34; Luke ix. 46; xxii. 24,) and 1 Cor. xiii. 13, the comparative seems to be proper; for in both places there is a comparison between two things: μeíšwv dè toútwv ý ảyáñŋ signifies "greater," compared with the two others, πίστις and ἐλπὶς (μεγίστη might imply that πίστις and ἐλπὶς were different in themselves as to value). Τίς ἄρα μείζων ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ βασιλ., does not mean, Who is (among us) THE greatest? (μéyiσros,) as if three or four degrees of rank were thought of among the twelve; but, Who is greater? namely, than the others, taken together (their chief, leader as it were; so that the eleven are all subordinate, in an equal degreee, to that μείζων). Some points of great interest are involved in Matt. xxviii. 17; and on this final reference we will detain the reader for a short time. Mr. Scrivener proposes to render oi dè édíoraσav, “but some had doubted," and cites various authorities. He candidly states, however, that Chrysostom favours the other interpretation; and that the form of the Syriac-the verb-substantive added to the preterite-does not necessarily constitute the pluperfect tense. His decision is clearly influenced by the apparent difficulties of the context, which we propose to relieve in another way. Let the historical outline be considered with the vision of angels and the first appearance of Jesus, on the morning of his resurrection, women were privileged. One design of this arrangement, it is presumed, was to discipline "the eleven" by the exercise of their faith. During the day, Jesus appeared to Simon Peter; probably with the compassionate design of healing his afflicted mind. That this interview was inexpressibly affecting, none will doubt; but the particulars are not given; and it would be presumptuous to conjecture the reasons of this silence. In the evening, while the two who had returned from Emmaus related the events of their journey, Jesus "stood in the midst of" the company called "the twelve," and "the eleven;" (designations which were frequently used, like the Roman Triumviri and Decemviri, without implying numerical exactness; since one, at least, was absent on this auspicious occasion ;) when, for their satisfaction, "he showed them his hands and his feet," bearing the marks of his sacred wounds. "After eight days," or on the second Christian Sabbath, he again "stood in the midst of" the same brotherhood, when the most sceptical disciple was compelled to believe. (John xx. 26-29.) Once more, Christ" showed himself at the Sea of Tiberias." (xxi.) The next manifestation was more formal and public. It had been foretold at the last paschal supper; (Matt. xxvi. 32 ;) and the premonition was repeated, by the angels and by the Saviour, in the resurrection-morning. All the disciples were summoned to Galilee; and, as that district had been the principal scene of Christ's ministry, it is more than likely that the assembly at the specified place was very large. This view is supported by incidental expressions in the communications to the women. (Matt. xxviii. 7, compared with verse 10.) In several texts these messengers are instructed to tell the disciples to go into Galilee, to see their Lord; but here it is observable that the angel, having commanded them to go quickly, and certify his resurrection, says to the women, "Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall YE see him: lo, I have told you." It is clear, then, although the historian mentions only "the eleven disciples" as going to "the mountain where Jesus had appointed them," that others, and probably a multitude, repaired thither on the solemn and blessed occasion. A further confirmation of this opinion may be drawn from the immediate sequel, the verse now under examination, which acquaints us that, when the assembly 66 saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted." The two verbs being in the same tense, it cannot be shown that the meaning is, that some had doubted; and it is quite irrelevant to urge the notion of indefiniteness which the name of the tense might convey. But it is inconceiv able that any of the eleven then “ doubted,” since the incredulity of Thomas himself had been overcome. The inference is, that others, who had gone with the eleven to the mountain, indulged temporary scruples as to the reality of the appearance. It is easy to find motives of love, of solicitude, and of curiosity for a numerous attendance. We conclude, therefore, that this is the instance to which St. Paul refers, (1 Cor. xv. 6,) in which Christ" was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;" the majority of whom survived at the date of the Epistle, more than twenty years after that glorious vision. And now, earnestly wishing success to Mr. Scrivener, who is engaged in fresh collations of manuscripts, and honourably anxious to exhibit the very latest researches in this department, we return to our first