Religion in England, from 1800-1850: a History. By John Stoughton,
D.D. 2 vols. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—This is a book which must be reviewed either at very considerable length or very briefly. To deal with it in detail would be to touch upon every con- troversy, theological and ecclesiastical, which has been carried on in England during the present century (for Dr. Stoughton supplements his " history " of fifty years with a" Postcript on Subsequent Events" that carries it down to the present time). It has been the feeling that such was the only adequate treatment of Dr. Stoughton's volumes that has made us postpone for so long our notice of them. We must be content, however, with the general acknowledgment of the industry which has been spent on gathering and dealing with materials, the skill with which they have been worked up into a literary form, and, above all, the spirit in which the writer has handled a number of very difficult subject/J. To pass in review all the schools of thought that have flourished daring the last eighty years, to weigh the character and abilities, the learning and the orthodoxy, of great thinkers and divines, to give an account of the internal history and external relations of the religious communions of England, is no light task, and Dr. Stoughton must be congratulated on having per- formed it, not only without offence, but with a general acceptance.
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