commentaries in our own tongue. But we confess that a writer, however learned or competent in every other respect, must have spent a very long life before he can be qualified to do justice to the various books of Hebrew and Greek-such Greek, too, as that of the New Testament-even in his own mind. If we could be assured that the expositor of any Hebrew book had mastered the genius of that language, imbibing its singular phase of the oriental spirit, feeling how its modifications of words and its idiomatic thoughts and expressions agree with, or differ from, those of cognate dialects, such as the Syriac and the Arabic, so rich in literature of various kinds, we should rejoice to follow his independent testimony as a witness of what it means. But in large portions of the prophetic compositions, we should still be at a loss, unless we could trace in the commentator a large infusion of the poetical element. We are not contending for this kind of scholarship and this style of genius for the purpose of dealing with the palpable facts of Scriptures, and drawing from them the most valuable suggestions of practical wisdom; or so presenting them as to awaken and cherish the holy affections in which religion so much consists. But we must say that there is a deeper confidence deserved by such expositors as we have described, who, it is scarcely necessary to add, are seldom to be met with. We consult them with a stronger persuasion that they are able to teach us. We feel that they know more, and that what they know is more original, more the result of perspicuous examination, more likely to bring our minds into communion with those of the writers whom we are seeking to understand, having, by their help, approached more nearly to what is said, and to the meaning of the words, and phrases, and allusions; we are, at the same time, in a better condition to appreciate the comments of less scholarly writers, and to apply to the varied purposes of life the observations which their discernment, experience, piety, or extensive reading may have enabled them to make upon the Sacred Writings. For this reason, we set a high value on the Commentaries of the late Dr. Olshausen, of Erlangen, which Messrs. Clark of Edinburgh have taken so much pains to have translated into English. The volumes we have now before us, on 'The Epistles to the Corinthians,' and that completed by Dr. Evrard, of the same University, on The Epistle to the Hebrews,' are excellent specimens of the class-teaching given by professors of theology in German colleges. They require the reader to have a knowledge of the Greek Testament, and, indeed, of the Hebrew Scriptures; and if read with an independent judgment, free from the bias of Teutonic theories, and careful to make those comparisons of one part of Scripture with another, without which we consider the use of any commentary to be a mistake, these pre lections will serve the conscientious student greatly as auxiliaries in the prosecution of his work. They are designed for continuous use, rather than for occasional consultation. This design is sometimes overlooked, and persons are apt to refer to such volumes, somewhat as one refers to a lexicon or gazetteer, expecting, but seldom finding, a thorough exposition of a passage of Scripture simply taken by itself. A little reflection ought to convince us that such a manner of reaping what other men have sown-or rather of garnering what others have reaped-is doing great injustice to the writers we thus haadle, to the Scriptures, and to our own minds. Similar observations apply to such works as those of Hengstenberg on the 'Apocalypse,' Benecke on 'The Romans,' and Du Veil on 'The Acts,' which last work gives prominence to the views of Baptists. To the gentlemen who have translated these German or Dutch Commentaries into English, we gratefully acknowledge our obligations. To the publishers we would advise a little more attention to the printing, especially in Hebrew words, where we are perpetually annoyed by the grossest errata. We have already witnessed some of the happy effects of making these Biblical treasures accessible to English teachers of religion; and we shall greatly rejoice to learn that we have done anything to widen their circulation. we In addition to thus welcoming foreign labourers, we look with much satisfaction on the learned labours of our fellow-countrymen. To those who know Dr. Mason Good's eminence as a medical writer, and as a classical translator, and who are familiar with his excellent translation, with Notes, of the Book of Job, need say little in commendation of his new Translation of the Book of Psalms, very carefully edited by the venerable Dr. Henderson. Lord Arthur Hervey deserves great praise for the erudition, the patience, the judgment, and the piety which have been so successful in elucidating a part of Scripture which previous writers had left in much obscurity, and over which he has thrown a novel interest and various lights, though he does not pretend to have entirely cleared it from all difficulty. The principle of the work lies in tracing both lines of genealogy-Matthew's and Luke's to Joseph, not to Mary; the one marking him as Solomon's heir, the other, as David's son; both being reconciled with the genealogy of the House of David in the Old Testament. We can scarcely assure the reader who does not know enough of Hebrew to read the words, so as to distinguish one from another, that he will thoroughly understand the author; yet, even in that case, we conscientiously recommend it to all who are willing to search the Scriptures' in relation to a topic which is ordinarily passed over as one of slight value and impossible to comprehend. The real scholar, whose scholarship extends to the original language of the Old as well as of the New Testament-the latter being much more dependent on the former than is usually imagined-we are persuaded will find here a truly interesting investigation, carried on with judicious freedom, and to a very satisfactory issue. Dr. Turnbull's Original Translation of Paul's Epistles' belongs to a class of works which we esteem to be of great value. Properly regarding these letters as popular, 'addressed mostly to congregations of the people,' he regrets the practice of breaking them up into fragments for theological and professional purposes; and his aim is to place before the English reader the letters of the apostle as nearly as possible in the same form as that of the original addressed to the primitive believers. It is to put the English reader in the same condition as the Ephesian, or the Thessalonian, or the Roman, or the Philippian, who certainly received the apostle's letter as a letter, and read it, as a letter ought to be read, throughout and continuously; not a sentence or two to-day and another to-morrow, and the rest after the others are nearly forgotten; so as to miss the general sense and scope of the letter, and to lose altogether the thread of the