The Hem of Christ's Garment (Hodder and Stoughton), is the
title of the first of twenty collected sermons of Dr. Mellor, with a bio- graphical notice by Dr. H. R. Reynolds, of Cheshunt College, intro- ducing his recollections of this former Chairman of the Oongre- ga tional Union. This body has now attained so commanding a position, that any memorial of one of its annual Presidents has an interest. Besides "taking the highest place as a preacher," Dr. Mellor is described as a master in debate. "Great controversial victories were won by him over Agnostics, Owenites, Jingoes, and Ritualists, as the case may be." The juxtaposition suggests a mind of a very combative order, but the tone of these pub- lished sermons is peaceful enough. A strange title has always an attraction for a reviewer, and consequently we tamed to the pages headed "Lily Work." This is strictly "a sermon in stones." From the mention of the delicate carvings round the capitals of the twin pillars in Solomon's Temple, Jachin and Boaz—" Stability" and "Strength,"—the moral is drawn that "Christian character is very incomplete, until it rises up to the efflorescence which crowns strength with beauty." This savours of what our ancestors would have called a "conceit ;" but at least it is a pretty conceit, and the lesson sound enough, and one which Mr. Matthew Arnold might rejoice to find written where it is.
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