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New Works on the Middle Ages.

599

course of development, schools and scientific literature in reference to philosophy, division of the subject, transition from ancient philosophy to modern, Isidore, Bede, Alcuin, Duns Scotus, scattered efforts to construct a theological system, rise and progress of dialectics, Anselm, Nominalism and Conceptualism, Platonists, Adelard, Bernard, etc., Platonism in theology, Abelard, Honorius, Gilbert, etc., theological collections, Peter of Lombardy, mysticism in the 12th century, and the Arabian philosophy.

The wish expressed by Ritter in the preceding paragraph seems likely to be gratified. Many individuals are zealously laboring in mediaeval theological and philosophical literature, and from time to time publishing the results of their investigations. We may mention Liebner's Hugo St. Victor; J. Voigt's Writings on Gregory VII.; F. Hurter on Innocent III.; Ellendorf's Writings on the Carlovingian period and on Bernard of Clairvaux; Von Raumer's History of the Hohenstaufen; Baur's History of the Doctrine of the Atonement and of the Trinity, in respect to the Middle Ages; Dorner's Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ; the Writings of Hjort, Fronmüller and Staudenmaier on Duns Scotus; Neuter's tract on John of Salisbury; Helferich's Christian Mystic, in its Development and in its Monuments; Martensen's Master Eckardt; Engelhardt on Richard St. Victor and Ruysbroech; Schmidt on Johann Tauler, the last two "fundamental and excellent works;" and Anselm of Canterbury, by J. R. Hasse, professor extraordinarius at Bonn. The life of Anselm only is yet published. "It is the work of a quiet, clear-headed, conscientious investigator, the ripe fruit of the examination of materials carried on with love and zeal through a series of years. It is composed in a pure historical style."

The first part of the first vol. of the fourth and greatly improved edition of Gieseler's Manual of Church History has been published at Bonn. -The 10th and last vol. of the 3d edition of a Selection of Luther's Works, "adapted to the needs of the times," is announced.

Mignet, perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and author of the History of the French Revolution, is preparing a History of the Reformation, the League, and the Reign of Henry IV. in France, in 10 octavos, to be published in the same manner as the Consulate and Empire of M. Thiers. Mignet's place, as head of the Bureau of Archives in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gives him eminent facilities for his work. The Royal Library, to which the historian has access in the French capital, now consists of nine hundred thousand volumes and seventy thousand considerable MSS., besides numberless maps, medals, engravings and antiquities of every kind.

Biblical and Oriental Literature. The third vol. of Hengstenberg on the Psalms extends only to Ps. 91, instead of completing the work as was promised in the Preface. The 72d Ps. Hengstenberg considers as Messianic, first from its predictions of the eternal duration of the dominion of the king mentioned in it; second, from the emphatic declaration that the king, in distinction from all his predecessors, shall reign over the whole earth, all kings shall fall down before him; and third, this king shall obtain his dominion, not by war and conquest, but by righteousness and love. Hengstenberg decides in favor of the Mosaic origin of Ps. 90. It bears throughout the character of high antiquity. There is no song in the Psalter which makes the impression so strongly that it is an original production, first breaking its way. It has striking affinities to some things in the Pentateuch, etc.

Prof. Lassen occupies the whole of the first No. of the 6th vol. of the Zeitschrift für die Kunde d. Morgenlandes with an essay on the ancient Persian arrow-headed inscriptions, found at Persepolis. Westergaard, author of a Sanscrit Dictionary, has spent some time at the ruins, compared anew, in the most careful manner, all the Inscriptions which had been before copied, and transcribed the remainder. The results were communicated to Prof. Lassen. "We now possess," says Lassen, “in a collected form, all which Persepolis furnishes for this species of inscription; and if anything is still wanting, it can only be, that I have not been able fully to perform the duty towards science which the confidence of my friendly correspondent has imposed upon me." Westergaard, who seems to possess every qualification for his work, is now employed in copying the inscriptions of Bisutun, the largest and most important of all. It is to be hoped that the knowledge of the alphabets in which these inscriptions are found, will lay the basis of wider discoveries, and will throw light upon the remarkable inscriptions on the rocks at Van and the lately discovered ruins at Nineveh.

