"IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH." Sermons on Practical Subjects, preached at Marlborough College, 1871-1876. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. London: Macmillan & Co. 1876.

DR. FARRAR, on his removal to a stall at Westminster, has issued this volume as a reminiscence of his work at Marlborough. The success achieved by his "Life of Christ has rendered him the most popular religious writer in England, but his most profound influence has been exercised in the college which he has recently left. Among the head masters of our great public schools there are none who surpass him in respect either to his intellectual or moral qualifications for so responsible a post. We are here concerned with him only as a preacher, and as a preacher to young men; for all the sermons in the volume are addressed to a special class, and that class one of the most difficult to reach. From almost every pulpit in England we may continually hear eloquent descriptions of the advantages of youth, and earnest exhortations to improve them. And from almost every preacher in England we may hear confessions of the delicate nature of the task thus undertaken, and of the necessity of bringing to bear upon it all the resources of Christian wisdom and experience. The difficulty of the work is, in fact, proportioned to its importance, and many who are fully alive to the latter often feel themselves at a loss in regard to the former. Some of our most successful Nonconformist ministers are distinguished as preachers to young men. We need do no more than name Mr. Maclaren,

Dr. Landels, Mr. H. S. Brown, and Mr. Dale. In the Church of England there are preachers of the foremost order whose powers in this direction have been developed by their connection with the public schools, e.g., Bishop Temple, Dr. Vaughan, and Dr. Farrar, all of whose sermonsbut especially those of the two latter -are, from this point of view, admirable. We direct special attention to the volume before us because of its special character. To those who are conscious of the difficulty to which we have referred its We study may prove invaluable. should not go to Dr. Farrar for instruction in theology, although his views on the most essential points, so far as they are here expressed, are in harmony with our own; he is not an original-scarcely, perhaps, a profound thinker. But he has more to commend him than his accurate and varied scholarship and his brilliant style. He thoroughly understands young men, he is as a lad among lads. He can enter sympathetically into their aims and aspirations; he knows both the limitations and the strength of their desires; he clearly those elements of their nature to which he must appeal, and he makes full allowance for the difficulties and temptations they inevitably encounter. He could not have preached these sermons unless he had felt an all but paternal interest in his Marlborough boys. They have certainly had a place in his strongest affections, and he has made it his great care to train them to a pure and Christlike manhood.

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Always when I have mounted the steps of this pulpit," he says, in his

LAST WORDS, "the one sole desire of my heart has been to share with you those thoughts which are the bread of life; to speak to you so that the very youngest little boy might understand; to make every sermon an influenceinfinitesimal it might be, yet realagainst the power of temptation; a warning-ineffectual it might be, yet solemn against those bad, base spirits which would have troubled the peace of our souls; a force, insignificant indeed, and yet appreciable, on the side of God."

of

And every sermon in the volume confirms and illustrates the accuracy of the assertion. The subjects are aptly chosen--e.g., Little Faithfulnesses--the Right Use Speech-Innocent Happiness-SelfConquest Calling Things by their Wrong Names-Sowing among Thorns-How to keep Good Resolutions Sobermindedness-Holiday Advice The Courage of Saints possible in Boyhood-School GamesFrom Sorrow to Repentance, &c. The discourses are all written in language which is at once beautiful and impressive. The preacher seems constantly to speak as in the presence of God. He knows all the windings of the human heart," and his sermons are like a mirror in which every shade of character may see itself reflected. The image of Christ is constantly before him as the pattern of what we ought to be, and he fearlessly drags to the light all that prevents us from becoming as He is. A healthier tone could scarcely be. Indolence, falsehood, impurity, unkindness, and ungodliness are sternly rebuked.

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Truth, holiness, and love are portrayed in colours of radiant beauty, the hollowness of sinful and selfish pleasure is felt, and we are led to that "hilltop of sanctity and goodness above which there is no other ascent but to the love of God." We might also have dwelt upon Dr. Farrar's power of apt illustration, of which

62, Paternoster Row.

MR. STOCK'S valuable fac simile editions of standard works are some of the most interesting features in the history of contemporary bibliography. "Paradise Lost" in its original garb will find quite as ready a welcome as "Bunyan's Pilgrim," "Herbert's Temple," and "Walton's Complete Angler." So exact is the reproduction that it not only perpetuates the old fount which furnished the type, and the water-lined grey paper of the seventeenth century (good for sore eyes), and the brown sheep binding, and the pot quarto size in which publications akin to those of the blind old radical made

their appearance. It also exactly reproduces literal imperfections of the type, the errata of the printers, obsolete and inaccurate spelling, and all that is needful, as Professor Masson informs us, to make the reader "imagine himself one of the first purchasers of the original in October or November, 1667, who has just left Mr. Parker's shop near Aldgate, or Mr. Boulter's in Bishopsgate Street, or Mr. Walker's in Fleet Street, with a fresh copy, and is turning over the leaves as he walks." Amongst the peculiarities of this edition is the fact that it has no numerical paging, but only a headline to each page noting the number of the current "Book" of the poem, with a marginal numbering of the

lines in decades. Dr. Masson's interesting introduction increases the value even of this copy of "Paradise Lost." The learned Doctor very minutely explains the negotiations for the payment by Simmons, the publisher, for the copyright, and fastens upon the Tonsons in the commencement of the last century the reproach of allowing the widow and daughter of the English Homer to live and die in penury when they were enriching themselves with the unrighteous monopoly which was then the custom of the trade.

THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE. Translated by Peter Holmes, D.D., F.R.A.S., &c., and Rev. R. E. Wallis, Ph. D. Vol. III. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 38, George Street. 1876.

WITH the exception of the "Life," by Dr. Rainy, the Augustine series is now complete. The Anti-Pelagian writings of the renowned African father are, if not his most popular, at least his greatest works. The Pelagian heresy derived its name from Pelagius, a British monk of the fourth and fifth centuries. He was a man of high moral principle and of deserved influence, but his keenly speculative mind led him astray on two points of the most essential moment. He denied the inherent sinfulness of our nature, and the necessity of all supernatural influence on the human will. Augustine vigorously opposed him on the grounds of philosophy, experience, and Scripture. In none of his works do his keen logical subtlety, his marvellous powers of reasoning, his immense learning, and his profound acquaintance with Scripture, appear with greater effect; and though we cannot invariably commend the manner in which he speaks of Pelagius, especially in the

later stages of the controversy, there can be no doubt that he gained a signal triumph over his opponent, and one which has largely determined the subsequent forms of the Christian faith. How deeply Calvin imbibed the spirit of these noble writings our theological readers are well aware. It is in them that he found the greatest help to the formation of the wonderful system which is now called by his name. Augustine was not a critic in the modern sense of the word; but what would we not give for such a comprehensive understanding of the great doctrines of Scripture as he here displays! Even in these books, which treat of grace and free will, we cannot endorse all his arguments and positions; but we always rise from the perusal of his works with a profounder admiration of his genius and a corresponding gratitude for his expositions and vindications of Christian truth.

ROWLAND HILL: His Life, Anecdotes, and Pulpit Sayings. By J. Charlesworth. London: Hodder and Stoughton, Paternoster Row.

ROWLAND HILL was not partial to Baptists. He was a very witty man, a very good man, earnest and selfdenying in efforts after usefulness, and a zealous, though poor preacher. It is a pleasant revolution of events which gives us his memoir and his smart sayings under the hands of Mr. Spurgeon and Mr. Charlesworth.

THE LEISURE HOUR. 1876.
THE SUNDAY AT HOME. 1876.

London Religious Tract Society. THESE universal favourites are full, as usual, of diverting and useful reading. Some of the illustrations in the Leisure Hour are too Doré-like for our taste, but its judicious and learned editor knows full well how to regulate such matters.

MODERN INFIDELITY DISARMED. In a Reply to M. Renan's Life of Jesus, &c. By E. Stephens. London: Bemrose & Sons, Paternoster Buildings. 1876.

THERE are already several scholarly and conclusive replies to Renan's Vie de Jesus, so that we are unable to endorse the opinion of those critics who, having read this work in MS., regard it as "a necessity of the times." Mr. Stephens writes, however, from a popular standpoint, and principally addresses himself to general or nonscientific readers. His work should, therefore, "prove extensively useful." He has unquestionably mastered Renan's leading positions, both in respect to the question of the supernatural and to the historical problems connected with the four Gospels, and not only mastered but refuted them. In fact, it has been his aim to treat Renan as the representative of modern infidelity and to answer the sceptical objections which are now so widely urged against Christianity, and of which Renan's book is after all no more than a summary. He has some very terse remarks on the subject of miracles and prophecy, and the chief doctrines of Christianity are powerfully vindicated. If the work could have been compressed into smaller space, it would have been improved. But it well deserves what we trust it will receive an extensive circulation, and we cordially commend it to those who have to meet the unbelief and the semi-atheism which are, as we well know, so prevalent.

SERMONS. By the late Rev. DAVID LOXTON, Sheffield. With a short memoir by his Widow. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1876. THESE memorials of a good and faithful ministry are well worthy of preservation. Mr. Loxton was a man whom it was a pleasure to know. His deep thoughtfulness and fine geniality of spirit were evident even to those who came into mere casual contact with him. He was throughout life a diligent student-especially of Holy Scripture; his sermons were prepared

DR. CULROSS has here given us a revised and enlarged edition of his "Lazarus Revived -a work which we have long valued as the most precious monograph on the hallowed scenes and associations of Bethany with which our Christian literature has been enriched. The home of those whom Jesus loved is brought vividly before us, and we gaze with calm and rapt feelings on the glory of that Divine Lord, who so wondrously proved Himself to be "The Resurrection and the Life." We know of no work which depicts so beautifully the tenderness, the sympathy and the helpfulness of Christ, and exhibits more clearly the strength and consolation to be derived even in our severest trials from His love. In this edition there is a new chapter on the "Anointing at Bethany" (Mark xiv. 3-8, &c.), which greatly enhances its worth, and in its revised form the volume will command a still wider popularity.