GERMANY. THE Theological Cyclopedia of Dr. Herzog, (Real Encyclopädie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche,) which was commenced in the year 1854, has just been concluded by the appearance of the eighteenth volume. This cyclopedia far exceeds, in point of scholarship and completeness, anything that has ever been published before, and it may be truly called, in some respects, the ablest work of Protestant theology. It counts among its contributors nearly every prominent German theologian. It is in itself a complete theological library, and no theologian who wishes to inform himself of what has been done in any department of theology can do so without examining it. Of course, a work of this extent may be expected to have some gaps and deficiencies, and an appendix is therefore at once to be published, which will contain some important additions, besides an index. Though abounding in valuable information for Protestant scholars of every country, the work is chiefly intended and adapted for the German market, and it therefore is of course incomplete in point of American, English, and in general non-German, Christian biography. Translations of this work, therefore, would never supersede the want of similar original works in every great Protestant country. One of the most interesting and learned contributions to the recent theological literature of Germany is a monograph, by Dr. Gustav Oppert, on the legend of Prester John. (Der Presbyter Johannes in Sage und in Geschichte.) In the middle ages, all Europe believed in Prester John; and Pope Alexander III. even compromised his pretensions to infalli bility by dispatching an embassador and an epistle to a potentate who was nothing but a myth. The legend derived additional countenance from vague reports respecting the actual Syrian Church in Malabar, and from a fictitious letter said to have been written by Prester John to the Emperor of Constantinople and to contain a circumstantial account of his kingdom. When, at a later period, the existence of a Christian kingdom in Abyssinia became known to Marco Polo, he had no remorse in classing "Habescia" as a second division of India, thus supplying a link of identification with Prester John. At last, the researches of the Catholic missionaries made it clear that no Christian empire existed in Asia, when, by common consent, the locality of Prester John was transferred to Africa. Dr. Oppert, who is one of the most learned Orientalists now living, identifies the original Prester John with Korkhan, the Tartar sovereign of Cashgar about the beginning of the twelfth century, whose empire, like those of many Asiatic sov ereigns, rose suddenly to great power, and disappeared without leaving a trace. It seems uncertain whether he was really a Christian or not, though the very uncertainty attaching to so remarkable a fact is an argument against it. He may easily have been represented as such by the Nestorians, who were grateful for any patronage, and whose toleration went rest. The singular ascription of a priestvery far. Hope and imagination did the ly character to a secular prince probably arose from vague accounts of the politicospiritual administration of Thibet. Among the numerous works on the Life of Jesus which now appear, the posthumous lectures of Schleiermacher. on the subject, which were delivered in Berlin in 1834, and are now published by K. A. Rütenik, will attract attention, (Das Leben Jesu.) Occupying an intermediate position between the rationalists and the strictly orthodox, it was Schliermacher's aim to reconcile the two parties. FRANCE. Of all the numerous works by which Protestant and Roman Catholic writers have combated the influence of the work of Rénan, none has produced a more profound sensation thau M. Guizot's Meditations, (Meditations sur la Religion Chretienne.) M. Guizot explains in his preface the matter and plan of his book, an extract from which will give an idea of the ends he has in view. The "Meditations" are divided into four series. In the first, I expose and establish what is, in my view, the essence of the Christian religion, that is to say, the natural problems to which it responds, the fundamental dogmas by which it resolves these problems, and the supernatural facts upon which these dogmas repose: the creation, the revelation, the inspiration of the holy books, God as he is in the Bible, Jesus Christ as shown us by the evangelists. After the essence of the Christian religion comes its history. This will be the subject of a second series of Meditations," in which I shall examine the holy books. The third series of these "Meditations" will be consecrated to the study of the actual state of the Christian religion, of its internal and external conditions. Finally, in the fourth series of the "Meditations" I will attempt to prefigure the future of the Christian religion, and to indicate by what paths it is called to conquer completely and to govern morally this little corner of the universe which we call our earth, and in which are shown forth the designs and the power of God, in the same way that they are, doubtless, shown forth in an infinity of worlds unknown to us. While most of the Rationalists of Eu rope claim the right to retain their membership in the old Protestant Churches, and even desire to live there side by side with the Evangelical party, M. Pécaut demands, on the part of a consistent Rationalism, a complete separation. (De l'Avenir