the solar system only at the termination of the secondary, and Mercury at the close of the tertiary epoch. It is obvious, however, that these last suppositions cannot be of any apologetic value, unless they be accepted by astronomers. We repeat that we cannot but think Mr Marsden's mind somewhat fanciful, but gladly bear testimony to the care he takes, even in his boldest flights, to accord all homage to the word of God.

The Fulness of the Blessing of Christ: being a Series of Lectures on the Eighth Chapter of St Paul's Epistle to the Romans. By the Rev. J. G. HORTON. London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder. 1865.

The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church. A Series of Discourses on the Epistle to the Hebrews. By the Rev. R. W. Dale, M.A. London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder. 1865.

We hail these volumes as specimens of the doctrinal teaching of the evangelical clergy in the Church of England, not only on account of their sound scriptural divinity, but as shewing that the good old practice of lecturing is still retained in that Church. We regret to learn that in many dissenting communions, and, to a great extent, even in Scotland where it so long flourished, the Lecture has been almost entirely abandoned. Its absence is poorly compensated by a running commentary, or by random reflections, on the chapter read during the service. These "shavings of the mind," thrown off frequently on the spur of the moment, will never make up for the nice combination of didactic and practical matter, founded on a thorough exegesis and clear, connected arrangement of the passage, which constitutes the lecture proper. To succeed in this department is a task which demands no small amount of time and mental labour; and implies the power of logical discernment, and a turn for popular illustration. It is found much easier to many to launch out on some favourite theme of their own, and to entertain their hearers with less of Scripture than of their own thoughts about Scripture. And yet there can be no question that the demands of the age run out much more than ever in the direction of drawing our creed and our spiritual provender directly from the teachings of God in his word. It was in this form that the Fathers and the Reformers "taught the people." We do not plead for a recurrence to their style of lecturing; but never will the pulpit do its work efficiently in the present day, unless its occupants strive to acquire the art of "handling the word of God," not deceitfully, but by "a manifestation of the truth;""rightly dividing it" according to its several portions, and "opening to us the Scriptures."

We do not hold up the above lectures as perfect in their kind. The plough of exegesis does not go very deep; there is no attempt to depart from the beaten track. But Mr Horton is sound, practical, experimental; his exposition is marked by good sense, unction, and spirituality. Mr Dale's discourses are, as might be expected, full of "sound speech which cannot be condemned." They convey the idea of "edification," the main work, after all, of the Christian minister, who cannot be always "laying the foundation."

The Gospel at Philippi, and other Sermons. Preached at St Matthias Church, Dublin, by the Rev. MAURICE F. DAY, Matthias Incumbent. Dublin George Herbert. 1865.

We notice these as bearing some resemblance to the foregoing. The reflections suggested by the history are natural, and we are glad to think that such sermons are preached at St Matthias Church, Dublin.

A Study of Trilinear Co ordinates, being a consecutive series of seventy-two Propositions in Transversals. By the Rev. HUGH MARTIN, M.A., Free Greyfriars, Edinburgh. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xxiv. Edinburgh: Printed for the Society by Neil & Co. 1865.

Such esculents as those termed "Transversals" and "Trilinear Coordinates" were very appropriately laid upon the table of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and were doubtless regarded by the savans assembled around the festive board as both savoury and nutritious food; but they are not just the sort of viands in demand among students of theology, and especially among those who may, without offence, be denominated "the weaker brethren." The author, in sending us a copy of his paper, did not expect it should be noticed in the Review, but we take advantage of its coming to indicate a certain theological bearing which it and similar productions possess.

When the well known Bishop of Natal made so slashing an attack on the genuineness and authenticity of the Pentateuch, the idea naturally arose in some quarters that the evidence for the older portion of the inspired record no longer satisfied the mathematical intellect of the church. Publications like that of Mr Martin's are fitted, in no slight degreee, to remove such an impression. Our author, who, when at Marischal College, gained the highest mathematical honours open to competition, has in the present paper treated a theme in abstract science, more advanced, if we mistake not, than any on which Colenso has as yet addressed the world; while the publication of the essay in the transactions of the Royal Society is tantamount to an admission, on the part of that learned body, that the communication laid before them is an addition to the sum of human knowledge on the subject of which it treats. Yet Mr Martin has all along evinced the strongest faith in Moses and the older dispensation which so effectually prepared the way for the divine Redeemer, and that later and clearer revelation on which rest our best hope for the future world.

Lives of Great Men. By the late FREDERICK MYERS, M.A., Incumbent of St John's, Keswick. 5th Edition. James Nisbet & Co. 1861. "It is difficult," says Mr Tarlton, the Secretary of the Young Men's Association, in his preface to this volume, "for men of one church and nation to understand the men of another. This difficulty Mr Myers overcame by his rare love of truth, and by the power of sympathising with goodness in all its forms, which were his in a peculiar degree. In the beauty, the freshness, and the fulness of these lectures, may be seen the results of the patient care of a mind of special gifts, and of deep and large cultivation." The volume embraces Martin Luther, Christopher Columbus, Francis Xavier, Peter of Russia, John Wycliffe, Sir Thomas More, Thomas Cranmer, Oliver Cromwell, Girolamo Savonarola, Gonzales Ximenes, Gaspard de Coligny, and George Washington a sufficiently varied list, and shewing the catholic spirit of the writer, though we may object to the principle of selection on which it proceeds. The book might more properly have been entitled, Lectures on Distinguished Men. In this catalogue we miss some of the greatest among men; and we find the term Great applied to others, such as Xavier and Ximenes, who, neither in point of character nor of work, can be said to have earned the designation. The author himself, indeed, finds it necessary occasionally, when describing such characters, to qualify his praise to such an extent as greatly to neutralise it; and, had his love to truth permitted him to dwell upon the weak sides of their character, or detail the mischief which they did, the balance might have been turned the opposite way. Still, to all who would see real greatness, struggling under difficulties, surmounting opposition, animated by noble aims, and, by dint of perseverance and self

:

sacrifice, attaining noble ends, this volume will prove interesting, and its perusal can hardly fail to elevate and expand the youthful mind,-leading it, not to hero-worship, which is a grovelling thing, but to hero-copying, which often succeeds in winning something of the greatness which it admires.

