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America. He has here successfully applied the results of a critical study of the Greek text to the uses of popular instruction and the edification of the church. Every one who knew the author's antecedents would be prepared for ripe scholarship, a reverent appreciation of the sacred word in its import and connections, and they will find all this interwoven with the more popular elucidation of the text in a singularly suggestive and edifying way. It is, we must add, strongly imbued with premillennial views of Scripture, but calculated to be highly instructive and useful to all who really desire to get into the meaning of God's word.

Brief Historical Explanation of the Revelation of St John, according to the Hora Apolyptica of Mr Elliott. By H. C. TUCKER, Bengal Civil Service. London: Nisbet. 1863.

This little work, as an abridgment of Mr Elliott's "Hora Apocalyptica," will be useful to many who have not access to the larger work. It is well executed, being originally planned as one of a series of schoolbooks for native Christians in India.

The Redeemer: a series of Sermons on certain aspects of the Person and Work of our Lord Jesus Christ. By WILLIAM ROBINSON CLERK, M.A., Vicar of Taunton. London: Bell & Daldy. 1863.

This little volume is what it professes to be,-a series of sermons. They are sermons so good and sound that, in these days of abundant heresy, it is quite refreshing to read them. We are surprised to find a man who holds and teaches so much truth, not being able to see his way a little farther. He sees and explains fully the doctrine of the headship of the two Adams; and yet he can say, "that man was created anew in Christin him the human race received a new head." The whole theology of the book is at war with such statements as these. On the author's own principles, such a statement as that means universal salvation, which yet he does not hold. His chapter on "The Hope of Israel" would satisfy neither the millenarians nor the ante-millenarians. It is not often we read a volume of sermons in which there is so much to praise, and so little to blame. We may add that there is a gracious blending of the practical with the doctrinal.

The Argument of St Paul's Epistle to the Christians in Rome traced and illustrated. By the Rev. C. P. SHEPHERD, M.A., Incumbent of South Lambeth Chapel. London: Bell & Daldy. 1862.

This exposition of the Epistle to the Romans is in the form of sermons. It is as yet incomplete, reaching only to the close of the eighth chapter. The form of the exposition is about the most difficult to manage, and generally the author has delivered himself in a "popular" manner, which increases the difficulties against which he has had to contend; yet the exposition is one of no common merit. The author thinks, and therefore speaks for himself, and that with a singular force, clearness, and simplicity. We differ toto cælo from his conclusions: he looks at the epistle from an Arminian stand-point; altogether misunderstands the phrase, "the righteousness of God," which is the key and key-note of the whole yet we have learnt a good deal by looking at the old familiar words through a totally different medium. The first sermon, in which the author strongly puts the necessity of always considering that you are not dealing with a gathering of chapters and a series of texts, but with a letter; that you ought always to remember who writes, to whom, when, why, and the state of mind of the writer as well as those who are addressed; all this is wisely, clearly, and ably put, and that introductory sermon deserves high and

special praise. We shall be glad to see how the author deals with the ninth and the eleventh chapters. We expect he will be able to bring out fully the meaning of that eleventh chapter, in its close connection with all that precedes it from the very beginning of the epistle. It is not often that we can speak of an Arminian, both in so kindly a way and in such terms, as we can speak of this.

Life in Heaven. By the author of "Heaven Our Home" and "Meet for Heaven." Edinburgh: Nimmo. 1863.

The author of this volume tells us, in his preface, that 75,000 copies of his two former works have been sold in this country alone. He calls this, "unlooked-for success." We think him right in his own estimation of himself; for certainly a poorer book than this, or its two elder brothers, we have hardly ever read. We are utterly at a loss to discover the possible cause of the public appetite for the sort of reading herein provided for them. It is not the style; for that is clumsy, full of poverty-stricken repetitions of phrases, tautologies, and heavy. It is not the matter; for that is as dull, heavy, and commonplace as the style. Is it the subject? and, if so, are men's own imaginations so very poor that they are glad to rest in cloudy creations of this sort, formed for them by the toil of another? This last is the worst of the three volumes of the anonymous author, who has got on to an inclined plane whose lowest limits have now been reached. Surely the writer did not mean to be humorous, nor to burlesque a subject so sacred; but if the last five chapters of "Life in Heaven" be not a burlesque, what are they? We have long speeches by Isaiah, Abraham, Lazarus, John Newton, Locke, Bacon, Milton, Cowper, Pollock, which are simply ridiculous. Isaiah, if he speak now such manifest stuff as this author puts into his mouth, has lost much of his power since he left this world. All these writers have sensibly deteriorated in their style; they have all lost their individuality; and most of them have somehow got a hold of a great number of Scotticisms, Cowper especially, which they had not when they spoke or wrote in this world. Really, people ought to form a judgment on books for themselves, and not buy books simply because they are industriously puffed into notoriety.

