but all allusions, whether of a historical, scientific, or archæological nature; as it covered heathenism and Judaism, Greek, Roman, and modern history, natural and revealed theology, the history of doctrines, and a little of everything else--he betook himself speedily to a large library, and that he began the reading of so many thousands of volumes. Why he selected the commonplace ones and left the rest, it may be difficult to say with confidence. Perhaps, it was owing to Bengel's unavoidable absence. But that he should have read for his life, as it were, cannot be considered strange. And when he had done this for an indefinite period, and had began to gather together the multitude of very unsuggestive suggestions which he had noted down in his reading, we may perhaps account, without much difficulty, for the fact that he mistook such a comment as this, from some dull author,-Must needs. "Strong expression. It is a matter of necessity. Some duties require to be particularly enforced;"-or this: It is high time to awake. "Rouse ourself to watchfulness and activity,"-for a gleam of lightning clearing up the meaning of Scripture. We know of nothing, indeed, that could bring a man into a state of hopeless darkness, so that he might be ready to hail anything as a sunbeam, so perfectly as the reading of a very large number-(say, ninety-five thousand,)—of volumes of practical suggestions or homiletical comments on the New Testament. Oh, that Dr. Van Doren would change his plan, we should suppose would be the involuntary exclamation of " the eminent Biblical scholars of England and America," who are aiding him in his work. For ourselves, we should rather take upon ourselves the burden of making preparation for our evening meetings and Bible classes,—of doing this regularly and carefully, than to impose upon this company of scholars such a task as was given to Dr. Robinson, or to make any demand for such a modern "imitation" of Bengel. It occurs to us that we might even extemporize on the meaning of scarcely or must needs, if we had made no preparation.

Allusion is made at the beginning of these volumes to a criticism of the London press, which hints at the similarity between the suggestions contained in them and the homiletical notes in another recently published commentary. It is stated, however, that there had been two years of labor on this series of commentaries, before the notes contained in the other were seen. We cannot help thinking that it must have been a disappointment to Drs. Robinson and Van Doren, after so much reading and preparation, to find their results anticipated in considerable measure. The only

way to avoid such a disappointment in future, as it seems to us, is to read less or to read faster-or, on the principle of "rigid condensation," which is stated to be the foundation of the plan of this work, to omit altogether all that the other commentary contains. Το compress into two small volumes the whole of the Basle library is too great a work to undertake with the possibility of being anticipated by another. Would it not be better for the two parties attempting it to agree to divide the library between them-one taking, for example, forty-seven thousand volumes, and the other forty-eight thousand, or one confining himself to the "illustrations" to be derived from "classical, Rabbinical and ecclesiastical sources," and the other giving his time to the collection of the "allusions." The temptation to which Dr. Van Doren has yielded, to make a commentary which should embrace all that is valuable in previous commentaries, is so strong in these days, that some one else is almost certain to undertake it. There are two or three such works already before the public. By an arrangement dividing up the work between two persons who devise such comprehensive and all embracing plans, much labor could be saved, and the different books, being each of them shortened by these means, might be both purchased at the same price which is now charged for each of them.

Our notice of this work has been extended far beyond the space which it should have occupied, as a mere notice of the book. It should be stated that there are critical notes as well as the suggestive ones, occupying perhaps a tenth part of the volumes. They are completely overborne by the other class of annotations, however, and if the book has any reason for existing, it lies in its Bengel-ian character.

GLASGOW ON THE APOCALYPSE.*—This large octavo volume comes to us with high recommendations from Scotland. It is evidently a work on which the author has bestowed much labor, and in the preparation of which he has taken much satisfaction. Like all his countrymen, he has been a student of the prophetic Scriptures from his college days, and, beyond most of them, he has enjoyed special opportunities for his chosen studies. The principle of interpretation, which he adopts, is that of "chronological continuative fulfillment of the apocalyptic prophecies."

