however favourable, he would most heartily concur. Information as to the volumes published, and other particulars, may be obtained from Mr. Robert Pitcairn, Secretary, 9, Northumberland Street, Edinburgh.

F. CLOWES.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

Review of Commentary on Isaiah.

The Commentaries of Calvin were for the most part compilations, if not transcripts, from short-hand reports of his spoken expository lectures, delivered extemporaneously to his students, in the Theological School of Geneva, to the chair of which he was appointed in 1536. Two or three individuals were usually employed in securing the substance of these prelections as they fell from Calvin's lips; and, a copy having been drawn up from a comparison of their manuscripts, it was submitted to the Professor, who gave it the benefit of his revision, before sending it forth with his imprimatur. Similarly were those remarkable series of sermons secured, which were delivered from the pulpit on the Book of Deuteronomy, and the Epistles to the Galatians and Ephesians, Timothy and Titus; and which, in the old English dress, wherewith long ago the diligent hand of good Arthur Golding clothed them, though very rare, are not unknown amongst us. These sermons were spoken oftentimes on successive days for weeks together; as if to Calvin, the public teaching which, with ordinary men, is the fruit of exhausting toil, was but the by-play of his gigantic powers, -an effort with which he contrived to relieve other and more fatiguing occupations. That such sermons should have been produced with so unexampled rapidity, gives one a vivid idea of the powerful intellectual grasp of that wonderful man-the extent of his genius-the exuberant wealth of his stores as a scholar and divine-the readiness with which he could command them-his power of indefatigable application--and the accuracy of his habits of thinking and expression.

Whatever portion of the charm which belonged to the

spoken expositions of the Genevan Reformer may have disappeared from his commentaries as they now stand, it cannot be doubted that his Commentary on Isaiah possesses, in a high degree, all the leading excellences which distinguish him as an interpreter. Of his singular acuteness in perceiving the scope and relations of a passage, amounting to something like intuition-his commanding views of revelation in its connection-his boldness and consistency in unfolding the truths of Scripture-his perspicuous, natural, and fluent style-his soundness of judgment-his freedom from all love of paradox, affectation, and conceit—of all these high qualities in which Calvin towers above other expositors, we have abundant illustration in this portion of his works. There is little of that minute grammatical analysis and philological disquisition of which we have so plentiful a supply in modern exegetical works-those especially of the German school-but we have in every page the results of a keen spiritual discernment, and the fruits, without the parade, of learning.

Calvin, the closest and most powerful reasoner, perhaps, that ever lived.

FREE CHURCH MAGAZINE.

Review of Commentary on the Romans. New Translation. 1849. In his commentaries, there are far fewer digressions, and much less of what may be called sermonizing on particular points, than in those of Luther and Melanchthon, and the commentaries generally of the Reformation era. And not only did the proper estimate he had formed of the inherent value and primary design of scriptural expositions, save them in great part from such excrescences, but it also tended to keep them wonderfully free from doctrinal bias and constraint. While he was the most profound dogmatical writer of his age, and in his dogmatical views the most logical and systematic, he was, at the same time, in his interpretations

of Scripture the most free and natural. Those who are in the habit of consulting his commentaries, know how commonly, after some particular view has been mentioned, with the support it may have in patristic authority, the remark occurs, that nevertheless it does not seem sufficiently simple, or it is too far-fetched, or against the fair construction of the words. He pre-eminently deserves, as Tholuck has remarked, the designation of a natural and elegant interpreter; and often declines pressing into the support of his theological system passages of Scripture, which, however commonly expounded in a manner directly favourable to its leading tenets, appeared to his own mind incapable of such an application.

This characteristic of Calvin's method of exposition, as well as those previously noticed, were no doubt, to a large extent, owing to that remarkable balance which obtained in his mental constitution. Greatness of mind in him did not manifest itself in the striking predominance of any one mental faculty or endowment, casting by its excessive lustre the exercise of his other powers into the shade; but rather in the singular equipoise and fine mutual adjustment of the whole, which allowed each to have their proper play, and kept them in their relative place. He was a giant from the general completeness of his mental powers, not from the transcendent growth or dazzling display of individual parts ; and hence the merit of his commentaries consists much more in their general excellence, than in the occasional exhibition of anything in itself rare and extraordinary. But this finely-balanced mind in Calvin, was further combined with a profound and much exercised spiritual sense; and the two together saved him from many perplexities in interpretation, which are apt to embarrass less gifted minds, and led him often, we might almost say instinctively, to choose amid conflicting opinions the right and the true. They did for him, as an interpreter of God's revealed will, much what practical sagacity and experience do for those that have them in the intricate affairs of life, enabling them with comparative ease and safety to thread their way through snares and difficulties, which are fraught to others with infinite peril or mischief.

