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Literary Notices.

[We hold it to be the duty of an Editor either to give an early notice of the books sent to him for remark, or to return them at once to the Publisher. It is unjust to praise worthless books; it is robbery to retain unnoticed ones.]

THE REVIEWER'S CANON.

In every work regard the author's end,
Since none can compass more than they intend.

Edited by the

A MEMORIAL OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS BINNEY, LL.D. Rev. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 27 and 31, Paternoster Row, E.C.

The prefatory note of Dr. Stoughton to this book we quote, that our readers may see how matters stand in relation to other biographies of Thomas Binney, and form a correct judgment of what they are to expect from the volume before us. "As Mr. Binney strictly prohibited the publication of memoirs under the sanction of his family or executors, no publication of the kind is contemplated; but it has been deemed necessary that some brief account of his life should appear in this volume. It is known, however, by his friends that a paper in the Sunday at Home, noticing his public career and including an enumeration of his works, obtained his sanction, so far as a bare statement of facts was concerned. The facts were submitted to him, and then received the imprimatur of his authority. And of the many biographical notices of him printed in his life, he considered this to be most accurate in respect to dates, places, and incidents. That account being considered preferable to any which could now be written, the use of it has been sought and kindly allowed by the Religious Tract Society: hence, with a few necessary alterations and some slight additions, it is here printed as an introduction to what follows.

"In the Appendix will be found a minute description of the funeral, supplied by the Daily News. Each minister who has contributed to this volume, has regarded Mr. Binney's character from his own point of view, and is of course responsible for nothing beyond his own statements. With regard to my portion of the contents, I may remark that a funeral sermon is always prepared in haste, and in only a few instances will bear much criticism. It is addressed to the hearts of those who are in sympathy

with the preacher and his theme, and obtains from them a response in which the general public can scarcely be expected to share.

The substance of Dr. Stoughton's admirable sermon has appeared in the Homilist. The sermon of the Rev. William Braden is also one of great merit, thoughtful, discriminating, tender, devout, and appreciating; and the productions of the Revs. Viney, Harrison, Allon, are each excellent in its way.

But we are sorry Dr. Allon should have introduced into his otherwise admirable address a reference to the summing-up of the Lord Chief Justice in the trial of Arthur Orton, as that which filled all England

with admiration."

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The taste of this is bad: the judgment, questionable, and the exaggeration astounding. The speech of the Lord Chief Justice did not "fill all England with admiration." A large number of our best lawyers and strong-minded laymen of all classes felt rather a contempt than admiration for it.

On the whole, the memorial volume is an admirable one.

PAROCHIAL SERMONS. By Rev. EDWARD WILSON, M.A, London: Hatchards, Piccadilly.

Here are seventeen sermons on the following subjects:-Repentance unto Life, The Responsibility of Privileges, The Character of John the Baptist, Mutual Considerateness, The Father of the Faithful, The Birth of Christ, His Divine Tuition, His Growth in Wisdom, His Transfiguration, His Zeal to Suffer, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, The First-fruits of them that Sleep, His Ascension, Affliction Beneficial, Man pleading with His Maker, The Father of the Fatherless. The author of these discourses, whilst he does not startle by striking out original lines of thought, or charm the imagination by splendid strokes of rhetoric, does a higher and a more useful work. He not only develops the meaning of the Divine word, but by clear and forceful statements he works it into the hearts and consciences of his hearers.

CHOICE LIGHT; or, the Teachings of the Bible. By a Layman. Lon don: Elliot Stock, 63, Paternoster Row, E.C.

The subjects of this pamphlet are :— -My English Bible, The Almighty and His Angels, The Council Chamber of God, The Early History of our World, Primeval or Pre-Adamite Man, The Garden of Eden, Three Points in the History of Cain, The Three great Families of Mankind, Noah and his Contemporaries, The Four Epochs, The Latter Days, God's Plan, The Origin of Writing. The book contains a good many instructive and suggestive thoughts on each of these points.

FOOTSTEPS IN THE WAY OF LIFE. By ANNETTE A. SALAMAN. London: Trübner and Co., Ludgate Hill.

We transcribe the preface, that our readers may understand the nature of the work, and the spirit and aim of the authoress :

"In my early youth, during years of ill-health, when long hours threw me upon religious study for support and guidance, I found deep interest in searching out, comparing, and classifying under their respective headings, the following collection of Scripture texts.

