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ciation of Congregational freedom, and to pave the way for judicatures, and a central government in the church.

But there is no necessary connection between strict doctrine and high-church polity. Each subject stands, or falls, upon its own merits. No one will deny that John Owen was as thorough a Calvinist as ever drew breath; and that he was as thorough a Congregationalist is equally certain. What hinders any denomination from being inspired with the very spirit of Dort and Westminster, so far as doctrine is concerned, while yet it cleaves to the most democratic republicanism in polity?

For this matter of doctrine is an inward conviction, a voluntary adoption, if it is anything at all. The denominational symbol is not to be forced upon a denomination. It cannot be. It must be the free act, the self-chosen creed, of the churches. Hence we have spoken of a symbolical feeling, a denominational confidence and respect towards creeds, rather than of any particular measure, or method, by which a symbol might be cunningly insinuated into a church, or sprung upon it as a surprise. That which is inward and spiritual must first exist, in order to that which is outward and formal. While, therefore, we would not, if we could, impose and inflict a creed upon any unwilling church, we confess that we would, if we could, inspire every church upon the globe, with an intelligent and cordial affection for that "form of sound words," around which the sublimest recollections of the church militant have clustered, and out of which its purest and best religious experience has sprung.

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To deepen a feeling which already exists in Congregationalism; to strengthen a confidence which has never died out, has been the purpose of these remarks. Whether this feeling and confidence should once more give itself expression in the formal action of the denomination is a question that will be answered variously. But will not all agree that the action of the denomination at Cambridge, and Boston, and Saybrook, has never been repudiated; that if Congregationalism has any corporate existence, and any organic life, by which it maintains its identity from generation to gene

ration, it is still committed to the symbols that were then and there made public. Shall we not do well, then, to cherish the recollection of what was done when the foundations of the Puritan church were laid in this Western world? Associated and assembled, as we are, to collect and preserve the memorials of our denominational history, ought we not, more than ever, to think of, and prize, that system of truth which has made us historic, which has given us our position among the churches of Christ in the world, which is the secret of our active and tenacious vitality, and without which we should long ago have crumbled and disappeared like the seven churches of Asia?

ARTICLE VI.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

1.- RAWLINSON'S HERODOTUS.1

THE full title of this work, which we give in the note below, clearly indicates its character and object. The first two volumes have already been received in this country, and the others may be expected soon. They are beautifully printed and illustrated; they are books which are a real delight to the eye, and the only pain which they give is from their price. The work is very appropriately dedicated to Rt. Hon. E. W. Gladstone, who finds time, in his superabundant activity, to devote himself to statesmanship, to theology, and to classical learning; and has recently, for his own amusement, amid the turmoil of political life, written three ponderous and beautiful volumes on Homer. A fit companion to this English Herodotus is the splen

1 The History of Herodotus: a new English Version, edited with copious Notes and Appendices illustrating the History and Geography of Herodotus, from the most recent sources of information, and embodying the chief results, historical and ethnographical, which have been obtained in the progress of cuneiform and hieroglyphical discovery. By the Rev. G. Rawlinson, M. A., assisted by Sir Hen. Rawlinson and Sir J. G. Wilkinson. In 4 vols. Vol. I. (Book I.) Svo. pp. 698. Vol. II. (Books II. and III.) pp. 616. London, Murray. 18s. per volume.

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did quarto edition of the Greek text, with Latin translation, apparatus, fragments of Ctesias, etc., issued by Firmin Didot at Paris in 1855.

We are glad to see Herodotus thus honored. Scarcely any writer of classical antiquity so takes hold on the heart of the scholar like a dear, familiar, gossipping, household friend. To the student of the Bible he is especially valuable. His position in society, and his wealth, gave him easy and safe access, in his extensive travels, to all the nations of antiquity which are most connected with the Bible history; while his untiring curiosity, his insatiable thirst for knowledge, his easy, genial temper, and his fine poetic taste, fitted him admirably for the position which he assumed as the historiographer of the old world. Of the several versions of any story which he heard in his travels, he generally adopts that one which is the most interesting, and sets it forth with a simplicity and beauty rarely approached except by the historical writers of the Old Testament. No doubt his good nature was sometimes imposed upon by those who amused themselves by taxing the credulity of the inquisitive, and doubtless sometimes rather troublesome, traveller; but he had a solid basis of good sense and sound judgment notwithstanding, and all thorough-going investigation tends to confirm his reliability as a historian. He comes much nearer the Bible narratives than either Ctesias or Xenophon; and all the recent discoveries of Layard, Rawlinson, Wilkinson, and others, establish the substantial truthfulness of the Bible and Herodotus, and show that the actual romancing is with Ctesias and Xenophon and those who rely upon them.

