be aided in his efforts to enter into the Apostle's thought. To the limited number of valuable books upon the subject of which it treats, the volume must be regarded as a timely addition.

DR. BUTLER'S BIBLE READER'S COMMENTARY.*-Dr. J. Glentworth Butler has now completed his Commentary on the New Testament, the first volume of which was published more than a year ago. The plan of this work is somewhat peculiar. It undertakes to present to the reader the suggestions of a large number of prominent writers and preachers on the verses and passages of the New Testament successively. The editor, or compiler, if we may thus designate him, divides the various New Testament books into sections of ten or twelve verses each. He appends to each of these sections, in the first place, certain general comments on the thought or doctrine of all the verses taken together, and, in the second place, more special reflections with regard to the individual verses. These comments and reflections are taken from different authors, the words of one following immediately upon those of another. Thus, for example, on the section Romans i. 16-32, we have seventeen different writers quoted, following each other in quick succession, in this order :--Dean Alford, Martin Luther, James Hamilton, Dr. Goulburn, F. W. Robertson, George B. Cheever, William Archer Butler, St. Augustine, Dr. Shedd, Dr. Arnold, Canon Liddon, Dr. Philip Schaff, Professor Fisher, Dr. Van Oosterzee, Dr. Frederick Temple, and Pres. Wayland. The character of the book will be recognized by this citation, and the design of it will be readily understood. There is a large class of Bible readers who will find such a collection of brief passages from writers of all ages, extending from Augustine to Dr. Shedd, most edifying and valuable. The Commentary will thus supply a want, and will prove useful to many. The selections seem to be made with care, and to be fitted together with as much success as might reasonably be expected when the range is so wide. Of course, the work belongs rather in the class of practical than of exegetical commentaries, and is intended for those who use the former and not the latter class.

* The Bible Reader's Commentary. The New Testament, in Two Volumes. Vol. II: The Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation. The Text arranged in Sections; with Brief Readings and Complete Annotations, selected from "the choice and best observations" of more than Three Hundred Eminent Christian Thinkers of the Past and Present, with illustrations, maps, and diagrams. Prepared by J. GLENTWORTH BUTLER, D.D. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1879. 8vo, pp.

EWALD ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF ISRAEL.*- This work was originally designed as an appendix to the second volume of the "History of Israel;" but it grew into much more than an appendix and is an independent and very full treatise on the subject. After an introduction on the laws and customs of the Theocracy in its transition to the Monarchy, he treats the subject in the first section from the human side, and discusses man's effort and action towards God. In this section he gives a careful investigation of the worship and service of God; prayer, oaths, vows, sacrifices of all kinds, gifts, fasting, circumcision, the Sabbath, the priesthood, the religious festivals and the sacred places. In the second section he treats the subject from the divine side, and discusses the divine demands for holiness and righteousness. Here he considers the subject of clean and unclean meats, material impurities in human beings and the like as recognizing the sanctity of nature; also the sanctity of life and property, the sanctity of the home, the treatment of foreigners and the kingdom of Jahveh, and the sanctity of the nation in relation to it. In the third section he considers the political organization of the nation, the administration of government, production, and trade, the relation of the priesthood to national affairs. In the fourth section he considers the division of time, the Sabbatical year, the year of Jubilee, and kindred subjects.

The work treats more particularly of the institutions of Moses and their development to the time of the institution of the monarchy; but it draws illustrations from all parts of the Old Testament. It is marked by the well-known characteristics of the History of Israel by the same learned author, and is a great thesaurus of information on the subjects discussed.

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL, BY DR. BRUGSCH.t-Dr. Brugsch spent thirty years under the patronage of the Egyptian government, in exploration and the study of the inscriptions. The result of his investigations has been published in a work entitled "Egypt under the Pharaohs." From this work the volume be

*The Antiquities of Israel: by HEINRICH EWALD, late professor of the University of Göttingen. Translated from the German by Henry Shaen Solly, M.A. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1876. 8vo, pp. xii. and 386.

The true story of the Exodus of Israel, together with a brief view of the History of Monumental Egypt. Compiled from the work of Dr. HENRY BRUGSCH, BEY. Edited with an introduction and notes by Francis H. Underwood. Boston: Lee and Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham. 1880. pp. 260.

fore us has been compiled. This volume comprises twelve chapters. The eleven first contain a sketch of ancient Egyptian history, the two last of which are devoted to the Pharaoh of the oppression, and the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The twelfth is a paper read by Dr. Brugsch before the International Congress of Orientalists in London, in 1874, on the route of Israel in the Exodus. Dr. B. claims that he has proved, by comparing the Scripture account with inscriptions on the papyri and monuments, that the route was northerly, by the great military road along the shore of the Mediterranean and the Sirbonis Gulf, ("Serbonian Bog," as Milton calls it), among the quicksands of which Pharaoh and his army perished. Diodorus relates that Artaxerxes Ochus, king of Persia, lost part of his army there, swallowed up in the same way, in B. C. 350. The author presents a strong argument, but his conclusions have been controverted. The volume is accompanied with a map of ancient Egypt reproduced from the original.in Egypt under the Pharaohs.

