various colours, after exposure to the direct rays of the sun, when taken again into the dark. But in nature, by means not to be at present explained, light breaks up the carbonic acid in the leaves of plants in order to separate the carbon. In the laboratory carbonic acid may be broken up by heat, but at a temperature of 2,500° centigrade. Selenium is now shown to make manifest another mode, in which light affects solids; for, by the presence or absence of light the power of this substance to transmit electricity is increased or diminished. The history of the discovery is very instructive. A telegraph clerk at Valencia noticed that a stick of crystalline selenium, such as had been used for some time in telegraphy, where high electrical resistance was required, offered considerably less resistance to a battery current when exposed to light than when kept in the dark. These facts were made known in 1873, but the statement was received even by men of science with considerable incredulity. It was not credited

BOOK

A Compendium of Christian Theology: Being Analytical Outlines of a Course of Theological Study, Biblical,_Dogmatic, Historical. By W. B. POPE, Theological Tutor, Didsbury College, Manchester. London: Published for the Author at the Wesleyan Conference Office. 1875.

First Notice.-For a work of this order a single notice is altogether insufficient. Whilst its merits and importance challenge immediate recognition, they also demand a close and careful study which its massiveness renders a work of time. We have already incidentally said that its publication marks an era in Methodist Theology. We might safely have written English Theology. Indeed we have no hesitation in claiming and predicting for it a high place in the front rank of

*

* February, 1876. P. 85.

that the mere surface action of light upon a solid substance could so instantaneously change its internal condition as to open among its particles floodgates for the passage of the electric current, to close again on the removal of light. But during the last twelve months Dr. W. Siemens and Professor Adams, in different countries and by different means, have arrived at practically the same result. The action of light powerfully affects the capacity of this substance for conveying electric currents; and this is the case not for white light alone, but different effects are produced by the different colours of the spectrum into which white light may be refracted.

There is a great deal that is suggestive in this, even physiologically. The effect of light upon nervous action is sufficiently well known. Dulness of spirits and mental lethargy, are almost inevitable concomitants of a leaden sky and a murky atmosphere. It may be that a physiological key to this is by the above facts suggested.

Protestant divinity. It is barely just to say that it is one of the noblest theologi. cal productions of the present century, and in comparison with works which have been for generations the revered authorities in divinity, such as Pearson on the Creed, it must be pronounced more scientific, more compendious, comprehensive and complete. Yet, though answering closely to its title, "A Compendium, being Analytical Outlines of a course of Theological Study," it is far from being a mere skeleton. It glows and pulses with intellectual and spiritual life. To change the figure, the "strong meat" of the Word, though condensed to the last degree and packed into the smallest space, like pemmican for an Arctic expedition, has not lost in the process any of its nutritive properties or of its delicious taste; it is still "savoury meat, such as" the devout soul "loveth." Whilst free from

any affectation of novelty, it is one of the most original works in the language. We know no work of the size and kind so unencumbered with quotations from any book but the Bible. In this respect the contrast is very striking with the ponderous citations of Pearson and the plethora of extracts which clogs the fluency of Watson. The style is in itself a study: absolutely individual, it bears no trace or tinge of mannerism. Its scholarly finish relieves its severe simplicity. Its marble-like purity and polish, and gleaming white solidity, befits the symmetrical proportions and the imposing dimensions of the work, as a stately intellectual structure. There is a fascination in its calm and sometimes coruscant lucidity. In truth, the first impression is that of one who steps into a classic temple, with its long perspective of well-ordered pillars, roofed by the blue of heaven. The charm is heightened by the delicate tracery of a restrained imaginativeness, consisting mainly of a kind of floral scroll-work of exquisitely apt, yet bold and startlingly beautiful, quotations or adaptations of Scripture phraseology, reminding us ever and again of Richard Winter Hamilton though in his case a laboured pomp of diction, the very contrast to Mr. Pope's chaste English, sadly marred its fine effect. Mr. Pope's energetic compression sometimes gives to his sentences an epigrammatic strength and sparkle. Hence, too, he excels in definition. Very rarely, however, extreme brevity produces its proverbial obscurity. Thus when he says, As the Church was enlarged the Bible was enlarged; but never was the one without the other," (P. 10,) we should like to know whether he dates "the Bible" from the days of Seth and Abel, or the Church from the time of Moses, or both from some intermediate period, or whether he simply means that from the time when "the early oracles were first committed to "the covenant people" the Church has never let slip the Bible. Again, when we are told, "There is the sacred deposit of original truths in the constitution of man's nature," (P. 16,) one would like to ask, Does this imply the doctrine of innate ideas, or a personal revelation prior to, and independent of, all outward instruction and the action of the Spirit on the individual heart? Or does he regard "the light of the Son in human reason (P. 24) as part of "the constitution of man's nature"? When he writes "By faith in our own instincts we know that

God is and that the world was framed by the Word of God," (P. 28,) we must of course assume that this is but one of those bold adaptations of Scripture of which we have spoken, and that the interlineated words "in our own instincts" are not meant to be expository of the text quoted, "Heb. xi. 3, 4." Once more, when he comments thus on the declaration of St. John, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, etc."-" In his Epistle he seems to make the unction of the Spirit a privilege of all Christians, but a close examination will give reason to think that he referred primarily to the Apostolic Xpioμa," etc.; one might think he means (P. 67,) that St. John only "seems to make the unction of the Spirit a privilege of all Christians," but that on P. 91, we find that in most real and glorious sense, it is actually" the privilege of all Christians." But these, though by no means unimportant, are comparatively minute matters.

