(quoted by Hagenbach) gives the following definition: "What Christian ethics enjoin is binding alone on Christians; philosophical ethics claim to be binding on every one who is able to attain insight into the philosophical principles from which they are deduced;" but if we understand it aright, it is incorrect. It is the idea of Christian obligation which, in practical form, vaguely possesses many persons who shrink from becoming professed members of Christian churches, because they suppose that they then undertake new duties. The following words seem to be much nearer the truth -a truth which preachers should digest and urge on their congregations: "The more fully we understand the ethics of Christianity and the spirit they breathe, the more fully convinced shall we be that they are nothing but the most faithful reflex of the legislation interwoven with the very essence of the human mind itself;" or, more correctly expressed, a true Christian is nothing more than a true man. Dr Wardlaw, Congregationalist minister in Glasgow, was, we believe, the first English writer to call attention to the distinction between Christian ethics and general or philosophical ethics. The work of Harless treats of Christian ethics alone.

It is divided into three parts, somewhat strangely designated Redemption as a Good; Redemption as a Possession; Redemption in its Manifestations; which are further subdivided as fellows. Under the first head: I. Human life and its standards prior to, and apart from, the appearance of Christ in the flesh 1. The natural form of human life; 2. Life under the law. II. The entrance of the gospel into the history of humanity. Under the second head, I. The entrance of redemption into the spiritual life of the individual; II. Our spiritual struggles for the possession of redemption; III. Personal fitness for maintaining the possession of redemption. Under the third head, 1. Christian piety as the mother of all virtues; II. Modes displaying Christian piety; III. The fundamental, divinely-ordained forms of social life on earth in their relation to Christian piety. If space allowed, we should like to give our readers a glimpse of the fulness of beautiful and ripe thought which is gathered around the above skeleton; but this being impracticable, we must limit ourselves to commending Dr von Harless's work as at once scientific, historical, practical, edifying, and as therefore pre-eminently adapted to the wants of ministers in active service.

X.-CRITICAL NOTICES.

Lost Friends Found Again: or, Heavenly Solace for Christian Mourners. Consisting of select paragraphs from the works of celebrated Authors, Edited by EDWARD SHEPHERD SMEDLEY. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. 1865.

There is doubtless a strong leaning in the present age, among a certain class of thinkers, to that department of theology which the Germans call Eschatology. The spirit of devotion, instead of being turned inwards, as in the days of our fathers, dwelling mainly upon spiritual experiences, and recording the dealings of God with the soul, seems to have taken an onward direction, and delights to expatiate on the future. We need not refer, in illustration of this, to the numerous works on prophecy, and to the endless speculations on the personal advent of the Saviour. It is enough to point to the vast number of treatises which are appearing on the future state of departed spirits. As usually happens, the pervading tone of the religious world is counterfeited by empirics; and in the vagaries and profanities of spiritualism, we discover the growth of this peculiar tendency run to seed.

The tendency itself, when kept within Scriptural limits, is far from being injurious to the interests of true religion. As offsets and antidotes to the gross materialism of the day, lifting up the soul above the narrow pursuits of time and sense, and imparting no small consolation to the bereaved, these works may be regarded as an important accession to the stores of our practical divinity. Even those speculations, bordering dubiously on the aerial and conjectural, in which they occasionally indulge, may be hailed as so many cheering beams athwart the cold dark cloud which scepticism would interpose between us and the future world. So much, however, has been written of late on this theme, that it is not easy for the ordinary reader to gather up the thoughts that-lie scattered in various directions. Mr Smedley's little volume admirably meets this difficulty. He has supplied us, in regular order, with select paragraphs, or rather chapters, from the works of celebrated authors, all bearing on the subject of "Lost Friends Found Again." The title is an attractive one; and certainly, so far as faith can find what sense has lost, here are our departed friends. once more restored to the eyes that ache to see and to the hearts that long to clasp them, and which, in unbelief of these invisible verities, "would not be comforted. because they are not." Our readers may form some con-ception of the treat reserved for them in this volume, when we mention that among a variety of other topics, it includes chapters on the following points: "Disembodied, yet Conscious;" "Absent from the Body, Present with the Lord;" "The Sudden, yet Glorious Transition;" Solicitude felt in Heaven for Friends on Earth;" "Modes of Celestial Information;" "The Nearness of Heaven and Earth;" "Departed Children still Members of the Same Family;" "Communion of the Dead with the Living;" "Reunion in Heaven;" "We shall know each other;"" "Individual Friendships among the Glorified," &c., &c. We are hardly prepared to endorse some of the sentiments quoted, and might point, particularly, to pp. 90, 149, where expressions occur bearing on the intercession of the saints in heaven. But we cordially recommend the volume to all who feel interested (and who can fail to be interested?) in the all-important questions with which it deals.

Popery, Ancient and Modern: its Spirit, Principles, Character, Objects, Prospects, Checks, and Extirpation; with Warnings and Counsels to the People of England. By JOHN CAMPBELL, D.D., Author of "The Martyr of Erromanga," &c., &c. London: John Snow. 1865.

