of the nineteenth century, and one which may be read with unhesitating confidence and unfailing delight and profit by all Christian people' (R.T.S.; 3s. 6d.).

BARCLAY'S 'MAN IN ALLIANCE WITH GOD.' This is a sermon (or is it a series of sermons?) running to seventy pages, with notes running to forty pages more, on that text which so many men begin their ministry with, Ph 212. 13. The Rev. P. Barclay, M.A., wishes to end his ministry with it. It is no disparagement to Mr. Barclay's own work to say that the notes are the best of it, for the notes are his work also. If he has not written them, he has selected them, and selection is everything. The little book is published by the Religious Tract and Book Society of Scotland (Is. net).

CANON RAGG'S 'ASPECTS OF THE ATONEMENT.'-The Bishop of Lincoln admirably states the purpose of this little book when he says that its method of treatment is not to offer one complete theory that will embrace and make clear every side of the truth, but rather to present different aspects of the mystery, which, on converging lines, lead us towards the truth.' Bishop King does not agree with every word of it, nor do we; but we have read every word of it with pleasure. Here is a characteristic sentence. The writer of the Atonement for Canon Ragg is the late Professor Moberly.

He says that

Moberly's strength lies in his recognition of the place of the Holy Spirit in the Atonement. And then he says that Moberly showed 'How Abelard at the beginning of the twelfth century, and Dale and Macleod Campbell in the nineteenth-Abelard with his wonderful realization of the Cross as a sublime appeal of love evoking love-deep calling unto deep; Dale with his splendid championship of the inviolable claims of Divine Righteousness; Campbell with his forcible conception of the Crucified as the perfect Penitent, confessing the sins of all mankind;-how all these, like many another, failed just because they did not bring into their scheme of the Atonement the work of the Holy Spirit and His sacramental grace' (Rivingtons; 2s. 6d. net).

MEN AND WOMEN OF THE BIBLE.Mr. James Robinson of Manchester has published

four cheap volumes of sermons, three on the Men of the Bible and one on its Women (3s. 6d. net each). The sermons are contributed by many preachers, the most of whom, we observe, are either Scotch or Welsh. In two of the volumes Dr. George Milligan heads the list, and Mr. P. Carnegie Simpson closes it. The sermons are always expository, and once or twice very daring is their exposition. There is at least nothing old-fashioned or out of date about them.

RHYS'S 'CELTIC BRITAIN.'-The S.P.C.K. has published another edition (the third) of Professor Rhys's Celtic Britain (2s.), and Professor Rhys has written a new preface for it. It is twenty-two years since the first edition was published, and 'how many good and helpful friends,' he says, 'I have lost.' But what about the theories which in the first edition, he said, were so many and so hypothetical? Some crude theories,' he answers, 'have been made less crude, and some others have been turned inside out.' Well, if it is a more reliable, it is not a more entertaining, book than it was before, for that could not be.

GANT'S FROM OUR DEAD SELVES.'A third edition revised (Elliot Stock; 2s. 6d. net).

EGERTON-WARBURTON'S CHRISTIAN LIFE.'- Bad sermons have sometimes good thoughts in them. We do not know if Mr. Egerton-Warburton's sermons are good or bad, we only know that they have good thoughts in them. For he has given us the thoughts and not the sermons. Into a volume of just over a hundred pages he has gathered sixty-eight good thoughts. Some of them are the commonplace things we live by. None is so new that we cannot comprehend it (Elliot Stock; 2s. 6d. net).

BOOKLETS.

It is the little book that is the despair of the reviewer, the little book and the pamphlet. They are often better worth reviewing than the big book, but so precious is space in this world that no reviewer can afford to encourage them. The following must be mentioned this month.

Seeley's Miniature Library of Devotion.-Three

volumes are issued, perfect in taste and in workmanship, yet strongly bound and easily handled. Each contains brief passages from the writings of one of the Christian Fathers, the three Fathers in those three volumes being St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1s. each, net).

