working polytheism, idolatry, and atheism, in making the name of Christ honorable, in inculcating personal righteousness and moral earnestness, and in furthering many important social reforms. But he shows also that it carries the taint of its origin, its semi-pantheistic spirit, its defective sense of sin, its failure to apprehend the necessity of sacrificial mediation between God and man, its want of intellectual consistency, its tendency to ritual and rhapsody, its lack of clearly defined principles, and its constant tendency to drift into contradiction and schism. Its latest development, in the Sadharan Bromo Somaj, seems to be its purest form ethically considered, and yet it is its most barren form in respect of theological principles, and in emotional fervor, and is as far removed as its earlier forms from all that is most distinctive of Christianity. It is certainly a somewhat amazing effort for any man or set of men to undertake to introduce a New Dispensation of universal religious unity by an artificial combination of all that is supposed to be true in the great religions of the world and to effect this by instrumentalities so inadequate. The history of Brahmoism illustrates this danger to which a subjective religion is exposed, and it emphasizes by contrast the need of an objective historic revelation and one in which redemption is its central fact. But after all that may be said against Brahmoism the Christian world will not cease to look with interest to its future and to hope that it may yet become an agency of spiritual blessing to the people of India.

MEYER'S COMMENTARY ON JOHN'S GOSPEL.* - Dr. Kendrick introduces this volume with remarks on the distinctive merit and charm of John's Gospel. He speaks of the persistency of the attack made on its genuineness. This attack, though plausible, is untenable. Not only is it overthrown in the field of argument; it flies in the face of "the instinct of the Church." The excellences of Meyer as a critic are duly stated, but the American editor might have refrained from reflections on what he calls Meyer's "loose notions of inspiration so prevalent in Germany." "Loose" is a term of disparagement, rather than of description. Dr. Kendrick can differ from Meyer on these points, but he should

* Critical and Exegetical Hand-Book to the Gospel of John. By H. A. W. MEYER, Ph.D., etc. Edited-from the English translation of Rev. W. Urwick, revised by Frederic Crombie, D.D.-by A. C. Kendrick, D.D., Greek Professor in the University of Rochester. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 10 and 12 Dey street, New York.

abstain from language which assumes, on his part, superiority of judgment. This whole paragraph of the American editor's preface might better have been omitted. It is easy to see that Dr. Kendrick is afflicted with the harmonistic mania, or, rather, is not yet fully cured of it. In other respects his editorial labor appears to have been well done. Even when exerting himself to correct Meyer's supposed mistakes-as in the discussion of the question as to the day of crucifixion-his remarks are worthy of attention.

DE PRESSENSE'S STUDY OF ORIGINS.*-M. De Pressensé is well known as the author of important works on the history of the Church, including a Life of Jesus, which have found many appreciative readers in England and in America. He has, also, been active and useful, both as a preacher and in political life. In the volume before us he takes up "the burning questions pertaining to the foundations of religion and ethics, and, in an elaborate discussion, subjects them to a careful scrutiny. The theories of Atheists, Materialists, and Agnostics are reviewed and criticised with fairness and with acumen. The English and German authors, as Spencer and Stuart Mill, and the German naturalists and philosophers are not in the least neglected, but are fully examined. But one of the attractions of the work to us is in the incidental treatment of French writers and schools of opinion, which are less familiar to most readers. It is a book which deserves to be read by those who are interested in this class of inquiries. The lucid style, the vivacity and the keen logic, as well as excellent moral spirit that belong to it are worthy of high praise.

TRAVELS IN FAITH.t-It is not unfair to the author of this book to state at once and frankly that we have found it painful and unprofitable reading. It tells the story of how the son of an eminent and pious pastor, after many years of groping experience, passed over, not from a hard and high Calvinism to the Christianity of the New Testament, but from Christianity itself to Herbert Spencer's views about God and immortality, and to Voltaire's views of the Bible and of the morality of the Christian

* A Study of Origins; or, The Problems of Knowledge, of Being, and of Duty. By E. DE PRESSENSÉ, D.D., author of Jesus Christ, His Times, Life and Work," etc. New York: James Pott & Co., 1884.

Travels in Faith, from Tradition to Reason. By ROBERT C. ADAMS. G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1884.

Church. What adequate motive or justifying reason for existence can such a book have? Its author assures us that he wrote from the desire to be useful in freeing others from the same bonds of orthodoxy which formerly held him. We sympathize with all his honest doubt, and with the dissatisfaction he expresses concerning much opinion and practice which passes current as Christian; but the book itself is a convincing proof that neither the "Travels " of its author, nor his mode of narrating them, are likely to be useful for either imitation or warning. The only class which the book seems adapted to profit by warning consists of the so-called "Orthodox" of Boston—on the assumption, however, that the author has correctly represented their opinions and manner of Church life (see especially pp. 93 ff., 86 ff., 168 ff., and 178 ff.