Dr Campbell in his preface says, "The writer, in addition to his antipopish labours in the pulpit, and through the periodical press many years ago, published a book entitled 'Popery and Puseyism,' which he intended mainly to form an introduction to works of greater bulk and higher pretensions. To that volume he now adds his present more complete and systematic view, as a legacy to his countrymen, for it is the last on the subject he will ever write. When he shall have finished his course, and have been gathered to his fathers, he desires no other monument than a rude slab from nature's quarry, bearing his simple name, with the memorable words of Bishop Hall, of honoured memory, inscribed below, "NO PEACE WITH ROME." These words indicate a sad foreboding, to which all Dr Campbell's friends will listen with sincere regret. To the prediction which we have put in italics, they will be ready to reply, Deus avertat. And were it within the bounds of human wishes, they would exclaim, in regard to the veteran champion himself, in the language of Eastern hyperbole, "O king, live for ever!" At all events, we hope he may be spared as long as an old lady of our acquaintance hoped she would be" to see Antichrist brought down." The ready talent, the manly fidelity, and the indomitable pluck, with which Dr Campbell has, in the great conflict between Rome and the Gospel, so often stood in the

gap, and "turned the battle to the gate," are as truly worthy of com. mendation, as they are well-known; and we are glad to perceive from the work before us, that "his bow abides in strength." In this volume, which is dedicated, in a sentence of glowing but well-earned panegyric, to the Earl of Shaftesbury, the author seems to have gathered up all his strength for a parting blow at Romanism. In the Introduction, he has collected statistics to shew the progress and present strength of Popery in England, giving an appalling list of bishops, priests, religious houses, convents, and schools. Here we were struck with the following reflection, which, as coming from a Congregationalist (though Dr Campbell is far from being an exclusivist in such matters), claims special attention." Each popish diocese is a well appointed army, with a general at its head, able, zealous, resolute, and enterprising; while the command in chief is vested in a cardinal, to whom all, from the lowest to the highest, render implicit obedience. Compared with this, how loose, and disjointed, and impotent, are all the other ecclesiastical polities of the land!" This is followed by no less than thirty-five chapters, on the leading errors of the Popish system, in which each of them is treated briefly, but with characteristic point, force, and freedom. In Dr Campbell's style of dealing with these questions, we are forcibly reminded of Luther. There is the same directness in coming to the point, the same intense "heart-hatred of Popery, and of all superstition whatsoever," the same absence of ceremony and soft speaking, and, above all, the same combination of the love of truth and the love of liberty. These two things, as in the case of our Reformers and Covenanters of old, are never found disjoined in the writings of our author. He pleads for liberty, but it is the liberty which is based upon and bound up with the truth as it is in Jesus; and in his anxiety to guard the liberties of England against papal encroachment, he sounds the alarm bell from the towers of the sanctuary, mindful of the words of our Lord, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The Hand-Book of English Literature. By JOSEPH ANGUS, M.A., D.D., Examiner in English Language, Literature, and History, to the University of London. London: the Religious Tract Society.

Ever since the days of the emperor Julian, who ordered the Christian schools to be shut up, and interdicted the use of the classics to Christians, on the insulting pretence that they had nothing to do with profane learning, there has been a sort of conspiracy in certain quarters to taboo religion, to banish the Christian element from literary society. Our literary clubs and periodicals make a point of ignoring Christianity, and seem to think that religion disqualifies a man as a critic. On the other hand, there still exists, in certain religious schools, a narrow-minded jealousy of literature; not indeed that they would proscribe its study, but they would keep religion and literature widely apart, as they would assign them different shelves in the library. They speak as if there were something intrinsically godless in literature, and secularising in its pursuit-a mode of reasoning which would apply with equal force to the study of nature and the natural sciences. It is deeply to be regretted, indeed, that so little of our literature is imbued with a religious spirit; but it surely admits of being treated in a religious spirit. It is therefore with peculiar satisfaction that we notice the work before us, the object of which is to view our literature with the eye of a Christian, and render its study subservient to the great ends of morality and religion. We know no man better qualified than Dr Angus, in point of literary acquirements, judgment, taste, candour, and liberality of spirit, to do justice to the task he has undertaken; and he has executed it with much tact and success. Within the compass of a pretty sizable hand-book, he has comprised the whole circle of English

literature, from its earliest stages down to the present day. This, of itself, was no small effort, and when we say that hardly a writer of any mark in his day, among our philosophers, historians, theologians, poets, dramatists, and novelists, has been omitted, some idea may be formed as to the amount of information conveyed. Of our more eminent authors, Dr Angus has furnished careful analyses and judicious estimates, and, without anything of that finical censoriousness, that wholesale reprobation, or that groaning disparagement, with which some good men treat the lighter and perhaps more objectionable portions of our literature, and than which few things can be more repulsive-all is contemplated from a Christian point of view; the scourge is applied where it was needed, and the warning is sounded at the right time. We are not sure whether, at any previous part of our history, a judgment more faithful and appreciative could have issued from what has been called the religious press.

