But a change for the better was at hand. In October 1888 Mwanga was driven from his throne by the combined efforts of his Christian and Mohammedan soldiers. This did not for the time improve the prospects of the native Christians; for the Arabs were the stronger party, and they have always been the bitterest foes of Christianity. But in 1889 all was changed. With loud and real rejoicing,' writes Mackay, 'Mwanga is carried shoulder high from the lake to his former capital, and is made Kabaka once more.' In his distress he had written a most abject letter to Mackay, declaring that formerly he did not know God, but now he knew the religion of Jesus Christ,' and concluding, 'Sir, do not imagine that if you restore Mwanga to Uganda he will become bad again. If you find me become bad, then you may drive me from the throne; but I have given up my former ways, and I only wish now to follow your advice.' Of course, the professions of a fallen uncivilized tyrant are of little value, but the letter is interesting as showing how very highly the influence of Mackay was rated; and, at any rate, the immediate result of Mwanga's restoration was a more than reinstatement of the Christians in their position.

'All the posts of authority are now (October 1889) occupied by Christians; all the land falls into their hands; even the king himself is no more their despotic master and murderer, but a helpless instrument in their hands. God has given them the victory. . . . The greatest, and, till recently, the most tyrannical power in all East Africa is now in the hands of men who rejoice in the name of CHRISTIANS' (p. 470).

Mackay makes no boast of the share which he himself had in bringing about this blessed result, nor does he in the least degree exaggerate its importance. He knew very well that a nation is not born in a day, and that the real work was not done, but only just begun. So his last message to England was a stirring appeal to his fellow-Christians not to let the golden opportunity slip, but to send out more and more men into the field so ripe and ready for harvest. This was in the autumn of 1889. In February 1890 that active brain was at rest, and those busy hands were still; he was cut off by a fever, leaving behind him a name which will always be an honoured one in the annals of Foreign Mission work.

SHORT NOTICES.

The Diatessaron of Tatian. A Preliminary Study. By J. RENDEL HARRIS. (Cambridge: University Press, 1890.)

SINCE the article on Tatian's Diatessaron in this number was in type, we have received the above small 'Study' by Professor Rendel Harris on the same subject, and we may at once express the hope that this 'preliminary' work will be followed by one of more solid proportions from the same pen. The first sixteen pages are only a reproduction of the now familiar passages in which Tatian's work is referred to, and add little to what may be found in Hemphill's edition, or the late Bishop of Durham's article, or, indeed, in any discussion of Tatian. The collection of these 'historical notices' followed by a short examination of quotations from the Diatessaron in the Doctrine of Addai, Aphraates, and Ephraem. The first of these writings is one of the passages in which Tatian's Diatessaron is referred to, and therefore Gospel quotations found in it may be expected to show traces of a use of the Diatessaron; and this Professor Rendel Harris proves. In regard to Aphraates, it is shown

that both the order in which the events of our Lord's life are mentioned, and the actual language used, agree with the Diatessaron. As a striking instance of agreement in a reading for which 'no other evidence is forthcoming, St. Luke xvi. 28 (=Diat. xxxix.), is quoted. Here both the Arabic Harmony and Aphraates seem to have read some part of διαμαρτάνω instead of διαμαρτύρηται, for they both have 'lest they also sin and come into this place of torment.' But the question of Aphraates's quotations cannot be said as yet to have been fully and finally examined. In his discussion of Ephraem's quotations, we can hardly agree with Professor Rendel Harris that when Ephraem 'expressly quotes a certain "Graecus" as he does three times, he is 'probably referring to the Peshitto, which has been revised by means of the Greek.' It is easier to imagine that his supposed ignorance of Greek is an imaginary hypothesis. The next question discussed is the Harmony of Victor of Capua, but on this nothing fresh is said. But from this point onward the book before us is extremely interesting. The apocryphal additions to the Gospels found in the Diatessaron' are first examined, and it is shown that there are traces of the use of several apocryphal sayings-as, for example, the famous γίνεσθε δοκιμοὶ τραπεζίται—in Aphraates, the Clementine Homilies, and the Doctrine of Addai, which give reason to believe that they stood originally in the Diatessaron, but have disappeared from it in revision. But over and above the apocryphal additions, properly so called, there are a number of glosses due to Tatian himself, and added by way of explanation,' sometimes only single words, sometimes whole sentences, which are unattested in the text of the New Testament, and singly attested amongst the authorities for the Harmony. These, therefore, probably did not stand in the Gospels which he used. Some of these-as, for example, the in caupona of St. Matt. x. 9-have been referred to in the article on the Diatessaron.

