But this forms a very flimsy basis for the tremendous structure which is raised upon it by all those who defend the doctrine of Apostolic Succession; and it is plain also from the Teachings of the Twelve Apostles—that most unwelcome document to all who maintain the Roman teaching as to the authority of bishops-that in the middle of the second century the churches were exhorted to appoint themselves "bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord," the power of appointing bishops and deacons residing in the church and not in the bishop; and in this same section counsel is given with regard to the measure of respect due to them, which is utterly inconsistent with the idea that their place was already assured and their functions declared. Their service is that of prophets and teachers (see line 280). The injunctions about baptism, prayer, eucharistic service, breaking of bread on the Lord's day, reproof and discipline are addressed to Christians as such, and not to those who receive authority by ordination. Apostle and prophet are the names given to traveling teachers; they are not carefully discriminated. A prophet was not necessarily an apostle; an apostle was a prophet. An apostle might not remain more than two days in one place; a prophet might stay in any community, yet a community might be without a prophet. The eucharist itself is not described. If the Lord's Supper had, as the Romanist and Romanizing ministers declare, from the first the quality of a mass, and if this was, as they claim, the central act of worship, it is impossible that such Christian society as is indicated in the "Teaching" should have been owned and acknowledged, as it plainly was, as a true Christian Church.

The literature of the War receives a further addition in this number by the printing of a posthumous military autobiography by Gencral Garfield on his campaign in East Kentucky, which had such large influence in holding that State to the Union. Gail Hamilton, who usually dips her pen in acid, writing of "Heathendom and Christendom," accomplishes a sweeter-tempered paper than is common with her, yet it is not without traces of the old-time pungency. The writer illustrates for the thousandth time the immense difficulties into which thoughtful people are plunged by their Calvinistic education, if not by the survival of their Calvinistic faith.

The January number of this Review has very little in it of value beyond the exposition of Swedenborgianism by Rev. James Reed, and the paper by Joseph Hewes on the question, "Are the Heathen our Inferiors?" which last is but a brief letter. The spirit of this letter is generally bad, but some of the statements with regard to the actual teaching of Jesus are forcibly put.

BOOK

NOTICES.

RELIGION, THEOLOGY, AND BIBLICAL LITERATURE.

Ben-Hur. A Tale of the Christ. By LEW WALLACE, Author of the Fair God. 12mo, pp. 552. New York: Harper & Brothers.

THE romance of Ben-Hur, now in the seventh year of its career before the public, must be acknowledged the champion in the "battle of the books." It came forth unheralded-a story located in the Jewish-Roman world about the time of Christ-the work of one who, though not unknown as a patriot-soldier, enjoyed no great literary reputation, and it suffered by contrast with the many able and scholarly Lives of Christ recently published, and also by association with such abortions as The Prince of the House of David. It was received by the public without any acclaim, and was read by the omnivorous few; but instead of then quickly sinking out of sight and being forgotten, it was read by others, and those of another class, till it became one of the books that one might speak of with the assurance of being understood; and so each year has added to its popularity and to the extent of its sale, till now the old and battered stereotype plates have become so worn and smoothed by over-use-with more than a hundred thousand impressions-that an entire new mechanical outfit has become a necessity.

Ben-Hur is the story of a young Jew, born in Jerusalem about the time of our Lord's advent, of one of the principal families of the nation, his father being a man of great wealth, position, and culture, and a favorite of the Roman emperor. But at length, through a concurrence of disasters, the father having perished at sea, the surviving members of the family fell victims to the vengeance of the Roman governor; the mother and daughter were thrown into prison, and the youth of sixteen condemned to the galleys. After three years in that service, having rescued the commander of the fleet from drowning, he became the adopted son of one of the great men of Rome, and was trained in all the learning and arts of his class. Then he appears at Antioch, and finds in the person of a former slave of his father the wealthiest merchant in all the East. Once away from Rome, and in the atmosphere of his ancestral nation, the deathless love of the Jew for his country and race revives in him, and he solemnly devotes himself and all that he has to the rescue of his people from the yoke of the Romans. His connection with Balthasar—one of the "wise men" who brought presents to the infant Christ-and with a rich sheik from the desert opened to him an idea of the intense hatred toward Rome that prevailed through all the East, and also of the earnest expectation of the Jews that the promised Messiah was about to appear to deliver the nation and restore the throne of David. At Jerusalem he heard of a wonderful person who was going out and in among the people-a Galilean, but often visiting Jerusalem-whose teachings and power to work miracles had led many to believe in him as the hoped-for Messiah, and for a