Of the plan adopted by Dr Angus, different opinions may be entertained. It is hard to say what plan could be devised which should include every requisite, or avoid every disadvantage. After a learned and elaborate Introduction, tracing the progress of our language through its three periods, the Anglo-Saxon, the Norman, and the English, the author examines our poetry, from Chaucer to Tennyson, next our dramatic writers, and finally our prose writers, during the same period-a plan which, of course, necessitates a threefold journey over the field of our literature, and which we consider on that account undesirable. To an author who has laid us under such obligations, it seems almost ungracious to indulge in minute criticism. But we cannot help expressing some regret, that our author's plan obliged him to embrace almost every writer on a given subject, and thus overload the memory of his readers with names unknown to fame, leaving himself too little space to do justice to the brighter stars, which, after all, constitute what is properly known as English literature. For the same reason he has found it impossible to furnish, to any satisfactory amount, those characteristic extracts, which impart such a charm to works of this description, and which give a better idea of the style and character of an author's works than whole pages of analysis. In poetry this is almost indispensable. Among minor blemishes, we notice that the "Ode to the Cuckoo," which has been demonstrated beyond all question by Mr Grosart to have been the genuine production of Michael Bruce, is here ascribed to Logan, who first stole the manuscript from the father of the deceased poet, and then published it as his own! (P. 225.) Literary justice demands the restitution of the stolen goods. These, however, are comparative trifles in a work which embodies so much substantial worth. We heartily commend the volume as a fitting companion to the Doctor's growing family of Hand-books, and predict for it a success equal to, if not greater than, that of its predecessors.

Biography of the late John Coldstream, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., &c. By JoHN HUTTON BALFOUR, M.D., &c. With an Introduction by the Rev. James LEWIS. London: James Nisbet and Co. 1865.

Dr Coldstream's life presents but few incidents. Born and educated (chiefly) in Leith, he commenced practice there, and migrated no farther than to Edinburgh, where he finally settled. This volume may rather be regarded as a record of his inner rather than his outer life; and that chiefly as recorded by himself in letters, journals, or diaries. As such, but only as such, it is valuable. There are materials enough in the volume for a pretty thorough understanding of the rise, growth, and consolidation of a clear, conscientious, and naturally truthful human soul. To those of his friends who knew the man and his outward ways, this biography will be doubly valuable; but one who knew him not will have but a shadowy and imperfect conception of

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the man in all his round fulness. A beloved physician he was, beyond all doubt, one who, from his youth up, saw and realised the unseen, and endeavoured in all things to live to the glory of God. This record should be in the hands of men of science, of literary and of professional men; for here, sure enough, is one of themselves, and of the highest mental qualifications, shewing, most manfully, that it is possible, and more than possible, to serve God with all the heart, to love his word as much and as well as his works, and to see God everywhere, and to know and acknowledge him in everything. Here also is one proof more that godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of this life and that which is to come.

Gleanings from British and Irish Ecclesiastical History, from the Introduction of Christianity to the period of the Reformation. By the Hon. BARBARA BEDFORD. London: William Macintosh, Paternoster Row. 1865. These "Gleanings" are of an exceedingly fragmentary character; but they contain many valuable morsels, which will be new to the general reader of history. The writer also views everything from an Episcopal standpoint, and her reading seems to have been chiefly confined to authors of that communion. The great fault, rather defect, of the book is, that while the writer gives the narrative mainly, at least most frequently, she quotes no, or very few, authorities. In a historical work, extending over many hundred years in the ground it covers, the writer should have quoted her authorities for all important statements of fact, specially in cases where the facts are in doubt, disputed, or denied. The lack of authorities deprives the book of all historical value, specially as the few that are quoted are at second or third hand. Still the work has its place, and its value. It will prove good reading for the young, for the ill instructed, for those who wish only to possess general ideas; but for students of history the work is neither adapted nor intended. The author has a good deal of out-of-the-way information, which she conveys in a pleasant style.

Wholesome Words: or One Hundred Choice Prayers selected from old Authors. Selected and Edited by J. E. Ryland, M.A. London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder. 1865.

The title of this volume sufficiently explains its contents. The passages selected are good and well known; but we were somewhat disappointed to find that the extracts, without exception, are from so well-known_men, only, as Thomas Adams, Jeremy Taylor, Sibbes, and Leighton. We expected from the accomplished and erudite author, a greater variety and more recherché materials. Out of his vast stores, we looked for some rich and racy extracts from some of the rarer and less familiarly known puritans. To many readers, however, the passages selected will be new and fresh, and to such readers we commend the volume.

The Righteousness of God, as taught by St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, with appendices on Human Ignorance of Divine Things; on Future Retribution; on the Doctrine of Election. By the Author of "The Destiny of the Human Race." London: Simpkin & Marshall. 1865.

We have not read "The Destiny of the Human Race;" and we do not know who or what the author is. But we have no intention of inquiring after it. The work before us is quite enough for us. We have read it nearly all through, and we do not like it. The author is not fit to write a continuous commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, which he here attempts. Ile is quite ignorant of the literature of the subject. We differ from him, on every point, as to what is the meaning of the phrase "the righteousness of God," the key of that epistle, of nearly all the epistles, of