It has to be noticed as a point of some considerable importance that this distinction, which Professor Rendel Harris makes between readings found in the Harmony and elsewhere, and the unsupported 'Tatianisms' would, if proved, require the existence of a pre-Tatian Harmony. The next two sections of the work, on the 'Traces of the Diatessaron in the MSS. of the Greek and Latin Gospels,' and 'The Relation of the Tatian Text to the Western non-interpolations,' make a climax of interest so far as the textual critic is concerned. The 'striking examples of sporadic traces of readings,' which cannot be easily paralleled except from the Tatian Harmony, show that the work of grouping the MSS. will not be an easy task (involving as it does the explanation of these sporadic readings), and they will also stimulate inquiry in what Dr. Scrivener calls the 'pathless wilderness' of the Cursive MSS. of the New Testament. Thus the hitherto unsupported reading of Wa given by Tischendorf at St. Mark vii. 33, ἔπτυσεν εἰς τοὺς δακτύλους αὐτοῦ κ.τ.λ., now finds support in the Arabic version of the Diatessaron. Another striking variant is found in Evv 561 (Scrivener's numbering), which runs as follows (St. Matt. xvii. 26 ff.): Then are the children free. Simon said, Yes. Jesus saith to them, Then do thou also give as being an alien to them, &c.' This last sentence finds support in the newly found Arabic Harmony. One of the paths, to keep Dr. Scrivener's metaphor, which have been made over the wilderness of cursives, is the so-called Ferrar group (13-69-124-346), and in them Professor Rendel Harris points out some striking coincidences with the text of Tatian, as, for example, the curious reading in Wa already noticed. One at least of these we have noticed in Evang. 604 (which has just been so carefully edited by Mr. Hoskier), namely, the reading in St. Matt. xiv. 24. There is a curious group of readings critically known as 'Western non-interpolations,' so called because they are passages omitted by a small number of MSS. belonging to the so-called Western family. Each of these is examined in detail, and the general conclusion arrived at is as follows:

6

'The early N.T. texts divide on certain notable readings into nonWestern interpolators and Western non-interpolators; the text of Tatian is naturally Western, but it has followed in part a previously existing Harmony of the Passion from which the interpolating MSS. have drawn their peculiar accretions; and hence it appears amongst the interpolating MSS. as if supporting their evidence, when it is in reality explaining it away.'

The following sentence is rightly printed in large type, because it states a hypothesis which, if proved to be true, might result in consequences more far-reaching than can at present be imagined: 'There must have been a previously existing Harmony, probably a Harmony of the Passion Gospels, which Tatian used and which has also been used as a revising factor in the ancestry of all texts of the Gospels [the italics are ours] except the non-interpolating Westerns.' The importance of such a theory is twofold. First, from the point of view of the textual critic, such an early and universal disturbing element as such a revision would be, has not yet been taken into consideration.

