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ing and binding, has been about 50,000 dollars. On the whole, it has been one of the most expensive works ever published in this country, ranking in the same class in respect to the pecuniary outlay, with Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia and Lieber's American Encyclopædia. The principal advantages of the publication may be stated as follows.

1. It has the pith and marrow of Henry. It presents the best thoughts of this prince of practical commentators in a compressed form. Most biblical readers have not the time to read Henry in its exuberant and diffuse original shape. It includes too much, as we may say, of a good thing. We are cloyed with the excessive sweetness. Besides, Henry deduces many thoughts from his texts, which do not legitimately flow from them. They are, in a sense, additions to the word of God. They were not suggested by logical reasoning or fair inference, but by a prolific fancy. Henry's thoughts have been extracted and condensed, in the Comprehensive Commentary, as we believe, honestly and conscientiously. There could be, indeed, no motive for prevarication and deception. The original exposition is so multiplied among us, that the cheat could have been instantly detected.

2. We have many of the most valuable practical remarks, and not a few of the exegetical notes of Dr. Scott. This venerable Commentator was not accurately skilled in the ori ginal languages of the Scriptures. As a mere philological work, his commentary is very deficient. He was, however, a man of strong mind, of sound judgment, deep knowledge of human nature, of large experience in the Christian life, and firm in his attachment to the orthodox doctrines. Hence, his commentary, as a practical work, is unrivalled. It is full of experimental knowledge for the advanced Christian. Dr. Scott is always sober and in earnest. The editors of the Comprehensive Commentary have done well to copy largely from him. He has not the sententiousness or the lively terms of Henry; but neither has he the conceits, the prolixity, and the inconsequential reasonings which considerably mar the pages of Henry.

3. We attach great value to the more direct and original labors of Dr. Jenks and his coadjutors. The results of their investigations are not indeed so prominent, being found mostly in the smallest type. They have condensed in a limited space much curious and important information, the fruits of learned study, and of extensive reading. Familiar use has been made of the great work on Egypt, prepared by the scientific and literary corps under the orders of Napoleon. The latter

researches of the Champollions, of Rosellini, of Wilkinson, Lane, and others have not been lost sight of. Many of these illustrations were drawn directly from the original fountains, and they are of inestimable value. They sometimes cast light on the obscurest passages in the most difficult books of the Old Testament.

4. There is a great number of engravings on steel and wood. Some of these are very finely done, and greatly increase the interest and value of the work. The numerous maps and engravings will add materially to the worth of the volumes for Sabbath School teachers in the country, who can not easily have access to large libraries or bookstores. Much use has been made by the editors of the plates, and pictures of Laborde, Porter, Wilkinson, Arundel, and of the excellent illustrations of the Bible by the Messrs. Finden, of London.

5. The editors have supplied a very valuable supplementary volume, which is nearly indispensable to the readers of the commentary. It comprises a new concordance to the Bible, with many illustrations on wood, a guide to the study of the Bible, embracing Evidences of Christianity, History of the Bible, Jewish Antiquities, Arts, Sciences, etc., being Carpenter's Biblical Companion condensed, biographical notices of nearly every author quoted in the Commentary, with copious lives of Henry, Scott and Doddridge, and a select list of biblical helps, an index to the Bible; Wemyss's Symbol Dictionary, Chronological and other tables, and a complete and full index to the Comprehensive Commentary.

In conclusion, the editors and spirited publishers of this commentary have conferred, in our opinion, an inestimable service on the religious community by the wide diffusion of these six volumes, Thousands of families are thus put in possession, at a low rate, of a great amount of religious reading. The Commentary is, without doubt, imperfect. A carping criticism may delight to detect macula. The judicious biblical critic may demur at many of the exegetical observations of Henry and of others. Still, all candid and enlightened Christians will rejoice to know that the treasures of wisdom which flowed from the hearts and lips of such men as Henry, Scott and Doddridge, are the possession, reverently examined morning and evening, at ten thousand firesides throughout the land.

3.-Jahn's Biblical Archæology, translated from the Latin, with additions and corrections, by Thomas C. Upham, Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, and of the Hebrew Language, in Bowdoin College. Fourth edition. Andover: Gould, Newman and Saxton, 1839, pp. 573.

Three large editions of this work have been sold since 1823. The third edition was out of the market about two years since. The respected author, for many years Professor of Oriental Languages at Vienna, (born in 1750, died in 1816,) was one of the most sober writers which Germany has produced. His learning, though not equal to that of some of his contemporaries, and of many men now living, was extensive and exact. Prof. Upham's version of the Archæology is one of the best specimens of a clear, simple and dignified translation which has yet been made from German authors. No work of the size will be more useful for Sabbath School teachers.

4.-Gulielmi Gesenii Thesaurus Philologicus Criticus Lingue

Hebrææ et Chaldææ Veteris Testamenti. Tomi Secundi
Fasciculus Primus. Lipsiæ, 1839, pp. 278, 4to.

