FAITH BUILDING. By William P. Merrill, Pastor of the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Ill. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbathschool Work. 1896. 16mo, pp. 77.

It is a dainty

Five discourses to young people on the topics of dealing with doubt-the one foundation, the one truth, the one duty, the condition of progress. booklet, and full of helpful ideas and suggestions.

JESUS AND CHILDREN. By the Rev. Charles E. Craven. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-school Work.

1896.

A very interesting and suggestive sermon on the text, "And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them," setting forth the practical relations between the Christ and the little ones.

WHAT IS TO BE YOUR LIFE WORK? Why not the Ministry? By Rev. A. M. Fraser, D. D., Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Staunton, Va. Richmond, Va.: Presbyterian Committee of Publication.

A series of three admirable tracts on the duty of young men considering the ministry, and young women the missionary field, for their life-work. It does not pretend to be an exhaustive treatment of the subject. It is only an appeal to stop and think, and it wisely urges all to read Dr. Dabney's noted tract, entitled What Is a Call to the Gospel Ministry?

FROM THE EXILE TO THE ADVENT. By Rev. William Fairweather, M. A., Kirkcaldy. 12mo, pp. 210. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. Imported by Charles Scribner's Sons. 1895. 60 cents, net.

This little volume is one of the Hand-Books for Bible Classes and Private Students, of which Professor Marcus Dods and Dr. Alexander Whyte are editors. It embraces the time from the beginning of the exile until the close of the reign of Herod the Great. It describes the significance and rationale of the exile, the home of the exiles, the story of the exile, and the return from the exile. It then presents the life and career of the Jews in the Persian period, the Greek period, the Maccabean period, under the Asmonean dynasty, and in the Roman period. A complete index makes its contents most available. In treating of the literature of this epoch, the author, as one would expect in a series under such direction, says that "the marvellous collection of writings appended to the Book of Isaiah, and forming in our Bibles chapters xl. -lxvi. of that work, were distinctly, for the most part, the product of the exile." He also seems to sympathize with the view that the Book of Job should be assigned to this period, and declares it to be practically certain that "the latest redaction" of the Books of Kings took place then. The Book of Daniel is assigned to the Maccabean period, and this hypothesis declared to be the key to its design, for if it be "the 'direct product of the Maccabean struggles,' its point and significance are unmistakable." The Book of Ecclesiastes and the bulk of the later Psalms are assigned to the Fersian period.

With the exception of the author's position on matters of this kind, pertaining chiefly to the literature of the Jews during the inter-biblical epoch, his work is an admirable presentation of the facts of that remarkable time, so little studied, and yet having so intimate a relation to the coming of Christ and the preparation of the world for his advent.

THE HERO OF THE AGES. A Story of the Nazarene. By Catherine Robertson MeCartney. New York, Chicago, and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company. 1896. 12mo, pp. 240. $1.00.

Another of those books which attempt to weave together the incidents of the Gospels into more or less of a romance. The author is earnest and devout, but we believe that earnestness and devoutness will not be strengthened in others by such a use of the words and scenes in our Lord's life. For instance, she depicts the closing scenes of the forty days' temptation in the wilderness as witnessed by a beautiful young woman, one of the heroines of the book, who goes and ministers to Christ there. Again, she has Christ, just after uttering the parable of the Prodigal Son, to go and sit down near a young man who had looked on sullenly while he was uttering it, until the young man came up and said: "Did you mean me by that story?" and then, touched by the Saviour's kindness, went back to his aged father and to the paths of virtue and truth. The scene upon the Mount of Transfiguration she has caused others than the three disciples to see, by narrating that two of her characters in Cæsarea Philippi sat at a window or on a roof to a late hour at night watching the strange light, and pronouncing it the grandest aurora borealis they ever saw! The manner in which the distressed sisters at Bethany found that Christ was in Perea was through Simon, who "met a gentleman of the name of Heber," who informed him of where Christ had been shortly before. The author's knowledge of antiquities is not accurate enough to prevent her making a number of errors in respect to historical and geographical matters, and in references to the homes and customs of the people

COMPENDIUM OF CHURCH HISTORY. By the Rev. Andrew C. Zenos, D. D., Professor of Biblical Theology in the McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. With an Introduction by the Rev. John DeWitt, D. D., LL. D., Archibald Alexander Professor of Church History in Princeton Theological Seminary. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-school work. 1896. 12mo, pp. x., 340. $1.00.

