BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

EXPOSÉ DE THEOLOGIE SYSTEMATIQUE, par A. GRETILLAT, Professeur de Theologie a la Faculté Independante de Neuchatel. Tome Troisième: Dogmatique 1. Théologie Spéciale. Cosmologie. Neuchatel, Attinger Frères, Editeurs, 1888.

This volume of Professor Gretillat's Dogmatic contains six hundred and fifty compact pages made up of Prolegomena, Special Theology, and Cosmology. Refusing the premises of the school of Ritschl, the author defines Dogmatic as "the theological science whose aim it is to set forth in systematic order the facts accomplished by God for the salvation of fallen humanity and the original doctrines relating to these facts." The intensely Scriptural character of the volume is intimated by the word we have italicized. Between original and historical Christianity the author draws a very broad line, giving little scope to the authority of the "Christ in us." At the conclusion of an admirable historical treatment of his subject, the tendencies of German thought are characterized as follows: "Das Ding an sich appears to engage the minds of Theologians of renown more than the mystery of piety. Kant cuts a larger figure than St. Paul, and the Christian conscience, like Mary Magdalene, seeking her Saviour among the tombs, asks of science where it has laid Him.” Which shall have priority, the divine will or the laws of reason?" Of these two terms," says Professor Gretillat, "no synthesis is possible and we must declare at once that the good is what God wills and that God wills only the good." The New Testament teaches the distinct existence of three persons in the Godhead, each endowed with self-consciousness and will. 66 It is in the supreme sanctuary of this unique existence that we shall find the resolution of the dualties and antinomies which actually beset our intelligence."

"Scripture and conscience bear witness that no moral creature will be definitively judged until at length enabled to decide, knowingly and voluntarily, for, or against, God; and none will be definitively condemned without having, knowingly, voluntarily, and wickedly, whether in this world or in another, rejected the grace of God in Jesus Christ." "Universalism, if not the end, is at least the aim of God's purpose in history." "Every creature, being called eternally to salvation in perfect holiness, will have received means of grace necessary and sufficient thereto, but the portions given to different moral agents by initial endowment are unequal, being determined unconditionally by the divine will, and the responsibilities incurred by different moral agents are proportioned to the means of grace which they have enjoyed. So much for the divine prothesis.

Defining the act of creation as "the act by which God put voluntarily from Him, yet in permanent dependence upon himself, the totality of finite existence," the author quotes with approval a remark of Charles Secrétan: "We say creation to express the idea that the world is contingent and results from a pure act of will, in opposition to any idea whatever of a necessity inherent in the divine perfections." With similar approval, also, these words of Augustine: "Non est mundus factus in tempore, sed cum tempore."

The genesiac document is the record of "a primitive revelation which

had received polytheistic and pantheistic infiltrations, but was purified and rectified by an illuminated interpreter." "The elohistic portions thereof present man as the most perfect of animated beings, crowning the series of creation; the Jehovistic as the initiation upon earth of the drama of Liberty."

By his perfectibility and individuality man is differentiated from the brute; even the troglodyte presenting four marks of distinct superiority: weapons, fire, design, and sepulture. In his original estate, however, man was not perfect, but mediocre.

Regarding human destiny, Professor Gretillat is not dogmatic. He denies the psychological and ontological premises of the conditionalist theory of Immortality, believing that sin does not imply diminution of being either here or hereafter. "If the selfhood of any individual is to be destroyed (a question which man is unable to decide), it will be the effect, not of slow internal corrosion, but of an act as sovereign as the initial act of creation." It is gratifying to note that the author apprehends the vital points of this discussion and joins square issue with the Conditionalist at the point of Scriptural and philosophical apposition.

In Professor Gretillat's system, Hamartiology is placed between creation and the sustentation of the world. As the Adamitic was preceded by a previous "fall" in the celestial order, Demonology takes the first place in Hamartiology. "All presumptions favor the hypothesis that man displaced Satan in a heritage of which the latter had been deprived by this antecedent fall."

"In physical Nature, laws are immanent in forces and ends in means. In moral Nature, per contra, laws transcend forces, and ends, means. There is, accordingly, no inviolability in the laws of Nature, because there are no natural laws." A miracle is "a divine action, immediately intervening in the regular course of physical forces, to produce an effect which would not have existed without the accession of this superior force."

The volume abounds in eloquent diction, and is characterized by uniform urbanity toward opponents.

METHUEN, MASS.

Charles H. Oliphant.

