4 SEPTEMBER 1886, Page 22

CURRENT LITERATURE.

Variety is the distinguishing feature of the contents of the September numbers of the two Scotch magazines, the Scottish Church and Sunday Talk. In the former, there is hardly a dull paper, although the writer of an article on "The Power of the Pulpit" seems to have been afraid to do justice both to himself and to his subject. "Toad's Meat, and How I Came to Eat It," is a very amusing and yet instructive paper on fungi ; under the terribly Celtic name of " Lochan—a Chlaidbeamb," a fine Highland legend is told by a writer who loves his hills; and a personal friend of the late Sir Hope Grant contributes a bright sketch of him as "a Christian soldier." The most notable paper in the Septem- ber Number of Sunday Talk is a sermon by the late Principal Tulloch on "Christian Agnosticism," the character of which may be gathered from the text, "For we know in part." It proves, among other things, how careful, as a thinker and literary artist, the late Principal was, even when he was not and could not have been writing with a view to publication. Among the papers that may be singled out for special commendation, are" St. Kentigern "—an article on the patron saint of Glasgow—" A Royal Visitor," by "A. L. 0. E.," and "The Good Shepherd," by the editor. The verse in this magazine is much superior to the average of religious poetry.