Ming dynasty, three hundred years ago, negotiations were in progress in Canada, there is the probability that our friends in the East will yet be before us in the actual accomplishment of Union. The Presbyterian Witness gives the following account of the recent meetings of the joint committees of the two churches : "We are gratified to learn that the Joint Committees of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia and of the Free Presbyterian Church of this province have met during the past week, and got satisfactorily through with the matters brought before them, so that we are able to assure our readers that the prospects of an early consummation of the union were never more promising than at the present moment. "Can the Committees recommend that the Union be consummated this year? If "It is observable that nearly all were men so, will they recommend that the time shall of mature years when they came to China. be at the Synod meetings in June? This Of the eighteen only one was under twenty- was felt to be the great question. All the five years at the date of his arrival, and members concurred in the opinion that, on fice only were under thirty years of age, a subject of such great importance to the while there were several at or above thirty-interests of religion, and of Presbyterianism, five years, one forty-one and one fifty-one while all unnecessary delay should be years old at the date of his arrival. avoided, undue precipitancy should be shunThese statistics show, that many, who suppose their coming to China is out of the question on account of their years, need not be deterred for that reason. It seems to be a point with the Romanists to select men of ripe years. The average age of the eighteen on their arrival in China was thirty-three years." ned with equal care. The Committees, however, agreed unanimously to record their conviction that the state of the negotiations and the reports from Sessions are such, that they are of opinion that the Synods, at their approaching meetings in June, will be in a position to make arrangements for having the Union consummated at a special session, convened for that purpose, in the autumn or fall of 1860, and agree to recommend accordingly. "We have heard and now record this intelligence with great satisfaction, and in this joyful feeling we know that our readers generally will participate. We will live in the expectation of seeing the consummation of this Union, and the celebration of the Tricentenary of the Scottish Reformation fixed for the same week; and, should this the Presbyterian schools in Scotland, and expectation be realised, that week will be one long to be remembered in the religious and civil annals of Nova Scotia.'" EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS FOR 1859. THE Report of the Committee of Council of Education for 1859 supplies the following statistics: During the year 1859, as compared with 1858, the number of schools, or departments of schools, under separate teachers, which were actually inspected, was increased by 177, and the number of children by 58,387; the number of pupil-teachers, by 1,200; of certified teachers by 990; of students, in training to become schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, by 85; capitation grants were paid on 52,199 more children; 247 new school-houses were built, comprising, beside class-rooms, 393 principal school-rooms, and 178 dwellings for teachers; 230 other schools were enlarged, improved, or furnished afresh; accommodation was created for 58,070 children, exclusive of the schools improved or newly-furnished, but not enlarged. prevails largely among the schools of Protestant Dissenters in England and Wales; not to mention that it is necessarily adopted in many parts of the country, when the means to maintain two teachers are wanting. The inspectors also visited 38 separate training colleges, occupied by 2,794 students in preparation for the office of schoolmaster or schoolmistress. The inspectors also visited 469 schools for pauper children, containing 34,911 inmates; and 102 reformatory, ragged, or industrial schools, containing 7,305 inmates. It appears that the expenditure on education grants in Great Britain, last year, amounted to £723,115 10s., being an increase, as compared compared with 1858, of £54,242 1s. 3d. The increase in 1858 over the expenditure of 1857 was £108,899. The expenditure on education grants in Scotland, for 1859, appears to have been as follows:-Established Church schools, £44,185 19s. 84d., being an increase on 1858 of £417; Free Church schools, £36,314 1s. 4d., being an increase of £6,793 as compared with 1858; Episcopal Church schools, £4,822 13s. 104d., being an increase of £159; and the Roman Catholic Poor School Committee, £2,132 198., being a decrease of £866. The total expendiDuring 1859 57 inspectors, including 22 ture on education grants in Great Britain, assistant inspectors, visited 9,555 daily from 1839 to 31st December, 1859, has schools, or departments of such schools, been £4,378,183 4s. 94d., of which above under separate teachers. They found pre-one-half, or £2,632,789, has been awarded sent in them 880,131 children, 6,222 certi- to schools in connection with the Church fied teachers, and 14,176 apprentices. Of of England; while Roman Catholic schools the schools, or departments, 2,105 were for boys only; 2,134 for girls only; in 3,978 boys and girls were instructed together; 1,338 were confined to infants-children under seven years of age. Of the children, 487,340 were males, and 392,827 females. The preponderance in number of the schools, for children of both sexes, over separate schools, arises from the fact that this organisation is almost universal among in England and Wales, have received in all, since 1839, £136,592; Roman Catholic schools in Scotland, £12,138; the Episcopal Church schools in Scotland, £19,320 ; Free Church schools in Scotland, £208,391; and the Established Church schools in Scotland, £254,418; the remaining sum being divided among Wesleyan, Parochial Union, and British and Foreign Society's schools. THE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MESSENGER. THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL.* THE questions discussed in this volume have long engaged the attention of those Biblical students who have specially applied themselves to the emendatory and discriminatory criticism of the sacred text. In the mass of literature to which they have given rise, but which is so little read by the great body of those whose public business is the exegetical treatment of the Scriptures, there is not only an exhibition of learning which all may admire, but of dialectic skill, of irreconcilable opinions, of conflicting theories, and sometimes of controversial unfairness and bitterness, which are very perplexing to a simple inquirer after truth. This, of itself, however, is sufficient to invest them with interest in the eyes of many persons, particularly of those who are curious in tracing the appearance of fresh materials bearing upon them, and the steps of progress made towards their settlement, and in ascertaining the views adopted respecting them by the authors to whom they are in the habit of looking up with deference, or of yielding up their own judgment. But, the main interest associated with them, arises from the fact that they touch the form in which a large portion of Divine revelation was first communicated, the manner in which the Gospel collection was first made, and the grounds upon which that collection and the other books of the New Testament are to be received as of canonical authority. It is this which raises them to a place of sacred importance, and draws to them the research and consideration of those who have the time and learning necessary to the pursuit of the less frequented departments of the critical study of the Holy Scriptures. So that, how strongly soever they may commend themselves to the studious on the grounds of history, or letters, or debate, these are but slight compared with the force attaching to their claims on the grounds of religion, and the interests of Divine truth. We think it evident that Mr. Roberts has felt this, and that, whatever be the view taken of his treatise, he wrote it under the conviction that he was not so much dealing with matters of biblical scholarship, as handling subjects that affect the faith of the Church, and that go to the very roots of spiritual life in men. In the class of compositions to which this work belongs, hardly any person looks for the more graceful and attractive qualities of style. This may be due to the fact that such qualities are seldom found in this branch of critical literature, and that therefore it is needless to expect anything else "Inquiry into the Original Language of St. Matthew's Gospel: with Relative Discussions on the Language of Palestine in the time of Christ, and on the Origin of the Gospel." By the Rev. Alexander Roberts, M.A., Minister of the Presbyterian Church, St. John's Wood. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons. 1859. No. 152.-New Series. 16 than the dull, heavy, lumbering sentences which so many men of profound biblical scholarship have suffered to mark their productions. But we believe it is mainly due to the fact that the subjects with which works of this kind deal do not admit of that embellishment which comes from the art of rhetoric, the language of figure, and the colouring of imagery. The first and most essential attribute which any writer can bestow on his mode of treating them is that of straightforward simplicity. No setting is more in keeping with their own character, or more effectual in commending | them to the attention of thoughtful and inquiring minds, than that which consists in luminous arrangement, and plain, manly, statement of facts and arguments. If this be correct, and if, consequently, it may be converted into a canon of criticism, it is not too much to say that Mr. Roberts's book bears its application uncommonly well. For its order is lucid, its diction is choice and vigorous, and its prevailing style easy and pleasant, bearing those marks of care and finish which show that the author not only knows what he is writing about, but how to put himself in direct communication with his readers respecting it. This work is marked throughout by its spiritedness. In the general order of its thought, in the handling of its arguments, in the forcible character of its expressions, there appear qualities which evince the ardour of the author in discussing its questions, and which invest it with animation and power that can hardly be unrecognised even by those who may dissent most widely from its conclusions. The fervid disposition of the author, and his eagerness to make the most of the case he seeks to establish, sometimes render him incautious in the use of his materials, lead him to put undue stress on points in the evidence for the different sides of the matter in dispute, give a tone of over-confidence to the statement of his opinions, and betray him into the employment of terms relative to eminent biblical scholars, some of whom are living, which we would gladly have seen modified. Without