written, and in a thoroughly evangelical spirit, although it must be confessed that some portions of it have a mythical look, and exceed too much the limits of probability. Tales of the Covenanters have always been popular with a large party in Scotland, and we advise all who would know how stirring some of those tales can be made, to read the graphic and well-written pages of Dr. Brown.

2. Mr. Coleman's Two Thousand Confessors is wholly written from the Puritan standpoint, and as such it must be judged. The author has collected a considerable amount of information which he has put together in an interesting and intelligible form. We think, however, that in enumerating the events which led to the Act of Uniformity, he should not have left out one which probably had more to do with it than he would allow, namely, the abolition of the Prayer Book by the parliament, the setting up of the directory, and the deprivation of such bishops and clergy whose "consciences" forbade them to agree to this. The fact is, that the Act of 1662 was the denouement of the grand struggle between the Puritan and the High Church parties which had been going on for more than a century. Each of them always opposed the other, and strove for the pre-eminence; each of them was in turn pre-eminent, but in the end Calvin succumbed. This is the way we read the history. Those who wish to read it from another point of view cannot do better than buy Mr. Coleman's interesting little volume. Beyond question he records the real sufferings of many great and good men, through the exercise of an arbitrary power, of which we happily have no experience.

3. Some of the remarks made about the Two Thousand Confessors apply also to this book. It is a record of real oppression for conscience sake. We must not put down all the willingness and patience with which men suffered before the days of toleration to wrong motives. This is what the heathen did, this is what the papists did, this is what all do who do not understand the power and purity of sincere conviction. We are not compelled to endorse all a man holds, because he is willing to suffer for it, or we should have to subscribe the creed of the fakeer or of the poor wretch who falls under the wheels of Juggernaut's

car.

What we must ever honour is sincere conviction, and such conviction is doubly honourable when it ascends the lofty spiritual elevation of some who have suffered among us. They were sometimes impractical, absurd, or fanatic, but they were sincere. So far John Rogers, John Penry, and James Nayler are on the same level. can and must admire suffering for conscience sake, and therefore we admire those whom Mr. Coleman sets before us in so able a manner.

We

There are two things which few of us willingly admit, and yet they are both true: first, that those who are not of our party can suffer aright, undeservedly and in the true martyr spirit; secondly, that those who are of our party can be unjustly severe, oppressive, or persecuting. If there be two facts in English history more demonstrable than others they are, that the Presbyterians oppressed and persecuted the Episcopalians under the Commonwealth, and that the Episcopalians

oppressed and persecuted the Presbyterians under Charles the Second. It is equally clear that this intolerant and exclusive spirit was active at other times under Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., and not less clear that the Puritans, who went over to America to enjoy "freedom to worship God in their own way," refused that very freedom to men who did not agree with them. Thus, all parties have their martyrs and their persecutors; the weakest have ever gone to the wall, as the proverb says. The precepts of Christ's holy and loving Gospel have been unheard amid the din of human passions and the clashing of human interests. It will still be so, if one party among us claims all the martyrs and confessors. This will be to provoke reprisals, and then we shall have gained nothing by all our lessons in Christian charity. O, to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves!

A Book of Family Prayer, compiled chiefly from the devotions of Jeremy Taylor and other divines of the Seventeenth century. London: Longmans.

THE editor says of the devotions here collected, "They are prayers whose genuine fervour will be brought out into clear light by constant use, while they express admirably the practical temper and comprehensive spirit of the Church of England." It would be affectation to praise prayers by Jeremy Taylor, Ken, Spinckes, Lake, Hele, and Cosin. They are beautiful, and appropriate, and devout.

Clark's Foreign Theological Library. History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ. By Dr. J. A. DORNER. Division 1, Vol. I. Division 2, Vol. I. Translated by W. L. ALEXANDER, D.D., and D. W. SIMON. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark.

THIS is one of the most valuable works ever issued by the Messrs. Clark in their important series. As soon as it is complete we purpose to give it a thorough investigation. In the meantime we can conscientiously recommend it as a most searching, profound, and reliable investigation, with every mark of originality, and exhibiting the results of immense research and deep thought.

