each Book, often throwing strong light on
the meaning of the text.

Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. By Franz Delitzsch. Translated from the German by the Rev. M. G. Easton, D.D. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1877.-This is the last of the very valuable Keil and Delitzsch series of Commentaries. Delitzsch's solution of the plan and purpose of the Canticles has long been before the English public, through the medium of Dr. Ginsburg's exposition of the same most difficult, but most precious Book. Delitzsch regards it as not allegorical, but as based upon a typical but elsewhere unrecorded episode in the history of Solomon. There seem to be insupersble objections to the historical basis of this Divinely mystic Book, as conceived by Delitzsch. But in the attempt to substitute the historico-typical for the allegorical interpretation, he has in our judgment cast strong light upon the latter. It is plain from Delitzsch's analysis of the structure of this exquisite poem that she whom the King woos and wins and weds is not a foreign princess, but a simple rustic maiden. And however questionable the Leading hypothesis of this great commentator may be, the exposition abounds in acute and expert verbal criticism, in the evidences of profound Hebrew scholarhip, and keen exegetical insight. Regarded merely as literature, this Commentary is delicious, in poetic feeling and picturesque and animated simplicity of style. It is withal devout, spiritual and edifying; and the incidental light which, even in working out an unsustained hypothesis, it casts upon the true meaning of the Song of Songs, is more intense and real than that evolved by any other Commentary with which we are acquainted. The Commentator gives some choice quotations from devotional and homiletic writers; but it is a pity that he does not seem to have een Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations on this Book of Scripture. This and one or two of Mr. Spurgeon's Sermons from texts taken from the Canticles would have guided him to some fine touches of spiritual elucidation.

The chief value of the Commentary on Ecclesiastes consists in the contrast it rings out between the degrees of light on e and immortality breaking from the Old Testament and that which streams from the New: how much: how little the saints of the Old Covenant knew of the life to come. We think, however, that Delitzsch unduly depreciates their knowledge and exaggerates their ignorance. We do not think this the best exposition of Ecclesiastes,

Symbolic Parables of the Apocalypse; or, The Church, the World, and the Antichrist. Being the Separate Predictions of the Apocalypse, Viewed in their Relation to the General Truths of Scripture. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1877.The object of this book is to shape and sustain the hypothesis that the Apocalyptic visions have no special reference to any particular historical epochs or evolutions, or any succession of such evolutions and epochs; but that they merely set forth the unvarying principles of the Divine government of the Church and of the world. This hypothesis it unfolds with much patient and conscientious ingenuity, and in a temperate and devout spirit. But we cannot shut our eyes to the many formidable, in our own view, fatal, objections to this well-elaborated speculation.

·

I. It does not allow the Book of the Revelation to be, strictly speaking, what it affirms itself to be, a prophecy.' According to this writer, no one Apocalyptic picture has any more direct or special reference to any event or series of events in human history than the parable of the Prodigal Son has to any individual case of conversion. The visions are not predictions but parables. Thus the classification of the Book must be changed: it must be withdrawn from the category of prophetic Books and placed amongst the purely didactic Books of Scripture.

II. This is not the natural, straightforward, consistent view of the subject. Such a mode of treating the Revelation would never have been thought of, never was thought of, but from a sense of weariness and impatient exhaustion, resulting from the blunders into which presumptuous unskilfulness and self-confident imaginativeness have betrayed the majority of interpreters. This is confessedly the motive for the present volume. Its anonymous author tells us that there are more than a thousand volumes on the Apocalypse in the British Museum. The natural and the irrepressible reply to this piece of information is-Then why write another? But his answer is ready, being virtually this: All who have yet explored this dim and dangerous ocean have been on a wrong tack; and, since a North-East passage round the Pole has not yet been effected, my expedition is to the North-West.-But our gallant author is mistaken in supposing

that he is the first hero who has ever turned his adventurous prow in this direction. The new Apocalyptic route must in all justice be called Hengstenberg Straits, and not bear the name of our able author, should that name be allowed to transpire. His hypothesis is substantially that of the great German commentator; and the very fact that the working out of the details is different shows that we may soon have a thousand and one commentaries on the Revelation on this new system of interpretation. But our author seems to know noting of Hengstenberg's exposition. After all, his justification for testing yet further the size and strength of the shelves of the British Museum is not much better than that of a street preacher whom we heard triumphantly vindicating his attempt to found a new sect by pointing to the bewildering number of sects already in existence. Thus

III. This powerful book, so far from making an end of all exegetical strife, just brings on a fresh contest on a newlystarted issue. This writer shows himself as capable of incoherence and inconsistency as his pooh-poohed predecessors. For example, in the very first earthward vision: the opening of the seals, he makes the red horse symbolize actual war; the black horse, a famine of the Word'!

