there remaineth for him the rest that is above. For some years Mr Wallace was compelled by ill health to be absent from his flock; but though the tongue was hushed, the busy pen plied its unwearied labours. We have in the volume now before us fourteen of these pastoral epistles penned by the absent pastor to his flock. Restored for a brief space to his post, he resumed his courses of sermons, of which we have here the record of four. Action sermons, sermons to the young, and divers other matters, close the volume. For pastors here are valuable hints and suggestions. No minister can read this volume without being stirred up to fresh zeal, earnestness, and energy in his labour. Solid and sound in doctrine, graceful and accurate in style, pointed and practical in their tendency, these "Pastoral Recollections" prove that the pastor's eye was not dim, nor his force in any degree abated. We heartily commend the volume to our readers, as a valuable addition to its two predecessors. Remarks on the Antiquity of Man, in Reply to the Recent Work of Sir Charles Lyell. By Rev. J. BRODIE, A.M. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter, & Co. 1864. Mr Brodie has produced a very able and very interesting volume. He has turned his knowledge of geology to good account, and has given us a really valuable contribution to what we might call scientific apologetics. The arguments of Sir Charles Lyell are fairly stated, fairly met, and as we think fully answered. The volume treats of such topics as raised beaches, gravel beds, the growth of peat, relics of man in deposits of mud, succes. sive generations of trees, the primeval condition of man, fossil human skulls, the origin of species by variation, the varieties of the human race, origin and development of languages and species. These and kindred topics are well discussed and illustrated by a vast variety of curious and interesting facts The volume will repay perusal, and Mr Brodie deserves our best thanks for the pains he has taken in the elucidation of the argument. The Wisdom of our Fathers; Selections from the Writings of Lord Bacon, with a Memoir. London: The Religious Tract Society. 1864. This is the second volume of what is designed, we suppose, to be a series. We favourably noticed the former volume, containing extracts from Leighton. This is a worthy successor. The memoir is written with great care, vigour, and an easy unconstrained grace. The author has evidently carefully read up the literature of his subject, though we think Mr Hepworth Dixon's recent sketch of Lord Bacon's life has biassed his judgment more than he himself is aware of. The volume contains judicious and valuable extracts from Bacon's theological works, from his ethical works, from his philosophical works, and from his fireside and miscellaneous works. The extracts are well chosen, and to such readers as can only afford to possess themselves of a small library, or who have no access to public stores of books, this volume will be a boon of real value. The Adoption, and other Sermons; Preached in the Cathedral Church of Chester. By the Rev. Dr M'NEILL, &c., &c. London: J. Nisbet, & Co. 1864. A volume of sermons by Dr M'Neill is a boon to be grateful for, and we can safely say that this volume will not detract from the fair fame earned by its author, as an able and sound divine, an eloquent and effective orator, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, and one who has on all occasions proved himself a willing advocate for any imperilled truth. The sermons in this volume are quite miscellaneous; the first three treat of "The Adoption," then follow two on the Christianity of the Old Testament saints; one on contrition; one on zeal and prayer, and nine others on miscellaneous subjects. The sermons are not directly controversial, though the author takes care to give us his opinion in passing over most of the subjects that are in our own day most keenly controverted. With Dr M'Neill we in most cases agree. In doctrine, on all the essentials, we regard him as sound, and more than usually clear; but we do not agree, as readers know, with his views on prophetics, where we think him extravagant, though not so much so as many of the school to which he belongs. We need hardly commend the volume; it will find its own way by its own weight, and stands in need of no commendation of ours. The Line: Death or Life; or, The Story of my Experience on its Partial Successes and its Many Failures, with some Suggestions as to their Cause: being another Appeal on behalf of Railway Labourers. By One who has known them for twenty years. London: Nisbet & Co. 1864. This volume is an addition to a class of literature of which the books of Miss Marsh are the types and the forerunners. This effort is by "an old hand" at the work; one who commenced her labours shortly after railways began, to shew what they would come to be, and to do, by and by. A new and most praiseworthy feature of this work is, that it not only records successes, but notes the failures also. So it should always be. If nothing but successes are recorded, young beginners rush forth unarmed to the fray, and being suddenly worsted, their enthusiasm evaporates and the enemy triumphs. In the Acts of the Apostles we have a model as to the way of recording the deeds of the church. We are there told not only of the conversion of the thousands of Pentecost, but also of the stoning at Lystra, and the stripes and imprisonment at Philippi. The volume is well written, and is full of interesting anecdote and narrative. The Family of God: Seven Sermons Preached in St Bartholomew's Church, Gray's Inn Road, on May and June 1863. By the Rev. EDWARD GARBETT, M.A.; being the closing Sermons of his Ministry in that Church. London: Hamilton and Adams. 