A wonderfully compact little volume, and by reason of its type and unleaded lines containing far more matter than one would at first suspect. The method of division adopted is that of periods, subdivided by ages or epochs, each marked by pivotal events or critical movements in the church which furnish logical and convenient points of partition. The Ancient Period is divided into the Apostolic Age, the Sub-Apostolic Age, the Ante-Nicene Epoch, and the Post-Nicene Epoch. The Medieval Period is considered under the heads of the Development of the Papacy, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, the Ascendancy of the Papacy, and the Decline of the Papacy. The Modern Period includes the Reformation Generation, the Consolidation of the Reformation, to the Treaty of Westphalia, the Post-Reformation Epoch, to the French Revolution, and the Contemporaneous Age, or the Nineteenth Century. The limits of the volume prevent any elaborate discussions or details. Modern church history receives its due proportion of presentation and study, especially such movements as the influence of modern German thought, under Schleiermacher, Hegel, Baur and the Tübingen School, Ritschl, Tractarianism, etc. Special attention is given to modern missionary movements, Bible societies, and Sunday-schools. Two chapters, the last in the book,

are specially devoted to the study of Christianity in America. The Southern Presbyterian Church is dismissed with a ten-line paragraph, which gives in its opening and closing sentences somewhat contradictory statements of the raison-d'étre of this church. We quote it in full: "The question of slavery led to another division. The New School presbyteries of the slave-holding States seceded from the New School Assembly in 1857. The Old School presbyteries in the same region left the Old School Assembly in 1861. Two years later these presbyteries united in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. The fundamental principle of this church is that the church, as a purely spiritual institution, must abstain from legislation with reference to political questions." In describing the part which Presbyterianism has taken in education and the theological seminaries which it has planted in the land, the author mentions even such recently organized institutions as the San Francisco and Omaha Seminaries, but omits institutions like Union Seminary, Va., with its seventy years' history and thousand or more graduates, Columbia, with nearly as long a history, and others.

64

AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM, in its Development and Growth. By the Rev. Robert M. Patterson, D. D., LL. D., author of "Paradise," Visions of Heaven for the Life on Earth," "Elijah, the Favored Man," etc. 12mo. pp. 132. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-school Work. 1896. The author should rename his book. Half of it is devoted to Pennsylvania Presbyterianism, and a considerable portion of the balance to all denominations in the United States. He should also revise his statement that the Southern Presbyterian Church seceded from the Northern on account of slavery and the Civil War, for this is not a fact. He needs to tone down the arrogant title, "Our National Church,” or the “National Presbyterian Church,” which he applies to one branch of the Presbyterians in this country. Our Kentucky brethren will not enjoy the statement that their Synod "also withdrew from the National Church," and entered the Southern Church. For a book intended to circulate among all Presbyterians, and to trace American Presbyterianism, this is a singular compilation and composition. It recounts much that is familiar and nothing that is new. Its chief value lies in its presentation in condensed form of many of the statistics gathered from the census reports of 1890.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTH GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE ALLIANCE OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES HOLDING THE PRESBYTERIAN SYSTEM, HELD AT GLASGOW, 1896. Edited by the Rev. G. D. Mathews, D. D., General Secretary of the Alliance. 8vo., xvi. 480. Appendix, iv., 216. $3.00 net. London: James Nisbet & Co., Limited. New York and Chicago. Fleming H. Revell Company. 1896. This volume embraces all the proceedings of the Glasgow Council, the sermons and addresses delivered, the rolls of members or appointed delegates, and the appointment of the different committees. In the appendix, which would be almost a large volume by itself, will be found the reports of the several churches included in the Alliance, the reports of the various committees appointed at the last Council, a translation of the "Post Acta" of the Synod of Dort, 1618, the treasurer's report, and certain papers ordered by the Council to be printed, and certain addenda, in the form of documents referring to the history of the Alliance

and its executive commission, the basis and constitution of the Alliance, rules of order, etc. In reading the volume, we are naturally most interested in the representation which the Southern Church had in this historic gathering. The only formal papers or speeches from those delegated by our Assembly were Dr. Hemphill's paper on "The Mission of the Church as a Promoter of Social and Public Worship," a brief, but beautiful and suggestive study, and Dr. Moses Hoge's address on the "Educational Influence of Presbyterianism on National Life," an address characterized by all the eloquence and beauty of diction for which this great preacher is so well known. Dr. Thornwell's speech in moving the adoption of the Council's resolutions on International Arbitration richly deserves the encomium passed by Professor Lindsay. of Glasgow, in seconding it, as most eloquent; while for attractiveness and appropriateness, playfulness and power, polish and beauty, Dr. Moore's address at the close of the Council could not have been surpassed.

CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE APPOINTMENT OF PROFESSOR WILLIAM HENry Green as AN INSTRUCTOR IN PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, MAY 5, 1896. With a Portrait. Sqr. 8vo, pp. 193. $1.50 net. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1896.

This beautiful volume, a model in its typographical and other material features, commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Green's appointment as a Professor in Princeton Seminary, by giving us in permanent form all the incidents, observances, and speeches of that memorable occasion. Its appendix, comprising more than half the volume, records the many testimonials and letters from institutions of learning and from prominent individuals which poured in, the leading press notices of the occasion, and a most complete bibliography of Dr. Green. Not only to all who took part in that remarkable gathering, but to all who rejoice in the life and work of this great teacher and master, will this superb book be of value and interest.

THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOr Hour. With Light for the Leader. By Thomas G. F. Hill, A. M., Pastor of Wakefield Church, Germantown, Philadelphia; and Grace Livingstone Hill, author of The Parkerstown Delegate; Katherine's Yesterday; A Chautauqua Idyl, etc., etc. With an Introduction by Mrs. G. R. Alden (Pansy). Part I. (January-June.) 1897. New York, Chicago, and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company. 1897. Pp. 63. Single part, 15 cts.; both parts, 25 cts.

A convenient and compact volume, containing, besides the introduction, general hints to leaders, forms for the reception of members and officers, and a series of very valuable suggestions called "Don'ts," topics for each Sabbath of the first half of the year, the Scripture passage containing them, lists of appropriate hymns from Gospel Hymns, No. 6. and Christian Endeavor Hymns, parallel passages, practical applications and illustrations, and helps and hints to the leader. Members of young people's societies will find it useful.

METHODIST YEAR-BOOK FOR 1897. A. B. Sanford, D. D., Editor. New York: Eaton & Mains. 1897. Pp. 134. Paper, 10 cts.; postage, 4 cts. additional. It should be the aim of the intelligent Christian to be acquainted, in at least a

general way, with all the evangelical denominations and their work. Especially should one know something of that great body which numbers more adherents in its ranks than any other single organization of the religious bodies of our land. The statistics, benevolences, educational enterprises, societies, and various organizations of this great body, the Methodist Episcopal Church, are succinctly given or described in this little volume. A chapter of general information, on the Young Men's Christian Association, the World's Evangelical Alliance, the American Sabbath Union, Temperance Organizations, Old World Methodism, etc., is added.

WEBSTER'S INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Being the Authentic Edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Comprising the Issues of 1864, 1879, and 1884. Now Thoroughly Revised and Enlarged under the Supervision of Noah Porter, D. D., LL. D., of Yale University. With a Voluminous Appendix. Springfield, Mass.: Published by G. & C. Merriam Company. 1896.

A simple announcement of this as 'The International" would, perhaps, have been sufficient. For all the purposes of a dictionary, our careful examination of the leading competitors for acceptance shows this to be by far the best. It is a dictionary, and not an encyclopædia. It tells one just what one goes to a dictionary to find out. It is up to date in both definition and illustration. Its Introduction furnishes all that one could wish in the way of a History of the Language, Guide to Pronunciation, Synopsis of Words Differently Pronounced by Different Orthoëpists, etc.; while its ample appendices of Fiction, Biography, Gazetteer; Scripture, Greek, and Latin names; Words, Phrases, etc., from other languages; Illustrations, etc., are complete and available. It is unrivalled in completeness, comprehensiveness, and clearness. In reliability and readiness of reference it is incomparable.

A CYCLE OF CATHAY; or, China, South and North. With Personal Reminiscences. By W. A. P. Martin, D. D., LL. D., President Emeritus of the Imperial Tungwen College, Membre de L'Institute de Droit International, Membre Cor. de la Société de la Legislation Comparée, etc. With Illustrations and Map New York, Chicago, and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company. 1896. 8vo., pp. 464.$2.00.

A Chinese cycle is sixty years. It is to describe the condition, life, and history of China during about this length of time that the author writes. For threefourths of the time he was living in China, identified with its domestic and public life during a part of the time as no other American has ever been, and from official relations to its government intimately familiar with such aspects of its life as few have the opportunity to become. Dr. Martin went to China early in 1850, as a missionary, settling in South China. In 1863 he began work in North China, at Peking. Here his relations with Mr. Burlingame, the American minister, were most intimate. His work here was to establish a school for the education of preachers, physicians, and engineers. The government offered material aid in the support of the enterprise. In 1868 he was called to a professorship in the new government college, of which he became president. The special object of