*The Apocalypse, translated and expounded. By JAMES GLASGOW, D.D., Irish General Assembly's Professor of Oriental Languages, late Fellow of the University of Bombay, and late Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bombay. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. 1872. New York: Scribner, Welford & Armstrong. 8vo, pp. 611.

Among all the "eminent interpreters," who have adopted this principle, he certainly stands in a prominent place, as carrying out his theory into the greatest minuteness. He holds that John the Apostle was the author of the book, and, in a few pages, presents briefly the evidence to support this view. The date of the book he places in the year 51. At great length he endeavors to prove this, both by internal evidence from the book itself, and by indirect references in other parts of the New Testament, which go to show that it was earlier than the Epistles. He also makes citations to the same end from the early patristic writers. In some twenty-four sections of introductory matter, he explains the principles on which he proceeds, the meaning of the symbolic terms used in the Apocalypse, and the various points which may be most appropriately treated before entering upon the exposition. The exposition itself is accompanied throughout by a translation, and is very full and complete according to the principles on which the author proceeds. The author sees in all modern history the gradual, but very accurate and minute, fulfillment of the visions of John. It is almost appalling to us to think of what he puts into, or draws out of, the Book of Revelation. We can only assure those persons who believe in this method of interpretation, that they will take the utmost pleasure in the perusal of this volume, and, as they close their reading, will echo the sentiments of one of the author's friends, who, in expressing his gratitude, said, “It is a very valuable production; its learning is most extensive." an indication of what John may have seen-if Dr. Glasgow's theories of interpretation are to be pressed-we only make a single reference and a single quotation. With these we commit the volume to our readers. In connection with the statement of chap. xvi, vs. 21, “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent," Dr. Glasgow says, "There is one phenomenon so wonderful as to seem almost a departure from the symbolic language, and an assumption of literality-the size and weight of the hail-stones (a talent being about equivalent to 100 pounds)." The fulfillment of this "vision is found among other things (as, e. g., the conflict between the Monitor and the Merrimac,) in an extract from the London Weekly Review of Nov. 18, 1871-"A very powerful new floating battery, called the Glatton, has been making her experimental cruise. She has two guns, each of which throws a shot of 600 pounds to the distance of two and a half miles." This is our single reference. Our quotation follows. The fulfillment of

chap. xvi, vs. 17: "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air," is presented partially in this passage:

A.D. 1829. The British Parliament passed the bill conferring "Catholic Emancipation," which led to alterations in the British constitution, by admitting men of all shades of opinion to Parliament. 1830. The second French Revolution issued in the expulsion of the hereditary king, and the calling of Louis Philippe to the throne: this restored the popular platform of government in a modified form. 1832. The British Reform Bill passed: the Greeks chose Otho as their king. 1833. The kingdom of Egypt all but nominally severed from Turkey, tending to divide the Ottoman empire. 1834. Slavery abolished in the British dominions; the Veto Act of the Church of Scotland declared the principle of non-intrusion, which led to the disruption of the Free Church. 1835. Spain forced to acknow. ledge the independence of her American colonies. 1836. Revolution at Madrid; insurrection of Louis Napoleon. 1838. The British troops enter Affghanistan; war between France and Mexico. 1839. Chartist disturbances in England; trade between England and China suspended. 1840. Union of Presbyterians in Ireland; penny postage; outbreak at Madrid; remains of Napoleon brought to France. 1841. Capture of the Bogue forts at Canton; rising and massacre at Kabul. 1842. Riots in manufacturing parts of England; peace between England and China. 1843. Disruption of the Church of Scotland; British conquest of Sindh, which weakened Mohammedanism; Queen of the Society Islands obliged to place herself under the protection of France; revolution at Athens. 1844. New constitution in Greece; Tangier bombarded by the French, leading to ultimate annexation of Algiers; Ronge heads the "Second Reformation" in Germany. 1845. Iowa and Florida annexed to the United States; convention of France and England for suppression of the slave trade; war of French and Abdul Kader. 1846. Sikhs defeated by the English; Mexicans defeated by General Taylor; Louis Napoleon escapes from prison at Ham. 1847. The king of Prussia grants a constitution; troubles at Milan and in Switzerland. 1848. Abdication of Louis Philippe and the king of Bavaria; flight of the Pope; insurrections and revolu tions too many for enumeration here, and amply affecting all Europe; Napoleon chosen president of the republic. 1849. These revolutions continued; French troops enter Rome. 1850. Revolutions continued; Pope Pius IX, establishes a hierarchy in England. 1851. Chinese rebellion (Taiping); Louis Napoleon Bonaparte perpetual president. 1852. Reaction-Austrian emperor revokes the constitution of 1849; Napoleon emperor. 1854. Russian army crosses the Pruth,