point. It is our conviction that nothing will tend so effectually, so speedily, as a deeper study of the Bible, to hush the controversies of a restless age. This will infuse the love of high and holy contemplations; will supply an exhaustless theme,one which refreshes, satisfies, and blesses the inquiring mind ; and will often exclude the very material of strife, by bringing out the decisions of unanswerable wisdom and goodness. Amid the storms that lash the ocean, here we gain a quiet haven, and an Euxine shore. Hither we invite all who are weary of fierce and fruitless discussions. Henceforth let no half-instructed zealot trouble us with "fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith.” With a solemnity that holds in abeyance the feelings which mere debate might arouse, we demand, Can certain theories which have long existed in rudiment, and which now offend the Protestant world with their sectarian detail, bear the blaze of scriptural light? It is true that these theories are defying all the laws of evidence; inspiring many an advocate with a confidence proportioned to his ignorance of inward religion; and vainly assuming to compensate the lack of argument, by unsparing condemnation of all whose voracity of faith is not equal to their requirements.* But we prefer to bring the matter at once to the test of scriptural authority. who ought to be the guardians of Protestantism, reflect on the Bible, and call in the aids of tradition, we will refresh ourselves with the unanswered arguments which establish the sufficiency and supremacy of that divine book. We dare not accept our religion, unexamined, from the hierophant who assumes a special right to "watch the treasure of divine truth," and to search "the rich pastures of Catholicism " for the primitive doctrine. We will not deliberately forego the blessedness of the man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord," and who " meditates in his law day and night." If some, If any of our contemporaries, in their zeal for the sacraments, depreciate the ministry of the word, let us remind them that the greatest of the Apostles was sent "not to baptize," (this was not his primary errand,) "but to preach the Gospel." (1 Cor. i. 17.) This statement, elicited by the contentions that disturbed the Corinthian church, and recorded under the guidance of the prescient Spirit, clearly proves that preaching is appointed by the same authority from which the sacraments derive their obligation. To "the Bible, the Bible alone," we fly from a system which appears to * Causarum vacua convitiis implere.-Quintil. 66 countenance the most obscure views of Christian privilege, and to transfer the heart's anxieties from the question of personal religion, to that of an exact ritualism. Influential names, and blameless morality, and ecclesiastical lore, and moving verse, are as nothing in comparison of the oracles of God. Can those who bear the name of Protestant falter in admitting this principle? Can they persist in demanding our assent to opinions respecting which those oracles are monitorily silent? Can they still presume to advance to the highest theological rank articles of faith and duty which they confess to be faintly revealed, if revealed at all? Can they absurdly plead that God has disclosed these things so indistinctly, to prove the faith and love of his people?" If so, the answer is easy. A voice from the Lawgiver's throne announces, "This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." (Deut. xxx. 11—14.) A vast space divides the disciple who longs just to do the revealed will of his Lord, from him who is ready, under any other impulse, to brave suffering, or toil, or even death. The latter may withdraw, in voluntary self-denial, to the shades of monastic retirement; but the former traces his Redeemer's footsteps alike to the mountain and to the multitude. The one may invite reproach, and multiply superfluous trials; but the other is the "partaker of Christ's sufferings." Allegiance to Heaven allows us neither to legislate for ourselves, nor to select from the sacred code our rules of duty; neither to "add unto" the words of the prophecy, nor to "take away" from them; neither to follow with implicit submission the "Fathers" of the first six centuries, nor to measure our obedience by the human requirements of a beautiful ceremonial. Be it our only care to "keep the sayings" of our one adorable Master!" Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." (Rev. xxii. 14.) The field of observation expands; but we may not now follow its alluring paths. If a reviewer, accustomed to less refreshing investigations, should linger here, his appeal would lie to the gentlest and the best feelings of the Christian heart. It must be the highest privilege of earth to walk in the light of divine truth, since Heaven invites us by the prospect of discoveries, kindred though mysteriously higher, of which we cannot now endure the splendour. No discipline of humiliation will require that the sainted shall "know" only "in part." All that is necessary to give harmony to doctrines that seem conflicting,-all that is fitted to awaken joys and adorations that can never cease,-will be disclosed in that eternal morning. But it will yield no sorrow then to remember that, amid the shadows which overhung our lower state, we were taught to bless each gleaming that promised the final revelation, and to say, with longing like that of restless agony, "When shall I arise, and the night be gone?" VOL. II.-FOURTH SERIES. 3 K 810 SELECT LIST OF BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED, WITH CHARACTERISTIC NOTICES. [The insertion of any article in this List is not to be considered as pledging us to the approbation of its contents, unless it be accompanied by some express notice of our favourable opinion. Nor is the omission of any such notice to be regarded as indicating a contrary opinion; as our limits, and other reasons, impose on us the necessity of selection and brevity.] 99 Light in the Dwelling: or, a Harmony of the Four Gospels; with very short and simple Remarks, adapted to reading at Family Prayers, and arranged in three hundred and sixty-five Sections, for every Day of the Year. By the Author of "The Peep of Day,' &c. Revised and corrected by a Clergyman of the Church of England. 8vo. pp. xxiv, 814. Hatchards.-The title of this useful volume is suggested by the text, (Exod. x. 23,) which is prefixed as a motto to the work: "But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. They who have not, do not belong to the Israel of God. To them it is said, as emphatically as truly, "But ye are not in darkness: ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day." In their hearts they have the grace of God; in their dwellings they have the word of God. Unless they have been most unfaithful to their position, they do not "walk in darkness, but have the light of life." We are glad to be able to say, that the contents of this volume will cast no shadow on the light in the dwelling. The general character of the work is sufficiently described in the title-page. A section of the New Testament is referred to for every day in the year; thus furnishing a consecutive narrative of the whole evangelical history, according to the excellent arrangement of Mr. Townsend. To the reference furnished to the paragraph provided for the day, a brief expository and practical meditation is affixed. These, in fact, constitute the main substance of the work. They are simple, luminous, and devotional; and calculated, in a word, to be useful both to head and heart. The principles are those generally held by a class which, for the sake of the Church itself, we wish to be more numerous, and more influential, than we fear is really the case. From its members we differ in some points of doctrine; and we think that some of them, in seeking to conciliate their opponents, have contri buted even to the increase of an evil system, which their whole soul repudiated. Their motives were good; but error derives strength from such mistaken concessions. Whether, henceforth, the Church is to be illuminated with the coloured night-lamps of Puseyism and High Churchism, the difference between the two systems being only in the degree of developement, and the extent of the adopted phraseology,—or with the pure and heavenly light which the author seeks to carry into the dwelling, time only can determine. The possessors of light are on their way to Canaan. But though artificial adornings may serve to make Egyptian darkness tolerable, and, in the judgment of some, even admirable, a Red-Sea judgment is most certainly not far distant. Just when the Pharaohs of the movement are exulting in the prospect of their triumph, the waves through which enlightened Israel passed shall rush in on them and overwhelm them, and the horse and his rider be covered by the depths, sinking to the bottom as a stone. We may just allow the author to state the object at which the work is intended to aim; and which, we think, it is well calculated to secure. "Though many learned commentaries have been written, yet this humble work may be useful in a sphere to which elaborate and elevated productions are not adapted. It does not aspire to interest the learned, or to attract the polite; but endeavours to fix the unattentive, to awaken the unreflecting, to enlighten the ignorant, and to benefit the simple minds which are to be found in ordinary households." The author has thus written for the many, and on the best subjects. We heartily wish success to the undertaking. Vital Christianity: Essays and Discourses on the Religions of Man, and the Religion of God. By Alexander Vinet, D. D., Professor of Theology in Lausanne, Switzerland. Translated, with an Introduction, by Robert Turn bull, Pastor of the Harvard-street Church, Boston (United States). 