i.e., "the river," as

against it. (a.) The city of Nahor or Haran (Gen. xxiv. 10) is certainly in Aram-Naharim, i.e." Syria of the two rivers" (in the Auth. Ver., Mesopotamia). This expression occurs also in Deut. xxiii. 4 and Judges iii. 8, and implies a historic notoriety which answers perfectly to the Tigris and Euphrates, but not to rivers of such limited local importance as the Abana and Pharpar, streams of Damascus. (b.) Aram Dammesek (the "Syria Damascena" of Pliny) is the appellation of southern Syria, (see 2 Sam. viii. 6 and Isa. vii. 8), and is a different region from Aram-Naharim, where Haran was. (c.) Jacob in going to Haran went to "the land of the people of the East" (Gen. xxiv. 1), which is not appropriate to so near a region as that of Damascus, and one almost north of Palestine, but is so to that beyond the Euphrates. In accordance with this, Balaam, who came from Aram-Naharim, speaks of himself as having been brought "out of the mountains of the East" (Deut. xxiii. 5; Numb. xxiii. 7). (d.) The river which Jacob crossed in his flight from Laban is termed the Euphrates is so often termed by way of eminence (Gen. xxxi. 21; Ex. xxiii. 33; Josh. xxiv. 3, 4, etc.). (e.) The ancient versions (the Targums, the Syriac and the Arabic Pentateuch) actually insert Euphrates in Gen. xxxi. 21, and thus show how familiar the authors were with the peculiar Hebrew mode of designating that river. (f.) The places associated with Haran, as Gozan, Rezeph, Eden (2 Kings xix. 12; Ias. xxxvi. 12) and Canneh (Ezek. xxvii. 23) point to the region of the Euphrates as the seat of this entire group of cities. (g.) Incidental allusions (as in Gen. xxiv. 4-8; xxviii. 20, 21) show that Haran was very far distant from Canaan, whereas Damascus is upon its very border. So too Josephus (Antt. i. 16, § 1) not only places Haran in Mesopotamia, but sets forth its great distance from Canaan, as making Eliezer's journey thither to procure a wife for Isaac, formidable and tedious in the highest degree. (h.) The living traditions connect Abraham's life in Haran with Mesopotamia, and not with Damascus. Mr. Ainsworth, who visited Hârân, says that the people there preserve the memory of the patriarch's history; they tell where he encamped, where he crossed the Euphrates, and how he and his herds found a resting-place at Berôea, now Aleppo.

2. GLORIOUS VIEW FROM NEBO.

It has been usually thought that the description given of the view which Moses had from Nebo, the top of Pisgah, just before his death, was one addressed to the imagination and not to the eye. Some of the points mentioned may have been seen, it is said, but the others were only suggested. Dean Stanley, among others, has placed the matter in this light. One reason for this impression has been that no summit of the Moab mountains, the Abarim, opposite Jericho, was known to furnish a prospect like that represented as visible from Nebo : "And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan; and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and

Manasseh; and all the land of Judah unto the utmost sea (the Mediterranean); and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees unto Zoar" (Deut. xxxiv. 1-3). Hitherto but few travellers comparatively have gone into this trans-Jordanic region. It is surprising how little we have known from actual trial of the possibility of seeing with the natural eye the magnificent panorama which Moses is said to have seen, in his survey of the Promised Land from Nebo. But this question at length has been put to the test. Mr. Tristram, in his recent exploration of a part of the Belka (Land of Israel, 1851), ascended one of "the brows there overlooking the mouth of the Jordan, over against Jericho,” from which he beheld a landscape which corresponds remarkably with the biblical representation.

