1849.] Mezzofanti-Guyot's Lectures. 407 named. Were we to make a criticism on Mr. D.'s work it would be, that it betrays a certain air of assumption and confidence, which are not quite befitting even in an advanced and able scholar. The death of the well known cardinal Mezzofanti, the universal linguist, is announced. From his gentle and peaceable character, and from the fact that he died at Rome, we infer that he has taken no part in the late political transactions. Indeed, no man could well make war on one who was so harmless, and whose countenance was the very index of good will. For some notice of his extraordinary attainments, and of his person, see Bib. Sac. Vol. IV. p. 601. What has become of the rigid and unaccommodating librarian of the Vatican Library, cardinal Maï, we have not heard. We presume, however, that he accompanied the Pope to Gaeta. The new government have taken possession of the inestimable treasures of the Vatican. Every friend of learning and human culture earnestly hopes that these treasures will be allowed to remain untouched. Who would wish to see any of them in Paris or in London? Who can desire to look at Titian's great and undying works in any place but Venice? How strangely the Assumption or the Apollo would appear in the British Museum, or in a London banker's country seat! Yet there is great reason to fear that the Italian cities will be despoiled of some of their noblest works by the pressure of the times. We trust that all the European governments, in Italy and without, both monarchical and popular, will unite in preventing this spoliation. We see that the Pope and Austria are interfering in the matter. Man Primeval; or the Constitution and Condition of the Human Being. By John Harris, D. D., president of Cheshunt College. Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln. 1849. 12mo. pp. 480. The Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative and Physical Geography, considered in its relation to the History of Mankind. By Arnold Guyot, late professor of Physical Geography and History at Neufchatel. Translated from the French by Prof. C. C. Felton, with illustrations. Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln. Prof. Agassiz writes as follows: "Having been Prof. Guyot's friend from childhood, as a fellow-student in college, and as a colleague in the same university, I may be permitted to express my high sense of the value of his attainments. He has not only been at the best school, that of the Ritter and Humboldt, and become familiar with the present state of the science of our earth, but he has himself in many instances, drawn new conclusions from the facts now ascertained and presented most of them in a new point of view." Sacred Rhetoric: or Composition and Delivery of Sermons; including Ware's Hints on Extemporaneous Preaching. By H. J. Ripley, professor in Newton Theological Institution. Dr. John M. Mason's works are published in four volumes 8vo., under the editorial charge of his son, Rev. Ebenezer Mason, who deceased as the last sheets were passing through the press. We regret that there is no memoir of a pulpit orator so distinguished as Dr. M. The impression which his eloquence made in England is still vivid on the minds of those who listened to him. The late eminent and excellent R. W. Hamilton, D. D., of Leeds, mentioned to the writer a number of incidents illustrating the power of his oratory. Another individual said that on entering the church when Dr. M. was delivering his "Messiah's Throne," he was instantly so impressed, that he passed some distance, and had taken his seat without being aware that his hat was still upon his head, till it was indicated by those near. A new volume of the Select Sermons of Dr. Channing is soon to be published.-A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles for the use of schools and colleges, is preparing by Rev. J. J. Owen, D. Ď. A commentary on the same book by Prof. J. A. Alexander of Princeton is also announced. Mr. Putnam of New York has reprinted Layard's Nineveh, in two handsome vols. 8vo, with all the illustrations and wood-cuts of the English edition. An introductory note from Dr. Robinson is inserted. Two other English works, illustrative of oriental scenery, manners and objects, have also been reprinted by the same house, viz. Adventures in the Libyan Desert and the Oäsis of Jupiter Ammon, by Bayle St. John (son of the author of "Hellenes"), and Visit to Monasteries in the Levant, with numerous Illustrations, by Robert Curzon.-Lieut. Lynch's Narrative of the Dead Sea Expedition is in the press in Philadelphia and will soon be published. Since the preceding was in type, we notice an announcement of the following works: Bibliotheca Judaica, a Biographical Manual of the entire circle of Jewish Literature, by W. Fürst, 1 Th. A—H.—Hagenbach K. R. Die Kirchengeschichte des 18 u. 19 Jahr., from the Evangelical Protestant Position, Vol. I.-Maurer Comm. in Vet. Test. Vol. IV., section 2nd and last, on Ecclesiastes and Canticles by A. Heiligstedt.-A School Grammar of the Heb. Lang. by Dr. Goldstein of Breslau.—The Proper Mode of rendering the word God, in translating the Bible into Chinese by Sir George Staunton.-The Life and Epistles of Paul in 2 vols., by Rev. J. W. Coneybeare and Rev. J. S. Howson, richly illustrated from drawings by W. H. Bartlett. Several Articles, Notices, etc., designed for this No. of the Bibliotheca Sacra, are necessarily deferred. Errata.-P. 385, 1. 4, for bend, read head; p. 386, for Derb el-Serieh, read D. elSerich. 7. Single Branches of Church History. Hist. of Missions, 422 8. Continuation. History of Doctrines, 423 9. History of Morality, Government, and Worship, 14. General Character of the Three Ages of Ch. History, 436 15. Continuation, II. CEMETERIES, By Rev. J. Richards, D. D., Hanover, N. II. 439 442 TIAN MINISTRY, III. THE CLAIMS OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES ON THE CHRIS By Rev. John Jay Dana, South Adams, Ms. IV. THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE, Translated and somewhat abridged from v. Bohlen's "Das Alte Indien." On the Grammatical Structure of the Sanskrit, 461 471 471 V. SPIRITUALITY OF THE BOOK OF JOB AS EXHIBITED IN A By Taylor Lewis, LL. D., Professor of Greek in the University of the City of New York. VI. REINHARD'S SERMONS, 507 By Edwards A. Park, Professor in Andover Theological Seminary. VII. Of the Dependence oF THE MENTAL POWERS UPON 534 By George I. Chace, Prof. of Chemistry and Geology in Brown University. VIII. BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY (from Winer's Lexicon), 558 IX. REVIEW OF TYLER'S TACITUS, 572 By Charles Short, M. A., Roxbury, Mass. X. RECENT ENGLISH WORKS ON LOGIC AND METAPHYHICS, 596 By N. Porter, Jr., Professor in Yale College. XI. MISCELLANIES, LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL, 603 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA AND THEOLOGICAL REVIEW. NO. XXIII. AUGUST, 1849. ARTICLE I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO CHURCH HISTORY. By Professor Philip Schaff, Mercersburg, Pa. § 1. The idea of History in general. THE object of this General Introduction is, to come to a clear understanding of the nature and purpose of church history, and thus to gain the proper position for the contemplation of its details. A full insight into it can be reached indeed only at the close of the historical course; for the best definition of church history is the thing itself. But some preliminary explanation is still very important, at least to know what we propose in some measure, and to serve as a directory to the study of particulars. Our best course will be to resolve this compound conception into its two constituent parts, and so to inquire first what history is in general, and then what the church is, which will lead of itself to the true idea of church history. By History in the objective sense, we understand the sum of what has happened, or more strictly expressed, of all that pertains to the life of humanity and enters essentially into its development. History in the subjective sense, is the apprehension and representation of what has thus taken place, by means of language. The value of the last The English word history comes, through the Latin, from the Greek loropía, (from the verb loropέw,) which signifies first research, then what is known by research, then science generally and in particular the science of events in history. The German word Geschichte comes from "geschehen," to happen, to occur. |