written in Italy in the ninth or tenth century, upon vellum, with portraits of the Evangelists and floreated capitals; 70%.-Evangelia IV.; or rather a Breviarium of most exquisite Otranto-Byzantine calligraphy, written in the ninth or early part of the tenth century, on vellum, and probably the only specimen in this country; 817.-Livii Historiarum, xxxi. ad. xl., 37, written in the fifteenth century, on vellum; 387. 10s.—Officiorum Liber cum Calendario. Manuscript of the sixteenth century, on vellum, with 24 large paintings and above 70 small miniatures, most exquisitely finished by a Flemish artist of the highest skill. This charming volume is in the ancient binding of Henry VIII., rebacked. A manuscript note prefixed states it to have belonged to that monarch, and attributes the paintings to Holbein the younger. This is, however, purely the imagination of the Italian owner in 1790, as the binding undoubtedly has been taken from some work which belonged to our Henry VIII. for the purpose of rendering the ownership probable. The auctioneers very wisely gave no countenance to the pious fraud, and left the article to rely on its own merits to find its fair value; 2401.-Officium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis. Written by an Italian scribe in the early part of the sixteenth century, on vellum, and adorned with miniature paintings. It appears from the arms to have been executed for one of the Piccolomini family; 901.-Tasso's Aminta. The autograph manuscript; 591.-Dioscoridis Opera Græce. Manuscript of the twelfth century, on vellum, with numerous paintings of the plants, animals, etc.,—a most beautiful specimen of Byzantine calligraphy and art; 5901.

Bibliographic Curiosities-Two of the rarest specimens of xylographic or block books, cut entirely on wood, which were the precursors of printing by means of moveable types, have recently come into the possession of Messrs. Boone, 12 New Bond Street. Of these, the first in point of rarity is the "Liber Regum," or Life of David, pictorially illustrated with two woodcuts on a page, with descriptive text beneath, and extending to twenty pages. So little is known of this work, printed about the year 1450, that it escaped Heinecken, who specially devoted his researches to the history of early printing. Brunet and Dibdin are alike meagre in details,-in fact, but one other copy is known to exist, and that is in the Imperial Library at Vienna. The other is known as the "Biblia Pauperum," of which fac-similes have been given. The copy in Messrs. Boone's possession corresponds with the description given by Heinecken as being of the first impression, a copy of which sold at Willet's sale for 250 guineas.

Catalogue of Dr. Sprenger's Library of Oriental Works.-Dr. Sprenger having spent thirteen years in the East, three of which were passed at Delhi, as the head of one of the principal native colleges; two in cataloguing the manuscripts at Lakhnan, now the principal seat of Oriental lore in India; two in travelling through Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Irák, and the Islands of the Persian Gulf; and the rest at Calcutta, where he held the office of Examiner in Oriental languages, he has thus had the amplest opportunities of making himself acquainted with the best Oriental works still existing in the East, and has succeeded in collecting a valuable and well-assorted library, the Catalogue of which enumerates 1972 volumes, 245 belonging to the departments of history and geography; 156 to genealogy and biography; 95 are commentaries on the Kurán; 103 are critical works and collections of Hadís, or traditional sayings; 172 relate to law and religion; 205 to mysticism and ethics; 155 are dictionaries and grammars; 434 poetry, and the rest miscellaneous.

Grammatical Exegesis. How much of late has been done to fix the principles and philosophy of the Greek language! About the time our admirable version was given to the world, the only canon which the highest scholarship could enunciate respecting the article, was that it was "loquacissimæ gentis flabellum." Scaliger knew nothing more about it than this flippant utterance betokened. It is needless to say how much since the time of Middleton has been done to define the influence of this important vocable. Nor have the results been

