NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

THE political ferment and excitement, which has resulted from the deposition of Mr. Parnell from the position of leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, has been noticeable for one thing, which affords a gauge of the religious elements in English life: from one quarter and another the Non-conformists have been abused for the way in which they at once spoke out on the need of purity in men of public life; the language has been enriched by a new phrase, which a term of contempt on the part of those who coined it has been accepted as a proud distinction by those against whom it was levied. The "Non-conformist Conscience" is now a recognized factor in the life of the nation; and if so, the existence and continuance of Non-conformity is amply justified. Mr. Gladstone, fifteen years ago, was surprised and deeply moved by finding that it was the Non-conformists who joined him in his protest against the Bulgarian atrocities; and to-day his sensitiveness as to the importance of public characters being men of moral standing is shared by the same section of the community.

Another moral question, which is now deeply agitating the public, is that of gambling. Ministers of all sects, the Convocation of the State Church, philanthropists and publicists, are joining in a protest, and the attention of Parliament is soon to be called to the subject. Doubtless (to take one form of gambling alone) the amount of money lost and squandered in betting on horse-races is enormous. Our laws recognize the principle that betting is an illegal transaction and a crime; but it is winked at, and even openly recognized. A saloon-keeper who allows betting or gambling on his premises may be heavily fined or imprisoned; but every newspaper publishes the odds offered and taken at Tattersall's, the resort of the racing men. Clubs kept for gambling purposes are being constantly suppressed, and the club-keepers are punished; but in a recent case two noble lords found gambling in such a club were allowed to go free, the magistrate declaring that the highest fine he could impose would be no punishment to them. Many cases in the criminal courts, suicides and bankruptcies, have proved if proof were needed that gambling is one of our national vices, and that it often ends in the ruin of its devotees.

At the present moment society is especially anxious about a story of gambling which will end in the law courts. With the history of the case we need not trouble ourselves. But the important part of it is, that a royal personage is mixed up in the affair; if this be so, and if it ends in the full daylight of the court of justice, the matter will draw universal attention to the extent of this evil. A healthy moral tone on the subject must be increasingly fostered; but sooner or later more stringent legislation must cope with the evil. Our law and its administration should know no favored places for the "book-maker" and the betting-man, like Tattersal's and the inclosure of a race-course. It is urged by some that playing for high stakes, whether in saloons, clubs, or private houses, should be equally prohibited as illegal; but it is always dangerous to interfere with an Englishman's liberty at home, for there is no maxim so sacred in his eyes as that which tells him that "every man's house is his castle." But above all, betting transactions, offers to bet, or to advise bettors,

matters which at present form the staple of our numerous so-called "sporting newspapers," - must be treated as public libels, and their publication pursued with the same stringent process of fine or imprisonment with which immoral books or indecent pictures may be suppressed.

The death of Mr. Charles Bradlaugh takes from politics and from the lecture hall one of the best known figures of the day. The deceased member of Parliament began life as a solicitor's clerk and a Sundayschool teacher; he developed into the Secularist lecturer and the radical politician. Ten years ago he was elected member of Parliament for Northampton; for five years he was prevented from taking his seat, for his pronounced atheism tempted a mistaken majority of the House of Commons to keep him out of it: but a few days before his death, reparation was made, and the House by a unanimous vote rescinded the resolution declaring that he was incapable of sitting in Parliament. This was not only a triumph for the principle of religious equality, but also a tribute to Mr. Bradlaugh's energy and success as a member of Parliament. It is strange that, though the Conservatives ten years ago declared that they would not sit in the House with him, no Liberal has recently received so much applause and so many compliments from the Conservatives as he has done, partly because no one measured his audience better than he, or displayed such tact in giving up a great deal to obtain his end. But, besides, Mr. Bradlaugh, like most Secularists, was a strong individualist, and his political ideals were those of a man who wanted the largest measure of individual liberty attainable. Now our political Liberalism has been gradually relinquishing this ideal for the ideal of a social organism as well-balanced and prosperous as possible, and the old individualism is now often ill at ease in Liberal company. For some years Mr. Bradlaugh was the president of the Secular Society; his resignation of this post, followed by his death, marks the break between the old and the new Secularism. For in whatever towns Secularism still flourishes, there the Secularist lectures and programme are not wholly concerned with the criticism and negation of Christian creeds and practices, but are devoted to questions of political and social reform, or the discussion of moral and scientific subjects. Indeed, though the Secularist lecturers may not have changed their religious opinions, they have learned that positive views attract, while negative views repel; and their attitude confirms those who are of the opinion that the Christian religion in our country has more to fear from the indifference of its adherents and the contempt of the worldly than from the attacks of avowed opponents.

