The Deacons, Messrs. Hall and Chellice, then most affectionately and earnestly commended the missionary to God in prayer. Mr. Taylor wished to add that the Lord's hand had been most graciously put out to assist the work. A gentleman, a perfect stranger, had, through a friend, most kindly offered a free passage to China to Mr. Barchet and another missionary who is going out with him. He begged the friends' prayers that the Lord would abundantly bless their kind helper. The Four Chapels. PROPOSED in our March number that by the aid of all our friends, we should endeavour to erect four places of worship in or near London, that we might be doing some little to meet the direful spiritual destitution of our great metropolis. The work is to be carried on in real earnest, and I beg my readers to come at once to my aid. The foundation stone of the first chapel, to be erected in the town of Ealing, was laid by our friend, John Olney, Esq., who has pushed on this project with vigour, on Wednesday, April 26th. The building will not cost more than £800, and with the contributions of friends on the spot, Mr. Olney's liberal assistance, and the aid we shall render ourselves and expect from others, we hope to open Ealing chapel free of debt. The second meeting-house is to be built on a piece of ground which we have taken in the Drummond Road, Bermondsey, in the midst of an immense and growing neighbourhood. This will be a larger building, but we hope by strict economy to complete it for £1,500, of which we hope to raise £1,000, and leave the congregation with the easy burden of £500 to be paid off in future years. I am compelled to cease from labour for a few weeks, and to seek repose for my jaded mind in foreign travel. I am enabled by the noble generosity of a friend, to offer £250 towards this Bermondsey Chapel, and I think I see my way to another £250. This leaves £500 to be raised, and if my friends will all work together to raise this sum to put on the foundation stone on my return, I shall be indeed grateful. I leave England hoping and praying that this may be done. subjects of his address were the love which should exist among all true believers of Christ's gospel-the nature of gospel-faith-the peace and confidence with which it should always be attendedand its practical effects. On these topics he dwells with his usual sweetness and simplicity. The principal charm of the book, to many, will be the definition and description of saving faith. Honourable mention is made of Mr. R. Haldane, to whom Mr. Malan was indebted, instru In the first of these little volumes, the elements of grammar are adapted by familiar illustration to an early period of the youthful mind. In the second, the principal facts in English history are accommodated to the capacities of children of a larger growth. In both there is a praiseworthy attempt to dimin-mentally, for his evangelical clearness. ish the task of acquiring what is not very attractive in itself, and the attempt has not, we think, been made in vain. Conventicle of Rolle. By CESAR MALAN, D.D. James Nisbet & Co., 21, Berners Street. THE Conventicle here referred to was a social gathering for religious intercourse, in which Cæsar Malan took the principal part, and during which he gave a clear and full statement and defence of his doctrinal sentiments. The principal the Romans he acknowledges himself To his Commentary upon the Epistle to to be indebted more than to any other book, next to the Bible, for his theological sentiments. We cordially unite in recommending that Commentary to all students who aspire to be sound in the faith. The Junior Clerk. By EDWIN HODDER. Jackson, Walford, and Hodder, 27, Paternoster Row. WAs the parable of the Prodigal Son, as uttered by the great Teacher, a fable temptation palliates the prevailing fol lies of our young men; or that the bitter repentance and reformation to which, in some instances, it leads, renders a course of dissipation less appalling. These are but the few saved from the or a fact? In either case it might become a parable, and in the latter better than the former; as realities are more like realities than fictions can be. It is by no means impossible that this parable should have been founded upon fact. It is more probable than other-wreck in which thousands are lost. With wise that such a series of incidents might have happened in the course of the world's history; and if so, it must have been known to our Lord. It is so these precautions, we know of no better book to be put into the hands of young men when first entering upon city life. Central Truths. By CHARLES STAN true to nature, that it can hardly fail to Jackson, Walford, and Hodder, 18, St. Paul's Churchyard. MR. STANFORD is well known, both as a preacher and a writer. All his productions are characterized by elegant language, and by refinement and originality of thought. They are not less remarkable for piety and Scripture truth. There is an appearance of a laborious attention to the beauties of composition; but what might be so elsewhere is, we believe, natural here; it has become the natural result of a highly cultivated mind. The book before us contains imitation of every one who aspires, not are well worthy of the attention and to be a sharp sword merely in the hand of the Lord, but a polished shaft in his quiver. establishments in large cities; and who the substance of a series of well-prefail to realize the hopes which their pared discourses upon Scripture docparents and friends had cherished re-trines, and privileges, and duties. They specting them. The gradual stages by which the innocent and unsuspecting are drawn into the vortex of dissipation are faithfully pourtrayed. Amongst these some may be surprised to find literary institutions, not in themselves indeed, but in the frequent abuse of The Divine Footsteps in Human them, in the formation