Neuordnungen und Gesetze für die höhren Schulen in Preussen. (Regulations and Laws relating to the Higher Schools of Prussia). Herausgegeben von Dr. L. WIESE. Berlin: Wiegaudt & Grieben. London: Asher & Co. 1867.

Dr. Wiese, the editor of the above work, stands at the head of the department, which has to do with the higher schools of Prussia; this circumstance alone constitutes him an authority on the matters to which his book refers; but he is also a man of great insight in educational questions, as he showed in a volume of letters on English schools published many years ago. The regulations and laws are arranged in ten chapters, with the following headings:-(1.) The legal basis of the Higher Schools, i.e., in public law and in the Constitution. (2.) The various kinds of Higher Schools and their Inspectors, with the duties of the latter. (3.) Their establishment and maintenance. (4.) Course of instruction-general course, special courses, individual subjects. (5.) Education and discipline. (6.) Various arrangements and general principles laid down for the Higher Schools. (7.) Examinations and testimonials. (8.) The value of the testimonials in relation to public matters, both civil and military. (9.) Public schools with boarders-Protestant and Catholic. (10.) Specimens of school statutes, instructions for Inspectors, forms of vocation for Directors and Teachers, and the rules of various Institutions.

An appendix relates to schools for the superior classes of girls. So far as the method and spirit of the Prussian higher school system can be learnt from laws and regulations, they can be learnt from Dr. Wiese's book. At a time like the present when the subject of education is under so much discussion, and in consequence of the events of 1866, Prussian Institutions are regarded by many people with so much admiration, a collection like the above will be very welcome to those who are able to make use of it. If we were writing an article on the question of education we should have much to say in the way of criticism of the Prussian system, suggested both by the laws relating thereto and by our own observation, Some of the regulations would almost drive parents, teachers and pupils crazy in England. The school hours are also, to our own mind, much too long. We content ourselves at present with commending the work to the careful attention of our readers.

Das Buch der Richter. Mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Geschichte seiner Auslegung und Kirchlichen Verwendung erklärt von Dr. J. Bachmann. (The Book of Judges interpreted with special references to the History of its Exposition and Ecclesiastical Use.) Berlin: Wiegandt & Grieben. London: Asher & Co. 1867.

Dr. Bachmann is professor of theology at the University of Rostock, and his commentary is written from the thoroughly orthodox point of view of the Lutheran Faculty, of which he is a member. In this respect he is at one with Drs. Keil and Delitzsch, whose series of commentaries on the Old Testament includes also one on the Book of Judges. The present volume comprises prolegomena on (1.) The compass and limits of the period of the Judges (2) Its position and significance in the Old Testament History: (3.) Its religious, political and moral features :

:

(4.) Its chronological relations; and a commentary on the first three chapters.

There is not a more interesting book in the Old Testament than the. Book of Judges, nor is there a book in which, notwithstanding the difficulties it presents,-difficulties religious, moral, historical and chronological-distinct traces of the Divine hand are more discernible. Nay, further, the very magnitude of the difficulties it contains, especially of the religious and moral difficulties, heightens our certainty that God had to do with its composition. If it had been a merely human record of assassination, murder, treachery, apostacy, confusion and other crimes, it could never have been such as to edify and instruct. Dr. Bachmann has shown the divine purpose which pervades this history of the foundation of the Jewish polity with learning and ability.

Bunsen's Bibelwerk.

Das Reich Gottes und das Leben Jesu Bunsen's Bible-Work. The Kingdom of God and the Life of Jesus.) Leipzig: Brockhaus. London: Asher & Co. 1865.

We are informed that Bunsen occupied his mind for full thirty years with the subject of the Life of Jesus,' the first sketch of the present work having been made in the years 1823 to 1834, and the last revision completed shortly before his death.

What are the results at which-a man so eminent both as a statesman, a scholar and a theologian arrived? He divides the 'Life of Jesus' into five periods :-(1.) From his baptism to the imprisonment of John and his own, return to Galilee from Judea-nine months, from February to December, 780. (2.) The interval between the imprisonment and the execution of John-three-and-a-half months, from the end of December, 780, to shortly before Easter, 781. (3.) From the feeding of the 5000 to his arrival in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles,54 months, Easter to September, 781. (4.) From the feast of Tabernacles, 781, till his entry into Jerusalem, Easter, 782. (5.) The Passion Week (Easter, 782), the Resurrection, and the forty days with the Disciples. Besides these sections a prior one treats of the youth of Jesus. The latter he regards as the vehicle of philosophical and religious ideas, the key to which is given by the Gospel of John. The temptations of Christ were inner conflicts which he underwent, and narrated to his disciples. The miracles are partly real, as for example, the cures performed; partly not real, as for example, the conversion of water into wine, and the feeding of the 5,000. In the former case, Jesus had by him a large bottle of very good wine which he mixed with a great deal of water; in the latter case, the feeding was the work of a general spirit of self-sacrifice on the part of those who possessed eatables, awakened by Christ's example. The death of Jesus was ' a state of complete unconsciousness in which, as in a swoon, sensi'bility had ceased, but from which an awakening was possible.' His resurrection was not in opposition to the laws of Nature, though an historical fact. After showing himself to his disciples a few days in and round Jerusalem, and in Galilee, he withdrew probably into Phenicia, where he died a natural death. This is the Life of Him who, as Bunsen says, was the most perfect revelation of the Divine in humanity! This is the result of thirty years labour! How Bunsen could be the sincerely pious man, that all who enjoyed his acquaintance, believe him to have been,

'will be made partakers of a spiritual nature and become obedient to the will of God, and by the New Earth that happy condition of the 'human family when this renovating work shall have been effected."

