and may succeed but poorly, whether as to his drawing or as to its exposition. But after a few attempts he will gain confidence, and find himself making bald and impressive outlines, on heavy paper background, say four by eight feet in extent, and so richly tinted in water colors that, to persons not close at hand, they will seem to be genuine works of art; and in drawing and perspective they will be. And such a picture-sermon he will, to his own astonishment, be able to produce by the work of a single day, or even less. And when his picture is completed his sermon will be made with it. His imagination will be set aglow, and his discourse, sustained by the illustration, will be in demonstration of the Spirit and with power. Let no one, I repeat, be discouraged who has not made the attempt. Success will be worth more than its cost. Where there is a will there is a way. In the words of an old Latin proverb, " They can, because they think they can." "Before the close of this century," said President Hitchcock, in one of his illustrated geological lectures, "pictures will be as much used in the preaching of sermons as are manuscripts."

ARTICLE IX.

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

A. GERMAN AND FRENCH WORKS.

THE PHILOSOPHICO-CRITICAL PRINCIPLES OF SELF-COMPLETION, OR PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.'- The work whose title is given below may be regarded as the completion of the author's system- -a system expounded chiefly in three previous productions to which we will for a moment refer. The first, originally published in 1844, was entitled "Outlines of Speculative Criticism" (Grundzüge der speculativen Kritik), and is a kind of metaphysic of pure thought. It is divided into three great sections, designated respectively, (1) Hypothetik, (2) Antithetik, (3) Synthetik; the first embraces the main features of formal logic; the second may, in a general way, be said to treat of the subject ordinarily embraced by applied logic; the third, to quote the writer's own words, is "that part of speculative criticism (or critique) in which it issues forth as the desired unity of thought or as truth that which has been variously described as faith, intellectual vision, and so forth." Hereupon followed, in 1857, "The Philosophico-critical Principles of Self-Knowledge, or the Doctrine of the Soul," divided into three parts, treating, respectively, of (1) The Soul developing, or Self-Development, (2) The Thinking Soul, or Self-Deter mination, (3) The Plastic Soul, or Self-Expression. In 1864 appeared "The Philosophico-Critical Principles of Self-Presupposition, or Philosophy of Religion," a work which we noticed at the time in the Bibliotheca Sacra. These works are presupposed by the one now under consideration; the main ideas here carried out had been previously hinted at in various connections, especially in the discussions entitled "Speculative Critique." In an Introduction the author expounds his view of the Philosophy of history, and briefly glances at some other German works on the same subject; for example, Herder, Lessing, and Hegel. His review lays no claim to the completeness which characterizes the recent work of Professor Flint of Edinburgh on the "History of the Philosophy of History." Then followed two great divisions, the first discussing the Idea of History, the second, the Realization of the Idea. History is the process of personality, the process by which the idea of personality is developed and realized. We have not space to attempt to give any notion of the

1 Die philosophisch-kritischen Grundsätze der Selbst-Vollendung oder die Geschichts-Philosophie. Ein Versuch von G. Mehring, Stuttgart: Cotta.

1877.

rich variety of suggestive thought which the work contains. It is no hasty production; and whilst no one will suppose - least of all the author- that it offers a satisfactory rationale of the history of the human race, even up to the present time, no one will be able to read it without an increase of light and hopefulness. Prelate Mehring has no doubt been greatly indebted to his predecessors in the field; but he has had an idea of his own to work out, and conscientiously endeavored to work it out. It were well if more attention could be now given to the philosophy, or, if it were preferred, the science of history; we should then, perhaps, hear less than we do of the application of mechanical or necessarian principles to human nature and life.

THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY AND THEIR SOLUTIONS, HISTORICOCRITICALLY EXHIBITED.1. The idea of this work is good; its execution leaves much to be desired. We have long felt that the common mode of writing the history of philosophy needed to be supplemented by another— the one hinted at in the title of Herr Flügel's work. Students get but a confused impression of the progress of philosophical thought from most histories, notwithstanding the efforts made to distinguish between various schools and tendencies. We should prefer some such plan as the following: In an introduction we would give a view, first, of the problems which the human mind has formulated; and, secondly, of the possible alternative answers; and then proceed to show, after the manner of the history of Christian doctrine, what problems each philosopher has treated, and how far he advanced towards their solution. Herr Flügel has made a contribution towards this desideratum. His work is divided into two parts; the first devoted to the Problems of Theoretical Philosophy and their Solutions, the second to the Problems of Practical Philosophy and their Solutions. In order that our readers may have a clear idea of the scope of the work we will give the chief headings of the first division: the first beginnings of metaphysical speculation; the conception of absolute Becoming; the chief systems of absolute becoming; restrictions of absolute Becoming; conception of being; the Beënt; connection of the Beënt and the Given (des Gegebenen); systems of pluralism (Is there a finite or infinite number of real beings? Does every movement of the real beings need a cause? Are matter and force separable or inseparable? Are the real beings (atoms) penetrable or impenetrable to each other? Are they all of the same or of different quality ?); fundamental problems of theoretical philosophy; problem of inherence; problem of change; problem of matter; problem of the Ego; attempts to return from idealism to realism; the teleological problem. Considering that the entire work has only two hundred and sixty-six large-type pages, of which one hundred are devoted 1 Die Probleme der Philosophie und ihre Lösungen historisch-kritisch darges tellt von O. Flügel. Cöthen: Schulze. 1876.

to the ethical problems, it may well be imagined that the treatment of the subjects just enumerated cannot be very thorough. Nor do we like the method. The author's point of view is that of the Herbartian schoolwhich is no recommendation; for to our mind it is hard, pretentious, and dogmatic. Still, until something better appears, the work may be of use.

