In the March Number of this journal, we find a very elaborate church article, entitled, Stimmen aus der Union, occasioned by the publication of Nitzsch's Urkundenbuch. It discusses the whole subject of the Prussian union at great length. The bands which had connected the Reformed and Lutheran Confession in one communion, we are told, are beginning to dissolve, and in the same proportion thousands whose consciences were oppressed again breathe more freely. As this is an ever recurring topic, on which the discussions are interminable, though fraught with deepest interest and instruction, it will be necessary to compress within the smallest compass this reply to Nitzsch's unremitting advocacy of the union. There are, we are here told, three different standing-points in all, which again have their peculiar modifications. There is first the Oberkirchenrath, which has given up the union of consensus, and on the other hand maintains the unity of church government, within the sphere of which full right shall be conceded to the separate Confessions. The second is the church party, whose organ is the Evangelische Kirchen Zeitung, demanding the restoration of a Lutheran church with its own peculiar organism terminated in itself, its separate church government, and its independent communion in the Supper. The third tendency, represented by the Deutsche Zeitschrift in favour of the union, is pleased with the unity of government, but only in so far as it presupposes consent in doctrine, and has this for its foundation. The writer asks if the separation into two Confessions, and further into two churches, takes place, where then remains a place of abode for the once so proud queen, where a space to which she can retire? These questions at present move the representatives of consent. It is the life question for the union, the question of existence or nonexistence. Its adherents feel, through the organization of the evangelical Oberkirchenrath, the ground endangered under their feet, and hence look about them for protection and defence. "Tertium datur," exclaims Nitzsch, in No. 28 of the Zeitschrift. "The protestations," says the writer, "from Halle, from Greifswalde, from the Rhine provinces, partly demand the maintenance of the principle of union in general, partly the representation of the churches adhering to it, along with that of the Confessions mentioned in particular; and this right—for as such we must acknowledge it, as against the whole previous conduct of the royal authorities in Prussia-this right will be granted; we hear it is on the point of being conceded. But with this concession, the WHOLE STATE of things has been altered. While the union at an earlier period stood above the two Confessions and sought to absorb the two in itself, it now comes to stand alongside of them as a third, and is now put to the alternative either of breaking up again into the other two, or of forming itself into a separate Confession, and further into a third church communion." The writer goes on to say that men will ask about its CONFESSION; for without an expressed Confession, no church can be formed, or dare be formed. Where, then, is its Confession? It answers: It is the Confession to the consensus, to that which the two Confessions have in common, and stands above the dissensus dividing them. However, she has not succeeded in putting this consensus into words. The attempt made to this effect at the general synod not only altogether failed, but has also very much disturbed the prospect of better success. A new Confession!-who does not feel what that means and what that demands, especially in the present time, which in point of Christian knowledge stands so much below the height of the old time,-in this time of subjectivity, and particularly in this transition time, in which all and even the good that wishes to give form to itself is only in course of development, only in process of becoming-a new Confession! But now steps forward the most celebrated representative of positive union, the man highly to be respected equally in science and church government-now steps forward Nitzsch and says, There need be no question about a new Confession. He says, it is to be found partly in the older Confessions of Protestantism, in the articles of the Marburg conference, in the Augustana, and in the Wittenberg Concord, partly in the Brandenburg-Prussian Confessions, the Confessio Marchica, the Colloquium Lipsiacum, the declaration of Thorn; and as proof of this, Nitzsch has published these, accompanied with comments, as the Urkendenbach of the evangelical union. The writer then expresses his surprise at this solution of the problem; and before proceeding at great length to canvass the whole subject, he exhibits how Nitzsch proceeds. Nitzsch first communicates the Marburg conference, and shows that in the articles of Schwabach, which were the foundation of the Augsburg Confession, Luther's doctrine found a definite expression in opposition to Zwingle. He then subjoins the twenty-one articles of the Augsburg Confession of 1530, as a testimony for the German positive evangelical union, and accompanies them with harmonic comments. By passages appended, chiefly from the Heidelberg Catechism and from the great Helvetic Confession, he shows how the German Reformation is in full harmony with the Swiss one, that