Biblical and Miscellaneous Intelligence. The reverend author's good intention He shews, as sure as God's in Gloucester, That Moses was a grand impostor.' 849 "Other authors of the same school attained to a like celebrity. Against Collins's Discourse of Freethinking,' according to the boast of the author himself, no less than thirty-four works were published in England alone; and the list of antagonist publications enumerated by Thorschmid amounts in all to seventy nine in various languages. Tindal's 'Christianity as old as the Creation' gave occasion, according to the same diligent collector, to as many as a hundred and fifteen replies." "In the present day, when the voice of religious doubt is again making itself heard in English literature and in English society, there are not wanting those who tell us that the best mode of dealing with such a state of things is to permit and encourage 'free inquiry' among the ministers of the church; to abandon those obligations which record the existence of definite religious doctrines as essential parts of the Catholic faith, and which bind the clergy to teach according to that faith; and to substitute in their place a sort of roving commission to a body of chartered libertines to seek for the truth as their consciences may dictate, unfettered by adhesion to the foregone conclusions of a traditionary belief. As yet, this advice is presented to us for the most part in its fairest and most attractive aspect, advocated by accomplished and estimable men, adorned with all the glorious hues and brilliant polish with which genius and refinement can invest it, recommended by the charm of good purposes and pure intentions. We say for the most part; for there are not wanting, even at this moment, threatenings of a rougher treatment and a more hostile temper; and in one instance, at least, the claims of free inquiry have been advocated in a spirit of rude. ness and bitterness towards the clergy in general, which is, perhaps, the nearest approach which the manners of the present day will permit towards the coarse invectives of a Tindal or a Collins. But whether the means be blandishment or bullying, promises or threats, the end proposed is the same, that, namely, which in the last century was ushered in by Collins under the plausible name of Free Thinking; and which, now that that name has acquired a somewhat evil reputation, is offered to us, with a very slight change of style, under the imposing titles of 'free handling in a becoming spirit,' and 'honest doubt,' which has more faith than half the creeds,' "It is, unhappily, only too true that religious unbelief is widely prevalent at the present time; but it is neither so novel nor so significant a phase of religious thought as its apologists would have us believe. In much of what is now presented to us as the fruit of the superior knowledge and conscientiousness of the present day, we recognise an old acquaintance in a new dress; much of the teaching which boasts of its freedom from traditional methods of treatment is but the revival of an obsolete tradition, which became obsolete because it was worthless. The English deism of the last century, like the English gentleman of the same period, has made the grand tour of Europe, and come home with the fruits of its travels. It has reinforced the homely bluntness of its native temper by the aid of the metaphysical profundities and ponderous learning of Germany, and the superficial philosophy and refined sentimentalism of France. Yet under a good deal of foreign lacquer and veneer, we may still recognise some of our own cast-off goods returned upon our hands; and discover that free thought, no less than orthodoxy, may have its foregone conclusions and its traditional methods of treatment." The Edinburgh Review for July opens with a genial notice of one of the most interesting and important works that have lately appeared in connection with the religious history of England, "Sir John Eliot a Biography, 1590-1682. By John Foster. In two volumes." This work we hope to introduce to the notice of our readers very soon, Meanwhile we may give in a brief extract, the estimate formed of it by the Edinburgh reviewer: "Among original contributors to English history, few writers are entitled to a higher place than Mr Forster. Having chosen for his researches a period abounding in great men and great events, he has illustrated it with solid learning, with a conscientious study of original materials, and above all, with a love of liberty as carnest-we might almost say as pious, as that which characterised the heroes of his worship. In his 'Statesmen of the Commonwealth,' his 'Grand Remonstrance,' and the Arrest of the Five Members,' he had already wrought out of contemporary records many lifelike pictures of the seventeenth century; and now in 'Sir John Eliot, a 'Biography,' he presents us with a full-length portrait of the parliamentary leader of that band of patriots to whose fearless assertion of their rights, in evil times, we mainly owe the present enjoyment of our liberties. And this portrait is invested with peculiar interest as being drawn, in great measure, by Sir John Eliot himself. He has been raised, as it were, from his long resting-place; and standing before us in his natural lineaments, speaks the very language which swayed the men of his own time, and reveals to us, after upwards of two centuries, thoughts which were not even made known to his contemporaries. Nor does he stand alone; but surrounded by a group of illustrious men-by Coke, Hampden, Selden, Wentworth, Beville Grenville, Knightley, Sir Robert Cotton, Sir Dudley Digges, and Benjamin Valentine-Sir John Eliot is henceforth the central figure of a great historical painting. "These interesting memorials have been derived from the family papers of the Earl of St. Germans--the descendant and representative of Sir John Eliot and they comprise original letters, many speeches hitherto unreported, a manuscript memoir, by Eliot himself, of the First Parliament of Charles, and other literary fragments in which he appealed to posterity, in his prison. To these treasures Mr Forster has applied himself with unwearied energy; and the severity of his labours may be judged from the testimony of a previous explorer in the same field. Mr Disraeli having had access to a part of Sir John Eliot's