Theological and Homiletical Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. By J. P. LANGE, D.D. Translated by Rev. A. EVERSHEIM, Ph.D., and Rev. W. B. POPE. Vol. II. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. AN excellent specimen of the believing criticism and exegesis of Germany. The translators appear to have performed their task ably, and we congratulate them and the subscribers upon the execution of the work. As the title says, it is specially designed and adapted for the use of ministers and students.

The Works of Thomas Adams. Vol. II., containing Sermons from texts in the New Testament. Edinburgh: James Nichol. THIS volume in every way sustains the character we have already given to the series. We cannot but highly commend the zeal and enterprize of the publisher, and express very confidently our approval of the manner in which this cheap and useful series is edited and got up. Thomas Adams was a man of no ordinary stamp, and all he wrote is worthy of a place in every theological library. To ministers of evangelical sentiments these works will be invaluable.

Die Kalendarien und Martyrologien der Angelsachsen; so wie das Martyrologium und der Computus der Herrad von Landsperg; nebst Annalen der Jahre, 1859, und 1860. ("Calendars and Martyrologies of the Anglo-Saxons, with the Martyrology and Computus of Herrad (Lady) von Landsperg, and annals of 1859, 1860.") By F. PIPER. Berlin. 1862.

DR. PIPER is editor of the well-known and well conducted Evangelical Calendar, which comprises articles by a number of leading writers. We may expect to find him quite at home in such work as that which he has here done. Nor shall we be disappointed. He has given us a useful, learned, curious, and interesting book. The Lady von Landsperg was an abbess in Alsace in the twelfth century, and composed a curious work called the Hortus Deliciarum, out of which Dr. Piper has taken the parts relating to the Calendar, so far as they are required for his purpose. The martyrologium and computus are placed first, although they yield in antiquity to the Anglo-Saxon calendars which are a good deal older. These are full of interest, and are accompanied by various remarks and elucidations which prove that Dr. Piper is well qualified to expound them. To make his series complete he introduces a notice of the Calendar contained in the Common Prayer Book, whereof he says it was first arranged in 1548 :—

:

"A new calendar appeared in 1561, proceeding from the deliberations of a commission, at whose head was the Archbishop of Canterbury it was called to revise the Scripture lessons, and the calendar too, so far as saints' names were concerned. That Prayer Book actually received its final form in 1662. The introduction of the reformed calendar in 1752 affected the register of times and festivals, but not the names. Indeed, the most recent editions of the Common Prayer Book (at Oxford, Cambridge, and by the Queen's printers since 1847) have dropped the saints' names, except the Biblical ones. This arbitrariness and, indeed, illegality (which is shewn by the Act of 1662) is rightly censured in the edition prepared for the Ecclesiastical History Society, edited by Mr. Stephens, and based upon a collation of legalized copies."

Dr. Piper we see notices the revision of the calendar after the restoration of Charles II., and he fastens upon the delinquencies of recent printers, and very justly, for if the Prayer Book is to be printed by privileged persons, it ought to be according to standard copies and in its integrity. It is for this that the privilege is granted. Where responsibility exists, accuracy ought to be secured. The annals ap

pended to this work are interesting now, and will hereafter be of much greater worth. The years 1859, 1860, were full of incidents which will not soon be forgotten, especially in Italy. Most of the great events in Italian history during that time are here chronicled, beginning with the outbreak of war between Austria and Sardinia, and concluding with notices of the Waldenses and Italian Protestantism. One section is devoted to obituaries, and among them we find many well-known names.

The book is, as will appear, of a very miscellaneous character, but deserves attention, especially for those portions which refer to the Anglo-Saxon calendars; in these we have an interest altogether peculiar, and we are glad to find so respectable an effort to throw light upon them from the pen of a German professor of theology.