du Theism Chretien.) He admits that the orthodox, even of the most moderate school, and those who recognize in Jesus only a man, can no longer worship together. He consistently demands a new Church of pure Deism, (or Theism,) with pastors, catechists, and missionaries. The New Church is not to break altogether with the past; it will derive its inspirations from the religious men of all times, from Moses, David, Isaiah, Sakya Muni (Buddha), Mohammed, and especially Jesus, the foremost among them, and our greatest teacher. But the old Bible must be set aside, as mostly false, obsolete, legI have passed thirty years of my life in wrestling in a noisy arena for the estab-endary; and a new Bible must be comlishment of political liberty and the maintenance of order according to the law. I have learned in the labors and trials of this struggle what Christian faith and liberty are worth. God grant that in the repose of my retreat I may be able to consecrate to their cause the remainder of my days and of my strength. It is the highest favor and the greatest honor which he, in his goodness, can grant men. posed of those passages which agree with the views of the theists. The only doctrines which M. Pécaut wishes to be preached to our age are those of God the father of men, of the brotherhood of all men, and of the high mission of mankind; of Jesus the greatest of all mortals; and of sincere repentance as sufficient for obtaining for sinners forgiveness from a merciful God. Alexandre Weill, a Jewish writer and a representative of the radical wing among the Jewish rationalists, has published a work on Moses and the Talmud, (Moïse et la Talmud.) The work is not strictly scientific, but it is an application of the opinions of the author to the Old Testament. According to M. Weill, man can figure God to himself only in two different manners: either God is immutable, absolute, and the only expression of him is the physical or moral law; or God is an arbitrary being. M. Weill declares himself for the former of these views; and according to him, Moses was the apostle of this idea. Moses, according to M. Weill, was a philosophical legislator, who knew God to be The Law, the inflexible Law, which admits of no miracle in the order of nature and of no forgiveness in the moral order of things. All the passages of the Old Testament which suppose in God a will, or human affections, are additions made by the rabbinical school which produced the Talmud. M. Weill claims to be able to separate what belongs in the Old Testament to Moses and what to the scribes. He explains the use of the two names of God in the Old Testament in the same way. "Elohim" he maintains to be the strong, powerful God, that is to say, the arbitrary God of the priests. "Jehovah," on the contrary, is the very essence of things; their law. While Elohim works miracles, Jehovah, the God of Moses, does not: he reveals himself directly to the heart and to reason. M. Weill has a profound knowledge of the rabbinical writings, but seems to be possessed of very little common sense. M. Poujoulat, the author of a Life of St. Augustine and numerous other works, has commenced, in connection with Abbé Raulx, a translation of the complete works of St. Augustine. The translators claim that this is the first complete French translation of the great Church Father. The work will be completed in twelve volumes. (Saint Augustin: Euvres Completes.) ART. IX.—SYNOPSIS OF THE QUARTERLIES, AND OTHERS OF THE HIGHER PERIODICALS. American Quarterly Reviews. AMERICAN QUARTERLY CHURCH REVIEW, July, 1864. (New York.)— 1. New York City a Field for Church Work. 2. On the Proper Location of a First Meridian and System of Astronomical Observatories. 3. William Hickling Prescott. 4. Uses and Abuses of Fiction. 5. Marshall on Papal and Protestant Missions. 6. Canon Wordsworth and Anglo-Italian Catholicity. 7. Syllabus of Christian Doctrine. FREEWILL BAPTIST QUARTERLY, July, 1864. (Dover, N. H.)—1. The Sufferings of Christ the Lord. 2. Woman's Privilege in Worship. 3. Theory of the Formation of the Solar System. 4. Mansel's Limits of Religious Thought. 5. Recognition in Heaven. 6. Life and Times of Paul. 7. The Gospel the Theme of the Ministry. 8. Moral Monuments of Real Worth. 9. Review of the Argument for Pedobaptism, Founded on the Identity of the Jewish and Christian Churches. DANVILLE REVIEW, June, 1864, (Danville, Ky.)-1. The Bible not a Text Book on Natural Science. 2. The Bible considered as Cause to an Effect, or as Means to an End. 3. The Meaning and Use of M, Selah. 4. Perjury Exemplified in Secession. 5. The Men of Danville, No. II. 6. Experiment in Translation of the Talmud-Valuable Things in the Talmud. 7. The Divine Origin and Supremacy of Civil Government. UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY, July, 1864. (Boston, Mass.)-1. When are the Dead raised? 2. The Contraband. 3. Faith and Works. 4. Charles the Bold. 5. In Memoriam: A Tribute to T. Starr King. BIBLIOTHECA SACRA, July, 1864. (Andover, Mass.)-1. Free Communion. 2. Authorship of the Pentateuch. 3. The Author of the Apocalypse. 