DR. TAYLOR'S LECTURES ON MIRACLES.*-This volume contains a course of seven lectures on Miracles, delivered before the Princeton Theological School. The subjects discussed are the Nature and Possibility of Miracles; the Supernatural in Christ; the Credibility of Miracles; Testimony in behalf of them; the Mythical theory; the Evidential value of Miracles; and their spiritual significance. The lectures are marked by the author's habitual freshness and vigor of thought, and clearness and force of style.

ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE PSALMS.-The two first lectures in this volume discuss the origin and history of the Shemitic peoples, and the history of the Hebrew language and early literature. The remaining lectures discuss the Psalms, but only with reference to their literature and history. The author reaches the conclusion that the book of Psalms, as we now have it, consists of five books collected and edited for the worship of the second temple between 537 and 337 B. C. The first book (Psalms 2-41)

*The Gospel Miracles in their relation to Christ and Christianity. By WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D., Pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle Church, N. Y. New York : Anson D. F. Randolph & Co., 900 Broadway. pp. 249.

+ Lectures on the Origin and Growth of the Psalms. By THOMAS CHALMESS MURRAY, Associate Professor of the Shemitic Languages at the Johns Hopkins University. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 743 and 745 Broadway. 1880. xiii. and 319 pp.

was compiled at the re-building of the temple, and its material is drawn entirely from the service-book of the first temple, "The Sacred Songs of David." The second Book (42-72) and the third (73-89) were compiled by Nehemiah, nearly a century later. It comprises psalms used in the first temple and others fitted for sacred song, drawing from all existing sources as a compiler of a modern hymn-book would do. The fourth (90-106) was compiled about fifty years later to meet a want for liturgic chorals which none of the other books supplied. About 350 B. C. the fifth book (107-149) was added by those who regulated the temple service, and the five books were brought into one, Psalm 1 being prefixed as introductory and Psalm 150 added as a closing doxology. The author discusses the five books successively, with literary and critical notices of a large number of the Psalms. He also considers incidentally Lyric, Epic, and Dramatic poetry among the Shemitic peoples; also the book of Job and Solomon's Song; also the return from exile, and the Maccabean period. The author dwells on his theme with an enthusiastic interest which the reader cannot well avoid catching. He regards as the most beautiful Psalms those which, in their titles, are accredited to a collection by the Sons of Korah, (42-48, and 84, 85, 87.) He says of them, "They exhibit a daintiness of workmanship and delicate sensibility of the niceties of metre which place them side by side with the lyrics of Pindar or Horace. Were there a score of poems like Psalm 42" (of which 43 is a part) . "the student of style

would have to learn of the Hebrew rather than the Hellen." Poetry of such dainty form and brilliant color is to be found no where else in Hebrew literature, and rarely, if at all, in any other." The Psalms as a whole he characterizes as "the world's deepest, tenderest, and most artistic poetry." The author is devout and reverent in spirit; the work evinces extensive learning; the subject is treated in the free and scientific spirit of critical history. He corrects Dr. Draper's representation of Arabic science in the Middle ages; he says, "Renan in his history is graceful as fiction and scarce more trustworthy." His conclusion in respect to the Old Testament generally, is that "we have the old Hebrew literature with unchanged credibility and historical value; what it has lost is its original literary form."

The author had not revised the lectures for publication; consequently there are occasional instances of negligence in the use of language which the editor might properly have corrected. This

thin, and yet not such as to cause the type to strike through it and thus to injure the pages or occasion difficulty in reading. It is of so inferior character, however, as greatly to mar the appearance of the volume. The purchaser must find his compensation for this evil in the saving of expense which is afforded by means of it.

While not ranking as the best of the Lives of our Lord which have been published within the last few years, Dr. Geikie's work is one of value and of interest to the reader. It is a work showing much care and study, and has already met with most favorable criticism in this country, as well as in England, the home of its author.

LANIER'S SCIENCE OF ENGLISH VERSE.*_This is a book of curious interest, which we have not yet examined as thoroughly as it deserves, but enough to see that it will invite and reward the attention of such as have leisure to make it a study. It is a labored, scientific treatment of its subject. In the author's definition, however, verse is not, as in common use, equivalent to poetry, but more strictly what is called versification. The treatment is concerned with the structure rather than with the sentiment of poetry, with the form more than with the material; with verse as sound addressed to the ear, (and not the less if through the medium of the eye), even as it would appear if the words themselves were not understood, as in the case of a foreign tongue, but only so many sounds heard. The preface shows, what is true enough, that writers who have treated of English versification, have found it and left it in an unsettled state, not subjecting it to rigid analysis, nor ascertaining its laws. No science of verse, as in modern times of music, has been constructed, nor so much as attempted. The old classic metres have been more thoroughly studied than those of English poetry. The author aims to supply the deficiency. He analyzes and classifies the variations of sound heard in verse, as to duration, loudness, pitch, and a certain quality which he calls "tone-color," and he attempts to represent these differences to the eye by musical notation. His method is certainly novel and ingenious. Dr. Rush made some use of music in his "Philosophy of the Voice," but the scheme here proposed is more elaborate than any we remember to have It is a work of much study and nice discrimination. The *The Science of English Verse: by SIDNEY LANIER. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 315.

seen.