Christianus," Part Four; 3. "Philosophy and Religion; " 4. "Inspired Hebrew Poetry;" 5. "Jonathan." Of these papers we note the first and the third as being sound, thoughtful, and suggestive.The Fortnightly Review for October has among its most noteworthy papers one on “The Emancipation of Women," by Frederic Harrison, who discusses the organic difference implanted by nature between man and woman in body, in mind, in feeling, and in energy, claiming that because of this difference woman should be relieved by men from the harder tasks of industry and from the management of the State, and left free to make home a heaven on earth. In another paper it draws a picture of the demoralized condition of Russian society that is painfully startling. We note also a strong paper urging the appointment of women to places on the Royal Commission on Labor as necessary to bring into the light the oppressions of women in several industries of England.—Our Day for October discusses the propriety of an effort on the part of the United States to secure the opening of Palestine to the Jews for settlement; it advocates the Sunday closing of the World's Fair, opposes the Sunday opening of art museums, and, in Dr. Cook's Monday Lecture, shows the bearing of certain scientific concessions on the doctrine of Christ's resurrection.――The Missionary Review for November is filled with important missionary intelligence from all parts of the world. -The Gospel in All Lands for November is mainly filled with interesting papers touching the countries and people of South America.—Lippincott's Monthly Magazine for December has: 1. "A Fair Blockade Runner; 2. "Negro Superstition;" 3. "Literature in the South Since the War;" 4. "An Antique;" 5. "A Moccasin among the Hobbys; " 6. "At a Florist's; " 7. "The Majesty of Law." This is styled by its publisher a Southern number," because it deals with Southern topics. The writer of "Southern Literature Since the War," after noting the works of recent Southern writers, expresses the opinion that thus far Southern literature has not been fully up to the standard of former days, lacking originality and high literary excellence.

BOOKS: CRITIQUES AND NOTICES.

BOOKS AS LAMPS.

SOME books quench the light that is in us; then the darkness is great. Other books illuminate our thinking by pointing out the difficulties in our logic, strengthening or destroying our theories and our philosophies, and in their last effect helping us to be original and independent. Such books are revelations-lamps to guide us in our searchings. On Saturday, October 24, 1891, Bishop John F. Hurst commenced rewriting his History of Rationalism. Two years will be devoted to the task; students can afford to wait for its completion. Bishop R. S. Foster is producing a series of works on theology, three of which have been published. He that would be rich in thought will hasten to possess them. Dr. John Miley, of Drew Theological Seminary, is hard at work on two volumes of theology-masterly treatises on divine themes. Of the books noticed in this number the following are lamp-like in their influence: Pronaos to Holy Writ, by Isaac M. Wise; Indika, by Bishop J. F. Hurst; What is Reality? by F. H. Johnson; Manual of the Science of Religion, by P. D. Chantepie De La Saussaye; and The Franco-German War of 1870-71, by FieldMarshal Count Helmuth Von Moltke.

RELIGION, THEOLOGY, AND BIBLICAL LITERATURE. Pronaos to Holy Writ. Establishing on Documentary Evidence the Authorship, Date, Form, and Contents of Each of its Books and the Authenticity of the Pentateuch. By ISAAC M. WISE, President of the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. 8vo, pp. 193. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. Price, cloth, $1.50.

In the studies respecting the higher criticism we have usually consulted the Christian view, or interpreted the literary and historical problems involved according to the long-standing beliefs of the Christian Church. Nor could it be otherwise, since Christianity would be ultimately affected by the issues of the investigation going on. However, it is with pleasure that we call attention to a work written by a learned Hebrew, and wholly from the Jewish creed-point of the Old Testament, which on the whole confirms the general positions of orthodoxy respecting the main points in the pending controversy. Rabbi Wise does not write in the interest of the Christian faith, nor with regard to any of its tenets; but he is concerned for the literary character of the Old Testament books and their authorship, as handed down from the earliest ages. Writing thus independently, his investigations and conclusions, though in some instances contrary to our teaching, are entitled to more than ordinary consideration, and, in the absence of countervailing evidence, to be at least temporarily accepted. His aversion to Christianity, implied rather than expressed, interferes with a correct interpretation of the prophecies, and may disqualify him for discerning the spiritual import of the Judaic economy;