The illustrations in these volumes, by Sir Henry Rawlinson from Western Asia, and by Sir J. G. Wilkinson from Egypt, are invaluable to the biblical student. By some of them we are a little startled, and inclined to hesitate before we yield our full belief. Nearly forty years ago Sir Robert Ker Porter brought from Mesopotamia to England an antique cylinder with an inscription which no one was then able to read. Sir Henry Rawlinson now deciphers it and finds it to be the identical signet of Urukh, king of Elam, the great-grandfather of Chedorlaomer, the chief of the confederate kings mentioned in the 14th chapter of Genesis (vol. I. p. 435-6). He also finds inscriptions of Chedorlaomer himself. He moreover suggests the identity of this ancient oriental conqueror, to whom Abraham first taught the lesson of defeat, with the hero of Arabic tradition, Kedar-el-Ahmar, or Kedar the Red; a red-haired hero, therefore, like Frederick Barbarossa or William Rufus. We have also, in these volumes, a sort of autobiography of Nebuchadnezzar corresponding with the Book of Daniel, and perhaps a notice of the haughty monarch's seven years' Lycanthropy (vol. I. p. 516. vol. II. p. 585 cf.). Whatever credence we may give or withhold in respect to details like these, to every classical and biblical scholar the whole work is full of interest and instruction.

2.- RIGGS'S MANUAL OF THE CHALDEE LANGUAGE.1

WE hail, with great pleasure, the appearance of the second edition of Dr. Riggs's Chaldee Manual. The author has availed himself, he tells us, of" whatever seemed to be improvements in Prof. Winer's second edition" of his Chaldee Grammar, and has also incorporated numerous manuscript notes of his own, made during an interval of more than a quarter of a century. To the Appendix of the first edition, containing a brief view of the Rabbinic dialect, is added, in the present edition, a similar view of the Samaritan, with full references, in both cases, to the authors who have written on these dialects.

The Manual before us unites brevity with accuracy and sufficient fulness for all students who are well grounded in the knowledge of the Hebrew. A Chaldee Chrestomathy is appended to it, containing notes on all the Biblical Chaldee, with extracts from the Targums, accompanied by notes. To these is added a Chaldee Vocabulary. Thus the Hebrew student is furnished with the means of introducing himself to the knowledge of a cognate dialect, which will richly repay the moderate amount of labor and expense required to master it. The typographical execution of the work is of a high order, and we must heartily wish it may have the effect of giving a new impulse to the pursuit of this important branch of Biblical Litera

ture.

3. BUSH'S NOTES ON NUMBERS.

We have examined with care the specimen pages that have been sent us of Prof. Bush's forth-coming Notes on Numbers. If we may judge from these, they fully sustain the reputation which he acquired many years since by his Notes on Genesis. They exhibit the same copiousness and thoroughness of research, and are, like them, free from all leaven of modern rationalism. Though one may not be able to assent to every particular interpretation (which is more than could reasonably be expected in any commentary on the writings of Moses), he is sure to find everywhere much interesting and instructive matter. We find in these pages no traces of Prof Bush's peculiar views as a New Churchman; and we are assured that his plan throughout is to deal exclusively with the letter and its moral suggestions, without any infusion of the leaven of the peculiar doctrines just referred to. In this matter he has acted wisely. We trust that the present volume will have, like those which have preceded it, an extensive circulation; and we hope the author will be enabled to add notes on the remaining book of Deuteronomy in the same general style.

1 A Manual of the Chaldee Language: containing a Chaldee Grammar, chiefly from the German of Professor G. B. Winer; a Chrestomathy, consisting of selections from the Targums, and including Notes on the Biblical Chaldee; and a Vocabulary, adapted to the Chrestomathy. With an Appendix on the Rabbinic and Samaritan Dialects. By Elias Riggs, D. D. Second edition. revised. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 683 Broadway. London: Sampson Low and Son. 1858. 8vo. pp. 152.

THE

BIBLIOTHECA SACRA,

No. LX.

AND

BIBLICAL REPOSITORY.

No. XCII.

OCTOBER, 1858.

ARTICLE I.

MESHAKAH ON SCEPTICISM.1

Introduction.

THE old records of Assyria are being disentombed and read by Biblical scholars with eager interest; but the buried intellect of the East, also, being raised from the grave of centuries, is no less worthy of our regard. As Christians, we have a special interest in the converts brought to Jesus by our missionaries; and it is a duty we owe no less to ourselves than to them, that we become acquainted with the living stones there built up a spiritual house, and their agency in still further advancing the kingdom of our Lord. It may benefit, also, any surviving remnants of that class who used to think any one fit to be a missionary, to take the measure of one of the minds with which they have to deal;

A Treatise entitled: An Argument on the Weakness of Man, written by Mikhael Meshakah of Damascus. Prov. 3: 7 and 5: "Be not wise in thine own eyes, and lean not unto thine own understanding." Job 38: 33: "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" Beirût, 1853. - The date is inserted here for convenience of reference. In the original, as in Arabic generally, it is placed at the foot of the last page in the book.

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