CURRENT LITERATURE.
SERMONS.—The Divine Patriot, and other Sermons, preached in Scarborough and in Cannes. By R. F. L. Blunt, D.D., Archdeacon of the East Riding, Vicar of Scarborough. (Kogan Paul and Co.)—This is a moderate-sized volume, containing twenty sermons preached at the places named above, and is characterised by much wholesome good-sense and many wise remarks suited to the frequenters of these fashionable resorts. They will not alarm the orthodox, yet they are very liberal in the tone of thought and mode of interpretation. We would especially commend to thoughtful readers the remarks re- garding Sunday and week-days—too long for quotation here—whieh occur in the sixth of the sermons, one on " The Profanation of the Sacred," founded on the account of the twice-repeated cleansing of the Temple. The title of the first sermon, which gives its name to the book, and has for its text the lament of our Lord over Jerusalem, suggests the thought, which becomes a very pathetic one, in the light of present occurrences, that ever since the fulfilment of the connected prophecy, no Jew has had it in his power to be a patriot in the strict sense of the word. One wonders it does not lead the devout among them to consider whether this truth-speaking patriot were not indeed divine.—Sermons Preached before the Queen, at Balmoral. By Rev. A. A. Campbell, Minister of Crathie. (W. Blackwood and Sons.)—One is ever jealous of human Sovereignty in immediate presence of the Divine, but we doubt not that this small collection of sermons, inter- esting in themselves, will have a special interest for many of her subjects, because the Queen has listened to the discourses with pleasure, and desired that they should share her edification ; and it is surely a matter for thankfulness that there can be interests of such a kind in common between a Sovereign and her subjects, They are suited for general reading, containing more of practical application of Christian truth than of abstruse dissertations on the deeper doc- trines. The fifth of them on I. Sam. xxx., 24, entitled the "Service of Patience," contains a remarkably graphic relation of that striking incident in the roving life of David, when, having settled for a time in Ziklag, he and his followers lost and regained their most precious possessions.—We have a' book of a similar kind and size, in Practical Sermons, by the Rev. Peter Thomas Ouvry, Vicar of Wing, Bucks; but it differs from most in a plain-speaking, a bold saying-out what many think, but dare hardly say. Mr. Ouvry, believ- ing firmly in the old Gospel truths, and even in the old ways of enforcing them in the Church of England, yet feels that with altered modes of thought, and especially of expression, in other matters, there ought to be a corresponding alteration in pulpit teaching. One of the best illustrations of his method is to be found in the eighth sermon in this volume, on "Materialism and the Lord's Supper." We should rather have called it by a less wide term than " Materialism," which is so generally understood to cover the whole ground, as opposed to " Spiritualism," whereas, here, it is limited to the literal view of our Lord's words about eating his flesh and drink- ing his blood. We should spoil the remarks made on this important subject by quoting only a part, and therefore can but indicate that, while showing by one or two very good analogies the unreasonable- ness of the material doctrine, the preacher mentions, in a way too seldom heard in our pulpits, the brotherhood of Christians, as shown in the ordinance which yet was instituted with special reference to communion with their Lord. The last sermon in the book is the pro- duct of a different mind, and is spoiled by a constant use of italicised words,—a practice which always seems to suggest weakness.
The Friendship of God, and other Meditations upon the Holy Scripture, by the. late Rev. Henry Wright, M.A. (Sampson Low and Co.), is not so much a volume of sermons, though why they are called " Meditations," as they seem all to have been preached, we do not understand, as a loving memorial of the late Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, edited by his friend and neighbour, Mr. Bickersteth, of Hampstead. The sudden death of Mr. Wright, nearly two years ago, by drowning in Coniston Lake, was an affecting circumstance to many outside the circle to whom he was specially endeared ; but it is to that circle chiefly that this book appeals, and to them its value will be enhanced by the very life-like photographic portrait which is prefixed. Speaking only from the public point of view, we should consider the life and labours of Mr. Wright to be well delineated in a few verses quoted by him in one of the sermons : "I ask'd the Now Year for some motto sweet, Some rule of life by which to guide my feet,
I ask'd, and 'muesli, it answered, soft and low,— ' God's will to kuow.' Will knowledge, then, suffice, New Year P ' I oriel; But ere the question into silence died, The answer came : ' Nay, this remember, too,— God's will to do.'
Once more I ask',), 'Is there still more to tell? ' And once again the answer sweetly fell
Yea, this one thing all other things above,—
God's will to love.' "
—About the same size, but most delightfully light for its size, is Temple Sermons, by C. J. Vaughan, A.D., Master of the Temple and Dean of Llandaff. (Macmillan and Co.)—The Master of the Temple needs no introduction to our readers, but they may like to know that this series of sermons extends over twelve years, and that they are arranged in chronological order, so that a key may be supplied to the allusions contained in them to passing events. The last paragraph of the first sermon is so interesting, as a revelation of the preacher's own feelings at the beginning of his work in the beautiful old church, and at the same time so instructive to readers elsewhere, that we give it in full :— " Men have said to me, ' You will have a critical audience. Every- thing will be discussed. A fair field and no favour, will be the motto of your congregation! My brethren, the caution falls chillingly, dauntingly, almost cruelly, upon the ear. What am I, that I can meet this sort of rigid, dispassionate judgment ? I will tell you my answer : I believe not one word of it. I do not believe that this is a critical audience. Not to judge the preacher, but to hear the Word ; not to criticise the sermon, but to hide yourselves, after a week of in- tellectual toil, in God's tabernacle from the strife of tongues; not to say one to another, as you quit this presence, the sermon was Long, the sermon was dull, the sermon was monotonous and common-place,' but to say, On this one day in each week God has provided me with a sweet solace of heavenly hope and spiritual communion. I was glad when they said to me, we will go into the house of the Lord ; and now I depart, warmed, cheered, edified, for another week's labour and for the ever- lasting rest beyond,'—this shall be the attitude, beloved friends, of your ear and of your heart, as you listen to the voice of your minister. You shall let him assume that you and he are men of like passions, equally acquainted with life's sorrows, equally accessible to life's temptations, equally tried, also, by those perplexities which beset (not least in our day) the faith of the Christian. You shall let him assume the truth of the inspired saying, so full of comfort and help, 'As in water face anawereth to face, so the heart of man to man.' You shall feel towards him as one who, whatsoever he be in himself, has a message and a ministry for you from the Lord. This, I venture to hope, will be your feeling. And, if it be so, he shall have no cause to sigh, with Richard Hooker, for the lost freedom of his college cell,' or for some quiet country parsonage, where he may behold God's blessing spring out of his mother earth.' e shall behold it here. That strength which has its root in faith shall have its dew and its fragrance in love—a sympathy shall be between us, strong and steadfast—and God, even our own God, shall give us here his benediction."
Ms.oszimes, Km—We have received the following :--Part 19 of Canon Tristram's Pathways of Palestine, the subjects of the photo- graphs being the sites of Bethsaida and Capernaum.—Men of Mark, containing the portraits of the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr. B. W. Richardson, and Mr. Henry Irving.—The Scottish Naturalist.—No. I of the Masonic Monthly, being the continuation in a new form of the Masonic Magazine.--The Dictionary of Needlework, June and July parts.
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