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the latter days, this disputed site giving incidentally rise to the war now carried on. It will be stranger still if these supposed "holy places" be a bone of contention to Antichrist in a more direct struggle for possession of what he would like to assume as a sanctuary to which he may challenge peculiar right.

Travellers and explorers will still visit Palestine, each probably making some discovery more or less important. Let all be welcomed. "A mat to the Lyceum" not only shows good will, but may be a seasonable gift. It is satisfactory in every way that so much has been done in this ever-interesting land.* Theodolite and measuring lines have been busy at every point, as if preparing the way for the final measurement at Israel's latter day (Zech. ii. 1, 2, and Psalm lx. 6), when they shall be "settled after their old estates."-(Ezek. xxxvi. 11.) Perhaps we have little idea of the discoveries that will be brought to light, when it is in the power of the explorer to make excavations, and to remove the luxuriant vegetation that at present thoroughly conceals buildings and villages, if not whole towns. When by the river Kishon we stumble upon the name Mukutta, and recognise in it a relic of Megiddo that stood on its banks, or in seeking for Pella find Fahil, evidently the Greek name aspirated, it cannot fail to excite the hope of lighting upon many other old names that may be equally obvious, when once found. The Arabs are generally considered the only repositories of these old names; but we venture to refer to another. We believe some such are to be found in the documents belonging to the Knights of Malta, however ignorant that age may have been. The documents we refer to are to be found in the Land Revenue Office, Valetta. They are, (1) Papal bulls in favour of the knights; (2) charters containing grants and confirmations from kings, nobles, &c., of property and privilege. The latter filled five vols., and remain entire, with one exception; besides two thin volumes of stray charters, gathered and put together by M. Vella, the librarian. The dates run from A.D. 1107 to 1259. "In looking over some of the charters," says the friend who gave us this information, "I saw that the properties granted to the knights of the Holy Land are often described by their boundaries, and it strikes me that they may perhaps contain as large a collection of names of places in that country as can anywhere be found." We are not aware that any one has ever prosecuted this investigation. Year after year, we continue to feel a more special interest in Palestine than any other land under heaven! It seems as if,

* Perhaps its natural history may be reckoned as still very imperfect. Rawolf and Hasselquist set an excellent example in this department, but were not followed, as Robinson has been, by sufficiently enthusiastic and qualified successors in the field.

simultaneously with a man's entering into the New Covenant, he unconsciously began to cherish a peculiar favour for all that introduced that Covenant. Not to say that it is the Lord's design, in implanting in Christian souls this almost universal partiality, to indicate his own special remembrance of that people and of that land which is yet to be "Hephzibah" and "Beulah"-it must necessarily remain a peculiar land, because it was the native land of the gospel of peace. The gospel came to us from that land; the costume of the first messengers of the gospel was that of Israel's land; the first echoes of the gospel message were heard on Israel's hills; in the gospel story there is endless allusion to the customs, scenery, localities, inhabitants, language of that land; and He, "who by Himself purged our sins," and was the gospel, drew nigh to us in that land, and showed the feelings of a man of Israel toward that land. Though he was teaching us his tender compassion for the "children of men" at large, still it was in the form of a son of Abraham. He proved his real humanity by exhibiting intense interest in Israel and Israel's land, the land of his nativity. He sat on the Mount of Olives, and mourned as if he

"Thought of no trench but that round Zion cast!
And still his warmest love, his dearest care,

His life, his heart, his blessings, and his mournings,
His smiles, his tears, he gave to thee, Jerusalem.'

Who then needs wonder that even on the ground of association, Christian men in every country, entering into the Redeemer's feeling, dwell with untiring, peculiar, intense interest in the past, present, and future of Palestine, "Immanuel's Land!"

CRITICAL NOTICES.

Christ as made known to the Ancient Church: an Exposition of the Revelation of Divine Grace, as unfolded in the Old Testament Scriptures. By the late ROBERT GORDON, D.D., F.R.S.E. Vols. I. and II. Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter.

THIS is another valuable contribution to a department of biblical study which has been receiving of late from various quarters frequent and important accessions. Not to speak of the productions of foreign pens, we have had in our own country, in the course of a few years, Dr Candlish's two volumes of "Contributions toward the Exposition of the Book of Genesis," so full of living freshness, and ingenious, often profound speculation; Dr Kitto's "Daily Bible Illustrations," bringing up the rear of that goodly array of volumes in the same line, in which he has illuminated, as with the light of yesterday, many a quiet scene and picturesque group of old-world times; Dr Chalmers' " Scripture Readings," daily and Sabbatic, with all their vivid touches, and keen though transient glances into the very heart of ancient men and things; Mr Maurice's two thoughtful and eloquent volumes on "The Old Testament," and "The Prophets and Kings;" and, last of all, though of a very different character from all the rest, the two elaborate and massive volumes now on our table. All this we cannot help regarding as a sign of the times. It is thus, we think, becoming more and more evident that the current is beginning to run in the direction of Historical Theology. Such successive strong waves of the religious mind, with other lesser movements of the waters, plainly indicate at once the course and the impetus of the tide that is setting in, and seem to warn us that the systematic demonstration of dogmatic truth is destined soon fairly to give place, in point of prominence and general attention, to the direct study of the divine oracles themselves, and of the divine dispensations as there historically revealed. For our own part we do not regret this. On the contrary, we cannot help regarding it as a most hopeful omen as regards the highest interests of biblical science and sound theology; for invaluable as systematic divinity is in its own sphere, and for its own purpose, it seems impossible not to assign a higher place to that department and method of study which strives to understand the works and ways of God, by contemplating them in the order in which they were themselves evolved, and in which they are progressively revealed in the inspired oracles of truth. To use our author's words, "Assuredly this is the obvious, the natural way, in studying the Scriptures. If God has vouchsafed to give us a revelation of his will-a revelation delivered at sundry times and in divers manners-containing all that he has thought fit to communicate concerning himself, his character and-per