PHILOSOPHY IN ITS HISTORY. I. PSYCHOLOGY.'- Dr. Harms is one of the few able teachers of philosophy in Germany who are in hearty sympathy with Theism and Christianity. The volume before us is the, first of a larger work, and seems to indicate an intention on the part of the author of carrying out some such plan as we suggested in the notice of Flügel's Probleme. At all events, he has here given us a history of the theories of the nature of the soul one of the fundamental problems of philosophy. The subject has of course been treated before, especially in works on psychology proper; as, for example, by Fortlage, Volkmann, Noah Porter, and others; but by none with the degree of fulness that the subject warranted and demanded. The author divides the history of philosophy into three great periods, opened respectively by Augustine, Descartes, and Kant. Special attention is, of course, given to German psychological inquiry.

PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS OF THE TIME. The second edition of a series of essays on the following subjects: Philosophy and our Time; Force and Matter; End and Cause; The Origin of Species (Darwinism); The Rank of Organic Beings; Animal and Man; Soul and Body; The Temperaments; The Will and its Freedom; Conscience and the Moral Order of the World; The Future of the Soul; Religion and Philosophy in our Time; The Philosophical Systems and the Future of Philosophy. It will be seen that the ground covered is extensive. The questions discussed are of the highest importance. The author calls his essays popular, and in the German sense they are popular; but they deal with their subjects in a careful manner, and in general in a reverential, whilst free, spirit. Most of our readers will agree with the writer in such views as the following, expressed in the essay on religion and philosophy: "We must protest against the notions that an impassable gulf necessarily lies between the need of faith of scientific thinkers and that of the people in general, and that the religious faith of the individual has the right to emancipate itself from all relation to the community at large"-two notions which are specially prevalent in Germany, and both of which are pernicious in their effects. "One thing ought not to be tolerated untruth in faith. We find men of the most

11

1 Die Philosophie in ihrer Geschichte. I. Psychologie. Von Dr. F. Harms, Prof. der Phil. an der Univ. Berlin. Berlin: Grieben. 1878.

2 Philosophische Zeitfragen. Populäre Aufsätze von Jürgen Bona Meyer. Bonn: Marcus. 1874.

varied opinions united in professing one faith. They condemn each other, and yet do not separate. The religious life will not be renovated, in the deeper sense, until this condition of untruthfulness becomes unbearable." It is a remarkable feature of the times that men who have long broken with the faith of the churches to which they belong, in important, if not absolutely essential points, still refuse to dissever themselves. Is it insincerity or unclearness? or is it, as Professor Meyer would perhaps say, that the difference of thought and agreement of spirit felt by such men forebode, or rather promise, the rise of a higher form of faith, which shall resolve the now conflicting views into unity? There is much in this work that Christian believers will not like; much, however, that ought to be helpful.

History of Israel (Geschichte des Volkes Israel). Pastor Leinicke's point of view is rationalistic. In this first volume he deals mainly with the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. He is said to evince thorough learning.

Contributions to the Explanation of the Book of Job. Dr. J. Barth, the author, is a Jew. His programme is chiefly devoted to the settlement of the date of the origin of Job, which he fixes about 700 B.C.

Handbook of the Biblical History of the Old Testament. Professor Köhler's work, of which this is the second part, embracing the period of the Judges, is conservative in its character.

Christ and the Caesars. Another work by the once notorious Bruno Bauer, who for years seems to have kept silence. As the second part of the title indicates, it is an effort to show that Christianity owed its rise to the confluence of Greek and Roman elements. As a reviewer has said, his Christ is simply Seneca's ideal of the wise man, equipped with traits derived from the Roman emperors. The following details will convey some idea of the arbitrary mode in which Bruno Bauer goes to work: Augustus is styled "Prince of Peace"; Tiberius, "Servant of the Commonwealth"; Caligula, as the one who presented himself as "God-man and Judge of the World"; Nero, as "Friend of Man and Cosmopolitan." The Gospels are referred to the age of the Antonines. Credibility is denied to Tacitus, and integrity to the letter of Pliny to Trajan. By such means, clearly, it is easy to make anything out of anything in history.

History of the Relations between Natural Science and Theology. Few men are more competent to deal with this subject than Dr. Zoeckler, the author of this work. The present volume is the first part, and extends from the beginnings of the Christian church down to Newton and Leibnitz. He refers especially to the account of creation, as given in Genesis and viewed by science. The subject is one of ever increasing importance; and we trust not only that the author may soon be able to complete his task, but that a competent translator into English may present himself.