Minnesota. Professor Wells has the good fortune to have to deal with a period which is of great intrinsic importance in several distinct points of view, and which, to multitudes of readers, has all the attractiveness of comparative novelty. The number and the variety of subjects which enter into the history of it make it at the same time a period by no means easy to treat with any adequacy in the compass of one of these volumes. Some of the larger and more extensive questions connected with the mission of the Franks, the formation of a Latin Christianity and a Latin Church, and the preparation for the later types of mediaeval and modern times, therefore, are left unconsidered. But, on the other hand, much attention is given to the political conditions, to the growth of the Papacy, especially on its temporal side, and to such topics as the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. Though the book retains the popular form which is required for the purposes of the Series, it takes the reader in many cases to the original sources, and gives him the means of judging of things for himself. The book is one of the most instructive volumes of the Series. It gives a good digest of the course of events; it exhibits the significance of the period; and it helps us to see very distinctly how the undermining of the imperial power, which seemed at first to strengthen the Papacy, worked to the opposite effect. "Like the air to the flying bird," is the author's last word, was the imperial power to the papacy, and the weakness of the empire was followed in this, as in every instance, by papal demoralisation.' Pre-Reformation Worthies1 is the title given to a volume containing some interesting historical sketches by the Rev. W. Cowan, incumbent of St Augustine's, Londonderry, to which the Bishop of Derry contributes a short preface. The sketches are seven in number, and deal with Grosstête, Thomas à Kempis, Henry Suso, John Ruysbroek, Archbishop Fitzralph, Reuchlin, and John Staupitz. They are pleasant and unaffected in style, and make delightful reading. While popular in form, they show wide and appreciative reading, and give not merely biographies of these "Worthies," but expositions of their faith, their theology, and their several contributions to the preparation for the Reformation. The author's sympathies seem to be specially with the Mystics. The fourth, fifth, and sixth volumes of The Holy Bible,2 in the Messrs Macmillan's choice Eversley Series, are now to hand. These volumes complete the Old Testament, and do the highest possible credit both to publishers and to editor. Mr Mackail does all that it belongs to him to do with the utmost carefulness, with perfect 1 London: Elliot Stock, 1897. Crown 8vo, pp. vii.-193. Price, 5s. 2 London: Macmillan & Co., 1898. Vol. iv., Vol. v., Isaiah to Lamentations, pp. 336. pp. 329. Price, 5s. per volume. 408. Job to Song of Solomon, pp. Vol. vi., Ezekiel to Malachi, taste, too, and sound judgment. In form and in type this edition of the Old Testament Scriptures will please the most fastidious eye. Winning the Soul1 is the title of a volume by Professor Martin, of the New College, Edinburgh, containing twenty sermons. They belong to the best type of Scotch pulpit discourse-carefully planned and thought out, robust, earnest, upbuilding. There is some distinctive note in each of them. Most of them are distinguished by the original and unhackneyed way in which their subjects are handled. Among the most notable we should mention those on the "Divine Sanction of Human Sin" (John xiii. 27), the "Secret Ministry of God" (Psalm cxxvii. 2), “Touch Me Not" (John xx. 17), and the "Element of Necessity in the Life of Christ" (Luke iv. 23; John ix. 4; Luke xxiv. 7). Mrs Emmanuel Christen gives us a very readable translation of Professor A. Sabatier's suggestive lecture on The Vitality of Christian Dogmas, the point of which is that dogma, which has a necessary place in Christianity, should be the expression of living Christian thought and experience, and that, in fulfilling their function, particular dogmatic forms pass through three kinds of change, some simply dying out as the ideas which they represent cease to be vital, others becoming modified or intensified in their meaning by what the author calls a process of "Intussusception," and others emerging by the way of a revival of old formulas or the construction of new terms for the expression of new ideas. Dr Hugh Macmillan's pen is as unresting as ever, and maintains its old character for pleasant and edifying writing. The Spring of the Day,3 his latest book, is intended to form a companion volume to The Clock of Nature, and