correspondence, while writing his 'Commentaries on the Life of Charles the First,' tells us the autographs of Sir John long proved too hard for my deciphering. Days, weeks, and months passed, and I was still painfully conning the redundant flourishes and the tortuous alphabet of Sir John, till the volume was often closed in the agony of baffled patience.' Mr Forster has effectually triumphed over these obstacles; and he has further illustrated this biography with many original state papers, and all the printed records and memorials of the time. Hence we are introduced to the opening of the conflict between the Parliament and Charles I., at the commencement of the King's reign, and to the councils of the earlier leaders of the Parliamentary opposition, in a narrative of unequalled fulness and detail. Many new and important facts are brought to light for the first time; and facts already known assume a fresh significance and importance. "The judicial spirit of history is not exacted from a biographer, who generally identifies himself with his hero, joins his party, loves his friends, hates his enemies; and Mr Forster has espoused the popular cause with heart and soul. That cause, however, in its commencement, commands at once the sympathies and the udgment of most readers of the present day. Those, German Theological Literature. 851 indeed, who have formed their opinion of these times from Clarendon and Hume, will here read a new chapter in the history of England. But the historians of the Stuarts have already lost credit with posterity; and the enthusiastic champion of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth, with all his zeal, may be trusted as a safer guide to historic truth. If the casual reader should be repelled by the formidable proportions of Mr Forster's volumes, or wearied by the slow progress of the narrative (which is somewhat overlaid with an excess of minute detail), the student of history will thankfully acknowledge the rare learning and ability which have brought these copious materials to his hand. Nor will he fail to view with friendly indulgencenay even with sympathy-occasional eccentricities of sentiment aud lan. guage, which are plainly due to the earnestness of an author intent upon his engrossing theme, and possessed with the spirit of men of another age, the companions of his studies. The candid critic, passing lightly over small defects, will dwell with hearty commendation upon the great merits of this work, to which we will now proceed to introduce our readers." IX.-GERMAN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. Biblischer Commentar über Das Alte Testament. Herausgegeben von CARL FRIEDRICH KEIL und FRANZ DELITZSCH. Leipzig: Dörffling und Franke. We have too long omitted to call the attention of our readers to this important and valuable Commentary on the Old Testament. It was commenced in 1861, and has already advanced to five volumes, four of which, the work of Professor Keil, bring down the commentary on the historical books to the Books of Samuel, while the fifth, by Professor Delitzsch, is occupied with the Book of Job. Dr Keil will execute the remainder of the historical books, and the next contribution to the series by Dr Delitzsch, will be a Commentary on Isaiah. Such a work on the Old Testament was greatly needed in Germany, and it will prove a seasonable and valuable aid to the New Commentary recently taken in hand by an association of Church of England divines. The well known Kurzgefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch Zum Alten Testament, though excellent in many respects, proceeded from the rationalistic school, and is infected throughout with the spirit of unbelief. Professors Keil and Delitzsch were both originally disciples of Hengstenberg, and in the course of a voluminous authorship, almost entirely devoted to the Old Testament canon, they have never swerved from the principles of criticism and exegesis which they imbibed in his school. Their aim, as commentators, is to be strictly scientific, but at the same time always to interpret the sacred writings in their own devout and religious spirit. In their judgment, biblical commentary cannot be adequate, even in a scientific point of view, unless it is penetrated with a biblical spirit, for the commentator must be in full sympathy with his author, in order to do full justice to his author's work. At the same time they are fully abreast of all the biblical erudition of the age. They take rank among the very foremost of Hebrew scholars and critics. Professor Delitzsch, in particular, is a firstrate orientalist, and is never so much in his element as when commenting upon such products of combined Hebrew inspiration and genius as the Book of Job, or the Psalter, or the lofty prophetic strains of Isaiah. The work is chiefly designed for the use of divines and students of theology, and in presence of the destructive criticism which is now threatening to come in upon us like a flood, the labours of these eminent Lutheran interpreters cannot be too earnestly pressed upon the attention of these classes. It is chiefly from Germany, as all readers of Colenso know, that the bane of rationalistic criticism is imported among us; if we do not also import the German antidote, it will be our own fault. None are so well able to fortify us against German unbelief as the Germans themselves. The preface, by Dr Keil, to his first volume, will shew the excellent spirit which is to breathe through the whole work. It is as follows :— "Upon the Old Testament rests the New Testament. God spoke to us by his only begotten Son, after he had, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spoken to the fathers by the prophets. Upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles has the Church of Christ been built; for Christ came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them. As he said to the Jews, John v. 39, 'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me,' so also, shortly before his ascension, he opened the understanding of his disciples to understand the Scriptures, and beginning at Moses and the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself,' Luke xxiv. 27, 44. In the firm faith of the truth of these declarations of our Lord, the fathers and teachers of the church of all ages have studied and searched the Old