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cently published, we feel warranted in making the assertion, that the Nonconformist pulpit of this nineteenth century is equal to the pulpit of any preceding age. With a few not very notable exceptions, there is a tone of health and vigour in it which is truly promising and prophetic.

Everywhere, and in everything, men are in earnest; and in earnestness the preacher should exceed all others. Christianity supplies not only the highest verities for his theme, but a language of matchless compass and power in which to clothe them. The preacher's aim should be not so much to be great as to be true. As in painting, so in preaching; one man speaks to the imagination or the taste, another appeals to the heart, and the heart is touched. The preacher should deal with the conscience rather than with the intellect-with the affections much more than with the imagination. There must be no corrupting of truth; no deceitful handling of the Word of God; no reserve and no concealment ; no attempt to depreciate any fact or any doctrine; no effort to lower the tones and the teaching of inspiration. The Gospel must be preached in its simplicity and its fulness; the man throwing heart and soul into his every utterance, and proving by his every look, and tone, and gesture, that he is absorbed in his work, and then the pulpit of England will be felt and acknowledged to be a power second to none in its influence and its sway over the heart and the life of her people.

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gradually diffusing itself through the highest and the lowest classes of society. Happily the middle classes are as yet sound in their Protestantism. By a facile descent numbers of educated men every year glide from the Anglo-Catholicism of Oxford to Romanism. The time accordingly may not be distant when we must grapple with the hydra-headed, as the first Reformers did. At any rate information, clear and authoritative, is required upon the actual tenets and practices of the Romish Church, and such information is supplied in this volume. Catholicism no longer skulks in dark corners, she vaunts herself, and seeks the high places of the earth. We are glad of this. She challenges by this bravery inspection and controversy which will lead to her hurt. Mr. Pryce has not merely stated with great precision and fairness the dogmas of Romanism, but he calmly argues them, and exhibits in contrast the Protestant faith and the grounds on which it is held. The subjects treated include all the fundamental differences between Romanism and Protestantism. Are the Holy Scriptures the only rule of faith and practice? The right of private judgment. The doctrine of the Church. Justification by administration of sacraments or by personal faith? The supremacy of the pope. Transubstantiation. Mass. Purgatory and indulgences. The idolatry of Romanism. On each subject a compendious view of the arguments advanced by either party is given with great impartiality. Though Mr. Pryce is a Protestant, and gives plainly enough the reasons why, he is scrupulous to state the utmost that can be said by Romanists, and,takes no unfair advantage. We feel confident that by this simple handbook, Mr. Pryce has done more to enlighten and thus to warn his countrymen as to the specious errors of Rome, than if his book had been bulky in volume and rabid in tone, than if he fulminated Pope-like anathemas against Catholics, or weighted his book with useless

learning, which would have blunted his arguments and repelled purchasers.

THE ATONEMENT; Its Relation to Pardon : An Argument and Defence. By the Rev. E. Mellor, M.A. Second Edition. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co.

WE purpose soon exhibiting the argument of this most valuable little book in a lengthy article upon the subject which it so ably discusses, otherwise we should have noticed its publication earlier. We cannot refrain, however, from announcing and welcoming the issue of a second edition, which we trust will be more speedily exhausted than the first. A clearer, bolder statement, or a nobler defence of the great doctrine of Substitution, the main question at issue in recent controversies upon the Atonement, has not been made. Mr. Mellor's disciplined and scholarly mind is eminently fitted for theological exposition. He has been trained in the schools and has schcoled himself in honesty, and so is quick in exposing the fallacies, nor slow in denouncing the duplicity, of some sophists who have made much noise in these days. Cloudy figures they are, big in bulk, but vapourous and vague. Of course, Mr. Mellor and no one else can be said to have combatted and overthrown these aerial giants. They are invulnerable as the continuous air. Their misty shape allows no firm grasp or close

encounter

If shape it might be call'd that shape had none

Distinguishable in member, joint, or
limb;

Or substance might be called that
shadow seemed,

For each seemed either.

But through some of these clouds Mr. Mellor has flashed an electric stream, which has precipitated their watery contents, and reduced them to some sort of tangible expression;

and the glowing, misty mass, when so condensed, shows but a miserable driblet of not the purest water. We thank Mr. Mellor for his most timely and able tractate. The teaching of Scripture is rigorously expounded in it, and the philosophy of the Atone ment, i.e., in its adaptation to haman consciousness and relation to the Divine Government, is lucidly stated It is small in size and cheap in price in order to a wide circulation. We most earnestly commend it, especially to young men who wish a mand for a clear and masterly exposition and defence of the doctrine of Atonement.

DISCOURSES. By William Anderson, LL.D. Second Series. Glasgow: J. Bertram.

