Luther, and we can of course readily appreciate their admiration of him. He laid the foundations of a system which will ever stand as the best monument of his genius and moral heroism. He gave the Bible to his countrymen, and many of his other works are still dear to their hearts. They are right in honouring him. Der Gustav-Adolf Verein. Ein wort von ihm und für ihm. ("The THE details contained in these two works rather belong to missionary operations and benevolent endeavours to provide churches and schools, than to our domain. We nevertheless commend them to the notice of our readers, because they supply some facts in the religious history of Germany and other lands in which the excellent Gustavus Adolphus Society dispenses its liberality. The illustrations are numerous and interesting, and the two works throw light upon the past and present of many Christian communities. They are published with a benevolent intention, but will none the less have a permanent value. several respects they occupy common ground, but the second is the more comprehensive. In Commentar über den Brief Pauli an die Galater, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Lehre und Geschichte des Apostels. ("Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. With special reference to the doctrine and history of the Apostle.") By Dr. KARL WIESELer. With an Excursus on the chronology and criticism of the text. Göttingen: Dieterich. SOME time has elapsed since this work appeared, but it is not too late to mention it for the advantage of those who wish to make the Epistle to the Galatians their especial study. The author's aim is critical rather than practical, and he labours to elucidate the sense of the text, as he says, with special reference to St. Paul's teaching and history. The conclusions of other expositors are freely discussed, and those of the writer are plainly stated and ably defended. He shews an exemplary acquaintance with the text of the New Testament, as well as with the literature of the subject, and probably none will deny that he writes in a very commendable spirit. In our estimation the book is a really useful one, and often brings out clearly the more delicate shades of thought and reference which abound in this important Epistle. It is no slight recommendation to us, that Dr. Wieseler recognizes the importance and sacred character of the Epistle which he has expounded so carefully in this interesting volume. Essays: Ethnological and Linguistic. By the late JAMES KENNEDY, Esq., LL.B. Edited by C. M. KENNEDY, B.A. 8vo, pp. 230. London Williams and Norgate. 1861. A CRITICAL examination of this volume would require a larger space than we can at present give to it; we shall therefore only make such remarks as may aid our readers in forming a proper estimate of it. The editor intimates that most of the essays were read before the Ethnological Society, and were intended as an introduction to two other works; one on the Basque language and people, and one on the knowledge of America possessed by the ancients. Some of the papers have been previously published, and others now appear for the first time. The essays are eight in number, and the editor has added two notes in the appendix. In the first essay, "On the Ancient Languages of France and Spain," it is inferred that the Aquitani and Iberi were Gaelic. We are not convinced of the justness of all the conclusions in this paper. For instance, among the traces of the ancient Spanish, we have not only such words as garzon, a boy; nada, nothing; and carada, a coat; but ladron (latro), a thief; pared (paries), a house-wall; tierra (terra), earth; miel (mel), honey, etc. The former, it is clear, are not Latin, and may be Gaelic; but we demur altogether to the statement that the latter (ladron, etc.) first came to the Latin from the Gaelic. Nevertheless, there are many things in the essay which merit careful consideration. The ethnology and civilization of the ancient Britons forms the subject of the second essay, and is treated in a very interesting manner. The third article consists of suggestions respecting the nationality and language of the ancient Etruscans, who, the author maintains, belonged to the Pelasgi, supplanted a Celtic race, and came from Asia Minor. The next paper is headed, "Ethnological notices of the Philippine Islands, taken from the Spanish," and very interesting it is. The fifth essay, "On the probable origin of the American Indians, with particular reference to that of the Caribs," abounds in facts and observations calculated to throw light upon an obscure and difficult problem. The subject is taken up again in some of its features in the following paper. Although we should by no. means admit all the opinions of the learned author in these ethnological papers, we admire his learning, candour, and ability, and we rejoice to find him saying that it is "the peculiar province of ethnology to trace the different