know their real benefactors! We should have been glad, had space allowed, to have transferred the main features of Mr. Tallack's portraiture to our pages. But our readers will do well to read the book for themselves, and we venture to predict they will not lay it down without a tender reverence for the First of the Friends. Methodist ministers may profitably, both to themselves and their people, emulate him in his profound acquaintance with the scriptures, his spiritual power, his sobriety of speech and yet kindly cheerful disposition, his abundant and disinterested labours in the cause of truth, his patience in suffering, and courage in danger. Some amusing instances are given of his shrewdness. We copy one.

66

At an assize-trial, (at Launceston) Chief Justice Glynn commended him to take off his hat. George replied, "Where did ever any magistrate, king, or judge, from Moses to Daniel, command any to put off their hats when they came before them in their courts? And if the law of England doth command any such thing-show me that law, either written or printed." Then the Judge grew very angry, and said, "I do not carry my law-books on my back." But," said George, "tell me where it is printed in any statute-book that I may read it." The judge exclaimed, Take him away, prevaricator!" George adds, So they took us away and put us among thieves." Presently after, he calls to the gaoler, "Bring them up again." When they came in, the Judge said to them, Come, where had they hats from Moses to Daniel; come, answer me, I have you fast now." But he did not know his man, George, who was like Apollo, "mighty in the scripture," unhesitatingly responded, "Thou mayest read in the third of Daniel, that the three children were cast into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar's command, with their coats, their hose, and their hats on." Once more the baffled and enraged Judge cried out, 'Take them away, gaoler." p. 150.

46

66

The ecclesiastical polity of Quakerism is described in a friendly, yet faithful spirit. The defects of the system, and the faults exemplified in its working, are not left un-noticed. Even Friends it seems are often and markedly inconsistent in their church practice with the theory they profess, and modern Quakerism has deviated in some things from the rules and doctrines of its first leaders. But of what denomination may not the same be affirmed? Nor were the declining years of Fox wholly smooth, for there arose, even amongst his first followers, some who opposed the disciplinary or other institutes adopted by him. One was severely censured, if not formally excommunicated, because he chose to assert his individual liberty by wearing a beard. We have seen a Methodist Conference do the same in our day. But Quakerism with all its faults and one-sidedness has been a blessing to society, and we are sorry to see the marks of decay upon it. We believe, with the author of this work, that there is still an unabated need for the continuance of its testimony to the individualising and perceptible guidance of the Holy Spirit.

But we fear with him that the Society of Friends may now be in danger of lowering its high and noble standard, from seeking to assimilate its principles too much to those of other sects for the sake of proselytism or church extension. "To attempt to grasp at numerical extension must be futile; for Quakerism (as all its history and experience prove) is utterly unfit for the many. The great mass of mankind cannot, and will not, be imbued with it, because it is too restraining and too elective for them. Its special function consists in indirectly influencing the world for good through the medium of a comparatively few disciplined independent spirits, calling no inan master in a religous sense; seeking the glory of God and the welfare of their fellow-men, but relying for aid, in each of these two objects, upon the promptings and heaven-given power, which the cultivation of prayerful individual responsibility peculiarly cherishes by its more practical realization of God's own government in the soul.”

We thank Mr. Tallack for his valuable little book, and can assure all who feel an interest in the subjects of which it treats, that they will be amply repaid by its perusal.

The Mystery of Growth and other Discourses: By the REV. EDWARD WHITE. London: Elliot Stock, 1868.

THERE are thirty discourses in this goodly volume arranged under five divisions. I. Discourses on the Elements of Faith. II. Discourses on the History and Character of the Lord Jesus Christ. III. Discourses on some of the Christian Doctrines. IV. Practical Discourses on Personal Character. V. Discourses on Matter relating to the Church. The author declares his aim throughout to be practical, and neither scientific nor theological. Still the discourses are not altogether disconnected ones, but are selected portions of a series, commencing with the elements of religion, and ending with the final results of faith in the formation of Christ's image in the Individual and in the Church. This explains the designation of the volume. The subject of the first discourse is taken as a title descriptive of the whole Divine procedure, some of whose parts it is sought to portray in the subsequent discourses.

