"And den, Mr. Breacher, it ish said dat Jonah was cast into de sea and taken into de whalesh pelly. Now I never could pelieve dat. It alwaysh seemed to me to pe a peeg feesh story, put it ish all plain to my mint now. He vash not into de whalesh pelly at all, but shust shumpt onto his pack, and rode ashore. Oh, I vash so glat I vash here to-night!

"And now, Mister Breacher, if you will shust explain a bassage of Scripture I shall pe, oh, so happy dat I vash here to-night! It saish de vieked shall be cast into a lake that purns with fire and primstone alwaysh-O Mr. Breacher, shall I pe cast into that lake if I am vicked! or shust close py, or near to, shust near enough to pe comfortable? Oh, I hopes you tell me I shall be cast only shust py a good vay off, and I vill pe so glat I vash here to-night!

The Annihilation Controversy.

We have received the following letters from our esteemed friend, Mr. Rogers. He may very cheerfully abide the sneers of Mr. White, who is so genial a gentleman that he would not betray so much temper if he had not been severely smitten. The dogmatism of the Editor of the Rainbow is noteworthy; the controversy is pretty well over when the ipse dixit of Dr. Leask stands instead of argument.

To the Editor of the "Sword and the Trowel."

Camberwell, January 6th, 1871.

DEAR SIR.-The Rev. Edward White has declined the controversy with me upon the subject of eternal punishment from, to use his own words, "a natural reluctance to be involved further with a gentleman who always writes in the tone of a tutor, and one possessing the rare power of assertion requisite for converting untrained youths, from town and country, in little more than two years, into expositors of God's word, and pastors of Baptist congregations." The Editor of the "Rainbow" refuses to insert any further communication from me upon the subject, in these words:-" Rev. G. Rogers will please excuse us. It is a waste of time and space to say more on the subject. Eternal suffering is not the doctrine of Scripture." Yours truly,

G. ROGERS.

The following is the letter refused insertion in the "Rainbow."

DEAR SIR, Mr. White's reply to what he has styled my bold and audacious challenge, demands some further observations from me. The points to have been discussed by him are, 1. Whether there are not instances in the New Testament in which the doctrine of eternal punishment is affirmed as decisively and fully as it could have been affirmed in the Greek language? Whether, in fact, the eternal happiness of the righteous, or the eternity of God, is expressed in stronger terms? 2. Whether there are any instances in which the limitation of future punishment is as clearly and fully affirmed? and 3. Whether there are indirect allusions, figurative illustrations and inferential intimations, sufficiently numerous and powerful, to qualify the plainest declarations upon the subject? Of the first of these enquiries, in which the whole challenge consisted, and which admits of one reply only, Yes! or No! no notice whatever is taken. The second, which alone could have nullified the first, is also passed over in silence. To the third, which by itself can have no force, Mr. White's observations are limited. He says the doctrine of eternal punishment would have been conveved more clearly in the Scriptures if such expressions as " death,"" perishing." "destruction," being "killed," "burnt up as like chaff and tares,” “blotted from the book of life," "broken to shivers," "ground to powder," and "dashed

to pieces like a potter's vessel," had not been used. But what evidence is there that these expressions were intended to teach the nature or duration, or anything beyond the certainty, the suddenness, and the completeness of the punishment of the wicked? All of duration included in the literal and conventional meaning of these terms is confined to this life, and no more applies to Mr. White's view of the duration of punishment after death than our own. Mr. White surely did not expect that figurative illustrations of eternity itself could be taken from the things of time? It would be just as wise to maintain that the doctrine of the eternity of God, and of the happiness of the righteous, is impaired because figurative representations of them are taken from temporal things. Mr. White further avers that the eternity of future punishment would have been more clearly taught in Scripture if man's natural immortality had been affirmed. Supposing, however, the soul to be naturally and necessarily immortal, there would have been no need to have affirmed it in connection with eternal death any more than in connection with eternal life. If natural immortality were included in life in Christ, a distinct proposition ought far more to have been given to that effect.

Mr. White replies, further, that if warning had been given against taking the terms life and life eternal, in the sense of duration of existence, the doctrine of a natural immortality would have been more clearly revealed. We needed foot notes, he thinks, to prevent us from taking these terms in a physical sense. Much more we conceive, did we require foot notes to inform us that physical, as well as spiritual, life was included in those terms. This physical idea forced into combination with the spiritual idea of life in Christ is the great assumption upon which Mr. White's theory is built. Why foisted into this figurative description of the benefits derived from an interest in Christ any more than in his being our light, a door, or a vine? Does Mr. White really suppose that he has discovered a similar combination of ideas in our speaking of the destruction of the soul, as including "separation from God and perpetual misery"? Surely these two things are far more closely allied than physical and spiritual life.

