duced in the field of science have been so much the more abundant. The day has been when Germans were wont to look for instruction from the great men of the English church, such as Pococke, Lightfoot, Usher, and Selden; and I know not to what cause it is to be ascribed, that, at present, in the department of theological literature in England and Scotland, few works appear worthy of general attention. In this respect, our country may now, perhaps, lend Britain a helping hand, in brotherly love, according to the precept of the apostle, Eph. 4: 16, and in this manner the bond between the christian churches of Britain and Germany be more closely cemented."

One of the causes of the comparatively low state of biblical literature in Great Britain is the want of theological seminaries. Theology and sacred literature, so far as they are pursued, are studied, for the most part, at the universities, or in connection with secular science and literature. But little prominence has been given at the English, or Scotch universities, or at the various Dissenting academies to biblical science as a great department of cultivation for the theologian. At some of those institutions, classical studies have usurped an undue share of attention.

Another cause of the deficiency in question is the political and ecclesiastical controversies in which the scholars and religious men of Britain have been, and are yet, so warmly engaged. They have little time or disposition for quiet study and profound investigation, while passing through the billows of controversy. Questions connected with the external form and polity of Christianity have more present interest than mere biblical inquiries.

A strong prejudice exists in Great Britain, as well as in this country, against whatever bears the name of German theology, and which inclines many to view with alarm and suspicion every production that comes from the infected regions of rationalism, as necessarily tainted with heresy and error. This feeling, to a certain extent, is justifiable. Many of the theological and philosophical works of Germany ought not to be translated into the English language, or if translated, should be accompanied with a sufficient antidote to the poison which may lurk in the pages. The danger is, however, much exaggerated. The sun of divine truth has again risen on Germany. A multitude of young men are now rising up in her universities, who are not ashamed of the truth as it is in Jesus, and who are endowed with talents and learning sufficient to overthrow the strong holds

of infidelity and error. We are assured by a gentleman very recently from Germany, that the cause of orthodoxy and true piety is making very gratifying progress. Even some of the most important philological works from the hands of the neologists contain but little which is objectionable.

The first and fourth volumes of the Biblical Cabinet contain Ernesti's Principles of Biblical Interpretation, translated by Charles H. Terrot, A. M., late fellow of Trinity college, Cambridge. Ernesti, born in 1707, was educated at the universities of Leipsic and Wittenberg. He became, successively, master of the school of St. Thomas at Leipsic, and professor of ancient literature, of eloquence, and of philosophy, in the university there. He died in 1781. His name as an accomplished editor of the Latin and Greek classics, is well known to many who are not acquainted with him as a theologian. His theological works are numerous and valuable. His Institutio Interpretis Nov. Test. was published in 1761. Prof. Stuart's Elements of Biblical Criticism, two editions of which have been published in this country, and one, under the care of Dr. Henderson, in England, is not properly a translation of Ernesti's Institutio, but partly an original work, and partly a translation from Ernesti, Morus, Beck, Keil, etc. Mr. Terrot's translation is from the 5th edition of Ernesti, edited by Dr. Ammon of Gotha in 1809. This is the standard edition. Ammon himself is a man of extensive learning, and ranks high among the theologians of Germany. In cases where the rationalistic views of Ammon are brought out prominently, the translator has subjoined his reasons for dissent.

The second volume of the translation, or the third part of the original work, treats of the hermeneutical apparatus, and its proper use,' and has not, we believe, been hitherto accessible to the mere English reader. The following topics are embraced : The authenticity and genuineness of the books of the New Testament; manuscripts and their use; editions of the New Testament; versions; writings of the fathers and their application; cause, origin, and choice of various readings; Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, etc.; use of works written by Jews; interpreters of the New Testament, and their use; and the necessity of general information.

The second volume of the Cabinet consists of four tracts, 'on the language of Palestine in the age of Christ and his apostles,' VOL. IX. No. 26.

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translated from the German of Pfannkuche by Thorl G. Repp; ' on the Greek Diction of the New Testament,' translated from the Latin of Henry Planck, by Alexander S. Patterson; 'Hints on the Importance of the Study of the Old Testament,' translated from the German of Tholuck by Prof. R. B. Patton, and first printed in the Biblical Repertory; and 'Remarks on the Interpretation of the tropical language of the New Testament,' translated from the German of Beckhaus, by Chas. H. Terrot. The essays of Profs. Pfannkuche and Planck were both inserted in the first volume of the Biblical Repository.