The contents of the volume show that it is not one for minute criticism. As a whole we can and do commend it most earnestly. Though a volume of discourses, it is as far from being a dull book as possible. The usual routine of a sermon is discarded, and the author speaks out of the fulness of his heart, and according to the form

ZZ

suggested by his own genius. With no aim at fine writing, there is much that is finely written, in the best sense. "The great Asiatic Revolution in the age of Nebuchadnezzar" is one of the most effectively written pieces we have read for many a day. Let anyone peruse it attentively, and if its graphic and sublime pictures do not burn themselves into his memory, so that he shall scarcely be able again to forget them, he may safely set himself down as having a nature essentially stolid. "A Good Man the subject of Divine thought from eternity" is a discourse embodying a sublime conception: "The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus," truly beautiful: and the one "On the Reality of Man's Intercourse with his Maker," is instinct with true Christian earnestness. The author correctly says his aim in the discourses is not theological teaching in a direct form, but the few which come nearest to this under the head of "Some of

the Christian Doctrines" are not the least instructive. Two especially "What does Paul mean by the Righteousness of God?" and "On the Struggle between the Flesh and the Spirit," we consider very valuable. But we desist from further particularization, and hope we have said enough to convey to our readers our high estimation of the volume. Those who like a book whose leading characteristics are life, freshness, freedom, and power, will certainly relish this.

Tellström and Lapland: By GEORGE SCOTT, D.D.; with an Introductory Sketch of the Stockholm Mission. London: Wesleyan Conference Office. 1868.

AT the request of an Englishman in Stockholm, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, in 1826, sent a minister there to labour among our countrymen resident in that city. He soon enlarged the sphere of his usefulness by acquiring a knowledge of the language, and holding public services in Swedish. Dr. Scott, his successor, trod in his steps in this respect, and found his labours owned of God in a remarkable way. His efforts, difficulties, and successes are briefly related in the introduction. Tellström was one of his converts; a man in humble life, but of indomitable energy. Having tasted mercy, he was intensely anxious to bring others to the Saviour, and eventually devoted his life to making Him known to the Laplanders. The country of this people, their habits and character, and Tellström's self-denying and successful labours among them, are given briefly, but in a very interesting manner. It is just the book to introduce

into our Sunday Schools.

Speaking to the Life; or, Practical Godliness: By JOHN BATE. Second Thousand. London: S. W. Partridge. 1867. HERE are thirty brief essays pertaining more or less to christian living. Those who are acquainted with the other works of the author, will know what to expect in this. It is a book written to do good, and if it do not realize its object, the fault lies not with the writer or his work, but the reader.

The Primitive Sabbath restored by Christ. An Historical Argument derived from ancient records of China, Egypt, and other Lands. By the REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, St, James's Free Church, Glasgow. London : James Nisbet & Co. 1868. THE author says, "it is well-known that several of the most learned and orthodox of the Church of England and Puritan divines of the seventeenth century, maintained that the Sabbath was changed at the exodus from Egypt, and that the christian Sabbath is now held on the same day as the primitive or patriarchal Sabbath." In this pamphlet of forty-four pages, his chief aim is to establish the latter proposition, the former being referred to only as subsidiary to his argument. The argument is certainly conducted with considerable research and learning, but we pronounce no opinion on its conclusiveness. Those interested in the question should read and judge for themselves.

The Fixed Character of God's Dealings, in Nature and Grace, in this Life and the Life to come. Lessons from the Healing of the Paralytic. By the REV. G. ST. CLAIR. London: Stock.

1868.

A suggestive discourse and worthy of perusal.

Is Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister prohibited by the Laws of God? By the REV. J. HANNAH. London: Stock.

1868.

To this question we should answer-No; while Mr. Hannah's reply is-Yes. We have read his pamphlet and still retain our opinion.

The Holy Child Jesus; or the early life of Christ viewed in connection with the History, Chronology, and Archeology of the times: By the REV. THORNLEY SMITH. Wesleyan Conference Office.

1868.

London:

THOSE Who have read Mr. Smith's Histories of Joseph, Moses, and Joshua, will be able to anticipate the character of this latest production of his pen. Its object and execution are alike praiseworthy. With the writer we are not aware of the existence of any work which treats the early life of Jesus in the manner here attempted, and we thank him, as we think his readers mostly will, for filling the niche which we wonder has been so long unoccupied. The subjects handled in the book are,—the Annunciation-the Forerunner of Jesus-His Birthplace-His Nativity-the Shepherds of Bethlehem -the Presentation in the Temple-the Magi of the East-the Flight into Egypt and the Slaughter of the Innocents--the Holy Child at Nazareth-with the Doctors in the Temple-subject to His Parents -the Place in History of the Holy Child. The discussion of these topics is mainly critical and elucidatory, and not in the form of sermons or lectures. An index of contents adds to the value of a very interesting book.