topic: "We have reached a field, which we have long been dreading, ample for crops, yet sown and tangled with briers and difficulties, the seeds of which have been sown broadcast by the fruitful ingenuity of theologians and nourished by the heats of councils and synods, mingled with the tempests of anathemascrops which many good men seem to think ought to be cut down, or, if the sacred thicket must be spared, that it should be abandoned to theologians to cultivate and disentangle it." MESSIANIC PROPHECY.*-This work consists of three articles on Messianic Prophecy, written by the author for Studien und Kritiken, in 1865 and 1869, with modifications here and there, giving clearer and more complete expression to his views. He includes in Messianic prophecy all predictions of the growth and final completion of God's kingdom on earth, as well as Messianic prophecy in its narrower sense; predictions of an ideal king of God's people, springing from the house of David, with whose advent the new dispensation begins. While he acknowledges supernatural revelation as the origin of the expectation of the Messiah, he also recognizes a genetic connection of the prophecy with the fundamental ideas of the Old Testament religion. "Messianic hopes might and did necessarily spring from the inmost life of the divinely revealed religion of the Old Testament dispensation. . . . This ground lies in the ideas of the Old Testament religion; that is, by divine revelation ideas were planted in the minds of the people of Israel, so lofty, and rich, and deep, that in the existing religious condition they could never see their perfect realization; ideas which, with every step in the development of the religious life and knowledge, only more fully disclosed their own depth and fulness, and which therefore necessarily led them to look to the future for their fulfillment. The more vividly pious Israelites realized the contrast between the idea and the reality .. the more their faith, and hopes, and desires looked to the future abolition of this contrast, and the complete realization of the idea." He discusses, as the most influential, these three: the * Messianic Prophecy: Its Origin, Historical Character, and relation to New Testament Fulfillment.-By Dr. EDWARD RIEHM, Professor of Theology in Halle. Translated from the German, with the approbation of the author, by Rev. JOHN JEFFERSON. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street. 1876. New York: Scribner, Welford & Armstrong: 743 and 745 Broadway. Crown 8vo. pp. xii, and 266. Price $2.50. idea of God's covenant with his chosen people, the idea of the kingdom of God on earth, and the idea of the theocracy. Thus the very existence of God's covenant people and his theocratic kingdom carries in it the prophecy and promise of the universal extension of that kingdom, and becomes the basis of Messianic expectation and prophecy. Specific prophecies of the Messiah are seen to be the legitimate outgrowth of this conception of God's chosen covenant people and his theocratic reign. Hence "Messianic prophecy forms an essential part of the utterances of the prophets.. No prophet neglected to point to the ultimate design of Jehovah . . . . We find generally, even in the shortest prophetic writings, a portion of Messianic prediction." The author recognizes a great variety both in the contents and forms of the predictions. No one prophecy presents the Messianic conception in its wholeness; one aspect is prominent here and another there; and the forms in which the Messianic conception is set forth are as varied. This variety is partly due to the peculiarities of the prophet; but much more to the limiting influence of the historical conditions of the time on the contents of the predictions of each prophet. The latter influence the author exemplifies at considerable length. The third section traces the relation of Messianic prophecy to New Testament fulfillment. Perhaps the author gives too much prominence to the “human element" in his explanations. But the work is of great value as showing a reasonable basis for the interpretation of the Old Testament, as pervaded with Messianic prophecy. To those who have been taught to study Messianic prophecy by selecting a few passages here and there, declared to be Messianic solely because specifically quoted as such in the New Testament, the course of thought suggested by the author will give liberation, enlargement of view, and great relief. PRIESTHOOD IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.*-This work consists of eight lectures, being the Congregational Union Lectures for 1876. They are designed to prove that in the gospel dispensation there is no official human priesthood analogous to that of Judaism, and to vindicate the inalienable spiritual priest * Priesthood in the light of the New Testament. The Congregational Union Lec. ture for 1876. By E. MELLOR, D.D. A. S. Barnes & Co. New York, Chicago and New Orleans. 1876. Svo, pp. 423. Price $4.00, Sent by mail postpaid. hood of every true Christian. By priesthood the author means not merely the function of offering sacrifices to God, but any form of official mediation between man and God, by virtue of ordination or any exterior rite authorizing persons to dispense salvation to others. In the two first lectures the author examines the New Testament to prove that priesthood is not recognized in it as an order in the Christian church. In the third he discusses the alleged orders and lineage of the priesthood as recognized in Sacerdotal churches, and shows that the claim of apostolic succession is groundless. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth, he discusses the alleged functions of the priesthood at the altar, in which he considers the doctrine of the real presence and of the Lord's supper. The seventh and eighth are devoted to the discussion of the Confessional. The work treats of the subjects which have been debated in the Tractarian and Anglican controversies in England, as well as of the Sacerdotalism of the Church of Rome. The lectures are the fruit of much study, and are full and elaborate in the treatment of the several subjects. -- DR. MAHAN ON SPIRITUALISM.