IV. The writer with all his resolute ingenuity, all his pre-eminent qualifications for achieving such a feat, if at all practicable, finds it impossible to be loyal to his own hypothesis. The reference of certain parts of the Revelation to certain definite historical epochs, evolutions, culminations, is so striking: the Papacy and the Reformation, for example, that he cannot evade it. The really and permanently valuable part of the book is the deciphering of the prophetic, not parabolic, symbolism of Scripture; and we are sincerely and warmly thankiul to this able writer for giving us another book on the Revelation, a book which every one ought to read who seriously and strenuously and, at the same time, sensily studies the deep but blessed 'words of this prophecy.'

A Treatise on the Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. By Charles Elliott, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Chicago. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1877.-Would that our notices of books could, as a rule, be as summary as our expressed judgment on this! It is, in our opinion, the best book yet written on this difficult but most important and indeed urgent question, for judiciousness, simplicity and accessibility

to the general public and ready intelligibility to the general reader.

The Sunday-School Teacher's Bible. London: Wesleyan-Methodist Sunday. School Union.-There is really a marvel. lous amount of most valuable Biblical information compressed into this convenient and portable edition of the Holy Scriptures. In addition to a concordance giving the leading lines, we find a copious index to names of places, etc., and a concise epitome of Scripture history, including the period between the Old and New Testaments. Several pages are also given to Bible geography and to various wellarranged tables, all of which will be of great service to the Bible Teacher. It is especially designed for Sunday-school Teachers, and to them it will be invalua ble, while Local Preachers, Class Leaders, and, indeed, all who are in any way called to instruct others, as well as the private student of Scripture, will find this excellent and remarkably cheap volume an incalcu lable help to an intelligent appreciation of the Word of God.

Short Stories, and Other Papers. By Rev. Mark G. Pearse. London: Wesleyan Conference Uffice.-Many of the papers in this beautiful volume, beautiful in every respect, have already had the highest possible attestation of their worth, having been owned of God in the conversion of souls. And we cannot wonder at this; for seldom has God's way of peace been so clearly and faithfully, and yet so truly and attractively, set forth as in those precious little tracts: Getting Saved,' and Can I be Saved?' The stories and narrative Tracts are also too popular to need descrip tion. In humble and wealthy homes alike the work will supply a great need-downright sound Gospel truth, in simple, forci ble, well-chosen language.

Old Daniel; or, Memoir of a Con verted Hindoo: With Observations on Mission Work in the Goobbe Circuit, and Description of Village Life in India. By the Rev. T. Hodson. With Introduc tion by the Rev. W. Arthur, M. A. London: Wesleyan Conference Office.-This won derful narrative, far more strangely inter esting than fiction, is written in that simple, pleasant but far from babyish style that is always popular with young people, and which their elders may read with profit. The touching account of the darkness of Daniel's early days and the brightness of his later life will be a powerful stimulus to Juvenile Missionary Collec

tors.

Chronicles of Capstan Cabin; or, The Children's Hour. By the Rev. J. Jackson Wray. London: Wesleyan-Methodist Sunday-School Union and Wesleyan Conference Office.-We have here a capital budget of short, lively stories in prose and verse. interspersed with riddles and puns, making a charming variety suited to all ordinary juvenile tastes, and imparting healthy moral lessons in a pleasant guise. The book is sure to be a great favourite with the young folks.

Good Will: A Collection of Christmas Stories. By the Rer. Mark Guy Pearse. Low on: Wesleyan Conference Office.These lively and pointed stories of peace and good-will' will be eagerly welcomed in their present attractive form. This beau tfully got up ' volume is just the thing for a Christmas or New Year's gift-book.

The Deity: An Argument on the Existence, Attributes, and Personal Distinctions of the Godhead. By Willam Cooke, D.D Third Edition of Thelotes. Revised and Enlarged. London: Hamilton, Adams and Co. 1877Dr. Cooke's reputation as a theologian has reached far beyond the boundaries of his own Church. The volume before us is worthy of his fame, and is an admirable Companion to his great work on Christian Theology. The book is divided into three parts, which treat of the Existence of God, the Divine Nature and Attributes, and of the Holy Trinity re-pectively. The first portion is decidedly the most valuable. Without being strikingly original, the whole treatise is careful, systematic and generally overwhelmingly conclusive. To n intelligent reader it will prove at once a afe and a satisfactory guide to the study of some of the profoundest religious truths, whilst the devout spirit which breathes in every page will be a guard against any approach to irreverence. Dr. Cooke's style is in many respects very attractive, but it not unfrequen ly tends to the verbose; and occasional y, when he has completely demolished an opponent's argument, Le indulges in expressions of contemptuous triumph which seem somewhat out of place in a grave theological disquisition.