LIST OF CALVIN'S WORKS

FROM THE APPENDIX TO THE THIRD VOLUME OF THE LIFE OF JOHN CALVIN, THE GREAT REFORMER, BY PAUL HENRY, DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY, PREACHER AND SEMINARY INSPECTOR AT BERLIN.

I.-L. ANNEI SENECE, Romani Senatoris, ac Philosophi clarissimi, libri duo de Clementia, ad Neronem Cæsarem : Joannis Caluini Nouiodunai commentariis illustrati. Parisiis, apud Ludouicum Cyaneum, sub duobus Gallis in via Jacobæa, 1532, 4to. With a Prefatio ad sapientiss. Præsulem Claudium Hangestium, Abbatem diui Eligii Nouiodunensis."

The same work, under a separate title, is appended to Jo. Calvini Tractatus Theologici Geneva ap. Pet. Santandreanum, 1576 and 1597. Folio. Gen. typ., Stoer, 1612.

II.-PSYCHOPANNYCHIA, qua refellitur corum error, qui animas post mortem usque ad ultimum judicium dormire putant. Paris, (according to Senebier) 1534, 8vo. With a Prefatio Joannis Calvini ad amicum quendam, dated, Aureliæ, M.D.XXXIII. A second edition must have appeared two years after, as the Tract. Theol. contain a notice to the reader, dated Basilea, MD.XXX.VI. At Strasburg, Calvin produced a new edition, under the title: Vivere apud Christum, non dormire animis Sanctos, qui in fide Christi deccdunt, Assertio Joannis Calvini. Argentorati, per Wuendelinum Rihelium, 1542. 8vo.

A French translation appeared in 1556, entitled: Traité contre l'erreur de ceux qui pensent que les ames dorment après le trespas du corps jusqu'au dernier jugement.

III. LATIN EDITIONS OF THE INSTITUTES.-Three principal forms of the text deserve to be distinguished, that of Basle, 1535, 1536--that of Strasburg, 1539-and that of Geneva, 1559.

1. Christianæ Religionis Institutio, totam fere pietatis summam, et quicquid est in doctrina salutis cognitu necessarium complectens: omnibus pietatis studiosis lectu dignissimum opus, ac recens editum. Præfatio ad Christianissimum Regem Franciæ, qua hic ei liber pro confessione fidei offertur: Joanne Caluino, Nouiodunensi, autore. sileæ, M.D.XXXVI, At the end: Basilea, per Thomam Platterum et Balthasarum Lasium, mense Martio, anno 1536, small 8vo, 514 pp., exclusive of 5 pp. of index not counted. On the back of the last leaf there is a figure of Minerva, with the motto: Tu nihil invita facies dicesve Minerva. The prefatio is dated x calendas Septembres (without a year.)

This is the first known edition of the Institutes, in six chapters, but it is maintained, among others, by Henry, that the original was first published in French the year before.

2. Institutio Christianæ Religionis nune vere demum titulo suo respondens. Autore Joanne Caluino, Nouiodunensi, cum indice locupletissimo. Habac I., Quousque Domine? Argentorati, per Vuendelinum Rihelium, mense Augusto, anno M.D.XXXIX., fol., 434 pp. Besides the dedication to Francis I., there is also an epistle to the reader. Some copies bear on the title, instead of Autore J. Caluino, the remarkable alteration, Autore Alcuino. This second edition is in seventeen chapters. A third and much improved edition has the following title: Institutio Christianæ Religionis nunc vere demum titulo suo respondens. Authore Joanne Caluino-Joannes Sturmius. Joannes Caluinus homo acutissimo iudicio summaque doctrina et egregia memoria præditus est; et scriptor est varius, copiosus, purus: cuius rei testimonium est institutio Christianæ religionis quam

1 For a Catalogue Raisonnée of the various editions of the Institutes the reader is referred to the Introduction to vol. i. of the Society's Translation of the Institutes.