combines with the political, there will be days of tribulation, if Baumgarten's views are well founded:

"The bloody persecution of the apostles by Herod now stands forth as the foreshadowing of difficulty and sorrow to the church in future times. We see here the impulse to such persecution no longer arising from the personal character of individuals, but founded on that of a kingdom which has taken a new beginning, and assumed a form peculiarly seductive, of which we also know from other quarters that it will endure as long as time shall last. Herod's persecution of the apostles (Acts xii.) carries us out of and beyond itself, and points to the future. The power of the Herodian dynasty is not independent,—it is a vassal of Rome. If, therefore, even this Herodian kingdom thus rages, what will the Roman itself do, when once it begins to deck itself out in the guise of a kingdom of God, and when the horn of the beast shall lift up itself to see with the eyes of a man, and to speak with the mouth of a man?"—(Vol. i. 341.)

But if there rests a cloud upon man's future, according to this representation, both Schaff and Baumgarten take care, in all their eschatological statements, to represent the day as shining beyond. For in his remarks on "Pentecost," and the prophecy of Joel which Peter quoted on that occasion, the latter writes:

"Does not the quality of the time that has now dawned appear to be a very peculiar one, and even such a one as was destined to contain the final close of the development of man's nature? Throughout the whole course of former periods, there had been a constant struggle for the attainment of some single end. But this end, as often as it appeared to be gained, eluded the grasp, and has withdrawn farther into the remote distance. Now that the Spirit has descended, this ceaseless agitation has found a resting-place,-time is for once satisfied, and concluded by eternity. Here, therefore, is the true end; and nothing remains but that this end should spread itself over all the human race. And although this movement cannot go on except in that form of time within which the development of all human things is comprised, still it is the movement of the end, and stamps this period as the final period, and these as the last days.' That this last period has commenced, Peter is certain from the outpouring of the Spirit; but he is confirmed in his view by a consideration of all that Joel has associated with it, the threats against the heavens and the earth,— the denunciation of the dissolution of the heavenly system,-the change of the sun and moon,-and the laying waste the earth by fire and sword. These signs are to precede the great day of the Lord; and so that day must bring with it nothing less than the destruction of heaven and earth. But if that which is only temporal ceases to be, then that also is an end-it is only another aspect of the end, since therewith time itself apparently comes to its end. And if the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the commencement of the end, the dissolution of the heavens and earth forms the completion of that end. But supposing that these signs and the dissolution of the heavens and earth belong to that period of time now commencing, then all who hear these things are threatened, for all are mixed up with the things of heaven

and earth. So long, therefore, as man in his whole being and nature stands on the platform of heaven and earth-on the platform of this world-so long does this last time possess a terrible aspect of threatening towards him. He has entered into the time which is incessantly bringing him nearer and nearer to the dissolution of the heavens and the earth, and consequently, also, to his own. But that this is not man's only position in this last time, is testified simply by the existence of the pentecostal community. Upon them the last days' have burst amidst an unutterable feeling of bliss; by them the dawning of this era was hailed with songs of praise, such as never had been heard before from human tongues. And Peter's sole object in dwelling on the threatening and awful character of the era about to commence, was in order to turn the attention of his hearers to the only satisfaction from this last extremity."-(Vol. i. 66.)

We have now indicated our opinion as to the character and value of the works which stand at the head of this article; and, though we may have entered a caveat in regard to some positions which, it seemed to us, were either ambiguous or unsound, we cannot hesitate to advise our readers to possess and master these volumes for themselves, as eminently fitted to shed light on all subjects connected with doctrine, ecclesiasticism, and eschatology. In their main. object our authors have triumphantly succeeded, and the church at large is deeply indebted to them for preserving to the Acts of the Apostles its place in the canon, in spite of the Tübingen critics, in the first place; and, in the second, for restoring Christ to that place in the Acts from which commentators, for the most part, have so strangely united to exclude him.

There are various appya interspersed throughout these volumes, of unusual interest; and we would recommend the remarks of Baumgarten (vol. i. 336) on "Satan," and his excursus on "Paul's speech before the Areopagus," as deserving special consideration. Schaff's "Recapitulation" (vol. i. 215), and "Greek Civilization" (vol. i. 170), likewise contain much that is calculated to gratify and impress. But our limits will only admit of this single extract from the latter writer, in which, with as much unction as beauty, he portrays a Christian :

"The name Christian expresses most briefly, but clearly, the divine destiny of man, and always holds up before the believer the high idea after which he should strive, that is, to have his own life a copy and continuation of the life of Christ, and his threefold office. Man, indeed, in virtue of his inherent likeness to God, is already by nature, in some sense, the prophet, priest, and king of creation. Sin has obscured this original quality of his nature, and checked its development. But regeneration and vital union with Christ will deliver it from the power of sin and death, and gradually unfold it in all its glorious proportions." -(Vol. i. 266.)

May all who admire this beautiful idea be enabled now to realise the image it describes, and, in the end, inherit the elevation to which it points!

ART. IX.-History of the Jewish Nation after the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. By the Rev. ALFRED EDERSHEIM, Ph. D., Old Aberdeen. Edinburgh: Thomas Constable & Co.

THE history of the Jews subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem has been strangely overlooked by ecclesiastical historians. The Jews belong in reality to the church. Both their past and their future vitally connect them with the kingdom of God. They have at least equal claims on the historian of the church with any of the great heretical sects. And not merely the outstanding facts regarding this singular people,— fulfilling to the eye prophetic words,-avail in the apologetic argument. The history of the Jew in his apostasy has all through an apologetic value. The wonders of his later days demand the wonders of his earlier as their explanation. The Jew of the Christian centuries would be an utterly insoluble problem, without some such antecedents as the Biblical books record. And we welcome Dr Edersheim's work as a valuable contribution in supplement of an important deficiency.