entering into the merits of " Dr. Cureton's Syriac Gospels," and without pronouncing any opinion as to the correctness of the estimate which our author has formed of that production, we cannot but think that his animadversions on Dr. Cureton are too severe. Even on the assumption that his estimate is just, and that he is, therefore, warranted in taking a bold and unsparing line, he would have served his own cause better if he had spoken of the learned Canon of Westminster in language savouring more of the calm and measured manner of the philosopher, and less of the vehemence and wrath of the polemic. The deduction which the like of this makes from the otherwise great excellence of his book, is, after all, but slight, and cannot fairly be pleaded as affecting either its construction or design; while it must be generously allowed for, by all who rejoice to see, in such a field, a writer of earnest, manly, independent judgment, who has produced a treatise which, if we are not greatly mistaken, will draw to itself the attention of the advancing ranks of biblical students. And this allowance will be the more frankly and easily made, when it is found that the zeal which, at times, carries him impetuously forward, and the intrepidity which occasionally makes him harsh and unceremonious towards the adversaries that lie in his path, are uniformly associated with an ardent love of truth, with a profound humility that adores the fulness of the Word of God, with a spirit that is tremblingly alive to the inestimable value of the gracious words that proceeded out of the mouth of Christ, with a deep and sacred jealousy of everything that has even the appearance of a tendency to subvert the integrity, the inspiration, and the authority of the Sacred Record. It is this which gives all its grace to the book, and which really constitutes its chief value. The proposition around which the whole work gathers is this, "The Lord Jesus Christ SPOKE IN GREEK, and the Evangelists independently narrated his actions and reported his discourses IN THE SAME LANGUAGE which he had himself employed." Mr. Roberts "proposes this theory as adequate to account for all the phenomena presented by the first three Gospels; and thus, as marked out by its sufficiency, no less than by its simplicity, from all those that have preceded it. However ingenious some of these may have appeared, they have neither been simple nor sufficient: and while, from their complexity, destitute of all prima facie probability, the least practical application which has been made of them has shown that they could not meet the requirements of the case." He says, "This hypothesis has never, so far as we are aware, been heretofore suggested. This fact increases the hesitation with which we propose it: and leads us to fear that, like many others which have preceded it, it may possess attractions and advantages only in the estimation of its author, while none but his will be blind to its imperfections. But it is with confidence, nevertheless, that we submit it. to the candid consideration of all that are interested in this important subject." As this theory turns entirely on the truth of its first branch, Mr. Roberts gives his main strength to that. In order to establish it, he draws his argument from two sources; from history and the writings of the New Testament. By the former, he is led to the conclusion, that the Greek was the prevailing and all but universal language of Palestine in the days of our Lord. By the latter, he is led to conclude that, "in the days of Christ and his apostles, Greek was the language which he and they usually employed; and that, while both the Master and his disciples occasionally made use of the Aramaic dialect, such an occurrence was quite exceptional to their general practice, and is, therefore, especially noticed in the evangelic history;" and, as he otherwise puts it, "that in our existing Greek Gospels we possess, for the most part, the very words of him to whom the illustrious testimony was borne, 'Never man spake like this man.' He spoke in Greek, and his disciples did the same while they reported what he said. That inspiration consisted not, as some have deemed, in being able to give perfect translations either of discourses delivered, or of documents written in the Aramaic language, but in being led, under infallible guidance, to transfer to paper, for the benefit of all coming ages, those words of the Great Teacher which they had heard from his lips in the Greek tongue, which had in that form been imprinted on their affectionate memories; and which were by them in the same language unerringly committed to writing, while they literally experienced a fulfilment of the gracious promise, The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you.'" Of course, if these conclusions are valid, there is an end of the question as to the original language of Matthew's Gospel. And assuming them to be valid, Mr. Roberts proceeds throughout two sections of his work, to apply them as adequately accounting for all the coincidences and differences observable in the first three Gospels, and as borne out by the special structure of the first Gospel, of which he speaks thus: "We feel justified in saying, after the evidence which has already been adduced, that we should as soon be persuaded to believe that the Eneid' of Virgil came not, in its present dress, from the hands of its author, or that the 'Paradise Lost' was really stolen by Milton from a poem in another language (as has been maintained, Jike many other false and erroneous assertions), as that our present Greek |