Old Friends, and what became of them. By the Rev. J. B. OWEN, M.A., Incumbent of St Jude's, Chelsea. London: Nisbet & Co. 1862. Under this somewhat quaint title we have, in nine chapters, a series of biographical sketches, partly real and partly imaginary, so far as it appears, bringing out in a very forcible way some of the strengths and the weak nesses of human nature. The author has looked on man and his ways with an observant eye. Shrewd, kindly, and clear-sighted, he has gathered up and garnered many a fragment which, under other auspices, would have been left behind, lost, or trampled under foot. The style is sharp; there are no superfluous words. There is a dry caustic humour, which acts on the reader as a constant tonic; and under Mr Owen's hand, old things look new in the new dress, or in the new companionship with which they are introduced to us. The volume may be very safely and very cordially commended to our readers, as a wise, thoughtful, and very suggestive book, worthy of its able and accomplished author.

The More Excellent Way; or, Links in Love's Chain. Seeley, Jackson, & Halliday. London. 1862.

The execution of this volume is not worthy of its design. It is a series of chapters on each of the separate characteristics of charity, as given by the apostle Paul in his glowing eulogium-Charity suffereth long, is kind,

envieth not, vaunteth not itself, &c., &c., through sixteen chapters. It is an idea worth taking up, and fully working out. This volume would be a help in no way.

Ulrich von Hutten, Imperial Poet and Orator. Translated from ChaffourKestner's "Etudes sur les Réformateurs Du 16 me Siecle," by ARCHIBALD YOUNG, Esq., advocate. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. 1863.

This is a translation, and though we have not compared it with the original, it bears many internal marks of being a good translation. The biography is brief; the facts are few; the philosophy of the stirring events in which von Hutten took a part so active and prominent, is hardly attempted; but the volume is a good and useful contribution to our English biographical literature. Few readers, we presume, will close this volume without a desire to know more fully the facts of Von Hutten's life; and the extracts from his published works are so rich and racy as to whet the appetite for more. The translator has added a valuable series of biographical notes, in elucidation of the text, where occur many names less generally known than usual to mere English readers. The volume is to be commended.

A History of the Christian Church from the Nativity of our Lord to the Reign of Constantine. By the late EBENEZER SOPER. London: Houlston & Wright. 1863.

Posthumous works need careful and competent editors. A history without a table of contents, with no headings to books or chapters, with few references to authorities, with no index, and by an author whose name is totally unknown in the world of letters, is of very small value. Had the matter composing this volume been edited in a competent way, and had the wants we have indicated been supplied (with the exception, of course, of the last), a work might have been produced of some permanent value. The editor's competency for his task may be judged of by the following extract from "the preface:"-" It is to be regretted that those persons who hold Romish doctrines devote more attention to ecclesiastical history than is given to it by evangelical Christians. Romanists delight to appeal to 'catholic antiquity.' It is not so well known as it should be, that they may be vanquished in argument on the ground which they claim as their

own."

A Reply to the Strictures of the Rev. J. H. Hinton, M.A., on some Passages in Lectures on Christian Faith. By JOHN H. GODWIN. London: Jackson & Walford. 1862.

