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Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Epistle to the Galatians. By HEINRICH AUGUST WILHELM MEYER, Ph. D., Oberconsistorialrath, Hanover. Translated from the fifth edition of the German, by G. H, Venables. Octavo. Pp. 354. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. A special edition imported for this country by Messrs. Scribner, Welford and Armstrong, New York. Price $3.

This is the first instalment (seventh part) of an English version of Dr. Meyer's Commentary on the entire New Testament. The translation

was undertaken with the express sanction and coöperation of the illustrious author, recently deceased. The work has the editorial supervision and revision of Rev. Dr. William P. Dickson, Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow, probably best known in this country by his excellent version of Mommsen's History of Rome.

Dr. Meyer has long been recognized as among the very first of New Testament commentators-perhaps the ablest, all things consideredwhich modern Germany has produced. There is scarcely a recent interpreter of note who does not acknowledge his obligations to him. Bishop Ellicott praises Dr. Meyer's accuracy, perspicuity, acumen and scholarship; and Dr. Schaff calls him "the ablest grammatical exegete of the age. Not that Dr. Meyer is perfect; there is sometimes a coldness in his interpretations, which seems to indicate an inadequate view of the fulness and certainty of revelation, according to our conception of its inspired authority, and to show a lack of complete spiritual sympathy

with the great doctrines of grace; but these exceptional faults are rare, and the commentator's dependence for the meaning of Scripture upon a careful and conscientious study of the words of Scripture-making the New Testament its own interpreter-is worthy of all commendation and imitation. And although calm and scholarly, he is none the less effective in unfolding the testimony of Scripture to the fundamental principles of the Protestant Reformation.

Dr. Dickson, the English editor, wisely points out that the work must be used with discrimination, and that it is not intended for "popular" service. In his editorial supervision he has taken the only judicious and honest course, which is thus described in his Prefatory Note:

In reproducing so great a master-piece of exegesis, I have not thought it proper to omit any part of its discussions and references, however little some of these may appear likely to be of interest or use to English scholars, because an author such as Dr. Meyer is entitled to expect that his work shall not be tampered with, and I have not felt myself at liberty to assume that the judgment of others as to the expediency of any omission would coincide with my own. Nor have I deemed it necessary to append any notes of dissent from, or warnings against, the views of Dr. Meyer, even where these are decidedly at variance with opinions which I hold. Strong representations were made to me that it was desirable to annex to certain passages notes designed to counteract their effect; but it is obvious that, if I had adopted this course in some instances, I should have been held to accept or approve the author's view in other cases, where I had not inserted any such caveat. The book is intended for, and in fact can only be used with advantage by, the professional scholar. Its general exegetical excellence far outweighs its occasional doctrinal defects; and in issuing it without note or com. ment, I take for granted that the reader will use it, as he ought, with discrimination.

As the editor further remarks, those who wish commentaries that will supplement or correct Dr. Meyer, can find them in Ellicott, Lightfoot, Schaff's edition of Lange, and others.

With reference to the Epistle to the Galatians, the author says, in his Preface, that since the days of Luther, it "has always been held in high esteem as the Gospel's banner of liberty." And he adds: "To it and to the kindred Epistle to the Romans, we owe most directly the springing up and development of the ideas and energies of the Reformation, which have overcome the work-righteousness of Romanism, with all the superstition and unbelief accompanying it, and which will in the future, by virtue of their divine life once set free, overcome all fresh resistance till they achieve complete victory. This may be affirmed even of our present position towards Rome." This last point is briefly discussed in the Preface, partly as follows:

The Epistle to the Galatians carries us back to that first Council of the Church, which at its parting could present to the world the simple and true self-witness: ἔδοξε τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι Kai nuiv. How deep a shadow of contrast this throws, not merely on the Vatican Fathers, but also we cannot conceal it-on our own Synods, when their proceedings are pervaded by a zeal which, carried away by carnal aims, forfeits the simplicity, clearness and wisdom of the Holy Spirit! Under such circumstances the Spirit is silent, and no longer bears his witness to the conscience; and instead of the blessing of Synodal church-life-so much hoped for, and so much subjected to question-we meet with decrees which are mere compromises of human minds very much opposed to each other; agreements, over which such a giving the right hand of holy fellowship as we read of in this letter (ii. 9) would be a thing impossible. We wish to give an example of Dr. Meyer's manner, but it is difficult