but we are not certain that it interferes with the exercise of a just judgment respecting the value and integrity of the biblical literature. We are of opinion, also, that he relies too much upon the work of the Great Synod, which may or may not have existed, and that to him the Talmud is of too high authority in these matters, though he is bound to esteem the literature of his people and the consensus of the ancient writers. In some other respects he departs from the Christian view, but it is a striking fact that, with few exceptions, he reaches the conclusions heartily accepted by Christian thinkers, and supports the traditional authorship of the Old Testament against the opposing views of rationalists and infidels. If, then, the orthodox position may, on the whole, be vindicated both from the Christian and Jewish view-points, is it not almost conclusive that it is approximately correct?

With the higher critics Rabbi Wise has little sympathy, though occasionally he concedes some things, not as wrought out by them but as original in Jewish history, which they doubtless will eagerly appropriate. He denounces modern biblical criticism for its negativism, and, declaring its methods to be unscientific, he proposes to meet it with documentary evidence such as it cannot resist. He holds that the basis of Old Testament religion is the authenticity of the Mosaic records, or that the whole depends on the preservation of the Pentateuchal books from those theorists who would assign a late origin to any of them. To establish the Mosaic origin of these books he proceeds in an inverse order of studythat is, he deems it important first of all to establish the historical veracity of the post-pentateuchal records, inasmuch as these furnish a large part of the testimony upon which he relies for meeting negative criticism and buttressing the main proposition of the book. He is confident that by this process, whether or not he succeeds in proving to a certainty the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch, he demolishes all the arguments of the rationalists against it. Taking up the historical books, he shows them to be historical, and by them deduces a pentateuchal argument that is irrefutable. To the later prophets he gives specific attention, discussing dates, contents, characteristics, and authorship, rebuking the theory that they were written post festum, and maintaining from them the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch. As respects Isaiah, he holds (p. 71) that "there exists no necessity to suppose that any chapter or part of one, from i to xxxix, was not written by the very Isaiah, son of Amoz, whose name is at the head of the book." But as to Isaiah xl to lxvi he holds that it is the product of another prophet, or other prophets, that lived near the close of the Babylonian captivity or the dedication of the second temple; but the nuthor or authors are unknown. He derives this opinion partly from the Talmud and partly from a difference of diction in the two parts; but he also holds that the fifty-third chapter is a funeral oration over a king of Judah! Even this slip or concession does not compromise the main argument. He next controverts the theoretic attacks on the hagiographic books, particularly pointing out the monotheism in the Psalms in contradiction of the rationalistic theory that they do not teach the doctrine or

theology of pure monotheism, proving that the book of Proverbs is the "genuine work of Solomon," and that Job, written in the last days of Nehemiah, is a revelation of the doctrines of providence and righteousAs to Daniel, the Aramaic portion was written by the prophet, but the Hebrew portion by another, B. C. 170; but he finds in it, as a whole, corroborative evidence of the Mosaic character of the Pentateuch.

ness.

And now, with this abundant preliminary support, with documents that are of undisputed value in Israel, he addresses himself to the proposition that the Pentateuch dates from the time of Moses, and that he was its author. He refutes the common theory of Jehovistic and Elohistic authorships of sections or chapters, as well as the hypothesis of fragments, and turns the tables on those who have employed an argument e silentio against Moses by showing that it maintains his authorship against all gainsayers. Evidence, direct and indirect; arguments from contemporaneous history and the annals of Israel; arguments internal and external from the Pentateuch; arguments from Moses and Ezra; arguments from the Talmud and the Great Synod; arguments from Jewish writers and the Jewish faith, concur in supporting the Mosaic origin of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In the presence of such arguments theories expire, captious criticism evaporates like frost under the sun, and the traditions of Israel remain unshaken and unimpaired. The documentary evidence for the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch is complete and irresistible. Rabbi Wise has earned the thanks of the Christian world for his scholarly settlement of a controversy that threatened Israel, as it threatened the Christian Church, with a flood-tide of skepticism and irrational unfaith. Pronaos negatives destructive criticism.

