Chapters from the History of the Free Church of Scotland.
By the Rev. Norman L. Walker, D.D. (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier.)—This is a book which, both on account of its general character and of the standpoint from which it is written, ought surely to have been published two years ago, when the Free Church of Scotland celebrated the fiftieth year of its inde- pendent existence. Besides, it is wanting in cohesion, and is of the character of essays upon the history of the communion of which Dr. Norman Walker is a champion, rather than of a connected narrative. The earlier of the " chapters " are, to tell the truth, dreary and even old-fashioned, treating as they do of such almost too familiar subjects as Patronage, the Veto Act, the Auchterarder Case, and the " Disruption." The Jubilee histories, too, of two years ago, gave an account of that really wonderful display of clerical energy—the building up (thanks largely, though not exclusively, to the eminent practical genius of Chalmers) of the Church which was the outcome of the Secession—in a graphic style, which Dr. Norman Walker hardly commands. He is at his best in those portions of his book which deal with the Free Church of these latter days—the Church of the Cardross Case, of the negotiations for union with the United Presbyterian Church, and of that New Learning Movement which led to the casting forth of the late Mr. Robertson Smith—an action that Dr Walker tries cleverly to explain away in a manner calculated to please both the parties in a once bitter controversy. One original feature of Dr. Walker's volume is the list of authors who have belonged, or who now belong, to the Free Church, with their works. No more striking testimony to the intellectual activity of the Free Church could have been afforded than this. The book is meant mainly for members of the Free Church ; and doubtless it will meet with favour at their hands. Dr. Walker is not by any means a brilliant writer, but he is a hearty believer and a not unskilful apologist.
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