Rev. William Tait of Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, has published two vols., entitled Meditationes Hebraicae, or a doctrinal and practical Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a series of Lectures. The writer appears to follow the general course of argument pursued by Prof. Stuart in his Commentary on the book, while its general contents would seem to be of a more practical and hortatory kind.

"Critical History and Defence of the Canon of the Old Testament,” is the title of a duodecimo volume from the pen of Professor Stuart, now in the press at Andover. Its main object is to present a critical and historical view of the Jewish Canon of Scripture in the days of Christ and

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Canon of the Old Test.-Chaldee Grammar.

601

the apostles, and to show that this Canon, as received by the Jews at that time, was declared by our Saviour and his apostles to be of divine origin and authority, and was treated by them as entitled to these claims. If this can be shown, then it unavoidably follows, that the books of the Old Testament have received the sanction of an authority from which there is no appeal; and that one who admits the divine authority of Christianity, of which the New Testament contains a credible and authentic account, then he must be altogether inconsistent, if he does not admit the divine origin and authority of the Old Testament. There can be but one opinion in regard to the urgent necessity of a thorough discussion of this subject. On the minds of most evangelical theologians, much darkness rests in relation to the history of the Canon of the Old Testament, or on what grounds we should receive this volume as of divine authority. Its claims are loosely taken for granted. Few can clearly state to themselves the solid evidence on which they rest. In Germany the subject has not been discussed with much ability. One writer has copied the indefinite and ill-digested statements of his predecessor, without sifting the original authorities. The incorrect or random assertions which critics of distinguished name have made on the History of the Canon, are certainly not a little remarkable. A fresh and adequate examination of the subject will, therefore, be very seasonable.

The Chaldee Grammar, alluded to on p. 400, is now published. We trust that it will be the means of directing increased attention to the study of those portions of the Old Testament which are written in this dialect. It is a very well-prepared and convenient Manual, and contains the fruits of the latest investigations on the subject by Gesenius, Ewald, Fürst, Winer, and others. In this edition, many of the topics are discussed with much more fullness and completeness than in the first, while some are almost entirely new. The Syntax has been rewritten and brought into a much better condition. Prof. Hackett proposes to add hereafter a few pages, containing something like an analytical key to the Chaldee portions of the Bible, for the convenience of those who wish to prosecute the study privately. While there cannot be, from the nature of the case, a very rapid sale of a grammar of either of the dialects cognate to the Hebrew, we hope, that our biblical scholars will avail themselves of a work so useful and so faithfully prepared by the author and translator.

In 1842, a society was formed in New York, entitled, The American Ethnographical Society, to embrace, as its objects, inquiries into the origin, progress and characteristics of the various races of man. It numbers 36 resident members, 42 corresponding members, and 43 honorary

members. Its president is the venerable Albert Gallatin. The first vol. of its Transactions, just published, contains 491 pages, with a few drawings, plates, etc. The subjects of the articles are: I. Notes on the semicivilized nations of Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America, by Mr. Gallatin; II. An Account of Ancient Remains in Tennessee, by Dr. G. Troost, professor of Natural History in the university at Nashville; III. Observations on the Grave Creek Mound in Western Virginia, by Henry R. Schoolcraft; IV. The recent discoveries of Himyaritic Inscriptions and the attempts made to decipher them, by Wm. W. Turner, Instructor in Hebrew in the Union Theological Seminary; and V. An Account of the Punico-Libyan monument at Dugga, and the Remains of an ancient Structure at Bless, near the site of ancient Carthage, by Frederic Catherwood. Under the modest title of Notes, Mr. Gallatin has furnished a very able and instructive article on the languages, numeration, calendars and astronomy, history, and chronology of the Mexican and contiguous nations, and on the origin of semi-civilization in America. In regard to the source of American civilization, Mr. G. argues that all the probabilities point out Asia; first, the physical type of the Americans, color, shape of the skull, etc., is more analogous to that of the Eastern Asiatics, than to that of the inhabitants of any other portion of the globe; second, the proximity, or rather the greater facility of communication, is also in favor of Asia. A migration from Asia is much more probable than from Scandinavia. The most striking points of resemblance, which have been observed, between the Americans and the inhabitants of the other hemisphere, refer almost exclusively to Asiatic countries.

