The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament. By the
Rev. T. D. Bernard. (Macmillan and Co.)—These eight lectures are the addition to theological literature for the year 1864, the like of which that excellent but mistaken man Mr. Bampton provided annually for a posterity which will never be duly grateful. Mr. Bernard, incited by the legacy, has written a prize essay in eight parts, in which he elaborately contends that the New Testament, arranged as it now stands, has been ar- ranged "according to the law of internal fitness" so as to exhibit a sequence of thought and a sustained advance of doctrine. This gene- ral internal arrangement, by which the entire collection forms for us a consecutive course of teaching, has been "sufficiently recognized by the instinct, and fixed by the habit, of the Church." This curious peep into the instincts and habits of an abstraction is worth remarking and we wish some future Bampton lecturer would give a complete monograph Of the natural history of this strange animal. At bottom, however, Mr. Bernard's idea is sound enough, but matter for one good sermon is here beaten out into a dull treatise.
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