1864. The The reader can gather from the title what this volume is. Mr Garbett has acquired for himself, as a late Boyle Lecturer, a right to speak and to be heard on theological topics. His Boyle Lectures, published in an admirable volume, which we noticed in the most favourable terms at the time of its publication, is a contribution to modern apologetics, not nearly so well known as it deserves to be. The volume before us contains seven sermons, preached in the ordinary course of the author's ministry to a London congregation, before he went to settle in a suburban parish. sermons, as might be inferred from the circumstances accompanying their delivery, are unpretending, plain, simple, and yet affectionate expositions of the truth. The idea that runs through them all is that of the church considered as a family. The sermons are seven in number: the family circle; the children at school; home pleasures; family trials; the imperishable bond; temporary separation; and home. The style is elegant, the matter evangelistic and experimental, and in a small space the volume contains what might be called a system of doctrinally experimental truth. With Mr Garbett's eschatology, too, as expressed in his two last sermons, we almost wholly agree. The volume, in style, in doctrine, in illustration, in the mode of presenting and pressing the truth on the reader's acceptance, is every way admirable, and to be commended. The Divine and the Human in Nature, Revelation, Religion, and Life. By The Gospel of Common Sense; or, Mental, Moral, and Social Science in By ROBERT BROWN, Author of London: Jackson, Walford, We mention these treatises now merely as specimens of a class of theological writings, which we propose to deal with at more length in a special article. It is full time to subject these highly speculative gentlemen, who are so fond of " employing their philosophy upon religion," to a thorough and sifting examination. The press is teeming, our table is cumbered, with this spawn of modern evangelicism. If we do not take care, our blessed religion will be converted into a new edition of "Universal Nature Displayed;" it will be sublimised into a species of evangelie "Constitution of Man." Nor is the danger lessened in our eyes by finding such works as these applauded by several organs of evangelical sentiment in England, as "thoughtful and able theological essays," and as "at once original, reverent, and suggestive." Such theology, in which the old figment of "universal grace," dressed up in the phraseology of modern science, is substituted for the sovereign grace of the gospel, and all that is distinctive in the Christian system, demands the most serious investigation; and that, God willing, we are resolved it shall have. Rome and Civil Liberty: or, The Papal Aggression in its Relation to the Sovereignty of the Queen and the Independence of the Nation. By the Rev. J. A. WYLIE, LL.D., Professor in the Protestant Institute of Scotland, author of "The Papacy." &c. &c. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot. 1864. A copy of this work has come into our hands just as we are going to press, and we have only time and space to record, in a few lines, the impression produced on us by a hurried perusal. The title of the book sufficiently proclaims its object. The papal aggression is viewed by the author as the point from which Rome has been conducting her machinations against the British throne and British liberty. "His charge is not, that our statesmen have tolerated the religion of the Pope, but that they have sanctioned the authority of the Pope; not that they have permitted the spread of another faith, but that they have permitted the erection of another government." This is a serious charge; but the most serious part of the matter is, that it is here substantiated, not by a process of reasoning, but by a statement of facts. None can rise from a perusal of these facts, without a profound apprehension of the dangers that threaten our liberties, not so much from the tactics of Popery, as from the alarming indifference of all classes, and the infatuated policy of our rulers, in regard to these tactics. Were we disposed to fatalism, we would say that nothing more was needed to exemplify the maxim, Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. The voice of warning, we fear, will be drowned, like that of Cassandra, amidst the shouts with which the Trojan horse is welcomed into the citadel. But it is well that the thinking portion of the community should be prepared for the conflict; and to all who would see how Popery is playing its master-trick of shrouding the stiletto, meant for the heart of British freedom, under the garb of religion, we earnestly recommend the study of this elcquent and well-written volume. ADDENDUM. [The following paragraph was unhappily omitted in the Article on Mediatorial Sovereignty, page 523, line 37 :—] Practically, the distinctions we have now drawn are of no small value. By overlooking or confounding them, we leave room for the exorbitant claims of the Roman pontiff to temporal power, founded on his pretence to represent the civil sovereignty of Christ; and on the other hand, we are in danger of lending countenance to the wildest freaks of fanaticism. It would follow that dominion is founded on grace; the saints alone have a right to govern the world, and we may expect a revival of the fifth monarchy delusion. Whereas due attention to these distinctions might reduce the differences in theory and practice, which exist among evangelical parties, to very insignificant dimensions. Agreeing on the general principle, that nations and their rulers are bound to recognise the mediatorial authority of Christ, in his law and gospel, the only question where any scope is left for the friendly oscillation of sentiment is how far they are bound to carry their legislation in regard to religion. And it is here that the limits suggested in our distinctions come to be applied. Thus, for example, in regard to the Sabbath, we would be led to hold that the moral law of the Sabbath, as administered by the mediator, forms the only true and legitimate foundation for the interference of civil authority to preserve its observance; but in the actual exercise of his legislative authority on this subject, the civil ruler must be guided by the civil and social aspects of the Sabbath. He is not acting "in Christ's stead," like the minister of the gospel; but in the place of God as the moral governor. He is not therefore bound to enforce the observance of the Sabbath as a religious, but as a civil duty and privilege, and he is not to punish its violation as a sin against God and Christ, but simply as a civil crime, an offence against the community. |