SERMONS, &c. — The Clock of Nature. By Hugh Macmillan, B.D.. (Isbister
and Co.)—Dr. Macmillan enforces familiar truths with illustrations from natural objects. Few things are so attractive as these, handled as they are by a preacher who is at home in both subjects, that to which his lessons belong, and that from which these illuminating parallels are drawn. The fourth discourse, for instance, is on the text, "I will give him the morning star," and the illustrating object is the flower known to us as Star of Bethlehem, which the preacher had seen flowering in abundance in the English cemetery at Scutari. "The starry flower spoke to me," he says, "in a most impressive way, of the morning star of the resurrection which is promised to him that overcometh. Tie little earth-star bloomed over the graves of the English soldiers in token that for them there was a star of hope in the heavenly sky that would usher in the eternal day, when the sleepers would awake to newness of life." An interesting fact is mentioned in the discourse which gives a title to the volume, that when the coffin of Pharaoh was opened withered flowers were found in it which indicated the season of the year at which he had been buried. But the Pharoah could hardly have been the Monarch that oppressed the Israelites, if by this is meant the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The mummy of Meneptah has never been found. Of course the phrase, "oppressed the Israelites," might be applied to Rameses II., Meneptah's predecessor.— The Table- Talk of Jesus, and other Addresses. By the Rev. George Jackson, B.A. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—The sermon which gives a title to the volume is hardly the best, and gives an erroneous idea of the contents. It refers to the healing of the dropsical man in Luke xiv, and the teaching which followed it. A volume taking up all that Christ said on the recorded occasions of his being a guest at men's tables might be worked out "to something interesting." Here we have actually a digression on "Sunday Golf." We are not disposed to disagree with Mr. Jackson's views, but they come in somewhat mal-d-propos. The next two sermons, on "The Mother of Jesus" and "The Brothers and Sisters of Jesus," are plain and forcible, with some telling applications to practical life. We are inclined to doubt the emphasis which the preacher puts on the word "Fear of his father Isaac." Among the other dis- courses that may be singled for mention are "The Idylls of Bethlehem" and "The Missionary Motive." The latter is a courageous statement of views that most of us hold but few are willing to put forth so explicitly. We do not seek to evangelise the heathen to rescue them from hell after death, but because we hold that the Gospel is the most ennobling influence that can be brought into man's life.—The Birth and Boyhood of Jesus. By G. F. Pentecost, D.D. (Same publishers.)—One cannot help thinking that this is a large volume to build up on the very scanty knowledge that we have of the subject. But Dr. Pentecost uses a considerable liberty of divergence, seeking his illustrations and applications in a wide compass. There is something in his style, in the direct and homely form of address which he uses, that reminds us of the preachers of the seventeenth century.
The Pour Pillars of the House, by R. P. Horton, D.D. (Isbister and Co.), contains four discourses on "Purity," "Love," "Unselfish- ness," "Discipline."—The Care of Souls, by John Watson, M.A. (Hodder and Stoughton), is a volume of lectures delivered at Yale on the work of a Christian minister. They are full of common-sense, strongly seasoned with humour, and are, we must say, a refreshing contrast to some of the quite impracticable discourses that have been sometimes delivered on such an occasion. The preacher, as Dr. Watson pictures him, is a possible being; nor have we occasion, with regard to him, to parody what Prince Rasselas said to Imlac, after the Sage had described the necessary qualifications of the poet.—We have also received : — Jesus the Poet. By the Rev. I. Reid Howatt. (Elliot Stock.)—" Brief readings on the metaphors and similes uttered by our Lord in the Gospels."—Beason and Religion. By R. C. Moberly, D.D. (Longmans and Co.)—Lectures on Religion. By Leighton Pollan, MA. (Same publishers.)—Christian Instincts and Modern Doubt. By the Rev. Alex. H. Craufurd. (James Clarke and Co.)
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