These views are clearly stated and well sustained. Mr. Mill's book will be read by those who are interested in the subject of which it treats with great satisfaction, but it would have been more acceptable had some of the chapters been compressed.

The Ground and Object of Hope for Mankind. Four Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge in November, 1867. By the Rev. F. D. MAURICE, M.A. London: Macmillan.

Were not Mr. Maurice capable of expressing distinct meanings in lucid and nervous English, he would not have been so often complained of for failing to do so. His readers have no cause to complain here. Every sentence is simple in language, natural in construction, and obvious in meaning. The object of Mr. Maurice is to rest the hope of the missionary, the patriot, the churchman, and the man, in the millennium of the future upon an intelligent and secure basis. Why do we hope that the kingdom of Christ will be established P Many Christians whose faith is very strong and assertive, would, we fear, find it difficult to give a conclusive answer. With many it is largely an instinctive desire; with some it is chiefly a conclusion based upon prophecy and miracle. Mr. Maurice relies mainly upon the moral power of truth. The missionary, he thinks, is not to trouble his hearers much with lectures on the evidences. Although equipped for it as few men have been, Paul on Mars' Hill did not; he simply proclaimed the living God and the risen Christ. We think, however, that there was a good deal of argumentative reasoning as well as of fervent proclamation in Paul. Mr. Maurice's intense intuitionalism as it has led him to undervalue or reject certain aspects of Christian doctrine-the judicial aspect of the atonement for Instance so it has led him to disparage unduly certain historical and logical forms of Christian evidence. Our Lord did not disparage the evidence of the prophets, nor the evidential use of miracles, although he gave the superior place of nobleness and power to the spiritual elements of truth.

Still faith in God and in truth is the grand hope of all who do hope--the missionary and the patriot, the churchman and the man. If a man deems himself a Jew simply because he is not a Gentile, if belief in one God is simple denial of many Gods, if being a churchman is simply not being a dissenter, a man's basis of hope is narrow and false. This Mr. Maurice propounds in true and noble words. We wish, however, his thoughts were somewhat more cleanly cut. There is a nebulous haze about them which makes them indistinct. Mr. Maurice thinks in a somewhat dense atmosphere of mysticism or theosophy. Only very careful readers, we may say practised thinkers, can feel sure of the precise form and value of his idea. If the clearness of his expression were equal to the depth of his meanings, Mr. Maurice would be a teacher of great and permanent power.

The Hero of the Desert; or Facts more Wonderful than Fiction.

By the Rev. JAMES SPONG. London: the Book Society. Under this title, 'The Hero of the Desert,' Mr. Spong has given us a series of essays or meditations on the life of Moses. Taking for the

foundation of his remarks successive chapters of the record in Exodus, he has illustrated and enforced the lessons which they teach.

There are many to whom this very attractive volume will be acceptable as a book for Sunday reading, and it will doubtless be a favourite with a large circle who desire to occupy their leisure with devout and profitable thought. It is simple, evangelical, and earnest; singularly free from many of the faults which characterise the so-called Christian literature of the day.

Bible Class Studies on some of the Words of the Lord Jesus.

By

JESSIE COOMBS. London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder. Miss Coombs has been encouraged by the reception given to her Thoughts for the Inner Life' to put forth a second series of 'Short Meditations, or Sermons,' which, we presume, were prepared as 'Bible Class Papers. They are neither profound nor critical, but they are intelligent, graceful, and tender, and appeal wisely and powerfully to all that is noblest and purest in life. The volume is an excellent example of the class of devotional works to which it belongs.

The Tables of Stone. A Course of Sermons Preached in All Saint's Church, Cambridge, during the Michaelmas Term, 1867. By HERBERT MORTIMER LUCKOCK, M.A. London: Macmillan & Co.

The Second Table of the Commandments. A Perfect Code of Natural Moral Law and of Fundamental Human Law, and the Criterion of Justice. By DAVID ROWLAND. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

Inasmuch as the decalogue enfolds the eternal principles of human piety and virtue it must ever have an important place in religious teaching. If the teacher be competent its exposition will touch all the great theological and moral questions of every age. It proposes the standard, and every form of error is error in proportion to its deflection from it.

Mr. Luckock devotes eight sermons to the Ten Commandments, the Third and Fifth, and the Eighth and Tenth being considered together. Of course the survey of Idolatrous, Pantheistic, Polytheistic, Deistic and other systems opposed to the First and Second Commandments, in a couple of sermons, must be very cursory indeed; and we are compelled to say it is as superficial as it is cursory. Mr. Luckock fails to lay hold of great root principles, which are the key to all truth and error. He simply seizes surface characteristics. Idolatry, for instance, is not even conceived in its true genesis, it is treated as a gross substitution of material things as objects of worship for the spiritual God, which is only its second stage of development; its first being the use of material things as symbols of the spiritual God. Mr. Luckock simply attributes its origin to human depravityhe can find no philosophy or rationale of it; had he done so he would not, with so much simplicity and gravity, have argued for the proper use of the cross in baptism. Mr. Luckock, too, has a reverential regard for the legend of Constantine's fiery cross, which, he says, was an immediate revelation from God, and a plain direction to take the cross as the symbol and banner of his faith.'

Mr. Rowland is an able advocate of absolute and eternal morality