claims which Jesus made for Himself were utterly incompatible with His being only a man. I pointed this out to Unitarian friends-men of learning and intellect-thinking that perhaps they could clear away my difficulties; but I became terribly startled at finding that, as a rule, they attached no more importance to the writings of the New Testament than I had done when I was a Secularist. If I quoted the words of my text of to-night, I was told that, in all probability, Jesus never said anything of the kind. If I referred to the opening verses of John's Gospel, and asked what was meant the Logos, who and what was Logos, in what sense the

us was with God, and in what sense it was God, I was referred to Plato, and from Plato to Philo, and thus plunged back again into the mystic rubbish from which I had escaped when I left behind me the fogs of Strauss and the inanities of Paulus. 'Clearly,' said I, if the New Testament is worth anything at all, it must not be thus treated. Either it is true or it is not; and, having already made up my mind that it is, I must be guided by it, and accept what it teaches.' I read, and thought, and prayed, and at lust a light, as though from heaven, burst into my mind, and with the full character of Christ before my view, I was able to say with Thomas, My Lord and my God.''

In the first of these two discourses, entitled "Without God in the World," Dr. Sexton gives a very graphic description of those who deny the existence of God altogether, whom he designates Anti-Theists rather than Atheists. He tells us that "these are not very numerous, because the most extreme sceptics generally content themselves with saying that they see no evidence of the existence of God, or, at all events, that the evidence that is forthcoming is insufficient to produce conviction in their minds, but that they are by no means prepared to affirm that a God does not exist."

The following remarks on Pantheism are, to our mind, remarkable for accurate discrimination :

are

"In theory, Pantheism and Atheism as wide asunder as the poles; practically, they amount to very much the same thing; for although the Atheist sees God nowhere, and the Pantheist beholds Him everywhere, both ignore His personality, and, therefore, His providence. Atheism

discovers in matter the potency of every form of life; Pantheism holds that matter itself is a mode of the one great existence, which it designates God; but whether you call the universe matter or spirit is of very little moment, if, in either case, it is held to be impersonal. Pantheism, like Atheism, gets rid of creation, of providence, of prayer, of immortalityi.e., a distinct individual immortality

of revelation, and, in truth, of absolute moral distinctions between right and wrong. It is utterly fallacious, and cannot for one moment stand the test of a rational examination; for, as I have before remarked, intelligence is necessarily based upon consciousness, and consciousness must be identified with personality. If God, therefore, be impersonal, He is unconscious, consequently unintelligent-ergo, non-existent. The logical resting-place of Pantheism, therefore, is in Atheism."

With equal force Dr. Sexton deals with the dogmas of those whose belief is in an "Unknowable God," with the deniers of Providence, and so-called advocates of Natural Law; but our intention is only so far to quote as shall ensure from all onr readers the purchase of this pamphlet, and we are sure that its acquirement will result in their case, as it has done in our own, in an oftrepeated perusal and consequent feelings of devout thankfulness. The second portion of the first sermon, which represents the miserable condition of the man without God, is a most powerful delineation, drawn from experience, of the utter desq

lation, emptiness, and withering doubt of the sceptic's inner life.

The second sermon is an able defence of Christianity, exalting the perfection of the Saviour's character and work, and unfolding the essential element of rest on a personal Saviour as the pith and marrow of the Christian system. We cannot refrain from reproducing the following eloquent words:

"It is customary now-a-days to ridicule what is called conversion as being solely imaginary; but, depend upon it, it is one of the most important realities of life. By the operation of the Spirit of God on the soul, alone can sin be cured, and the man who feels himself a sinner will also feel the importance of the words of the text, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.'

"In conclusion, I may remark that the application of Christianity to the wants of the age is, in my conception, most perfect. You cannot have a better illustration of the necessity of this religion than is to be found in the fact that the men who reject it, and profess to have outgrown it, have gone back again to the condition of their predecessors eighteen hundred years ago. When Paul went to Athens, he found the people worshiping the Unknown God,' and that is exactly what scientific men are doing again to-day. The Tyndals and the Huxleys, et hoc genus omne, are proclaiming to-day a God that is unknowable, and from their stand-point they are right, for there is no real knowledge of God out of Christ.