Commentary upon Malachi, by Richard Stock. Exercitation upon Malachi, by S. Torshell. Ruth's Recompence, or a Commentary upon Ruth, by Richard Bernard. Commentary on Ruth by T. Fuller. Edin. Nichol. These Commentaries form the third volume for the year of Nichol's Puritan Expository Series, and considerably the largest of the three. Mr Grosart, whose unrivalled Puritan lore has found, we rejoice to see, a wider sphere of professional manifestation, continues in this volume his excellent biographical and critical introductions. His power of historical production places before the reader's view the men "in their habit as they lived." The Puritan worthies he introduces to our attention in this handsome volume belong to the less known section of the witnesses for gospel truth in the seventeenth century. But they are eminently worthy of our regard. The more erudite commentary of Torshell supplements the more popular and practical exposition of Stock; the quaint terseness of Fuller is an equipoise to the more lengthened and elaborate lectures of Bernard. In all of them the person who reads merely for better understanding of the word of God will find much to interest and to edify. And the minister who, either in exposition of these books of Scripture, or in preaching on isolated passages, has to consult them, will find them most valuable helps. There is occasionally the obsolete in science, or the farfetched in imagery, or the mistakes in interpretation; but the dross is small indeed in extent, compared with the extent and richness of the ore. Mr Smith has exercised his usual care in the editing of the volume. This Commentary Series is even more worthy of support by ministers than the former one of Mr Nicol, because the volumes it includes are more uniformly directly useful to the expositors of the word, and they are more rare by far than the chief Puritan doctrinal and experimental treatises.

Heads and Hands in the World of Labour. By W. G. Blaikie, D.D., F.R.S.E., author of "Better Days for Working People," &c. A. Strahan, London. 1865.

To those who are acquainted with Dr Blaikie's former works, the present treatise stands in need of no commendation of ours. The following list of its contents will suffice to shew the extent of ground occupied by the author, and the rich treat which awaits those who take an interest in the social questions of the day. On each of them the author gives the results of wide information and of painstaking personal investigation:-"The World of Labour; Without form and void; Falling into order: Mills and Factories in England; Mills and Factories in Scotland, America, and France; Iron Works and Collieries; Warehouses, Shops, and Offices; Farm Servants and Country Labourers; Sailors and Soldiers; Hints for all; Glimpses of the Future."

A Memoir of the Rev. Richard Davis, For thirty-nine years a Missionary in New Zealand. By the Rev, JOHN NOBLE COLEMAN, M. A., late Incumbent of Ventuor. London: James Nisbet & Co. 1865.

This contribution to the history of missions, which comes so seasonably at a time when the state and prospects of New Zealand are exciting general attention, will be found rich in information regarding the aborigines of that land. It exhibits a graphic portraiture of the New Zealanders in their cannibalism-of native superstitions, atrocities, habits, and disposi

tions. It affords a vivid account of the dangers which then beset the missionaries, and of the progress of the Church Mission, with which Mr Davis was connected, from 1824 to 1863.

The Fatherhood of God: Being the first course of the Cunningham Lectures, delivered before the New College, Edinburgh, in March 1864. By ROBERT S. CANDLISH, D.D., Principal of the New College, and Minister of Free St George's Church. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black. 1865. This very remarkable and important volume was published too late to enable us to do justice to it in our present number. We propose to attempt a careful analysis and estimate of it with more leisure than the ecclesiastically busy month of May could afford.

Discourses. By the Rev. James Gilfillan, Stirling, author of "The Sabbath, viewed in the light of Reason, Revelation, and History," &c. Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot. 1865.

A volume of excellent discourses, composed, for the most part, in the good old style characteristic of the Scottish pulpit, full of good sense and sound theology, and fitted to promote popular edification.

God's Way of Holiness. By HORATIUS BONAR, D.D. London: James Nisbet & Co. 1864.

This is a sequel to "God's Way of Peace," from the same pen. It is marked by all the deep thoughtfulness, terse wisdom, and evangelic unction of the popular writer, and cannot fail to please and profit the attentive reader.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN

EVANGELICAL REVIEW.

OCTOBER 1865.

ART. I.—The Development of the Ancient Catholic
Hierarchy.

A HISTORICAL ESSAY BY PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D.

THE primitive organisation of the Christian church as a

visible body in, though not of, this world, was the apostolical; in other words, the church was ruled by men. directly chosen by the Saviour, infallibly inspired by the Holy Ghost, and entrusted with a mission not confined to any particular charge, but as extensive as the human race. This form of government stands by itself, and differs from all subsequent organisations, which are under the control of fallible men with limited power and jurisdiction. Nevertheless, it lies at the foundation of all later forms of government, and is the permanent fountain of all that is essential and truly valuable in them. For the apostles are not dead, they still live in and for the church, they speak through their inspired writings with absolute authority, and through the testimony of every faithful minister, be he a Greek or Latin or Anglican bishop, or a presbyterian pastor, or a congregational preacher.

The second form of church government known in history may be styled primitive presbyterian or congregational episcopacy, as distinct from modern diocesan episcopacy. It comes clearly to view, first in the famous epistles of Ignatius at the beginning of the second century, and more fully in the writings of the early apologists down to the age of Irenæus and Tertullian. Each bishop here was regarded Y y

VOL. XIV.NO. LIV.