year he mingled with the multitudes that followed the strange preacher, and became convinced that this was, indeed, the "promised hope of Israel.” When Christ made his last journey to Jerusalem he followed in the train, having before prepared a vast multitude of Galileans to be on hand in Jerusalem, ready to aid in the proclamation and the coronation of their king. Then follow the scenes of the crucifixion, and the crushing out of the undeveloped rebellion. The last scenes find Ben-Hur a Christian at Rome, using his vast wealth to shield the infant Church by the preparation of the catacombs of St. Calixtus.

The two distinctive literary properties of the writing' are its sustained vivacity and its fidelity to nature. The former is all-pervading and perhaps somewhat in excess, for except the very first scene, when the three wise men meet in the desert to begin their journey to Jerusalem, there is no time of quiet, or scene of idyllic loveliness. It is said that the author had never visited any of the places which he describes so graphically, and with such remarkable fidelity to the minutest details. Some of the descriptions are to the last degree exciting, and often, indeed, terrible, but every-where is-half-hidden indeed, but still a real presence -the demon of revenge, rising up against the destroyers of his father's house, and against Rome as the tyrant power that was grinding the people of God under its iron heel; and while the reader must sympathize with the hero of the tale, the sympathy itself becomes not only painful, but also hateful.

The Jewish misconception of the character of the kingdom which the Messiah was to set up is well illustrated in the ruling thoughts and purposes of Ben-Hur and his purposed action at Jerusalem; while the true and spiritual side is brought out in the words of old Balthasar, who declared that the new King of Israel would not set up his kingdom by the sword. This Ben-Hur himself came at length to understand, and also himself consciously experienced the power of that kingdom in his own character and life. At this point the author's early training and his later associations with spiritual and evangelical Christians served him a good purpose, and one is ready to ask whether it can be possible that one could so accurately indicate the facts and phenomena of the Christian life without some personal knowledge of them. We once asked that question respecting the author of Adam Bede, while as yet the identity of George Eliot was unknown, and the facts of the case when ascertained justified our suspicion; so we suspect that the author of Ben-Hur has learned the nature of the strange transformation that passed upon the character of his hero, either from personal experience or from observations made at very short range.

Old Faiths in New Light. By NEWMAN SMYTH, Author of "The Religious Feeling." Revised Edition. 12mo, pp. 391. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Dr. Newman Smyth's "Old Faiths in New Light," issued some years ago, was the signal-gun that brought on the conflict now in progress concerning the "New Theology" or "Progressive Orthodoxy," which has

accidentally found a central location at Andover Theological Seminary. The interest awakened by the discussion has caused the first edition of the book to become exhausted, and accordingly a new one is now issued, slightly enlarged and modified, but substantially the same as before. That the school of theologians represented by Dr. Smyth have broken away from their ancestral positions is well; nor is it strange that when loosed from their moorings they should occasionally drift upon shoals, although their general tendency may be from worse to better. It is good to get out of the old ruts of opinions, and to employ improved methods of thinking; it is especially so to occasionally re-examine the grounds of one's convictions-and yet the process is not wholly without peril. Even Dr. Smyth and his friends are experiencing both of these results. Let all who would study up the subject read this volume.

Lectures, Chiefly Expository, on St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians. With Notes and Illustrations. By JOHN HUTCHISON, D.D. 8vo, pp. 317. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. New York: Scribner & Welford.

