written story, neither curt uor diffuse, of a journey, by an experienced and competent traveler, through a country fraught with interest, not only to every historical scholar, but, also, to every Christian believer. It has the freshness, to use a phrase of his own, of " a handful of wild flowers from Palestine."

SCHAFF'S CHURCH HISTORY, VOL. III.*-Dr. Schaff advances. rapidly in the issue of the volumes of his extensive and very valuable History of the Church. But the rapidity is due to his wellknown industry, and to a thorough preparation, through many years of study, for the task. The present volume is on a level with its predecessors in excellence. The literary aids, which are pointed out, are a feature which every good student will know how to prize. The discussion is able, the spirit fair. We are led through the great controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries by a competent guide—one familiar with the paths, and of a catholic temper. The entire work is abreast of the times, and when completed will stand as a worthy monument of the esteemed author's remarkable ability and learning.

THE PARABLES OF JESUS.t-This work is designed to investigate the original meaning of the parables under the guidance of a thorough, methodical, and exact exposition, and thus to supply a want which their common catechetical and homiletical treatment does not meet. It is also designed as a check to the caprice with which they are often treated. The work has found considerable favor in Germany. The translator quotes a commendation of it by Dr. Weiss, as characterized by "solid exegesis, sound judgment, and sober, skillful interpretation." Twenty-seven pages are devoted to a brief discussion of the nature of parabolic teaching; the remainder is devoted to the interpretation of the parables. Notwithstanding all which has been written on the subject, there is still a place for this book, and it will be found valuable to ministers and others who wish to make a careful study of the parables of our Lord.

*History of the Christian Church. By PHILIP SCHAFF. III. Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity (311-900). Scribner's Sons. 1884.

A new edition, Vol. New York: Charles

The Parables of Jesus: A Methodical Exposition. By SIEGFRIED GOEBEL, Court Chaplain in Halberstadt. Translated by Professor BANKS, Headingley. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 38 George street, 1883, From Scribner & Welford, New York. x. and 460 pages.

MARTIN LUTHER.*—This is one of the volumes called forth by the recent commemoration of Luther. It does not profess to be biography of the Reformer, but aims to portray the man in his salient characteristics and to indicate the lines in which his influence for four hundred years has been making itself felt. The longest essay discusses Luther's relation to the Peasants' War. The author regards Luther as a Rationalist. "Luther stands for Rationalism. He stands also for Intellectualism in religion." "Coming into the science of our time with the same spirit with which he came into the science of four centuries ago, Martin Luther would have been, not Joseph Cook, nor Moody and Sankey, but Theodore Parker." One hopes this is not a complete alternative, and that Martin Luther, living now, would have been neither the one nor the other. The book is sprightly and attractive, and presents some vivid sketches of the reformer in several of the critical points of his life. But the author evidently does not adequately appreciate the religious side of the movement and its immense power in that line of influence.

THE WORDS OF CHRIST.-The design and dominant idea of this book is indicated by the author in his preface: "The exact facts of the Gospels may escape us; we may easily cast on them endless doubts and raise with them endless difficulties. They are shrouded by the gathering mists of centuries. Not so is it with the truths of the Gospels. They have lost nothing and have gained much by intervening years. They are like light that is light at every point which it reaches, and may be pronounced on without reference to its sources; they are like the light of the sun, which gains reflection and diffusion by the medium through which it is passing and the things on which it is falling. . . . No matter what we may establish about facts which have now passed into the oblivion of nineteen centuries, we must still ask, What are the controlling incentives of the present hour? No matter what we fail to prove concerning these facts, we may still hold fast a spiritual faith, wholly defensible by virtue of the liv * Martin Luther: A Study of Reformation. By EDWIN D. MEAD. Boston: George H. Ellis, 141 Franklin street, 1884. 194 pages, price $1.25.

The Words of Christ as Principles of Personal and Social Growth. By JOHN BASCOM, author of Philosophy of Religion, etc. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York: 27 West 23d street. London: 25 Henrietta street, Covent Garden. 1884. vii. and 220 pages.

ing and potent principles present with us from that place and that period which define the life of Christ." The subjects treated are: The Personality in the Words of Christ; Rationality in the Words of Christ; Spirituality in the Words of Christ; The Law of Truth; The Law of Love; The Law of Consecration; Individual Growth; Social Growth; Growth of Society historically; The Natural and the Supernatural.

