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tic narrative before his eyes, we must declare that the introduction to his gospel would be inexplicable if he disbelieved Matthew and Luke. The Joannine tradition is very well expressed in the second-century reading of 1-13, which refers the words, "born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," to the Verbum, the Word, concerning whom the whole prologue is occupied.

Professor Lobstein places an immense importance upon the facts that Mary was perplexed at the words of her Son at the finding in the Temple, and that our Lord's relatives did not believe in him. This, he says, would be impossible if the Annunciation had taken place. Not at all. Mary's wonder, and her pondering in her heart what Jesus had said, far from indicating that she recognized no divine character in the Child, imply distinctly that she did. Her attitude conveys more of the impression of respect and veneration than of plenary parental authority. And as for our Lord's relatives, it is possible— it is, we think, even likely, that they then did not know of the virginal birth of Jesus. It was too sacred a mystery to be matter for common knowledge. But even if they be presumed to have been acquainted with it, their disbelief would be no more difficult to explain than their disbelief in the face of the miracles wrought by our Lord. Shall we say that the scepticism of these kinsmen of Christ proves that he wrought no miracles? Not even rationalistic criticism would go so far. A pari then, their scepticism does not demonstrate that they knew nothing of a virgin-birth.

The case, then, is this: Two of our gospels have an historical statement of the miraculous and virginal birth. One of these gospels is written by St. Luke, that cultivated and acute observer, who assures us in his prologue that he has critically examined the sources of his history. St. John and St. Paul not only say nothing against this tradition, which most certainly they knew, but they positively imply it in their language concerning Christ. Add to this the church's belief from the beginning, the condemnation of Ebionitism in the first century, and the analogy of Christian theology which requires the doctrine, and we have an overwhelming testimony that belief in the virgin- birth goes back to the very first disciples, and can never be excluded from a sound, critical, and histori

to the traditional arguments which a perfectly candid study would require, and he pushes weak arguments for his own. side to an extent which no critical student can approve.

PILGRIM WALKS IN ROME.
By Rev. P. J. Chandlery.

Father Chandlery's book* on Rome will be useful as a guide-book for tourists in the Eternal City, and interesting to all who must forego

the delights of travel, but would learn something of the marvellous Urbs alma, which is the heart of Catholicity. The book is very full of topographical detail, rich in history and legend, and, it need not be said, devoutly Catholic in spirit. Its great value is enhanced by many splendid illustrations. As the proceeds of its sale are to be given to the Zambesi mission, we trust that its readers will number thousands.

The latest work brought out in

PHILIPPE DE COMMYNES. the valuable collection of original By B. de Mandrot.

historical texts published by the house of Picard is the chronicle

of Philippe de Commynes,† the chamberlain of Louis XI. Commynes was a statesman who rose to high favor under Louis, but in 1484, under Charles VIII., was driven from court, disgraced and impoverished, and from 1487 to 1490 imprisoned as a rebellious subject. Becoming reconciled to Charles, he accompanied this monarch in his memorable expedition to Italy, and was sent as royal ambassador to Venice. From Venice he went to Florence, and there visited Savonarola, whom he describes in the eighth book of his Mémoires as "demourant en ung convent refformé, homme de saincte vie." Under Louis XII. Commynes again incurred the royal displeasure, but was once more rehabilitated, made another journey to Italy in 1507, and died in 1511.

The Mémoires cover the period between 1464 and 1498. They are full of interest, have a strong personal note about them, and give an observant statesman's view of men and countries in those eventful days.

Commynes has been charged, and justly, with several *Pilgrim Walks in Rome. A Guide to Its Holy Places. By P. J. Chandlery, S.J. New York: The Messenger Press.

+ Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes. Nouvelle Édition Publiée avec une Introduction et

not very

historical inaccuracies; but those imperfections do seriously diminish the general value of his work, which must ever possess conspicuous merit for the student of historical sources. M. Mandrot's introduction-biographical and criticalis a commendable piece of work.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
By Pere Lagrange.

Père Lagrange's study of the Book

*

of Judges is a splendid specimen of the modern critical method of Biblical research. If any of our readers are looking for a good way of ascertaining the present status of Scripture study among learned Catholic critics, we recommend Père Lagrange's La Méthode Historique, and this present translation of and commentary upon Judges. The former little treatise will give the principles of criticism, and the volume under review will show how they are applied. To have mastered both books is to have acquired a grasp upon presentday thought in the field of religious study that hardly any other two Catholic works will give. This at least will result from reading them, that one will gain a fairly adequate notion of the illimitable extent of modern Biblical study; will learn to reverence the patient scholars who are bearing the burden and the heat of the day therein; and will long for a more respectable participation in it by Catholics who are both true to faith and devoted to honest scholarship.

