22 FEBRUARY 1890, Page 25

THEOLOGICAL AND DEVOTIONAL BOOM:J.—The Scripture Doctrine of the Two Sacraments.

By Henry Harris, B.D. (H. Frowde.)— This "plea for unity" is a very well-reasoned and temperately worded statement of doctrine, such as persons of moderate views might accept. —Seed, Flower, Fruit. By Maggie Symington. (Skeffington.)—These " Sunday Chats with Little Folks " may be recommended as simple, attractive, and happily set-off by illus- trations and anecdotes.—Oxford House Papers (Rivingtons), a series of papers addressed to working men. They are of the apologetic kind, and may be taken as an able presentment of the case for belief by men who bring to their task the qualifications of knowledge of the subject in its newest aspect.—Words of Life. By David Merson. (Dickinson.)—This is a volume of twenty-five sermons preached, the author tells us, to "a village congregation among the hills of Northumberland." There is a certain crudity about them. " The Bible touches every field of knowledge ; and yet it contradicts no known fact in science, history, or ethics!' Surely that is a little rash. In the description of atheists and agnostics, it is unjusti- fiable to assert that all unbelief is wilful. As to the heathen, surely St. Paul's weighty condemnation was addressed to the civilised society of the Greek and Roman world. It is absurd to apply it to ignorant savages.—We can trace a different habit of thought in a memorial volume, The All-Father, by the Rev. P. H. Newnham. (Longmans.)—Miss Edna Lyall commends the book to Christian readers in a preface that speaks of the obligation under which she herself has been to the preacher. Fourteen sermons on the Lord's Prayer, and ten short discourses, of which the last four, " God's Judgments," are particularly noticeable, make up the volume. We can well believe that, as Miss Lyall puts it, the preacher "made his people think." — Guild Addresses, by the Rev. W. Frank Shaw (Griffith, Ferran, and Co.), will probably supply a practical want often felt. To say a few words that shall be weighty and effective, without having the formality of a regular discourse, is not an easy task. We are not always in agreement with Mr. Shaw, but his manner, his simplicity, and directness are worthy of imitation.—The Witness of the World to Christ, by the Rev. W. A. Matthews (Nisbet and Co.), is a volume which may be referred to the apologetic class of theology. Much maybe learnt from it, for the writer-thinks for himself and expresses himself with clearness. The connection, for instanee, which he seeks to establish between the ideas of evolution and election is an able piece of reasoning.—Marginal Notes. By Leland Noel. (Hatchards.)—The Kindly Fruits.of the Earth : a Series of Plain Harvest Sermons. By Various Authors. (Skeffington and Son.) —The Life of Justification. By George Body. (Rivingtons.) — An Aid to the Visitation of those Distressed in Mind, Body, or Estate. By the Rev. H. W. Thrupp. (Chapman and Hall.)—A Rule of Christian Life. Translated-from the Italian by Richard J. Webb, M.A. (R. -Washbourne.)—Bible Stories for Little People. By Louis Pulver. (Robertson and Co., Melbourne.) Of " School-Books " we have received :—A Student's Atlas, in Twelve Circular Maps. By Richard A. Proctor. (Longmans.) English History Notes, 1688-1727, for Army Candidates. By C. Freeth, M.A. (Relfe Brothers.) — A First Euclid. By the Rev. H. Dawson. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—The first twenty propositions of Book i., with exercises, logical illustrations, and various other helps.—A Kindergarten Drawing-Book, compiled by T. E. Rooper (Griffith, Farran, and Co.), giving a number of "blackboard exercises for infants' classes." The system is further carried on in two volumes —Hand-and-Eye Training. By George Ricks,B:Sc. (Cassell and Co.)—Of this we have two volumes,—Book-1., "For Boys and Girls ;" Book IL, "For Boys."—The heading " School- Books " must be widely extended to take in Cassell's New Popular Educator (Cassell and Co.), of which we have received the second volume. It is intended to be a help to private study, and carefully prepared as it is by competent persons, is likely to be effective.— We have received a Treatise on Trigonometry, by W. E. Johnston, M.A. (Macmillan and Co.) ; and from the same publishers, a Treatise on Geometrical Conics, by Arthur Cockshott, M.A., and the Rev. F. B. Walters, MA., with the specialty of having been composed " in accordance with the syllabus of the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching."— First French Writer. By A. A. Somerville, M.A. (Rivingtons).

— Madame de Witt's " Hiiroines de Harlem." Edited by Paul E. E. Barbier. (Hachette.) —Homeric Vocabulary. Iliad i.-vi. By Thomas D. Seymour. (Ginn and Co., Boston, U.S.A.)—English Composition Exercises. By M. Leine, M.A. (Chapman and Hall.) — In the series of the "Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges," The General Epistle of St. James, edited by C. H. Plumptre, D.D. (Cambridge University Press.)