Secondly, it is of 'momentous importance' in regard to the date of our canonical Gospels: the question of the antiquity of the four Gospels is removed by at least one more generation than was required in order to make Tatian's Harmony possible.' And Professor Rendel Harris incidentally shows that the last twelve verses of St. Mark, the Acts of the Apostles (from which, if we may judge from Ephraem, Tatian inserted the account of the death of Judas), and the first Epistle to the Corinthians (which is referred to in connexion with the account of the institution of the Eucharist), all receive the benefit of this early evidence. And, as he is careful to point out, even if the pre-Tatian Harmony should be proved to be an imaginary creation, still the various readings which were caused by the interpolations existed before Tatian, and since these are harmonistic the Gospels must have existed to make such harmonizing possible. It is quite clear that, as the Abbé Martin has pointed out, the lectionaries of the Gospels must be more fully studied in order to verify or reject this pre-Tatian hypothesis. The suggestion is calculated to stimulate inquiry, and as such will be useful even if it have to be finally rejected. In the article on Tatian's Diatessaron, reference has been made to many points which are, in some cases, more minutely examined in the work before us; and Professor Rendel Harris maintains very strongly, as has been done in the article above mentioned, the importance of Tatian's evidence on the history of textual criticism and on the early existence of the Gospels. While Professor Rendel Harris recognizes that there is a great deal of work to be done in connexion with the Arabic Harmony, and that it is beset with difficulties, the hopeful-perhaps optimistic-tone of the preface augurs well for his ultimate success. We may add that some of the problems presented at the end of the article for solution have been solved in this book. Thus the reading ornantes camelum (St. Matt. xxiii. 24) and Betharrahmat (St. John v. 2) are explained as due to changes made in the Arabic. In regard to a third difficulty, in St. Luke xxi. 35, where the Arabic reads ipsa enim tanquam ictus percutiet omnes, we can hardly be content with the simple suggestion that mayís, 'written of course in uncials,' has been confounded with Any. The confusion would not be very easy. Lastly, we should add that there is a transcription and photographic reproduction (without which we are glad to think that no book on textual criticism now ventures to appear) of the uncial fragment Wa. The book does not profess to be more than introductory; it refers to several interesting points without further investigation, as, for example, the evidence which the quotations in the Apostolical Constitutions afford of being based on a harmonized narrative. But we may feel sure that Professor Rendel Harris will not leave the problems he suggests in their unfinished state. He states his conclusions as a partizan of no so-called school of textual criticism. We can recommend the book heartily as a proof (if proof be wanted) that the minutia of textual criticism are not as dull as they are sometimes thought to be, while the consequences that may follow from their study are, as in the present case, of unequalled literary and historical importance.

Theologischer Jahresbericht. Herausgegeben von R. A. LIPSIUS. Neunter Band, enthaltend die Literatur des Jahres 1889. (Braunschweig: C. A. Schwetschke. London: Williams and Norgate.)

WE are somewhat late in noticing the last annual issue of this extremely valuable summary of theological literature. It is, however, due to the fact that, although some parts of it appear early in the year, the complete volume does not reach us till some time later. We are glad to think that it is obtaining an increased sale, for it is quite indispensable to anyone who wishes to know the last word that has been written on any subject connected with theological study in which he may be interested. We notice hardly any change in the main divisions into which the subject is broken up, or in the workers whom Professor Lipsius finds it necessary to call to his assistance. The only important alteration is the further subdivision of Professor Lipsius's own branch of the work—'Systematische Theologie '—which admits of two fresh helpers, A. Baur of Weilimdorf, and August Dorner, Professor at Königsberg, so that the total number of contributors, each of them, we suppose, specialists in the branch of which he treats, is now nineteen. And as the number of contributors grows so also does the bulk of the book, which now attains to 608 pages, of which number the index of books takes up fifty-six. These figures, when compared with those of last year, 560 and 50 respectively, show that the tendency is to increase. It will be a great pity if it is allowed to increase abnormally; while, on the contrary, if the length of the notices were reduced and made in some cases to bear a truer proportion to the importance of the book, and if books appearing in second or later editions were merely put together in a separate index at the end of the book, the practical usefulness would be increased. We notice at least one English book which appeared in the Jahresbericht for 1888, viz. Dr. Wace's edition of the Apocrypha in the Speaker's Commentary; and probably the two most important English books of the year, Lux Mundi and the late Bishop of Durham's edition of Ignatius and Polycarp, are both omitted. The excuse that they did not appear till the very end of the year, which would probably be offered, is not a sufficient explanation of their absence from what professes to be a record for the whole year. Too large a proportion of the English works mentioned receive no further allusion, probably because they have not been read; but one must not grumble, for the same sort of thing mutatis mutandis would undoubtedly happen if the book appeared in England. It is pleasant, however, to see that some English books are noticed with genuine appreciation; especially is this the case in Böhringer's department. Thus, Dr. Bright's well-known and interesting book on Early English Church History is described as 'bemerkenswerth sowohl durch die reiche Verwerthung der Literatur als durch die Excurse über die keltische Kirche.' In a similar tone of praise, and almost of envy that nothing similar exists in Germany, Professor Krüger refers to the series known as Epochs of Church History. On the other hand, it is hardly fair to hold up as a specimen of English