[ 643 ] 
HALF-YEARLY RETROSPECT OF GERMAN LITERATURE. 
=a 
AGRICULTURAL Writers feparate 
Lurope into two grand divifions ; the traét 
of climate which ripens a fecond. crop 
within the year, and that which ripens 
only one. In literature a fimilar diftinc- 
tion prevails. The book-harvett of Ger- 
many occurs twice—at the Eafter and Mi- 
chaelmas Fairs of Leipzig: that of Great 
Britain is but annual, and happens in the 
fpring, when London is fulleft of compa- 
‘ ny. Fallows are feemingly as needful to 
the brain, as to the foil.’ The over- 
iaboured wits of the Germans produce 
Jefs than their natural proportion of found 
corn: of their fifteen thoufand authors, 
the tenth part dre not worthy to be read, 
A. vatt portion of ‘the growth of publica- 
tion, which we are now to eftimate, is 
fach as what the old farmers called rowen, 
a food for fheep, approached only in the 
blade, foon to be ploughed in, and aban- 
doned to decay. ‘This crop, however, if 
iefs in value, is like in volume, to the lat; 
we fhall preferve in its furvey the courfe, 
not of our covenant, indeed, but of our 
practice. ‘ 
THEOLOGY AND ECCLESIASTICAL 
HISTORY. 
*¢ Novum Teftamentum Grece Perpe- 
fua Annotatione Illuftratum, Editionis 
Koppiane V.—IX. Compleftens Epifto- 
las Catholicas, &c. continuavit Dr. J. 
Porr.”—-The comprehenfive notes are 
diftinguifhed by {ome improbable ~fir- 
mifes: as, that James had read the writ- 
ings of Paul: nor is the more than cafual 
reiemblance between the ftyle of the Gene- 
ral Epiftle of James, and the Wifdom of 
Solomon, duly noticed. 
’ € Introduétionis in N.T.Capita Sel«ti- 
ora, &c. fcripfit H. E. G. Pautus.”— 
A Colle&tion of Differtations, formerly 
publifhed apart, of which the moft intereft- 
" ing are the two firit, relative to the hil 
tory of Cerinthus; whofe time of life 
the Profeffor furely antedates. 
** Bocharti Hierozoicon, Recenfuit E. 
. F.C. Ros—EnMULLER, 3 voils.”°—This 
well-commented republication excites the 
wifh for a fimilar edition of Celfii, Hiero- 
botanicon. 
«« De ZEtate Libri Jobi Definienda, by 
C.F. Ricarer.”—The anthor enume- 
rates various internal charaéteriftics, which 
fhew that the Book of Job was firft writ- 
ten about the time of the Babylonian Cap- 
tivity, and was a novelty when Ezekiel 
“quoted it, 
+ 
SU 
“ Die Verfammlung der Weifen, von 
J. C.C. Nacuticau.”’—This new tran= 
flation of the Book of Wifdom deferves no~ 
tice, by its learned accuracy and inttructive 
introduétion ; yet it efcapes this commen- 
tator that the fecond chapter muft have been 
written after the crucifixion; and that 
Origen indicates the wifdom as containing 
the arcane theology of the Chriftians. It 
is quoted by all the Apoftles, and certainly 
forms a radical portion of the Chriftian 
canon: Proteftant ignorance buried it 
among the Apocrypha. a. 
«¢ Gefchichte der Proteftantifchen The- 
ologie yon G. J. Pranx.’—-A continu- 
ation of an ecclefiaftical hiftory, which 
ftudioufly lifts into notice feveral charac- 
ters, who, in {peculation, out-Rripped 
Luther, Calvin, and the practical refor= 
mers; fuch as the Antinomian Agricola, 
and the Humanitarian Schwenkféld, who 
faid well, that Luther had led the Protef- 
tants out of Egypt, but had left them in 
the Defert. 
*Chriftliche Kirchengefchichte von J. 
M. Scuroxu.”’—The twenty-fourth vo- 
lume of an Ecclefiaftical Hittory, which 
here travels on from the year 1073 to 
1303, may terrify, but would reward, the 
patience of an induftrious reader: of the 
flagellants, and of the fcholaftics, one 
learns much. . . 
«© Treue Relation des erften Eindrucks 
desan P. TexiLer, Gerichteten Send{ch- 
rejbens einiger Juden.”"—The Jews, who. 
printed a Letter to Provoft Teller (of 
which fome account was givenin our tentir 
volume, page 7), appear, by this narra- 
tive, to.have undergone the ceremony of 
baptifm,~ in order to obtain the civic pri- 
vileges of Chriftians. - The Pruffian code 
then is encumbered with a haptifmal teft : 
jt would be lefs irrational to exaét confir--~ 
mation ; becaufe, in that rite, the thing in 
queftion, the orthodoxy of the fubject, is 
examined into. | 
Auch in Wert tuber geheimc Gefell- 
chaften und Freymaurerey.’’——The objeét 
of this pamphlet is to prove the inutility 
of thofe regulations refpe€ting the Freema- 
fons, and other fecret focieties, which the 
Pruffian Government is fuppofed to have 
levelled at the Royal York Lodge.- It is . 
ftrange that the name of Fe(fsler efcaped 
Barruel. 
‘© Schickfale,der geheimen Gefell{chaf- 
ten in Deutfchland.’—The objec of this 
wiiter is to fapply pretences of alarm ” 
the 
