have lived. The words by which they were once expressed no longer suggest to the popular consciousness the meanings which they were originally designed to convey. They are like fossils imbedded in the strata of our current speech, witnesses of a former life, remains of extinct species, the shell or skeleton outlasting the animating principle to which it owed its particular organic form. Or they may be compared to broken columns of an ancient architecture wrought into some modern edifice, which by their peculiarity of style still betray their real origin. Thus our current designation of the days of the week is a standing proof that they who so named them were idolaters; yet no one in speaking of Sunday thinks of it as dedicated to the sun, or in speaking of Monday has any idea of paying homage to the moon. No one is ever charged with giving credit to astrology, and believing that the stars control the destinies of men, because he uses such words as disaster, lunacy, mercurial, martial, saturnine; and yet the existence of these words is evidence that this belief did once prevail.

Past events and customs no longer observed may, in like manner, leave their record in language. The Saxon names we give to living animals, while the same animals slain for food bear Norman names, are echoes of the Norman conquest and of the exactions for their table levied by the lordly conquerors from the subject peasantry. The word September suggests to us that what is now the ninth, was once the seventh month of the year; and February tells us of the expiation customary as the year was closing, Bank reminds us from what small beginnings our great moneyed institutions have arisen, when fiscal transactions were conducted upon a bench in the street, which bench was broken in cases of failure and its owner declared bankrupt. We still speak of calculation, though the process so denominated is no longer performed by means of pebbles; of ballots, though little balls are not now used; of the exchequer, though the table with its checked cover is gone; of candidates, though they are not robed in white; of manumission, though the forms of Roman law are dispensed with; of the pound sterling, in spite of the diminution of its weight; and of the chancellor, though the lattice work has been taken away.

We extend a cordial welcome to the interesting and instruc

tive volumes named at the head of this article, whose contents we have had in mind throughout the train of remark in which we have indulged. The science of language, as at present understood and prosecuted, has sprung up so recently, and has been developed with such amazing rapidity, that those who have not had their attention specially directed to it are scarcely aware of its existence or claims. And yet it has already attained such dimensions, established such relations with other branches of inquiry, and is withal possessed of such intrinsic interest and importance, that no educated man can afford to be ignorant of its methods and results.

We know of no work accessible to English readers in which so satisfactory a view of this subject can be obtained in so brief a compass and in so attractive a form. The general scholar will find it an admirable compend of just the information that he seeks, while they who desire to enter upon the comparative study of language with more thoroughness and in fuller detail, will do well to begin with the careful perusal of these volumes, for the sake not only of their masterly outline view of the whole field and the skilful presentation of first principles, but the copious hints and suggestions which will prove an invaluable guide in the further prosecution of their inquiries. And even those for whom philology in its broader aspects has few charms, if they desire to understand the mechanism of our own language, at least upon its classic side, and possess the results of the latest and best investigations, conducted upon a solid scientific basis, instead of the crudities and random guesses current in most of the accessible authorities, will feel that the article on Comparative English Etymology, with its satisfactory analysis of more than three thousand six hundred words, is worth the cost of the entire work.

ART. IV.-A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical. By Dr. JOHN P. LANGE, Professor of Theology at the University of Bonn, assisted by a number of Continental Divines. Translated into English, with Additions, original and selected, by Dr. PHILIP SCHAFF, in connection with a number of American Divines of various denominations. New York: Charles Scribner. Vol. I., containing the General Introduction and the Gospel of Matthew. By Dr. Lange and the American Editor. 1864.

Ir is an argument of no mean force for the divine origin and character of the Bible, that it has been the subject of more discourses and commentaries than any other book or class of books, and constantly invites new investigation, with the promise of a plentiful reward. Fathers, schoolmen, reformers, and modern critics, German, French, English, or American, have dug in its mines of truth, and brought forth precious ore for the benefit of their age and generation, and the long line of commentators will never break off until our faith is turned into vision, and we shall know even as we are known.

Exegesis has its history, like every other branch of theological science. It has its productive and its digestive periods, its periods of rise and decline. Prominent among the productive epochs are three: the age of the fathers; the age of the reformers; and the age of modern critics and scholars. The first laid the foundation of Catholic, the second that of Evangelical theology, the third makes respectful use of both, but is more critical, scientific, and liberal in its character and method, and seems to open new avenues for the future and ever deepening development of Christian theology.