Saint Matthew's Witness to Words and Works of the Lord; or, Our Saviour's Life as Revealed in the Gospel of His Earliest Evangelist. By FRANCIS W. UpHAM, LL.D., Author of The Star of Our Lord; or, Christ Jesus King of All Worlds, both of Time or Space; Thoughts on the Holy Gospels, etc. 12mo, pp. 415. New York: Hunt & Eaton. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. Price, cloth, $1.20.

It is with great satisfaction that we refer to the masterly work of Dr. Upham on the import of Matthew's gospel. From his distinction in authorship we were prepared to expect a scholarly and painstaking study of the history of the gospel, with matured reflections on its varied contents, and such a clear unfolding of the meaning of its most occult teachings as would satisfy the skeptical and the critical as to what the evangelist teaches and enforces, but the book exceeds our expectations. It is not the product of a hasty hour, nor a book based on the opinions of others; but every page is a witness to hard labor, and the whole bears the unmistakable marks of original research and deduction. It is a book for these days, when rationalism assails the divine with as much boldness as the human, and when too many are inclined to accept wrong interpretations, more because they are new than because there is any evidence for them. In all such cases the influence of the book will be that of a prophylactic, preventing the spread of the disease. For Dr. Upham rightly holds that biblical criti

cism "" can never be a science in the sense in which geometry is a science," and, therefore, the biblical books cannot be rigidly estimated by its rules and axioms. He does not allow the critic to determine this gospel by the canons of criticism, but he brings to it, out of the treasure-house of his knowledge, as abundant scholarship as any who would destroy it. He maintains that Matthew wrote two gospels, the one in Hebrew, the other in Greek, the latter being in substance the former, and yet not a translation. To this view we see no objection, as it settles some otherwise troublesome questions. When, however, he maintains that Matthew's gospel was the first in order of preparation he is not completely convincing, though the general reader will be in sympathy with the conclusion. It occurs to us, also, to say that the book had gained in force had the twenty-fifth chapter, on "The Two Leading Ideas in the First Gospel," been introduced early into the book; for, according to the present arrangement, one must read about three hundred pages before one discovers the aim or trend of the gospel. With these minor exceptions, together with the suggestion that an overbold sentence now and then might be omitted, we may indorse this book as happily adapted to strengthen one's appreciation of Matthew as a biographer of our Lord, and one's faith in the fundamentals of Christianity. In thirty-four chapters the author develops the purpose of the biography, dwelling in particular upon the Sermon on the Mount, miracles, scenes in the life of Christ, and the events of his last days on the earth, and embodying the issues of his life in reflections of positive beauty and excellence. Philosophy joins history in elucidation of facts, while a devout religious spirit transfigures the narrative from beginning to end. The work shows complete mastery of details, with literary tact in combining them into a marvelous and symmetrical whole: for the author is irresistible in showing that the gospel, instead of being a collection of miscellanies, was written according to a preconceived plan, and is as distinct in its unity and as remarkable for its homogeneity of structure and design as any single history ever written. Thus, without attacking the captious critic, he disposes of his criticism by vindicating an alternate view. As the fruit of years of ripened study it deserves to take its place among the solid books that constitute the working library of the minister.

A History of Christianity. From the German of Professor RUDOLPH SOHм (Leipsic). By CHARLES W. RISHELL, M.A. With Revisions, Notes, and Additions. 12mo, pp. 370. Cincinnati Cranston & Stowe. New York: Hunt & Eaton. Price, cloth, $1.

In outline this work covers four periods of church history, arranged in logical order, with all their varying developments and external antagonisms. Beginning with the origin of Christianity, which required a brief survey of the Roman world and conflicts with Judaism and heathenism, the co-authors trace the Church to its permanent establishment, with the rise of church councils, of monasticism, and of sacerdotalism in worship. Nearly one hundred pages are devoted to the history of the Church in the