Bishop Butler : an Appreciation, with the Best Passages. By
Alexander Whyte, D.D. (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. 35. 6d.) -It is a sign of the times that Butler is now presented to us in "elegant extracts," and that his appreciators find him sadly wanting in the evangelical spirit. What could be a more effec- tive way of saying that the day of formal apologetics is past, and that the defence of Christianity rests on experience? We cannot help thinking that the element which Dr. Whyte, following Chalmers, desiderates would have been out of place in the " Analogy " and the " Sermons," and that the defence that Butler took his antagonists on their own ground is a valid one. Yet it may be true that all this ratiocination is useless, and that the really effective appeal must always be made to the heart.
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