of injurious History. William Blackwood and friendships and the effects of long absence from home. To those of our Sons, Edinburgh and London. youth, who are far from home, these THIS book is more attractive in its subinstitutions have provided both instruc-ject than in its style. Its object is to tion and an asylum from more perilous places of resort; but to others they have too often proved temptations to violate the rules, and destroy the comforts of their families and friends. In proportion as moral and religious influences are brought to bear upon the exhibitions of science and art, the less of course these evils are to be appre-paid to that portion of Church history hended; but the general tendency, we fear, is to substitute amusement for instruction, and to gratify, rather than to refine, the taste. We are thankful to the author for pointing out these rules. It must not be supposed, however, that trace the over-ruling hand of God in all the revolutions in the history of the human race for the developement of great principles, and the accomplishment of certain great and definite ulterior designs. This lofty aim is pursued with a vast amount of diligent and patient research. Great attention is of which we have no inspired record, and the reason why we have no clear revelation upon many questions of Church policy well known to us is properly affirmed to be because the circumstances from which they arose had not then existed. We are indebted | A "BIBLE READER" would have been physical death is not the consequence DOHERTY, M.D. Trübner and Davy's School Days. By D. D. Dean and Son, 11, Ludgate Hill. UPCHER COUSENS. Dean and EACH part of the Lord's prayer is here MR. MEDHURST's aim, both in preaching and writing, is not to amuse but to | teach; not to please the imagination, or give vigorous exercise to the mental powers, but to gain the heart. In this he has succeeded, and we believe will continue to succeed. With all his zeal and the honour that has attended him, he can say, "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me;" and in this he is an example to many others. He knows wherein his own power by the grace of God lies, and diligently and undeviatingly cultivates it to the utmost. All that he writes is worth reading, because it has in it the sweet savour of Christ, and seeks an entrance for him into the soul. Christian Poems. By TIMOTHY HARLEY. Jarrold and Sons, 12, Paternoster-row; and Passmore and Alabaster, 23, Paternoster-row. THESE Poems have considerable merit, and give promise of more. We should not have advised our young friend to rush so early into print; but confess that his productions, to say the least, have allayed our fears. Amidst the great inequality usually apparent in first efforts, there are marks of real poetic genius, such as deserve the encouragement which a large sale of this little work is calculated to give. Nablous and the Modern Samaritans. By Rev. JOHN MILLS, F.R.G.S., M.R.A.S. John Murray, Albermarle Street. WE naturally take up a book of this kind with great expectations, and if we feel at its close a degree of disappointment, we are apt to forget that it is not owing to the writer so much as to ourselves. We have felt, in common with all biblical students, that whilst we have numerous and voluminous sources of information respecting the Jews, properly so called, we have been kept in the dark respecting the kindred race of the Samaritans. We have known little of their origin beyond the bare facts incidentally recorded in Scripture-little of the proportion of Jew and Gentile in their pedigree-little of the eventualities of the tribes supplanted by them-little of their national peculiarities in New Mr. Testament times- and little of their revolutions through the Middle Ages unto the present period. This has partly risen from the little attention that has been paid to the subject; but still more, as it now appears, from the extremely limited sources of information. Mills has not been wanting in ability, or perseverance, or enthusiasm, to supply the deficiency. We realize under his guidance the city of the ancient Shechem, and the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim in its locality, and our sympathies are with him in the hallowed associations that cluster round the spot; but the present of those scenes reveals little of the past. The interest is given to it, rather than derived from it. The monumental remains are suggestive of former solemnities, but, with some few exThe claim of Mount Gerizim to be the ceptions, are shrouded in uncertainty. scene of the offering of Isaac by his father Abraham, for instance, we judge to be not yet satisfactorily determined. The Samaritans themselves, even at head quarters, are reduced to so small a part of their ancient metropolis, and have been so much oppressed by their Mahommetan rulers, that little resemblance to their ancient forefathers remains. Their priesthood is but the shadow of what it once was. Sacrifices, as with the Jews, are virtually abolished. The smallness of the community has produced irregularities so as to combine several offices and customs into one, and to preclude others altogether. What little may be learned of this people is nevertheless of great value; and biblical science owes much to Mr. Mills for his careful and patient researches. The Immortal Theme. By J. ASHWORTH. R. Davies, Sutton Street, Commercial Road, East; and W. Pentney, Peterborough. WELL-KNOWN truths are here presented in a clear and impressive light. The one great theme of revelation is placed in due prominence, and in proper order, with the exception of the example of Christ preceding the sacrificial character of his death. The subject of this little volume must commend it to all Christians, and its simple and earnest form of address to all who are interested in the best welfare of the young. |