“5. For, Deut. iii. 24. DN, for what God is there

in heaven. Zech. i. 15.

“6. When, 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. ' T, when Josiah

the host of heaven cannot be numbered, 1 Kings viii. 39.

“8. Where, Numb. xx. 13.: 117, where they contended. "Among the compounds are to be noticed

"1. In (the place) where (vid. above, No. I.) Ruth i. 17.: N

♫♫, where thou diest, whither, 1 Sam. xxiii. 13.:

whither they could go.

“2. Because, Gen. xxxix. 9. MUNAN ¬, because thou art

his wife, ver. 23. More frequent is ND,

"1. Prop. according to what, according as, Gen. vii. 9.

as God has commanded, Ch. xxxiv. 12.

“ 2. As if, Job x. 19.

T.

"N'S UND, as if I had not been. "3. Because, (in consequence) that, Numb. xxvii. 14. Micah. iii. 4. ND, Because they have done evil.

"4. As soon as when, (after) Exod. xxxii. 19. Deut. ii. 16.

"5. When, (of time, properly, at the time in which,) Gen. xii. 11. Nic? Co Wind 1, when he came nigh, &c. Chap. xxvii. 40.

Exod. xvii. 11. Josh. iv. 1.

We cannot conclude our review more appropriately, than by quoting the following sensible observation, which is made by Gesenius himself, in his Preface to this work.

"May I be allowed, moreover, here generally to express my conviction, that perhaps on few writings have so many rash criticisms been hazarded, without a regard for, and a sound knowledge of, the genius of the language and the grammar, as on the Hebrew text of the Bible.' Reiske's Conjectura in Jobum et Proverbia, Lips. 1779-80. and Houbigant's Passion for Emendations, were loudly disproved in part, even by their own age; but the criticisms of J. D. Michaelis and his disciples, gave occasion to Stange to make a series of bitter, though, for the most part, just remarks; and the Scholia of Rosenmuller, which are a model in this, as well as other respects, here give a beautiful example, ́ how true it is, that in the interpretation of the Hebrew text, an accurate, profound, and delicate acquaintance with the idiom of the lan

guage, is more necessary than a restless eagerness for new divisions of words, changes in the punctuations, and other alterations of the text."

The present publication is rendered less valuable than it would otherwise have been, by the great number of errata, which we have noted, in addition to the list already given by Mr. Leo. We are well aware of the apology that Mr. L. has offered in his Preface-the distance of his situation from the University Press; but we do not understand how any such circumstance should have caused errors so very numerous and so very important in the Hebrew, the Syriac, but more especially in the Arabic typography of the work. In this kind of book, the utmost accuracy is indispensable.

Our notice of this publication would have been given sooner, but that we have waited for the concluding Part till our patience is exhausted.

The State of the Protestant Religion in Germany; in a series of Discourses preached before the University of Cambridge. By the REV. HUGH JAMES ROSE, M.A., of Trinity College, and Vicar of Horsham, Sussex. 8vo. Pp. 184. 8s. Deightons. Cambridge. 1825.

To Germany mankind are indebted for some of the greatest benefits they enjoy. There the art of printing was discovered, an invention which beyond any other has been instrumental in accelerating the progress of science and cultivation, and which has at once given permanence to learning, and celerity to its diffusion. There literature has been cultivated and advanced by numerous writers of pre-eminent talent and indefatigable industry, to whom the politician, the philosopher, the lawyer, the physician, the man of active life no less than the retired student, look up with the veneration due to guides and instructors. There the light of the Reformation arose, which neither the darkness of infidelity, nor the artifices of Rome, shall be ever able to extinguish; and which, we humbly hope, will, under the high behests of Providence, shine more and more unto the perfect day of Christianity. The flame of pure religion kindled by that auspicious event was not suffered in after ages to languish and expire. From the time of the great reformer Luther, a man of gigantic force of intellect, and for the period in which he lived, a prodigy of learning, a succession of theologians have fanned and cherished it with anxious vigilance, and by the most splendid exertions. In glancing at the shelves by which we

are at this moment surrounded, how many of the volumes which guided our earlier studies and assisted our maturer inquiries, which we regard as storehouses of the most valuable informátion, which we have most commonly in our hands, and the contents of which we desire to be most deeply impressed upon our minds, owe their existence to the patient research, the literary genius, and the prolific press of Germany?

