ART. IX.-CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. THEOLOGY. The Scripture Doctrine of the Person of Christ. Freely translated from the German of W. F. GESS, with many additions, by J. A. REUBELT, D. D. Prof. iu Indiana University. Andover Press. pp. 456. The work of Gess is well known in German theology as a careful attempt, on Biblical grounds, to construct the doctrine of the Person of Christ, in such a way as to hold fast to the unity of Christ's consciousness, as well as of Christ's person. He adopts unreservedly the theory of the Kenosis ("the self-emptying." taken in a literal sense), which has been advocated by many Lutheran divines-in recent times by Hofmann, Liebner. Thomasius and others. His work in five sections. treats of the Eternal Son of God; the Son upon Earth; the Glorified Son of God; the Historical Development of the Son of God; the Incarnation of the Son and the Trinity. The translator adds appendices on the History of the Doctrine, and on the origin of the Human Soul-the latter from Delitzsch. The translater says, in his preface, that he has not merely translated Gess, but that he "has sometimes also modified the text, so that what is now offered exhibits the translator's Christology" He gives no hint as to the extent of these alterations; nor have we now time to make the comparison. But we think that he has misjudged in making any alterations in the text. Our chief interest is to know what Gess taught. The best way was to give that, and then in notes to present the translator's views. Dr. Reubelt thinks, that the whole Christology of the church in this country needs revision. He seems to us to exaggerate both the need and the difficulties. The "Nestorianism," of which he complains. is not in the Confessions, nor yet to a large extent in the best systems, but rather in popular and vague modes of speech and of interpretation—as if in Christ there was both a man and a God, a double personality,-which of course is an error, and condemned by the church. The Theology of Christ from his Own Words. By JOSEPH P. THOMPSON. Scribner & Co. pp. 295. The theme proposed by Dr. Thompson in this work the truths of religion as taught by Christ himself, is treated more or less fully in most systems of Biblical Theology, and is well worthy of separate investigation. It is here presented in a popular, and at times in a rhetorical form, after the manner of discourses rather than in the method of scientific treatises. Thus it is adapted for wider use than a more scholastic treatise would be. All the main points of our Lord's teaching are presented, divided into nineteen chapters, each of which is devoted to some main head of doctrine-as ch. iv., the New Birth; ch. v., Salvation through the Death of Christ; ch. vi., Salvation limited only by Unbelief; and after these, ch. vii, the Nature of Religion; ch. viii., the Spirituality of Worship, etc. Such a volume is of great use as showing that the doctrine of the apostles grew naturally and necessarily out of the doctrines of Christ, and that if we accept Christ's words, we can not deny the apostolic teaching. The fact, too, that the great central truths of our faith are here divested of technical phraseology, and present 170 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. [Jan. ed more in their native simplicity, gives them increased power. An appendix discusses the genuineness of the Gospel of John, gives some account of Van Oosterzee's Biblical Theology, etc. A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. By JOHN A. BROADUS D.D., LL.D, Prof. in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Greenville, S. C. Philadelphia: Smith, English & Co. New York: Sheldon & Co. This Treatise gives the results of the author's experience as a teacher of Homiletics for ten years. His "chief indebtedness for help has been to Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian, and to Whately and Vinet "—with frequent references to other recent writers on the subject. His work treats of the subject in four Parts: 1. Materials of Preaching; 2. Arrangement of a Sermon; 3. Style; 4. Delivery. Among the many treatises which have of late been published on this important subject, this of Dr. Broadus will take an honorable place for orderly arrangement, appropriate suggestions, and practical worth. Increased attention is needed to this important part of the ministerial work. Religious Thought in England from the Reformation to the End of the last Century. A contribution to the History of Theology. By the Rev. JOHN HUNT, M. A., author of "An Essay on l'antheism." Vol. I Strahan & Co., London. This volume presents us with a survey of the religious literature of England from the Reformation to the close of the seventeenth century. As a matter of necessity, this survey, within the limits assigned, is rapid and concise. The author devotes his attention mainly to controverted points of doctrine and discipline. On some of these he presents facts that have been carefully collected, often from sources not readily accessible in England, and much less so in this country. The change. for instance, which took place in the theology of the English Church after the Synod of Dort is quite fully set forth and explained; so also the controversies concerning Episcopacy and Baptism, as well as non-conformity, are passed in review in connection with the publications of the time. Much has been omitted which the reader might have anticipated would be inserted here. Writers of no little eminence are passed over in a few lines, while others are omitted altogether. The author has given us very brief biographical or critical notices of authors, and very frequently has neglected to give us the date of