THE announcement of a new volume of sermons by Dr. Anderson created high expectations. The public know weil his oratorical power, his fervour, his manliness, his passionate love of freedom, his thorough detestation of all conventional shams, and his eikonoclastic attitude towards many of those idols which society delights to warship. His style is vivid and trenchant; lightning precedes his thunder. His love of argument is great, but his logic is neither dull nor formal, for he reasons straight to the point, and as he moves along he strews his path with clusters of beautiful images and illustration. You never weary under him. As your attention begins to flag, out flashes some sarcastic allusion or some brief and pointed analy starts into statuesque distinctness, or you are suddenly appealed to in a tone which vibrates with tenderness Dr. Anderson does not move in emon places, his thoughts are his e#3, rich, racy, picturesque, and orignal Perhaps in his printed discos these qualities are rather conspicuo, and one is tempted now and then to imagine that while they are often spontaneous, they are sometimes courted and consciously thrown inte bold relief.

The volume now published verifies what we have so briefly said. Some of its discourses are truly great. Let any reader turn to the discourse headed, "Uncharitable Judgments Judged," or to "The Missionary Plea," and he will note the truth of our remarks. The author says in his preface that he does not feel "warranted to send to the press for perpetuation and general dissemination either extemporized thoughts, or extemporized expressions of them," and he has acted accordingly. Few volumes of sermons display such mental powers and such mental peculiarities. It is refreshing as well as edifying to read it, though we cannot but regret the footnotes which are generally disconnected with the text, and being of a personal nature manifest an egotism which probably in a greater or less degree belongs to all men of Dr. Anderson's temperament. We cordially commend this volume, and hope soon to see a successor to it.

THE WORDS OF THE RISEN SAVIOUR, and Commentary on the Epistle of St. James. By Rudolf Stier. T. and T. Clark.

THERE is something profoundly interesting in collecting the "words of the Lord Jesus from heaven," and the practical worth of the study surpasses even the sublime attractiveness of the theme. Lengthened commendation of Stier is wholly unnecessary. The student will discover the same minuteness of inspection, the same copiousness in research, the same devout simplicity and spiritual precision which belong to his previous volumes on the "Words of the Lord Jesus." The "Commentary on the Epistle of St. James" belongs to another class of compositions. It is the reproduction of a series of unwritten discourses delivered to the congregation. It requires a kindred genius to expound this invaluable and neglected epistle. We scarcely hope to see lectures in the style of the

original, abounding in sentences of aphorismatic brevity, vividness, and pungency. The author displays great sympathy with the ethical spirit and purport of the epistle, and cannot be consulted without profit; but we lack the racy and angular force of the apostolic moralist.

COMMENTARY ON THE PENTATEUCH. Translated from the German of Otto Von Gerlach. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. THIS is a book for the general reader; is devout in its tone and evangelical in opinion. It contains little or nothing which is not already provided in ordinary British commentaries. It is expository, not critical, and unlike most of the works issued by this enterprising publisher, is of comparatively little value to the scholar and the student.

1. CHESS PRAXIS: a Supplement to the Chess Player's Handbook. By H. Staunton. London: H. G. Bohn. 1860. 2. MORPHY'S GAMES OF CHESS. With Analytical and Critical Notes by J. Löwenthal. London: H. G. Bohn. 1860. THESE two volumes form a most valuable addition to English Chess literature. The former brings up our knowledge of the science to the present day, in a clear and easily intelligible form. Mr. Staunton is certainly second to none in his power of conveying chess instruction. It is much to be regretted, however, that he should have allowed certain private matters to influence so evidently the animus of this otherwise excellent book.

The covert reflections continually directed against Mr. Löwenthal, and the attempts to depreciate Mr. Morphy's play are in exceedingly bad taste. Why is it, also, that in a work professing to complete the analysis of the openings, there should be no mention of an important defence to the Bishop's Gambit, introduced into England (if not invented) by Mr.

Morphy? We allude to the third move in the defence, Kt. to K. B. 3. Surely as used by such a player, it was worthy of some mention.

Mr.Löwenthal's edition of Morphy's Games is an invaluable contribution to chess. The notes, partly compiled with the assistance of Mr. Morphy, are highly instructive, and furnish almost of themselves a complete treatise on the openings. The absence of personalities is also greatly to be commended.

AGAINST WIND AND TIDE. By Holme Lee. 3 vols. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. 1859.

MADEMOISELLE MORI: a Tale of Modern Rome. 2 vols. London: J. W. Parker & Son. 1860.

OLD FRIENDS AND NEW ACQUAINTANCES. By Agnes Strickland, author of "Lives of the Queens of England." London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1860.

