We wish to call attention also to the fact that the Review gives accounts of what is being done for the promotion of art in different parts of the country in a way which is at once very intelligible, very interesting, and very encouraging.

WILLIAM L. KINGSLEY.

TAXATION.*-Prof. Cossa of the University of Pavia is known to English readers chiefly through his "Guide to the Study of Political Economy," a little work of great value to the student and the product of an unusually wide range of study. As Prof. Cossa is one of the leading representatives of the very solid and vigorous scholarship of new Italy, a word of information about his career may be of interest. He was born in 1831. His University training was received at Pavia, Vienna, and Leipsic, where he was under the instruction first of Stein and then of Roscher. Upon his return to Italy he became professor at Pavia, where his work was especially fruitful in inspiring young men to undertake original investigations in the field of contemporary problems. He began to write for publication comparatively late, but has produced several admirable text books. He excells in clear analysis and statement of principles. Familiar with nearly all the leading languages of Europe, his work is noticeably characterized by comprehensiveness. This same breadth of learning enables him to furnish admirable bibliographies with his text-books which add much to their usefulness. The present volume, edited by Mr. Horace White, contains a brief and clear exposition of the principles of taxation. It will serve as a concise statement of the established principles either for reference, or in teaching, as a good basis for lectures. Mr. White's notes are always instructive and to the point. The appendix on the tax systems of New York and Pennsylvania is a useful feature. The translation has had the benefit of several scholarly revisions and may be trusted. We are of opinion however, that the phrase "Science of Finance" accords rather better with the prevailing English usage as a translation of " Scienza delle Finanze" than the term "Science of the Finances" which has been chosen.

ECONOMIC SCIENCE.-The author of this essay has attempted *Taxation. Its Principles and Methods. Translated from the "Scienza delle Finanze" of LUIGI COSSA, Professor in the University of Pavia. With an introduction and notes by Horace White. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

The Present Condition of Economic Science and The Demand for a radical Change in its methods and aims. By EDWARD CLARK LUNT, A.M. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

to review the present condition of Political Economy and to reach some general conclusions about its prospects. He first considers what is urged against the science on account of the disagreements of its votaries and shows that a good deal of this dissension is not in the field of economics proper but in applied economics or in more general terms, politics. He defends the strictly scientific character of Political Economy. It investigates laws of social life, but does not provide rules of action. He then discusses the method of the English school of economists and defends it from the ill-judged if not ignorant criticism with which it has been deluged of late. The "New Economy" is reviewed in two chapters and shown to be in its essential characteristics not new. Mr. Lunt almost goes so far as to say in the familiar epigrammatic phrase: "What is true in it is not new, and what is new is not true." He distinctly affirms that all the best English economists have followed the method prescribed by the new Economists, whom he is consequently compelled to liken to "the French people, who according to a nice observer, do not know what they want, and are never satisfied until they get it." Political Economy as it exists to-day and comprises a body of scientific knowledge is the work of the English Economists. The new economists are doing useful work, but it is chiefly when as regards method, they follow in the footsteps of Adam Smith, and Mill. Mr. Lunt concludes with an exhortation for economists to cease wrangling about methods and to devote their energies to the pressing problems of the day. His essay is interesting, clearly written, and sprightly in style. His conclusions quite agree with our own on the points at issue, and we hope that his discussion will lessen the availability of the words "orthodox," "English," or "Manchester school," as epithets of vituperation.

THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.*-In this book a prominent Baptist theological professor gives the results of twenty-five years of study and teaching on the doctrine of inspiration. The discussion is comprehensive and somewhat elaborate and careful. The divisions of the subject are well made and clear. The treatment is perspicuous. All extraneous matter is excluded.

In the chapter on the six different theories of inspiration, the

The Bible Doctrine of Inspiration Explained and Vindicated. By BASIL MANLY, D.D., LL.D., Professor in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Sons. 1888.

fairest and most satisfactory work is to be found. The third part of the book, which deals with objections, contains a considerable quantity of valuable material. While the facts which the volume contains are important and are carefully arranged, nothing new is to be found, or freshly stated.

The author's acquaintance with the literature of the subject has not helped him to any great extent, inasmuch as the principle through which he views everything prevents his seeing what he is not looking for. The fact is, this book is an attempt to explain and vindicate a certain theory. The author is an advocate throughout. The title itself is specious. He is not at all concerned to discover and present the Bible doctrine of inspiration, as the title would lead us to infer, but he is anxious to present his own view and then get the Bible sanction for it.

The supreme aim is to prove the absolute infallibility of the Scriptures, for to him inspiration means infallibility or it means nothing. His method is antiquated and anti-scientific. He is not a truth-seeker, but a view-defender. He does not seem to want all the facts, but only enough facts to render his view plausible. For the greatest part he is an extreme literalist in biblical interpretation, believing that God actually wrote the decalogue with his finger.

In a few places he departs from his literalism to make a point. Notably where he thinks Moses' statement about the prophet to be raised up like unto himself refers to the whole line of prophets and not to one prophet. There is also an amount of dogmatism in the book, which renders it somewhat offensive to an earnest truth-seeker.

When Dr. Manly quotes some adverse statement from such a writer as Dr. Ladd, he feels he has done his whole duty when he dismisses it by simply saying: "That does not agree with our view," or, "I do not find it so."

He emphasizes the human and divine elements in the Bible, but does not allow us to discriminate between them; it is all human and all divine. While discarding the mechanical theory he sympathizes with it, and it is difficult to see where his view, which he calls plenary inspiration, differs from the mechanical.

He assumes that man unaided could not transmit a revelation. That is, perhaps, true. But when he assumes that, when man is aided, he must be made infallible, he rests his assumption, not on facts, but on nothing. Man can not receive a written revelation

truthfully without divine aid. Granted he has divine aid, must he then receive that revelation infallibly?

He claims that unless the Bible is infallible, man has no divine revelation, that revelation perishes with the men to whom it was imparted, unless they made an infallible record of it. As an instance of his reliance upon his theory, and not upon scientific research, take the following: "It is impossible to maintain the absolute historical accuracy of the Gospel historians without also maintaining their inspiration (infallibility)." Then, we ask, why maintain it? Shall our theory over-ride the facts? Is it not better to build theories on facts rather than to do as he has done, refuse to see the facts unless they suit our theory? But why such perversion as the book contains? Dr. Shedd gave as a strong reason why he advocated the mechanical theory, that it was the easiest to defend. Dr. Manly seems to have been actuated in part by another motive. He wants to believe his theory. He needs it. For the standpoint from which he approaches the subject of inspiration is that of a conception of Christianity as a book-religion-as "a system divinely given."

To give authority to such a religion, there must be an infallible standard of truth, and this must be found in the words of Sacred Scripture. With such a conception of Christianity, it is no wonder that he grows warm in describing the terrible condition we should be in, if we had not an infallible book. The thought of Christianity as a life and of religion as something else than conformity in belief and practice to certain definite rules and precepts is wholly foreign to him. He believes the Bible was given us for the purpose of imparting infallibly accurate information on its various topics, rather than for the purpose of leading our souls into contact and communion with the life of God. Those who hold a more liberal and spiritual view and who believe that as long as we have the Christ of the Bible, who is the Christ of history, we do not need a book absolutely free from verbal, scientific, and historical errors, can well dispense with all such discussions and can trust the Bible to reverent critics who look only for the truth. We are sorry Dr. Manly did not catch something of the spirit of Prof. Ladd, whose excellent book he seems to have read.

C. L. DIVEN.

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