to do so with fairness; for the argument of the Epistle is so compact, with its various parts so intimately related, and the commentator follows his guide so closely, that it is not easy to detach any brief portion without violence and injury. But we will take the discussion in iii. 24, which deals with the office of "the law" as our naidaɣwyòs eis xpistóv. The passage defies translation, because the paidagogos is a personage wholly unknown to modern life, and the apostle's figure thereby becomes unintelligible. Most translators try to preserve a literal or etymological exactness, and so wholly mislead their readers, while most English commentators show no true apprehension of the meaning. Our Common Version says: "The law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ." With this agree most of the earlier versions, as the Genevan, Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Cranmer's, and in effect Wiclif's and that of Rheims; as do also most of the modern English versions, as Ellicott's, Alford's, Noyes's, the Bible Union, etc. But this rendering is widely erroneous, for there is no reference to the law as a "teacher," and to introduce such an idea into Paul's argument is wholly to change and corrupt it. The law is regarded as a paidagogos, because the paidagogus was a servant selected and appointed by the father to have constant and responsible guardianship of a son during his legal minority, and while in training for the inheritance or public life that would come with his legal majority. He was, when what he should be, the custos incorruptisimus described by Horace (Sat. I, 6, 81), and applied to his father's care and attentionthe most faithful guardian of all his ward's interests. Our translators. ought therefore to have broken away from the vague notions attaching to the word pedagogue-" child-leader," or " conductor," or "instructor," -and substituted here the word guardian, as the only approximate rendering, though involving a slight change of figure. The law is man's guardian during his religious minority or nonage; Christ is the inheritance of man at his religious maturity. Some of these points are noticed by Dr. Meyer in examining the preceding verses, and then he comes to the passage directly before us:

VERSE 24.-Accordingly the law has been our paedagogue unto Christ. As a paedagogue has his wards in guidance and training for the aim of their future majority, so the law has taken us into a guidance and training, of which Christ was the aim-that is, of which the aim was that we in due time should no longer be under the law, but should belong to Christ. This munus paedagogicum [pedagogic function], however, resulting from verse 23, did not consist in the restriction of sin, or in the circumstance that the law ab inhonestis minarum asperitate doterret" (Winer, and most expositors, including De Wette, Baur, Hoffman, Reithmayr, but not Usteri, Hilgenfield, Wieseler)—views decidedly inconsistent with the aim expressed in ver. 19, and with the tenor of ver. 23, which by no means expresses the idea of preparatory improvement; but it consisted in this, that the law prepared those belonging to it for the future reception of Christian salvation (justification by faith) in such a manner that, by virtue of the principle of sin which it excited, it continually brought about and promoted transgressions (ver. 19; Rom. vii. 5 ff), thereby held the people in moral bondage (in the poupá, ver. 23), and by producing at the same time the acknowledgment of sin (Rom. iii. 20), powerfully brought home to the heart (Rom. vii. 24) the sense of guilt and the need of redemption from the divine wrath (Rom. iv. 15)—a redemption which, with our natural moral impotence, was not possible by means of the law itself (Rom. iii. 19 f.; v.ii. 3). Luther appropriately remarks: "Lex enim ad gratiam praeparet, dum peccatum revelat et auget, humilans superbos

ad auxilium Christi desiderandum." Under this paedagogal discipline man finally cries out: radaírwpos ¿yw (Rom. vii. 24). —eis xpioróv] not usque ad Christum (Castalio, J. Capellus, Morus, Rosenmüller, Rückert, Matthias), but designating the end aimed at, as is shown by iva èk . dik.; comp. ver. 23. Chrysostom and his successors (see Suicer, Thess. II, pp. 421, 544), Erasmus, Zeger, Elsner, and others, refer eis to the idea that the law pòs TÒV XPLOTÓV, ÖS ¿otiv ò didáσkados, annye, just as the paedogogi had to conduct the boys to the schools and the gymnasia (Plat. Lys., p. 208 C; Dem., 313, 12 ; Ael. V. H., iii. 21). But this introduces the idea of Christ as a teacher, which is foreign to the passage. He is conceived of as a reconciler (iva ἐκ πίστ. δικ). —ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθ.] is the divine destination, which the paedagogic function of the law was to fulfil in those who were subject to it. The emphatic ex miorews (by faith, not by the law) shows how erroneously the paedagogic efficacy of the law is referred to the restriction of sin.