4. The Doctrine of God's Providence, in itself, and in its Relations and Uses. 5. Whedon on the Will. 6. Egyptology, Oriental Travel and Discovery. We trust that the series of articles on the authorship of the Pentateuch, by Professor Bartlett of the Chicago Theological Seminary, now in course of publication in the Bibliotheca Sacra, will speedily be given to the public in book form. We know nothing on the subject which would be so timely and effective as these able and eloquent productions. Professor Newhall's article contains a very excellent analysis and summary of the book it reviews. To those who feel that the work itself is too severe a study for their prosecution, this article may be recommended as the best existing substitute. THE AMERICAN AND PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, July, 1864. (New York.) 1. The Relations of the Pulpit to the State. 2. The Taborites and the Germ of the Moravian Church. 3. The Messiah's Second Advent. 4. The Epistle of Barnabas. 5. Theories of Currency. 6. The General Assembly. 7. The Logos in John and Philo. Dr. Smith has a book notice of Whedon on the Will, not remarkable for its magnanimity on any point, but remarkable for its purpoчvxía on one point, namely, our use of a number of new terms: 99 66 His style is often clear and concise, but it is occasionally marred by novel and harsh words and constructions, as "freedomists," "equilibrial will, 77 66 automatically resultant from inalternative particular causations," "volitionary faculty," "volitional volition," "predicable of the corporiety,' unipotent and alternative causation," and the like. He defines will as "the power of the soul by which it is the conscious author of an intelligent act," and as having essentially "an alternative power." This is an unfortunate selection of the objectionable terms and phrases in the work. The phrase "equilibrial will" does not occur. "Volitionary faculty" is quoted, with the proper marks of quotation, from Dr. Shedd, being that gentleman's own invention. "Volitional volition," together with "material matter" and, "zero volition," are professedly absurd phrases, purposely used to exemplify a necessitarian absurdity. "Predicable of the corporeity," with the exception of the orthographical error in the last word, is a perfectly correct phrase. As to the propriety of using new words to meet the demands of modern thought, we will quote a precedent or two. Near the entire nomenclature of Dr. Smith's translated History of Doctrines is unknown to our Webster's old quarto, including such specimens as soteriological, apologetics, apologetico-dogmatic, Chrisological, angelology, etc. To these might be added such novelties as solidarity, determinism, world-organism, separatism, particularistic, atomistic, jural, hereditariness, nihilianism, emphasized, macrocosmic, adoptionism, pietistic, and many others equally unknown to our Webster. We think a magnanimous criticism would scorn to carp at this terminology, as no criticism that we have seen ever has. And yet we see not why freedomism, freedomist, and freedomistic, (in place of the prolix and unmanageable old libertarian,) are not quite as good and quite as necessary as nihilianism, atomistic, or particularistic. We think equilibrial is far better than jural, and inalternative as good as hereditariness. In a single article of the North American Review of fifty-two pages we note the following words not found in our Webster: protension, extendedness, negativity, actualized, tridimensional, elaborative, regulative, subjectivity, objectivity, irreducibility, untenability, algorithmy, phoronomy, qualifiedly, Spinozistic, empiricistic, illimitation, originator, relativity, pseudo-reality, and several other novel compounds. In the course of a few hours' reading we have found in Herbert Spencer, an author commended by the New Englander for "purity" of language, the following words, which we fail to find in Webster's old quarto, namely, seriality, hemispherical, specialization, demarcate, localization, celt-makers, unanalytical, axial, epicyclical, pseudidea, equilateralness, irretractile, connature, ratio-ing, thousand-tongued, inflexional, differently-placed, time-relations, indistinguishableness, irresilient, statico-dynamical, irrecompressible, infissile, irretractile. In opening Herbert Spencer's Psychology our eye lights first upon the following paragraphs, exhibiting "an amazing fecundity of huge and unusual words:" Defined in its totality then, the perception of body as presenting statico-dynamical and statical attributes is a composite state of consciousness, having for its pri mary elements the impressions of resistance and extension unconditionally united with each other and the subject in relations of coincidence in time and adjacency in space; having for its secondary elements the impressions of touch, pressure, tension, and motion, variously united with each other in relations of simultaneity and sequence that are severally conditional on the nature of the object and the acts of the subject, and all of them conditionally united with the primary elements by relations of sequence; and having for its further secondary elements certain yet undefined relations, (constituting the cognitions of size and form, hereafter to be analyzed,) which are also conditionally united alike with the primary elements and the other secondary elements.-P. 216. 146. Out of the primordial irritability, which (excluding the indeterminate types of life that underlie both divisions of the organic world) characterizes animal organisms in general, and in virtue of which arises the response produced by the contact of solid bodies, as distinguished from the fluid medium, are gradually evolved those various modified kinds of irritability answering to the various attri |