was the man whom M. Renan figures, analogous revolutions of opinion might be looked for after his conversion. But for thirty years, up to the time of his death, he "fought the good fight" and "kept the faith." Thirdly, Paul's change of character, the moral and spiritual change, not only receives from Renan no solution, but is scarcely recognized. This illustrates the inferiority of Renan's method of handling these subjects when compared with that of the leading German advocates of Naturalism. The reader would infer from Renan's observations that Paul had the same tempers of feeling after as before his converson. Is it true, then, that he continued to "breathe out threatenings and slaughter" against all errorists? Would he still have been inclined, had he possessed the power, to drag men and women from their homes and cast them into dungeons? That Paul had noble traits before he believed in Christ, and that these remained with him afterwards, is acknowledged. It is equally true, however, that his moral tempers underwent a transformation as radical as it was beneficent in its operation. A writer who undertakes to treat of the conversion of Paul ought not to lose sight of this momentous change. There are many other features of M. Renan's fancy-picture, that invite criticism. The mode in which he imagines Paul to have come in contact with Ananias and to have been cured by him of his blindness, will hardly satisfy the candid reader. How a thunder-clap, or a sun-stroke, or a sudden fever, which, we are assured by M. Renan, may be so easily supposed in those latitudes, should be so unintelligible to the companions of Paul, as well as to Paul himself, is a circumstance not explained. But the fundamental error of Renan is the naturalistic prejudice with which he starts, coupled with the singular failure to appreciate or even to notice distinctively, the moral elements in the Christian system and in the experience of its believers. One would suppose, in reading this work, that the proper place for a history of Christianity is in a treatise on the morbid affections of body and mind.

Renan presents a somewhat exaggerated view of the so-called Communism of the early Church at Jerusalem. The voluntary sacrifice of property on the part of the converts is a striking proof of the sense of brotherhood that prevailed

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among them. It is a powerful testimony to the fact that a new community had come into being. But Renan fails to bring out, or, at least, to give due prominence to several important circumstances. The surrender of property was in no sense compulsory (Acts v, 4). It was a spontaneous love-offering on the part of believers. They gave or withheld their possessions, and if they took the latter course, they were without blame. And this surrender of property into the common stock, even if it was general at the outset, did not continue. find that Mary (Acts xii, 12) dwelt in her own house. There was nothing like a division or equal distribution of property, according to a communistic theory. But in consideration of the great number of poor Christians who needed aid, and in the glow of their first espousal of the Gospel, the disciples genearlly gave in their property for charitable uses. Their action was no law to the Church, but the spirit that dictated the move. ment deserves to be copied.

Renan devotes considerable space to a portrayal of the condition of the world in the first century of our era, with special reference to the prospects of Christianity at that time. He thinks it no marvel that the new religion made so rapid progress and achieved so complete a triumph. It is true that there was a moral and spiritual, as well as a political, preparation for the Gospel, in ancient society. The success of Christianity was not wrought by magic. The absorption of so many peoples into one empire, tended to break down the barriers of prejudice that had parted nation from nation. There was a dawning sense of a kinship embracing mankind. The politics of Julius Cæsar helped to bring in a more cosmopolitan spirit in the room of Roman exclusiveness. Along with the influence of philosophy in undermining the popular faith in the mythological religions, was joined the impression produced by the evident failure of local deities to protect the tribes and kingdoms which had trusted in them. But philosophy failed to fill the void which the progress of intelligence had created. Philosophy could not satisfy the aspirations which it helped to kindle. The bond that could draw men into one community, fuse them in a brotherhood, was wanting. Hence the preparation for the Christian religion in the ancient world was, to a large extent,

