SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
'[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been --reserved for review in other forms.]
Church Unity. By Charles Augustus Briggs, D.D. (Longmans and Co. 10s. 6d.)—Professor Briggs, who holds a Chair in the Union Theological Seminary of New York, has devoted himself to the promotion of the unity of Christendom. He collects in this volume a number of articles contributed to various periodicals, together with lectures and addresses, adding much new matter. The result is a somewhat surprising combination. In his chapter on the " Sacramental System " he seeks to establish a /nodes vivendi between those who hold by the Tridentine Decrees and those who accept the Lutheran and Anglican and other Con- fessions. So he suggests the term " Conversion " for " Transub- stantiation," "Consubstantiation," and the Anglican equivalents. But surely it is appropriated to another use. As to the minor Sacraments, he recommends the Churches to " restore the sacred and apostolic institutions of unction and train their ministry in pastoral medicine." This advice is connected with Faith Cure and -Christian Science. On the other hand, Professor Briggs argues for the validity of Presbyterian Orders, and he denounces the attitude of the Roman Curia to Modernism. The book may be studied with advantage, but we doubt whether even if Professor Briggs could attain his object it would tend to good.
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