This is the third number of the great Hebrew Thesaurus of Gesenius. The first part was published in 1829, the second in 1835. The fourth part is promised to be ready at the Easter Fair, in 1840. The work is now carried to the close of the letter Mem. The remainder will probably be completed in three parts. The last portion will contain some additions, particularly in relation to the first number, also four indexes, namely, a grammatical and analytical index, a Latin index, an index of helps, both of books and MSS., and an index of illustrated passages of the Scriptures. The whole work, when completed, will be an invaluable present to the Christian and the Oriental scholar. Each preceding part bears evidence of the industry, accuracy, and sound judgment of the author. Recourse is every where had, for the purposes of proof and illustration, to the most recent travellers, and Oriental investigation, to the labors of Rosellini, and to the other students of Egyptian antiquities, to the author's own Phoenician pursuits, and to the results of the studies in the Indo-Germanic languages.

5.-Die Heilige Schrift des alten und Neuen Testaments. Uebersetzt von Dr. W. M. L. De Wette. Dritte verbesserte

Ausgabe Erster Theil, SS. 527. Zweiter Theil, SS. 539.

The first edition of this translation was brought out in the years 1809-14, by the joint labors of De Wette and Augusti. The second edition, printed in 1831, was the work of De Wette alone, he having re-translated the portions which had been rendered by Augusti. The translation of Isaiah, however, was the excellent one of Gesenius, with a few slight alterations. The third edition, which is just completed, has been subjected to a fresh revision, and comes out in a very portable and handsome style. The notes, not very copious, are now printed at the end of the volumes respectively. They are almost invariably of a critical character, and are confined to the most difficult texts. The second volume includes a translation of the ten apocryphal books. Though we have no sympathy with many of the theological opinions of De Wette, yet his philological labors we very highly esteem. His translation of the Bible is the fruit of a long life of ardent and judicious study of the Bible. No German, perhaps, equals him in power to appreciate the beauties of the poetical parts of the Scriptures. He is perfectly ready to acknowledge the great merit of Luther's version, its astonishing influence on the German language, the modes and habits of thinking among the people, etc., while he maintains that many passages are not rendered correctly by Luther, and many others are susceptible of much improvement. A perfectly accurate translation of documents, so ancient as those of the Hebrew Scriptures, is not the work of one age or of one man.

6.-The Last Days of the Saviour, or, History of the Lord's Passion, from the German of Olshausen. Mors Christi, Vita Mundi. Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1839, pp. 248. The Treatise, of which a translation is here given, is taken from the Commentary on the New Testament, by Prof. Hermann Olshausen of the University of Konigsberg, in Prussia. The original work is one of the most beautiful cimens of Commentary which has appeared from the orthodox Commentators of Germany. The author has a heart to feel, as well as a pen to delineate, in relation to the most stupendous and affecting event in the world's history. The version (we suppose by Mr. Osgood of Nashua, N. H.,) is remarkably idiomatic and fresh.

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7.-Xenophon's Memorabilia of Socrates, with English Notes by Alpheus S. Packard, Prof. of the Greek and Latin Languages and Literature, Bowdoin College. Andover: Gould, Newman & Saxton, 1839, pp. 264.

Prof. Packard merits the gratitude of the literary and of the theological community for the rich presents which he is, from time to time, furnishing. The complete works of President Appleton was an invaluable offering to all who speak the English tongue. The Memorabilia of Xenophon is one of the precious treasures of the Greek Classics. It is here presented in an attractive and useful form, in a large and clear Greek type, accompanied with pertinent and somewhat copious English notes. The text is substantially that published by Weigelius at Leipsic, in 1819, under the superintendence of Prof. G. H. Schæfer. The editions of Weiske, Bornemann and Dindorf have been diligently compared. We have no doubt that many of our institutions will follow the example of Bowdoin and Union Colleges, in adopting this edition of the Memorabilia of Xenophon as one of their text books.

8.-Lectures on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, by Thomas Chalmers, D. D., and L. L. D. Glasgow, Vol. I. 1837, pp. 450, Vol. II. 1838, pp. 428, vol. III. 1839.

These Lectures of Dr. Chalmers, are plain and practical, designed for the mass of common readers of the Bible. They are the record of his Sabbath preparations for many years. They were delivered, as it would seem, when he was minister of the Tron Church in Glasgow. Though not finished and elaborate performances, yet they may be read with much pleasure and advantage. The genius of the great theologian will break out occasionally, in spite, as it were, of himself. Dr. Chalmers cannot cover up his idiosyncrasies. No man's intellectual framework is more strongly marked. No one adheres more tenaciously to his peculiarities of style and manner. We have been exceedingly interested to see how such a man, surrounded by the terrors of Scotch orthodoxy, would get over the locos vexatissimos of Rom. v., vii., and ix. Had we space we would enrich our pages with his comments on two or three passages.

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