THE lady who writes under what we suppose to be the nom de plume of Holme Lee has decidedly attained the rank of a popular favourite, and deservedly so; for although her works are, neither as to artistic arrangement, force of thought, or brilliance of expression, approaching to the first rank of excellence, they are pleasant reading, have generally a healthy tendency, and never offend the tastequalities not to be predicated of the majority of our novelists. "Against Wind and Tide" will scarcely be considered, however, either the best or pleasantest of her works. The subject is not a grateful one ;-a peasant girl is wooed and won by a baronet, who appears subsequently to have another living wife. The subject of the work relates to the different manner in which the unfortunate circumstances of their birth affect her two sons, Cyrus and Robert Hawthorne. The former rebels throughout life against his position, and is always miserable; the latter accepts and makes the best of it, and is happy and prosperous. The moral is

good enough, but the development is rather tedious and uninteresting We know and recognise the characters but we care little for any of the except Robert's young wife, wb, however, very soon dies. By forble measures all is made smooth, even fr the ungrateful Cyrus, at last; ani we are left to suppose and hope that he will settle down after his miseres into the steady and happy head of a family.

“Mademoiselle Mori" is a tala relating to that portion of the history of Rome involved in the accession of Pius IX. It is essentially a political novel, and so, almost of necessity, eminently a failure as a work of ±tion, if it be read as such. It may a very good history, but althoná written with much power, and inte cations of great æsthetic feeling, it s certainly very heavy reading coasidered as a romance.

Miss Strickland has published & selection from her former contrib tions to various journals, and soma new sketches, under the title of "0. Friends and New Acquaintances." Most of them belong to the former class; and since they appeared we have become so accustomed to the authoress, in another and more attrac tive capacity, that we feel as tho these tales, good as they are in their way, scarcely add to her present rep? tation. They are, however, agrerat,'s and should they be well received, tàa writer promises another series, ili 19trative of "Life and its Varieties, especially in the Eastern Counties" We feel sure they will be welcome to a large class of readers.

THROUGH THE TYROL TO VENICE. BY Mrs. Newman Hall. London: James Nisbet & Co.

A MOST graceful and interesting volume of travels, as clear and sparkling as the playful streams or the breezy dawns that enchanted authoress in her Tyrolese trip F chantment it must have been, for the

very spirit of these blithesome things has possessed the writer and photographed her page. There is no ambition in the volume; it is simply a vivid record of what was seen and felt in a brilliant summer holiday; but this simplicity, this sunny truthfulness, which makes you see and feel what the writer records and revives, give a wonderful animation to the book. We do not criticise where we have so fully enjoyed. We have clambered up the Klamme Pass, we have cogitated on the ruins of the Amphitheatre at Verona, and swept soundlessly over the glittering water-streets of Venice, burnished with the gold of heaven, in company with our fair authoress, and now part regretfully, but bearing with us pleasant souvenirs.

COUNT CAVOUR: His Life and Career. By Basil H. Cooper, B.A., of the University of London. London: Judd & Glass, New Bridge Street, and Gray's Inn Road. Pp. 200.

THE life and career of Count Cavour is likewise the history of the development of Constitutionalism in Sardinia, and this is the two-sided subject ably treated in this volume. The book is for the most part a translation, and as we recognise under the English garb a foreign friend we have recently met, we are happy to give our testimony, along with the translator's, to the high character and authority of the original.

The translation has been admirably done, the English is vigorous, idiomatic, and free from all that foreign flavour which renders many translations unpalatable to English taste. In this respect the work is a remarkable success, and reflects, we think, great credit on Mr. Cooper. highest merit of a translation is not to read like one. A schoolboy can translate words; only a scholar can transfuse living thoughts from a foreign language into his own.

The

WORK AND CONFLICT; or, the Divine Life in its Progress: A Book of Facts and Histories. By the Rev. John Kennedy, A.M. London: The Religious Tract Society.

PART I. contains the Soul's Work ; the World's Work; Social Work.

Part II. contains Conflict with Sin; Conflict with Despondency and Doubt; Conflict with Death.

These subjects Mr. Kennedy handles with his usual felicity and abundance of illustration. Facts interest and instruct the general reader more than speculation. They are flesh and blood arguments, and have a thrill about them that moves when logic is powerless. So Mr. Kennedy, with a wise reference to the wants of Christian people, has made his book a book of life. It is crowded with brief biographies, which point and urge his moral well.

MODERN EUROPE: a School History. By John Lord, A.M. 9th edition. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1860. THIS excellently got-up work extends from A.D. 1400 to the peace of Villafranca. It is exceedingly well adapted for the purposes of schools by its copious indices, table of contents, marginal references and dates, and the series of analytical questions added at the end. It may also with advantage be consulted by those older than schoolboys.

A LIFE-LONG STORY; or, Am I my
Sister's Keeper.
London: Simpkin,
Marshall, & Co.

THE history of a young zealous minister of the cross and of his bravehearted wife, who lost her patrimony by her marriage, and after his premature death, wore her strength out at embroidery work in order to support her two children and herself in one of the London suburbs. So stated this seems a meagre twice-told tale, but delineated by the clear-etching pen of the authoress, and the acces

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