The Expositor. Edited by the Rev. W. Robertson Nicoll. (Hodder
and Stoughton.)—This is the first volume of a new (a fourth) series. There are three powerful papers from the pen of the late Bishop Lightfoot, dealing with " The Internal Evidence for the Authenticity and Genuineness of St. John's GospeL" Professor J. A. Beet discusses " The Future Punishment of Sin " in three papers, and maintains what may be generally described as the orthodox view. The present instalment is devoted to the teaching of St. Paul. Dr. S. Cox, whose name we are glad to see among the con- tributors, writes two papers, one of which relates to the Epistle of St. James. Professor Cheyne has some notes on Psalms xxvi., xxviii., exiii.-cxviii. ; and Archdeacon Farrar discusses the sub- ject of " Fasting in Holy Scripture." Dr. Farrar thinks that a much exaggerated importance has been given to the practice by ecclesiastical writers. The strongest passage, "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting," he disposes of by saying that it "almost certainly originated in Western and Syrian interpolation." "Almost certainly" is too strong, considering the amount of authority that can be adduced for it. The practice of fasting in the Apostolic Church is disposed of too summarily by being referred to the habits of thought of a community "predominantly Jewish." Can it be maintained, in the face of what we know, that the practice did not prevail in non- Jewish communities ? As soon as we know anything of early Christian life, we find it existing in full force. But it does not at all follow that what was expedient for the conditions of life in those days and in those regions is necessarily expedient now and everywhere. And we are ready to give all the weight possible to the consideration with which Archdeacon Farrar concludes his paper : —" There is a note.of deep warning in the words of St. Paul, which the R.V. first correctly rendered for English readers. ' If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men ? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humilia- tion, and severity to the body ; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." That fasting is of very doubtful advantage in many cases, there can be no doubt. The long fasts of the Greek Church are said to coincide with a great increase in crime. Dr. Alfred Plummer gives some interesting recollections of Dr. Dellinger. The first two papers are in a large degree occu- pied with Dollinger's attitude in regard to the dogma of Papal Infallibility. Some of the expedients by which dissidents contrived to accept it are curious, the most remarkable being that of one theologian who accepted it with his external and rejected it with his internal conviction. There is a notable passage about Cardinals Manning and Newman. Dollinger was favourably impressed by Cardinal Manning in 1851. " He told me that indirectly I had contributed to his conversion." This was by proving that a Roman Catholic could write history honestly. In 1858 " he had utterly changed, and for the worse." " I read a volume of his sermons once, written while he was still a member of your Church, and I liked them ; there was warmth and depth of true religious feeling in them. All that is gone now. There is nothing of it in the things which he has written since he became a Roman Catholic : all his later writings are inferior. I know of only one writer who is quite equal to what he was before his conversion.' And both of us together said : Newman.' " He was greatly pleased to think that the Disestablishment of the Church was not certain ; could not understand the opposition of the clergy to the Burials Act. " The Athanasian Creed never should have been placed in the Prayer-Book." " You will not abolish it. You will retain it, and make the use of it optional." " It would make no difference in the matter of union with the Old Catholics." " Anglican Orders were as valid as Roman." "For schools he thought the confessional was almost a necessity," but did not approve of it as commonly practised. " He had no admiration for Ritualism." " I have seldom, if ever, heard him speak with greater admiration of any book than he expressed to me last July for Dr. Salmon's ' Infallibility of the Church. " There is much more worth noting in these papers.
Previous page
