at the Bible Christian Book Room, which by this time we presume has been removed to London. The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham and the vicinage. By G. M. TWEDDELL. To be completed in 12 parts, 6d. each.-Part IX. London: John Russell Smith. 1869. To some of our readers this work, as a whole, will not be without interest; but we notice the present part because it contains a portrait and biographic sketch of an esteemed contributor to the Methodist Quarterly, Dr. J. R. Robinson, of Dewsbury. The Sabbath and the Sabbath Law before and after Christ. By JAMES H. RIGG, D.D. London: Longman, Green, and Co. 1869. WE have a high appreciation of the productions of Dr. Rigg's pen. He generally elucidates the subject on which he treats, and whether you coincide with his views or not, you see it in a clearer light. The pamphlet we now bring before our readers consists of papers originally contributed to the Sunday Magazine. They are deserving of this separate publication, and we hope will meet with a wide circulation, and a careful perusal from all into whose hands they may fall. A brief extract from the preface will illustrate the spirit and object of the pamphlet. "I believe that a Pharisaic spirit in our churches, and a Rabbinic, and therefore Anti-Christian, method of expounding the Law of the Sabbath, have done not a little harm to the holy cause of true Sabbath-keepinghave gone far towards bringing a reproach on the cause of Sabbath sanctity before the general public, and especially the working poor of our country. If High Church laxity has done harm in one way, the hyper-legalism and hard sanctimony of extreme Puritanical literalism have operated almost as injuriously in another way. At the same time I believe the rest and worship of the Sabbath are among the most blessed of our institutions for the race, and are to be maintained on the basis of a Divine law -the fourth commandment." The Immediate Blessedness of Departed Saints, or the Soulsleeping theory confuted. A Discourse delivered at the Methodist New Connexion Conference, Waterdown (Canada), June 6th, 1869. By the REV. W. COCKER, D.D. Published by request. Toronto: Globe Printing Co. 1869. We have read this Sermon with great pleasure. It is marked by the sound reasoning and chaste eloquence which characterised Dr. Cocker's productions when in this country. If we had space we would gladly give the general outline of the discourse, and its fine peroration. But we have room for only praise. THE METHODIST QUARTERLY. JUNE, 1870. ART. I.-DR. HANNA'S LIFE OF OUR LORD. 1. The Earlier Years of our Lord's Life on Earth; 1864. 2. The Ministry in Galilee; 1868. 3. The Close of the Ministry; 1869. 4. The Passion Week; 1866. 5. The Last day of our Lord's Passion; 1862. By the REV. WILLIAM HANNA, D.D., L.L.D. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. Foolscap 8vo. Price 5s. each. THESE volumes are a valuable portion of the fruit which the renewed interest in the person and work of Christ has of late years produced. In the beginning of this century other aspects of revealed truth received most attention; but in our day the relation of Christ to God and man has been the most engrossing subject of theological discussion. Consequent on this revival, the books in which His life and teachings are professed to be recorded have been examined afresh, and their claims, authority, and composition submitted to tests more searching than were ever previously applied. It was natural that when, after a slumber, men, aroused by the mythical theory of Strauss, awoke up to study anew the life of Christ, they should eagerly turn to their sacred books to correct or confirm their faith on this the most important of all subjects, and should present to the world what they severally found therein. Hence the literature of this generation has been enriched by many works on Inspiration and Christology; for in an age in which one of these subjects is criticised, the other will not and cannot be neglected. Although for a short period the Christian Church, absorbed by other matters, may seem to dismiss these topics from its thoughts, yet they cannot long be either absent or uninfluential; M for they are inseparably connected with its life and development. When it is comparatively indifferent to the supernatural power by which it was called into being, and the divine foundation on which it rests, it becomes so blind and weak that it can neither see its course nor do its work. Such times of intellectual sloth have always been marked by moral decrepitude. An excitement with respect to its origin and mission has invariably been followed by a robuster health and more successful aggression. We need, therefore, rather to cherish thankfulness and hope on account of the general and fearless scrutiny to which both the authority of Scripture and the claims of Christ are subjected, than to feel and express apprehensions for the safety of the Ark of God, or the honour of His Divine Son; for by this ordeal the truth respecting each will only be more clearly elicited, and the supports of our faith be more firmly established. It The nature and the consequences of the claims which Christ made were sure to bring His person, words, and works early within the region of speculation and controversy. They assert and involve something so grand and unique that the mind of man could not long accept them quietly without examination. Hence in the days of the Apostles discussion thereon grew to considerable and serious proportions. could not be kept within orthodox bounds, but wandered into various heresies. The popular notion that the primitive Church was exceptionally pure either in doctrine or morals, is unfortunately refuted by the epistles of St. Paul; for at Corinth, Colosse, and Ephesus he had to grapple not only with errors in speculation, but with divergencies from moral right; while his letters to Timothy, as well as those of St. John, show how wide and dangerously pervasive was the leaven of evil. The history of the early days of the Church proves, too, that there is a connection between errors