Memoirs of the Rev. John Wesley Etheridge, M.A., Ph.D. By the Rev. Thornley Smith. Crown 8vo. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1871.-The name of Dr. Etheridge is one of those which Methodism should not "willingly let die." Providentially incapacitated, first by feeble health, and later by extreme deafness, for filling a chief place in our Connexion, he yet possessed qualities which would have adorned any office. In his comparative retirement, however, the scholar and the saint were both matured, and there are many who have had cause to glorify God in him. Of his richly interesting Memoirs of Dr. Coke and Dr. Clarke, and still more of his valuable contributions to the exposition of the Hebrew Scriptures, there is no need to speak at any length here; his "own works praise" him "in the gate." His biographer portrays a lively character; adorned with every Christian grace, and tried as by fire, in severe and repeated affliction. Correspondence with friends, and a few minor literary remains, possess interest, and show us the man in his lighter hours and more private life; always the same -the gentleman, the student, and the Christian. Dr. Etheridge is

considered by some persons to have been a "Millenarian," but in one of the numerous letters to Mrs. Ellis he thus repudiates the idea of a personal millennial reign of the Redeemer: "It does not appear to me that the Millenarians, so called, have been content with the truth, but have gone beyond it; for a personal residence of the Saviour-King for a thousand years in Palestine, is what I never recognize; but an epiphany, or manifestation of His glorious person, for a brief interval amid the convulsions which will attend the overthrow of Antichrist, and usher in the era of blessedness, I think there is Scriptural reason to expect." But he has previously admitted, that "the subject is environed with difficulties and dangers." One of the letters is very touching. Mr. Etheridge was himself anticipating an early decease, and writes to bespeak for his only daughter the oversight and care of Christian friends, should she be left an orphan. He particularly requests, that should he be removed while she was still of tender years, they would protect her from worldly associations, especially from being taught to dance, and from the influence of Puseyism. He herein set an exam

treating this subject is influenced by the very decided Calvinistic views" which Dr. Smeaton holds, while expressing our sense of the value, in other respects, of his exegetical labours.

The Old Catholic Church: or The History, Doctrine, Worship, and Polity of the Christians, traced from the Apostolic Age to the Establishment of the Pope as a Temporal Sovereign, A.D. 755 By W. D. Killen, D.D. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark.-In one octavo volume, within precisely four hundred pages, we have here a collection of dissertations, counted as chapters, on all the leading topics which relate to ecclesiastical history. It will be useful as a first book for one who proposes to enter earnestly on this branch of study, and desires to obtain a general view of the wide field by way of introduction. For the natural sequence of events as they should be treated in due historic form, the student will have recourse hereafter to writings of another kind; the generalities of a compilation like the present being the result of an author's labour, rather than material whereon an independent inquirer could rest his own conclusions. Some portions of this book are distinctively Presbyterian, and on important subjects there is an inevitable defect of evidence. The title "Old Catholic Church" might suggest some relation to the important controversy now carried on against the Papacy by the "Old Catholics" of Germany; but the reader perceives, on opening the volume, that no such relation is intended by Dr. Killen. The chapters are well written and full, very full indeed, of information on various topics.

The Gospel Church delineated from the New Testament, in its Constitution, Worship, Order, Ministers, and Ministrations. An Exhibition in detail of the special Privileges and authorized Duties of Christian Fellowship. By Henry Webb. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1871.-We took up this book with considerable interest, hoping to find an impartial discussion of various theories of Churchorder, with the writer's conclusions as to which, in his judgment, best harmonize with the intimations of Scripture. Such a book would be a valuable contribution to ecclesiastical literature. But we are bound to state, Mr. Webb has not supplied it he treats of "The Gospel Church," as he conceives it, in not fewer than fifty-five chapters. In the first part of the book we seem to meet with the assumption that Congregational Independency is alone apostolic; but, as we proceed, we discover that notions of Church-fellowship and order which obtain their expression in what is termed "Plymouth-Brotherism" are those which the author seeks to inculcate. The fellowship hero advocated must result in what would appear to us to be more of a "Babel" than orderly Churchintercourse of Christian people, and much more likely to produce endless divisions than to be promotive of unity. We have imposed upon ourselves the labour of going through the whole book, that we might, if possible, get a clear conception of Mr. Webb's aim; but we must say, that we have rarely met with a more complete instance in which counsel was darkened by the multiplication of words than is here furnished. We give the writer credit for great dexterity in the manipulation of passages, which some may

mistake for Scripture interpretation. From the title-page to the close this "delineation" is pervaded by a latent dogmatism for which we have no admiration. Mr. Webb brings considerable learning and ability to bear upon his task; but he evidently does not permit the thought to enter his mind that anything can be said in opposition to his theory, or in support of any other.