"Years have passed away, and I now venture to offer this volume to the public with the earnest desire that the holy verses selected may help others, as they have helped me, to find comfort and consolation under every circumstance of earthly trial."

The conception of the work is excellent, and the execution also. The choicest portions of the priceless Book of mankind are here classified and brought to illustrate and enforce subjects of universal interest and importance.

WORDS OF COMFORT FOR PARENTS BEREAVED OF LITTLE CHILDREN. WILLIAM LOGAN. London: James Nisbet and Co.

A book that we have noticed more than once, and that has reached its eighth edition, does not require our commendation, or scarcely our recognition. The editor informs us, however, that this edition has been carefully revised. It is undoubtedly the best work we have on a subject that Providence is ever pressing upon the hearts of parents-one of the best messengers that we can despatch to the home where parents are struck with agony at the loss of their sweet babes.

PREACHING THREE LECTURES DELIVERED IN THE TROPHY ROOM IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. By REV. DANIEL MOORE, M.A.; REV. C. DALLAS MARSTON, M.A.; REV. SIR E. BAYLEY, Bart., B.D. London: Hatchards, Piccadilly.

This volume goes under the auspices of the Church Homiletic Society -a society recently formed for the training of candidates for holy orders in the Church of England in the important work of preaching. Whilst we have an ever-deepening impression of the transcendent importance of preaching, we are losing faith in all efforts to promote good preaching by mere homiletical forms and rules. Preaching is a gift of nature—a gift that involves the highest kind and fullest measure of faculty, imagination, intellect, passion, conscience, verbal fluency, and Vocal effectiveness. It is a rare gift, only possessed by one in a thousand; and the attempt to make any of the nine hundred and ninety-nine true preachers must ever end in failure and disappointment. You can no more make a preacher than you can make a poet. We are getting tired of

"lectures and preaching." The poorest preachers amongst us are the most ready to enact homiletic rules and utter homiletic advice. The born preacher is the only man who can promote good preaching, and this by his own masterly discourses and effective delivery. Our conviction deepens, that the Church must change its method of introducing men into the ministry. Whilst piety must of course be regarded as essential, something more is required. The candidate should be in every respect far above the average of the men of his generation. His brain should be large, his sympathies affluent, his conscience healthy and active, his imagination fertile and vigorous, his countenance comely, his presence commanding, his vocabulary rich, his voice musical, clear, and strong, his philanthropy enthusiastic. In one word, he should be physically, intellectually, and morally of the highest type of manhood.

THE LIFE OF THE REV. ALFRED COOKMAN. By HENRY B. RIDGAWAY, D.D. Preface by REV. MORLEY PUNSHON, LL.D. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 27, Paternoster Row.

Concerning the subject of this biography, Dr. Punshon says,—"If I would write down my impressions of Alfred Cookman's character, I find myself at a loss, for I can scarcely convey my lofty estimate of him in sober words. I have been privileged to meet with many gifted and godly men in various lands and in various branches of the Catholic Church. I speak advisedly when I say that I never met with one who so well realized my ideal of complete devotedness. He was a separated man, thoughts human, free from asceticism and censoriousness, the extremes into which religious life is wont, if unwatched, to stray, and yet lifted above common cares and aims by the grandeur of his entire consecration."

Details well and faithfully told of such a man's life cannot fail to interest, instruct, and edify.

A HOMILY

ON

Shallowness in Religion.

“It had no depth.”—MARK iv. 5.

HE words "when the sun was up they were scorched," as applied to withered vegetation, have had for us these last few weeks a vivid meaning that is rare in England. The moral condition that the Saviour, whilst showing how the culture of earth reflects that of heaven, employed this scorching and withering away to illustrate, is, unfortunately, never rare. From not a few men religious thought and religious emotion dies out quickly and utterly, like the grass or plant the sun has scorched. Because for such thought and emotion there was no depth in the mind and heart where they were, they withered away. It may be well for us to fix our eye on this one spot in the field that Christ pictures, and on the one moral condition He says is there illustrated.

The soil described is not "stony" in the sense of being covered with loose stones. They, while they could not prevent roots penetrating between their interstices, and so reaching moisture below, would do the work that

VOL. XXXV.

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