Among recent theological works, a little book on Biblical Inspiration, by Professor W. Sanday (The Oracles of God," London, Longmans, 1891), may be noticed as a scholarly yet popular work, obviously written in the spirit of an Eirenicon, but yet an attempt to bring the issue into clearer light and within closer limits; coming from an Oxford professor, it significantly shows how the stream of thought runs. A more ambitious and elaborate work is Professor O. Pfleiderer's "Development of Theology." This volume forms a new number of the series, the Library of Philosophy (London, Sonnenschein; New York, Macmillan). It is very welcome, as there are no comprehensive and reliable English works on the various schools and movements of recent theology; moreover, is it not a mark that the different countries of Europe are becoming less

strangers to each other when a German professor writes an English handbook?

Several new appointments have been recently made in the episcopate of the Church of England, and two of the new bishops are scholars of eminence, Professor Creighton, the ecclesiastical historian, of Cambridge, and Dr. Perowne, late Dean of Peterborough. The number of good scholars who have become successful bishops is a significant fact, betokening that theological study is far from unfitting men for useful service in church and state.

HAMPSTEAD, LONDON.

Joseph King.

GERMAN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE.

Der Inhalt der Lehre Jesu, von Dr. H. H. Wendt, ord. Professor der Theologie in Heidelberg, Darstellender Theil des Werkes; "Die Lehre Jesu." Pp. xiv, 678. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht's Verlag., Göttingen. Mrk. 12. In 1886 appeared "Die Evangelischen Quellenberichte über die Lehre Jesu," which not only prepared the way to the present volume, but made possible a unity and continuity undisturbed by digressions into textual criticism. Notwithstanding the vast literature on this subject, Dr. Wendt's work is in several respects unique, and certainly fills an evident gap in theological literature. This is the first significant attempt to bring the historical contents of the doctrine of Christ into systematic exposition, or "to give an actual historical statement of the doctrine of Jesus." The work comes at the close of a period of extraordinary activity in New Testament criticism, which has shown, among other things, "that a mere skeptical position over against the problems of a historical conception and judgment of Jesus has in our day no scientific right." The historical sources, in order of value, are Mark, Matthew, the sermons of Christ contained in the fourth Gospel, the letters of Paul, and the religious views of the Jewish people. But the entire outline of the doctrine of Jesus must be taken from Mark and Matthew. The method of historical statement is only so far the religious as is made necessary by the Jewish antecedents of Jesus. The effort is to discover the fundamental principles which both unify and account for the doctrine, rather than to place the expressions of doctrine in their chronological order, the objective point being to understand Christ's assertion and defense of his kingdom among men which he gave his labor and life to establish. Although Jesus left no systematic statement of his whole doctrine, we may assume as an hypothesis that his doctrine is capable of such arrangement. The main divisions of the work are: 1. Historical connections for the doctrine of Jesus; 2. External aspects of the doctrine of Jesus; 3. Christ's proclamation of the kingdom of God in general, pp. 130-427; 4. The witness of Jesus to his own Messiahship; and 5. The views of Jesus concerning the development of the kingdom of God. Dr. Wendt's work appears, in almost every respect, to be of the highest order of merit. He successfully guards himself against the common error of confusing the doctrine of Jesus with the doctrines of the apostles and of the

early development of Christianity. The foundation of the doctrine of Christ was the knowledge that God is universal Father with a Father's love. This was to Christ a revelation through his inner experience, and He found it supported by the Old Testament Scriptures. He felt and knew himself to be the Son of God, and He would be a pattern to all, that all men might be the same. He would found a kingdom of God, "an ideal, religious, communal relation between God and men." The teaching of Jesus forms a sum of doctrine, with internal harmony and clearly defined consequences. "It is purely religious; it is likewise thoroughly ethical." The relations between God and men, and between man and man, are all moral relations.

Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur, von Oscar von Gebhardt und Adolf Harnack. VI. Band. Heft 4, Die Aeltesten Quellen des Orientalischen Kirchenrechts. Erstes Buch, Die Canones Hippolyti, von Dr. Hans Achelis. Pp. v, 295. J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig. 1891. Mrk. 9.50.- Although several translations of these Canons have been made, Dr. Achelis believes that in every feature, by the coöperation of learned specialists, he has given new and better renderings. The preservation of these Canons we owe to the Coptic Canonists of the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. They were brought to European attention by the Dominican J. M. Wansleben about the year 1677. The work which has been done upon the text of the Canons is a very good illustration of the present condition of the art of constructive criticism. From a confused and conflicting mass, one third of which is clearly interpolation, Dr. Achelis is able to reach satisfactory results as to the unity and character of the Egyptian Liturgy, and to give a reliable account of the constitution and worship of this early community. The worship fell into three parts. First, reading and exposition, which brought the "Word" into prominence; second, the Eucharistic celebration, which gave expression to the idea of Sacrifice; and third, the offering and distribution of gifts, which represented Love. But the service was mystical, "shrouded by a cloud of superstition." "The theories are Christian, but the practice heathen... . And so arose the old Christian Liturgy." The author of the Canons is clearly the Roman Bishop Hippolytus, of whose life we have definite information in the "Refutatio omnium hæresium." The superscription of the Canons is very significant. "In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti, Dei unici. Hi sunt canones ecclesiæ et præcepta, quæ scripsit Hippolytus, princeps episcoporum Romanorum secundum mandata apostolorum, ex parte spiritus sancti, qui loquebatur per eum. Sunt autem hi canones numero triginta octo. In pace a domino. Amen." The time of the composition was between the years 222 and 235, and the place probably Rome, where ecclesiastical constitutions grew up much earlier than in the East. In the two appendices we have the epi xaptopárov of Hippolytus, and two fragments from his sermons.