NOTES ON THE HEBREW TEXT OF THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL, with an Introduction on Hebrew Palæography and the Ancient Versions, and Facsimiles of Inscriptions. By the REV. S. R. DRIVER, D. D., Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. 8vo, pp. xevi, 296. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1890.

This is a second volume of the Clarendon Press series, begun by Mr. Spurrell's "Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Book of Genesis." The plan is to furnish aids to the correct understanding of the Hebrew text, excluding the mass of matter so frequently found in "critical, doctrinal, and homiletical" commentaries. The first volume of the series was greeted with marked expressions of approval, and the one before us is likely to find at least equal favor. As would be expected from the author of the "Hebrew Tenses," this book is especially strong in its elucidation of the syntax.

A marked difference between the two books (Genesis and Samuel) is the amount of corruption of the text. In the Pentateuch this is com

paratively small. In Samuel it is notoriously large. An author of notes on the Hebrew text might indeed refuse to consider the versions, sheltering himself under Dillmann's plea that he started out to explain, not to correct, the traditional text. This unfortunate attitude, which has been too often that of the Old Testament exegete, must be disturbed in the Books of Samuel by the fact that the traditional text is in many places simply inexplicable. Here, if nowhere else, the versions must be consulted, and if here, there is no reason why they should not be methodically compared. Consistency requires this, and Professor Driver has correctly interpreted his mission in that he makes large use of the versions, especially of the Septuagint, which here, as elsewhere, is our most valuable aid to the restoration of the text. In this he has had as predecessors Thenius, Wellhausen, and Klostermann. Indeed, he expresses the fear that he has borrowed too freely from Wellhausen. The fear is needless, as he everywhere shows independence of judgment, and the constant agreement shows the strength of the facts. Towards Klostermann his attitude is one of reserve, and in this he probably voices the sentiment of all who have used Klostermann's brilliant but too often unfounded reconstruction of the text. It can hardly be too strongly asserted that conjectural emendation is only a last resort, and that before its use all available evidence should be thoroughly examined.

The history of the Hebrew text involves, of course, a history of the alphabet or alphabets in which it has been written. For this reason Professor Driver begins his introduction with a discussion of the early history of the Hebrew alphabet. The forms of the letters in this alphabet are illustrated by facsimiles of ancient inscriptions, among them the Siloam inscription and the Carpentras stele. A second section discusses early Hebrew orthography, including the division of words. The chief ancient versions and their character, so far as the Books of Samuel are concerned, occupy the largest part of the introduction, and among them, of course, the Septuagint has the largest share. The author's view may be briefly stated by himself:

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Opinions may differ and, as our data for arriving at a decision are often imperfect, cannot but be expected to differ as to the extent of corruption in the Masoretic text; but of the fact there can be no question. The proof, as was shown by Professor Kirkpatrick . . . is to be found stated briefly in the following facts: (1) There are passages in which the text, as it stands, cannot be translated without violence to the laws of grammar, or is irreconcilable with the context or with other passages; (2) parallel passages (especially parallel lists of names) found in more than one book differ in such a manner as to make it clear that the variations are largely due to textual corruption; (3) the ancient versions contain various readings which often bear a strong stamp of probability upon them, and remove or lessen the difficulties of the Hebrew text.”

It is true that these facts have long been recognized. But they cannot have been generally recognized, or else the Old Testament books would not yet await "such editing as any trained classical scholar would think a matter of course for any Greek or Latin author," and this at a time when the New Testament text has been so carefully and minutely examined as to its documentary evidence. Professor Driver's book even is not a critical edition, but it is in the best sense of the word a critical commentary, and the student who uses it will have a correct idea of the importance of the versions.

Did space permit I should be glad to give a list of the passages in which the author adopts readings which have already been accepted by others. After all, the consent of independent investigators is a good test of truth. This book is another evidence (if any were needed) that the right reading will usually command the majority of votes. What Thenius, Wellhausen, Kirkpatrick, and Driver agree to have been original, we may well adopt, and there are a large number of passages in which this is the case. As the last of the four in point of time, Driver has the advantage of being able to weigh the views already advanced by the others, and where he adopts a reading from one of the versions, he seems to me nearly always to be right. Where our present material is not sufficient, he does not hesitate to say so, as in the "hopelessly corrupt" passage, xiii. 21.

