Epistles. His discussion of the difficulties connected with the Pastoral Epistles, especially his examination of the objection drawn from the supposed "inadmissible situations" for the three letters, and his statement on the "possible situation for them, deserve particular attention. It is one of several recent discussions which have helped to place these questions of the date and authorship of the Pastoral Epistles in a new position. But there are other things that give this book a value of its own. The sketch of Paul's career previous to his first Epistle is one of the most instruc tive sections of the book. There are some conclusions and some hypotheses in it, no doubt, which are open to question. The view which Professor Godet takes of the thorn, or the infirmity in the flesh, is one of these. He sets aside the ideas of ophthalmia, blindness, epilepsy, etc., and takes no notice of the suggestion of acute fever. He holds it unnecessary to identify the illness which detained Paul in Galatia with the chronic malady elsewhere referred to, and comes to the conclusion that the "permanent malady appearing in the form of sudden attacks, mentioned in the Corinthians, might be that with which certain preachers have been seized, a sudden cramp that suddenly deprives them of speech in the middle of their discourse, and only permits them to stammer, and, as it were, to rattle." But apart from some doubtful contentions of this kind, the review of Paul's life, with its discussions of the amount of Greek learning with which he may be credited, and, above all, with its examination of the historical problem of his conversion, is done as only a master in New Testament study and a mind equally reverent and scientific can do it.

Professor Beyschlag's treatment of New Testament Theology has also great and unchallengeable merits. Among all who have written on the subject he goes a way entirely his own, and presents many a question in a very novel light. His book is an eminently suggestive one, fertile in views and speculations, which often fail to carry assent, but which seldom fail to set us a-thinking. The parts in which he is least convincing are those in which he comes across our Lord's own teaching and that of the Apostles on the subject of His Person. Professor Beyschlag has a Christology of his own, a fine form of the Ideal Man theory, and the influence of this is felt in his exposition of these sections. His interpretation of our Lord's consciousness is, in our opinion, restricted beyond what is demanded by a historical treatment of the relevant passages. He is not to be classed, however, with the Unitarian or the Socinian, as we understand the term. To rank him with these is to misunderstand him and do him injustice. He is not an anti-Trinitarian. On the contrary, he belongs to the school of Schleiermacher, and holds that, while

Unitarianism "places an impassable gulf between God and man," in Christ we see the perfect union of the two. His difficulty is with the doctrine of a hypostatic Trinity, a Trinity of three "Persons." He is a modal Trinitarian, and adheres to a Christology which pre-supposes a Trinity of God. Much is to be gained by a study of these volumes. To read Beyschlag alongside Weiss is an excellent discipline for the students of New Testament Theology. S. D. F. SALMOND.

Jesu Verkündigung und Lehre vom Reiche Gottes in ihrer geschichtlichen Bedeutung.

Von Dr Georg Schnedermann, Professor der Theologie an der Universität Leipzig. 1 Hälfte. Die Verkündigung Jesu vom Kommen des Königreiches Gottes. Leipzig: Deichert, 1893. Svo, pp. 198. Price, 3s.

Jesu Stellung zum mosaichen Gesetz ein Beitrag zum Leben Jesu und zur Ethik.

Von Lic. theol. Leonard Jacob. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. 8vo, pp. iv. 46. Price, 28.

THE first of these works forms a helpful contribution to Biblical Theology. Professor Schnedermann has already published several essays in this line of thought; but, growingly impressed with the necessity of giving more complete and permanent form as well as systematic character to his views on the teaching of Jesus regarding the Kingdom of God, he has now published this first instalment of his work. In doing so, he rather modestly does not plead that he has anything very new to say, but he does contend that the subject has not hitherto been treated with sufficient clearness, and that it is not so generally known as its importance deserves. He thus claims that his work is at once necessary and useful.

Special prominence has at various periods been assigned to the Kingdom of God as the central or ruling idea in the Christian religion. Ritschl and his followers will at once occur to the minds of many as men who have been seeking to enforce this as the dominant thought in New Testament teaching. With the Ritschlian view, however, both in form and substance, there is anything but entire satisfaction, and this feeling of uneasiness makes itself felt in many ways. The present work may be regarded as a fresh attempt to formulate a more just and adequate conception of our Lord's doctrine. The author explicitly states that he regards the view given of the Kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus as not a distinctively new element; he rather maintains that this view was, in

the first instance, Israelitish or Jewish. Nor does he conceal his opposition to all rationalistic interpretations of Scripture.

Special value attaches to Professor Schnedermann's remarks regarding the works of others who have already written on the same subject. His criticisms are lucid and pointed, and commend themselves as remarkably just and fair. There is ample evidence of extensive reading, combined with sound judgment and independent thinking.

At the outset we take exception to Herr Jacob's method of procedure. Though expecting, from the title of his essay, to find something said about the Law of Moses, we discover no allusion whatever either to Moses or his Law; indeed, the very first sentence, giving, as it were, the keynote of the whole, leads us somewhat plainly to understand that we are to look for something else: "Moral ideas are not excogitated by moralists, but grow in history." Further on we find him writing thus, in the unfolding of his views : "The 'Law '—the definite form of the moral ideal of this people [Israel]-is ever based on the historical situation for the time being"; and again, "The moral ideal, like the idea of God, is a product of history.'

