A multitude of points are selected, all bearing on matters of great importance, such as the observance of the Lord's Supper, prayer-meetings, psalmody, church-meetings, lay preaching, the support of ministers, family worship, Christian conversation, hospitality, Sunday-schools, female preaching, domestic economy, and much besides. Each of these chapters becomes a little treatise, setting forth the special views of the author, who is a man of a peculiar observant, active, and practical understanding. In the course of this long series of sections, there is a vast amount of sound truth set forth, much that is combined with not a little that, although very necessary, may be offensive. It is no part of the author's business to please men; he is satisfied if he can profit them, and, as to their views of his mode of doing so, he does not trouble himself about that. One section of the work is given to correspondence, which will be read with interest, and it will be the reader's own blame if not with benefit. The subsequent parts of the volume are taken up with obituary and funeral matters, all of the same practical, profitable, devout, and edifying character. This lady was the means of erecting a chapel at her own cost, and, concerning this matter, we have a copious and interesting account, rendered all the more affecting, and even pathetic, from the fact that the day appointed for its opening proved the day of her own sepulture! She died suddenly, in the midst of her manifold works of faith and love. The volume finishes with a very touching memoir of Little Henry, her only son. Her husband was an excellent preacher of the Primitive Methodist Connexion, and never had preacher, there or anywhere else, a better helpmeet. The volume, as a whole, furnishes edifying matter. Thy Poor Brother. Letters to a Friend on Helping the Poor. By Mrs. SEWELL. Jarrold and Sons. THE title of this deeply interesting work sufficiently indicates its object. It contemplates the misery of man from a variety of aspects, and in all cases exhibits the cure, the only cure, not a barren and a godless education, not mere mental culture, while the heart is left unmodified or unmedicated, dark and alien, but the true Gospel of the grace of God, that which brings salvation to everyone that believes. We have a series of letters in the form of chapters, setting forth the result of manifold experiments in particular districts and amongst various classes of the population. The book is eminently fitted to instruct philanthropists in the best method of carrying on their divine mission. We should commend it greatly to all those who spend their leisure or redeemed time in going about, after the manner of the Messiah, "doing good." They will here see what to shun and what to embrace, the patience required and the principles to be exercised. Altogether, we heartily commend it, and trust it will tend materially to advance the great object of the benevolent authoress, who has already deserved well of society for her "works of faith and labour of love." The Parables of Our Lord. By the Rev. ASHTON OXENDEN. William Macintosh. MR. OXENDEN is always welcome to our table. With a thorough comprehension of the Gospel, and a profound veneration for the Word of God, whatever he does is done scripturally. In addition to this he is always distinguished by a most praiseworthy terseness and gravity. In the present volume, he has emphatically done much work within a very limited space. The book is not meant nor fitted to supersede the larger volumes on the parables; it is rather a preparation for them, while it may be viewed as a whole, and complete in itself, for the countless masses who have nothing. All the chief parables are here introduced, and even discussed with point, force, and unction. Gleanings Among the Sheaves. MULTITUDES will greatly prize this pretty volume, which exhibits a multitude of the gems of the great preacher. To all who have not heard Mr. Spurgeon, or who do not possess his sermons, it will be a rich treasure, comprising a casket of jewels. But, to those who have the sermons it will be an especial convenience, a vade mecum adapted to every pocket, and well fitted to occupy a leisure moment under all circumstances. The type is precisely what it ought to be, clear, large, and beautiful, and the thing is got up in the best style. Christian Home Life: a Book of Examples and Principles. Religious Tract Societies. HOME is here exhibited in its manifold aspects, under the high influence of Christian principle. The book deserves a place in every family. "Home Piety,"—" Home Happiness,"" Home Teaching,"-"Formation of Character," "Personal Habits," -"Social Habits,"" Child Piety,""Family Worship," "The Lord's Day at Home," "-" Social Intercourse," "The Breaking Up of the