In some cases the author has not been quite radical enough in that he hesitates to restore the reading which he clearly sees to be called for, for example, i. 12, where of the Hebrew evidently should be 7 (Kai eyevýon, G.). The mistake of a scribe is easily accounted for under the influence of the preceding forms. In ii. 32 the passage complained of as corrupt is lacking in B, and may safely be cut out. In iv. 13 the phrase 777 might possibly be "the Mizpah road," so that the Hebrew is not necessarily corrupt. In v. 4 Lagarde's restoration (17, Proph. Chald. LI.) might have been noted. is rendered кaì è¤éßλever, pointing to neither of which is noticed by Driver. difficult are familiar in poetic passages?

The unusual in vii. 2 (Cappellus), or 5 (Ewald), In x. 27 (xi. 1) may not the contain the preposition in the form with which we

These are absolutely the only cases in ten chapters in which the work might have been supplemented, and they are of minor importance. This fact alone speaks in its commendation more loudly than quoting with approval the hundreds of cases that must command assent. Probably no better book could be put into the hand of the student as an introduction to Hebrew syntax and to the textual criticism of the Old Testament. The problems of literary criticism are touched only as they are connected with the criticism of the text. In regard to them the author is candid but conservative. Henry Preserved Smith.

LANE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, CINCINNATI, OHIO.

THE NATURE AND METHOD OF REVELATION. BY GEORGE PARK FISHER, D. D., LL. D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1890.

This book is a tract for the times. It is addressed to a wider circle than that for which theologians are accustomed to write. At the request of the editor of the most widely circulated of our popular magazines Professor Fisher undertook to give its readers an account of a Christian doctrine, that one which deals with the Bible, which shows what place the Scriptures have in the Christian religion. A series of articles was written, and these, revised and supplemented by several important dissertations, make the present volume.

A book made under these circumstances is, leaving the value of its contents out of consideration, an interesting sign of the times. It indicates a widespread desire for information concerning the doctrine treated

of.

The editor of a magazine so enormously popular as the "Century" may be presumed to know as few Americans do what the intelligent people of the country are thinking about. The articles which he prints, the more didactic ones, at all events, treat of subjects in which he believes the public to be especially interested. His asking Professor Fisher to write about the Bible rather than about the Atonement or the Trinity, or any other Christian doctrine, is a good reason for believing that a multitude of our people are asking what they ought to think about the Bible, and about its place among the facts and forces of the Christian religion.

Professor Fisher's name gives good reason for expecting that the book before us will do much toward supplying the want of which it is itself an indication. He has shown himself in his other works amply able to write upon the difficult theme in hand not only an able book, but an admirably effective one. The unusual combination in his mind of the historical spirit with philosophical depth, his breadth of view, calmness, candor, and capacity of sympathizing with minds differently constituted from his, joined to the lucidity of his thought and style, qualify him as hardly any one else among us is qualified for addressing the general pubupon such a topic.

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While his professional labors have been given not to Biblical theology, but to church history, he could not but be well acquainted with the methods and results of the former, and his historical discipline has doubtless given him a general view of the facts and processes embodied in the Bible which would hardly be gained by devotion to the special problems of Biblical study.

Coming to the book itself, it has the substantial excellence and skill of treatment of which its authorship gives expectation.

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Professor Fisher wisely discards the external method of treating the Bible; that which deals only with the composition of its several writings, goes to the heart of the matter by presenting it in its connection with the great facts in which God has revealed himself to mankind. "The fundamental reality," he says, "is not the Bible, it is the kingdom of God. This is not a notion. Rather is it a real historical fact, and the grandest of all facts." The existence of the Gospels and apostolic epistles is due to that of the spiritual society founded by Jesus Christ.

The historical and prophetic writings which compose the Hebrew canon came into being because a religious life had been planted and had thriven in Israel. To that out of which these Scriptures came and to which they bear witness, must men go for the knowledge of God, so far as this can be gained from any earthly facts. Here is God revealing himself in miracle, in inspired minds, in the advancing moral and spiritual life of a religious people, in the character and work of One unique among men, in the society which He founded. These facts, slowly evolving during a long period of human history, are revealing facts in a peculiar sense. know them is to know God as He sets Himself before the sons of men. Wherein, then, lies the confessedly unique value of the Scriptures? In this, that they are immediately connected with these facts and bear their stamp. To use Professor Fisher's words:

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"They are the documents that make us acquainted with the kingdom in its consecutive stages up to its completed form. In the Scriptures we are made acquainted with the facts and the meaning of the facts. And as in the case of all documentary materials viewed in contrast with literary products of later