Aids to Christian _Education. Vol. I. The Baptismal Covenant. By
the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton. (W. W. Gardner.)—There is a very welcome air of reality about this little book. It is intended to be used especially in preparing the young for Confirmation, but it might be studied with great advantage by clergymen and teachers and parents for the general purposes of instruction in Christian doctrine. It con- tains eight chapters, modelled on the Confirmation Service and the Church Catechism, all characterised by a sincere thoughtfulness, and by considerate sympathy with the difficulties of young Christians. The instruction is given partly in the form of a dialogue between the teacher and the pupil, and questions are appended to each chapter which may be answered on paper or otherwise by the pupil. Those who have been repelled by the technical and traditional phrasing of religions manuals will find in this little work a constant endeavour to connect doctrinal terms with the experience of life and with modern ways of thinking. Rational explanations are given of the meaning of original sin, of renunciation, of the imitation of Christ, and generally of the baptismal calling. The book is far, however, from being rationalistic in tone ; it is orthodox and unalarming, and pervaded by earnest pastoral feeling. People are constantly inquiring for books in which the better kind of theology is adapted to the practical instruction of the young and the simple. Here is one such book, modest in its pretensions, and somewhat irregular in its structure, not quite so directly useable as some teachers would desire, but containing much which any one who has to give instruction may find interesting and useful.
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