in the Augsburg Confession an actual difference exists only in reference to the Supper; and Nitzsch calls it a well-founded one, so far as it gives testimony against Zwingle's doctrine. Nitzsch adds that by the later change of Melancthon,-"Docent quod cum pane et vino exhibeatur corpus et sanguis vescentibus in cœna Domini,"-no injury was done to Luther's doctrine, that the union between the sign and the body is not denied, and that though we have no authentic accounts of the motives of that change, it is certain (1.) That this altered edition of the text was accepted and subscribed as the public German Evangelical Confession as in 1561 at the Naumburg convention; (2.) That the German Reformed Church regarded the change in question as an improvement, and as making it perfect; (3.) That consequently, on the occasion of the Leipzig conference of 1632 and elsewhere, no objection was taken to confess to the altered text. Further important differences Nitzsch does not find, and the result with him is, that the Confessions of the two Reformations in substance entirely harmonise. He holds that positive union actually lies before us in the Augsburg Confession, and that it is older than the dissensus. He then shows that this Augsburg Confession, as a common starting-point, develops itself in three different tendencies, the proper Lutheran, the Melancthonian, and the German Reformed, each of which is described. Nitzsch's view is that the two or three evangelical tendencies at present found alongside of each other in Germany, are properly only different symbolical developments of the faith testified in the Augsburg Confession, that they belong to one church-fellowship and mutually seek each other, that the union was from the beginning and before the dissensus, and that they only mutually supplement each other. The writer of this article remarks what a favourable light this view throws upon the union, but he says that, notwithstanding the veneration he has for its author, he must designate it historically incorrect. He then follows out the subject under the three branches named, and discusses the subject in relation,—(1.) To the Lutheran Church; (2.) To the Melancthonian tendency; (3.) To the German Reformed,-with great copiousness of historical reference. Nitzsch remarks that the entire German Reformed Confessions are partly silent on and partly reject the doctrine of predestination! But this inexorable Lutheran writer only remarks that this, however delightful (!), does not remove the dissensus, and that the points of difference have a real practical interest. He adheres to Lutheran Christology, and is not disposed to admit that the view of justification, or that the personal relation of the redeemed to Christ, is unaffected by the views of the Reformed. The next paper, called Kirchliche Wünsche, expresses a wish about the opening of the church, not only on Sundays, but on all days. He dwells on the text, "My house shall be called a house of prayer;" and sees something more than the romantic and sentimental in the priest kneeling in the Catholic chapel, on the height, or on the field. The objection, he says, might be made, Should not every Christian's house be a place of prayer? Is domestic worship to be set aside, and wholly transferred to the churches? He, unlike the Puseyite in this, answers, No. It is one of the most beautiful pearls in the crown of the Evangelical Church, that domestic worship first came to its rights in her that her houses resound with beautiful hymns composed in her, as a testimony that the grace of God has been richly manifested to her. He shows that domestic worship must go hand-in-hand with the worship in the church, and that it is the hallowing of family life. The place where the toil and labour of the day is performed, where the punitive Word of the Lord is fulfilled-"In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread"-must also be consecrated to be a place of grace. The abode, in which the cares of daily bread and of daily life grow up, as thorns and thistles which ensnare our feet and encumber us, wherein all the temptations to strife and discontentment are spread out like dangerous nets, must be hallowed by God's Word, that man may impress on himself, Here is the house of God, here the gate of heaven. But however beautiful these remarks are on domestic worship, the whole paper partakes too much of the Puseyite tone. The last paper, in the March Number of this Journal, called Die Kirchlichen Fürbitten, notices the subject of intercessory prayer. These prayers are divided into general and particular. The writer shows that they furnish a pretty sure thermometer for the spiritual character of a congregation. He holds, that if one seldom hears in a congregation the prayers for the sick, for the convalescent, for children, for those who travel, for the oppressed in spirit and tempted, and for all the other states of life, it may be held that they do not pray for themselves, and that no churchly common feeling prevails, no true faith, no brotherly love in common. Steps should be taken, it is added, to restore the ancient custom, by instructing old and young, and particular allusion should be made to the instances of intercessory prayer found in Scripture, a copious list of which is added. 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