would lead one to suspect. The best essay in the two volumes is that upon "The New Ethic," in the first of the two at the head of our review. It is full of false insinuations, and above all is too dogmatic and inflexible in its treatment of the old and new "ethic." But it has the unusual merit of being original and constructive in its idea of duty. Most treatises of ethics accomplish no more than an analysis of that conception. But, to use a technical term, the development of the idea here is synthetic. It is adapted, of course, to the social state which he advocates. But whether we accept it as complete or not, it has the merit of emphasizing the social idea so complicated with man's conduct, and not so apparent in the ideal, which has an egoistic tendency in it, and looks at conduct mainly with reference to the good of the individual. The contrast between modern and medieval ethical conceptions, although not always correct or fair, is able and suggestive. But other essays are not so good as this one. Indeed, there is great inequality between them, and, after all is said, the volumes can be read with profit only by those who want to know what radicals are thinking.

J. H. Hyslop.

GERMAN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE.

Leibniz und Spinoza. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Leibnizischen Philosophie, von Prof. Dr. Ludwig Stein. Mit neunzehn Ineditis aus dem Nachlass von Leibniz. Pp. xvi, 362. Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin. Mrk. 8. — There has always been a great difference of opinion as to whether Leibniz is the greatest or least among modern philosophers. In connection with this, his relations to Descartes on the one hand and Spinoza on the other have been unsettled yet warmly debated questions. In recent years, Zeller, Heinze, and Windleband have taken a strong middle course and pointed out in certain important features a strong likeness to Spinoza. Dr. Stein now takes up the whole question from the beginning and treats it historically, following Leibniz step by step throughout all his relations and developments. It is clear that Leibniz was much under the influence of Hobbes as early as 1663, and as early as July, 1670, endeavored to open a correspondence with the grim philosopher of Malmesbury, but without favorable results. Leibniz then turned to Spinoza, who was known to him by name as early as 1666, and a correspondence followed in the winter of 1671. In 1676 he became personally acquainted with Spinoza, and not until after 1680 is there any intimation that he rejected any of Spinoza's views. Leibniz, like Locke, often couples the names of Hobbes and Spinoza, and regards them as supporting the same system. It was in 1688 that Leibniz first made an attack on the system of Spinoza. The teleological convictions of the former led him to work out his monadol

ogy.

The elements of this he took up out of different well-known systems, and created a fabric of which he says with characteristic vanity, Mea principia talia sunt, ut vix a se invicem divelli possint. Qui unum bene norit, omnia norit." Leibniz died in the belief that his monadology was the final philosophy and the destruction of Pantheism. That he built his system, consciously and avowedly, as a bulwark against the dangerous religious tendencies of Spinozaism, is one of the clear results to

which Dr. Stein leads. The able editor of the "Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie" has made a solid and much-needed contribution to the history of seventeenth century philosophy.

Die Nominalbildung in den semitischen Sprachen, von Professor Dr. J. Barth. Erste Hälfte, Die schlichten Nomina. Pp. xvi, 208. Mrk. 10. Zweite Hälfte, Die Nomina mit äusserer Vermehrung. Die gebrochenen Plurale. Pp. v, 284. J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. Mrk. 10.The character of this work has been indicated briefly as follows: "Die Entstehungsgesetze der semitischen Nomina und eine übersichtliche systematische Vergleichung der im Semitischen vorhandenen Nominalformen bilden den Gegenstand des vorliegenden Werkes. Auf Grund der nachweislichen Bildungsgesetze der Nomina wird jede Form derselben durch die verschiedenen semitischen Sprachen hindurch verfolgt, das seinem Ursprung und Wesen nach Gleiche verbunden, das nur äusserlich Ahnliche aber getrennt. Auf diese Art sind die bisher nicht untersuchten Gesetze der semitischen Infinitiv- und Participialbildung, der Entstehung der Concreta, der prä- und suffigirten Nomina, sowie der Ursprung der verschiedenen Abstractendungen des Semitischen dargelegt und ihr Gebrauch durch alle Sprachen verglichen. Jene gemeinsemitischen Entstehungsgesetze erklärten endlich auch die Bildung der südsemitischen gebrochenen Plurale, deren Verwendung im Einzelnen dargelegt und begründet wird."

Die biblischen sieben Jahre der Hungersnoth nach dem Wortlaut einer altägyptischen Felsen-Inschrift, von Heinrich Brugsch. Mit 32 autographischen Tafeln und 5 Holzschnitten. Pp. iv, 162. J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. Leipzig. Mrk. 5.- Mr. Wilbour, the American discoverer of this inscription, and Dr. Brugsch, its able expositor, translator, and editor, have both surprised and served the scientific world in a very remarkable way. The Sehêl inscription belongs to the Cataract district, and records the sufferings and causes of a seven years' famine that occurred in the reign of an old Egyptian king. Both the date and character of the inscription are such that Dr. Brugsch agrees with Mr. Wilbour: "It is manna for Bible students." Not only the religious but also the historical and geographical significance of this discovery are presented by Dr. Brugsch. The thirty-two tables at the close of the work give the text of the inscription with an interlinear translation. This work will speedily find its way into many hands, and, we believe, will be regarded by all as the most valuable and interesting book, touching Egypt and the Old Testament, that has recently appeared.