in doctrine and errors in practice, and that when a central doctrine is ignored the injury is not only felt in connection with moral duties but also in the related truths still professed to be held. No wonder then that St. Paul felt it to be a great part of his work to contend earnestly for the faith against all theorisers and heretics; consequently his letters abound with rebukes of their opinions, and appeals to the churches he had founded to maintain the simplicity of the Gospel received by them. It was principally around the doctrine of the person of Christ that the controversies of the first five centuries raged. Christianity, having its fundamental doctrine in the perfect union of the divine and human accomplished in Christ, came in consequence of this into antagonism alike with Judaism and heathenism. The principle of Hebraism abides by the distinction of these; that of heathenism by their amalgamation. Christianity presents the distinction brought to unity, or a unity of which the distinctions are the pre-supposition and abiding elements. Where, therefore, heathenism or Judaism does not transcend its essence, a Christian heresy is not at all possible. It is not peculiarly Christian to believe that Jesus was a man, though the true manhood of Christ is an essential momentum of Christianity, for Jews and Mohammedans also believe that; nor is it peculiarly Christian to believe in a divine in the general, or indeed in a supreme being distinct from God as the ön, without an incarnation of this divine, and that in Christ; for we find what is akin to this beyond the pale of Christianity; and even the name Christ, which may through the historical influence of Christianity be given to such a higher being, does not in the least alter the thing itself. Doketism and Ebionism, when both are consequent, stand thus on the outermost verge, to go beyond which is to cease to be Christian, especially when there did not, through a wholesome inconsequence, lie preformed a higher Christology in a purer construction of the work of Christ."* In the latter half of the first century the germs of subsequent dissensions were very plentiful. It is interesting and instructive to note how soon the truth concerning the Master was discussed and dissected by His professed servants; we should be glad if we could add that this was done always in a becoming spirit, and with gracious results; but the contrary was frequently the case. If we look at only one of the churches, that of Colosse, we find that in the year sixty-four its faith was in process of perversion. Some Alexandrian Jews there, professing a belief in Christianity, but deeply imbued with the philosophy of the school of Philo, joined thereto Rabbinical theosophy, angelology, and a high asceticism. In depreciation of Christ, they ascribed the creation and government of the world to a Being they styled the Demiurge, distinct from the man Jesus, who they declared was simply one of the angelic hierarchy. A knowledge of the kind of heresy taught in the Colossian Church, gives the reader a fuller power to appreciate some wonderful passages found in that epistle of St. Paul. But Colosse was not different from most of the other churches. "In the meantime, however," says Gieseler (Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1, p. 114), History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ. By Dr. J. A. Dorner. Vol. 1, p. 185. "speculation relative to the higher nature of Christ and the essence of Christianity, attached itself to the more general questions respecting the creation of the world and the origin of evil. Here the Alexandrine Jewish philosophy presented itself as a pattern. The idea of the Logos in particular was borrowed from it for the purpose of explaining the higher nature of Christ. John followed this speculation in his Gospel, in order to divert it from the region of a fruitless hyper-philosophy into a consideration of the moral efficacy of the Logos. It went astray, however, at the present time, falling into that false Gnosis which denies the fundamental principles of Christianity, and which the Apostle Paul had already predicted as respects its essence. The first Christian-Gnostic system was that of Cerinthus, in which, however, the Gnosis did not yet attain a consistent development, but was obliged to accommodate itself to many Jewish opinions." While the Christian system was winning its way to success and power, various attempts were made to define and maintain a right Scriptural creed; but, as our readers know, this was not done by the Church as a whole until the fourth century. It is a significant fact that the first four Ecumenical Councils were occupied respectively in discussing some heretical doctrine concerning Christ, and in ascertaining the opposite Scriptural teaching. The Council held at Nicoa in 325, condemned the doctrine of Arius that Christ was essentially and totally distinct from the Father, was only the first and noblest of those created beings whom God formed out of nothing, and therefore was inferior to Him both in nature and dignity; and pronounced that Christ was of the same essence (homoöusios) with the Father. In 381, the second Council assembled at Constantinople, composed of 150 Bishops; Apollinarius had impugned the real humanity of Christ, holding that the divine nature supplied the place of a soul, and the Council denounced his heresy, defining at the same time the doctrine of the Trinity. Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, in the fifth century, taught that the two natures in Christ should be discriminated, and a distinction made between the Son of God and the Son of Man; the third great Council, presided over by Cyril, met at Ephesus in 431, and in banishing Nestorius and censuring his doctrine it declared that Christ consisted of one divine person, yet of two natures, most closely united, but not mixed or confounded. Avoiding the error of Nestorius, Eutyches ran to the opposite extreme, for he maintained that there was only one nature in Christ, as Apollinarius had previously done, namely, that of the Word, |