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 injust 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.

STUDIES OF DIVINE THINGS. By the REV. WILLIAM NEWTON. London: Houlston & Wright.

It seems to us that the sermons of this age are formed on three very different plans. The first plan is, to bring a number of ideas, supposed to be in the Bible, into harmonious blending with some theological system; to run thoughts, professed to be got out of the Scriptures, into the Calvinistic, Arminian, or some other mould. Those who produce sermons on this plan, and they are perhaps the majority of preachers, degrade the great Book of God by making it the organ of some poor human system of doctrine. Another plan is, to bring supposed Biblical thoughts into harmony with the popular sentiment of the so-called religious world. These sermons are run in the mould of the current religious sentiment. These are always the popular things. The people like them because they gratify their vanity by echoing the crude things of their own nature. These sermons teach nothing; do nothing but gratify the self-esteem of thoughtless religionists; crowd the church of the preacher, and bring financial help to “the cause." Few things are greater curses to the world than such sermons. The third plan is, to bring out, by diligent study and honest criticism, the thoughts of the Bible into vital contact with the common sense, deep spiritual wants, and every-day life of men, thus making" The Book" a power to existing men and women. Such sermons, though comparatively few, are, thank God! increasing, and their increase is one of the most encouraging signs of the age. The discourses of Mr. Newton, or rather, "studies," as he wishes them called, belong to the last class. They are fifteen in number, and their subjects are fresh, various, and of vital interest. These discourses are remarkably free from all commonplaces, rhapsodies, windy declamation, vulgar fineries, sentimental moonings, and such like. They are the productions of a man who has evidently sought out the truth with his own eyes, felt it with his own

heart, and expresses it as it has shaped itself to him in his most earnestly-thinking, and profoundly-devout moods. The thoughts are life-thoughts; the spirit is chaste, catholic, reverential. The style is clear as crystal, often sparkling with the brightest rays of mind.

Counsel and Comfort spoken from a City PulpiT. By the author of "Recreations of a Country Parson." London: Strahan and Co.

THE subjects of this volume are :-"Thoughts on the Pulpit: Thankfulness: The Blessed Comforter: Man Come to Himself: The Wellgrounded Hope: Nothing Without Christ: The Prospect Painful, yet Salutary Departed Trouble and Welcome Rest: Continuance the Test of Religious Profession: The Desire to be Remembered: The Redeemer's Errand to this World: Consequences: No More Pain: The Victory over the World: The Limits of Human Experience: The Personality and Agency of Evil Spirits: The Needfulness of Love to Christ." A work produced by the author of "Recreations of a Country Parson," in its ninth thousand, does not require us to characterize it, and is independent of our recommendation. A short extract from the introduction to the second discourse, on the text "Be ye thankful," we give as a specimen of the writer's style :—“There is a picturesque tract of the Western Highlands of Scotland, in passing through which, the traveller has to ascend a long, winding path, very steep, very rough, and very lonely, leading up a wild and desolate glen. The savage and awful grandeur of the scenery, with its bare hills and rocks, is hardly equalled in this country. But if the traveller goes up that glen on foot, and it is hardly possible to go up otherwise, his appreciation of the scene around him is gradually overborne by the sense of pure physical fatigue. Not without a great strain upon limbs and heart, can that rugged way be traversed. At last you reach a ridge, whence the road descends steeply on the other side of the hill. You have ended your climbing, and you may now begin to go down again from whichever side you come. And there, at this summit, you will find a rude seat of stone, which bears the inscription, in deeply-cut letters, Rest and be thankful.”

THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE PILGRIMS. By ROBERT NISBET, D.D. London: James Nisbet & Co.

CONSIDERABLE speculation and discussion have prevailed, at different times, concerning that portion of Holy Writ called the Songs of Degrees The author supposes them to refer to the stated journeys of the devout Jews up to the temple; and, looking at them in this light, they appear to him most "admirable manuals of instruction." "There is not," says he, "a chord to which the soul has ever vibrated that is not

touched in them. Here are the wail of sorrow, the earnestness of prayer, the glow of hope, the swell of gratitude, the exulting rapture of faith, the confidence and joy of love; confessions for our sins, lamentations for our weakness, high revelations for knowledge, blessed promises for hope, and noble resolutions of personal and household piety. It is the guide-book of God to His own presence; and the pilgrim to the Zion that is above cannot too frequently consult it." This book abounds with admirable thoughts bearing on experimental religion, expressed by many striking illustrations and much forceful language.

MISSIONS, APOSTOLIC AND MODERN. By FREDERIC W. BRIGGS. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co.