their publications. He presumes on his reader's acquaintance with the subject, beyond what the fact generally will warrant. Still he has endeavored to present a fair and impartial view of the subjects discussed, and rarely betrays his own doctrinal leanings or sympathies. Sometimes, however, he uses language that will grate upon the feelings of some of his readers. For instance, speaking of Richard Baxter, he says. "he had parted with Calvinism, but he had not entirely freed himself from its influence. He looked upon the world as a gaol where all were condemned. and hell the gallows to which all were doomed to be led out." Such language would have been more in place on the pages of Mr Leckey's volumes Still the work is valuable, and indicates much and patient investigation, while its general tone is unexceptionable. The same field, however, might be retraversed, and many would account the gleanings even richer than Mr. Hunt's harvest. He has not exhausted his subject, and yet it is perhaps but just to say that had he even approximately done so, he would have produced a book less readable, and one that perhaps would have sunk to neglect by its own bulk. The Early Years of Christianity. By E. D. PRESSENSé, D. D., author of Jesus Christ, his Times, Life. and Work. Translated by Annie Harwood. The Apostolic Era. Charles Scribner & Co. The publication and wide circulation of Renan's writings have led the author of this volume, in the series to which it belongs, to retrace the path pursued by his brilliant countryman, and give us the facts of history without that coloring of romance by which they have been obscured or misrepresented. We have here a sketch of the Apostolic Era, in which disquisitions on the doctrines and usages of the early church are interwoven with the narrative, while the career of the leading characters of the age is graphically sketched, and the circumstances of their lives, or the training to which they had been subjected, are passed in review. The author has performed his task with ability and conscientious fidelity. He wisely combats error by the presentation of the truth, and he has produced a work which combines a popular and pleasing style with the higher merits of ins'ructive history and discussion. General readers may he attracted by it, while it will repay the perusal of students familiar with the The author has not a outline of the progress of the Early church. word to say in behalf of a complex ecclesiasticism. As a French Protestant he has no sympathy with it. Some may even think that he depreciates the amount of the formal element which existed in the Apostolic church. He is emphatic on the parity of the ministry, and the common or interchangeable use of Bishop and Elder in the New Testament. His doctrinal expositions are, as might be anticipated from his known position and views, of a highly evangelical character, and yet are marked by less rigidity or severity of tone than they might have exhibited in different circumstances. The book has the high merit of being adapted to the present state of theological learning, while the notes appended at the close are pertinent and judicious. BIBLICAL LITERATURE. Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund.-v. vi. 1870. It is hardly a venturesome thing to predict that some of the choicest commentaries on the Scriptures will be dug up out of the soil of Palestine. Facts in stone and marble will explain and illustrate texts that have perplexed generations of sages. When a Christian government holds Syria, and Mohammedan prejudice is dissipated or held in check, then the book of antiquity will be fully opened and its revelations will be a new lexicon to the Bible. Already we have peeped into some of its pages, gained a tanta- lizing glimpse at its wonders through the chinks of Mussulman bigotry, and even this has enriched our Biblical literature. The explanation of Beetser, Burkhardt, Irby and Mangles, Robinson and Smith, Van der Velde and others in this century, have made the geography and topography of Palestine a new department of Biblical science, and now Wilson and Warren have a ided the spade to the compass and measuring-tape, and are constructing a hypo-geography that bids fair to be ultimately richer in its results than all before. An article of interest might be written on this fascinating subject, but we can only give room to a cursory notice. The Palestine Exploration Fund is a Society organized five years ago in England for the accurate and systematic investigation of the Archæology, Topography, Geology and Physical Geography, Natural History, Manners and Customs of the Holy Land, for Biblical Illustration. The Socie y is under the patronage of the Queen, and presided over by the Archbishop of York. Men like Dr. Angus, the Duke of Argyle, Mr. Deutsch, Mr. Layard, Mr. John MacGregor, Dr. McLeod, Dr. Pusey, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and Dr. William Smith, are coadjutors in the work. Captain Wilson, and Lieutenant (now Captain) Warren, both of the Royal Engineers, have been the active explorers, the hands of the Society, while Mr. E. H. Palmer, a man of remarkable fitness for Orientalizing, has been their indefatigable assistant. The Society published an account of Capt. Wilson's Expedition of 1866, and Lieut. Warren's report for 1868 together with his account of Excavations at Jericho, before they commenced issuing a regular "Quarterly Statement." This Quarterly Statement has now reached its sixth number. The last two numbers have only lately been received. They contain the complete literature of the famous Moabitish Stone, found by Mr. Klein among the ruins of Dibon, including the letters of Messrs. Grove, Deutsch, Ganneau and