6 NOVEMBER 1875, Page 21

learning, and written with rigour, gives a sketch of forms

of worship that preceded Christianity, Mosaism appearing in company with Brah- manism, Buddhism, Hellenism, &c. The preliminary observations, dealing chiefly with the subject of the Christian records, are free in their methods of speculation. The text is treated with little or no re- gard to MS. authority. The fuller form of a passage is supposed to be necessarily interpolated. M. Bonzique, who is of the Unitarian faith, is not justified in the assumptions of the following passage :—"Another addition is met with in the 19th verse of the 28th chapter of Matthew. It is relative to the baptismal formula,—' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.' Mark has not the formula in the corresponding passage (xvi., 16). This formula, omitted also by Luke and John, was not in use in the days of the Apostles, or even much later. In the Apostolic age, baptism wee administered in the name of Christ (Acts ii., $8; viii, 12-16; Romans vi., 3; GaL iii., 27). Justin is the first who mentions it. Assuredly it was not found in Matthew's original, which was used by the Nazarenes. It was introduced at the time of its translation into Greek, a time when the dogmas of Plato began to make their way into the Hellenic Churches." This is a very ingenious structure of supposition. Meanwhile, the fact remains, a fact which, in every other subject except theology, would be conclusive, that all the MS. authority is in favour of the formula. It is easy to say that it was interpolated before the date of the earliest codices. We can only argue from what we have got. The book improves, to our mind, when the author gets beyond the first period, though we find ourselves naturally diverging very widely from him when he comes to treat of the Council of Nice. The volume concludes with an interesting chapter on "Apocryphal Books, Fables, and Legends."