families of mankind in their respective courses, so as to prove the validity of the great and generous doctrine of the unity of the human species by which we are all linked together-of one blood is every nation of men. A useful and suggestive article, "Hints on the formation of a new English Dictionary," is followed by one on the "Question of the supposed Lost Tribes of Israel." We commend this to all who believe in the loss of the tribes in question, and who have faith in one or other of the thousand theories concerning them. There is as much said of the disappearance of these tribes as if they had been ten nations instead of so many clans; or as if their disappearance were a singular and unparalleled phenomenon. We have before us a list of ancient nations, and we can point to scores among them whose disappearance is as sudden and more inexplicable than that of the ten family tribes of Israel. The Bible itself supplies us with numerous like examples. It would be pleasant to follow the Jewish tribes along the stream of time, and we can quite understand how it is that so much anxiety is felt in regard to them. It is imagined that their separate existence is vouched for by the Bible, and hence they have been everywhere sought for. Literally in every quarter of the globe, and almost in every kingdom, the wandering Jew or the lost sheep of Israel have been looked for. A recent author, Dr. Moore, whose book was reviewed by us in April last,' imagines that the Israelites became the Sacæ, and that the Sacæ became Saxons, so that we may be the descendants of Jacob,—a very unlikely supposition. The same author found the lost tribes in Afghanistan, Burmah, and we know not where else. And here we may observe, what is not stated in the review of Dr. Moore's book, that his theory deriving the Saxons (Sacarum fili) from the Sacæ is explained, but rejected, by Robert Sheringham in his De Anglorum gentis Origine Disceptatio, published so long since as 1670. Sheringham indeed informs us that the inventor of the hypothesis was Goropius Becanus, a Belgian physician, who tried to prove that Adam spoke Teutonic or German. The idea of Becanus (who died in 1572) was warmly defended by Nic. Cisner (who died in 1583) and others. Returning to the ten tribes, we are glad to find it stated that the Bible really does not countenance the common notion. As for the fourth book of Esdras, the author may well say it "may certainly be pronounced to be as worthless as any in the Apocryphal collection," and worthy of the character given it by Dean Prideaux, as "a bundle of fables, too absurd for the belief of the Romanists themselves, for they have not taken this book into their canon." The admission into this volume of the note, "on the six days of the creation," is a decided mistake. Mr. Kennedy was not mighty in the department of Hebrew philology and criticism, or he would never call the word day a mistaken translation of the Hebrew . To translate it by any other word would be to give a commentary and not a version. Still greater is the author's error in praising the scholarship and renderings of Bellamy, whose translation is a caricature, and whose imagination led him into the absurdest blunders. This work of Bellamy's was ably handled, among others, by the Rev. J. W. Whittaker, fellow of St. John's, Cambridge, in 1819, and we thought it was past a resurrection. We hope the note which lauds it will be left out in a second edition. Another note on the world's chronology is practical, sensible, and useful. The editor's note on the traces of Phoenician colonization in Central America reminds us that the ten tribes have been looked for there, and that so-called ancient Hebrew inscriptions have been found in Ohio quite lately. We remember too that the author of a curious tract, De J. S. L., Vol. XIII., p. 195. แ Origine Animalium et Migratione Populorum, scriptum Abrahami Milii, (Geneva, 1667,) thinks he finds traces of America in the Old Testament. He supposes that Parvaim (2 Chron. iii. 6) means Peru, although we should connect it with Sepharvaim. He goes further, and calls Ophir a transposition of Peru, and identifies Sepher with the Andes, Quæ omnia sane verisimillimum efficiunt Ophir et Pervajim Salomonis esse ipsam Americanam terram." The views of Milius would find little favour now, and yet Mr. C. M. Kennedy holds that "a tolerably accurate knowledge of the country (America) was obtained by the Phonicians or Carthaginians, and perhaps by both people." It may have been so; we cannot tell. The indications we have given of the subjects discussed in this volume will, we hope, tempt our readers to study it. In some departments of philology and ethnology James Kennedy was very accomplished, and although he seems to have been somewhat biassed in favour of certain races, he was nevertheless a sincere, laborious, and successful explorer. If for nothing but its facts, this collection of essays deserves to be associated with those of Garnet, Latham, and Colebrooke. We should add, that Mr. Kennedy had a most praiseworthy reverence for the Bible. Leben und Ausgewählte Schriften der Väter und Begründer der Lutherischen Kirche. ("Lives and select Writings of Fathers and Founders of the Lutheran Church.") Dr. K. J. NITZSCH, General Editor. I. Melanchthon, by Dr. C. Schmidt; II. Urbanus Rhegius, by Dr. G. Uhlhorn. 