Home,' "_"The Journey Home." These are the points which are here elaborated with wisdom and success. Lame John and the Green-Brook School Boys. ANDREW ELLIOTT. THE book is intended for boys, and boys will delight in it. Poor lame John is in his way a juvenile moral philosopher; feeling that he shall not be able to fight his way, he wins it by modesty and kindness. Wherever John goes he soon secures favour; and at last, we have him in the Sunday-schools, under convictions of sin, and from that time forward building up a pleasant and a comely character. The little book abounds in pure Gospel, tenderly, simply, and impressively applied. The Hallett Family. By AUNT FRIENDLY. Edinburgh; Andrew Elliott. THE little volume furnishes excellent reading for young people. It abounds with novelty and interest, anecdote and incident, and cannot fail of finding favour amongst youthful circles. The Story of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, the Serampore Missionaries. By JOHN CLARK MARSHMAN. Heaton and Son. WHEN this book originally appeared we noticed it at very great length. Considering the object which the eminent author had primarily in view, the two volumes were by no means too extended a publication. The type also was neither very large, nor was the page, to speak technically, slack; it was well filled, although not crowded. The documentary matter with which the work was replete was of great importance to be put upon record and distributed among the Churches, since it was intimately connected with the usefulness and the honour of a body of the most distinguished missionaries the world ever saw. But something more was required-a work for size and cost adapted to the million. Here, then, we have such a work. The biography, proper and pure, is so replete with facts, that when subjected to the highest pressure, we have still a well-crammed work, reaching to nearly 350 pages. It is just now the very thing for the mass of middle-class families, by whom it cannot fail to be greatly prized and profitably perused. Although its subjects were Baptists, let it not for a moment be supposed that the work is a masked battery, or that baptism is ever and anon staring the reader in the face-it is otherwise. It has merely the place which, with the conviction of its author and its subjects, it ought to have -all is candid, generous, and catholic; not a word to scandalise or offend the most sensitive Podo-baptist reader. We can make no attempt to analyse the book, its materials are so abundant; nor is it necessary. There is not a page in it that contains not grounds for praise. We tender cordial thanks, therefore, to the author and the publishers for this, which we cannot but view as an important service to the Church of God of all denominations. Rest under the Shadow of the Great Rock. By Rev. JOHN KENNEDY, M.A. Tract Society. THIS is a singularly good book, one of the best of the many good things that Mr. Kennedy has yet done. It is a happy blending of doctrine with fact, of principles with persons, of character with events. The book is pre-eminently one of a consolatory character. It comes to a suffering and distracted world, exhibiting to it the only sources of consolation, and these sources pure, sufficient, and never-failing. The one idea that runs through the first six chapters is, "Our Rock the God of Consolation; " and here we have much excellent thinking, sound sentiment, with many touches of tenderness. The author next proceeds, enlarging his views, to discuss "Fatherly Government and "-matters most intimately conDiscipline" nected with consolation. All suffering is the fruit of sin, and the promise is that suffering of every description shall be sanctified to the children of God. It is a great thing, which the saints should ever keep in mind, that holiness and happiness go hand and hand, and that the afflictions of the just are intended to further their ultimate felicity; so that out of darkness comes light, out of pain pleasure, out of loss gain, out of depression triumph. The efficacy and inefficacy of affliction are the subject of a very instructive chapter, which will speak a word in season to very many. Domestic bereavements, so intimately connected with sorrow, are admirably discussed in two chapters, which, we doubt not, thousands will con with deep emotion, and derive from them unspeakable consolation. In these chapters biography is largely drawn upon for illustration. They are soothing in a very high degree, and we feel assured they will strengthen the hands which hang down, and confirm the feeble knees among multitudes. Rarely has the consolatory bearing of the Gospel been more beautifully set forth. Bodily suffering, with which the mass of mankind have, sooner or later, to contend, forms the subject of a touching