In attempting to establish his position, he points first to the condition of the ancient Israelites, who were comfortably settled in Canaan, and were led by their circumstances, he says, to think of God as favouring them because of their obedience to His will. The second stage, he says, was reached at the time of the Exile, when the bitter experiences of the nation made them think, especially under Ezekiel's guidance, of God's justice, but also of His mercy and salvation. With this was associated the Messianic hope, which he regards as the longing for a new political situation based on righteous principles. Next, after the return from the Exile, there was one homogeneous nation, one worship, one priesthood. All this brought into prominence the fact of Israel's separation from other nations -the righteous from the unrighteous. This idea was fostered by the observance of the Sabbath, and by abstinence from certain meats. Later, during the times of cruel oppression under Greek and Roman conquerors, God came to be regarded as the "God of Heaven," the pure one who can no longer dwell in this world of impurity. And still later, when an overgrowth of religious and ceremonial observances interfered with the performance of simple moral duties, men came to think it was all one what they did, provided they did something.

On coming to state his views concerning the position of Jesus in relation to the "Mosaic Law, as thus briefly represented, the writer declines to follow Baur, Strauss, and Renan, who regard.

Jesus primarily as a new moral teacher, and secondarily as Messiah; he prefers to follow Keim in regarding the position of Jesus towards the Law as dependent on his consciousness of Messiahship and Sonship. He maintains that "the whole force of the personal life of Jesus, and therewith also the moral principle working in it, is included in the Messianic consciousness of Jesus"; and again, the Messianic consciousness of Jesus, religion and morality are combined"; Jesus presented a "new moral principle.'

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Enough, perhaps, has been given to convey some idea of this work. The perusal is at least stimulating; one cannot proceed far without stopping to ask, What does this mean? or, Is this true? JAMES KENNEDY.

Quam notitiam linguæ Hebraicæ habuerint Christiani medii ævi temporibus in Gallia.

Autore Sam. Berger. Parisiis: apud Hachette et Socios, 1893. Svo, pp. xii. 60. Price, 38.

M. BERGER deserves the heartiest expression of gratitude in return for his invaluable monograph on Hebrew learning among French Christians during the Middle Ages. Such a work must certainly have been a labour of love; the time and labour spent in the preparation of this small but thorough treatise are incalculable. We may venture to affirm, however, that even the gathering of the material here presented in lucid and orderly form must have occupied many years. The treatise could have been produced only by a skilled worker of indomitable perseverance, accurate observation, and sound judgment.

Beginning with an account of the unknown author of the work De Quaestionibus Hebraicis in Libros Regum et Paralipomenon, and closing with a short notice of Nicolaus de Lyra, M. Berger presents us with a variety of most interesting information, arranged in separate chapters. These treat of the Pronunciation of the Hebrew Language, the Rendering of Hebrew Nouns, an almost forgotten Latin translation of the Old Testament made directly from the original in the thirteenth century-not to specify further the various biographical accounts of individuals more or less distinguished for their knowledge of Hebrew and for literary work connected with that language. The mere fact that most of the material here set before us has been derived from mediæval manuscripts, preserved in various libraries scattered through different parts of Europe, may lead us to form some idea of the difficulties to be overcome before these results could be obtained.

The Latinity is excellent; the typographical execution is all that could be desired. JAMES KENNEDY.

Sammlung von Lehrbüchern der Praktischen Theologie

in gedrängter Darstellung.

VII. Band. Pp. 272.

VII. Band. Pp. 272. Berlin: Reuther Edinburgh and London: Williams & Norgate.

Hrsg. von D. H. Hering.
u. Reichard.
Price, M. 4.

SEVERAL instalments of this new series have come to hand. Four belong to the seventh volume, which is to sketch the system of Church law for the Evangelical Church of Germany. The four instalments all but complete the volume as described in the prospectus. The author is Dr K. Köhler, a member of the Supreme Consistorial Court at Darmstadt. In the prolegomena he briefly discusses the nature of the Church, its relation to the Kingdom of God, the Catholic and Evangelical conceptions of the Church, national and State churches, and the essential function of the Church to edify herself. A basis is thus provided for the definition of Church law. It is the sum of the rules laid down by the Church for the guidance of her members in their common Church life, to which must be added any enactments on the part of the State determining the legal position of the Church. And its sources are to be found, not in Scripture or the Confessions, except in so far as they determine the nature and purpose of the Church, but in the Corpus Juris Canonici, in ecclesiastical arrangements and regulations, in the laws of the German Empire or of particular States, and in long-established practice.

The main body of the work consists of five parts. The first gives an account of what the author understands by the German Evangelical Church, of the mutual relations of its parts, and of their relation to the State. The German Evangelical Church is a somewhat loose expression for all the Evangelical State Churches in the Empire, of which Dr Köhler enumerates nearly forty. Careful statements are given as to the position of congregations in the various churches, and as to the basis of church-membership with its duties and privileges. In expounding the relations of Church and State, occasion is taken to discriminate between "territorialism which makes church-government a function of the State, and "collegiatism," which reaches the same practical result on the ground of an implied contract between the Church and the State. The latter is apparently preferred by the author, who sees that the day of "territorialism is past, but thinks that history makes it impossible to accept the separation of Church and State. That would mean for the State a falling away from its high calling, and "for the Church the danger of serious confusion, because the historical preparation for a position resting entirely on private right is absolutely wanting." The first part closes with an Appendix on the relation of the Roman Church to the State in Germany. It is Vol. V.-No. 1.

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