composition.' We are glad to learn that The Evangelical Pentateuch,' consisting of the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, is in a course of preparation on a similar plan, and that there is some prospect of having the remaining Epistles and the Apocalypse likewise translated, so as to form a complete version of the New Testament. If such an undertaking be wisely accomplished, it will be as precious an acquisition to the English people as we can well imagine. It is not the least valuable of the services for which we are so much indebted to the accurate and beautifully executed work of Messrs. Bagster. Besides Dr. Hengstenberg's 'Exposition of the Revelation of John,' we have placed on our list those of Mr. Scott, Mr. Gell, Mr. Barnes, and Mr. Macleod. There are some important differences between the respective views of these expounders. Hengstenberg regards everything in the book as 'adapted to serve as the means of consolation and support to the Church in the conflict which she has to wage with heathenism and its invisible head,' the aim of the book being thoroughly practical. He divides the contents into seven groups-the seven Epistles-which form a commentary on the appearance of the Lord. These are followed by two groupsthe Seven Seals-of which the main burden is, the Church, harassed by the persecutions of the world, having the image of her heavenly King placed before her eyes, as He visits the persecuting world with bloodshed, scarcity, famine, pestilence; as He brings upon it the most alarming circumstances, makes all forebode the entire destruction of everything that concerns it, and at last (c. viii.) subjects it to the annihilating stroke of ruin. The Seven Trumpets, in the main part of which the plague of war-the most frightful of God's scourges-is represented under a series of symbols, as that by which God continually, during the course of ages, chastises anew the heathenish opposition which is made to His kingdom. The episode in the tenth chapter, to the thirteenth verse of the eleventh, exhibits the reaction in the Church against the inevitable tendency to apostatize, and the chastening which should prepare the way for the operations of grace. The fourth group is that of the three enemies of God's kingdom (chap. xii-xiv.)-Satan, the beast from the sea, denoting the God-opposing worldly power, with seven horns, denoting its seven phases (in chap. xii. 18; xiii. 10), and the beast from the earth, earthly, physical, demoniacal wisdom, in chap. xiii. 11-18; then in chap. xiv. believers, assailed by these enemies, leagued together in close fellowship, have consolation ministered to them by a view of the immovable condition of those who stand in the grace of God, as well as of the judgments to befal their enemies. The fifth group of the Seven Vials unfolds the seven plagues which during the course of centuries accompany the beast-the ungodly power of the world forming the prelude to the sixth group. The sixth group represents the destruction of the three enemies of God's kingdom-the beast (five of whose heads, according to chap. xvii. 10, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Medo-Persian, and Grecian monarchies, had fallen before the prophet's time) is to be overthrown in its sixth head-the monarchy of Rome, to be followed by the victory of Christ over the ten kings (who had been the instruments of his judgment on Rome)-the seventh head of the beast with ten horns: with this power as the last phase of the heathen world, the beast himself, also, the state of heathendom, perishes, and with him his assistant, the beast from the earth. Chap. xx. 1-6 represents how the third enemy, Satan, is rendered for a time harmless, and how there breaks upon the Church a reign of a thousand years. The final destruction of Satan is represented in chap. xx. 7-10. After the complete overthrow of the three enemies, there still follows the final judgment on their servants, coupled with the removal of the present constitution of the world, as now required by the extirpation of sin, in chap. xx. 11-15. The seventh group forms the conclusion of the main portion of the book, and contains the description of the New Jerusalem, chap. xxi. 1 ; xxii. 5. The conclusion of the book in chap. xxii. 6-21, which corresponds to the beginning, points to its high importance, and once more brings out its fundamental truth. Dr. Hengstenberg judges that 'we have the thousand years now behind us, and stand at the loosing of Satan out of his prison at the end of the thousand years, and his going forth to deceive the heathen in the four quarters of the earth, and gather them to battle; a decision on behalf of which, as opposed to the traditional and current view, he argues at considerable length, and with great learning and sagacity. Barnes's Notes on the Book of Revelation' are admirably arranged, and his views appear to us to harmonize with those of the greater part of protestant commentators. He regards the seals as relating to the events of the Roman empire from the death of Domitian in A.D. 96 to the invasion by the Goths and Huns in the fourth century; the first four trumpets as relating to the Western empire, till the final conquest of Rome by Odoacer, A.D. 476-490; the fifth trumpet as relating to the Saracens; the sixth to the Turks; the seventh trumpet to the final triumph of the Church. The series of visions in chap. xi. 19 to chap. xii. he regards as fulfilled in the internal condition of the church; the two beasts in chap. xiii. are the Roman civil power and the Roman ecclesiastical power. The first five vials represent the French revolution and its consequences; the sixth, the decline of the Turkish power and its consequences; the seventh, the complete and final overthrow of the papal power. He looks for the millennium as future and spiritual. Mr. Gell's Interpretation of the Apocalypse' follows mainly that of Mr. Elliott's Hora Apocalyptiæ,' but with several minor differences. The outlines of the book are treated as embracing four series of prophecies running parallel with each other, thus: differs entirely from Mr. Elliott and other millenarians in Mr. Scott's interpretation of the Apocalypse differs the others in the main points which he has undertaken sh. They are briefly expressed by himself in an advernent from which we make the following extract : "They are these:—that the principal subject of the Apocalypse is the Roman empire, and Rome the capital of that empire; that a minute prophecy of events, times, and persons, connected either with the one or with the other of these, is there given; that, in particular, the abolition of the empire is represented, and that the date of this occurrence is assumed to be the year 476, when the emperors of Rome ceased; further, that the millennial period following the fall of Rome corresponds to those ten centuries of the reign of the Church known as the Middle Ages; that an interval of forty years is represented as |