which govern the physical world. In the natural sciences, something like an overpowering shock was produced by the fearless and penetrating investigations of Darwin, Huxley, and Lyell, who, striving to exhibit man and the planet he inhabits, as organic parts of universal creation, courageously pierced into the mystery of the very genesis of men and things, and arrived at results startling by their boldness and incalculable in their scope and final bearing. And in the sphere of theology, an almost unprecedented commotion was caused by the "Essays and Reviews", moderate as they are in tendency and reserved in enunciation, by the acute and incisive demonstrations of Colenso, unsettling and in many cases uprooting long-cherished opinions or prejudices, and by the writings of Rénan and Strauss, which, thanks to the close literary intercommunion that has sprung up between the continent and England found here a no less powerful echo than in the countries to which they owed their origin. Thus traditional views are questioned in every branch of science and learning; and habits of logical thought, trained and fostered by works like those of John Stuart Mill, prove an invaluable auxiliary to comprehensive and trustworthy inferences. Our own time, disdaining to receive opinions from the past as an unalterable heirloom and with unsuspecting reliance, is determined to assert the right of forming its own convictions with unfettered independence.

This general fermentation of minds, which the author could not but watch with intense interest, appeared to him peculiarly propitious for the reception of the conclusions to which he has been led by his Biblical researches. He would fain hope that he has furnished a few available stones for that new edifice which it is the labour of our age to erect; that he has aided, however humbly and modestly, in supporting by arguments derived

from his special department of study, the philosophical ideas which all genuine science at .present seems eager to establish; and that he has in some slight degree succeeded in assigning to the Biblical documents their proper place in the future phases and struggles of our civilisation.

But he ventures to prefer a double request to those into whose hands this volume may fall. First, he begs them not to judge of the results unless they have patiently followed him through the chain of arguments by which the conclusions were obtained; for he has endeavoured so to arrange the facts and proofs that an attentive perusal will, he trusts, disclose their force and cogency, whereas desultory reading must lead to hasty and unjust opinions. The second request he cannot make better than in the words. with which Spinoza concludes the Introduction to his Tractatus Theologico-politicus: "To those who are not accustomed to think rationally, I do not desire to recommend this book, since I have no reason to hope that they will in any way be gratified by it. For I know how stubbornly the mind clings to those prejudices which it has adopted under the appearance of religion. I know moreover, that it is as impossible to free the mass of men from superstition as it is to free them from fear... These therefore and all those who obstinately insist upon preconceived opinions, I do not invite to read this book, nay I would much rather wish them to leave it unnoticed, than to call forth strife by interpreting its contents perversely, and while gaining no advantage for themselves, to cause injury to others who would argue with greater freedom if they were not checked by the one fatal belief that reason must be the handmaid of theology."

It may be expedient to add a few explanations with regard to the economy of this volume.

The Biblical text may be considered from three distinct points of view:

(1.) It may be explained simply in a positive or objective manner: the expositor investigates how the last compiler or reviser understood the meaning of the parts and the connection of the whole, and he endeavours to point out both the one and the other with the utmost care and completeness; he owes this tribute of respect and reverence especially to the superior genius of the man who conceived so vast a plan as that of the Pentateuch, and who must be allowed to have possessed the ability of logical thought and style. This task has been chiefly attempted in the general notes of the Commentary.

(2.) Or the text may be explained critically and analytically: the expositor resolves the entire composition into its component parts; he examines and compares them, decides whether they contain differences in the conceptions or discrepancies in the statements, pursues the traces of older sources or original documents, which he distinguishes from later additions or modifications, and searches after the date and authorship of each portion; and then, on the basis of these enquiries, he draws conclusions with regard to the gradual development of religious culture among the Hebrews, and to the epoch when it attained the stage revealed in the section under consideration. This has mainly been undertaken in the philological remarks of the Commentary.

(3.) Or, lastly, the text may be explained philosophically and treated constructively: the expositor analyses the absolute truth and the absolute value of the records; he ascertains how far the facts are historically reliable, and how far the religious notions are philosophically true; he compares the Biblical documents with the historical traditions and religious systems of other nations; and he tests them especially by the most recent discoveries of science and the best results of speculative thought; thus he is enabled to determine to what extent

they deserve authority, and in what degree they are binding on his own time; and then he may venture, as a last step, to build up the political or spiritual history of the Bible on its own intrinsic probability, and to propound religious and philosophical truths in harmony with all the scientific and literary aids at his disposal. This has principally been aimed at in the Treatises, which therefore form, in a certain sense, the most important and distinctive portions of the book; and for this reason, the great extent which they occupy will neither be found surprising nor require justification; though they have rendered it impossible to compress the commentary on the whole of Leviticus into one volume.

By separating these three methods, the author believes to be enabled to do full justice to the Hebrew writers, without curtailing the claims due to science, history, and philosophy.

As of the preceding volumes, so of this one also, an abridged edition is published, omitting all philological observations and all except Biblical references, and specially adapted for more cursory reading, though the author would strongly recommend the use of this larger edition to all those who desire to be acquainted with the sources of his facts and the critical evidences

of his opinions. The next volume which will conclude Leviticus, and will contain, besides the Commentary, essays on the dietary precepts, the ordinances of purification, the marriage-laws, the festivals, and the moral teaching of the Bible, will, it is hoped, be issued in the course of the following year, as it is in an advanced stage of preparation.

The author has every reason to feel grateful for the encouraging reception accorded to the earlier parts of this work; if, on a fair and dispassionate examination,

their present successor meet even approximately with a like approval, he will be fortified hopefully to continue his labours, for the success of which he is chiefly anxious because he is convinced that the purpose to which they are devoted is intimately allied with our progress, our happiness, and even the practical regulation of our lives.

M. KALISCH.

London, April 22, 1867.