A Search for an Infidel : Bits of Wayside Gospel.
(Macmillan and Co. 6s.)—This is a second series—the first we had not the good fortune to see—of occasional sermons, very occasional indeed, for the earliest in date belongs to 1877, and there are but twelve in all. The discourse which gives a title to the volume indicates the character of all. The "infidel" was one who bad acquired that evil reputation ; he was really an in- quirer, a skeptic (to be spelt carefully with a " k "). He had an admiration for Thomas Paine, to whom, indeed, America owes much, and used to have on the Fourth of July an "infidel picnic" in his honour. Our author in the early days of his ministry went to see him, and came home much the better for doing so. "I went a long distance to find an infidel. I returned to find him nearer home, in my own narrowness, my own preju- dices, my own conceits, my own cowardice." That is finely said. Much of the book is specially significant for Transatlantic readers ; but it has always a deeper human interest. And in one of the papers, "A Day at Glastonbury," there is a special appeal to English interests and feelings. We commend this volume to our readers : now and then, perhaps, it will startle them a little, but it is in the main "gospel," and such as the "wayside" hearer may profit by.
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