LANGE'S CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL COMMENTARY. -VOL. I. MATTHEW.*-Not very long before his death, on being inquired of by a young theological student, as to the best books upon the earlier gospels, the late Dr. Robinson remarked: "There are no commentaries on these gospels, in our language, that are really valuable." If we except those which are designed for ordinary Sunday School teachers, and which are more or less useful, as adapted to their special purpose, it must be admitted that there has been hitherto an unfortunate amount of truth in this remark, and even now it is almost impossible to find anything which can be earnestly recommended to the many, who are continually presenting the question as to what works of this character they shall place in their libraries. Olshausen, translated a few years since, and Alford are almost the only authors, whose names can be mentioned, and of these the former, with all his excellencies, is full of the faults which belong to a certain order of German minds, while the annotations of the latter upon this portion of the New Testament seem to us less valuable than those upon any other. With a view of supplying this want, no doubt, it is in part, that Dr. Schaff has undertaken the great work of translating and presenting to the American public the well-known Bibelwerk of Dr. J. P. Lange, of the University of Bonn, in Prussia. He has associated with himself a number of other gentlemen of "established reputations," as he says, "as eminent Biblical scholars and experienced translators from the German," and in the first volume of the work, now just issued from the press, he gives us, from himself, the Commentary upon Matthew. The volume opens with a somewhat extensive preface by the American editor, giving an account of the author and of both the original work and the translation. Upon this follows a Theological and Homiletical Introduction to the New Testament, occupying some forty pages-and then we have the full and valuable commentary. The plan of the work, in a word, is this. The text is first presented to us according to the

* A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures; Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical, with special reference to Ministers and Students. By JOHN Peter Lange, D. D., in connection with a number of eminent European Divines. Translated from the German, and edited with additions, original and selected, by PHILIP SCHAFF, D. D., in connection with American Divines of various evangelical denominations. Vol. I. of the New Testament; containing a General Introduction, and the Gospel according to Matthew. New York: Charles Scribner. 1865. 8vo. pp. 568. [Price, $5 in cloth.]

authorized version of 1611, with certain inserted explanatory words, serving to make the meaning more clear, or to render the original more accurately into English, and, at the close of each short section of the text, the more important of the various or doubtful readings are set forth and briefly discussed. Exegetical and critical notes are added to each section with considerable fullness, in which the meaning, &c., is considered in a scholarly and careful manner, and to these some additions from other authors are made by Dr. Schaff. After the exegetical notes, there are doctrinal and homiletical ones-the former giving what the author conceives to be the doctrinal teachings or suggestions of each passage, and the latter presenting such thoughts from the author himself and such other German writers as Lisco, Von Gerlach, Heubner, &c., as would be useful to preachers in the work of sermon-making. To these practical annotations the American editor adds a few words sometimes from distinguished persons in our own country and England, or even from those of earlier times. It will be seen thus that the commentary covers a great deal of ground, while it enters upon topics which, though they are often, in the main, or wholly, excluded from works of this sort, are yet topics of much interest to those who are obliged to present the truth and doctrines of the scriptures to their congregations every Sabbath. As for the homiletical part, it seems to be more skillfully done, than is generally the case in such volumes-and we presume it will be largely used by many, if not most, of those who have the book at hand. And yet we question-and we are glad to see that Dr. Schaff has had similar doubts upon the subject-whether it is really beneficial to a minister to consult such notes, in any considerable measure—or, at least, to depend upon them in preparing his sermon. One of the greatest and most frequent deficiencies in our ordinary pulpit efforts is, that they grow too little out of, and are too little infused with, the personal Christian experience of the preacher himself. A sermon written on the foundation of a practical commentary will almost of course be a dull sermon. It can hardly be otherwise, for, in the first place, it is full of the thoughts of another than the writer, which have not become the writer's own by entering into and taking hold of his own life and soul, and, in the second place, because of a commentator's practical thoughts ten are commonly uninteresting or forced, where one is interesting or natural,

for the simple reason that his work compels him, as it were, to have and to suggest a thought on the first verse of the ninth chapter of his author, immediately after he has had or suggested one on the last verse of the eighth chapter,—such at least is the tendency,--whereas this is not the way in which interesting thoughts arise in the course of our experience and life. But if a man has strength and energy of mind enough to use a volume, like the one before us, in this respect judiciously and without resting upon it too much, it may very probably be of benefit to him. We have been earnestly looking forward, for some months, to the appearance of this American edition of Lange, and it comes at a time when it is much needed and will be heartily welcomed. We wish this volume and its successors could be offered at a lower price, so as to make the work more accessible to those for whom it will be most useful; but we do not know that this will be possible, without abridging or otherwise injuring it. Whether all the gentlemen whom the editor has associated with himself can be properly said, with so much confidence as Dr. Schaff asserts, to "have already an established reputation as eminent Biblical scholars," we think would be questioned by some persons here and there. "Eminent " is a rather strong word to use with reference to men who are not pretty widely and universally known among scholars in the department. But if they are "experienced translators from the German," we shall have a faithful presentation of what the original author says, and so we may hope, with Dr. Schaff, that they will "do full justice to the task assigned them."

PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC.

PHILOSOPHY AS ABSOLUTE SCIENCE.*-Whenever the splendid promises shall be fulfilled which are made in the title page of this volume, the complete system of Absolute Philosophy will well deserve to be set forth in as beautiful an external dress of typography and binding as that which adorns the essays of E. L. & A. L. Frothingham. That this grand desideratum has not been.

* Philosophy as Absolute Science, founded on the Universal Laws of Being, and including Ontology, Theology, and Psychology, made one as Spirit, Soul, and Body. By E. L. & A. L. FROTHINGHAM. Volume I. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co. 1864. 8vo. pp. 453. [New Haven: H. C. Peck.]

attained by them we are sorry to record. Indeed, the very terms of the title would indicate of themselves that the attempt must be impotent and vain. "Philosophy, as Absolute Science," suggests a system of knowledge, self-justified and underived, comprehending in its own fundamental principles axioms that command unquestioned assent, which are numerous and broad enough to be applied to the support and elucidation of every variety of concrete cognitions to which the human mind is competent to give assent. "Founded in the universal laws of Being" indicates the objective side of this subjective knowledge as furnished in the necessary and original relations of the objects which are known." "And including Ontology, Theology, and Psychology,"-these ought and were designed to enumerate the various divisions of knowable objects as represented in the several subordinate systems of knowledge appropriate to each. So far the title is intelligible and self-consistent in its import. But when it proceeds "made one, as spirit, soul, and body," we find a sudden descent into a bathos of thought and language which indicates the utter incapacity of the writers to appreciate the nature of the problem which they have undertaken to solve, and of consequence their certain failure to effect a satisfactory solution. For "spirit, soul, and body," if they are anything, are forms of concrete being, which must perforce take their place in and under the system of philosophy as absolute science, in order to be explained by the relations which this fundamental science itself asserts. They cannot themselves in any sense serve as a foundation for the prima philosophia. The title is itself as complete a felo de se, as it would be to inscribe a work-Mechanics as an absolute Science, founded in the universal laws of force and motion, including Statics and Dynamics made one, as solids, liquids, and gases.

As we turn over the pages of this ambitious but well-meant essay, we discover not a little that is interesting and valuable in separate remarks and discussions, which enable us to understand how it was possible that two gifted and well-read persons should have been led, or rather left to write so elaborate a work. We find, also, the solution of the question why they should fail in this, that following the example of many who have gone before them, they have misconceived the nature of Philosophy itself, and so have attempted to find for it, in part, a theosophic foundation suggested from Jacob Boehm, and, in part, one that is purely fantastic, such as is furnished by Emmanuel Swedenborg.

THE CORRELATION AND CONSERVATION OF FORCES.*—It was a happy thought which suggested the publication of this volume The question is often asked and not so easily or frequently answered, what is the new doctrine, or the new doctrines, in regard to the correlation and conservation of Force. In this volume we have the answer in the language and with the reasons of its chief expounders and defenders, so that those who are ignorant of what the doctrine is can question the original authorities. Those, also, who are slow to receive the doctrine will find in these Essays the most cogent arguments in its support which are urged by its ablest and most zealous advocates.

The question relates to the metaphysics of Physics, and, like all similar questions, has very little importance in its immediate bearings upon the exposition of the special sciences. On the other hand, like all similar questions, it has a strange fascination for adventurous minds—and the right answer to it, if such an answer can be attained, cannot fail to give greater precision to the terms and definitions, and a profounder meaning to the principles which underlie the sciences of material nature.

Without venturing to pronounce any opinion upon this earnestly contested question we may at least be allowed to inquire whether the doctrine does not need to be more distinctly stated, than it usually is even by the authors of these able Essays? Do the authors hold to the doctrine that motion makes the force, or is a sign, and so an equivalent of force? When one force, as heat, is said to be correlated to light, or to be a mode of motion, is it intended that the heat is transformed light, i. e., that the same molecules, when moving at one rate of motion, are called light, because they occasion the sensible phenomena of light, and when they move at another rate of motion are called heat, because they produce another set of such phenomena or simply that one rate of motion attends upon or is occasioned by light and another rate is occasioned by heat?

The correlation of the physical and vital forces is a still more interesting question, for it at once opens the inquiry whether the one

* The Correlation and Conservation of Forces. A series of Expositions. By PROF. GROVE, PROF. HELMHOLTZ, DR. MAYER, DR. FARADAY, PROF. LIEBIG, and DR CARPENTER, with an Introduction and brief Biographical Notices of the chief promoters of the new views. By EDWARD L. YOUMANS, M. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1864. 12mo. pp. xliii. and 438. [New Haven: H. C. Peck. Price $2.00.]