■]']2 Reviezvs of Books Julicher, of Marburg, wrestles with Essenism, which, in spite of recent investigations, remains an enigmatic phenomenon ; it belongs to Greek culture as well as to Jewish, and awaits the discovery of the key which is to unlock the secret of its origin and significance. The history of the Eucharistic meal is treated cautiously by Canon Robinson, of Cam- bridge ; the statements in the Gospels, in Corinthians and in later books, are compared, and Greek parallels are mentioned, but no definite con- clusion as to origin and development is reached ; here also is an unsolved problem. The article on Jesus of Nazareth, by the late Professor A. B. Bruce, of the Free Church College, Glasgow, is an attempt to give a plain biography of the man, apart from all ecclesiastical presuppositions. The writer admits the difficulty of separating the historical from the legendary in the accounts of the life, and the doubt attaching to certain sayings attributed by the Gospel tradition to Jesus ; he holds, however, that a definite kernel of fact remains, and that a great moral and religious career is evident. As to the healing of bodily diseases, whether or not, says Bruce, they be regarded as miraculous, they were the work not of a thaumaturge, but of a friend of man. Bruce is not quite able to decide whether Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, but thinks that, with the pic- ture of the man of sorrow (the ideal Israel) in mind (Isa. liii.), he thought of himself as that "man," the representative of all who live sac- rificial and therefore redemptive lives. Though, says Bruce, Jesus was the child of his time and people, with limitation of vision (for example, in his statements respecting the future), his spiritual intuitions are valid for all ages. This is a reasonable conclusion ; but it is to be regretted that Professor Bruce did not attempt a sharp criticism of the sayings attributed to Jesus. C. H. Toy. TIic Life and Literature of the Ancient Hebreics. B}- Lv.M.iX Ab- bott. (Boston and New York : Houghton, Mifflin and Com- pany. 1901. Pp. xiii, 408.) The Bible, it has been said, is the best-neglected book in the world. In the English translation it has become an English classic, is accessible to everybody, is read ever)' Sunday in the churches, and is read by many at home ; yet its real significance is perhaps less understood than that of Homer or Shakspere. This is largely because it has been made a theo- logical text-book, and has thus lost its interest for the people. At pres- ent a sort of Biblical revival is going on ; a number of books, of which the present volume is one, have undertaken to set forth the literary at- tractiveness and the human appeal of the Bible, and thus to bring its great power to bear on our people. He who would be an efficient advo- cate of its claims must be in sympathy both with the scientific exposition of its origin and meaning and with its moral and religious spirit. This remark holds true of the whole of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament ; but the New Testament has not yet found its expounder —