Mr. Pope's doctrine of Inspiration is in our judgment the only defensible one: certainly it is the Wesleyan doctrine, that which underlies the Notes on the New Testament: and its mode of statement is wonderfully clear and understandable.

The book is nobly monumental and a rich love-gift from the Methodist mind to the theological stores of Christendom. Readings in Holy Scripture for Young Children. By WILLIAM BINNS. London Wesleyan-Methodist Sunday School Union. 1876.

Of this Lesson-Book we have received three parts, Life of Jesus, Words of Jesus, Bible Narratives. The selections are judicious, the wording of our English Bible is deviated from only to the very slightest extent, the printing is clear, and the books cheap. The "Readings" are well adapted for the junior classes in Sundayschools.

Gems Reset; or, The Wesleyan Catechisms Illustrated. By BENJAMIN SMITH, Author of "Sunshine in the Kitchen,' Climbing," etc., etc. London: Wesleyan Conference Office. 1876.

A more general and systematic use of the Conference Catechisms in our Sundayschools and in the families of our people is much to be desired. It is scarcely possible to overrate the value of brief and well-constructed definitions and compendiums of Christian doctrine to those whose memory is well-stored with them. And this work can, for the most

part, only be accomplished in early life, for then only is the mind sufficiently retentive to acquire such information without great difficulty. Still it must be acknowledged that the work even to children is apt to be rather dull, if not prosecuted under the direction of teachers able and willing to explain the necessarily brief sentences and illustrate the more abstruse subjects. It is here not unfrequently that the schools which do employ the Catechisms fail. The lessons are often extremely dull and irksome, and liable to be slurred over for something more entertaining. The volume before us goes far to remove this difficulty. Under every article, and sometimes under portions of the larger articles, are collected a considerable number of anecdotes and illustrations, new and old, Scripture incidents and similies, matter that will supply the careful teacher with materials for enlivening the Catechism lesson. Any instructor of children who gets Mr. Smith's help will be thankful for it.

Selina's Story: a Poem. By the Author

of "The White Cross and Dove of Pearls," etc., etc. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

The author of "The White Cross and Dove of Pearls" has already taken rank as an able and beautiful prose writer; and "Selina's Story" gives ample evidence of real poetic genius: a bold, vigorous, yet withal delicate and refined imagination, vivid sensibility, a passionate love of nature, a deep sense of the beautiful, a power of description and characterisation, a rich and well-chosen vocabulary, and, usually, a true and sensitive ear. Sometimes, however, she fails in the last-named particular. She has evidently studied with advantage Mrs. Browning and Wordsworth; and in reading "Selina's Story " it is impossible not to think at once of "Aurora Leigh." But our authoress is no mere imitator. "Selina's Story," though less striking and brilliant than "Aurora Leigh," is less ambitious, and is free from the hectic intensity, overwrought passages, overdrawn pictures, and overstrained expressions* which occasionally deface Mrs. Browning's celebrated poem. Sometimes our author falls into Wordsworth's affected prosiness, but this is the only affectation in her simple style. We heartily hail the young poetess, and have no doubt that, if stimulated by her due

* Except occasionally in exclamations.

meed of encouragement, she will do good service to the cause of truth, whilst supplying to thousands healthy and bracing intellectual recreation. Of course, in judging of a young writer's first poem, we look not for perfection as a work of art, but for indications of real power. These, in "Selina's Story," are abundant. Her knowledge of woman-nature is especially acute.

Glimpses in America; or, The New World as We saw It. With Notices of the Evangelical Alliance, the Pacific Railway, and California. By the Author of "Life's True Beatitude." London: Published for the Author at the Wesleyan Conference Office. 1875. A very taking, pleasant book. Its title is exactly descriptive of its character. It consists of a series of photo. graphs, glimpses-quick, flashing pictures of scenery and society in the western world. But they are glimpses which could only reveal themselves to the glances of a keen, sensitive, shrewd and poetic eye. The genial and able author takes his readers along with him on a very interesting tour, and makes them see the New World as he saw it, on its Eastern and Western seaboard and in steaming across its mighty breadth. We do not know another book so small which gives such a true and vivid idea of America as it reveals itself to a hurrying visiter with penetrating eyes kept wide open. The writer can both see well and say well. His style is in the main that of a cultivated man who is at the same time a preacher and a poet. The book is thoroughly healthy and good humoured. The journey was evidently performed under the most favourable gastronomic conditions. Nothing is more glowingly and gratefully depicted than the "square meals" the unstinted cuisine of America. In this point the volume reminds us much of Judge Talfourd's Up the Rhine, which scrupulously records the bill of fare from stage to stage. But throughout the present volume there runs a vein of genuine piety.. Our author knows "hon to abound." Many of the anecdotes are very good, but some only worthy of that conversational currency which they had already obtained on this side the Atlantic. We heartily recom mend every traveller at home, who likes a cheap, charming and comfortable, and withal edifying trip by his own fireside. to treat himself without delay to this really capital book.