Aus dem Babylonischen Rechtsleben, von Professor Dr. J. Kohler and Dr. F. E. Peiser. Pp. iv, 36. Verlag von Eduard Pfeiffer. Leipzig. Mrk. 3. This little volume is a digest from the great works of Strassmaier, of the inscriptions of Nabonidus and Nabuchodonosor, kings of Babylon. Although the work is done as a contribution to the philosophy of law, it directly serves the Old Testament student by clearly indicating the leading features of the character and customs of this ancient people, and in producing the textual evidence of these features.

ler.

Untersuchungen zur altorientalischen Geschichte, von Hugo Winck

Pp. x. 144, und 9, Keilschrifttafeln. Verlag von Eduard Pfeiffer. Leipzig. Mrk. 12. — The author endeavors to sum up the recent results in this field, to go deeper into some unsettled questions, and to put in order certain features that are at present confused. In his essay on the chronology of Babylon and Assyria he maintains that we may at present

distinguish with precision the actual values of the different chronologies. The second discussion concerning the place of the Chaldeans in history is full of information, and serviceable in clearly distinguishing, at all points, the Chaldeans from the Babylonians. The third article is the first attempt made to show how the small kingdoms of old Mesopotamia influenced and conditioned the later Babylonian and Assyrian empires. The last two treatises concern the "Relation of Egypt and Assyria” and "The History of the Medes and the Persians." These historical studies are conducted in the light of the monuments which, in many important. respects, correct the views of classic authors.

Allgemeine Ethik, von Dr. H. Steinthal, Professor an der Universitat Berlin. Pp. xx, 459. Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer. Berlin, 1885. Mrk. 9. This work is not as well known in America as its value and the name of its author deserve. Dr. Steinthal is generally regarded as Herbartian, but in his ethics the influence of Kant is quite as prominent as that of Herbart. It was not until the time of Kant and Schiller that ethics in Germany cut loose from theology. Since that time the tendency has been to subject ethics to æsthetics, and in this respect Steinthal agrees with Herbart, although differing somewhat in his discovery and statement of the ethical categories. These last are in logical order, the idea of ethical personality, of benevolence, of sociability, of justice, and of perfection. They are forms of feeling, independent of will and reason. Pleasure and pain, praise and blame, depend upon the presence or absence of these elements of moral personality. Here is universality and the tap-root of moral obligation. But if ethics is the child of æsthetics in the beginning, in its development it rises above its parent and inherits all things, even politics and religion. The four divisions under which Dr. Steinthal treats ethics are as follows: the doctrine of ethical ideas, the forms of the moral life, the phenomena of morality, and the metaphysics of morality, or the ethical conception of the nature of things. Each of these parts is independent and presents one side of the subject altogether they give a comprehensive view. The work is one of the best examples of philosophical ethics we possess, and in suggestiveness is second to none.

Leitfaden zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte, von Friedrich Loofs, Professor der Theologie in Halle. Zweite verbesserte und vermehrte Auflage. Pp. xx, 445. Max Niemeyer Halle A. S. Mrk. 5. Dr. Loofs, the youngest ord. professor in Germany, is with some important modifications a disciple of Harnack. The appearance of the second edition of this work, so soon after the first, has not prevented reconstruction and great augmentation. In its present form we have one of the best handbooks of the subject. Dr. Loofs makes no attempt to be exhaustive in literature or in the treatment of the large field, but endeavors to present clear and succinct outlines with the literature that bears directly and helpfully upon the different periods treated. other commendable feature of the work is that the quotations are fitted into the text where they belong, and not relegated to discomfiting footnotes. The main divisions of the work are: the origin of ecclesiastical dogmas about the year 200, the development of catholic dogmatics on Alexandrian principles to the completion of Greek orthodoxy, the founding and extension of Christian dogmatics in Roman Catholicism, the partial reformation of Catholic dogmatics by Protestantism through a religiorational interpretation of the Gospels. The work closes with a review of the results of the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

An

Metaphysik. Eine wissenschaftliche Begrundung der Ontologie des positiven Christentums, von Prof. Dr. Theodor Weber. Zweiter Band: Die antitheistischen Weltfaktoren und die speculativ Theologie. Pp. viii, 587. F. A. Perthes, Gotha. Mrk. 9. In the year 1888, we noticed the first volume of the work which is now concluded. The author hopes that he has succeeded in bringing the entire ontology of positive Christianity into a comprehensive and defensible system. This harmonious system is raised on experience as a foundation, and in completeness as well as vigor of exposition is altogether the most learned and systematic work on the subject. The work is not only not "light reading," but it supposes a pretty thorough acquaintance with the literature of Christian ontology. Dr. Weber believes with Hegel, with whom he has much in common, that a scientific knowledge of the truth, though the most difficult to attain, is the only real satisfaction for the human soul. Pantheistic or semi-Pantheistic philosophy is met with an elaborate proof of an extra-mundane, personal God, whose creations are spirit, nature, and man, in the sense of positive Christianity. In this proof, even the Trinitarian doctrine is preserved. The author's first volume excited much attention; this second will probably demand much more. It may be viewed as an important moment in what many regard as "the swing back to orthodoxy," the reconciliation of reason and revelation.

