66 tainly been more extensive and varied than falls to the lot of ordinary mortals. The probabilities are that he is mistaking dreams for realities, his imagination for facts. That "whole sects and communities of Christians," or that even one sect and community fails to be merged in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States," simply because it has not taken to itself the name, and the silly if not the Pharisaic presumption implied in the name, "The Holy Catholic Church of the United States of America," is altogether improbable. There is not a sect of Christians in the United States that does not consider itself as justly entitled to be called the Holy Catholic Church, and with as good reason, too, as does the Protestant Episcopal Church, which is at the best only another sect; and to say that there are sects only waiting for the Episcopal Church to assert that it alone is the Holy Catholic Church, before they renounce their own name and organization and become voluntarily swallowed up by such a pretender, seems to us to betray great ignorance of what these sects stand for, and of the respect which they have for themselves as branches of the Church of the Living God. Dr. Shinn in his paper comes nearer to what experience will justify us in believing in regard to Church union. than does Mr. Prince. - "It is quite probable," says Dr. Shinn, "that a reorganized Christianity will be quite a different thing from what some of us fancy it will be, and possibly it might not suit us near so well as our present denominations, simply because we have not yet grown up to the broader conception which will be required. Our fondness for insist ing upon minor issues must give place to larger views of the Church. Our disposition to make converts to our way of thinking must be exchanged for willingness to see them become Christ's servants, and our narrow notion that we represent the Church must be replaced by the conviction that the Church is too broad and comprehensive to be represented in its fulness by us. . . . Reunion can be possible only when there is a return to the essential truths of primitive Christianity, and the willingness to permit wide diversities of opinion and usage.' The Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine closes its twentysixth volume with the December number. The contents of this number are, i. God, Rev. S. R. Calthrop; ii. Social Equilibrium, Rev. George Batchelor; iii. Monopolies, Labor Unions and Speculation, Joseph C. Ely; iv. The State of Distress in the German Protestant Church, Prof. W. Hoenig; v. Editor's Note-Book. — Mr. Ely discusses the topics of his paper from a legal standpoint, and makes a very interesting and instructive showing of what is settled by law and the ruling of courts, on these subjects which are now claiming so 66 much attention, and are so superficially considered and disastrously experimented with by many. Prof. Hoenig sees in the recent reconciliation between the new German Empire and the Papacy, portents of evil for Protestantism in Germany. Protestantism is losing ground in that country, and the "Evangelical Church is undergoing a crisis, the end of which, as in the crisis in an illness, it is impossible to foretell." And this is not so much from any greatly developed strength in Catholicism, or inherent weakness of Protestantism, as from indifference, and the growth and tendency of opinions which, if not checked, will work out the ruin of the nation itself. One is the materialism of science, which, from the narrow circle of its origin, has spread far among the educated and half-educated. The other is the doctrine of anarchy, of social democracy, which spares no authority, not even the highest, from which latter, after all, every other is derived. It prevails, unfortunately, among that portion of the poorer population to which religion would prove a real comfort." It is a fact, however, “that during the last ten years Atheism has lost greatly in importance, the time when Moleschott and Büchner appeared to triumph is past, The cultivated mind regards these endeavors with as much apathy as it regards the Church." He also notes the insincerity of many who have influential positions in the Church. who proclaim doctrines which they have outgrown. And he justly regards such an attitude as exerting a demoralizing influence: "for a Church which still upholds the point of view of the sixteenth century, while the majority of her members have advanced with the spirit of the times, must be an untruth. A theology is devoid of veracity, if, instead of following the laws of truth, it has to be content with dogmatic interests." Have we not something like this in America: the retention of creeds which are confessedly outgrown and disbelieved? CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. 1. The History of Pedagogy. By Gabriel Compayré, Deputy, Doctor of Letters, and Professor in the Normal School of Fontenay-aux-Roses. Translated, with an Introduction, Notes and an Index, by W. H. Payne, A.M., Professor of the Science and the Art of Teaching in the University of Michigan, etc., etc. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. 