We should want to modify slightly one or two of Dr. Meyer's renderings; but on the whole he gives a very profound and a very true view of the passage.

Although it seems like going a little out of our way, yet the passage in Plato, referred to by Dr. Meyer above, as also by Prof. Lightfoot in his note on this verse, is such a pertinent and beautiful illustration of Paul's argument touching the relation of the law (as a paedagogos) to Christ, that we cannot forbear quoting it. In the Lysis, Socrates reports a conversation which he had with an Athenian youth of that name, "of noble descent, and of great beauty, goodness, and intelligence." He is leading the youth on to an appreciation of the value of wisdom and knowledge:

I dare say, Lysis, I [Socrates] said, that your father and mother love you very much.
That they do, he said.

And they wish you to be perfectly happy?

Yes.

But do you think that any one is happy who is in the condition of a slave, and who cannot do what he likes?

I should think not, indeed, he said.

And if your father and mother love you, and desire that you should be happy, no one can doubt that they are very ready to promote your happiness?

Certainly, he replied.

And do they, then, permit you to do what you like, and never rebuke you, or hinder you from doing what you desire?

Yes, indeed, Socrates; there are a great many things which they hinder me from doing. What do you mean? I said. Do they want you to be happy, and yet hinder you from doing what you like? For example, if you want to mount one of your father's chariots, and take the reins at a race, they will not allow you to do that; they will prevent you? Certainly, he said; they will not allow me to do that.

Whom, then, will they allow?

There is a charioteer, whom my father pays for driving.

And do they trust a hireling more than you? And may he do what he likes with the horses? And do they pay him for this?

They do.

But I dare say that you may take the whip and drive the mule-cart, if you like; they will permit that?

And do they esteem a slave of more value than you, who are their son? And do they entrust their property to him rather than to you? And do they allow him to do what he likes, when you may not? Answer me, now. Are you your own master, or do they not even al

low that?

Nay, he said; of course they do not allow that.

Then you have a master?

Yes, my tutor [raidaywyós, guardian]; there he is.

And is he a slave?

To be sure, he is our slave, he replied.

Surely, I said, this is a strange thing, that a free man should be governed by a slave. And what does he do with you?

He takes me to my teachers.

You don't mean to say that your teachers also rule over you?

Of course they do.

Then I must say that your father is pleased to inflict many lords and masters on you. But at any rate, when you go home to your mother, she will let you have your own way, and will not interfere with your happiness; her wool, or the piece of cloth she is weaving, are at your disposal? I am sure that there is nothing to hinder you from touching her wooden spathe, or her comb, or any other of her spinning implements?

Nay, Socrates, he replied, laughing; not only does she hinder me, but I should be beaten if I were to touch one of them.

Well, I said, that is amazing. And did you ever behave ill to your father or your mother? No, indeed, he replied.

But why, then, are they so terribly anxious to prevent you from being happy, and doing as you like? Keeping you all day long in subjection to another, and, in a word, doing nothing which you desire; so that you have no good, as it would appear, out of their great possessions, which are under the control of anybody rather than you, and have no use of your own fair, which is committed to the care of a shepherd; while you, Lysis, are master of nobody, and can do nothing?

Why, he said, Socrates, the reason is that I am not of age. (Jowett's Dialogues of Plato. Am. Ed. Vol. 1, pp. 45-47.)

With this read Galatians iv. 1-7, in connection with the close of the third chapter. The Messrs. Clark are bringing out Dr. Meyer's Commentary in a very attractive style. The students of the best works in theological literature owe them many thanks.

The Argument of the Book of Job Unfolded.

By WILLIAM HENRY GREEN, D. D., Professor in Princeton Theological Seminary. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.

Rarely does one find a book which so completely equals expectations as this. It is all it claims to be, and more. In a style as clear and sparkling as a mountain stream, the author takes up the leading thought of this unique portion of Old Testament revelation, and bears us on with such resistless force, that we feel, when he leaves us, that that part of Scripture is our own. The great enigma is made to interpret itself. Vexed questions, such as authorship and date, are ignored. Nice and minute exegesis is discarded. The argument, and nothing but the argument, fully paraphrased and wrought out from the very thinkings of the actors in the grand scene, holds us steadily to the main purpose of the book. It resembles Hanna's Sermons on Scenes in the Life of Christ,