Dr Edersheim's volume is a first one. He brings down the history of his people to the year 425, the period at which the "Palestinian Patriarchate finally ceased." Another volume is to follow, coming down to our own time.

The external history of the Jewish people during the three centuries and a half the work we review embraces, is one of sad and often of tragic interest. The generation which rejected the Son of God, no experience could teach. Equally frivolous and fanatic, smitten with a strange childishness of intellect, great only in their passions, they rushed from one madness to another. For forty years after the great catastrophe the Jews remained in a state of comparative quiescence, -exposed, no doubt, to indignities they ill could brook, but upon the whole having no great reason to complain. It seems difficult to make out a very hard case either for Jew or Christian during the reigns of Titus, Domitian, and Nerva, or even perhaps during the earlier portion of the reign of Trajan. Dr Edersheim represents Judaism in the time of Domitian as even vigorously proselytising, and winning distinguished converts to its ranks. But the instances given hardly substantiate his representation. One of these, to say the least, is very uncertain. That Flavius Clemens, a relative of the emperor, was a Jewish, and not a Christian proselyte, is assumed

against the opinion of the most recent and distinguished writers of church history. It is not the case that the Clementines are the only authority for the Christianity of Clemens,the Clementines are, in truth, an authority for nothing. Eusebius, making reference to a heathen writer, distinctly states that Clemens was martyred as a Christian; and the statement of Dio Cassius is at least interpreted with great probability to the same intent. As far as we know, there is no ground for Dr Edersheim's assertion, that Domitilla was first banished as a Jewess, and then put to death as a Christian; his reference, instead of supporting, contradicts him. But under outward quiescence, under apparent submissiveness, there were purposes of revenge and plans of insurrection. It is probable, that during the whole of the period to which we have referred, the Jewish leaders had been scheming and preparing a rising; they only bided their time. Matters at last came to a head. The fanaticism of the Jews was thoroughly roused, on the one hand by the preaching of a celebrated rabbi, on the other by an irritating persecution, whose origin does not seem very clearly ascertained. The antagonist selected is the great soldier, Trajan. He is absent conducting his second Parthian war,-working out his vain projects of Oriental ambition. Almost at the same moment, on some preconcerted signal, the Jews rush to arms in various parts of the Roman empire, and obtain the execration of the world by unheard-of atrocities. Of the insurrection in Cyrene, where the flame first broke out, Dr Edersheim thus writes:

"Then commenced a series of the most shocking cruelties against the heathens, such as only deep-rooted hatred could have suggested, or long-restrained vengeance perpetrated. Would that we might throw a veil over the particulars of this war of creeds! The mixed multitude which follows in the wake of every religious movement, destitute of principle, has only passions. If these are no longer restrained, the result must always be terrible. In the present instance, these passions had long only awaited an occasion for their outburst. Now that the Jews were victorious, they fell upon the Greeks and Romans. They literally tore them in pieces, they sawed them asunder, they ate their flesh, they wallowed in their blood, they wound themselves round with their entrails, and dressed themselves in their skins. It was comparatively a mild fate awarded to some of the heathen captives to fight against each other, or with wild beasts in the arena. Though some Jewish historians have attempted to cavil at these details, none has ventured to deny their substantial accuracy."

In the island of Cyprus, it is said, 240,000 Greeks were massacred. A movement of which the soul was evidently a

fierce and revengeful fanaticism, could only issue in a dreadful failure. Trajan's generals ere long overcame the undisciplined masses of rebels,-retaliating massacres with massacres if possible more frightful.

The insurrection in Judea was scarcely mastered when Hadrian mounted the imperial throne, and hastened to adopt a policy of peace and concession. That policy seems to have been fairly carried out in regard to the Jews. Perfect religious liberty was established in their country. Permission was even given them to rebuild the sacred city; but not, as it appears, the temple. But the past had taught no wisdom. The imperial exception was neglected. And when Hadrian took means to enforce it (and that only partially) the Jews prepared again to revolt. For a season, through the ascendant influence of the chief rabbi, the outbreak was hindered; but when the supreme authority came into the hands of the old crusader, Akiba, there was no more secrecy or indecision. We can hardly wonder at the imperial wrath, though we cannot justify the imperial deeds. Hadrian, no doubt, saw that terms and temporising were alike impossible. He at once began the conflict, hoping, we may think, by the energy of his proceedings to awe his rebellious subjects. The edict went forth that Jerusalem should become a heathen city, and a heathen temple stand on the heights of Zion. Circumcision was forbidden, and, it is supposed, even the study of the Law. The Jew was not slow to seize the gauntlet the Roman had thrown down. And the last, and, in some respects, most terrible and tragic of these conflicts began. They who rejected the Messiah of God rallied round a wretched impostor, who has come down to us only under the Messianic title he assumed-Bar-Cochab. The chief of the Sanhedrim, the celebrated Akiba, authenticated the claims of a brutal soldier,-even bore his standard on the field of battle. A vast army-it is estimated as high as half a million-gathered under Bar-Cochab's leadership. For a time the Jewish arms won signal successes. "Within a year the Jews held 50 fortified cities, and 935 open towns. It was in vain that Hadrian sent legion after legion, and general after general to Palestine. They were obliged to yield to or retreat before the Jews." But success led only to surer and more fearful ruin, for it only made the Jew more madly self-sufficient and the Roman fiercer. Once more, amid scenes of frightful horror, the Jew was crushed; but not till the resources of the empire had been seriously tasked. The blood of the conqueror Rome was politic enough often to be merciful, but her heart was of iron. The vanquished Israelites found no mercy at her hands. The eclectic Hadrian had no forgiveness for Hebrew fanatics. He was giving expression to the vital instincts of

was up.