deals with such subjects as lend themselves best to illustration by the things of nature. The titles of the chapters or discourses are inviting-"A Scorpion for an Egg," "The Oxlip, or the Upward Look," "The Nest of the Moth," "The Beauty of Wings," &c. The analogies are skilfully set forth; the spiritual lessons are unfolded in attractive terms; the book offers much that will help young readers, and not by any means these alone. Dr Alexander Whyte has the happy faculty of finding out rare characters in the domain of religious work and religious authorship, and making them the familiar friends of many to whom they might, but for his enthusiasm, have remained unknown. In his Father 1 Edinburgh: Macniven & Wallace, 1897. Cr. 8vo, pp. 334. Price, 6s. 2 With a Preface by the Very Rev. the Hon. W. H. Freemantle, D.D., Dean of Ripon. London: A. & C. Black, 1898. Cr. 8vo, pp. 90. Price, 1s. 6d. net. 3 London: Isbister & Co., 1898. Cr. 8vo, pp. 352. Price, 5s. John1 he makes us acquainted with the most Reverent John Iliytch Sergieff, of St Andrew's Cathedral, Cronstadt, one of the most remarkable spiritual personalities that the immense Greek Church, which we are apt to think of as so stagnant and unproductive, has reared in our time. The small volume is very tasteful in form, and gives a notable "appreciation," with a series of selected passages from the Father's diary, which has been translated into English under the title of My Life in Christ. Several new volumes are added to the Guild Library. One of these is a new edition of Dr James Robertson of Whittingehame's book on Our Lord's Teaching 2-a brief but capable study of a great subject, a book which has deservedly secured a large circle of readers in its earlier form, and which in this enlarged and revised issue is made still more attractive. Another bears the title, A Faithful Churchman,3 and is a memoir of the late Professor James Robertson, D.D. It is by Professor Charteris, and is in greater part an abridgment of the original Life of Professor Robertson, which is now out of print. The matter is wisely adapted to the purpose of the Series, and does justice to the strong man who is best known for the work he did on behalf of the Endowment Scheme of his Church. A third is a survey of The Missionary Expansion of the Reformed Church. It is written by one who is himself a missionary, the Rev. J. A. Graham, M.A., of Kalimpong, India. Commencing with three brief, interesting chapters on "The Light of the World," the "Reformation and its Influence," and "Beginning at Jerusalem," the author notices what he aptly terms the Earlier Calls through Empire, and then proceeds to give a more particular account of Nineteenth Century Missions among Hindus and Buddhists, in the Dark Continent and in Islam, in the Southern Isles and in the New World. The book is well written throughout. It limits itself to the story of the Missions of the Reformed Churches, but it sets forth their principles while giving their history. It is made the more attractive by a large number of maps and wellchosen illustrations. A further addition to the same Series is made by Dr R. M. Wenley, Senior Professor of Philosophy in the University of Michigan. It is entitled The Preparation for Christianity in the Ancient World. It gives a vivid and well-proportioned sketch of a large and profoundly interesting subject. 1 Edinburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1898. 83. Price, 28. In his Cr. 8vo, pp. 2 Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, 1897. Cr. 8vo, pp. xv. 189. Price, 1s. 6d. net. 3 Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, 1897. Cr. 8vo, pp. viii. 208. Price, introductory chapter Professor Wenley plants himself on the position that the Christian can have no firmer "foundation for his faith than that which rests immovable upon the historical influence issuing from the life of Christ." He then deals first with the Ethnic Preparation in three careful chapters on "Socrates as a Missionary of the human Spirit," "Greek Self-Criticism," and "Salvation by Wisdom," and then with the Jewish Preparation in a chapter which gives an excellent statement of the "Mission of the Jews" in contributing an "adequate conception of God and a vivid perception of the conditions under which alone religion can exist." This leads on to a series of studies on the "Advent of the Saviour," the "Preparation of the World," and the "Preparation of the Spirit." The closing chapter gives a succinct summary of results. It states how the "flood of preparation for Christianity flows steadily down the ages in three main streams "-the Greek, the Jewish, and the Roman; how the problem of