Grundzüge der Neutestamentlichen Gräcität nach den besten Quellen, für studirende der Theologie und Philologie. ("Outlines of New Testament Greek according to the best authorities, for students of Theology and Philology.") By Prof. Dr. S. CH. SCHIRLITZ. 8vo. Giessen. 1861.

DISCUSSIONS as to the character of the Greek of the New Testament, arose in modern times not very long after the volume began to be extensively studied. It was maintained on the one hand that the language was pure Greek, and that all apparent anomalies could be explained on that principle. On the other hand it was asserted that the New Testament Greek differed widely from classical models, and could only be characterized by some distinguishing appellation. The former were called Purists, and inasmuch as the latter traced nearly all anomalies to Hebrew influences, their system was styled Hebraism. The purist party seems to have died out before the end of the last century, and modern discoveries as to the nature of language and its laws, have served greatly to modify the opinions of most men. It is now admitted that the Greek of the New Testament belongs to that form of the language which was spoken in Egypt and other countries of the east after the time of Alexander; which is represented by the Septuagint version, and the Old Testament Apocrypha, and which was extensively used by the Jews in their synagogue worship. It is natural to expect a strong Hebrew tincture in books which were written by Jews and converts from Judaism. It is equally natural to look for other peculiarities in books written in different countries and by persons born in different regions. A great amount of useful information was collected before the present century, by those who debated the question we have alluded to. The literature of the subject extends over about two centuries, but it was some time before men came to recognize Cilicisms and other isms now pointed out. No doubt Leusden surprised many, if he did not shock them, when in his De Dialectis Novi Testamenti, he declared that these dialects were seven in number, and that he did not count as one that form of the language which he calls

the "dialectus communis." These seven were, the Attic, Ionic, Doric, Æolic, and Bæotic, with the Poetic and the Hebraizing. He did but follow his precursors, and he quotes Caspar Vuyssius (Dialectologia Sacra, 1650), as saying that the New Testament contains so many dialects, that there is not a verse in which some dialectic peculiarity is not to be detected.

All this has passed away, and while it is admitted that the Greek of the New Testament is not pure, but intermixed with various idioms, its dialect is one, and that is the Alexandrian (Macedonian). Dr. Schirlitz explains all this very well, and adds thereto in the first or historical part of his work, some other investigations; the question of style and manner for example. Thus we have sections on the Christian element; on our Lord's manner of speaking in gnomes and parables; on the style of Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, Jude, James, John, and Paul; and on the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse in particular. The second, or grammatical part is divided into two principal sections, treating respectively of forms and syntax.

There is much in the volume which is also in Winer's well-known and useful work, and in that of Buttmann. But, as often happens in like cases, additions are made to what previous writers have collected, and some corrections of them are introduced. The section on the doctrine of forms, will be found very useful, and is much more full than in Winer's work. Scarcely any peculiarity seems to have been overlooked, and so far as we have examined, we have seen reason to accept the explanations offered. The section on syntax is shorter than that of Winer, but it is carefully written and throws considerable light upon many peculiar constructions. There are two very good indexes, one of topics, and one of Greek words; but there is no index of texts, which some will regard as a deficiency, but which the Greek index almost renders unnecessary.

On the whole we receive this work with much pleasure, and accept it as a valuable addition to our aids to the better understanding of the Greek Testament, worth more than many commentaries.

Das Lied Moses: Deut. xxxii. 1-43. ("The Song of Moses.") By A. H. H. KAMPHAUSEN. Leipsic: Brockhaus.

THIS book is dedicated to Frederick Bleek and Baron Bunsen, or rather to their memory; a circumstance which may suggest the author's standpoint. It will not be expected that he will consider this song as a genuine production either of Moses or of his time. He regards the compilation of Deuteronomy as much later than the age of Moses. After discussing the question at considerable length he concludes that the latest date to which it can be referred is 700 B.C. We shall not follow him in this matter, neither shall we commend either his arguments or his conclusion; but we may remark that he shews himself very well acquainted with what has been said upon the subject by German scholars and critics especially, and by Dr. Donaldson in particular.