and a cheering chapter, largely illustrated by an appeal to the biography of the great and good. To this succeeds a chapter on old age, its sorrows and its consolations. Here Mr. Kennedy takes the right view. There is nothing of the lugubrious in it. He clearly shows, that old age and sorrow are not necessarily connected. A man may be very old and yet very blest; myriads have been so, Even Cicero wrote like an angel on the beauties and the felicities of old age. This is a chapter which old men will read with pleasure, and be the better for the perusal. To this naturally follows death, with its dark and its bright side. Death to the children of God has no dark side. All is bright, for all is safe and hopeful; and it may well be joyous. As men get nearer to Paradise they ought to get light of heart, casting off burden after burden, and preparing themselves for their flight to the happy land. The book will be hailed by Christian families with special pleasure and read with never-failing delight. Pastoral Recollections. By the Rev. F. A. HAWICK. Third Series. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter, and Co. THIS book is a combination of various pieces. We have, first, fourteen very excellent pastoral letters, which may be read by ministers and people of every denomination with pleasure and profit. They finely exemplify the true pastoral spirit; and happy the flocks blessed with such shepherds. We have next a review of four courses of sermons through which the author had conducted his people at different times, and in regular succession, constituting about half the volume. The study of the volume will amply repay the reader; and with great cordiality we recommend it. Living in Earnest: with Lessons and Incidents from the Lives of the Great and the Good. A book for Young Men. By JOSEPH JOHNSON. Nelson and Sons. What strikes the reader first is the singularly elegant typography and getting up of the work, which is in Messrs. Nelson's best style. The author has kept steadily to his text, as the contents of his book will show. They run thus: "Living and Work,"-"Living in the Shadow of Great Men,"-"Living Valourously, or Learning to Say No,"-"Living Always, or Nothing Lost,"-" Living in Play, or Life's Gayer Hours," - "Living to Learn, and What to Learn,"—" Living in Health,""Living by Example," "-"Living in the Beautiful," ,"-" Living in the Practical,”— "Living an Old Age,"—"Living for the End." It will here be seen that there is a striking unity pervading the whole, and that every chapter is fraught with interest to some or to all classes, while certain classes are selected for special instruction, encouragement, and consolation. Here the young man and the old man will find all that each desires. The chapter indeed, "Living in Old Age," is decidedly one of the most interesting and excellent in the book. The celebrated Sir William Temple is quoted as saying, “There cannot live a more unhappy creature than an illnatured old man, who is neither capable of receiving pleasures nor sensible of doing them to others." Steele, renowned in the days of Addison, likewise says, "A healthy old fellow that is not a fool is the happiest living creature. It is at that time of life only men enjoy their faculties with pleasure and satisfaction. We speak the downright truth; and whether the rest of the world will give us the privilege or not, we have so little to ask of them that we can take it." A greater and a better man by far than these is cited, to wit, Albert Barnes, who says, "I have now a higher idea of life as such-of the desirableness of living-than I had at the outset; I mean that there is more that enters into the idea of living-of living in this world; it is a greater matter; it is a more desirable thing." The passage, however, is too long for us to quote, but it is admirable. We need scarcely say how cordially we commend the volume to all classes as most excellent reading." Industrial Biography. Ironworkers and Tool makers. By SAMUEL SMILES. Murray. Mr. Smiles has already conferred great benefits upon the public by his admirable "Lives of the Engineers," his "Story of the Life of George Stephenson," his "Self Help," and his "Workman's Earnings," and to these he has now added a more general and even interesting volume, the volume before us. It consists of sixteen chapters, each devoted to some eminent individual or subject. We have Dudley, of whom the world has hitherto heard but little; we have then Andrew Yarranton, renowned as the father of political economy. To these succeed the Darbys and the Reynoldses, Huntsman, Coat, Roebuck, Beaumont, Bramah, Maudslay, Clement, Fox, Nasmith, and Fairbairn. Now, under these various names and headings, we have a stream of historical fact, incident, and enterprise which it is