a

trifling. "This shall be the sign unto you; ye shall find a babe wrapt in swaddling clothes lying in a manger," Luke ii. 12,-not as our version has it " sign," "" " the babe," is language pointing to an appeal which the angels_made, in confirmation of their assertion respecting the higher attributes of the child as the Messiah, to the singularity of the position in which the shepherds would find him when they repaired to Bethlehem,-a confirmation lost to us by the rendering, "the babe." Should the prediction that a babe would be found so singularly circumstanced, hold good, the inference would be clear to the shepherds, that the rest of the angelic announcement was to be received implicitly as true. Of that most difficult passage, Gal. iii. 20, our author affirms that there are now 300 interpretations, while Jowett extends the number to 430. How many of these must now quietly be consigned to oblivion by the principle to which it would seem every scholar assents as fixed, that the article here determines the phrase employed to signify not the mediator of whom the apostle has just been speaking, but every mediator in the generic idea of the term! Nor can we do more than hint that evidence in favour of the divinity of Christ has accrued from just conceptions of the power of the article. The power of the tenses has been more accurately illustrated to the great enhancement of the significance and beauty of Scripture. It requires but a simple comparison with the rendering of our version to feel what a keener point and deeper meaning are infused into the utterance of our Lord, John iii. 32, when rendered, as we are entitled to do by grammatical warrant, "Moses hath not given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven." Reference to the prepositions might be made as sustaining the same conclusion. The whole force of the prayer addressed to our Lord by the dying thief is missed by the rendering "into," instead of "in thy kingdom." It makes the "coming" subordinate to the "kingdom," whereas the "kingdom" is subordinate to the "coming." The various particles of the Greek language-words small seemingly, and yet riveting the links of many a sacred argument, as well as stamping a special impress on the substance of Scripture, supply equal evidence of the need existing for the grammatical study of the Word of God. What liveliness and clearness are added to the dialogue in Acts xxi. 37, 38, if we translate correctly ok apa; "Canst thou speak Greek? art thou not then," (not "art not thou,") as I supposed, but now see to have been a mistake, "that Egyptian?" etc.; a translation which, besides its superior accuracy, brings out more effectually the emphasis, which, according to the original, is due to où, "thou." And, lastly, we might appeal to what has been done with a view to illustrate the synonyms of Scripture. A strain of prophecy is found in the teaching of our Lord, otherwise missed, if we simply notice the effect of the two words rapds and xpords, as he employs them, and one of the capital articles of our faith has no mean support from the difference between åvev and xwpis.—News of the Churches.

NEW WORKS PUBLISHED DURING THE LAST QUARTER. In addition to those noticed in the body of the Journal.

FOREIG N.

Bunsen (C. C. Josias.)—Gott in der Geschichte. Part I. Book 1 and 2. Leipzig. 8vo.

Cochet (L'Abbé M.)-Sépultures Gauloises, Romaines, Franques, et

Normandes, faisant suite à "La Normandie Souterrain." Paris. 8vo.

Decombaz (S.)-Guide Biblique, ou Harmonie et Commentaire pratique et populaire de l'Ancien et Nouveau Testament, a l'usage des évangelistes, etc. Tom. IV. Toulouse. 8vo.

Drechsler (Dr. Moritz.)-Der Prophet Jesaia übersetzt und erklärt.

Dritter Theil. Berlin. 8vo.

Hengel (W. A., Van.)-Interpretatio Epistolæ Pauli ad Romanos,

Fasciculus III. Silvæ Ducis. 8vo.

:

Hiobs.-Drei Freunde oder Bunsen, Stahl, und Prälat Ritter, als Helfer der leidenden Christenheit. Christus-König, die Losung der Kukunft. ("Job's Three Friends; or, Bunsen, Stahl, and Prelate Ritter, as Helpers of Suffering Christendom. ChristKing, the Watchword of the Future.") By Ithiel. Hamburg. 8vo.

Isambert (M.)-Histoire de Justinien.-Première partie, contenant l'In

troduction, la division de l'Empire, les Tableaux sur le chargement des navires, les mesures itinéraires et de longueur, la livre Romain, les monaies, la proportion entre les méteaux et les subsistances, la traduction des Anecdota et les Notes historiques pour les faits antérieurs au règne de Justinien. Deuxième partie, contenant la Chronologie du règne de Justinien, de 527 à 565, avec table alphabetique. Paris. 8vo.

L'Abbé le Dieu.-Memoires et Journal sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Bossuet. Publiés pour la première fois d'après les Manuscrits autographes, et accompagnés d'une Introduction et de Notes, par M. l'Abbé Guettée, Auteur de "L'Histoire de l'Eglise de France." Paris. 8vo.

Lachat (Pere.)-Somme Theologique, etc. (The works of Thomas

Aquinas; Latin and French.) 14 Vols. Paris. 8vo.

Lagarde (Dr. A. P. de.)-Reliquiæ juris ecclesiastici antiquissimæ.

Syriace primus ed. Lipsiæ. 8vo.

Oettingen (Alex. ab.) De peccato in spiritum sanctum, qua cum eschatologia christiana contineatur, disquisitio. Dorpati. 8vo.