One more instance in which Mr. White suggests that the eternity of future punishment might have been more fully revealed, would have been by more frequent, and, as I understand him to mean, more terrible descriptions upon the subject. Another writer, at the same time, gives a similar reply. The question, however, is not how often the eternity of suffering needed to be revealed, in order to command our belief, but whether it has not been revealed as plainly and fully as words could express?

It is to a small part only of my paper that Mr. White has condescended to reply. The bearing of the subject upon the redemption-scheme, and upon the Lamb for ever upon the throne, he cautiously avoids. His allusions to myself personally, and to the College with which I am connected, are wholly irrelevant to the occasion; and in my opinion would have been better omitted for his sake rather than my own. I trust I have had no other aim than to defend what I hold to be the teaching of the word of God; nor am I conscious of having transgressed the rules of fair controversy in so doing.

G ROGERS.

HERE are some things we must deny ourselves for others' sakes. Though would do very ill to come scouring through a town where children are in the way. Thus some things thou mayst do without sin to thee, if there were no weak Christians in the way to ride over, and so bruise their tender consciences. But, alas! this is too narrow a path for mere professors to walk in nowadays; they must have more scope for their loose hearts, or else they and their profession must part.-Gurnall.

Reviews.

We have many books still waiting for notice, and we hope to mention them all in due time, but we are just now pressed for space. We have this month noticed first those needing immediate attention.

The London Monthly Diaries for 1871. | The Grey House on the Hill. By the Shaw & Co.

OUR esteemed friend, C. R. H., has it much upon his mind to keep the word of God daily before business men. The diary for one month, which costs only a penny, is put into a morocco case, and when done with is succeeded by that of the next month. There is a text at the head of each day's memoranda. We fear that busy people will hardly care to use the monthly parts, but the idea is a good one, worthy of the zealous heart

which has carried it into execution.

The Child's Companion for 1870. ligious Tract Society.

Re

ARE we living in the same world? We
remember the "Child's Companion
some quarter of a century ago, and then
it was a sort of waistcoat pocket tract
with indifferent woodcuts. How it has
grown and improved! Families never
need raise a question about the ad-
mission of the" Child's Companion
into the house; it is always on the
right side, and wisely so. Last year's
volume makes a very pretty present.
Old Jonathan. Collingridge.
THE volume for 1870, in paper covers;
is published at eighteenpence.
Jonathan" is one of the best penny-
worths issued from the press. It needs
no commendation; it is so good and
cheap that it must secure an ever-
widening circulation. The same may
be said of "The Cottager and Artisan,'
by the Religious Tract Society. Scatter
them, scatter them, they are leaves for
the healing of the people.

66 Old

Honourable Mrs. GREEN.
and Sons.

Nelson

WE handed this story to a lady, who promised to give us her opinion in return. She is a lady of exquisite taste, and remarkable good sense, and therefore we give her remarks as we receive them.

"A very tender, touching story: one which cannot fail to interest and de

light all true-hearted boys and girls.
Magna est veritas et prævalebit' is the
lesson it teaches; and I can but hope
that all who read it may learn it well.
The title is somewhat misleading. One
straightway pictures to oneself a dear,
cosy, old-fashioned country mansion;
grey, of coarse, with hoary age, but
flecked with the bright green and gold
of moss and lichen; soft folds of crim-
son curtains shading the windows, and
warm firelight glancing out from the
shining panes. Alas! for imagination's
pictures. The reality turns out to be a
dreary, cold, hard-featured workhouse,
to which the little hero of the story is
banished for a time in suffering and
(save for a brother away at Sebastopol),
disgrace. He is an orphan, friendless
hard-worked, misunderstood, uncared
for, the lines' falling to him at first in
very unpleasant places; but he has true,
child-like faith in God, and is making
of wrong-doing and dishonesty falls
some friends, when terrible suspicions
upon him, and even the good Doctor*
and his equally good son, Tom,' are
compelled to believe the overwhelming
evidence against him. Off to the work-
house! for the doctor cannot have a
thief and a liar in his house; but 'our old
Tom'sticks steadfastly to his little friend,
and at last has the intense happiness
of completely establishing his innocence.
The book concludes very pleasantly with
the return of the brother from the
Crimea, wounded, but worthy of the
Victoria Cross, and with the triumphant
reiteration of its motto-Magna est

The Diary of Nannette Dampier, during
the years 1664-66. Written by her
in the French Language, and now
translated into English. By ANNA J.
BUCKLAND. Johnstone and Hunter.
A GOOD book, and calculated to make
its readers good. It is a diary of a
young lady in a Puritan family, during the
plague,and deals with her inner life as well
as with the events of the times. It will
suit Sunday School libraries admirably. | veritas et prævalebit.””