impossible to describe, and which thoroughly to understand requires that it shall be read. For young men we would recommend it as a companion by day and by night, a handbook and repertory of facts, an inexhaustible storehouse touching all these subjects, with the most powerful practical bearing that can well be conceived. It is a great emanation of the English mind, and a most brilliant portrait of English genius. No nation in the world could furnish materials for such a book. Surely we need say no more-and in thus speaking we utter simple truth-to recommend the volume. To young men of every class and grade of society-yes, and old men tooit is reading of an admirable descriptionreading for the whole mass of the British people. Work and Play. By HORACE BUSHNELL, D.D. Strahan & Co. Dr. Bushnell delights in thought, and his thinking is frequently deep, but occasionally cloudy. In the present case, however, his temptations to soar, or sink to the dark regions, is not great, and the result is that there is sufficient lucidity throughout the whole of these eight chapters. The volume is of an airy and popular character; at the same time there is frequently displayed a considerable stretch of the intellect. The chapters are headed "Work and Play,""The Age of Home Spun," ""The Day of Roads," "The Growth of Law,"-" City Plans," -"Life or the Lives,"-"The Doctrine of Loyalty Working Itself Out in America," and "Religious Music." Such are the headings of the various chapters, and it will be seen that some of them are of a speculative and others of a practical character. The book is one which supplies wholesome lessons to the higher and even to the highest classes. Rulers and statesmen, as well as philosophers and moralists, may read it with advantage. It is severely elaborated as to its matter, and brilliant as to its style. The Life of John Calvin, The Man of Geneva. For young persons. Shaw. We are told in the title-page that this work is by the author of "The Story of Martin Luther," and "The Story of Ulrick Zwingle," and all the world now knows that the said writer is none other than the gifted and generous daughter of the late Archbishop Whateley. Would that the daughters of all bishops were equally devoted to the interests of humanity and the advancement of religion! The work comprises ten chapters, which incorporate all the main facts of the history of the great Reformer. The style, of course, is clear, simple, and beautiful, as is everything that Miss Whateley has originated. There is something peculiarly seasonable about the appearance of the work. It has just been issued contemporaneously with the celebration of the tercentenary of Calvin's decease. It comprises a sufficient account of his commencement, progress, life, and labours, death and burial. The work is quite as copious as the great mass of the public require, or will endure; but it is at the same time so condensed that the busiest may easily find time to give it a thorough perusal, and they that do so will be the better for it as long as they live. Do it with Thy Might; or, Our Work in the World. Jarrold and Sons. The theme of this work is one of the highest that can occupy the attention of man. The view presented is somewhat comprehensive. We have chapters on, "What shall we do ?"-"The Work of Resignation,""Serving by Suffering,"-" The Time of Waiting,"-Will Worship,"-" Diversities of Gifts," "Gifts of Healing." -66 Gifts of Teaching and Government,". "-"Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding,"-" Hindrance in our Cause,"- Our Opportunities Indicate our Mission,"-"How Shall We Fulfil it ?" From all this, then, it will be seen that the volume, while very brief, is yet of a very practical character, quite in keeping with the author's other excellent work, "Glimpses and Guesses of Things Seen and Unseen; being Leaves from a Note-book kept for a Friend." The volume is singularly healthful, stimulating, and strengthening, presenting a very striking and very important contrast to much of the rubbish with which the press of England is meanwhile groaning. Human Sadness. By the Countess DE GASPARIN. Alexander Strahan & Co. THIS much-honoured name will be welcomed to Christian circles in Great Britain. The Countess de Gasparin is a lady of a singularly cultivated mind, which is guided by a sancfied heart. Every page of the volume bears testimony to the fact. The book is, of its class, unquestionably the best we have had from the land of the Gaul for many a day. Its prime characteristics are beauty and pathos. The Countess writes as only a French lady can write. Every page dazzles with lustre, and every paragraph presents "thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." The composi tion is so singularly fine, that it is in danger of turning the