The patristic exegesis of a Chrysostom and Theodoret, Jerome and Augustine, is, to a large extent, the mature result of a victorious conflict of ancient Christianity with Ebionism, Gnosticism, Arianism, Pelagianism, and other radical heresies which stimulated the fathers to a vigorous investigation and defence of revealed truth. The exegetical works of Luther and Calvin, and the other reformers, breathe throughout a polemical spirit against the peculiar dogmas and traditions of Roman

ism. So the modern evangelical exegesis of Germany has grown up on the battle-field of Christian truth against the gigantic foes of rationalism and infidelity.

If Germany should succeed in the end in thoroughly routing the most scientific and most powerful forms which heresy has ever assumed, it will achieve as great a work as it did by the Reformation of the sixteenth century. For now the very foundations of Christianity are called into question, and the life of the Saviour itself is turned into a myth. Inspiration is denied, and the sacred writers dissected and criticised like any profane author of ancient Greece and Rome. Never before has the Bible been assailed with so much learning, acumen, and perseverance as during the last fifty years in Germany, and within the last few years in England. Never before has it been subjected to such thorough and extensive critical, philological, historical, antiquarian, and theological investigation and research. But never before has it been more zealously and thoroughly vindicated, and defended with the help of all the means which the latest advances of classical and oriental philology and antiquarian investigation have made available. The productivity of the German mind in the critical, exegetical, and historical field has been intense and prodigious during the present century. It is almost impossible to keep up with the ever-multiplying commentaries on almost every book of the sacred canon, but more especially on the Gospels, the Life of Christ, and the Epistles of the New Testament.

In view of this immense activity still going on, it is high time now, and a very favourable juncture, such as rarely occurs, for the publication of a large and comprehensive commentary, which should, from a truly evangelical point of view, present the best and most valuable results of this last creative period of exegesis, and make them available for the practical benefit of ministers and intelligent laymen, thus forming a bridge between the scientific divines and the congregation of the people.

Such a Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament is the one which is now in course of preparation and publication under the editorial supervision of the Rev. Professor Dr. John Peter Lange, in Bonn. It is intended to

be a Theological and Homiletical Commentary, a treasurehouse to the pastor, and an exegetical library in itself. The idea originated with the publishers, and the execution was intrusted to a distinguished divine, who is peculiarly qualified for such a work. Dr. Lange is undoubtedly one of the ablest and best men whom Germany has given to the world. He combines a rare variety of talents as a divine, a philosopher, a preacher, and a poet. But he has more than talent, he is a real genius, of extraordinary fertility of mind, and abounding in original and fresh ideas. For the more sober class of minds. he is somewhat too imaginative and fanciful, but this feature is not so prominent in his later works, and his fancies are always pious, suggestive, and edifying. He is a profoundly spiritual Christian, evangelical and orthodox in all the fundamental articles of faith, yet liberal and truly catholic. He has written a considerable number of works, poetical, theological, and literary. He was one of the earliest and most successful opponents of Strauss, and was elected professor in Zurich after the defeat of Strauss in 1839, as the one best qualified to represent the opposite side. Several years ago he was called to a professorship in Bonn. He is a moderate Calvinist, (German Reformed,) but without any sectarian exclusiveness. His most important works are a system of Christian Dogmatics, in three volumes, and a Life of Jesus Christ, of which an English translation, in six volumes, has just been published by Messrs. Clark in Edinburgh.

These previous labours, especially the comprehensive and profound work on the life of Christ, gave him the best preparation for the Commentary, to which he is now devoting his whole time and strength, and which will long survive him as the most valuable and useful work of his life. He has associated with him a number of German, Swiss, and Dutch divines, distinguished for sound theological learning, pulpit eloquence, and practical evangelical piety, as Dr. van Oosterzee of Utrecht, Dr. Lechler of Leipzig, Dr. Gerok of Stuttgart, Dr. Moll of Königsberg, Drs. Auberlen and Riggenbach of Basel, Dr. Kling, Dr. Fronmüller, and others.

The publication of the work commenced in 1857, with the first, volume, containing the General Introduction, and the