A Book of the Love of Jesus.-The Rev. Robert Hugh Benson, M.A., Priest of the Diocese of Westminster, has gathered a collection of ancient English devotions in prose and verse into a book with this appropriate title. Appropriate, for the devotions are medieval mostly and unrestrainedly passionate, Christ, not in His humanity only but in His humiliation, being the centre. But the title is not complete. It should be 'A Book of the Love of Jesus and of Mary.' Is it not the first deliberate attempt within the Church of England to appropriate the human passionateness of the Church of Rome, both for Jesus and for His Mother? It is in such a book as this that one sees how easily devotion for Jesus may pass into devotion for the Virgin (Isbister; 3s. 6d net).

Two more of the Temple Series of Scripture Handbooks. One is The Connection between the Old and New Testaments. It is written by the Rev. G. Milne-Rae, D.D. The other is St. John. It is written by the Rev. Canon Benham, D.D. (Dent; 9d. each).

The Joy of the Religious.-We are strong in little books of strong devotion this month. This also is human love for the human Jesus, but transfigured, spiritualized, passing almost out of the human, just because the object is Jesus who is divine as well as human. The author is the Rev. Edgar Rogers, M.A. (Allenson; Is. net).

By Still Waters.-Set prayers cannot be published thoughts for prayer can. It is because set prayers must be elegant and eloquent, addressed to the congregation; but the thoughts for prayer of the Rev. Lauchlan Maclean Watt are addressed to God (Blackwood; 1s. 6d.).

How can you help Scotland?-This is the bold title which the Rev. James Harvey, M.A., has given to his booklet on the Church Crisis. For it is a question for Scotland, and not for the suffering

THIS month we need not go beyond the publications of Mr. Melrose to get a suitable book for every normal boy. We have three to choose from, and their scope is entirely different.

First we have the usual story of wild adventure, With Pizarro the Conquistador (5s.), by A. L. Haydon. It is the account of an English lad who threw in his lot with Pizarro the adventurer, and went with him to Peru, where he gained both fame and possessions.

Then for those who like history combined with adventure Mr. Melrose has provided England's Sea Story, by Albert Lee (5s.). Mr. Lee has one characteristic which makes him capable of doing justice to such work as this; it is that of acquiring accurate and minute information, assimilating it and then giving it to us in its entirety, but in such an attractive form that we never suspect we are really learning. In England's Sea Story we have first an account of the different peoples who attacked our island by sea-the Vikings, the Danes, the Normans, and later the French and the Spanish; then of the great marine expeditions in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and of all the outstanding naval battles to the time of Trafalgar. Mr. Lee's book is scientific also. As one kind of ship supersedes another, its points of superiority are carefully explained, till we feel that we have some grasp even of the mechanism of our own battleships and torpedo-destroyers. The covers of the book are of slightly rough pale blue cloth, with gold lettering.

Very different from these is Mr. Kent Carr's new book, A Rank Outsider (5s.). Mr. Kent Carr is well known by his school stories, and if Brought to Heel gained him popularity, A Rank Outsider will help him to keep it. Its plot

is original. It is the story of an under-gardener's son who went to the public school of St. Cuthbert's, and was a rank outsider. But no one need fear for him, for Ralph Deverell had real grit, and became captain of the school in time.

GOWANS & GRAY.

Messrs. Gowans & Gray have published the first of a series of Art Books containing The Masterpieces of Rubens (6d.

net), quite wonderful for the money. They have also published No 1 of a new series of Books for the Young, at the same wonderful price. It is The Seven Champions of Christendom, by W. H. G. Kingston.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

From the Church Missionary Society has come a pretty little volume in crimson and gold, Christmas Time in Many a Clime (1s. 6d.). It contains accounts of how the children in different lands spend their Christmas day. Each story is written brightly and simply for children by a missionary living in the land.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

From the Sunday School Union have come David Livingstone, by Edward Hume, and Tom Brown's SchoolDays (2s. each); and seven volumes at Is. each: Hemphill Minor, by Kent Carr; Henshawe of Greycotes, by J. Stuart Robson; The Sisters of Silver Sands, by E. Everett-Green; The Kingdoms of this World, by W. E. Cule; Henry A. Stern, by E. C. Dawson, Jack's Baby, by Blanche Atkinson; and Fairy Stories from the Little Mountain, by John Finnemore. We can imagine nothing more suitable for Sunday-school prizes than these books. They are inexpensive, they are tastefully bound in bright colours, and they have been carefully selected for different ages and capabilities.

