THEOLOGY.—Holy Baptism. By Darwell Stone, M.A. (Longmans and Co. 5s.)—Mr.
Stone gives an account, theological and ecclesi- - • astical, of the Sacrament of Baptism. He goes into its doctrinal history, and he reviews its practical aspects. The difficulties that these latter present are enormous, and Mr. Stone suggests, but with hesitation, caution in the administration. How strange is the rapidity with which the position changes I Forty years ago the zealous parish priest thought himself happy if he brought all the neglected children to .the font ; now he begins to reflect that he is -incurring a terrible responsibility. The Baptists must begin to feel
• that the world is coming round to them. And, indeed, every candid
' thinker must acknowledge that the discrepancy between facts and theory, between the real condition of the baptised and the ideal of what the baptismal grace makes them, is simply awfuL- Two volumes of sermons addressed to special audiences may be mentioned together,— Unirersity and other Sermons, by Henry Montague Butler, D.D. (Macmillan and Bowes, Cambridge, 5s. net) ; and Unity in Dirersity, by Charles Bigg, D.D. (Longmans and Co., 2s. Gd.) Dr. Butler's discourses, five-and-twenty in number, are quite admirable in respect both of thought and of expression. Dr. Butler takes a wide view of his subject, sees what he sees clearly, and puts his results in a singularly attractive form. His peculiar qualities are, perhaps, best shown in his " Historical and Biographical Sermons." In appropriateness he shows himself a rival of Dean Stanley himself. What could be more happy than the sermon preached to his old school of "Anselm at Harrow " ? Three sermons on Gordon are especially good, the third on "Gordon's Psalm" (xci., -"a mountain of strength to all believers," as Gordon described it), being, possibly, the finest. Here is a grand sentence :—" A great character is like a great sanctuary. You That it, and leave it, and go away, and then duty begins." Such felicities are not uncommon. Dr. Bigg's little book (five addresses given this last Lent in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, with an introduction) is the outcome of much study of the "Confessions" of Augustine, of the "De Imitatione," of Tauler and the Mystics in general. He traces the two lines of Christian thought running through the teaching of the Church from the very begin- ning. Thew/ he calls the " Disciplinarian" and the " Mystic," and traces them up, with a boldness which never becomes irreverent, to the original Tines taken by Paul and Peter. The most notable thing -Rebut the addresses is their depth, the next their attractiveness. We have seldom seen sermons which carried one on with a more com- pelling charm. Here is -a passage—we wish that we could quote More—from-the last of the addresses, "The Lesson of History " :- '• ourlaat thought, as it was our first, should be of that great Person, who etandsiihoie the -parting of the waters, and orders their flow. In Him all good men meet, because from HiM all their gifts proceed. He gives the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of discipline. . : . . . Our part is to seek Him along the path that He has marked out for us,-to purge away by His help all that offends "'His eyes, all that He did not make ; but neither in ourselves :nor in others to Mit away any branch of the. Tree of Life.
FM. L' thou knave& not whether shall prosper this or that.'
God alone can prune His vine, for He alone knows which of its thousand buds carry within them the promise of the future."—
Among the publications of the S.P.C.K. we have Popular Objections to Christianity, by the Right Rev. A. T. Wilmington Ingram, D.D. (6d.), an idea of which may be gathered from the
headings of some of the chapters, " Miracles,—are they Possible "
The Resurrection," Evolution and the Fall," " Pain." The Bishop goes to the heart of his subjects, and is as plainspoken and courageous as a man can be.—A special interest of a narrower kind attaches to The Question of Anglican Orders, by A. Bulgakoff, translated by W. J. Birkbeck, M.A. (same publishers, 6d.) Professor Bulgakoff pronounces in favour of Anglican Orders.—We may mention at the same time Mediaral Church History, by the Pen. S. Cheetham (Is. 6d.), giving a popular account of the subject from the invasion of the Empire by the barbarians down to the eve of the Reformation.—Le. Noureau Testament Illuslre (T. Nelson and Sons, 3s.) is, we believe, an edition of a volume noticed in the Spectator some months ago, the Version d'Ostervald having been substituted for the Authorised Version of the New Testament. —Thoughtsonthe Collects for the Trinity Season, by Elliot Romanes (Longmans and Co., 3s. Gd.), is a book of devotion which will come to many readers with associations of peculiar strength.— The abyrhynchus Login and the Apocryphal Gospels. By the Rev. Charles Taylor, D.D. (The Clarendon Press. 2s. 6d. net.)—In the " Oxyrhynchus Papyri " (the first instalment edited by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt) were found certain sentences introduced by the words A4ti lnaoils, to which the editors gave the name of Logia. Dr. Taylor discusses them, the conjectural restorations, their relation to the Canonical Scripture, and other matters in this very interesting pamphlet.—Another publication dealing with recent Biblical dis- coveries is The Origin of the "Original Hebrew" of Ecclesiastical*, by D. S. Margoliouth (J. Parker and Co.) Professor Margoliouth maintains that the " Original Hebrew " is a translation from the Greek, not as most Hebrew scholars have supposed, an original. We cannot discuss the question here, but it certainly suggests a doubt as to the value of some of the " higher criticism " if such a capital mistake has been made.
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