Pictet (A.)-Le Mystère des Bards de l'ile de Bretagne; ou la doctrine des Bardes Gallois du moyen age, sur Dieu, la vie future et la transmigration des ames. Geneva. 12mo.

Polak (Dr. M. S.) Die Unsterblichkeitsfrage, etc. (The Question of

Immortality, etc., an answer to the Materialists.) Amsterdam. 8vo.

Preger (Professor W.)-Die Geschichte der Lehre vom geistlichen Amte,

etc. (The History of the Doctrine of the Sacred Office, etc.) Nordlingen. 8vo.

Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie Chrétienne, Juin, 1857. Paris. 8vo. Rey (W.)-L'Amerique Protestante: Notes et Observationes d'un

Voyageur. Paris aud Geneva. 12mo.

Roskoff (Dr. G. Gust.) Die Hebräischen Alterthümer in Briefen.

Wien. 8vo.

Walter (Ferd.)-Lehrbuch des Kirchenrechts, etc. (Manual of the Eccle

siastical law of every Christian Confession.) Bonn. 8vo.

ENGLISH.

Barth (Henry, Ph.D., D.C.L.)-Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa. Being a Journal of an Expedition undertaken under the auspices of H.B.M.'s Government in the years 1849-55. In Five Volumes (three of which are published). Longmans. 8vo.

Dunlop (Rev. W., M.A.) The Uses of Creeds and Confessions of Faith. Edited, with Preface and Notes, by James Buchanan, D.D., LL.D., Divinity Professor, New College. London: Hamilton and Co. 12mo.

Foote (Rev. A. L.R.)-Closing Scenes of the Life of Christ. London:

Nisbet. 12mo.

Gotthold's Emblems; or, Invisible things understood by things that are

made. Second Series. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 12mo.

Hamilton (James, D.D., F.S.A.)-Lessons from the Great Biography.

London: Nisbet. 12mo.

Harris (Rev. James, M.A.)-Questions on the Old and New Testament; with References and Answers, and Chronological Tables of the Kings of Israel and Judah, the Prophets, the principal Events in Scripture History, etc. For the use of Schools and Biblical Students. Fourth Edition. London: Hamilton and Co. 12mo.

Helen and Olga: a Russian Tale. By the Author of "Mary Powell."

London: Hall and Co. 12mo.

Hodge (Charles, D.D.)-An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corin

thians. London: Nisbet. 8vo.

Kidd (Rev. W. J.)-Bible-Class Notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews.

London: Wertheim and Co. 18mo.

Laud (Archbishop) Works of. Vol. VI. Oxford: Parker. 8vo.

Lenten Sermons.-A Series of Sermons preached on the Evening of each Wednesday and Friday during the season of Lent, in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford. By various Preachers. Oxford: Parkers. 8vo.

Massingberd (F. C., M.A.)-The English Reformation. Third edition,

revised and enlarged. London: J. W. Parker and Son. 18mo.

Maurice (Rev. F. D.)-The Worship of the Church a Witness for the

Redemption of the World: a Sermon. To which is prefixed a Letter to F. S. Williams, Esq., in answer to a Pamphlet entitled "Thoughts on the Doctrine of Eternal Punishments, with reference to the Views of the Rev. F. D. Maurice and the Neo-Platonists." Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. 8vo.

Religion in Earnest: Tales illustrative of Christian Life in Germany. Translated from the German by Mrs. Stanley Carr. With Prefatory Notice by Rev. W. Hanna, LL.D. Edinburgh: Shepherd and Elliot. 18mo.

Schoelcher (Victor.)-Life of Handel. Translated into English. London:

Trübuer. 8vo.

Thorndike (Herbert). The Theological Works of. Vol. VI. Oxford:

John Henry Parker. 8vo.

Mant, (Ven. Walter, Bishop, M.A.)-Memoirs of the Right Reverend Richard Mant, D.D., M.R.I.A., Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, and of Dromore; with an introductory sketch of the history of those dioceses from the beginning of the Seventeenth Century. London: Bell and Daldy. 8vo.

Williams (F. Sims.)-Thoughts on the Doctrine of Eternal Punishments,

with reference to the Views of the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice and the Neo-Platonists. London: Seeleys. 8vo.

Wiseman (Luke H.)-Christ in the Wilderness; or, Practical Views of our Lord's Temptation. London: Mason. 12mo.

Mitchell and Son, Printers, 24 Wardour Street, Oxford Street.