* * While the author is aware that many impositions connected with spiritualism have been exposed, he believes that there are many indisputable facts not explicable in accordance with any laws of nature at present known. He aims to prove that these facts can be accounted for as the effects of natural causes, without the intervention of disembodied spirits. He thinks that they imply the existence in nature of a "polar force not yet distinctly recognized in philosophy, a force having when developed very strong attractive and repulsive power; a force, the direction of whose action, when certain conditions are fulfilled, accords with mental states and is determined by the same; a force, finally, through which the mental states in one mind may be reproduced in others." The author adduces a multitude of facts, and reasons from them in the elucidation and support of this general position. The reputation of Dr. Mahan will attract attention to the work, and the work has intrinsic value as a contribution to the elucidation of the subject. * The Phenomena of Spiritualism scientifically explained and exposed. By Rev. ASA MAHAN, D.D., first President of Oberlin College. A. S. Barnes & Co. New York, Chicago, and New Orleans. 1876. Small 8vo, pp. xiv, and 421. by mail, postpaid, $2.50. Price THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. PETER.*-The readers of Dr. Macduff's "Footsteps of St. Paul" will understand the design of this work when it is called in the preface "a companion volume." While of late years so many elaborate works have treated of the character, writings, and travels of the "Apostle of the Gentiles," it seems the more suitable to give separate attention also to his great associate "of the Circumcision," who was a companion of the Master and a leader in the inauguration of his religion, and if not the most cultured or eloquent was not less intrepid, faithful, and effective among the Jews. He is generally allowed a certain precedence, though not the primacy asserted by the Romanists, and his life takes us into the scenes of the gospels and the most favored society of Jesus. It is the writer's purpose to trace that life by all the light shed upon it from Scripture and authentic tradition, and he seems to us to have carried out this aim with diligence and skill. It is meant not so much to add to learned investigation as to furnish intelligent and devout reading, and cannot fail to make the apostle's character and labors more familiar and interesting to all classes. THE MORALS OF TRADE.t-An excellent little book to be put into the hands of business men-at once useful and handsome enough for a gift to young men in business. The first Lecture is "an Inquiry into the actual Morality of Trade;" the second "into the Causes of the existing Demoralization, and the Remedies therefor." Foot-notes and an Appendix add to their value, especially by citations from eminent authorities on the points in question. It is a good sign of our times that so much attention is drawn to this subject, and this lecturer properly considers it an indication not so much of increase in the evil exposed as of the awakening of conscience in this direction. His treatment of the questions presented is at once high-toned and practical. The style is that of a scholarly clergyman, perhaps not so direct and simple as one might wish for the class of readers chiefly in view. We question the quality of the word "skimp" (for sharp dealing), and also for "exhibit" used as a noun, the latter being a technical term in law and now obtruding itself more than before in connection with the labels in the Centennial Exposition. *The Footsteps of St. Peter: being the Life and Times of the Apostle. By J. R. MACDUFF, D.D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1877. 632 pp. The Morals of Trade. Two Lectures: given in the Anthon Memorial Church, New York. By R. HEBER NEWTON. New York: T. Whittaker, 2 Bible House. 1876. 110 pp. "THE JUDGMENT OF JERUSALEM."* By Rev. WILLIAM PATTON, D.D.-The ten chapters of this neat volume give an account, with the help of some plans and pictures, of the city and temple of Jerusalem in our Lord's time; of his prediction concerning it; of the causes of the war, and the safety of the Christians; of "the six signs," "the trench about the city," and the sufferings of the besieged; of its capture by the Romans, and the destruction of the temple; and of the "subsequent history of the Jews." A leading object is to show the fulfilment of our Lord's words in that terrible catastrophe as it is described to us principally by Josephus, and to impress the appropriate lessons. Dr. Patton's style is plain and direct, and he has evidently taken pains to gather and arrange the materials to the best advantage within the limits of this work. It is adapted to popular use, and ought to have a good circulation. THE COLLEGE HYMNAL.-The appearance of this neat little book, prepared "for divine service at Yale College in the Battell Chapel," seems to deserve notice in these pages. The work of selection, arrangement, and editing has been, as is well known to many persons connected with the College, a labor of love performed by one who was remarkably fitted for it, as well by his familiar knowledge and love of sacred verse as by his power of faithful industry and dread of prominence for himself. The book is to be used at daily morning prayers and in the Sunday service of the chapel, and is of course adapted to the peculiar congregation for which it is prepared. It therefore omits entirely certain classes of hymns, as designed for occasions which do not occur in the experience of a college church. In all classes too the selection for such a purpose as this is naturally somewhat more rigid and exclusive than in preparing a book for the use of an ordinary church. For instance, hymns adapted rather for private use, which make the hymn book a help to personal devotion, are rather less fully represented in this collection. There are fewer doctrinal hymns (for only by that adjective, inappropriate as it seems, can the class be described), fewer of sad strain, fewer containing the phraseology of the Old Testament, than are usually found. In *The Judgment of Jerusalem, Predicted in Scripture, Fulfilled in History. By the Rev. WILLIAM PATTON, D.D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 231 pp. The College Hymnal. New York: Henry Holt & Company. 1876. 1877. |