that "the wand of the enchanter was broken,"-that Macaulay was dead! It seemed as if a friend had died, so dully fell the news upon the ear, so startledly unwilling was the mind to trust the message and announcement. The toilsome accumulation of years, the cherished purpose of a life, the hope and joy of a nation, the priceless reflections of a mind of might, the wisdom garnered from the fields of storied time, were swept away at once. Though an argosy has been engulphed in a calm sea, astonishment could not have been more intense.

"Ah! thou hast stolen a jewel, Death!

Shall light thy dark up like a star."

Not as the checkmate of seasonable joy, in the forgetful time of stir and merry-making, under the pressure of our first sadsome thoughts, nor in the hopeless sombreness of funeral preparations, have we sought to state and estimate the losses of the bygone year; but now, in no unseemly haste, we have endeavoured, so far as memory served and space permitted, to bring before our readers the chief names in literature and science with which we had become familiarized year after year, who are now on earth no more than names and fadeless influences.

It would be well if we who, for the present, remain, would seriously regard the past as a lesson written "for our learning," that it may induce us to work while our day lasts, knowing that

"The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight;

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night,"

to prepare for the inevitable hour when we too, ripe or unripe, must be bound up in the sheaf of Death, and carried to his garner; to look"through the haze of present life into the calm of eternity," and hasten our fitness for beholding and enjoying its supernal brilliancy; and to do now the offices of love, charity, friendship, duty-becomingly, earnestly, and well, so that in the future it may be ours to see the hitherto Invisible, and in the vast homes of our Father's love,

"Quiver with joy in the great jubilee"

of timelessness, sinlessness, and deathlessness.

S. N.

The Reviewer.

Discourses by William Anderson, LL.D. Second Series.
London: Ward & Co.

THIS is one of the few volumes of Sermons which vindicate the nobility of true religion. Repudiating everything like unmanly weakness, Dr. Anderson speaks of the world not only as it is, but as it might be, and so applies religion to life, in all its phases, as to

show that, without its hallowing influences, the heart must remain loveless and hopeless, although gold be plentiful and barns be full.

These are not mere strings of quotations, headed by another quo tation called a text. They are chapters of hard reasoning, bound together by strong faith. A true appreciation is shown of all that affects man's moral and physical, as well as his spiritual comfort.

"Reflect that, to cherish a charitable frame of spirit, and cultivate a candid frame of speech, is our greatest wisdom in respect either of inward peace or outward comfort.

"INWARD PEACE.-What a miserable existence a suspicious temper occasions a man! It utterly incapacitates him for friendship, through the ever-recurring reflection, quenching any rising emotion of natural, genial fellowship, that he is possibly deceived, and practised on by his companions;-that the world being so full of guile, the best prudence is to have doubts of every man you meet; and treat with a large measure of reserve even your most intimate acquaintances-even your wife, if unfortunately you happen to have been bound to one. It is a dangerous alliance; beware of communicativeness. With a corresponding reserve every one learns to treat him. He defies familiarity. So he passes through life without any enjoyment of one of its sweetest pleasures—hearty social intercourse, and the intimate sympathies of friendship. Rather resign yourself to a foolish, promiscuous confiding in every man with whom you may fall in by the way, though you should suffer a little by it, than have your life soured by a universal misanthropical distrust of your species.

"OUTWARD COMFORT.-If candid and gentle in the treatment of others, you will rarely fail of obtaining a return of love; but if conspicuously or enviously censorious, you will as rarely escape retaliation; when forth will be dragged to light something discreditable in your early history, which you imagine is forgotten, or something in your present habits to which you imagine no one is privy, so as to overwhelm you with confusion, and humble you to the dust. Oh, that all of us would have the prudence to bridle our saucy tongues! or rather, that we would all admit grace to purge our saucy hearts! How much discomfort we would be saved!"

We strongly recommend this volume to our readers. It is thought-inducing; and thus, in its character, partakes as much of the essay as the sermon. In being purely logical, it differs widely from the rhetorical chapters of Dr. Guthrie, and will doubtless reach the heart by its subtle processes of argument, just as surely as others take the heart by storm by their dazzling flashes of elo

quence.

Talk and Talkers. An Essay. London: J. F. Hope. 1859.

To say the least, the appearance of this smartly written essay is well-timed, for never were empty nothings vapoured forth more plentifully, never were exaggerations more wilfully coloured, never were egotists more egotistical, hypocrites more studiously disguised, or scandal-mongers more vicious, than at the present time. Sins of the tongue are so seldom denounced from the pulpit, or lampooned from the platform, that we are glad to find the subject has been taken up with such vivacity, and yet with such good temper, as in the essay before us.

Lectures on Redemption. By JOHN HOWARD HINTON, M.A. London: Houlston and Wright.

What may sound unfavourable is in reality the best thing we could say in praise of the volume of Sermons now before us; that is, that unless the preacher had an uncommonly good manner in their delivery, they must have been uncommonly heavy to listen to. What is called "good preaching"-preaching that is popularseldom reads well when put into print; whereas, on the other hand, preaching from which the majority of people turn away as dull and sleep-producing, will often bear close analysis.

Mr. Hinton's little book is so exceedingly good that it demands frequent perusal to appreciate its merits. We may venture to say that in some particulars the sermons it contains are superior to any we have read of either Guthrie or Robertson, but they are particulars which commend themselves to students of theology, rather than to the general public. Here you have divinity clearly taught, yet taught in a form so technical, so free from any approach to the illustrations common to Guthrie, or the analysis of Robertson, as would be sure, from any one else but the venerable author, to render these lectures but slightly popular in the delivery, though greatly instructive in their present shape.

We cannot help noticing Mr. Hinton's wise and lucid discrimination on some doctrinal points, concerning which there is in many minds not a little confusion. In the second lecture, on "The Procuring Cause of Redemption," a very clear distinction is drawn between the character of God as a Father and as a Judge. The common error on this question is shown by a quotation from the Hymns of Dr. Watts, in which God is represented as a "consuming fire." There follows the verse,

"Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood,
That calmed His frowning face;
That sprinkled o'er the burning throne,
And turned the wrath to grace."

Mr. Hinton observes :-" The radical mistake and infelicity of the verses lie in attaching the severity which is appropriate to God's official character to His personal character, to which it is not appropriate; or in confounding the Father with the Judge. As a Father, God never had a frowning face,' requiring to be calmed by drops of blood;' nor did He ever cherish wrath,' to be by such a process turned to grace. Rather our Father, though justly offended, was always infinitely kind. His holiness required the interposition of a Mediator, indeed, but nothing more; and the Mediator, far from inspiring His mercy, is but the representative of it."-(Lecture ii., pp. 41, 42.) It is greatly to be regretted, that with all that may be said in favour of Dr. Watts's hymns, they contain so many lines, if not as untrue in sentiment as those to which reference has been made, at any rate as offensive to good taste.

We heartily recommend all who wish for clear and correct views in theology to obtain Mr. Hinton's book. J. H. G.

The Inquirer.