The Epistle of Paul to the Romans. By J. P. LANGE, D.D., and the Rev. F. R. FAY. Translated from the German by J. F. HURST, D.D., with additions by P. SCHAFF, D.D., and the Rev. M. B. RIDDLE. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street. 1869.

This forms one of the volumes of "A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures; critical, doctrinal, and homiletical, with special reference to ministers and students. By John Peter Lange, D.D., in connection with a number of eminent European divines. Translated from the German, and edited, with additions, by Philip Schaff, D.D., in connection with American scholars of various evangelical denominations." This great Bibelwerk when completed will constitute a vast storehouse of exegetical, doctrinal, and practical theology, which will be of inestimable value to the church of Christ.

The volume before us, by itself, is a work of immense labour and learning. Dr Lange has prepared the exegetical and doctrinal parts, and the Rev. F. R. Fay, his son-in-law, and pastor at Crefeld, Prussia, the homiletical sections, while the translators and editors have made so large additions as to increase the German edition nearly one-half. Each contributor from the judgment, ability, and research, with which he has performed his part has proved his qualifications for his difficult and responsible task. The introduction by Dr Schaff embraces a variety of topics, elaborately and eloquently discussed, all contributing to the right understanding of the Epistle; and from the numerous quotations from other commentators with which the volume abounds, it may be regarded as a Synopsis Criticorum of this portion of the inspired Word.

Grace and Truth. By the Rev. W. P. MACKAY, M.D., Hull.

In reference to the notice of this publication in our last, we are gratified to state, after a correspondence with the author, that we substantially agree on the points of doctrine there referred to, and find that our animadversions arose form the peculiarity of some of his modes of expression.

The following Works have been received, just as we were going to press. We regret we can only give their titles:-"Stoughton's Ecclesiastical History of England: The Church of the Restoration." 2 vols. Hodder and Stoughton. "Wolfe's Sermons for the Times." London: Longmans, &c. "Muirhead's China and the Gospel." Nisbet & Co., London.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN EVANGELICAL REVIEW.

JULY 1870.

ART. I.-Venice.

1. The Queen of the Adriatic; or, Venice Past and Present. By W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. London: T. Nelson & Sons.

2. The Stones of Venice. By JOHN RUSKIN, A.M.

V

London. 1851-1853.

1869. Three Volumes.

ENICE! how rich in associations, how eloquent of the past, is that glorious old city of the sea! The mingling charms of history, poetry, and romance gather round the once proud and powerful, but now fallen and impoverished, "Queen of the Adriatic." Italy is the country of magnificent old cities, famed in the middle ages, and even of high repute in modern times. Of these, with the single exception of Rome, Venice has the most splendid history, and as a sight is the most attractive at this day. It is scarcely fair, indeed, to compare Rome, the ancient capital of the world, with any other European city of a more recent date. Like Jerusalem, Rome has a unique character among the cities of the world, and a historical interest that is quite unapproachable. She was a world-conquering, world-renowned city,centuries before Paris and London had crowned their respective rivers, or Venice had risen like a wondrous exhalation from the lagoon-girt isles of the Adriatic. But leaving the great city of the Tiber out of view, we find no city of Italy equal in interest or renown to Venice, "the Rome of the Ocean." Naples, the largest Italian city of our day, the fair Florence, the grand Milan, the superb Genoa, with all their wealth, and power, and fame, cannot vie in historic splendour, or deathless beauty, with that marvellous

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creation at the head of the Adriatic, that rose to empire by her maritime greatness. Hence the traveller in Italy, who has any knowledge of history, or love of art, eagerly turns aside to visit Venice, where he can see in fancy, "a thousand years their cloudy wings expand," while he feasts his eyes on architectural glories, and revels in the very atmosphere of romance.

It was in the middle of August 1867, that we first realised a golden dream of youth by visiting Venice and surveying the still brilliant remains of its ancient grandeur. A year before, the battle of Sadowa had shattered the power of Austria, and restored Venice, with the circumjacent province, to Italy. The city of the Doges, for whom all Italy had been in mourning, was rejoicing in her new found freedom, and dreaming of the return of some portion of her former prosperity. It was then with newly awakened hopes and sympathies that we rapidly approached Venice by the magnificent railway which connects that city with Milan. In eight hours the traveller who starts from the grand capital of Lombardy, reaches the Adriatic shore, after passing Bergamo, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and other cathedraled cities, full of glorious architecture, and rich in classic or romantic associations. As he whirls across the vast and fertile Lombard plain, the sunshine, the air, and the sky, apart from the lofty works of man, give him that feeling of Italy which Goethe and others have so exquisitely enjoyed and described. Verona spoke to us of Shakespeare's immortal creations; the branch line to Mantua recalled Virgil and his native fields; the towers of Padua, which we saw quite near, summoned up Livy with his "pictured page." It was night before we approached the mysterious city of the sea. As our train moved along the straight, low bridge, two miles in length, that now connects Venice with the mainland, the numerous twinkling lights that seemed to flutter like fallen stars upon the water, had a magical effect, and prepared us for a scene more enchanting and more real than any in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. On arriving at the station, we soon got into a gondola, and found ourselves afloat upon the grand canal, in the very heart of the city. Rows of glorious palaces on either hand, each of them "a romance in stone," laid hold of our imaginations, and carried us at once through the portals of the dusky past. But before we could fully realise the presence and power of the wondrous scene, we landed from our airy barge on the marble, wave-worn steps of the Palazzo Giustiniani, the ancient residence of a renowned ducal family, now transformed into the Albergo dell' Europa. About nine o'clock, when we had been fairly installed in the noble old mansion, where every room, doubtless, has a history, we looked out from our lofty casement upon the mouth of the Grand Canal,

Rise of the City and State.

