thought, an event was witnessed, a scene was beheld, a feeling was felt. Now it comes up again in my actual waking knowledge; but during all this time it has been unthought, unseen, unimaged, unfelt, and may we not say, as far as this argument is concerned, unknown? Some of it has fallen into so profound a slumber, that it will perhaps never awake until carried into the fixed and changeless state of another existence. But, where is it? We repeat the inquiry; for the question seems to involve some truths of most serious moment. Has it been all this time a non ens? If it has had a true being, can it be conceived of except as in relation to my soul, or (for no other preposition can suit the exigency of the thought) as in my soul, in my spiritual being, as it is not in the spiritual being of any other personality? We say spiritual being, for we do not now argue with that lowest class of materialists who would think that an easy and sufficient explanation of this whole matter could be found in the supposition of ten thousand times ten thousand configurations of a material brain, moved by ten thousand times ten thousand material springs, touched by innumerable associations, themselves all strung together by material ligaments, and among which material configurations, each comes up, when, in the endlessly complicated movements of this machinery its own spring is touched, and the whole structure of every other part of the brain at once corresponds thereto. Even such obtuse men, άvzírvno άrdges, as Plato calls them, such hard-headed materialists as these, who resolve all knowledge into touch and resistance, might be puzzled by the question, What is to prevent, if perhaps one man's brain, amidst these endless convolutions, should get into a material state exactly corresponding to that of an other, (a case by no mean's inconceivable,) what is to prevent that the one should immediately find himself endowed with all the knowledge, and all the experience of space and time, past and present, of the latter brain?

not.

But our argument is with those who believe that man has an immaterial spirituality, whether they regard it as a mere capacity or We ask them to look intently at the difficulty, and then explain it. They may reply that they discover none. Some might be ready to ask, What do such inquiries mean? Does the interrogator himself know? There is surely no such difficulty in the case. solution is plain enough even for a "child's book on psychology." The word memory explains it all. This knowledge about which there is vainly supposed to be something so occult, is simply remema bered. When the soul wants to use it, she remembers it by a capacis

The

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ty, or faculty, she has for that express purpose. Should there be an attempt to go a little further, we are told of the association of ideas. We "recall" it, too, it is said, as though it had flown away to some extra mundane region, and were not somewhere within the domain embraced by the personal we.

1

But this is only a name for the fact; it explains nothing. There is yet the deep "mystery of memory," as St. Augustine somewhere styles it. We may doggedly try to put up with the dogma of Reid, that "memory is an immediate knowledge of the past;" but in that word, the past, the difficulty all comes back again; and we ask ourselves - How can the past be in the present, unless we carry our whole being with us, and all the knowledge of the past is bound up in the present by those original notions, cognitions, intuitions, ideas, or knowledges, which were born in the soul, which ever abide in it irrespective of all time, out of the combinations of which all other or outward knowledge arises, and into which it may be ultimately analyzed as its constituting elements, without at the same time losing that distinct objective reality which it has obtained through their form-giving power.

If we reject, then, as exploded, the doctrine of inborn knowledge, or treat it as a mystery and an absurdity, we have yet, in some respects this deeper "mystery of memory"—the present knowledge of the past, the unknown and yet known, the for-gotten and yet gotten, or as the same is expressed in Plato's Greek, and with nearly the same idiomatic metaphor, the unheld and yet possessed.

We have dwelt the longer on this part of the argument, not to supply any deficiency in the author's treatment, but to present in the most familiar way we could, what the nature and plan of his work compelled him to give in a rigid scientific manner. We wish especially to draw attention to it as an important part of his general view, and as furnishing the best position for the proper appreciation of other parts of the work.

Of this we can only say, that it increases in interest on every page. Some of the discussions in the latter part of the book are of the profoundest moment. All readers who have suffered the comparatively dry details of statement and definition, in the first part of the volume, to deter them from the close study of the whole, may be assured that they have lost much which possesses not only a philo sophical and a scientific, but also a high moral and religious value. 1 Intellectual Powers, Essay III. Chap. I.

ARTICLE XI.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

I. DR. ROBINSON'S NEW TESTAMENT LEXICON.1

THE assertion is sometimes hazarded by those who claim to be the guides of public opinion, that there has been but little advance in sacred philology since the days of Calvin; that in his writings we may find the principal expositions of the sacred text which commentators of the present day propound as new discoveries. It is doubtless true that Calvin's Commentaries have much philological merit, and that he furnishes a correct explanation of most of the leading texts on which his system of divinity is founded. Nevertheless, it remains true that great progress has been made in biblical study since this learned and venerable reformer lived. The scholars of the sixteenth century often endeavored to prove their doctrines by irrelevant texts, by passages which yielded only a verbal support, or whose application was doubtful. We have only to look into the writings of President Edwards, two centuries later, to see how much his acute and profound intellect would have been aided by better principles of interpretation. Within the last thirty years, the texts which sustain the orthodox system have been often subjected to a close and scientific examination, and that system now stands on a much surer basis than it ever had before. Some texts have been given up as untenable for the maintenance of a particular doctrine; others have been found impregnable. Besides, it would be absurd to suppose, that the immeasurable advance made in modern times in the knowledge of oriental literature and antiquities, of general grammar, and of the Hebrew and Greek languages in particular, should not have cast important light on the great loci classici, the fundamental proof-texts, to which appeal is made in the last resort. It is a matter of great importance if these passages can be set in a clearer light, and be made to point with a surer aim. But of the rapid, we may say immense, progress which biblical science has made, we need no more convincing proof than the Lexicon now before us will furnish.