Greek civilisation was that of man's freedom, and how that became at last the problem of personality; how the Jew's outlook upon life was made entirely different from that of the Greek by his belief in one personal, ethical God, and by the spiritual insight which was his "pearl of great price "; how Rome's "chiefest gift was unbending devotion to duty"; how Christ entered upon a "materially splendid, spiritually bankrupt," heritage; how He realised all the demands that were made upon Him; and how the work that He did bears witness to Him as the Son of the Living God. Professor Wenley leads a busy life. pen is not slack, and this last book is one of the best bits of work he has yet done. It touches on some subjects, especially Socrates, of which he has already written well. It deals in a very effective way with others, in which he shows himself equally at home, and on which he says much to purpose. His We have received a new edition of Mr Charles L. Marson's volume on The Psalms at Work1 (enlarged by an Appendix of fresh historical and biographical matter, illustrative of what the Psalter has been to many souls), the general merits of which, especially in the quality of the Notes, have been already referred to.2 The fourth and fifth parts of Holtzmann and Krüger's Theologischer Jahresbericht, of which the one, the literature on Practical Theology for 1896, and the other, the index for the year-a most useful volume; the first part of Mr Somervell's Parallel History of the Jewish 1 London: Elliot Stock, 1898. Cr. 8vo, pp. 246. Price, 6s. 2 Vol iv., p. 261. 3 Berlin und Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1897. Vierte Abtheilung: Praktische Theologie und kirchliche Kunst, Bearbeitet von Marbach, Ehlers, etc. 8vo, pp. 633-779. Price, M.7. Fünfte Abtheilung Register. 8vo, pp. 92, Price, M. Vol. VIII.-No. 2. P 1 3 Monarchy giving the story of the reigns of David and Solomon, according to the text of the Revised Version, as it appears by combining the two narratives contained in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, these being presented in parallel columns for the purpose of comparison when they deal with the same events—a carefully executed piece of work, well adapted for profitable use in schools; a pamphlet written with great precision, and furnished with admirable illustrations, on Portraits of Christ in the British Museum, in which Mr Cecil Torr, M.A., directs attention to certain considerations favouring a return to the older Christian way of representing our Lord as of a much younger age when He fulfilled His official ministry; another addition to the Heroine's Library by Mr Frank Mundell, Heroines of History, telling in a pleasant way the stories of the Maid of Saragossa, Queen Boadicea, Joan of Arc, Catherine Douglas, and others; Who's Who✩ for 1898, the second year of the new issue of a publication which has reached its jubilee, and in which a mass of informationpolitical, ecclesiastical, educational, commercial, and, above all, biographical, brought carefully up to date and generally correct-is provided in compact and handy form for the information and entertainment of those interested in the careers of men who have made some mark in affairs or in literature; a popular study by Mr Henry H. Vowles 5 of the Biblical terms expressing the idea of the "Everlasting," written in a racy style, sometimes wide enough of the real state of the case as regards the Hebrew and Greek words, but rejecting the theory of annihilation as repugnant both to Scripture and to reason, and coming at last to the conclusion that we may see the doctrine of “everlasting punishment" to be true; that the words, however, are not Biblical words; and that we should use such terms rather as "The worm dieth not," "There is a great gulf fixed," or say simply, that " some of the painful consequences of sin cannot but endure"; the Students' Edition of Messrs Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language-a very 1 Arranged by R. Somervell, M.A., Assistant Master and Bursar of Harrow School. With an Introduction reprinted from "The Literature of the Old Testament," by S. R. Driver, D.D. London Clay & Sons, 1897. 8vo, pp. xii. 109. Price, 2s. 2 London Clay & Sons, 1898. 8vo, pp. 14. Price, 1s net. 3 London: The Sunday School Union. Cr. 8vo, pp. 160. Price, 1s. 6d. Edited by Douglas Sladen. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1898. Cr. 8vo, pp. xviii. 846. Price, 3s. 6d. net. 5" For Ever and Ever." London: Swan Sonnenschein. Price, 3s. 6d. 6 James C. Fernald, editor; Francis A. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls. Cr. 8vo, pp. 1898. March, LL.D., consulting editor. |