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and in the direction of the Lido, that long, low, narrow island which acts as a natural breakwater between Venice and the Adriatic. Moonlight was upon the waters; the waters were trembling gently beneath the silvery lustre; a balmy sea breeze breathed a delicious coolness after the fervours of the day. Domes, palaces, and towers, some distinctly, some dimly visible, gondolas, full of gay passengers, flitting about in all directions, some of them bearing aloft Chinese lanterns, and echoing with the voice of song, added to the mystery and enchantment of the hour, and extorted the exclamation, "this is Venice!"

Musing that night, and since, on the rise, the glory, and the fall of this renowned city, we have become familiar with the grand eras and incidents, the famous scenes and romantic passages, of Venetian history. We can imagine the dim shadows of the past opening to reveal to us the humble origin, the wondrous development, and splendid prosperity of the great maritime Republic. Before speaking further about the Venice of the present, let us look as down a long vista of 1300 years, at the Venice of the past. In the middle of the fifth century, Attila, "the scourge of God," after rapidly recovering from his great defeat at Chalons, crosses the Alps with a fresh army of Huns, and descends like a torrent on the Italian plains. The Roman emperor is unable to defend or succour his people; Milan, Padua, Aquileia, and other famous cities, are ravaged by the destroyer. The Veneti, dwelling round the head of the Adriatic, are special sufferers from fire and sword, and take refuge in a group of small, low and marshy islands, that lie close to their native shores. The fresh waters of the Brenta and other Alpine rivers, have combined with the salt waters of the ocean, to form protecting lagoons and defensive channels, behind which they are safe from their terrible enemy. A cluster of little towns, built on different islands, gradually rises above the sea. These small fishing and trading ports, continually receiving fresh recruits from the mainland, at length coalesce into one Republic. The islands on which they stand are as near one another as neighbouring streets and squares in a large city, being separated only by narrow streams, or channels of water, now known as canals. The inhabitants, battling with enemies of the land and dangers of the sea, become numerous and strong; they fish, they build, they trade; they form a regular government, which is administered by consuls or tribunes, elected for limited periods; and at length, like a young giant emerging from the waters, there lifts its head amidst the lagoons of the Adriatic, the Republic or State of Venice.

For two hundred and forty years the first and purer form of republican government exists; but in 697 a species of

monarchy is substituted. A duke, or Doge, invested with immense civil and ecclesiastical power, is elected for life. Paolo Luca Anafesto is the first of that long line of one hundred and twenty-one Doges under which Venice is to struggle up to greatness, to flourish among the first powers of the world, and finally to fall. He concludes a treaty, defining the limits of the Venetian territory, with the king of the Lombards. Thenceforth the maritime state starts on a career of struggle, triumph, prosperity; conflicts issue in success, or disasters are retrieved with glory. Pepin of Lombardy attacks the Venetians in 804, and takes several of their towns, but is at last repulsed. The citizens make their citadel in the island of the Rialto, and there offer a victorious resistance. Their brave leader, Participazio, is elected Doge, and immediately gives new life and form to the city and state. He unites sixty islands together by canals and bridges, founds a cathedral and a ducal palace, on sites where the present grand erections stand, and in reality creates the the Venice of history.

What strange scenes of superstition and patriotism, remance and war, rise up before the eye as we look down the Venetian past! In 829 the reputed relics of St Mark the Evangelist, obtained at Alexandria by the pious fraud of two Venetian merchants, are transported to Venice, and deposited with great pomp in the cathedral. St Mark is henceforth the patron saint of Venice, and the cathedral, that was to become such a glorious building, ever after bears his name. The “winged lion," a symbol borrowed from one of Daniel's visions, now becomes a badge and rally-cry of the Venetians. The lofty granite pillar on the Piazzetta, crowned with the winged lion of St Mark, is the grand memorial of a device so renowned in Venetian history. But here there rises up to view the capture of "the Brides of Venice," so famed in song and story. In the year 932, on St Mary's Eve, twelve young maidens, dowered by the State, according to a venerable annual custom, are about to be united to their betrothed lovers. When in the Church of St Peter's, surrounded by a festive, unarmed multitude, they are suddenly set upon, and torn from the very altar by a band of sea rovers from Trieste, who have been lurking near, waiting their opportunity. The shrieking virgins are borne off by their captors to their barks, and are soon upon the sea on their way to Trieste. But instantly all Venice is up in arms. The Doge gives orders for prompt and hot pursuit. The disappointed lovers, joined by many ardent pursuers, dash off to sea, and aided by sail and oar, soon overtake the ravishers. A fierce fight ensues, the Trieste robbers are slain to a man, the brides are brought back in triumph, and the nuptial ceremonies, so suddenly interrupted, are concluded amidst joyful acclamations.