one waving ocean of

It must be left to his own words to describe the scene: "The brow cannot be less than four thousand five hundred feet, so completely does it overlook the height of Hebron and of central Judea. To the eastward, as we turned round, the ridge seemed gently to slope for two or three miles, when a few small, ruin-clad tells' or hillocks (Heshbon, Maîn, and others) broke the monotony of the outline; and then, sweeping forth, rolled in one vast, unbroken expanse, the goodly Belka - one boundless plain, stretching far into Arabia, till lost in the horizon corn and grass. Well may the Arabs boast, Thou canst not find a country like the Belka.' As the eye turned southwards toward the line of the ridge on which we were clustered, the peak of Jebel Shihân just stood out behind Jebel Attarus, which opened to reveal to us the situation of Kerak, though not its walls. Beyond and behind these, sharply rose Mounts Hor and Seir, and the rosy granite peaks of Arabia faded away into the distance toward Akabah. Still turning westward, in front of us, two or three lines of terraces reduced the height of the plateau, as it descended to the Dead Sea, the western outline of which we could trace in its full extent, from Usdom to Feshkah. It lay like a long strip of molten metal, with the sun mirrored on its surface, waving and undulating in its further edge, unseen in its eastern limits, as though poured from some deep cavern beneath our feet. There, almost in the centre of the line, a break in the ridge and a green spot below marked Engedi, the nest once of the Kenite, now of the wild goat. The fortress of Masada and jagged Shukif rose above the mountain-line, but still far below us, and lower, too, than the ridge of Hebron, which we could trace, as it lifted gradually from the southwest as far as Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The buildings of Jerusalem we could not see, though all the familiar points in the neighborhood were at once identified. This must have been from a slight haze or want of power in our glasses, as the point where we stood is certainly visible from the roof of the English Church at Jerusalem. There was the Mount of Olives, with the church at its top, the gap in the hills leading up from Jericho, and the rounded heights of Benjamin on its other side. Still

turning northward, the eye was riveted by the deep Ghôr, with the rich green islets of Ain Sullân and Ain Dûk- bright twins, nestling, as it were, under the wall of Quarantania (the traditionary scene of Christ's temptation). There, closer still, beneath us, had Israel's last camp extended in front of the green fringe which peeped forth from under the terraces, our foreground. The dark, sinuous bed of the Jordan, clearly defined near its mouth, was soon lost in dim haze. Then looking over it, the eye rested on Gerizim's rounded top; and, further still, opened the plain of Esdraelon, the shoulder of Carmel, or some other intervening height, just showing to the right of Gerizim; while the faint and distant bluish haze beyond it told us that there was the sea, the utmost sea. It seemed as if but a whiff were needed to brush off the haze and reveal it clearly. Northward again, rose the distinct outline of unmistakable Tabor, aided by which we could identify Gilboa and Jebel Duhy. Snowy Hermon's top was mantled with cloud, and Lebanon's highest range must have been exactly shut behind it; but in front, due north of us, stretched in long line the dark forests of Ajlun, bold and undulating, with the steep sides of mountains here and there whitened by cliffs, terminating in Mount Gilead, behind Es-Salt. To the northeast the vast Hauran stretched beyond, filling in the horizon line to the Belka, between which and the (Bashan) there seems to be no natural line of separation. The tall range of Jebel Hauran, behind Bozrah, was distinctly visible."

Moses died in the full possession of his powers, as the historian informs us, and though he mentions as one of the proofs of this that the patriarch's eye was not dim" at his advanced age, it is striking to observe that he mentions the fact immediately after describing this wide scene which Moses had compassed with his natural eye. Thus, as it were, without thinking of it, he has forestalled an objection which might be supposed to arise in the mind of the reader.

ARTICLE IX.

NOTICES OF RECENT GERMAN PUBLICATIONS.

FROM OUR GERMAN CORRESPONDENT.

BEGINNINGS OF REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS IN SPAIN, UNDER CHARLES V., exhibited from Original Documents of the Inquisition of Toledo. Some years ago a number of folio volumes of original docu

1 Franzisca Hernandez und Frae Franzisco Ortiz: Aufänge reformatorischer Bewegungen in Spanien unter Kaiser Karl V. Aus originalacten des Inquisitionstribunals zu Toledo dargestellt. Von Dr. Edward Böhmer. Leipzig: H. Hassel; London: Asher and Co., Trübner and Co. 1865. Price, 2 thaler 20 sgr.

ments, recording the proceedings of the Spanish Inquisition, especially in Toledo, fell into the hands of Dr. Edward Böhmer of Halle; and from these he has drawn, among other things, the materials for the work whose title is given above. We have ourselves seen several of the volumes in question, and can testify to their deeply interesting character. Among other documents is a letter addressed by a "heretic" to Philip II. of Spain, with marginal notes in the king's own hand-writing. Franzisca Hernandez and Franzisco Ortiz, concerning whose life-relations to each other and treatment by the Inquisition Dr. Böhmer gives an excellently written account, with numerous incidental notices of other matters, giving evidence of as much learning in this department as he has shown in so many others, were respectively a female mystic and a Franciscan monk. The former seems to have had decided Protestant leanings, and exercised a remarkable evangelical influence on all who came into closer contact with her. The latter was one of the most popular preachers of his time, who suffered much because he maintained the purity of Franzisca's character and the excellence of her influence. An appendix contains numerous beautiful extracts from the mystical Abecedario espiritual of Franzisco de Osuna, teacher of St. Theresa, and a disciple of Franzisca Hernandez.