This is an exceedingly pleasant book to handle, for it is not too heavy to hold in the hand while reading, and the paper and typography are such as to make the reading pleasant, even for weak eyes and in a dim light. The matter, too, is alluring, for it is learned without pedantry, and devout without narrowness or acridity. There are here twenty-four lectures, not long, of course, as the size of the book shows, each employing and expounding, with "improvements," a paragraph of the epistle, and, all together, pretty fairly taking in the whole substance of the document. The matter is good-plain, forcible, evangelical truth, filled with the unction of grace, yet learned, critical, and eminently doctrinal in either sense of that term. The author is somewhat known by his two formerly published works of much the same character with thisa Commentary on the Epistles to the Thessalonians, and another on Our Lord's Messages to the Seven Churches of Asia. He has also contributed pretty liberally to some of the better class of religious periodicals. This will be a worthy companion to those, and the whole will prove helpful to devout and teachable readers.

The Parables of Our Saviour Expounded and Illustrated. By WILLIAM M. TAYLOR, D.D., LL.D., Pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York. 12mo, pp. 445. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son.

The parables delivered by Christ are an unfailing fountain of the very best style of spiritual instruction. They have been expounded and applied, and their teachings "improved" by many hands, and no doubt they will continue to afford matter for religious teaching in all the future, for what may have been before said does not supersede what may still be further set forth. The author of this volume is well known as one peculiarly adapted to this style of writing; and although he has heretofore written and published many excellent works, it may be doubted whether any other has been better than this. It will prove an excellent Sabbath companion for the Christian deprived of the privileges of the sanctuary.

The Mosaic Origin of the Pentateuchal Codes. By GUARDUS Vos, Fellow of Princeton Theological Seminary. With an Introduction by Professor WILLIAM HENRY GREEN. 12mo, pp. 263. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son.

This work, we are told, was first prepared as a thesis in competition for the Hebrew fellowship at Princeton, and was accepted as entitling its author to the place to which he aspired. It is simply a restatement in concise forms of the chief arguments that have been offered in answer to the destructive criticism of Graf, Wellhausen, and Kuenen, and reproduced in English by Robertson Smith. A pretty full epitome of the whole argument is given; the learning and the force of the opposers are conceded, and the whole subject is discussed as if something may be said on both sides; and, while the writer succeeds in the defense of all that is really valuable in his position, yet he yields not a few points that were held by the older class of biblical scholars. This volume has the advantage of giving the gist of the whole argument in a form so condensed that it may be available for others besides specialists. No doubt this whole subject will have to be re-examined and largely restated; some indefensible outposts will be given up, but the citadel will stand sure.

The Transfiguration of Christ. By FRANK WAKELEY GUNSAULUS. 18mo, pp. 267. Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

A volume made up of eight chapters, or meditations, built up about the facts and incidents of the Transfiguration. There is a fair display of biblical learning, but not much to enhance the stores of exegesis, or to illustrate biblical truth and doctrine.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND TOPOGRAPHY.

Essays, Reviews, and Discourses. By DANIEL D. WHEDON, D.D., LL.D., Author of The Freedom of the Will, etc. With a Biographical Sketch. Edited by his son, J. S. WHEDON, M.A., and his nephew, D. A. WHEDON, S.T.D. 12mo, pp. 352. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. Statements: Theological and Critical. By DANIEL D. WHEDON, D.D., LL.D. 12mo, pp. 400. (Same Editors and Publishers.)

At the close of Dr. Whedon's long and fruitful literary career, which was so soon followed by his decease, his surviving friends, and both the Methodist and the general public, had a right to expect that a selection from his multifarious writings, scattered so very widely in periodical and other temporary publications, would be made, and put in a permanent. form. We accordingly urged the performance of that service upon the members of his family, whose well-known fitness for the work was a sufficient guarantee that if undertaken by them it would be well done. The accomplished results are seen in the two handsome volumes whose titles are given above. Of the skill and ability displayed by the editors much might be justly said. We will, however, only remark that their rather difficult and delicate task seems to have been performed with both tact and judgment, judiciously and conscientiously. The prefixed "Bio