Testament, and have explained and elucidated the divine revelations of the old covenant in learned and edifying writings, in order to open up and apply the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God which these revelations contain, to the Christian church, 'for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness.' It was not till the last quarter of the last century that this faith in the divine revelation of the Old Testament was undermined by the prevalence of deism, naturalism, and rationalism. Since then, Christendom has seen this well-head of saving truth more and more choked up, so that at the present day neglect of the holy writings of the Old Testament is as great and wide-spread as ignorance of their true contents; although during the last thirty years, on the part of believing students of the Bible, great and important contributions have been made towards the right appreciation and the true understanding of the Old Testament. "Availing ourselves of these helps, we propose to supply a Compendious Commentary on the whole Old Testament, in which we shall not only elucidate, in a grammatico-historical way, the facts and truths of divine revelation therein contained, but purpose also to develope them in the manner of biblical theology, with the view of furnishing to Scripture inquirers, and especially to students of theology and clergymen, an exegetical handbook from which they may be able to derive assistance in the right comprehension of the Old Testament economy, so far as theological science has yet succeeded in understanding it, and may also perhaps derive stimulus to farther investigations of their own, and to a deeper penetration into the unsearchable depths of the word of God." - Das Leben Jesu-Vorlesungen an der Universität zu Berlin im Jahr 1832, gehalten von Dr FRIEDRICH SCHLEIERMACHER. Aus Schleiermachers handschriftlichem Nachlasse und Nachschriften seiner Zuhörer, herausgegeben von K. A. RÜTENIK. Berlin. 1864. Vorlesungen über Neutestamentliche Theologie. Von Dr FERDINAnd C. Baur, Herausgegeben von FERD. FRIED. BAUR. Leipzig. 1864. Dr A. Neander's Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Christlichen Ethik. Herausgegeben von Dr DAVID ERDMANN. Berlin. 1864. We put together these three posthumous works of three of the most celebrated theologians of Germany, simply with the view of calling attention to the fact of their very recent publication, for we have not yet had time to German Theological Literature. 853 do more than glance at their contents. The lectures of Schleiermacher on the Life of Jesus made a profound impression at Berlin when they were first delivered, and are now reproduced for the first time, partly from his own manuscript, but chiefly from the note-books of several of his students, certainly a very imperfect mode of publication, although not so much so in Germany, where it is usual for professors to dictate word for word the principal parts of their lectures, as it would be in this country. When compared with the recent works of Strauss and Rénan, these lectures of the great founder of modern German theology will no doubt be read in Germany with peculiar zest and interest, and there are probably a few Germanists among ourselves who will be able to sympathise with that feeling. Both Strauss and Baur began their career by being disciples of Schleiermacher, and they are good examples of what has often been remarked upon, that many of Schleiermacher's disciples went as much beyond him in unbelief, as others of them have happily advanced beyond him in faith and evangelical perception. The Lectures of Baur on New Testament Theology, embrace some of the latest labours of his indefatigable and productive pen, particularly his latest exhibition of the doctrinal system of St Paul, which he had intended to incorporate with a new edition of his work on that apostle. For some time after his death, his son intended to proceed with the publication of that edition, but he would now appear to have given up the design, and has incorporated the piece in the present work instead. To all who have studied, or are studying, the development and results of "The Tübingen School," these lectures will have an interest and importance, as exhibiting, in a connected and compendious form, the very latest results of Baur's investigations and labours in the field of New Testament theology; and it is always well to see the last results of a false hypothesis, or of erroneous critical principles, as they often react with a tremendous force of refutation and exposure upon the primal falsehood from which they spring. Neander's Lectures on the History of Christian Ethics, are another stone added to the cairn which his disciples are gradually and only too slowly erecting over his honoured grave. The memorial is intended to consist exclusively of his university lectures, reproduced in the manner already described. Last year appeared his lectures on "Katholicismus and Protestantismus," edited by Licentiate Messner of Berlin. These and the rest of the series are valued in Germany, not only for their absolute scientific merit, but still more perhaps for the idea which they convey, and the recollections which, in many attached hearts, they revive, of his style and manner as an academic teacher. L. The following notices of Recent German Theological Literature are from the pen of Professor Warren of Bremen. Biblioth. Sacr. April 1864 : Die Lehre vom freien Willne und seinem Verhältniss zur Gnade in ihre geschichtlichen Entwicklung dargestellt. Von CHR. ERNST LUTHARDT. 8vo, pp. 480. Leipzig. 1863. Dr Luthardt is a Leipsic professor, not yet old, who has acquired an enviable reputation by various exegetical writings, a work on Eschatology, &c. The work before us is an admirable contribution to the literature of Doctrine-History, the most extensive and thorough survey of the opinions, controversies, and philosophisings which have centered about Free-will and its relation to divine grace, which we as yet possess. It embraces the whole sweep of Christian history, from apostolic times to the present year of grace But more than history is presented: in a second exegetical part, a new and fresh investigation of the Scripture doctrine is attempted, and then follows a concluding section setting forth the author's own views. After a philo VOL. XIII-NO. L. 31 |