12mo. pp. 316. Clark, Edinburgh; Hamiltons, London. The revival of religion, orthodox, evangelical, and spiritual religion, in Socinian and infidel Switzerland, is one of the pleasing phenomena of the day, and must have an important bearing on the interests of vital godliness on the whole of Continental Europe, especially as viewed in connexion with the recent assertion of Christian liberty by so many of the Helvetic churches and Ministers. Under such circumstances, the publication of a volume like this, conveying to us the religious opinions of a man like Professor Vinet, is more than an ordinary event. We cannot, indeed, think with the translator, that Vinet surpasses Chalmers. With the imaginative and philosophical power of Dr. Chalmers, there are combined the simplicity and strength of British good sense. Vinet is imaginative, often beautifully so; he is likewise philosophical, and not unfrequently profoundly as well as justly so; but French sentimentality is a sad foe to simplicity. The Continental Divines do not come up to our own Puritans, uncouth in style as these latter may be, when measured by the standard of this more refined age. We may incur the charge of sectarian bigotry by saying that Vinet, Malan, and even D'Aubigné, would be not at all the worse for a sprinkling of original English Methodism; but we cannot help it. We think so, and therefore say so. There is more light in our orthodox system than we receive credit for, even from many who acknowledge its fertilizing warmth. At the same time, we are glad to see, and to announce, the present volume. The Essays contain much that will not only edify the general reader, provided his spiritual senses are evangelically quickened, but much also that will repay the attention of the more thoughtful student, provided that he, too, is possessed of the same necessary preparation. Even the sharpened intellect, without this, will only see foolishness in works which, like Professor Vinet's, are based on the spiritual wisdom of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. amiable and sincerely patriotic noble. man. A true and an enlightened friend of scriptural education, (and we have been witnesses of the manner in which he took part in the scriptural examination of a number of scholars,) he is yet one of the complimenters of the modern system of Popery, acknowledging, indeed, that it has its defects; but yet taking care so to speak of it as to give no offence to Mr. O'Connell. Is not Popery unchanged? Is it not the resolute foe of all true enlightenment, of all that genuine liberty which recognises the rights, as flowing from the obligations, of conscience? Is it not the author, and practical upholder, of the crushing, polluting system of the confessional, as described in the Latin of Peter Dens? But the members of this confederacy against the order of society, the purity of the family, and the noblest rights of man, can proffer support in a time of nicely-balanced political parties; and therefore, Protestants must be put on their guard against bigotry! Mr. Milner's "Dedication" is undoubtedly sincere; nevertheless, it conveys a reproof as cutting and severe as though it had been designedly ironical. The work itself is a valuable compilation of statistics and arguments. There are points on which we should differ from the author; but this does not hinder us from perceiving the numerous excellencies of the volume, nor from coming to the conclusion that it is one which deserves the attention of all who are studying the question of popular education. The "Elevation of the People," whether "moral, instructional, or social," can only be effected by a truly scriptural education; that is to say, an education on orthodox and evangelical principles. This is Mr. Milner's opinion; and Euclid has not a question capable of more rigid demonstration. Only let this be honestly followed into its legitimate results. Give Ireland the full opportunity of enjoying such a sys tem. Let not the power of the State be given to a cunning priesthood, to enable them to deprive the people of what, were they free to choose, they would choose to enjoy. We would force no system either upon Irish or English; but let the people have unrestricted liberty of choice. Power for the Irish priesthood, and liberty for Irish Romanists, are phrases widely different in their import, however party-politics may seek to confound them by merging the last in the first. We oppose the first, because we strenuously contend for the last. The Elevation of the People, Moral, Instructional, and Social. By the Rev. Thomas Milner, A. M. 8vo. pp. xv, 456. John Snow.-The volume is dedicated to Lord Morpeth. Perhaps the principle of the adage, that "a gift blindeth the eyes of the wise," was never more impressively, nor more instructively, illustrated than in the case of this Memoir of the Rev. Samuel Dyer, |