20 OCTOBER 1900, Page 21

Twenty-five Agrapha. Annotated by the Rev. Blomfield Jackson. (S.P.C.K. ls.)—The

most familiar of the " A,grapha " is that given in Acts xx. 35: "It is more blessed to give than to receive," though, strictly speaking, it does not belong to the class as Mr. Jackson defines it by his sub-title, "Extra-Canonical Sayings of Our Lord." Extra-Canonical it is not. This is naturally first in the order. The second may be an adaptation of St. Paul's words in 1 Cot. xi. 25, changing the third person into the first, and the roil icvp;ov into rbr ?adv. There have always been some who took these words, not as St. Paul's, but as Christ's. What is meant by the word iroIncris in the sentence, "It will be observed that the iroincris and the uaransAAfa are incomplete without communion " ? (Why double the ?) We ' hope that Mr. Jackson does not countenance the unscholarly attribution of a sacrificial meaning to TO_ 0 TOIEITE. The notices of the other Sayings are interesting, but we feel that on the whole too much importance is given to them. What is really new in them is very enigmatic.—In the series of "Early Church Classics" (same publishers, is. 6c1) we have The Liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions, translated, with Introduction and Notes, by the Rev. R. H. Creswell. It would take us too far to enter upon the many questions which this document suggests. It has, of course, a very direct bearing on the doctrine of the Real Presence. We must be content with the bare mention of the book.