THIS volume is an exposition, with a practical intent, of the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the Acts of the Apostles; which the author regards as a history, complete in itself, of missionary labors. No part," says he, "of the important Book is of greater value to the Church, viewed as a missionary agency. It is, in fact, a most impressive exhibition of missionary principles, in the order of their rapid manifestation, so that an exposition of this single history must be an exposition of all the great principles of missionary action." The purpose of the book is admirable, the exegesis is generally satisfactory, indicating critical acumen, honest research, and considerable reading. We can as cordially and for the same reasons commend this work to our readers, as we did his work on the "Pentecost and the Founding of the Church."

NEW CRITICAL SCHOOL, AND JESUS CHRIST. By EDMUND de Pressensé. (A reply to M. Renan's "Life of Jesus.") Translated by L. CORKRAN. London: Elliot Stock.

We had hoped that M. Renan's "Life of Jesus" would have been allowed, with all its blasphemies, to have sunk into forgetfulness, so that its influence for evil might have been of the most limited character; but, as in the case of Colenso, scores of fifth-rate religious writers, desirous of distinguishing themselves in some way, seized it, brought out its errors before their readers, without the power, on their part, of giving such a view of Divine things as would throw the errors into the last degree of contempt. This little work of De Pressensé is, for many reasons, worth more than all we have seen as a refutation of this arch-heretic. De Pressensé is more than a match for Renan: his soul in every respect out-measures his. There is more penetration in his eye, more breadth in his span, more philosophy in his intellect, more poetry in his soul, more godliness his being, more genius in his pen. Such are the men to deal with

heretics.

QUIET RESTING-PLACES, AND OTHER SERMONS. BY ALEXANDER RALEIGH, Canonbury. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black.

THIS Volume contains twenty-one discourses. The author's reputation as a preacher is so high that we are not sure that these sermons will tend anything to its elevation. The presence, the voice, the action, give to the sermons of some preachers a power which can never be transferred to paper. "Their elastic and obedient words," to use the language of the author, "are cooled and hardened on the printed page." It is true that in cases where the preacher has an unpleasant voice, an unfluent tongue, an awkward action, and an ugly appearance, his sermons would be better as written productions than as oral utterances. Such, however, is not the case with the author in these discourses. His sermons gain neither beauty nor power by print. Albeit, in print they must take their place amongst the peers, if not amongst the princes, in sermonic literature.

THE DIVINE AND THE HUMAN IN NATURE, REVELATION, RELIGION, AND LIFE. BY THOMAS HUGHES. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. MR. HUGHES is becoming a voluminous writer; but as his writings belong not to the Smith and to the Winslow class, we feel no repugnance to his frequent appearance on the stage of literature. Far otherwise; he is one of those thinking men whose words have always significance. This volume contains seven discourses, each of which is fraught with much original thought and eloquent phrase.

THE HOLY BIBLE; containing the Old and New Testaments literally and idiomatically translated out of the Original Languages. By ROBERT YOUNG. London and Edinburgh: A. Fullerton & Co.

THIS work, we are informed, "in its present form," is not to be considered as intended to come into competition with the ordinary use of the commonly received English Version of the Holy Scriptures, but simply as a strictly "literal and idiomatic" rendering of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. For about twenty years, fully half his lifetime, the translator has had a desire to execute such a work, and has been engaged in Biblical pursuits tending to this end more or less exclusively; and now at last, in the good Providence of God, the desire has been accomplished." Amongst Biblical scholars there can, we think, be but one opinion as to the remarkable ability with which Mr. Young has fulfilled his task. A translation more faithful to the original, we think, has never appeared, and the advantage of such a work as this to the Biblical student is truly inestimable.

A HOMILY

ON

Man's Cry for a Solution of the Felt Distance of his Maker.

"Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?"-Psalm x. 1.

AVING noticed in our last two discourses in this series, "Man's Cry for Fellowship with God," and "his Cry for a Knowledge of the Supreme Law of Life," we proceed now to notice the "his Cry for a solution of the felt Distance between him and his Maker." The passage I have read expresses the consciousness of such a distance. There are many other

passages to the same effect. Thus, in Jeremiah we have these words:" O, the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turnest aside to tarry for a night?" The state of mind indicated in such language is more or less common to men in all ages and in all lands. What are all the sacrifices and rites of heathendom but an attempt to bridge the yawning chasm which the soul feels to lie between her and her Maker? There are seasons when this feeling becomes terribly strong and stirring in the soul. In the hour when affliction presses heavily on the heart, when danger looms darkly on the eye; when conviction stings the conscience, and the spirit trembles at the futurethe cry is ever heard in some form or other, "Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?" This cry—

First Implies the belief that the distance is unnatural.

VOL. XIV.

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