fections, the principles of his moral government, and especially his purposes of redeeming grace, it might naturally occur to us that the best way of studying that revelation is to begin at the beginning; for we might expect to find with regard to the subject which does most nearly concern us to know and understand-I mean, the plan of salvationthat it is gradually unfolded there, and that to gain a clear and comprehensive view of it, we must study in their order all the communications concerning it which preceded its full revelation." While it is the high function of doctors, sitting in the schools, to arrange and systematically unfold the results of theological inquiry, it is the humbler, yet far more blessed part of the child to take the Father's hand, and with his guidance, walking down the course of ages, to trace the record of his wisdom, power, and love, there written as on the rocks for ever—not in dry propositions, but in imperishable words and deeds. It is no evil token, surely, that this childlike temper of reverent inquiry seems to be on the increase among the higher minds of the Church.

The subject is a many-sided one, and may well admit the co-opera-tion of many minds, and of very varied powers. In "restoring" the vast and majestic edifice of the divine dispensations, so far as finite minds may scan the thoughts of its great Architect, truly there is room and need for many labourers, and for divers kinds of skill; and while some are gathering materials, others will be occupied about massive stones; others chiselling the fluted pillar or fretted arch; others standing by trying to comprehend the general scheme of the whole, and thereon to guide and direct their fellow-labourers. The verbal critic, the student of ancient manners and customs, the explorer of oriental countries and laborious investigator of Scripture localities and sites; readers of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and excavators of Ninevite palaces, the dramatic genius that revivifies ancient events and scenes, the philosophic spirit which interprets the secret springs of history, and the reverent faith which seeks the ground of all in the eternal principles of the Divine government and purposes of His grace-all must severally contribute their share to the illustration of the one grand theme. It seems to us, however, that the various lines of profitable labour in connection with this great work are fundamentally reducible to the four following:-There is first what we may call the descriptive or pictorial department, or that which aims, by dint of vivid fancy, learned research, knowledge of ancient manners and eastern topography, to bring before the mind's-eye what we may call the scenery of the great biblical drama-that department, in short, in which Kitto has laboured so long and so meritoriously. Then there is the dramatic, calling into requisition, indeed, to some extent, the same powers, but at the same time demanding others of a far higher cast-that creative faculty which breathes a soul into dead historic names, changes mere signs or counters into actual men, brings them again in all the reality of life and individuality of character on the stage, and transmutes, as by a touch, the dull scenes of still-life into the arena of spirit-stirring events and deeds. This again brings us to a still higher region-that of philosophical history. Here the aim is not so much to reproduce the individualities of particular men, as to penetrate to the very heart of humanity itself, and in those unchangeable principles of

* Vol. i. pp. 13, 14.

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our deep nature, which lie beneath all the shifting shadows of time, place, circumstances, conventional customs, local prejudices, individual characteristics, seeks the hidden springs of all history, and the true rationale of the divine dispensations towards man. The dramatic artist, for instance, will strive to comprehend exactly what kind of a man Abraham was, and, by a few creative touches, set him in all the reality of flesh and blood before your eyes; but it is the part of the philosophical historian to comprehend what he was as a man, and how, accordingly, he must have thought, felt, struggled, feared, hoped, in his own real battle of life, seven-and-thirty centuries ago. And, last of all, there is the doctrinal department, or that whose aim is to unfold, for the instruction and edification of the men of present times, the great principles of the divine providence and grace which are involved in and are deducible from the events of the past.

Now, it is undoubtedly to the last of these departments of the study in question that the work now before us belongs. To whatever extent he may and must have availed himself of the results of inquiry in other fields, it is here alone that its author has sought to bring a fresh contribution to the literature of historical theology. Those who go to the perusal of these volumes, in the expectation of finding graphic pictures of ancient scenes, or dramatic representations of ancient life, or intuitions, such as a Neander might display, of human nature and human history, will doubtless find themselves disappointed. They aspire to move in an entirely different region, and one for which their venerable author was, both by nature and by grace, peculiarly fitted. They are the solemn and carefully pondered thoughts of a calm, clear, well-poised, reverent, and deeply serious mind, on those great principles of the divine administration, and of the covenant of grace, which lie on the surface of the whole sacred history, and which it is the part of all men equally, in all times, to ponder and lay to heart. The pervading element throughout is that of a clear intellect, a solid judgment, and pure and deep-toned conscience, and you feel you are in the presence of one who solemnly reasons with you, and has a right to reason, of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. These disquisitions, in short, are not graphic, or dramatic, or ingenious, or speculative, or philosophic, or sentimental, or impassioned, but doctrinal, reflective, practical. By those who have been accustomed to the living presence of the author, and to associate indissolubly every familiar trait of that transparent style and earnest diction, with that majestic mien, and deep, commanding voice, which added so much to their power, these pages must be regarded as a peculiar treasure; yet even divested of this charm, they will form a precious legacy to all those for whom eternal truths, conveyed in clear, and fitting, and earnest words, have any value-and all the more now that they speak to us as from the dead."

A System of Moral Science. By LAURENS P. HICKOK, D.D., Union
College, Schenectady. New York: G. Y. Van Debogert.
London: John Chapman. 8vo.
THIS work seeks, because it is a work of science, first, to determine
VOL. III-NO. IX.

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