Klein. Through the energy and tact of Capt. Warren and Mr. Ganneau, (connected with the French consulate at Jerusalem), squeeces of the inscription and some of the fragments of the stone (broken by Arab jealousy) were secured. The translation of the Count de Vogué is given, with the comments of Mr. Deutsch and Mr. Ganneau. The inscription was in the Graeco-Phoenician alphabet. Among the many revisals of the translation one published in the Christian Union of this city, (Aug. 13, 1870), by Dr. Alexander Meyrowitz, deserves attention. [An interesting paper in the North British Review for November gives a new and improved revisal of the translation, which we subjoin, with an outline of the chief points of the inscription. "Before proceeding further, it is right to enumerate the principal pamphlets and articles which have been published regarding the Moabite Stone. This will save the trouble of constant references. The first to make the inscription generally known to European scholars was M. Clermont-Ganneau in his letter to the Comte de Vogie, entitled La Stèle de Mesa roi de Moab, 896 avant J. C., dated Jerusalem, 16 January, 1870, with a note at the end by M. de Vogie, dated Paris, 5 February, 1870. This has been succeeded by an article by M. Ganneau in the Revue Archeologiqué for March and June of the present year. Of the two fac-similes which accompany these essays, that appended to the latter is naturally by far the more complete. A short article by M. Repan in the Journal des Débats for the 25th of February did not add much to our knowledge. Then appeared a notice of M Ganneau's first pamphlet, by M. J. Derenbourg, in the Jour nal Asiatique for January-February, and a longer article by the same scholar in the Revue Israelite of April 8. based upon M. Ganneau's revised copy. Among German scholars the first to take the field was Professor Schlottmann of Halle, whose excellent pamphlet is dated March 15. He also published his translation in the Times for May 5, and gave a revised version in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft xxiv. Bd. i. und ii. Heft, dated May 13. Meantime the inscription had been discussed by Professor Ewald in the Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen for April 20; and a complete translation had been attempted by Dr. Neubauer in the April number of Frankel and Grätz's Monatsschrift fur Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums, agreeing closely with one which appeared in the Times of March 27. The well-known Jewish scholar Dr. Geiger of Berlin also wrote upon the subject in the above mentioned number of the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft; and finally Professor Noeldeke of Kiel published his admirable treatise, dated April 6, of which he himself wrote a short notice in the Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen for May 4. Of other articles which have appeared in France and Germany, we have seen only that in the Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung for April 16, written by Professor Haug of Munich, and one by Professor Schrader of Giessen in the Theologisches Literaturblatt for June 1. In the following translation, words, or portions of words, supplied by conjecture, are printed in italics. Words within brackets are added merely to convey more distinctly the meaning of the original. 1. I, Mesha, son of Kemosh-gad, king of Moab, the Di 2. bonite-my father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reign 3. ed after my father. And I made this high-place for Kemosh in Korchoh, a high place of de 4. liverance, because he delivered me from all enemies and let me look [with pleasure] upon [the destruction of] all my haters. There arose 5. Omri, king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days, because Kemosh was angry with his 6. land. And his son [i.e. Ahab] succeeded him, and he too said, "I will oppress Moab." In my days he said this, 7. but I looked upon [the ruin of] him and his house, and Israel perished for ever. And Omri had taken possession of the plain 8. of Medeba. and dwelt in it; and they oppressed Moab, he and his son, forty years; but looked 9. upon him [i.e. Moab] Kemosh in my days. And I built [i.e. restored or fortified] Baal-Meon, and constructed it in the moat (?); and I built 10. Kiryathaim. And the men of Gad were dwelling in the land of Ataroth from of old, and the king of Is 11. rael had built for himself the city; and I fought against the city, and took it, and slew all the inhabitants of 12. the city. [as] a [pleasing] sight to Kemosh and to Moab; and I carried off thence the. of Yahweh, and drag 13. ged it [or them] before Kemosh at Kerioth. And I made dwell in it [viz. Ataroth] the people of Shiran and the people of. 14. M-ch-rath (?). And Kemosh said to me, "Go, take Nebo from Israel;" and 1 15. went by night, and fought against it from the dawning of the morning until mid-day. and I 16. took it, and slew the whole [population] of it, seven thousand. for to Ashtor-Kemosh I had devoted it; and I took away thence the 17.. 18. vessels of Yahveh, and dragged them before Kemosh. And the king of Israel [i.e. Ahaziah] built 19. Yahaz and abode in it whilst he was fighting against me; but Kemosh drove him out before me [literally, before my face]; 20. and I took of Moab two hundred men, all his headmen (?), and I led them up (?) to Yahaz. and took it, 21. in addition to Dibon. I built Korchoh, the wall of the woods and the wall of 22. the mound; and I built its gates. and I built its towers; and 23. I built the palace; and I made the reservoirs for rain-water (?) in the midst of 24. the ci y. And there was not a cistern in the midst of the city, in Korchoh; and I said to the |