With Budde, Moore, Mgr. Kaulen, and the Jesuit Hummelauer, Père Lagrange holds it certain that Judges cannot be the work of one author. There is an artificial unity of conception in the various histories that comprise the main body of the book; they all are constructed on a similar framework (cadre), but the evidence for a plurality of documents worked upon by several editors is overwhelming. In connection with this, P. Lagrange humorously refers to good Father Vigouroux's assertion that only "rationalists" deny unity of authorship in Judges. The learned Dominican is entirely entirely content to be numbered among such rationalists. The Deuteronomy-redactor (RD) is, P. Lagrange thinks, the main hand in the editing of Judges; though he admits that the Hexateuchal, Jehovistic, and Elohistic writers are plainly discernible also. Thus we should have four sources for our present book of *Le Livre des Juges. Par R. P. Lagrange, O.P. Paris: V. Lecoffre.

Judges: the Jehovistic, which has for its general tendency to give the history of the wars of Jehovah; the Elohistic, which aims at constructing a religious chronicle of the Jews; then the editor who combined these two; and finally the redactor who threw the substance of the book into its present form. In the convenient abbreviations customary with critical scholars, these sources are designated J, E, RJE, and RD.

As to the exact time when the final redaction was made, it must be obvious to every one that we cannot come to a perfectly safe conclusion. It was certainly after the time of Josias, for only then did Deuteronomy begin to have a decisive literary influence; and, as we have seen, the Deuteronomist redactor is the chief factor in Judges. Perhaps we shall have to assign even so late a date as the time of Esdras. But whenever the work of compiling, adjusting, and editing took place, the primitive documents are unquestionably of great antiquity.

The historical value of Judges, as indeed of all the earlier Old-Testament books, leads into questions too delicate for discussion in a review like this. Suffice it to say that the rigidly accurate method of stating facts is not an Oriental and ancient, but an Occidental and modern, conception of the function of history. To understand the principles that underlie the interpretation of Old-Testament history, one should have read some such treatises as Loisy's Études Bibliques, or the already mentioned La Méthode Historiques. Probably it is precisely here, in estimating the historical value of many of the incidents in Judges, that Père Lagrange will encounter some adverse criticism. There is an apparent uneasiness and a lack of downright statement in regard to this matter, which suggest our author is not speaking out his entire mind. He is not to be blamed in the least for this. As just remarked, one's statements have to be so guarded in dealing with OldTestament historicity, one has to explain so fully one's idea of inspiration in order not to be misunderstood, that when there is no opportunity for such an extended preliminary apologia, prudence points out the path of caution in phraseology and of a rather vague generality in expression.

P. Lagrange declares in his preface that this volume is but the first of a long series of commentaries that will cover the

beginning of that immense labor, and trust that he may be assisted in it by coadjutors as erudite as himself, and be spared to see the great project completed.

THE CHRIST STORY.

By E. M. Tappan.

It is a rare non-Catholic devotional book that can please a Catholic. Our standards are exact, and we feel in conscience bound to insist upon them. And yet we And yet we despair of making our demands understood by the non-Catholic. If we insist, for instance, upon the introduction of doctrine into a life of Christ, they feel, and we cannot blame them, that we are narrow, and fonder of dogma than of religion. And though we know their suspicions are ill-founded, we cannot explain our position-it means going back too far-so we give it up, and bear the unjust imputation as patiently as we can. And so in the present case: we must say that this life of Christ,* written for chil dren, though it is in very truth a beautiful piece of work, full of genuine religious sentiment, devout in the extreme; though it is almost all that is good, yet it cannot satisfy us. Not that we have not been edified in reading it, for in places it has brought the tears to our eyes, but it has left a longing unsatisfied-a longing to know what they have done with our Lord, "where they have laid Him," what they think of Him, "whose Son is He?" and what are we to make of the most significant and most mysterious of His deeds, to say the least the "Last Supper"? We cannot be satisfied to have these things passed over, for they are the heart and marrow of our devotion, not the skeleton of our faith. If our fundamental interpretation of the Divine Master be at fault, then we are sick at heart and can take no interest in the sweet things that are said of Him; if the "Last Supper" be not the Holy Eucharist, Himself, then the Light has gone out of our lives, the Light in which we saw all things; and now we can see nothing. These were the chapters we wanted to linger over, and behold there is nothing in them to feed our devotion. And we close the book with a sigh, and the perpetual wonder grows until it becomes almost appalling-how can they love Him without knowing Him, and how can they write so touchingly of Him, and yet misinterpret Him? And we cannot bear

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