In

Him, too, may be found a solution of many of the problems which this age presents. To-day the question is shouted by sages, and re-echoed by the mob,What is Truth?' Here is the answer, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.' 'What is God?' is a question that is being asked on every hand. The reply comes, God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.' 'Spirit,' sneers the sceptic, I can't conceive of Spirit;

cares

i want something more tangible.' Here it is then; listen to Christ's words: He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father, for I am in the Father and the Father in Me.' 'Is man immortal?' the unbeliever asks sneeringly, and the common people inquiringly, and the answer comes. 'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' In the vast turmoil of business, and amongst the thousand and anxieties that press us down on every hand, we feel the need of rest, rest of mind. Jesus exclaims, 'Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Around us there is dense spiritual darkness, shutting out the bright light of the sun, and obscuring our gaze on every hand. Here is the remedy, 'I am the light of the world.' We feel ourselves alone when friends have proved treacherous and companions false. Then comes in the glorious promise, 'Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' And when sin crushes us down, and rises up in our midst like huge trees of the forest, seeming to flourish and triumph, while virtue droops and holiness appears to hang its head, then comes the grand proclamation made eighteen hundred years ago, and remaining as potent today as when first uttered, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.""

SOME FACTS OF RELIGION AND OF LIFE. Sermons Preached before Her Majesty the Queen in Scotland, 1866-1876. By John Tulloch, D.D. William Blackwood

and Sons, Edinburgh. 1877.

A VOLUME of sermons preached before Her Majesty the Queen, and published with her approval, is sure to attract attention, but in addition to this the intrinsic merits of the volume are so great that it needs only to be known to be appreciated.

Dr. Tulloch is both an able theologian, and an eloquent preacher. He is keenly alive to all the higher

intellectual movements of our age, not less in the sphere of physical science than in that of Biblical criticism. He unites the skill of the trained logician with the intuition of the seer, and can without difficulty disentangle fact from theory. Every page of his sermons shows how accurately he estimates "The spirit of the age," and how clearly he understands its deepest needs. He

is at the farthest remove from a blind conservative dogmatism; he welcomes light from whatever quarter it comes; he is eager to catch the first faint notes of the voice of truth, but he does not therefore deem it necessary to abandon his faith in Christ.

The

great verities of the Christian religion are untouched by the advances of science and the (so-called) discoveries of criticism. No progress on this lower plane can affect our standing on the higher. Religion is a distinct and independent power which, amid all our intellectual commotions,

remains unmoved. The main value of this volume lies in its power to help those who have been perplexed with doubt, who have felt themselves unable to solve the intellectual problems forced on our attention by "advanced thinkers."

It gives a lucid exposition of the foundation "facts "of religion, and shows their harmony with our highest know

ledge. It also forcibly distinguishes Christianity from human conceptions and interpretations of it, and leads us away from authority and tradition into the presence of Christ Himself. For it is one marked characteristic of Principal Tulloch's mind, that while he refuses to be bound by human creeds, and overlooks what we should be glad to see acknowledged, he is profoundly reverent and loyal towards Christ, and brings everything to the test of His will and word. The sermons on "Religion and Theology," "Law and Life," exceedingly able, and afford an Religion, Culture, and Ritual," are

admirable illustration of the main position of the volume as we have already indicated it. Not less valuable are those on "The Peace of Christ," "The Mystery of Suffering," and "Christian Union." "Grace and Freedom in Christ," But the

whole volume is one that will be read and re-read by all who can appreciate high thought, pure and elevated sentiment, and chaste beauty of expression. Principal Tulloch is not a mere rhetorician, nor does he even aim at effect," but he has a strong masculine mind, a reverent heart, a cultured imagination, and the power of expressing his meaning in the most concise and forcible

terms.

idea as almost a common-place in the modern mind, is to be accepted as a blessing. It is impossible to exaggerate the good which has come to popular religion from the growth of scientific thought and the expulsion of those spectres of arbitrary personality which were wont to lurk in the But it may be doubted how far the Bible was

obscurities of nature.

ever responsible for such imaginations, or whether even modern thought can conceive more grandly of the inscrutable power of which it speaks-which it everywhere recognises'n the psalmist or the divine dramati. chose language I have quoted. What march of cosmical force through endless æons is more sublime than the rule of thought, alike in the courses of the stars, the waves of the sea, and the pulsations of the heart? And if this conception is anthropomorphic, are not all our conceptions equally so? Man can only think at all after his own likeness on any subject; and whether the conception of mere force, or of an intelligent will, bears least the stamp of human weakness may be safely left to the rational judgment of the future. It is the savage who, when he hears the thunder amongst his woods, or looks upon the riot of nature in a storm, trembles before a mighty force which he fails to understand. It is the Hebrew poet or Grecian sage in whose own mind has risen the dawn of creative thought, who clothes this mystery of power with intelligence and life.

