Descombraz, 'Guide Biblique'-Lechler. 551 (Williams and Norgate.)-A carefully corrected edition of the De Officiis of St. Ambrose, a practical treatise of Christian morals, illustrated by copious examples from Scripture history-a book which was the ethical manual of the Middle Ages. Guide Biblique, ou Harmonie et Commentaire pratique et populaire de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament, &c., par S. DESCOMBRAZ, Pasteur. Tome Premier, pp. 500. Tome Second, pp. 480. Toulouse. Société des Livres Religieux. ('A Guide to the Scriptures, or a Harmony and practical and popular Commentary on the Old and New Testaments.' By S. DESCOMBRAZ. Vols. I. & II. Williams and Norgate.) This Commentary is designed for the use of teachers, fathers of families, and schools, and is altogether of a popular and useful character. The sacred text is interspersed with short notes, practical and explanatory. Maps are appended. The peculiarity of the work consists chiefly in the method of arrangement. The psalms and prophecies are placed as nearly as possible in the chronological order of their composition. Thus the lyrical parts of Scripture accompany and illustrate the narrative, and the chronicle of public affairs is intermingled with the personal utterances of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, throughout the vicissitudes of Jewish history. Die Neutestamentliche Lehre vom Heiligen Amte, &c. Von CARL LECHLER. Stuttgart, Steinkopf. (The New Testament Doctrine concerning the Sacred Office,' by C. LECHLER. pp. 452. Williams and Norgate)-Seven years ago a divine named Höfling, belonging to the "Evangelical Lutheran Church," produced an able and remarkable book on Church Government. (Grundzüge Evangelisch-lutherischer Kirchenverfassung. Erlangen.) The work was received in many quarters with joyful applause; in some, with vehement opposition. It passed through three editions in three years. Its object was to show that the ministerial office is of divine appointment, not directly, but indirectly; in other words, that it derives its authority, not from a primary and separate institution, but from the universal priesthood of believers. The author took his stand on the great distinction between the visible and the invisible church. The latter, established by the spirit of God in the hearts of all regenerate men, must take some visible form. A visible church is involved, therefore, in the formation of the invisible. Some sacred office, again, is as necessarily implied in the existence of a visible church. Such an office is the natural and necessary consequence of the command given to proclaim the tidings of salvation, to baptize, to commemorate the death of Christ. The right and the duty of so doing belonged originally to all believers alike. But, since all could not be thus employed, it was necessary to devolve those duties on certain individuals. Hence the sacred office. Thus Hölling directly denied the appointment by Christ of any separate class (like the Levites, or the Romish and Anglican priesthood) for the administration of sacraments. The power of binding and loosing, and so of teaching and baptizing, was given, he argues, to the whole church, to all by whom the Saviour was then surrounded. The apostles constituted a temporary order. They were a kind of plenipotentiaries. Their words were to be to their hearers as the words of Christ. They can have no successors. We read nowhere of any injunction to supply their failing numbers. Yet a sacred office there must be. What then are we to suppose? That our Lord regarded the sacred office, not as bound up in them and their successors, but as virtually conferred on all true believers, by whom fit persons were to be set apart as religious teachers, evangelists, &c. Such is, in brief, the position taken by Höfling, and stoutly and skilfully defended. It was a spirited reaction against the assumptions of the old Lutheran and High-Church party in Germany, who maintain that the priestly office is the sole channel of gracious communication, and who regard the Church as the creature of the clergy. Right in their teeth Höfling hurled this argument of his, and declared the clergy the creation of the Church. And so issue was joined; and the fight has been going on between an aristocratic absolutism on the one side, and a democratic, but not disorderly, principle on the other. Dr. Lechler meditated some years ago a reply to Höfling's book. The death of the latter changed his purpose. He resolved to take up the whole question and produce an independent treatise. Hence the work before us. The author declares himself a friend to the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. But at the same time he thinks that union cannot be maintained, in its present form, without demanding an unfair sacrifice on the part of Lutheranism. The peculiarities of Lutheranism, he contends, are not trivial-may not be held in abeyance. Lutheranism has yet to fulfil its mission-demands scope for development; above all, more freedom from State control. Let the Union exist, but let Lutheranism develop itself, unfettered, at the same time. To us the two things appear incompatible. A development satisfactory to the extreme Lutheran party must be fatal to the Union. The influence of the King has recently been exerted against rather than in favour of their exclusive pretensions. Hence their complaints of State interference. The State will not sacrifice to their communion every other in the kingdom. Under the name of free development they demand monopoly. Their unscrupulous opposition to the Evangelical Conference is an indelible disgrace. But their malice has overshot its mark, and the speedy refutation of their calumnies has produced a reaction in favour of the meetings at Berlin which will mortify them not a little. Dr. Stahl, their leader, has found it necessary to send in his resignation, which it is thought the King will accept. ERRATA. In lines 4 and 22 of page 268, for Iahn read Jahn. . INDEX. English and Normans-Sir Francis Palgrave, 2; writings of Sir Francis, 5; The Chinese-their Rebellions and Civilization, 46; meditation on the pyramid, 47; Bishop Berkeley-his Life and Writings, 75; his college life-contemporary events, French Romances of the Thirteenth Century, 119; appropriation of classical and Ages of Christendom before the Reformation, 144; character of the work, 145; the Contemporary Notices of Shakespeare, 159; parish register, 161; the lamentation of The Life of Charlotte Brontë, 218; her education-moral and physical, 219; EPILOGUE. 232-280. LITERATURE. Alfieri and Goldoni, by E. Copping, 233. Gotthold's Emblems, 238. The Metaphysicians, 240. Freeman's History of the Saracens, 243. ART. Exhibition of the Royal Academy, 253. SCIENCE. Hugh Miller's Testimony of the Rocks, F. Harrington's Systematic Philosophy, THEOLOGY. Dr. Donaldson's Christian Orthodoxy, Letters of Calvin, 273. Gilfillan's Christianity and our Era, 274. Dr. Leifchild on Preaching and Preachers, Arnot's Laws from Heaven for Life on Pearce's Lectures on Inspiration, 275. Sartorius, Die Lehre von der heiligen Ewald's Sendschreiben des Ap. Paulus, Hilgenfeld's Jüdische Apocalyptik, 277. INDEX. Statius and his Age, 281; education of Statius, 283; rise of public recitation, 285; The Ethics of Revealed Theology, 307; moral government as affected by moral evil, Mechanics' Institutes and the Society of Arts, 323; objects-causes of failure, 325; Andrew Crosse, the Electrician, 333; school exploits, 335; his lightning apparatus, Representative Reform, 356; subjects of discussion, 357; the principle of represen- African Discoveries, 382; African discovery strangely neglected, 383; progress of The Cotton Dearth, 416; 'terrible prosperity,' 417; the Manchester Commissioner, Béranger, 449; his education, 451; introduction to Lucien Bonaparte, 453; The Government of India and the Mutinies, 476; political development of the East |