Considering the immense debt of gratitude which every scholar and every divine must acknowledge to be due to German assiduity, it may seem invidious and unthankful to speak in disparagement of its present labours. Yet, as we are informed by history that the march of learning has not been uniformly progressive, it is both interesting and useful to inquire, with reference to any particular region, into the causes and consequences of its rise, progress, variation, and, if such be the fact, its decline. In proportion to the splendour of the former literary glory of any country are our curiosity and anxiety to know its present state. It is especially so with regard to theological learning in Germany-as it has lately been disparaged, and even unsparingly condemned by some whom the church of England numbers among the brightest of her living ornaments. Is this severe censure justified by the actual state of Scriptural knowledge in that extensive region? Is it true that religion has degenerated into a crude system of rationalizing sophistry, and that a wide-spread and growing indifference to Christianity prevails in a country, the cradle of protestantism, and the parent of a long line of worthies who have obtained a lofty name and a proud station in the annals of the Christian faith? The affirmative is strongly maintained in the valuable Discourses now before us. Mr. Rose is too sound a scholar, and too judicious a divine to deny the obligations which we owe to German theology. He fully admits that, until about the middle of the last century, the German divines as a body were as learned, as orthodox, and as remarkable for talents, as any body of divines; and that from their writings the student will never fail to derive improvement, and will not unfrequently gain information which he would seek in vain elsewhere. (P. xii.) Yet he at the same time contends that there exist "fatal opinions which have taken from Christianity in Germany, almost every thing but its name, or at least have deprived it of almost all the marks and characteristics of a revelation." (P. 11.) This is a serious charge, and requires proportionally strong evidence for its support; yet, much as it is to be lamented, we fear there is sufficient evidence to substantiate its truth. But our more immediate design is, avoiding as much as possible the entering.

into the discussion ourselves, to present an account of Mr. Rose's volume, in doing which, however, we shall adopt a different, and as we believe in some respects a preferable order to that which he has followed.

In the second and third Discourses the learned author exhibits a brief yet animated view of the origin and progress of that corruption of the German churches which he energetically denominates" the rejection of Christianity by those who have assumed to themselves the character of the modern Reformers of Germany." (P. 29.) He commences with some preliminary observations shewing that, if God has vouchsafed a divine revelation of his will, it would be as clearly revealed at the outset of Christianity, as it was ever intended to be known; that its record is in the sacred Scriptures, and that if any doubt as to their meaning occurs, the ancient Fathers may be appealed to as witnesses competent from the time when they lived, and the knowledge they must have enjoyed, to remove these doubts entirely. Such were the principles of the early Reformers of Germany. They entertained the most rational belief as to the value and authority of the primitive Christian writers, as proofs and wit-nesses of the doctrines promulgated in their day. They believed that the light of Christianity must have burned brightest at its commencement, and that its doctrines were then fully developed and understood; hence their constant boast that they maintained no article of faith which had not been sanctioned by the primitive church, and that they rejected none which she recognized. The Divines who succeeded them followed closely in their steps; and so did several successive generations emulating their piety, and concurring in the same sound and Scriptural views. The writings produced during this space of time deserve our profound respect, and are, and ever will be in the hands of the theological student.

But about the middle of the last century, or a little earlier, the face of the German church began to assume a new, and less favourable aspect. This result was brought about gradually by the instrumentality of certain causes which had been in operation some time previously. There were some who were wearied with the violent and endless controversies among Christians, and desired to reconcile all sects and denominations; a laudable design truly, but the means were not equally welljudged *. In opposition to this there arose a party, distin

Page 37. Mr. Rose is here obscure and defective, but we suppose he refers to Calixtus and the supporters of what was called Syncretism, for an account of which see Mosheim, Cent. 17. Sect. 2. P. 2. Jablonski, Inst. Hist. Eccles. Secul. 17. Scct. 9. §. 6. And Weisman, Hist. Eccles. Secul, 17,

guished by the name of Pietists, whose aim it was to shew that Christianity consisted in virtue only. They addressed themselves not to the head, but to the heart; regarding religion as a gift sent from heaven to each believer, and animating each individual with a pure morality. They entirely undervalue all human acquirements, and deemed every thing useless which was not immediately connected with Christian practice; this scheme by necessary consequence led to great laxity respecting articles of Faith.

When the effervescence with respect to pietism had subsided, it gave place to a school of philosophy, which Mr. Rose considers as the next step in the progress of the naturaliz ing system of divinity. Wolf, who extended and arranged the views of Leibnitz, maintained that philosophy was indispensable to theology, and that, together with Biblical proofs, a mathematical or strictly demonstrative dogmatical system, according to the principles of reason, was absolutely necessary. These opinions, though at first severely censured, were soon adopted by a host of vehement admirers, who far outstripped him in the extent and rashness of their application.

"We find some of them," says the author, "not content with applying demonstration to the truth of the system, but endeavouring to establish each separate dogma, the Trinity, the nature of the Redeemer, the Incarnation, the eternity of punishment, on philosophical, and, strange as it may appear, some of these truths on mathematical grounds." P. 39.

Although this system fell very rapidly into neglect, Mr. Rose is of opinion that it prepared the way for much of the evil which followed. The attaching of so much weight to demonstrative evidence tended to create and foster the arrogant pretensions of human reason. There were not wanting some who were persuaded that, while Scripture contained only the elements, it was the province of human reason to consummate the doctrine which it delivered. This was, in truth, an attempt to erect the system of Christianity on grounds then deemed purely philosophical. Such attempts, one might suppose, could hardly be made by sincere believers in divine Revelation; and all of them were probably not the attempts of real Christians. Two writers in particular, Basedow and Steinbart, delivered opinions as violent and mischievous as any which have been obtruded the world in our own days. upon 66 Thus," says Mr. Rose, "philosophy, which in Wolf's reign, a few years before, had been called in to defend every doctrine, was now used to get rid of most of them, and give the whole system a philosophical dress." P. 43.