CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Expositor. Vol. IL Edited by the Rev. Samuel Cox. (Hodder / and Stoughton, and Strahan.)—There is plenty of valuable matter here, though it is, sometimes at least, expressed at a length which suits the homily rather than the essay. The ingenious article, for instance, which explains the curses of Psalm cix. as quoted from the lips of the wicked man, and not imprecations uttered against him by the Psalmist, might have been well compressed. And so might the lectures on the Book of Ruth, interesting as they are. Here we have a word to say on behalf of the nearest kinsman, whom the homilist seems to treat un- fairly. Surely he was quite justified in refusing to marry Ruth. She was a Iloabitess, in the first place ; in the second, he was probably married already ; thirdly, he must have known of Boaz's wish. "Lest I mar mine own inheritance " was a polite Eastern excuse, not strictly true; —but then he could not blurt out, "I do not want to marry her," or- ..
" Yon want to marry her yourself." Other articles deal with "The First Epistle to Timothy," "The Epistles to the Seven Churches,' "The Prologue to St. John's Gospel."—We may mention in this con- nection, A Promptuary for Preachers, by John M. Ashley (J. T. Hayes).— This ,volume is laboriously constructed out of the works of a variety of doctors and preachers from the fifth down to the sixteenth century. Each sermon—and there are 338 of them—has been boiled down till it fills a single page only. Nothing, therefore, but the barest skeleton is left. And skeletons of sermons, as of other things, are very much alike. We cannot but think that Mr. Ashley's pains have been very much wasted.
Previous page