MINOR CHARACTERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. By William Brock, Minister of Heath Street Chapel, Hampstead. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. 1877. THESE short sketches are the fruit of much painstaking and intelligent study of the Scriptures. We are, perhaps, all of us apt to overlook the secondary characters of the Bible, and to fix our attention somewhat exclusively on those who occupy the first rank. The loss we thereby suffer is greater than we may imagine, and

alike in intellectual and spiritual grounds is to be deplored. Among other feelings created in the mind by a perusal of this volume is a feeling of shame that so valuable a field of study should have been neglected. We are thankful that our friend Mr. Brock has called precious fruits it will yield. attention to it, and shown what The characters he portrays are drawn entirely from the companions and friends of the Apostle Paul, so that a unity is given to the work, and it also throws light upon some aspects of the Apostle's greatness. If these sketches have been delivered as sermons, the congregation which enjoys such teaching is to be congratulated. There is throughout a broad mental grasp, a rare power of reading character," a skilful grouping of facts, and a fine combination of scattered details which generally allowed to lie in obscurity. To listen to sermons of this class must be a valuable training in the true method of "Searching the Scriptures." This is, we believe,

66

are

Mr. Brock's first literary venture, but we confidently anticipate that it will be followed by many others.

THE BOOK OF RUTH: A Popular Exposition. By Samuel Cox. London: Religious Tract Society. THIS "popular exposition" is one of the happiest of its author's efforts, and what higher praise can be given? Mr. Cox has a decided genius for work of this order. He not only graphically depicts the surroundings of the writers of Scripture, but enters with appreciative sympathy into their thoughts and feelings. He presents their teachings in a thoroughly modern setting, and invests the oldest story with new charms. There is in this small volume an idyllic grace and beauty, and we are sure that nine out of every ten who read it will see in the Book of Ruth a richer and

fuller meaning than they have discerned before, and understand better the rationale of its place in the sacred canon. The appendices on Christ as the Menuchah (rest) of the world and on the Goel are exceeding valuable. The former is a specimen of Mr. Cox's wonderful ingenuity as an interpreter of Scripture-an ingenuity which is occasionally somewhat overstrained.

THE

THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY. No. 9. January, 1877.

THE HOMILETICAL QUARTERLY. No. 1. January, 1877. London: R. D. Dickinson, Farringdon Street.

DICKINSON'S Theological Quarterly has long since established its claims to a foremost place among our religious serials. It consists of the ablest articles on theological and philosophic questions by American and Continental divines, and considering its high excellence and its size, it is a marvel of cheapness. In the present number there are no less than a dozen articles, everyone of which is thoughtful, scholarly, and devout. We may

mention especially "The Denial of the Supernatural," by Professor Taylor Lewis; "The Eleusinian Mysteries," by Professor Cooper; "Zwingli's Theology," by Dr. Schaff; and "The Future of Catholic Nations," from the French of Emile de Lavelye. This last is especially seasonable, and ought to be read by all who are interested in the great ecclesiastical controversy of our day. Mr. Gladstone has spoken of it in terms of warm praise.

The Homiletic Quarterly is, as its name proclaims, of a different class from the Theological. We do not value it so highly, but in view of its purpose it promises to be a complete success. There is an eloquent sermon by Canon Liddon; a singularly thoughtful and suggestive exposition of Matt. v. 1-16, by Professor Reynolds, of Cheshunt College; a series of pithy paragraph-articles on "Bible Manners and Customs; "Homiletic Sketches "

" on several books of Scripture, and many other features of interest. There are no le:s

than 144 pages of closely printed matter, and it is published at two shillings. Mr. Dickinson is determined to bring within the reach of every minister and preacher in the land the results of the latest Biblical investigations, and the most vigorous thought on Scripture themes.

THE EASTERN QUESTION; Turkey, its Mission and Doom. By the Author of "The Government of the Kingdom of Christ." London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.

THIS is a study in Bible prophecy applicable to the present times, and therefore unusually interesting. Those who are especially gratified by investigations of this nature will, of course, read the work eagerly; but apart from such particular tendency we recommend readers of the Bible generally not to neglect trying to understand the unfulfilled prophecies. Mr. Porteous's book, a very little book, is worth reading, and we recommend it to those who study prophetical interpretation.

HIDDEN LESSONS, from the Verbal Repetitions and Varieties of the New Testament. By Rev. J. F. B. Tinling, B.A. London : Samuel Bagster & Sons, Paternoster Row.

THIS is an attempt to suggest new ideas in the interpretation of the New Testament by translations of the original Greek in more literal English than the authorised version employs. We are always ready to welcome, and that cordiallyany book which stimulates to the microscopic study of the Word of God. This collection of translations is characterised by much accuracy, and will be valuable to general students. But for such study as this work involves, the most likely readers are ministers ignorant of Greek, and we fear that such books tempt into textual criticism those who are fitted only for exposition of the subject matter. We often hear men whose zeal and eloquence command respect