In our last number we noticed Professor Godwin's "Lectures on Christian Faith." Our readers will remember that Mr Godwin is professor of exegetical theology in the new Independent College in London. Mr Hinton, the Baptist minister, wrote a pamphlet containing some very severe strictures on Mr Godwin's book. This is Mr Godwin's reply. We give a few extracts, that our readers may form some notion of this extraordinary production for themselves. "The evangelists believed in the divinity of Christ, and in his sacrificial death, as fully as St Paul; but they have not taught these doctrines exactly in the same way," p. 9. This is his own summary of what he teaches on the doctrine of justification by faith. "I have said again and again that trust in the Saviour does ensure salvation, and that a man is immediately judged to be right by God when he has faith in Christ, this faith being only a sincere acceptance of him, our Lord and Saviour; and this being right, comprehending his uprightness, his relation to Christ, and his hope of all that is contained in the promises of God." This is all. Speaking

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of the same doctrine on the next page, he says, "I have ventured to call in question what may be called the Protestant interpretation of the peculiar language of St Paul, but only to shew that all the truths which are set forth according to one mode of understanding terms are as clearly and certainly set forth according to the other, and that we need not suppose any change in the signification of words, or any semblance of fiction," pp. 18-21. Again, p. 22, The interpretation of the peculiar phraseology of St Paul which has been received by protestant churches for some centuries was not held in the early ages of the Christian Church." Again, p. 31, "According to Mr Hinton's statement, the great work of the gospel seems to be in the assurance that so much suffering has been endured in our stead, and so much work has been done in our stead. This view appears to me very different from that of the Bible, and alien from the spirituality and universality of the gospel."

The Exodus of Israel: its Difficulties Examined, and its Truths Confirmed, with a Reply to Recent Objections. By the Rev. T. R. BIRKS, M.A., Rector of Kelshail. London: the Religious Tract Society. 1863.

So far as we have had time to read and examine this book of Mr Birksand we have got through the greater portion of it-we have been impressed with the conviction that it is one of the best, if not the best, of the replies to Bishop Colenso that has yet appeared. It is elegant, scholarly, thorough. He does not spare the bishop; but his rebukes are administered in the tone and spirit in which a Christian man should correct an erring brother. We sincerely wish that every reader of the bishop's book could only be induced to read the reply of the presbyter. We have felt that the reply of Mr Birks on all the points he has taken up has been most triumphant and complete. He meets the bishop fairly, and faces the difficulty as fairly; there is no evasion, no hypothesis hastily concocted for the occasion, but a calm, manly dignity, conscious of its strength, which inspires you with a feeling of the goodness of the cause so gracefully and chivalrously defended.

The following works, which space prevents us from noticing more fully, we cordially recommend, viz. :

Lewis's Divine Human in Scripture (Nisbet).

Dr Bonar's Short Sermons (do.).

Dr Hamilton's Morning by the Sea of Galilee (do.).

Gailey's Submission and its Reward (do.).

M. Dods's Prayer that Teaches to Pray (Maclaren).

Griffith's Fatherhood of God [Title Unhappy] (Hatchard).

Hebert on Clerical Subscription (Macmillan).

Dr Alexander's Young Communicant (Elliot).

Professor Young's Science and Scripture (Lockwood).

An anonymous work, entitled "The Destiny of the Human Race" (Simpkin), we can only condemn. It is a clever universalist advocacy of a probation in another life for those who have not embraced the Gospel

here.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN

EVANGELICAL REVIEW.

JULY 1863.

ART. I.-Clement of Alexandria and his Apologetic.

No writer of antiquity has left us a more complete picture of the ancient world than Clement of Alexandria. If we were required to reproduce the philosophy, the religion, the literature, the manners of the most illustrious representatives of heathenism, and if we were confined to a single author as our source of information, the author we should choose would undoubtedly be Clement. The age he lived in was one which had little life of its own, and whose hope it was to resuscitate the past. It was a learned age and a critical age, though its learning and its criticism were alike superficial. It gathered up all the treasures of the past; and the eclectic spirit which had characterised Alexandria since its foundation, and which its position seemed to destine it to mature, was never more vigorous than when Clement took up his abode in the Greek quarter. The character of the age, and the character of the city in which he lived, were well represented in his own upbringing and disposition. By birth a Pagan, and by conversion a Christian, be understood the position of the two great parties in the world of religion. Born in Athens, personally acquainted with Italy, Syria, and Asia Minor, and finally settling in Alexandria, he combined in his own person the erudition and system of the West with the profundity and warmth of the East. In his boyhood he may have seen the keen eye and humorous play of feature in the face of Lucian, Pausanias investigating antiquities, and Diogenes Laertius collecting his anecdotes; in his manhood he must have seen Ammonius bending under his sacks of grain, and venting scraps of philosophy to his fellowporters as he recovered his breath; and when he found that 2 F

VOL. XII.-NO. XLV.

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