* I don't agree with you Mr. Editor in your little sneer at doctors last month.

Pictures and Stories of Natural His- | exception to the rule, it has happened tory. T. Nelson & Sons. in this case that the very best title for THREE most fascinating books. We mar- the whole series of sermons was the subvel more and more at the art and inge-ject of the first. "Rain upon the Mown nuity now brought to bear upon juvenile literature. Here we have pretty stories about live things in very simple words, almost all of one syllable; and to make these go down with the very young folks we have a superabundance of engravings, some of them most deliciously coloured. The demand for children's books must surely be great when a house like that of Messrs. Nelson gives so much attention to the supply. We almost wish we were boys again.

The Hive; a Storehouse of Material for
Working Sunday School Teachers.
Volume II. Elliot Stock.

AFTER carefully looking through the
years' issue of this magazine, we are
bound to award it much commendation.
Working Teachers, and we hope all
those Teachers who read the Sword and
Trowel are such, will derive great help
from this work, but as it is not designed
to relieve readers from the necessity of
thinking, it is probable that lazy per-
sons will be dissatisfied with it. The
Hive occupies an important position in
the literature of Sunday Schools.

The Students' Manual of Oriental History. A manual of the ancient history of the East to the commencement of the Median Wars. By FRANÇOIS LENORMANT and E. CHEVALLIER. Vol. II. Asher & Co., 13, Bedford Street, Covent Garden.

We have shown our appreciation of Vol.
II. by sending an order to the publisher
for Vol. I. This is a most learned work,
and at the same time very readable.
The French appear to excel in these
researches, though we believe that their
precise accuracy is not always unchal-
lenged.

Rain upon the Mown Grass, and other
Sermons, 1842-1870. By SAMUEL
MARTIN, Minister of Westminster
Chapel. Hodder & Stoughton.
THE practice of giving to a volume of
sermons a name borrowed from the title
of one of the discourses contained in it,
may plead many precedents; but for all
that it is often misleading, and is seldom
other than absurd. For once, as a rare

Grass" is a most apt emblem of the whole manner and matter of the preacher of Westminster chapel. We hardly know what Mr. Matthew Arnold means by "sweetness and light," but when we hear the words we always think of Mr. Martin. His is a sort of vigorous tenderness, a manly childlikeness, a transparent depth, a lowly height. To know the man and not to love him would argue a hideous distortion of heart. You do not love him because some one noble quality redeems obvious faults, but because, take him for all in all, you see a balanced graciousness in him which you discover in very few even of the best of the brotherhood. The sermons before us are fresh, sparkling, living, clear; and they drop into the soul softly and sweetly as rain upon the grass which is newly shorn. A master's touch is visible on every page, but there is no trace of art, pretentiousness, or straining for effect. The themes are most of them the elementary truths of the gospel, and these are not elaborated into obscurity, nor philosophised in to unimimportance, but simply and honestly handled after the natural manner of a There is no refined and spiritual mind. hurricane, or flood, but there is a dew from the Lord, and a clear, calm shining. Softness and strength here melt into each other, and lend a mutual adornment. Perhaps not to the uneducated, but certainly to persons in whom piety and taste are united, this halfguinea volume will prove a welcome addition to sermon literature. Our space does not admit of our saying more. The Spanish Brothers; a Tale of the

Sixteenth Century. By the Author of "The Dark Year of Dundee." Nelson & Sons.

THIS is one of the Schönberg-Cotta series of historical stories, which is of itself a sufficient passport to the confidence of readers of that class of literature. If we must have religious and historical novels let them be such as these. The subject is full of holy interest, and the treatment of it is devout and inspiring.

Memoranda.

THE Watchnight Service at the Tabernacle, despite the intense cold and the deep snow, was exceedingly well attended, the place being well filled. After the few minutes' silence, which is always observed before the striking of the clock, the following hymn was sung, having been composed by the Pastor for the occasion: