INTELLIGENCE.

FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

"The Doctrine of Revelation, by A. E. KRAUSs, 1868," is described by the author, in his subordinate title, as "A Contribution to the Philosophy of Christianity," and this description does not claim too much for the work. For it is really such a contribution, discussing the deep and difficult questions of modern thought, preliminary to the doctrine of the Inspiration of Scripture, in a very able and conclusive manner. The work is divided into four sections: in the first, a Foundation is laid for the doctrine of revelation by developing the true idea of religion, showing its reality, its objective and subjective contents-in a word, its nature; in the second, the Testimonies for revelation are considered, showing the possibility of it, examining the objections against special revelations, with the claims urged in favor of mere natural religion, and explaining the bearing of sin upon the problem; in the third, the Contents of the revelation needed by sinful men are set forth, the Law, the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God; and in the fourth, the Form of revelation, that is, by Miracles, Theophanies, the Mediator, the Prophets and the Apostles, is submitted to a thorough investigation, showing the insufficiency of the most plausible objections to this form. But such a glance at the leading topics of this work will give the reader no adequate conception of the directness of the author's style, the fulness of his learning, and the solid strength of his argument. A similar work is needed

1 Die Lehre von der Offenbarung. Ein Beitrag zur Philosophie des Christenthums. Von Lic. Alfred Ed. Krauss, ev. Pfarrer zu Stettfurt. Gotha. 1868.

in the English language; but those who are familiar with the German will do well to read the treatise before us; for though we do not assent to all the views which it presents as correct, we have found it exceedingly instructive. No treatise with which we are acquainted discusses the same questions in so succinct and yet thorough a manner.

"Compendium of Dogmatics, by C. E. LUTHARDT. 3d Ed., improved and enlarged. 1868." Dr. Luthardt is one of the most prolific writers of the evangelical school in Germany. As a professor in the University of Leipsic he is associated with Tischendorf and Kahnis, both of them eminent authors; and he excels them both, if not in learning, yet in vigor of expression, warmth of feeling, tact in the arrangement of his materials, and rapidity of execution. He is thoroughly evangelical, a great admirer of Luther, and ready to do all in his power for the faith which the Reformer preached. Of the work whose title is given below, he says in the preface to the first edition: "What I here give to the public is no Dogmatik in the proper sense, and no sketch of my own dogmatic system, but only a combination of the most indispensable historical material. Yet from this historical labor, any one may learn the fundamental views which I represent and the position which I hold to the dogmatic questions of the present. I have taken my outline of

Lutheran dogmatics chiefly from Quenstedt and Hollaz, its two characteristic representatives." These sentences give the reader a correct idea of the writer's aim in the preparation of this work; but to one who is acquainted with the "Dogmatics" and the "Hutterus Redivivus of Dr. Hase, the author's remark may be useful, that "in the matter of form his Compendium lies midway between those two works." It is certainly a very convenient book, containing a large amount of historical theology in a small space. The arrangement of topics and the selection of illustrative and confirmatory passages, must be regarded as entirely satisfactory.

"The Biblical Theology of the New Testament, by Dr. BERNHARD WEISS. 1868." This work will repay faithful study; for it is a most orderly and complete exhibition of the author's view of the theology of New Testament, in the several stages of its development. And the word development suggests at once an excellence and a defect of this work. For if the word is used to denote progress in Christian knowledge, or in the apprehension of Christian truth, it may doubtless be applicable in some measure to the apostles, even after the day of Pentecost. Meditation upon the words of Christ and the exigencies of their sacred calling, but especially the constant presence of the Spirit of Truth, may have led them to enter from time to time more fully into the mind of God and to see more distinctly the depth and richness and manifold ap

1 Compendium der Dogmatik. Von Dr. Chr. Ernst Luthardt, Consistorialrath, Professor der Theologie. Dritte verbesserte und vermehrte Auflage. Leipsic. 1868.

2 Lehrbuch der Biblischen Theologie des Neuen Testaments, von Dr Bernhard Weiss, Professor der Theologie. Berlin. 1868.

plications of that truth which they had been commissioned to preach. But there is danger of allowing this thought to carry one too far. There is danger of overlooking the evidence of rapid and almost instantaneous progress, from twilight to full day, in the case of the apostles. The marvellous gift of the Spirit, which they received on the first Christian Pentecost, lifted them at once to a high plane of knowledge, and put them in many respects far in advance of the ablest uninspired teachers of the early church. There is danger, we say, when once the idea of a natural progress of knowledge is applied to the apostles, of thrusting far into the background the supernatural aid which they enjoyed, and then of questioning the correctness of either their earlier or their later teaching. And there is also danger, we think, of being led by the idea of natural development to overlook, in the case before us, the mental and spiritual peculiarities of the different apostles, ascribing that to time and progress which was due to other causes, making diversities of knowledge successive which were in fact contemporaneous. For it cannot be supposed that Peter and John and Paul were all equally interested in the same Christian truths, that they all unfolded the same truths in the same way and with equal clearness, or that they kept pace with one another exactly, at all times, in their knowledge and experience. In a certain sense the apostles complemented one another. Only Christ was perfect in knowledge and in heart, having no mental or spiritual idiosyncrasies which qualified him to present one class of truths better than another. Now we are not disposed to deny that the students of the Sacred Record were at fault in former times by not giving sufficient attention to the indications of a gradual increase of knowledge on the part of the apostles, as they went on with their work and found occasion to meet new forms of error, but we are ready at the same time to affirm that the reaction against their mistake has carried many to the opposite extreme. Among these must be numbered the author whose work we are reviewing. He finds too many distinct forms of doctrine in the New Testament, and in too many instances traces the differences which really exist to different periods of time, rather than to the peculiar endowments of different men. Thus he exhibits, in the first place, the doctrine of Jesus according to the oldest tradition, making use of the three synoptical gospels, but discriminating between the more or less original elements which he believes are contained in them. In the second place, he exhibits the original apostolic doctrine in the period before Paul, making use of several discourses recorded in the Acts, of the First Epistle of Peter, and of the Epistle of James. In the third place, he exhibits the doctrine of Paul, as taught by him in different periods of his ministry; to wit, the earliest preaching of the apostle to the heathen, the doctrinal system of his four great letters, the peculiarities of doctrine in the epistles which he wrote while in prison, and the type of doctrine in the pastoral letters. In the fourth place, he exhibits the original apostolic doctrine in the time after Paul, drawing his materials from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Second Epistle of Peter, that of Jude, the Apocalypse of John, and the historical books, meaning by these portions of the synoptical gospels and the nar

rative parts of the Acts. And in the fifth place, he exhibits the theology of John, as found in his three letters and the fourth gospel. A glance at this analysis of Dr. Weiss' elaborate work will illustrate the criticisms which we have offered. Yet the volume is one which deserves to be studied; and it will be found extremely interesting. There can be no doubt of its taking a high position among the works which must be used by those who aim at a thorough knowledge of the New Testament.

"The Jesus of the Evanglists, by the Rev. C. A. Row. 1868." The author of this work published a few years since a volume on the Nature of Inspiration, maintaining that it was a divine influence which secured infallibility in teaching religious truth, but left the apostles and evangelists in all other respects to the action of their own unassisted powers. Hence the errors and discrepancies which appear in their writings. These errors, he thinks, are not to be denied, but they relate to unimportant circumstances, to matters of time and place, of letter and form, which do not affect the spiritual truth taught by the sacred writers. We were not able to accept the conclusions of that work, though we recognize the perfect integrity of its author and his deep reverence for the Word of God, as the great source of religious truth. The same views of inspiration reappear in the present work, but they do not greatly mar its value as an apologetic treatise. Among the large number of works on the Person of Christ, this will take rank as one of marked ability, contributing its portion to the volume of evidence which is daily becoming broader and deeper, in confirmation of our faith in the historical Christ. A. HOVEY.

1 The Jesus of the Evangelists: His Historical Character Vindicated; or, An Examination of the Internal Evidence of our Lord's Divine Mission with reference to Modern Controversy. By Rev. C. A. Row.

IT

DALE'S CLASSIC BAPTISM.

Classic Baptism; an Inquiry into the Meaning of Barrisw, as determined by the usage of Classical Greek Writers. By JAMES W. DALE. Philadelphia Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1868.

T IS curious and even cheering to observe what varying forms are assumed by the uneasy and perturbed spirit of pedobaptism. For it shows that a great and evangelical religious body, professing, and in the main evincing unconditional allegiance to the Head and Legislator of the church, cannot sit down in a complacent acquiescence in an alleged and half-conscious inconsistency between its convictions and its practice. If it cannot tear itself from a usage hallowed by a venerable tradition and a thousand endearing associations, it will bend its energies to prove that that usage is at least not expressly discountenanced by the Divine Word. Hence every now and then, some fresh endeavor to meet the exigency; some fresh rearguing of the subject from the old stand-point; or the broaching of a new theory to bolster up a failing cause.

More than thirty years ago, Prof. Stuart brought his wide learning and conscientious industry to the task, but failed of satisfying the pedobaptist, and (though his article, somewhat annotated, would have made on the whole a fair Baptist tract,) the Baptist public. He fought it out on the old line, surrendering mainly, though not entirely, the philological argument, and throwing himself back chiefly on the indifference of a spiritual faith to the demands of a rigid ritualism. Dr. Edward Beecher subsequently entered the field, taking up a