The Footsteps of Christ. Translated from the German of A. Caspers, Church-Provost and Chief Pastor at Husum, by Adelaide E. Rodham. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. From the preface to this volume we find that its author, Kirchenpropst Caspers, "belongs doctrinally to the High Lutheran party," a party which," though often distinguished by an earnest, evangelistic spirit, and by its opposition to an unbelieving scepticism or Rationalism, is marked by holding extreme views on the Sacra

ments,-opinions which, in some points, go beyond the standpoint of the great Reformer himself." Those portions of the "Kirchenpropst's" work, therefore, which advocate views on Baptism and the Lord's Supper not in general harmony with evangelical thought in Great Britain, are omitted. In the book thus adapted there is little on the ground of doctrine to which objection can be taken, while many passages are calculated to kindle and sustain devotional fervour in the reader.

Labourers together with God: Words of Encouragement, Counsel, and Help for Sunday-School Teachers. By the Rev. Gordon Calthrop, M.A. London: Elliot Stock.

Family Prayers. By C. J. Vaughan, D.D., Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen. London: Strahan and Co.

THE ILLNESS OF THE PRINCE OF

WALES.

On the fourteenth of December, 1861, a sudden calamity fell upon our beloved Queen, the Royal Family, and English men and women throughout the world. The Prince Consort was taken from our midst in the prime of life, after an illness of the fatal termination of which but a few days', we may almost say hours', warning was given. The effects of that stroke have been keenly felt to the present time; not only is the sorrow of the widowed Queen fresh in her own heart, but in the hearts of all her

subjects. Eventful as the last ten years have been, they have scarcely availed to dull the sharpness of the grief through which the nation then passed. We are now threatened, in the counsels of an inscrutable Providence, with a counterpart of it. Great sorrows, like great joys, seldom repeat themselves; there is a mystical variety in evil and death, as well as in happiness and life. The apprehended exception in this case proves to be bitter indeed.

Last Sabbath brought with it not only a sad memory of the past, but forebodings of an impending evil, strangely coincident with the

former one, which few could shake off. The sameness of disease, of arrest in the full tide of life, and of the breaking of domestic ties; the incidence of fresh burdens and anxieties upon the Queen; the vague apprehension in the public mind of coming misfortune-that indefeasible badge of our fallen state, ever present in the community as in the individual; and the consciousness of the possibility of a certain indefinable yet critical turn in the course of national affairs; all combined to excite in all classes sympathy and solicitude of no ordinary kind. No one can fail to see that the heart of the nation has been deeply touched its general religiousness; its recognition-in the example widely and openly given of the value it sets upon prayer-of the moral government of God; its loyalty to the Throne, and its personal regard for Her Majesty and the Royal Family, have all been afresh and unmistakably shown to the world.

To those who look for it, there is "a soul of good" in all sublunary evil. It is no common passage which is now being added to our national history. For some weeks a whole people, one of the most powerful in the world, has watched by one couch, actuated by emotions which do honour to itself, and which, as they are the best mark of its greatness, are the best pledge of its continuance. Such moments in a nation's experience are rare; and for such golden opportunities a corresponding price must be paid. To evoke thus opportunely such sentiments of loyalty, such a general acknowledgment of dependence upon Divine Providence, along with an enlightened submission to its behests, and such an expression of

trust in the reality of the power of intercession with God, was perhaps possible only on one condition,— that of a ministry of suffering and danger such as we have witnessed in the person of the heir-apparent to the throne of the realm. But even if that condition should sternly include, before it be completely fulfilled, the issue which is still dreaded, there are already signs that this severe dispensation may justify itself as richly beneficent. The present national thoughtfulness-for we discern nothing less,-cannot but bear fruit. Princes, who have been conspicuous in the rolls of fame, have been prematurely cut off for reasons far less weighty than that of rallying a people to wholesome truths and principles which its longcontinued prosperity has tended too much to overlay, but on the distinct recognition and upholding of which its place among the nations, and its measure of usefulness, under God, depend. The zealots for "natural laws," who, by the sight of multitudes bowed in prayer to the Supreme, as of yore, when science was young,-have either just received a deep rebuke, or have been hardened in the temper of the scorner, may be permitted a momentary triumph. But still our gain is clear. Our most ardent prayers are most consciously conditional; and if the desired answer should be in this instance denied, we hold it none the less certain that the Wisdom which denies it will vindicate its own act in the bestowal of a gift that shall fully compensate for the one it sees fit to take away. Our belief is identical with that of the great heathen, so far as it goes, "God bestows the noblest gifts, then again others in their place, and still fresh ones in lieu of these last, and so ever new ones