1886. pp. xxvi., 592. $1.60. This book essays to give a clear, comprehensive, analytical view of the historical progress of pedagogy, that is, of education, as the term is commonly understood in this country; and thus to occupy a province but little traversed by English or American writers on educational topics. It has been transformed from the author's previous work, "Critical History of the Doctrines of Education in France since the Sixteenth Cen It tury," and perhaps owes a certain lack of proportion to that fact. goes most extensively into the history and analysis of the work of French educators, and appears to treat the pedagogical researches and experiments of other nations somewhat cursorily; though several exceptions must be noted, The labors of Pestalozzi and Froebel are, as a matter of course, quite fully considered; and among Englishmen, Locke, Spencer, and Alexander Bain receive marked attention. To M. Compayre's estimate of Herbert Spencer's "Education," the translator has added some brief but acute and valuable criticisms. After introductory discussion of various methods that might be adopted in writing a history of education, the author follows the chronological, and proceeds through twenty-two chapters to give an account of the educators of antiquity, of the Middle Ages, of the renaissance, and of modern times, devoting only the first four chapters to a summary account of education prior to the sixteenth century. From that point the history broadens, and becomes remarkable for the number of so-called modern ideas that crop out here and there in the educational field, only to bear little fruit. For instance, Erasmus recommends woman to pursue studies that will assist her in educating her own children, and in sharing her husband's intellectual life. That is common sense in these days; in the days of Erasmns it was quite uncommon sense. Great things, however, were not accomplished for the education of women; and as late as French Revolutionary times, we have Mirabeau declaring that the chief function of women is to perpetuate the species and "to enchain to her feet all the energies of the husband by the irresistible power of her weakness; and Talleyrand proposing a law that "girls shall not be admitted to the primary school after the age of eight." The education of women has made some progress since then, though there are not lacking living men with Middle Age ideas on that subject. The book has a chapter on women as educators. Rabelais appears - curiously enough, it may seem as a writer on pedagogics, and foresees a future of scientific study and of devotion to nature. He would teach gymnastics and cleanliness, though Erasmus held it nonsensical to wash more than once a day, and it was a current notion that "whoever washed, combed and cleansed himself was losing his time in this world." The course of educational history is marked by many whimsicalities, and by the curious recurrence of ideas, such as "that the historic education of the race is the type of individual education," which is traced from Condillac through Comte to Herbert Spencer; and that manual labor, or learning a trade, should form an integral part of every education. Just now one hears much of manual training schools. M. Compayré's book is compact, clear, critical, and unbiased, and of high value to teachers, whom it may restrain from following after theories and methods already proved erroneous, and furnish an often needed inspirain the thought and activity of their predecessors. The position and attainments of the translator furnish a voucher for the accuracy of his work. He has enhanced the value of the original by appending to each chapter an analytical summary, and to the whole book an index. sample of the author's power of clear and close statement may be read in the comparison of Rousseau and Locke (p. 210). His ability to characterize in a single sentence the general tendencies of a writer, is striking, as when he says: "Rousseau often prefers what would be best, but what is impossible, to that which is worth less but which alone is practicable." The spirit with which he approaches his work may be inferred from such sentences as these from the introduction: "The edu A cation of the people is at once the consequence of all that it believes and the source of all that it is destined to be;" and, "Liberty is a dangerous thing unless it has instruction as a counterpoise." 2. A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament, being Grimm's Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti. Translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer, D.D., Bussey Professor of N. T. Criticism and Interpretation in the Divinity School of Harvard University. pp. xix., 726. Large octavo. $5.00. New York: Harper & Bros. 1887. The Biblical students of America have at last obtained what has hitherto been lacking, a really first-class Lexicon of the New Testament, comprehensive, candid, and fully abreast of the scholarship of the age. Others have been either too meagre, or marked by dogmatism and the outstripped scholarship of a former era. We have here a book combining the merits of a dictionary, concordance, treatise on New Testament syntax, and book of reference. The work of Grimm has been for many years known as the most valuable of its kind in Germany. Prof. Thayer has not only made it accessible to English readers, but has quadrupled its value, by inserting references to New Testament Grammars and Commentaries, tracing the history and use of the words in question, directing the student to works and authors where important passages are discussed, appending lists of words of late origin, or borrowed from Hebrew or Latin, or peculiar to the New Testament, or to each author in the New Testament. In a word, he has either given the student all needed information or directed him to sources whence he can obtain it. Every