Contemporary Literature [pp. 541-573]

CONTEMPOPRARY LITERATURE.
on earth. and repeats within itself the same division of the seven into four
andcl three, which characterizes the book as a whole. The first fourchLurches
ae supposed to represent the developing church; viz.: the active church,
the mLartyr church, the mixed church and the enthusiastic church; while
in thle last three are found set forth the fundanmental forms or aspects of the
umaturedl chmluch, viz.: the church cold in death; the church warm with
life; the dying ard lul:ewarm church. So the first four seal4 stand over
ag,ainst the last three; and so u ith the trumpets andc the vials.
The additions by i)2. Craven are of considerable extent,, consisting both
in a inumber of prolonged discussions of special points and in a miultitude
of muinor adcditions. T'hese contribute not a lit'le to the interest and value
of the voluime; parlicularly as the American editor repIe,ents a different
school of thought and interpretation from the German91 au-thor. The translaition, which is the work of an aeomplished young ldly, iP admirably executed and oftenl s;glalty felicitous. Her su 1ccs3 in dealingr with a writer
so abstract and often abst,ruse as Lange, bears evidnee bot! of great labor
and skill Its chief fault is its exactness and the concientious rigor with
which it adhere. to the form of the original, even to thle introduction of
novel and outlandish terms, and where perspicuity would have been consilted by recasting the sentence and giving it a form more consonant with
the style of Englishl thought.
An In/rioditct(oy Hebren Gran,inz r wi/za Pro-rc.7ssive Exercises in Readinxg and VFriting. By A. B. DvID3SON, Professor of Hebrew, etc., in the
new College, Edinburgh. 8Svo, pp. 166.
This serviceable manual is designed to meet the wants of beginners and
facilitate their progress in the study of Hebrew. The author thus states the
occasion of its preparation: "The practice, happily spreading, of the
Scotch churches to demand from their students a considerable knowledge of
Hebrew before they enter the Theological classes where the language is formally taught, made it very desirable to have some exercises provid d, in
which the student could read a good deal of Hebrew, though not yet acquainted with those minute grammatical irregularities which would meet
lhim at the first page of the Bible itself. It is the wants of this class of
learners that have been had chiefly in view." The example thus set by the
Scotch might well be imitated by the American churches. Years of studyare given to the Greek in the academy and the college; students are thus,
prepared upon en,;eiing the Theological Seminary to engage at once in
study of the criticism and interpretation of the New Testamenrt in the orig,inal.
If there were some similar requirement in regard to Hebrew it mi,ght be
hopwl that a resp3ctaole standa:rd of Old Testament studies could be
reached. Bat it is preposterous to imagine that within the narrow limits of
the ordinary Seminary course, crowded, moreover, with other pressing and
important studies, it is possible for the ma.jority of students to acquire more
than a very meagre and limited knowledge of the Hebrew, which they are
compelled to begin from its earliest ruidiufments. They cannot even advance
to such an acquaintance with it as shall enable them to read the Hebrew
1874.]
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