9 JUNE 1894, Page 27

Gradual Catechising. By the Rev. J. N. Shearman. (Griffith, Ferran,

and Co.)—Clergymen, especially clergymen who are pre- paring candidates of average attainments for Confirmation, will

find this a useful volume. It puts things clearly and forcibly, making suggestions of questions which, followed more or less as circumstances may dictate, will be found distinctly serviceable. As an instance, we may take the question, "What is a vain pleasure or amusement ? " and its suggested answer that an amusement is vain if it does not leave you more fit to go back to duty and better able for work. But we wish that Mr. Shear- man had made an effort to explain those very difficult words, "wicked world." The ascetic view on the one hand, and the Calvinistic on the other, are plain and simple enough, but they do not satisfy. "The general habit of conventionally low morality" could not be easily put into plain words, but it may be made clear by illustration.