The article on the Himyaritic Inscriptions by Mr. Turner furnishes a clear and highly creditable account of the principal facts connected with the discovery of the inscriptions, and of the interesting though scanty results which have already been made by the attempts to decipher them. We are glad to learn from a notice in this article, that a Frenchinan, M. Arnaud, has visited Southern Arabia, reached Máreb, the ancient capital of Hadramaut, and there found the remains of the celebrated dam and the ruins of several great monuments; but above all, succeeded in copying sixty Himyaritic inscriptions. These are about to appear in the Asiatic Journal. There are also other explorers in the field, and some new inscriptions are said to have been sent to England.

Miscellaneous. We are happy to perceive an increasing demand for the old English Prose Authors, especially those of a religious character. The writings of Jeremy Taylor, South, Barrow, Chillingworth and others, of which no clergyman's library should be destitute, are now furnished to our scholars in a convenient form, in good type and at a moderate price. We have

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Works of Bishop Hall.

603

long felt desirous of seeing many of the treatises of Bishop Hall republished in our country, and have been gratified with the recent perusal of several of these treatises, as they have been in process of publication by Allen, Morrill and Wardwell of Andover. They are soon to be issued from the press, without mutilation, and with no change of their original form except in respect of orthography, punctuation, etc. They are published under the editorial supervision of Mr. A. Huntington Clapp, of Andover Theological Seminary. Some of them have very seldom met the eye of American scholars. Particularly rare is the "Account of some Specialities in Bishop Hall's Life, written with his own hand," which is to appear in the forth-coming volume, accompanied with notes and additions selected by the Editor. The remaining contents of the volume are: Meditations and Vows, Divine and Moral, serving for direction in Christian and Civil Practice; Holy Observations; Characterisms of Virtues and Vices; Heaven upon Earth, or of True Peace and Tranquillity of Mind; six of Bishop Hall's Epistles, on themes of especial interest to a clergyman. It is superfluous for us to speak a word in praise of a divine who has been styled, by an eminent English barrister, the Seneca of English literature, and whose writings have been recommended to the legal profession by one of their own number, as an admirable means of mental discipline, imparting a power of compressed thought, and of racy expression. Few writers are so sententious, apothegmatical, terse, definite and vigorous as Bishop Hall. His faults are those of the age in which he lived. They are such as modern writers are but little inclined to imiHis excellences are those of sound English mind penetrated with deep religious feeling. Dr. Doddridge speaks of him as "the most elegant and polite writer of his age. He abounds rather too much with antitheses and witty turns. In some of his writings he seems to have imitated Seneca and Austin. His Contemplations are incomparably valuable for language, criticism, and devotion." We will only add our expression of the wish that Mr. Clapp would prepare other volumes of select old treatises like those which compose the present work.

tate.

The same publishers, who are issuing the above named work, have also in press a collection of standard treatises on preaching and pastoral duties. The volume will contain Fenelon's Dialogues on Eloquence, Herbert's Country Parson, Baxter's Reformed Pastor, and other Essays of English divines. With these and similar writings our clergymen ought to be not only acquainted but familiar. Even if it should be said, as it cannot be with truth, that modern treatises on the pulpit are intrinsically superior to those of Baxter, Burnet, and Doddridge, still these modern treatises are not clothed with that authority which belongs to the more ancient. A rule prescribed by a living teacher, even if in itself better expressed