attention of the reader aside from the matter, while that matter is of a truly golden character. The Countess, however, thinks more than she reads, an infirmity of all our French writers on the subject of religion. We scarcely learn from any one of these well-nigh 300 pages that there is such a book as the Old and New Testament. Still, the principles are here, and the sentiment engendered by them sparkles and glitters everywhere. The Way the Happy Life. MR. WESLEY, of Paternoster-row, has just published a selection from the Scriptures under this title, which is a piece of the most exquisite typography anywhere to be met with. It will make a beautiful monitor, equally for the parlour, drawing-room, the kitchen, and the cottage. Advice to a Wife. By HENRY CHAVASSE, F.R.C.S. Sixth Edition. Churchill and Sons. We have had occasion before to speak in the highest terms of this very valuable publication. For an insignificant price, only a small fraction of a doctor's average fee, it presents more information of a practical and useful character than could be obtained in the way of knowledge from a hundred interviews with a medical practitioner. The book we consider the cheapest, and we think it will be viewed as ranking with the very best of its class. It is a mother's book, and to all such we cordially commend it. The Wisdom of our Fathers. Selections from the Writings of Lord Bacon, with a Memoir. Tract Society. 66 : WE possess the works of Bacon in some eight or ten goodly octavos, but we are still glad of the present embodiment of golden excerpts. It comprises several parts, distributed thus:"Theological Works," "Ethical Works," "Philosophical Works," "Forensic Works," and "Miscellaneous Works;" from this it will be seen that extracts sweep over a wide range, and they will be found to be made with taste and judgment. We estimate the book very highly. Would that half-a-million copies of it at least might find their way to the pockets and the libraries of the young men of the British Isles. Manual of Elementary Geography. Edited by J. S. LAURIE. Thomas Murley. MR. LAURIE has here performed a most excellent service. It is beyond all question the best shilling's worth of geography in the English tongue. Time was when, in larger type, it would have been a six-and-sixpenny volume; and yet the type is clear and readable even for old people, but especially for the rising generation, for whom it is, of course, intended. As the last publication of the sort, it may be presumed to have attained the nearest to the complete and the perfect. The parts comprise the British Empire, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Oceania. The condensation is carried to the highest point, and yet everything is clear. By the dexterous use of varied type, much light is thrown into every page, and a vast additional interest imparted. Ocean Lays; or the Sea, the Ship, and the Sailor, in a Series of Poems, Selected and Original. By the Rev. J. LONGMUIR, LL.D. New and Enlarged Edition. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter & Co. THE idea of this volume is an excellent one, and Dr. Longmuir has carried it out with great judgment and intelligence. The notion is original-at any rate we remember no volume of the same kind. It collects all the most exquisite pieces of a maritime character that are to be found in the English tongue, thus classified-"The Sea," "The Ship," "The Sailor." The last of these departments is the most extended. The volume, as a whole, is quite a storehouse, and those that interest themselves in the great subject will find it quite a treasure. We prize the book exceedingly, and most cordially commend it to all families, whether in seaport or inland towns, as it is eminently calculated to extend their knowledge of the subject, and to interest them in the fate of that most important class of men to whom England owes much of her wealth and more of her greatness. The Cross of Christ; or Incidents, Scenes, and Lessons of the Crucifixion. By WILLIAM LANDELS. Nisbet & Co. WE are glad again to meet with Mr. Landels, who has selected for his theme by far the most important topic that has yet employed his powerful nind. The volume comprises fourteen discourses or chapters, in which the subject is exhibited in all its principal aspects with singular clearness, pathos, and energy. It is, beyond doubt, Mr. Landels' best book, and we anticipate for it a very extended circulation. It cannot fail to add much at once to his popularity and his usefulness. Little Jimie; or, the Plucked Flower. By MARY ANN BAYFIELD. Second Edition. Elliot Stock. THIS is a simple, interesting, and instructive memoir of a lovely child, who has left behind him pleasing remembrances. Sisters, brothers, mothers, and nurses, will all read it with interest. |