LECTURES AND TREATISES ON HISTORICAL SUBJECTS.'- Dr. Zeller, Professor of Philosophy in Heidelberg, is the author of the celebrated History of Greek Philosophy. The treatises contained in this book were published originally in Sybel's "Historische Zeitschrift" and in the "Preussische Jahrbücher." The subjects discussed are the following: The Development of Monotheism among the Greeks; Pythagoras and the Traditions about him; Defence of Xanthippe; The Influence exerted by the Platonic State on the Mind of later Generations; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus; Wolff's Expulsion from Halle; the Struggle between Pietism and Philosophy; Johann Gottlieb Fichte as Politician; Friedrich Schleiermacher; Primitive Christianity; The Tübingen Historical School; Ferdinand Christian Baur; Strauss and Renan. We have seldom taken up a German book which we have read with greater interest. Dr. Zeller writes an excellent German style and very clearly. We do not, indeed, agree at all with the views he advocates and describes, so far as they bear upon Christianity, but there can be but one opinion as to the ability and clearness with which they are set forth. Of special interest are those which relate to the Tübingen school, of which Zeller is a distinguished member. They give a careful, accurate, and popular summary of the principal results arrived at by Baur and his several pupils. The essay in defence

1 Vorträge und Abhandlungen geschichtlichen Inhalts. Von Edward Zeller. Leipzig: Fues; London: Asher and Co., Trübner and Co. 1865. Price, 3 thaler.

of Xanthippe is amusing and clever. Dr. Zeller urges in her defence, that her husband's peculiarities were of such a nature that few women could fail to be wroth with him; he was ugly in looks, negligent in dress, careless about earnings, and not particularly affectionate, as his behaviour just before death shows.

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CONNECTEDLY INVESTIGATED. Division II.; Subdivision 2. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.'. This is part of a work that bids fair to be of great size, and which, if its idea be realized, will be of the utmost importance. It is to be feared, however, that the plan is too extensive ever to be fully carried out. The individual parts, however, hitherto published, are considered by competent judges to be very valuable contributions to the better understanding of the New Testament as a whole and in its several sections. The leading idea of the work is, by an investigation of the historical characteristics of each separate writing, to establish its authenticity and antiquity, and to show it to form a necessary link in the whole chain of the record of revelation. One fault Dr. Hofmann is exposed to fall into - that of too great subtilty; but this is amply compensated by the novel points of view which he opens up, and the suggestiveness which marks every page. This and his other works ought to be better known to our theological readers than they are; but they require hard study.

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EXAMINATION OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITICAL QUESTIONS RAISED AT THE PRESENT TIME RELATIVELY ΤΟ THE FOURTH GOSPEL. This little work is a German translation of part of a Commentary on the Gospel of John, published in French. We have read it through and can fully subscribe to what Professor Riggenbach of Basle says in his prefatory introduction. "He who reads the present portion will desire to possess the entire work. What we have here is a fragment; but it is a very valuable fragment." In six chapters the following subjects are discussed: 1. The facts confirmed; 2. The genuineness, 3. The credibility of the discourses; 4. The circumstances of composition; 5. The preservation of the text; 6. The certainty of the Gospel history. The treatment, though very brief, is clear, sober, and frequently both very novel and very acute. M. Godet tries to show in particular that a main and conscious design of John was to supplement and in part correct the

1 Die heilige Schrift des neuen Testaments zusammenhängend untersucht. 2 Theil, 3 Abtheilung: Der Zweite Brief an die Corinther. Von Dr. I. Ch. K. v. Hofmann. Nördlingen: Beck'sche Buchhandlung; London: Asher and Co., Trübner and Co. 1866. Price, 50 silbergroschen.

2 Prüfung der wichtigsten Kritischen Streitfragen unserer Tage über das vierte Evangelium. Von. F. Godet. Zürich: Carl Meyer; London: Asher and Co., Trübner and Co. 1866.