Last month a new life of Bishop Hannington was issued for boys. This month comes a life of the great African explorer and missionary, David Livingstone. Mr. Hume has spared no pains to make the book attractive, and the boy who receives it will find that the adventures in it are quite as exciting as those in any of his favourite books of

romance.

A new edition of Tom Brown's School-Days is always welcome. This copy belongs to the 'Youths' Own Library.' It is bound in bright blue and brown.

In Hemphill Minor and Henshawe of Greycotes we have two school stories. Hemphill Minor was fag to Cavendish, a prefect at Ranelagh, who helped him out of a bad scrape, and so won his fag's boundless gratitude. Here we have the account of how he turned detective and cleared Cavendish of a charge of stealing. Mr. Kent Carr knows boys and public school life thoroughly, and he has given us a very faithful picture of it.

The Sisters of Silver Sands were three girls-Carry, Nell, and Milly Wynne, who belonged to a club, the object of which was to help other people. Their way of helping was neither by preaching, nor by lecturing, nor by giving away what they would not miss. A very breezy spirit pervades the whole book.

The new volume of the 'Splendid Life' Series is the Life of Henry A. Stern, Jewish Missionary in Abyssinia. In the introduction Mr. Dawson says of Stern that he had taken his life in his hand and wandered, disguised as a Dervish, in fanatical Arabia; had ventured into lawless Abyssinia as an apostle to the Falashas, and had, during several weary years, languished as a captive of mad King Theodore.' When it is found that there are also fourteen full-page illustrations, the success of the book should be secured.

Jack's Baby and Fairy Stories from the Little Mountain are both volumes of the 'Red Nursery' Series. The first is a pretty story of a little boy who was left in charge of his baby sister one day while his mother was away from home. Read how he fulfilled his trust. On the cover of the Fairy Stories there are two pictures. The first is of Megan being carried away by the great raven, Cigfran Fawr, and the second of the witch, Hen Wraig, crouching over her red fire, with her magic forefinger outstretched, pointing vindictively at poor little Megan. Mr. Finnemore has the gift of simple pictorial writing. These fairy stories will be eagerly listened to by even very young children.

The fifth volume of The Golden Rule (2s.), bound in pink and black, has just been issued. As usual it is full of good things-two serial stories, numbers of short ones, animal stories, articles on decoration, on plants, and interesting accounts of the people of different countries.

A most original book is The Band of Hope Blackboard, by R. W. Sindall (2s. 6d.). It is a simple treatise on the art and principles of blackboard teaching as applied to the weekly meetings of the Band of Hope.' The chapters are graded, and contain a large number of useful designs and diagrams. No teacher who recognizes the value of eyeteaching in the Band of Hope can afford to do without this book.

BLACKIE & SONS.

For many years now Mr. Henty has published two or three new books every year, and it is with a real feeling of loss that the boys throughout the whole British Empire will learn that By Conduct and Courage (6s.) is his last. When Mr. Henty died in November 1902 he left the MSS of three books. Two of these, With the Allies to Pekin and Through Three Campaigns, were published in the autumn of last year. This, his last book, will compare very favourably with those which have preceded it. The adventures in it are quite as reckless and rousing, and there is perhaps not so much pure history introduced.

Then we have a book by the author of Tom Burnaby, Mr. Herbert Strang. It is called Boys of the Light Brigade (6s.). It is the story of a subaltern in the 95th Rifles. He received a mysterious message from a friend of his father's, who was then in Spain, saying that he was dying, and commanding Lumsden to remember the words, 'Palafox the Man, Palafox the Name.' The book teems with life and incident.

With the Dyaks of Borneo (6s.) is Captain F. S. Brereton's latest book. We can safely predict that it will have as large a circulation as any that have gone before.