8vo. Elberfeld: R. L. Frederichs. 1861. THESE are the first two volumes of a series, the publication of which is a sequence of a corresponding series of lives, etc., of fathers and founders of the Reformed Church, which is still not quite completed, and if executed with as much ability as its forerunner, it will merit the extensive patronage which its cost to the proprietors and very low price to the public must render necessary. The life of Melanchthon by Dr. Schmidt is an elaborate production of over 720 pages, and its author has brought into it nearly all we can either know or wish to know respecting that great man. A portrait has been prefixed after Lukas Kranach. The second volume by Dr. Uhlhorn, containing the life of Urban Rhegius, brings before us a man whose memoirs are less known than his name. Although older than Melanchthon, and an active and powerful promoter of the Reformation, Rhegius never approached the eminence to which Melanchthon attained. He was a diligent student, and a copious writer, as is shewn by his works in three volumes folio, and the versatility of his talents brought him honour and distinction. The labours and vicissitudes of his career are very fully described in Dr. Uhlhorn's work, which is well designed to exhibit his character in its true light. We do not know that we can do better than recommend such as are interested in the great events of the Reformation period to read both the works indicated above. They will be found to afford valuable general and literary as well as personal information, and so far as we can see, are reliable and impartial. Egyptian Hieroglyphics: being an attempt to explain their Nature, Origin, and Meaning. With a Vocabulary. By SAMUEL SHARPE. 8vo. London: Maxon and Co. 1861. Our THE first mention of Egypt in the Bible is in the time of Abraham; but the same name, Mizraim, occurs in the tenth chapter of Genesis for one of the sons of Ham. Mizraim, or the founder of Egypt, is called the father of the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim. From the Casluhim the Philistim are said to have descended. The question may be asked whether the Ludim, Anamim, and the rest, remained in Egypt and its vicinity, or whether they disseminated themselves over other lands. own impression is, that they are all to be looked for in and around the land of Mizraim, or Egypt. This being the case, we can readily understand why the population of those parts rapidly increased, and a strong nation was early constituted. The people thus compacted, and occupying some of the most fertile regions, gave themselves to the study of all that could add to their social comfort, luxury, and dignity, as well as all that could refine and instruct the intellect. In art, science, and literature, they far excelled many other nations, and the monuments of their skill which yet remain are among the most stupendous and various which can well be imagined. The study of these monuments is a curious and important one, and has attracted some of the most ingenious and devoted explorers. From one department especially it was hoped that a flood of light would be poured upon early Egyptian history. We allude to the hieroglyphics, the general appearance of which is familiar to us all. The discovery of the Rosetta stone gave an impulse to enquiries in this direction, and perseverance has been so far rewarded that an intelligible meaning has been assigned to a large number of characters and inscriptions. It is at present hard to say what our clear gain is from this quarter. Not only are Egyptologers disagreed as to the force of some of the symbols, but even where they agree in respect to them, they are divided as to the chronology which should be framed out of them. To ascertain the name of a king is one thing, but it is another to determine when he lived. cording to some, the kings followed each other in a long succession, extending over many thousand years before the Christian era. Others, however, maintain that some of these kings were synchronistic, and that consequently the period covered by them is a much shorter one. The idea of a plurality of kings at one time is very distasteful to those who advocate the longer chronology. But it may be observed, that the arguments for the contrary opinion are such as to render it highly probable. Egypt was divided into provinces, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that at an early date those provinces were kingdoms as distinct as the Saxon heptarchy. Diversities of dialect long continued, Ac |