..

Ueber die Grundlagen der Erkenntnis in den exacten Wissenschaften, von Paul du Bois-Reymond. Nach einer hinterlassenen Handschrift. Mit einem Bildnis des Verfassers: Pp. vii, 130. Mrk. 3.60. -Although Professor du Bois-Reymond was not known as religiously orthodox, his writings, especially "The Boundaries of Natural Science” and The Seven Problems," have served to check much of the arrogance and dogmatism of science. But we do not see how, even for science, his "principles of knowledge" break the "Ignorabimus" which he prescribes in his other works. "Each science must create its own philosophy," and this is "possible only through synthesis," is the leading thought. The leading tendencies of natural science are resolved into mechanism as a final and valid form. From this point of view the elementary mechanism of the visible world is considered. The most helpful of the eight essays are one on general conceptions of the universe and another on the idealistic and empirical conceptions.

Ueber die Aufgaben einer Allgemeinen Rechtswissenschaft, von Dr. Alb. Herm. Post, Richter am Landgericht in Bremen. Pp. viii, 214. Schulzesche Hof-Buchhandlung (A. Schwartz). Oldenburg und Leipzig. Mrk. 3. — During the last twenty-five years there has been very great progress in the general science of law. So far as is at present possible, Dr. Post gives an outline of what has been done in this department. He performs this task for the special purpose of arousing in students an interest in general jurisprudence. The two special features of the work are, first, a review of the most important parallels in the laws of different peoples. Here are considered the laws of constitution, person, family, inheritance, punishment, procedure, and property. And, secondly, a review of the manner in which the different peoples of the earth have expressed their law. Separate sections are given to the following peoples: the European, the Asiatic, the Oceanic, the American, the Arctic, and the African. Dr. Post has increased the obligations of the students by presenting the study "on the one side as a psychological; on the other side as a sociological science." As an outline or a handbook for the study of

comparative or psychological jurisprudence, we know of no work that so clearly answers the purpose.

Der Gottesbegriff in den heidnischen Religionen des Alterthums. Pp. x, 144. Mrk. 1.90. Der Gottesbegriff in den heidnischen Religionen der Neuzeit. 2 Bde. Pp. viii, 112, 140. Mrk. 3.30. Gott und Götter. Pp. vi, 128. Mrk. 1.80. Studien zur vergleichenden Religionswissenschaft, von Christian Pesch, S. J. Herder'sche Verlagshandlung, Freiburg im Breisgau. The first three volumes are confined to historical induction, having for their object the theology of the different peoples of the earth, ancient and modern. These peoples, though studied separately, are classified according to race. "What were their ideas of God; how did these ideas change or develop in the course of time, and how did they express themselves in religious practice?" The author goes behind the outer form to the inner content, seeking in each instance to make clear the germ which is so often incrusted or overgrown by the products of the imagination. In the first volume the Indogermanic and Semitic (including the Egyptian) peoples are studied; in the second and third volumes are considered those peoples, who, unknown to the Greeks and Romans, are somewhat loosely classed as Turanian. This term includes the peoples of northern Europe and Asia, Australia and the South Sea Islands, Africa and the aborigines of America. The fourth volume is a systematic synthesis of the data contained in its predecessors, and sets forth on a historical basis the truth, origin, and development of the idea of God. The results of the work taken as a whole are that all peoples at all times have believed in the existence of God, that the ground of this belief is found in the human reason alone, that this belief would be impossible if God did not exist, that the argumentum ex consensu gentium is an independent, scientific proof of the existence of God, that Monotheism antedated Polytheism and Pantheism, that ancient history shows not development, but degeneration in the knowledge of God, and that this sinking condition of mankind made necessary a new revelation in Jesus Christ. The author, himself a scholar of the first rank, uses only the literature which is regarded as authority in the different fields. Yet in using the literature of Catholic missions, which is generally overlooked by Protestant writers, he has been able to add much to our information as well as to supplement and illustrate the knowledge we already possess.

Sonnencult der Indogermanen (Indoeuropäer) insbesondere der Indoteutonen aus 125 hebräischen, griechischen, lateinischen und altnordischen Original und 278 sonstigen Quellen geschöpft und erweisen, von Dr. Heinrich Böttger. Königl. hannoverschen Bibliothekrath A. D. Pp. xxxii, 167. Verlag von Leopol Freund, Breslau. Mrk. 3.60. Students of Tacitus and of early German history have long since learned the value of Dr. Böttger's work. Now in his ninetieth year, he crowns his scientific investigation with a work which is full of value for historian, geographer, and theologian. How the Teutons originated in Asia, worshiped Tento, the sun-god, wandered westward, and in honor of this Deity called their new-found land Teutschland; how "the white horse figures and transfigures the religious ideas of many people, and how its Roman representatives fall back upon India, how the Indo-Germanic sunworship influenced the Christian religion not only in its origins but also in its developments, are some of the questions which are newly and most interestingly treated.

Mattoon M. Curtis.