The third volume of the Cabinet contains a translation of Prof. Tittmann's Remarks on the Synonyms of the New Testament, translated by the Rev. Edward Craig, of Oxford, translator of the "Thoughts of Pascal.' The author, Dr. John Augustus Henry Tittmann, was born August 1, 1773, at Langersalza in Upper Saxony. His education commenced at Wittenberg, after the removal of his father to that place. At fifteen years of age, he published an Essay: De Virgilio Homerum imitante. He enjoyed the privileges of such teachers as Schröck, Antoni, Hiller, and Reinhard. In 1792, he went to Leipsic and studied under Morus, Rosenmüller, Keil and Wolf. In 1793, he opened his first course of lectures. In 1795, he was appointed morning preacher to the university church. His prelections to the theological students were so much approved, that in 1796, he was appointed professor extraordinary of philosophy. In 1805, he took the degree of D. D., and was admitted into the concilium professorum. On the death of Wolf in 1809, he was appointed the third regular professor of the university. In 1815, he succeeded Rosenmüller as the second professor; and on the death of Keil in 1818, he rose to the honorable position of academiae professor primarius. In all these stations, his talent for business was as eminent as his theological attainments. He was ever the ready counsellor of his pupils in all their various doubts and difficulties. He continued to lecture, during a course of forty years, on the exegesis of the New Testament, on the method of theological study, on church history, on the evidences, the morality, the creeds, and the dogmatic system of Christianity. His system of exegesis led directly to the bringing out the meaning from the sacred text itself, independently of all consideration of the opinions of commenta

tors.

His views on church history are given to the world in his

"Practical Exposition of the Evangelical Churches in the years 1530 and 1830." He projected a work on dogmatic theology, which was never finished. In the course of his lectures on the "Creeds," he taught his pupils to entertain a due, but only a due regard for creeds, as human standards of religious opinion. His ability as a lecturer was admitted by all who heard him. His works are not very extensive. They contain, however, much of the fruits of forty years' labor; often giving, in a few sentences, matter which others would have expanded into a volume. From 1822 to 1831, he wrote the preface to the Leipsic Missionary Society's Report. He was a supernaturalist. He drew the distinction calmly between the departments of human reason and religious submission to divine teaching.

The out

Dr. Tittmann married a widow lady in the year 1811, by whom he had three children, two of whom still live. ward frame of Tittmann was noble and commanding. He died of consumption, combined with other local affections, on the 30th of Dec. 1832. In his last moments, he imagined himself in the chair lecturing to his pupils; he repeated the words with which he frequently concluded: "Sed haec sufficiant ; finis, finis in fide;" and so saying he fell asleep.

The object of Dr. Tittmann, in his Synonyms of the New Testament, was to investigate the comparative force of those words in the New Testament, which appear to be synonymous, i. e. which range under a common genus, as having one generic idea in common; but which have each of them, additional to this, a specific difference of meaning. Of these he has given an extensive list; and this work, as far as it has gone, consists of enlarged observations on some of these synonyms. The completion of the work was prevented by the death of the author. In the language of his translator: "To illustrate the specific form of each word, he brought the whole of his extensive erudition, and the accumulated stores of a long life of painful application, to bear upon each successive object of inquiry. He has elicited from other writers, with great felicity, the exact meaning of each word according to the usus loquendi; and he has shown, from sources of illustration altogether unconnected with the sacred writings, that the words used by our Lord, and by his inspired disciples, when taken in their most obviously correct sense, were the best which could have been chosen; and that if any other synonym had been adopted, instead of that which is given, it would not so accurately have expressed the intended idea."

"Prof. Tittmann completed, before his death, another small portion of this work on the Synonyms. This, together with some other small tracts,* on subjects intimately connected with the present treatise, it is the purpose of the translator to give to the public at a future period. The second volume will also include a general list of the Synonyms of the New Testament, which was arranged by Tittmann, and printed with short notices attached occasionally to some of the words."

The fifth volume of the Cabinet contains the first part of Tholuck's Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, translated by the Rev. Robert Menzies, of Glencairn, Scotland. "This Commentary," says the translator, " is the most important work which has as yet [1833] proceeded from the pen of Tholuck. The universal approbation it has received from the friends of evangelical truth, and the fierce hostility with which it has been assailed by the rationalist party in Germany, afford the most satisfactory evidence of its distinguished worth. No less decisive is the fact, that three editions of it have already been exhausted, and that an anxious demand is now expressed for a fourth. Nor will the effect of the testimonies which have been given in its favor be diminished, by the modest estimate which the author himself seems to have formed of his own performance, as expressed in the following paragraph, which he has desired should be prefixed to the translation.

'I wish especially to remark, that the work is to be regarded as the production of an earlier period of my life, and as having been intended for a particular purpose. I composed it in my twenty-fifth year, with the special view of commending to the hearts of my countrymen the doctrine of justification by faith which, at the time, I perceived to be greatly misunderstood. Other points are hence labored with less care; and at this time, I believe, that upon the 9th chapter I should be able to give some more profound views. Accordingly, it by no means presents what I now consider as the beau ideal of a theological commentary. I am occupied at present with the publication of an extensive commentary upon the Sermon on the Mount, and it is to this I must refer, if your countrymen should wish to read a more mature work from my pen. It contains many exposi

* Four of these Tracts may be found translated in Vol. I. Bib. Repos. pp. 160, 452, 464, and Vol. V. p. 84.