THE OUTSKIRTS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE.*-This interesting and helpful little book is designed and adapted for readers of ordinary information upon the subjects which it discusses, rather than for special students of those subjects. Its contents consist of four Essays which "present briefly the more important relations of the sciences of nature to faith, education, the Bible, and religious science respectively." Of the four essays, that on the "Interpretation of the first Chapter of the Book of Genesis" is, on the whole, decidedly the best. The author, indeed, lays too much stress upon the influence of an occult symbolism of numbers in determining the arrangement of the Mosaic cosmogony. For that arrangement was, it is likely, determined chiefly by the effort to bring the eight traditional works of creation into correspondence with the Sabbatic week and with the order of the world's progress as seen from the "point of view held by the ordinary observer" (comp. p. 98). But the author's remarks are in most respects excellent; and the clearness with which he maintains the religious validity and inspiration of this chapter, while admitting that its views of the order of creation cannot be reconciled in several important respects with modern science, is worthy of praise and imitation. We commend this chapter, and especially the remarks on pages 100-118, to those who have been only more perplexed by recent attempts at "reconciling" Genesis and geology.

*The Outskirts of Physical Science, Essays Philosophical and Religious. By T. NELSON DALE. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1884.

EXTEMPORE PREACHING.*-There has been of late years an unmistakable growth in the disposition to hear extempore preach. ing, and a not less marked growth in unwillingness to hear preaching that is poor. Whether this latter be due to the spread of science or to the general advance of education, our congregations certainly grow impatient of crude thought and of those forms of words that contain no thought at all. How to meet both these demands, to say something worth hearing and to say it without a manuscript, is the preacher's question. Mr. Smith's little book on Extempore Preaching admirably meets the popular feeling in both these respects: it is full of encouragement to the preacher to learn to preach without notes; it makes him feel how much toil is involved in making his preaching good, and it shows him how to go to work. The prize is made to seem worth trying for with great pains, and the ideal of excellence in preaching is set very high. The subject is developed in an orderly way, under the titles-relative advantages, preparation special, preparation general, arrangement, illustrations, style, memory, first attempts, delivery, physical conditions, spiritual conditions, and repeating, -the chapter on spiritual conditions being the climax, and the last chapter meeting a few final objections.

A marked characteristic of the book is that it covers a broader field than its title. This is quite inevitable and is justified by the example of Bautain and others. The book takes extempore preaching as its central theme and gathers about it many things that seemed to the author important to be said in connection with all pulpit-discourse. These things seem also to be largely lessons drawn from the author's experience and observation, so that the tone of practical helpfulness is felt on every page. Illustrations are drawn from a wide range, as from Demosthenes and Bourdaloue, as well as from the great preachers of the present day. The author makes wise use of his reading among the ancient classics; too many preachers and book-makers not only have forgotten the classics, but give no sign that they have read. anything even of the literature of modern times.

As an illustration of the practical character of the work, we may give an outline of the fourth chapter, that on arrangement : Extempore preaching peculiarly needs to be methodical; the theme should be announced early, as the exordium is furnished in effect by the introductory services; often it is well to announce divisions, *Extempore Preaching. By WILDER SMITH. Hartford, Conn., Brown & Gross. pp. 170.

1884.

but a multitude of divisions and subdivisions should be avoided; there need be no fear of repeating the main points; nor of giving too much thought; one illustration is generally enough, but more should be held in reserve; a climax is good but its place should not always be the same; strict arrangement helps the memory of both speaker and hearer, and helps to preserve the proper propor tion of parts; little time should be given to refutation; there may well be a summing up near the close. These lessons belong to preaching and especially to preaching extempore.

It should also be said of the book that it is acute in its passing observations, as, "It seems to us a fault of much modern preaching that it confines its attention to very minute fractions of the all truth," (p. 38); the book is also high-minded and wise.

In regard to the English of the book, which is in the main simple and classic yet strong, we feel inclined to speak of two points. One is in regard to "had better;" to this old English phrase the author seems to have a dislike, once using "might better," and six times that odious modern invention, "would better," as, "This would better be done." The history and entire legitimacy of "had better" are well known to many, and it is hard to see how one betters himself by trying to devise something that, without a history to explain it, will be explainable by the modern meanings of words. Says Addison, "These are very sensible they had better have pushed their conquests;" we of to-day had better stick to the vigorous idioms of the past, without too great particularity as to the present meaning of their several parts.

The other point is as to the insertion of an adverb into the middle of an infinitive, as in "to habitually employ," (p. 81), and "to frequently review," (p. 96). In our reading of English authors we have been unable to find an example of this structure earlier than in Burns' Cottar's Saturday Night, and since then a few times in Cowper, if we recollect rightly, but rarely in all authors until Herbert Spencer used it with such constancy and emphasis as to give it its present vogue. So the Nation in one issue speaks of it as still a solecism and in another not long after goes to the extreme by saying, "to, as the newspapers would say, investigate his record." For ourselves we confess to a liking for the old ways in this respect also, and cannot help feeling that the new structure is a blemish upon an author's style. It is an interesting question whether the conservatives are to be overborne about this. It belongs to a large and interesting subject, of which few people seem to be aware,-the fact that our language changes