led to Crimean War. 1856. Termination of the Crimean War. 1857. War of England against Persia; mutiny of Bengal army in India. 1858. Admission of Jews to the British Parliament; end of the rule of the Honorable East India Company; Chinese War-capture of Peiho forts; mission to Japan from England and United States, followed by demands from Russia; the first Atlantic telegraphic cable laid. 1859. France and Sardinia wrenched Italy from the Pope and Austria. 1860. Garibaldi overthrew Naples and Sicily, which were annexed to the kingdom of Italy; the election of Lincoln as president of the United States, followed by a rebellion of the Southern States. 1862. The slaves proclaimed free; war of Denmark and Prussia. 1864. Napoleon announced intention of evacuating Rome in two years. 1865. Lincoln assassinated; the Southern rebellion crushed; collapse of the Mexican empire. 1866. War of Austria and Prussia; partial evacuation of Rome. 1868. Recent revolution in Spain, being the fall of the last great

political Popish monarchy. 1869. The Abyssinian campaign.-NOTE. We may now add, 1870. The Franco-Prussian War.

The comment of the author, after giving this passage, is: "Thus, in a period of forty years, we see such a chain of political and ecclesiastico-political events as to induce the conclusion that an outpouring on 'the air' is indeed begun. And who can predict where it may terminate?" We answer, with great confidence, Nobody;-and we earnestly advise nobody to undertake to do so. And yet, perhaps it may terminate when the reader, who begins this volume on the Apocalypse with the determination to trace out the connection between each and every event alluded to and the verse with which it is associated, reaches the end of his reading. For the benefit of such persons, we may mention that the Millennium, according to the author's view, will be a period of 360,000 years.

BUTTMANN'S NEW TESTAMENT GRAMMAR.* This work is well known among our Biblical students, who are acquainted with the German language, as one of the ablest books of its class which have been published. Indeed, it holds a rank next below Winer's great work on the same subject. Professor Thayer, of the Theological Seminary at Andover, deserves the thanks of American scholars for his translation of it, which just now comes to us from Mr. Draper's publishing house. The public owe to Professor Thayer the best translation of Winer's Grammar which has been circulated in this country, and, when he shall have finished his preparation of Grimm's Lexicon, he will be, in a certain sense, a source of the best knowledge which the young men in our theological seminaries will have of the Greek language as the New Testament writers used it. The author of this grammar, who is a son of Philip Buttmann, prepared it as an Appendix to the Greek Grammar of his father. In view of this fact, he omitted much that might be contained in a larger and more independent work, and confined himself to that which is distinctive in the language of the New Testament. The first or Etymological part is, thus, comparatively brief, and the main portion of the volume is occupied with the Syntax, where peculiarities and variations from the other Greek are more numerous and noticeable. In some respects,

* A Grammar of the New Testament Greek. By ALEXANDER BUTTMANN. Authorized translation,-by Prof. J. HENRY THAYER, D.D., of Andover Theological Seminary, with numerous additions and corrections by the Author. Andover: Warren F. Draper. 1873. 8vo, pp. 474.