NOTES AND NOTICES.

INDEX.

Nichols, J., Death of Themistocles, 653.
Nicholson, E. B., Commentary on

Gospel according to Matthew, 801.

Overton, J. H., William Law, 428.

Painter, R. B., Science a Stronghold,
&c., 219.

Pascal, Provincial Letters.

by J. De Soyres, 422.

Edited

Pollock, F., Life and Philosophy of
Spinoza, 216.

Reid, J., Christ and His Religion, 224.

Robertson, F. W., The Human Race,

&c., 189.

THE FOLLOWING WRITERS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO

THE SECOND VOLUME OF THE MODERN REVIEW :

THE MODERN REVIEW.

JANUARY, 1881.

S

THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH.*

I. THE MINISTRY OF ISAIAH.

TUDENTS of the prophetic writings of the old Testament were glad to welcome, ten years ago, a little volume entitled "The Book of Isaiah Chronologically Arranged." It contained in small compass an admirable summary of the results of recent inquiries into the composition of a book which offers more perplexing problems, perhaps, than even the Pentateuch itself. Moreover, its brief expositions showed a thorough mastery of the literature of Hebrew prophecy, and a happy combination of philological accuracy and sympathy with the prophetic spirit, though traditional interpretations were, for the most part, set aside.

The present volume, in which the author offers the results of ten years' further study, is not laid down upon the lines of its predecessor. The different oracles are not arranged chronologically; the order is that of the Hebrew text and the authorised version. The discussion of literary and critical questions is reserved for separate treatment. The translation is much more independent, and the commentary much fuller. Mr. Cheyne's wealth of

The Prophecies of Isaiah; a new Translation with Commentary and Appendices. By the Rev. T. K. Cheyne. Vol. I. 1880.

knowledge enables him with easy mastery to present a selection of the best judgments on difficult or disputed passages, and he seeks to maintain a strict impartiality among conflicting views. Many readers might have preferred a little less caution and a little more decision, but students will know how to value the author's self-restraint. Among the new features of the commentary, which at once distinguish it from all other productions of English scholarship, may be reckoned, first of all, the abundance of illustration derived from the recent investigations into Assyrian history, and their application to fix the dates of oracles hitherto uncertain. A second very valuable and interesting element is the frank recognition of the traces of popular religion and mythology occasionally appearing in the prophetic language amid ideas far more exalted. The causes which have led to some change of view with regard to the spirit and scope of prophecy the writer does not set forth, nor is the exact nature of the modifications apparent. But it may, perhaps, be said that this volume exhibits a richer sense of the relation between the human soul and God, enabling it to become the medium of the communication of higher truths to the world. This question affects the treatment of the later rather than the earlier portion of the prophecies gathered under Isaiah's name, and may be more freely discussed when the publication of the second volume shall have put us in complete possession of Mr. Cheyne's views on the significance of the "Servant of Yahveh." We shall, perhaps, best prepare our readers for a consideration of this topic by endeavouring to sketch the conditions under which Isaiah exercised his ministry, and to bring out some of the chief themes of his preaching.

(I.)

The eighth century B.C., to which we owe so many precious monuments of Israel's religion, opened happily for the