Messrs. Blackie not only bind their books artistically, they also take care to suit the binding to the book. The three boys' books just mentioned have bright dashing covers, but Rosa Mulholland's A Girl's Ideal (6s.) is bound in pale blue, with a touch of brown and gold; and God's Bairn (3s. 6d.), by Dorothea Moore, has quaint covers of drab and crimson.

A Girl's Ideal is the story of an American girl who got the lease of a large fortune for twelve years. Her motto was 'what I had, I spent; what I saved, I lost; what I gave, I have'; and she acted up to it. The book is very brightly

written and full of fun.

The hero of God's Bairn is a foundling called Moses Marlowe. When a tiny baby he was left on the altar steps of the church of Marlowe-in-the-Fens, and was found by the sexton and adopted by him. He was a manly little boy, and showed his pluck during the Civil War. The clear-cut illustrations in black and white have been beautifully executed by Mr. Paul Hardy.

FLEMING H. REVELL.

Tom Keenan, Locomotive Engineer; a story of fifty years on the rail as told by himself. Compiled by Neason Jones (3s. 6d. net). It is Saul of Tarsus over again, whole-hearted and undaunted whether against Christ or for Him. But there is this difference, that before his conversion Saul of Tarsus was zealous for the Law of God, while Tom Keenan was zealous for the devil and all his works. Many cursed Keenan for his bad example before he knew

We have had Tales from Plutarch (5s.) before, but we never had them told more naturally. All the ruggedness of the old translators is removed, but in its place there is no straining after the extreme simplicity of diction which characterizes Professor Church's work. The new editor keeps his own hand out of sight. The attention of the reader is immediately caught, and it is entirely given to the story till the end comes. There are four tales-the Story of Theseus, the Story of Romulus, the Story of Fabius Maximus, and the Story of Alcibiades. The illustrations are arrestive. Eight of them are done by Cecil Wilson; each occupies a page. The initials and tailpieces are the work of Amy B. Schultz. The writer of the book is F. Jameson Rowbotham.

It is now generally recognized that the Apocalypse is associated with the Flavian dynasty: those who date it in 70 A.D. and those who date it in 90-96 are agreed at least that a Flavian emperor was reigning at the time. The ancient authorities, as is well known, assign it to the reign of the third and last Flavian emperor, Domitian. In Rev 179ff. the sixth, seventh, and eighth Basileis (a term which ought to be translated 'emperors,' rather than 'kings') are closely connected with each other, so that the sixth is, the seventh is not yet, come, while the eighth is of the seven and goeth into perdition. Only in the Flavian dynasty was there such a close connexion of three emperors, for we must understand that the family was conceived to be all present in the person of one. The first seven emperors are the heads of the monster; but the eighth is the monster himself; he stands out from the rest as the present incarnation of the whole monstrous power, and the sixth and seventh as his father and his brother are represented in him. There must be some special meaning in this peculiar view, or, as St. John puts it, 'Herein is wisdom.' We have to attempt to trace the thought, 'the wisdom,' which is wrapped up in it.

In regard to this envisagement of the three Flavian emperors in the last of them, it must be remembered that the emperors have a place in this

book only through their relation to the Church. In studying the Apocalypse, Vespasian is not to be thought of as the sane, cool, and able administrator, possessed of a considerable share of quiet humour and full of strong, rough common sense, which is the character that he bears in history. How did he appear to the Christians of Asia? That is the only question that the interpreter of the Apocalypse has to ask. Now it has been argued in the Church in the Roman Empire before 170, chap. xii., that Vespasian was the emperor who first proscribed the Christian name and confession: he did it for reasons of state, not of religion. He satisfied himself that the Christian principles were a danger to the empire, as every clear-minded and vigorous emperor must and did perceive. They saw, as he saw and as the fact undoubtedly was, that the imperial authority, on its existing basis, was absolutely and diametrically opposed to the Christian view of life; and they all recognized that this enemy must be proscribed in the interest of the existing government. An 'opposition' party was not permitted: mankind had not yet learned that an opposition' may be loyal. It was not the worst emperors who were the greatest persecutors, except during the first century. The reigns of Commodus and Caracalla and Elagabalus and others of the most infamous emperors were times

of peace for the Church. Trajan and Marcus. Aurelius, the very greatest and noblest among the emperors, are remembered by the Church as persecutors. Decius and Diocletian, under whom the two most determined and thoroughgoing attempts to exterminate Christianity were made, rank among the great emperors. It is now a commonplace, admitted by practically everyone, that 'if Rome was true to itself, it must compel obedience-and to do so meant death to all firm Christians'; but this was not a commonplace and not generally admitted, when it was stated in the Church in the Roman Empire, p. 356. The emperor who was truly Roman must admit and confirm the proscription of the Christians.

Moreover, even if those scholars were right who maintain that the principle of proscribing Christians originated from Nero, and was thereafter the settled practice of government, they are bound to maintain that Vespasian confirmed the principle. As Nero was condemned (damnatus memoriae) and his acts were rendered invalid, no principle of policy laid down by him was valid until it had been reaffirmed by his legal successor. Even if Galba, Otho, or Vitellius had had time during their short reigns to go into this question and re-established the Neronian principle, which is wholly improbable, it is certain that the acts of Otho and Vitellius would not have been regarded as valid in later procedure until reaffirmed by Vespasian. It is therefore certain that Vespasian must have declared himself definitely against the Christain claim for toleration, and this principle was understood by Pliny to be in force in his time, and was accepted by Trajan as the law of the empire in his famous rescript to Pliny. It is quite certain that Domitian was not the first to declare the principle of proscription. His acts were invalid, and the policy that existed before his time would naturally come into force again at his death. But, as we have just seen, Trajan accepted proscription as the settled, established practice of the empire; and this principle, therefore, must have rested on the authority of some emperor whose acts were valid. That emperor can only have been Vespasian or Titus ; and all probability speaks for Vespasian as against his shortlived elder son.

The Flavian policy, then, was the central and dominant fact in the view of the Christians about 80-100 A.D.; after-ages remembered the persecution of Domitian, because he had carried out the

policy for a much longer time and with a more ruthless and cold thoroughness corresponding to his narrow and intense character; but at the time the prominent fact was that the three Flavian emperors had all agreed in proscribing the Name and in punishing the bearer of it, quite apart from any charge of crime. This was the fact which gave a certain unity to the three in their relation to the Church; they all agreed in this, and they were the first who had made this a principle of the State policy. The totally different character of the Neronian persecution is described in clear emphatic terms by Tacitus, and those scholars who still maintain that Nero proscribed the Name are thereby maintaining that Tacitus, who trained lawyer and not a soldier, was incapable of describing accurately a legal process which he describes at considerable length and with special attention to its legal character. If the authorities are to be treated like this, whenever they disagree with our prepossessions, the study of ancient history as a whole degenerates into the subjective farce which the higher critics' of the old school have made it in all that regards the New Testament.

a

To the Christians of that period, then, the three Flavian emperors are one, and they are all present in the person of one, the reigning emperor of the moment. Now this view, as stated by St. John, is explicable only on the theory that all three were agreed as to the policy of the State towards the Church. The policy of Domitian was not peculiar to himself: it was 'the Flavian policy,' and its character stands out clearly before us in the Apocalypse when read aright. But, on the current view that Nero and Domitian were the persecutors, and that Vespasian and Titus were kind and nonpersecuting, it would follow that there were two Basileis closely connected, both present in the reigning emperor of the moment. preter has realized that there is a sense of justice in the Apocalypse, and puts that as the foundation of his theory, he is bound to go all wrong in his interpretation. In the lack of this fundamental principle, the book has been the most misunderstood book in the New Testament. And yet there was a vague sense of this principle in the mind of former interpreters of the Apocalypse, though they did not express it clearly or reason strictly according to it. They had the idea that Nero must come in, and so they concocted the theory of Nero redivivus playing a considerable part in the book.

Until the inter