page, nearly every word, has received some addition from his hand. Rarely does he venture to amend a definition, but often cites works where a different opinion may be found. The translation is so finely done that the reader would not know or suspect its composition in a foreign tongue. The amount of labor expended is enormous. The number of references alone, if our rough computation may be taken as approaching accuracy, is nearly one hundred thousand, yet Dr. Schürer says (Theol. Literatur Zeitung, Nov. 27th,) that the author informs him that only two errors have been found, both on page 614, where, under the word talavrov, the figures 240 and 1167, should read 200 and 1000. Of the 5420 words in the New Testament, 5260 are cited in every instance of their occurrence; the remainder, 160 in number, are of most frequent recurrence and unimportant to the critical student; so that the Lexicon makes the Greek Concordance superfluous. The work of Dr. Grimm is more open to criticism. The lexicographer who not only formulates the general definitions of a given word, but attempts to decide which among many shades of meaning is the suitable one in each particular passage, becomes also of necessity a commentator. In scores of instances, in hundreds, indeed, Dr. Grimm's decision will be questioned. One needs always to remember that here, after all, the Lexicon contains but the opinions of one man. The author surely steps out of his way now and then to give an opinion on some matter not clearly within his province. Under the word μávva, he says that it was a hardened juice which the Israelites collected from the branches of trees, "and tradition, which the Biblical writers follow, regarded it as bread sent down in profusion from heaven;" on Kupivions, that "Luke (ii. 2) has made a mistake in defining the time of this enrolment." But not many such instances occur. He makes alaóv denote first, "eternity," both in a strict and a popular sense; second, the "universe," in Hebrews i. 2, xi. 3, 1 Timothy i. 17; third, in connection with ouros "this age," with uhhov “the future age.'' This is very candid and sensible. Both Grimm and Thayer regard "eternal" as the meaning of alávios, often however in a popular sense, as of that which is without beginning on the one side, or having now a beginning, will continue to exist. Aions is "the realm of the dead." outav and diabolos denote generally "the prince of demons." yɛɛvva in the New Testament means "that place in Hades where the wicked after death will suffer punishment; " is sometimes "breath," sometimes "life," sometimes "a living being," sometimes "soul," as "a moral being, designed for everlasting life," "an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death;" μello is "to be on the point of," many times means, "to intend," sometimes is used of "those things which come to pass by fixed necessity or divine appointment, that which is "sure to happen." Cold comfort for some of our exegetes surely. But we must be content to wait in faith for a more candid hearing for some of our statements. And it is equally true that our interpretation has often been warped by our opinions. The great merit of such a Lexicon as this is that with its multitudinous references, it enables one to judge of the meaning of a word from its actual use. Our translation and interpretation have been harmed by the false method of pitching upon some one meaning of a word, generally its primary one, and then forcing this meaning into it wherever found, regardless of the context, or its general use. This new and ripest production in the line of Biblical lore ought to aid us to correct our faults, as well as afford us an opportunity to give our word a wider hearing. H. P. F. 3. English Hymns: Their Authors and History. By Samuel Willoughby Duffield. Funk & Wagnalls. New York and London: 1886. 8vo. pp. vii., 675. $2.50. This handsome and instructive book does not attempt the impossible task of giving a complete account of English Hymns, but rather of such as are employed in a selection entitled Laudes Domini, one of the best of modern collections. Milton, Palgrave, Scott, Jane Taylor, Mrs. Hemans, H. W. Longfellow, Mrs. Stowe, N. P. Willis, and many other hymn writers of note are not mentioned here. A lover of good hymns misses selections from the grand spiritual songs composed by these and other unrivalled writers; but it was necessary to draw the line somewhere, and though many favorite names are absent, Dr. Duffield's book covers more ground than any of the works on Hymnology which have preceded it. Its style and arrangement are both scholarly and popular, traits which many of its predecessors have found it difficult to combine. The four hundred and thirty-eight authors of whom Dr. Duffield has something to say, that something being in many instances a full biographical sketch, - and the account which he gives of about fifteen hundred hymns produced by them, includes the names and productions of writers who were eminent in the various branches of the Christian Church during four centuries, from Miles Coverdale in 1488, to those of our own generation. A few mistakes in dates and other historical details are noticed, but considering the extent of the field explored, and the difficulty in obtaining accurate data, the faults of this kind are, so far as we are able to judge, less in number than would naturally be expected by those who have had experience in collecting historical and biographical information. A noticeable feature of Dr. Duffield's work is the just |