negative. There was, indeed, a more or less vivid consciousness of a want, but the existing systems afforded no means of supplying it. The Gospel in its doctrine of the Kingdom of God and its doctrine of Christ as the common Head and Redeemer, was able to organize a community in which there was neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, all being one in Christ Jesus. The dream of Stoicism would forever have continued a dream, the foundations of the universal State would never have been found, had not Christ come to establish the divine kingdom on earth. Every view of the early history of Christianity that fails to take these considerations into account, misses the real clue to what it seeks to explain. Nearly a hundred years ago Gibbon undertook, in his famous 15th and 16th chapters, to set forth the proximate causes of the rapid diffusion of the Christian religion. When his list of causes is analyzed, one sees that it comprises certain articles of belief, qualities of character and institutions, which are themselves due to Christianity. They are a part of the legitimate and peculiar excellence of the Gospel. The solution comes to this, that Christianity owes its success to itself. Every similar attempt to cast into the shade the original and unique character of this religion, in which lay the secret of its power, must have a like result. Food is adapted to still the pangs of hunger, but hunger cannot create food.

Much that Renan says of the prospects of Christianity in relation to the laws and policy of the Roman government is well said, and is supported by the best authorities. Whether, and how far, the ancient heathen nations were tolerant, is a question that has been long discussed. This point is settled, that a respect for the rights of conscience and a toleration founded on this feeling, were unknown to the statesmen of antiquity. Each nation had its gods, and might worship them without molestation. Under polytheism the Pantheon is capacious enough to admit any number of divinities. But there were two great restrictions upon liberty of worship. A man might not forsake the worship of his nation, or bring in strange gods. A religion, generally speaking, was safe as long as it refrained from being aggressive. The Jewish religion, a pure monotheism, was necessarily exclusiv; and for this reason was gen

erally odious to the Romans. Christianity was of necessity both aggressive and exclusive. It sought to supplant the religion of the State, and was, therefore, certain to be treated as an enemy. Renan has spoken of the strong tendency to the establishment of sodalities, and to the repressive policy of the imperial government. The laws against illicit assemblies might, at any time, be enforced against Christians. There is, moreover, another essential fact in connection with this subject, and this we do not observe that Renan brings out with proper distinctness. As long as the Christians were so few or obscure as to be confounded with the Jews, they were under the shield which the Roman law threw over a national religion, -over religiones licita. But when Christianity was seen to be a distinct religion, to which the Jews were even hostile, it had no legal protection. It was proved that Christians could never be permanently safe from persecution at the hands of magistrates, until their religion was enrolled among the religiones licita, as a recognized, lawful form of worship. A series of bloody persecutions lay between the infant church and this goal of security.

In the present volume, Renan follows the Apostolic History from the year 33 to the year 45. The missionary labors of the Apostle Paul are reserved for a subsequent work.

ARTICLE VII.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS.

ECCE HOMO.*"What think ye of Christ?" We have, in this popular volume, one more attempt to answer this old but ever fresh and momentous question. It is a work characterized by no special learning in theology, and by a careful avoidance of the technical phraseology of theological science. No original conceptions of Christian doctrine are presented on its pages. As a statement of the fundamental principles of Christianity, it is extremely defective. Yet it is a book of singular power and attractiveness, written in a style of classical purity and remarkable fascination, and abounding in original and beautiful suggestions. It is more inspiring than instructive, less solid than it is awakening and stimulating. Whatever influence it exerts will be exerted soon, for it is not one of those works which are destined to live and to mould theological opinion. The principal office of Christ, as far as this volume defines his work in the world, is said to be his legislative office. The elements of this peculiar office are set forth with rare eloquence, and frequently with profound truth. But the giving of an exalted and apparently exlusive place to this particular function of the Saviour is a part of the Socinian scheme, and is in conflict with the evangelical interpretation of the Gospel. Such a view was advocated by Locke, and has been often reproduced, and as often confuted, by theological writers since his time. The exegesis of this anonymous writer is apt to be faulty, and, in some cases, is despicably so,-as in his interpretation of the title "Lamb of God," and his treatment of the passage relating to the woman taken in adultery.

One of the most striking and truly valuable parts of "Ecce Homo" is the discussion of the difference between the method of Christ and the Gospel, and that of human philosophy, the working force of the former being placed in personal influence as contrasted with the operation of abstract truth upon the understand

* Ecce Homo. A Survey of the Life and Work of Jesus Christ. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1866. 16mo. pp. 356. New Haven: Judd & Clark. Price $1.50.