Again, it is often said, that we are greatly indebted to German writers for our knowledge of antiquities, history, classical criticism, etc., while they have failed to give us much which is valuable towards the better understanding of the doctrines of the Gospel. For Latin and Greek lexicons and grammars we must repair to Freund, Zumpt, Kühner, Buttmann, Thiersch, and Pape, but when we are to expound divine truth, we must not resort to these "earthen cisterns." Yet, in ascertaining the true, spiritual meaning

1 A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament, by Edward Robinson, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. A new edition, revised and in great part re-written. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1850. pp. 804, 8vo.

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of divine truth, to what better source can we apply than to the lexicon before us? It unseals the fountains of living waters. It gives us exact definitions of the inspired declarations. It is a clear, beautiful and consistent commentary on those words "which are spirit and life." Yet it is not affirming too much to say, that this lexicon would never have been written, if it had not been for the philologists of Germany. On this subject, they have furnished the materials and given the impetus to all the world besides. It is to the labors of Schneider, Passow, Hermann and others, that we owe the true idea of a Greek lexicon, and are not now stumbling over the pages of Schrevelius and Schleusner. It is to them and to their successors in lexicography, grammar and commentary,- Winer, De Wette, Meyer, etc.that we are able to give the exact grammatical meaning of words on which all true doctrine must be built. The works just mentioned, enable us to reach, in innumerable places, what we believe to be the mind of the inspiring Spirit. By their aid we can see, e. g., in the Epistles of Paul, what may be called a divine harmony, a Christian logic. The bands and joints of the discourse are placed in a striking light.

By a remark made above we would not imply that Dr. Robinson's Lexicon is not an independent work. The author is no servile copier. He has applied a practised eye and a sound judgment to the immense mass of materials before him, and produced an original and independent work so far as those terms are applicable to an undertaking of this character. We may state the following as prominent qualities of the Lexicon :

First. An engaging outward form. The beautiful Porson type, the paper, the freshness of the ink, the spaces between the paragraphs, etc. make the page eminently attractive. The external appearance of grammars and dictionaries, we are glad to see, is now regarded as a matter of special importance in this country and in Germany, as it long has been in England. A New Testament lexicon is designed for persons of feeble vision and of advanced age, as well as for those whose eyes have not waxed dim. In this particular, the present lexicon has not been equalled in our country.

Second. A natural and philosophical arrangement of the meanings of a word. Let us take the noun ПIvεvua as an illustration. There are three great classes of meanings. I. The word is defined in its primary, or material sense, 1, as a breathing, breath; 2, air, breath in motion, wind. II. The word as applied to man in his present two-fold state, 1, the vital spirit, anima, the principle of life; 2, the intellectual part, the animus, mind, soul, a as opposed to the body or animal spirit, b as the seat of feeling or emotion, c disposition or temper of mind, d will, counsel, purpose, e including the understanding, intellect. III. The term as applied to simple, incorporeal beings; A of created spirits, 1, the human soul, when separated from the body; 2, an evil spirit, demon; 3, good angels; B of God as immaterial; C of Christ in his exalted, spiritual nature; D the Spirit of God, in intimate union with God the Father and Son; 1, the Holy Spirit as a Divine Agent, a joined with the Father and the Son, with the same or different predicates, b in connection with or reference to God, e in connection with or in reference to

Christ, das coming and acting upon men and producing various effects; 2, by metonomy, the Holy Spirit for the effects and consequences of his agency, a of physical or procreative energy, b of that special, divine influence which rested on Jesus, e of the divine influence by which prophets and holy men are excited, e. g. in inspiration, d by which the apostles were qualified to act as founders and guides of the Christian church, e of the divine influence by which the Christian temper is affected, a as opposed to oáąš, ß as the same mind which Christ possessed; 3 meton. of a person or teacher acting, or professing to act, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The above summary will show in what a clear and orderly manner the primary sense is marked and the derivative senses traced from it and from each other. To see the progress which has been made in orderly definition one need only compare such words as vua and odos in this lexicon with the confused and inaccurate account of them in Schleusner.

Third. The particles are treated with great fulness and perspicuity. No class of words reveal the subtle character of the Greek language so strikingly as the particles; to exhibit them satisfactorily, even in the New Test. dialect, requires the closest attention and a habit of philosophical discrimination; yet no class of words are more important in educing the sense, especially in Paul's epistles. To this portion of the language Dr. Robinson has devoted special attention. The results of the investigations of many able German grammarians on the classical dialects are exhibited in this lexicon as modified by the New Testament idiom, and cleared of doubtful and adventitious accompaniments.

Fourth. The author's local knowledge of Palestine, as would be expected, is here employed with eminent advantage. The large number of proper names, words descriptive of various objects of natural history, etc. are delincated with a precision which personal observation only would render possible. In this particular, the lexicon is a great advance upon any similar work which has yet appeared in Germany. In this class of words, e. g. Jerusalem, one is struck with the author's happy judgment in selecting just enough of the most important particulars, where the temptation would be strong to make the description disproportionately copious. A good lexicographer, as well as a good architect, looks carefully to the proportions of his edifice. It would be interesting to write an essay on certain words, rather than to confine one's self to give the exact sense.

Fifth. Minute accuracy. So far as we can see from a daily use of this lexicon, for nearly eight weeks, there is an extraordinary freedom from error, not only in the typography, but in the almost innumerable references. Mistakes in figures are extremely apt to creep in, even after the most vigilant attention. To turn to commentaries and other books for accuracy in this particular, is in general, out of the question. There must be a laborious personal examination.

In short, we congratulate the churches and the clergy of all denominations in this country and Great Britain that this great work has been brought to a close so successful. To a large extent, it will supercede the use of concor