The Biblical Museum. By James Comper Gray. Old Testament. Vol. II. London: Elliot Stock. 1877.-Mr. Gray's latest volume calls for precisely the same criticism as the previons issues of this Commentary. The present instalment is neither better nor worse than its predeIts main merits are its completeness-the notes being both exegetical

cessors.

and homiletic, and the appended illustrations being quite as serviceable as could be gathered from any collection of anecdotes, or dictionary of illustrations,-its compactness and its general orthodoxy. The exegesis is rather superficial, but perhaps sufficient for its purpose; the homiletic outlines are naturally of varying worth, and the notes illustrative' are often exceedingly far-fetched. But, on the whole, Mr. Gray's work is well done. The Biblical Museum would be of little use to a professional student: it might prove a valued help to others. It is clearly printed and tastefully and strongly bound.

The Life of Consecration. Sermons Preached at Leicester. By Alexander Mackennal, B. A. Author of Christ's Healing Touch,' etc. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1877. All who have read Christ's Healing Touch will welcome a new series of Sermons by the same author. It is no slight praise to say that this volume is more than equal to its predecessor. We have seldom met with anything more thoroughly sound and healthy than Mr. Mackennal's teaching. Christians in all stages of the Life of Consecration, may read his book with great profit; but to young converts it will be specially valuable. We cannot refrain from making particular mention of the discourses on 'The Culture of the Christian Life;' God's Gentleness;' and the Consecration of the Body, sermons in which our author's Christian sagacity, tenderness and sound common sense are strikingly conspicuous. We hope that a large circulation may reward Mr. Mackennal's labours.

Old Jonathan, the District and Parish Helper. Volume for 1877. London: W. II. and L. Collingridge.

Good News. Stirling Tract Depôt, and London: S. W. Partridge-Old Jonathan still sustains its reputation as a good and useful magazine; but District Visitors would find it more helpful for circulation among the poor, if there were a greater number of directly evangelistic papers, and if the letters to the aged were, as in former years, printed in large type.

Good News is a capital little paper for broad-cast distribution, consisting chiefly of short, pointed, rousing appeals and anecdotes calculated to awaken, and to guide the awakened conscience. It is especially adapted for the young and illiterate.

The Dying Saviour and the Gipsy Girl. By Marie Hall. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Sacred Streams: The Ancient and Modern History of the Rivers of the Bible. By P. H. Gosse, F.R.S. A New Edition, Revised by the Author. London: Hodder and Stoughton.-This volume is written with the laudable object of supplying profitable as well as interesting reading for young people on the Lord's Day. A good deal of varied information is given in a simple, intelligible manner; the Scripture scenes with which the several rivers are connected are depicted, and lessons drawn in a very pious and reverent strain. But we fear the author's style is hardly popular and lively enough for ordinary young people, though any who have a deep and intelligent love for the Word of God could hardly fail to appreciate it. The parts relating to the modern history and present condition of places through which the rivers flow are perhaps the most interesting portions of the book. The volume is very tastefully got up' and profusely and excellently illustrated.

A Golden Christmas. Longley's Annual for 1877. London: F. E. Longley, Warwick Lane, E. C.-This annual compares fairly with other Christmas volumes. The cover is very attractive and cheerful-looking; and though the stories are highly improbable, their moderate

sensationalism is of a harmless kind; while two of them, 'Grandmamma's Story' and The Christmas Angel,' are not only well told, but convey healthy moral lessons.

Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. By H. A. W. Meyer, Th.D. Translated from the Fourth Edition of the German by the Rev. P. J. Gloag, D.D. The Translation Revised and Edited by W. P. Dickson, D.D. Two Vols. Edinburgh: T. and T Clark. 1877.-Dr. Meyer in severe grammatical exegesis is scarcely to be matched. In this respect his claims are so thoroughly established as to render praise superfluous; we need only say that this volume fully sustains his reputation. Yet even this great commentator has allowed his fine intellect to be egregiously practised on by subjective rationalism. In some instances,-e.g., the gift of tongues at Pentecost, St. Peter's account of the death of Judas, and the shrinking of the Christians at Jerusalem from Paul at the first,-he writes in such a way as to make out St. Luke to be, not only a legendmonger, like Herodotus, but even an audacious legendmaker. Should any university institute a chair of à priori history, Dr. Meyer is clearly the man for the post. The extent to which subjective rationalism can drive a great man to trick out utter nonsense in the verbiage of science is shown in his first objection to the truthfulness of St. Luke's account of Pentecost: 'The sudden communication of a facility of speaking foreign languages is neither logically possible nor psychologically and morally conceivable.' (P. 64.) What rule of logie the miracle impinges on, or what moral concept it outrages, we cannot imagine. And how is it less psychologically conceiva ble' than the Resurrection of Christ on the third day after death is physiologically conceivable ?