Das Heidentum in der römischen Kirche. Bilder aus dem religösen und sittlichen Leben Süditaliens, von Th. Trede. Dritter Teil. Pp. iii, 426. F. A. Perthes, Gotha. Mrk. 5. These volumes, of which the present is the most interesting, are made by one who knows not only the land and people of south Italy, but the social and religious character of ancient Greece and Rome. It is his conviction that Greco-Roman heathenism flourishes to-day with but slight modifications, and that the Christianity of south Italy is thoroughly heathenized. Trede's work is excluded

from the Russian Empire, and naturally meets the disapprobation of the Roman Church. Apart from polemics, the books are full of quaint and curious information concerning things new and old.

Unterricht im Christentum, von Prof. Dr. W. Bornemann. Pp. xvi, 301. Verlag von Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen. 1891. Mrk. 4.40. This manual differs from the ordinary in a new arrangement of matter, and in an earnest effort to apply the doctrines of Christianity to practical life and problems. The author holds it to be a vicious practice to keep the young in ignorance of the living questions of the present, questions which they must meet as soon as they enter the practical and theoretical world. The standpoint from which the subject is approached is evidently that of Ritschl, yet in most of the expositions there are evidences of independence. Dr. Bornemann does not write for past generations, but has the present future directly in view, and leans much more to the religious than to the philosophical view of Christianity. In this spirit the fields of the Old and New Testaments are systematically reviewed in sixteen chapters. Whatever may be one's judgment concerning such arrangements of matter as placing the doctrine of "Last Things" at the beginning, Christology before Theology, and treating. Justification with Theology rather than with Christology, one will readily admit that Dr. Bornemann has written clearly and instructively on the principles of the Christian religion, and furnished a manual of much more than ordinary interest. For readers who are not acquainted with Latin and Greek expressions an appendix key is given.

Beiträge zur Jesaiakritik. Nebst einer Studie über Prophetische Schriftstellerei von Prof. Dr. Fried. Giesebrecht. Pp. iv, 220. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen. Mrk. 5. - Dillmann's commentary on Isaiah is regarded as antiquated in textual criticism, and in error on the fundamental problems of the book of which it treats. The contents of the present work fall under three divisions: Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah, and "concerning the change of threat and promise in the writings of the Prophets." According to chronology and content, the following order of Isaiah is held to be strictly correct: 1, chaps. 2-5; 2, chaps. 6-9, 11, 1–9; 3, chaps. 10, 14, 24–32, 17, 18, 20, 21, 11-17; 4, chaps. 28–31; 5, chaps. 1, 22, 37. The author agrees with Stade and Guthe that chapters 32 and 33 are spurious.

Gottheit, Freiheit, und Unsterblichkeit, vom Standpunkte der Anthropologie, von Ludwig Feuerbach. Zweite Auflage. Pp. iv, 260. Verlag von Otto Wigand, Leipzig. Mrk. 5. Feuerbach is personally and philosophically one of the most instructive commentaries on the vagaries of Hegelianism. He tells us, "God was my first thought, reason my second, man my third and last thought." The first two thoughts he abandoned for a thorough materialism and subjective atheism. The text of the present volume is, "Man is what he eats." The body is the Ego; the nature of man, the sole object of philosophy. Of this phase of thought Feuerbach is the most brilliant and representative expositor.

Studien zur vorgeschichtlichen Archäologie. Gesammelte Abhandlungen von Christian Hostmann. Mit einem Vorworte von Dr. L. Lindenschmidt. Pp. vi, 221. Verlag von Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, Braunschweig. Mrk. 7.- These essays of the late Dr. Hostmann were first published in the "Archiv für Anthropologie," and later, thoroughly revised and enriched with new matter. As the essays now stand, they constitute a systematic and destructive criticism of "the three-period