Tracts for the Day: Essays on Theological Subjects. Edited by
the Rev. Orby Shipley. (Longmans.)—This volume is a collection of theo- logical essays which were published separately under the same editor- ship as the Church and the World, and which were written apparently by the same anthers. The subjects of the essays are chiefly those on which the Church of Rome differs from the Church of England, and we do not think that we are doing the writers of the essays an injnatice in saying that their views coincide with those of the former body. Auricular confession, purgatory, seven sacraments, extreme unction, and transub- stantiation seem to be distinctly recognized and advocated. Mach ingenuity is shown in getting rid of the plain wards of the Articles, and in basing elaborate views upon single texts of Scripture. For instance, in the tract on the Real Presence, after quoting the statement that the sacramental bread and wine are not to be adored, the writer says, of course adoration of the bread and wino considered in themselves would be a piece of stupid idolatry, but bread and wine in union with the body and blood of Christ are adorable. There is a very curious tract on casuistry, at the end of which several cases are given. It is a pleasant exercise to resolve such doubts, and not the less pleasant that probably no two men would agree as to the right conclusion. In the one case which comes nearest the heart of the writers, that of the rector who introduces vestments against the wish of his bishop, thinking that he acts according to ecclesiastical law, there is a remarkable fallacy in the argument. It is said that he does rightly because the authority of the law is a higher sanction than the wish of the bishop. But is the rector's opinion as to the teaching of the law of greater weight than the command of his bishop ? If it is, what is his use for a bishop ?
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