THE HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY.*-This book is written by a man who has an idea. It is written with a purpose. He gives a history of Democracy in ancient Greece, and shows to his own satisfaction that the results of Democracy in Athens were evil continually, and brought about its downfall. Contrasting the polity of Greece with that of Rome he says, one was Democracy, the other Republicanism. "The Romans under Republicanism arose from a low estate to be a great nation, and continued in that greatness, under Republican form of government, five hundred years, and became the most powerful people upon the face of the earth. It is true, Republicanism in Rome was superseded by an empire which ruled the world six hundred years longer, but Democracy in Greece, and the people whose virtues it turned into vices, sank into abject slavery under the Philip and Alexander dynasty, and thence into slavery still more abject under the Romans, and soon thereafter into the oblivion of the grave. From the days of Republicanism in Rome to these days, the word has lived as a system and expression of human rights throughout the world, and has been applied to many nations as the synonym of their government and institutions. From the days of Democratic Greece, for the space of more than two thousand years, so far as history informs us, no people used or applied the word Democracy as a political name or system, or as the synonym of liberty, equal rights or any other moral or political virtues among mankind. Democracy among the Romans was known as agrarianism, and is so regarded at the present time by nineteen-twentieths of mankind."

He gives the history of the Democratic party in this country during President Jackson's administration, under whom it was inaugurated, for there was no Democratic party before Jackson's

*The History of Democracy, considered as a Party name, and as a Political organization. By JONATHAN NORCROSS. New York, published for the author, by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1883,

time. The leading principles of the party, carried out into action, were a reversal of the system of internal improvements, the overthrow of the protective tariff, and of the Bank of the United States; and the advocacy of the dogma of State sovereignty. Other measures, advocated by the party in later times, are the inflation of an already inflated currency, the taxation of the government bonds and their payment in paper.

But what is this Democracy? The author says, "The Democracy means everywhere, and on all occasions, a class or a political party composed in the main of the ignorant, the dissolute, and the discontented." "Its tendency and intention is to gather into its ranks the discontented and dissolute, the depraved and the dangerous portion of society, as its chief strength and support."

The intensity of feeling which is manifested in every page of the book gives it a certain kind of interest and its resumé of President Jackson's administration from a partisan's view is well done.

THE ART AMATEUR for January, consisting of sixty folio pages, gives more than a hundred illustrations, not counting numerous full-size supplementary working drawings for chinapainting, wood-carving, hammered brass, monograms, and embroidery designs from the South Kensington Royal School of Art Needlework. The Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition is fully and critically noticed, with a biography of M. Bartholdi and pictures of his best sculptures. There are two pages of illustrations of the collection of Cosway minatures, shown by Edward Joseph, of London, with other works of art, at the Loan Exhibition; and interesting examples are given of the new very artistic Haviland "grès" ceramic ware. Other illustrations are of Detaille's painting, "Saluting the Wounded." Editorially, Ward's statue of Washington is criticised somewhat severely; "Montezuma " in "My Note Book exposes new frauds in the picture trade, and Clarence Cook discusses the Salmagundi Club and Brooklyn Academy picture exhibitions. $4 a year, 35c. a single copy. Montague Marks, publisher, New York.

THE MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY for January, 1884, contains an article on the Van Rensselaer Manor, illustrated with sketches of the manor-house in its palmy days, its great entrance hall, drawing-room, and library, together with portraits of distin

guished members of the Van Rensselaer family. Among other contributions to this number are: The Beginnings of the New England Society of New York, with finely executed portraits of its first president and first secretary, and the History of the Location of Our National Capital. Publication office, 30 Lafayette Place, New York City.

The February number of the MAGAZINE OF ART contains a full page engraving of "A Pleasant Book;" "La Liseuse," from the terra-cotta by Dalon.-Pictures of Cats. By Walter Herries Pollock, with four engravings.-An American Landscape Painter Charles Henry Miller, N. A. By S. G. W. Benjamin, with portrait and two engravings.-Women at Work. by Leades Scott." Pausias and Glycera," from the picture by L. Scifoni. -Conceits in Cups. By Llewellynn Jewitt, with nine engravings.-The Lower Thames. By Aaron Watson, with six engravings.-Love among the Saints. By A. Mary F. Robinson.Fashions for the Feet. By R. Heath, with three engravings.— The Constantine Ionides Collection. The Realists. By Cosmo Monkhouse, with five engravings.-Two Busts of Victor Hugo. By W. E. H., with two engravings.-Dachs and Hilda. From the group by W. Tyler.-The Chronicle of Art.-American art notes. Cassell & Co., Limited. 739 Broadway, New York. Yearly subscription, $3.50; single numbers, 35 cents.