MRS. ANN PICKLES, of Brighouse, Cleckheaton Circuit. The links of human life which once united the last and the present centuries are becoming very few. Mrs. Ann Pickles, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mitchell, was born at Highfield, Oakworth, in the Keighley Cirenit, in 1794. Her mother was a member of the first Methodist Society at Haworth. When Ann was only

two years old her father died, leaving a widow and five young children. About four years afterwards her mother married again, when the five children were taken under the care of the grand-parents. In 1805 the neighbourhood was blessed with a gracious revival of the work of God. at which time Ann, in the twelfth year of her age, gave her heart to God and joined the Methodist Society. Her grand-parents,

however, were in no way disposed to foster the Divine life in the child's heart, and were strongly opposed to the people called Methodists; but the youthful distiple was lovingly tended by her Class Leader, Mr. John Pickles, whose wise counsels and godly example contributed greatly to the formation of a character steady in true Christian principle.

While in early womanhood she was markedly earnest and zealous in her devotedness to the cause of Christ, adorning the doctrine of God' her 'Saviour in all things. The frivolities of the world attracted her not; but she was greatly drawn towards the means of grace. The rare visits of the great Preachers' and the 'Lovefeasts' had especial charms, and not infrequently she would walk ten or twelve miles to such gatherings. She and her sister walked to Leeds, a distance of twenty miles, to attend some of the Conference services.

Her union with Mr. James Pickles, the son of her Class Leader, was in every way suitable, and proved eminently happy; but, alas! only of short duration, for his sun went down while it was yet day;' but the sunset betokened a bright to-morrow, for he died in the full faith of the Gospel of Christ, shouting, Victory, victory!' God in His mercy raised up for the widow and her four young children many helpers, among whom the late Mr. Jonas Sugden, of Oakworth, merits special attention. By the grace of God, Mrs. Pickles was enabled to command her children and her household, to keep the way of the Lord; ' and the children, early led to the Saviour, in their youthful days delighted to serve Him. Both before and after the death of Mr. Pickles the home offered ready hospitality to the Preachers who came to conduct service in the old preaching-house built by the Rev. W. Grimshaw, 'lest the flock should be scattered after his death.' The Sabbath was sacredly kept in that household; and whatever the weather might be in that wild, bleak neighbourhood, it was a very rare thing indeed for their accustomed seats in the sanctuary to be vacant, though the house was more than a mile distant from the chapel. Other Christian duties were also carefully and regularly attended to, and have borne blessed fruits. Foolish talking,' idle gossip, unkind criticism of Preachers and preaching, she would neither indulge in, nor allow in her house; but would strive to direct conversation to higher and holier subjects. She was ardently attached to the Class-meeting. By Providence she was called to remove to Brighouse in 1860. Her regular Christian habits, earnest prayer and

holy counsel had happy effect upon all the children; one of whom, after an honourable career at college, was somewhat suddenly called to the rest above, while the others, by consistent, useful lives, are following in the footsteps of their mother.

In her later years she passed through long and tedious affliction. She had several slight attacks of paralysis. Fourteen months before her death she had a seizure which threatened immediate dissolution, in the midst of which she had an overwhelming manifestation of the Divine presence. She spoke to those around her of the goodness of God, of His faithful promises, of His having been a Father of the fatherless' and a Husband' to the widow. She spoke of reunion with her husband and her son, saying that then there would be three of the family in heaven, and three on the way to heaven. She said, 'Let me go; if I am spared longer it will only be suffering for me, and trouble for you.' She rallied, however, for a time; and though almost totally unconcerned about earthly things, had a lively sense of religious matters. She never lost the consciousness of her Saviour's smile. The enemy was not permitted to disturb her peace. She could sing Not a cloud doth arise, To darken the skies, Or hide for a moment My Lord from my eyes.' She often broke out in prayer and 'songs in the night.' Throughout her affliction no murmur escaped her lips; but sometimes she would cry with much earnestness, 'Take me home,' her soul evidently longing for the home above. At length the weary wheels of life stood still, and she passed away to be ever with the Lord. She was the oldest member of the Society in the Cleckheaton Circuit. The Lord called her home on the 12th of April, 1876, in the eightysecond year of her age, and the seventieth of her membership in the Methodist Society. Her mortal remains were interred in the burial ground of the Wesleyan chapel, Haworth, where rest the ashes of her husband and her son.

JOSHUA JOHNSON.

MRS. SUSANNAH BURGESS died, at Pretoria, Transvaal Republic, South Africa, May 2nd, 1876, aged fifty-three years. Her maiden name was Greathead. Her parents are still living in Natal, and as much attached as ever to that section of the Church of Christ whose Class-books, Circuit records and Minutes of Conference bear on their lists a goodly number of names of the present and preceding generations of the family, many of whom have laid aside the weapons of their holy warfare for the conqueror's crown. Mrs.