he who does not recognize his moral bankruptcy, and walks not by faith but by sight (2 Corinthians v. 7). This man, trusting in his earthly goods, and abusing the trust confided to him by his Creator, lives in this world for his own glory and pleasure. Relying upon these possessions, he exalts himself, he boasts, he is highminded, he despises both God and man. We are all, without exception, morally poor; but we do not all recognize and acknowledge it. . . . The Christian virtues, being spiritual, have respect to the inner man, the spirit. To be outwardly poor or rich is an accident, it does not belong to the very substance of the thing. It is possible, therefore, for one to be poor outwardly, and yet inwardly to desire to strip all others of their possessions, that he may enrich himself; and it is possible, on the other hand, for one to be rich outwardly, and in the inner man, the spirit, to attribute no value to wealth, but to be ready to sacrifice himself for every one who is unfortunate. Spiritual poverty, says the Catechism of Platon, is for one to humble himself before God, and to acknowledge that he is a culprit before the divine tribunal. It is the man who is poor in this sense that the Lord pronounces blessed.

Revelation in Progress from Adam to Malachi: a Series of Bible Studies. By the Rev. J. H. TITCOMB, M. A. London: The Religious Tract Society. Duodecimo, 510 pp.

The fundamental idea of this treatise is the organic unity of ScripThe books of the Old Testament are treated as a series of

ture.

1 The Greeks are very fond of perverting this expression in the way above indicated, taking the Greek veûua in the sense of the French esprit.

progressive revelations, and analyzed and explained from this point of view. Questions ordinarily discussed in "Introductions" receive only incidental notice, and the attention is fixed on the sequence of thought in the inspired volume. By too many readers of the Bible the various books are regarded as occupying one position in the field of revelation, and Malachi and Exodus are interpreted as if they were written in the same century, and intended originally for the same generation. The place which each book occupies in the progressive, expansion of truth and the methods of God in preparing his people for the coming of the Messiah, are not seen. We put into the earlier books of the Old Testament a great deal which is not there; and we fail to see, in the later books especially, much that the sacred page contains. Thoughtful and devout men are repelled by an undiscriminating exposition, when they might be attracted and profited by a clear and comprehensive grasp of the incidents, teachings, and ordinances of Scripture, and their true relation to the purposes of salvation.

We heartily commend this volume to biblical students. It will incite them to strive after full and connected views of God's manner of revelation, and its whole influence will be healthy. We give an extract from the prophecy of Joel. The particular development of messianic truth. in this prophecy is embraced in the few following statements, which are illustrated at length: 1, that during the whole kingdom of the Messiah there should be a universal outpouring of the Spirit; 2, that at some particular period of the messianic kingdom tremendous judgments should be poured out upon certain confederated nations which were hostile to the church of God; 3, that after this gracious and final deliverance from its enemies, the church should repose in peace and the Lord dwell in Zion forever; 4, that this deliverance of God's people from the ungodly heathen stood connected with salvation offered to the Gentiles.

Questions of Modern Thought; or, Lectures on the Bible and Infidelity. By the Rev. JAMES MCCOSH, D. D., J. P. THOMPSON, D. D., WILLIAM ADAMS, D. D., PHILIP SCHAFF, D. D., WILLIAM HAGUE, D. D., E. O. HAVEN, D. D. Philadelphia: Ziegler and McCurdy.

These lectures were delivered in Philadelphia during the winter of 1870-1, under the auspices of a committee of gentlemen of various denominations. The subjects are: The Life of our Lord a Reality, and not a Romance, with special reference to Renan's Life of Jesus; The Unity of the Bible; Advantages of a Written Revelation; Christ's Testimony to Christianity; The Self-witnessing Character of the New Testament Christianity, Soul a Positive Entity. The discourses are all worthy of their respective authors, but we have been specially interested in the fifth of the series, by Dr. Hague.

Whatever comes from the pen or the tongue of Dr. Hague is instinct with life and power. No man can be more profoundly in sympathy with all true progress, or more thoroughly awake to the thought of the age. He has a keen, clear eye, and can with equal ease see and state the

distinctions in "things that differ." He readily traces developments to their principles, and forecasts developments from principles. He is thus admirably fitted to grapple with such a theme as that of this discourse, and to treat it, as he has done, with direct reference to the wants of our own time and land. Making Acts x. 34-43 the basis of his discussion, he first briefly shows the significance of the event there noticed, and next exhibits the self-witnessing character of the testimony there recorded. He brings out clearly the fact that in this passage, as generally in the New Testament, both the character and the works of Christ, both the internal and the external evidences of Christianity, are presented and valued. The necessity of this, as against the partialism which neglects or excludes either, is then shown. But the argument is mainly directed against that prevalent dogmatism of modern progressives, falsely so called, which denies the need or value or even possibility of miracles. The mind of man in the east and west alike was at the time of Christ under the despotism of that gnostic, dualistic idea which opposed matter to mind. Men "did not regard the material universe as an instrumentality that the Supreme Spirit uses or is able to use for the manifestation of himself, but as a vast realm beyond his range of action, and so far separated from him by contrariety of nature that the subjection of it to his direct rule is a self-evident impossibility." Hence arose the need that Christ should reveal God as one combining in himself both a boundless love and a supreme control of nature. The historic facts of Christ's life, and especially his own unique personality, were to bring before the very eyes and to the very hearts of men the true doctrine of God's fatherhood and control. With this were conjoined naturally the doctrines of Christ's heavenly mediation and of the forgiveness of sins. Here lay the adaptation of the gospel to the soul, and the secret of its blessed power. The author in connection shows that the liberalism of the present day is trying to forge anew the old chains of gnosticism, and bind men now in that same old dualistic bondage. Such, in general, is the line of thought in this able, original, and timely discourse. We heartily commend it to the careful study of ministers and laymen alike. The First Half Century of Madison University (1819-1869); or, The Jubilee Volume, containing Sketches of Eleven Hundred living and deceased Alumni. New York: Sheldon and Company. Octavo. pp. 503.

Our space will not allow us to speak as we wish of this memorial of the very great service Madison University has done for the churches of our denomination, and for the cause of Christ at home and abroad. The record is a noble one, and too much praise cannot be awarded to the compilers of this volume for their rich contribution to our ecclesiastical history.

(Notices of several works are necessarily deferred.)