the conversational Latin of common life; and its natural sense is not unfavourable, for spectio was the technical term used of augurs looking at signs of the Divine will revealed by the god. High class Latin, however, preferred a different word.

A third difficulty lies in the rarity of allusions in literature to the custom of making and keeping memorials of such visions. But it is precisely about matters of this kind that ancient literature always fails us: it took little note of common life and vulgar practices, such as this. One example, however, is recorded, namely, the case of Aristides, who always carried about his tessera or Synthêma on his person. It is a reasonable conjecture from

what he tells us, though from its very nature incapable of verification unless the actual tessera be found, that on his Synthêma he engraved his new name, Theodorus, and the date when he saw the god. Many public memorials, both in the West and still more in the Eastern Provinces, erected 'at the command of the god,' attest the frequency of such visions. The private and secret memorials are less evident, because they were naturally more allusive and less explanatory. Neither kind can be traced easily in literature.

Rostowzew does not quote either the passage of Revelation or the incident in the life of Aristides; but these are likely to be quoted in future as a strong confirmation of his views.

HEREDITY.

THE PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY.

By G. Archdall Reid, M.B., F.R.S.E. (Chapman &Hall. 12s. 6d. net.)

DR. ARCHDALL REID has written this book for medical men. 'The evidence relied on is drawn largely from medical sources; medical men form the largest body of scientific workers; they deal constantly with questions of Heredity, a knowledge of which is of great importance to them; but in a measure they have neglected the systematic study of the subject.'

But Dr. Archdall Reid hopes that 'the professional biologist and the general reader will not find the work devoid of interest.' The 'general reader' is likely to be a preacher. And perhaps some knowledge of Heredity is as necessary to the work of the preacher as to the medical man; probably it has been as cruelly neglected in his education. A few, a very few, preachers are now alive to its importance. They will be among the general readers of this great book.

It is a text-book. Unfortunately for the general reader there are theories and counter-theories in the doctrine of Heredity, and they go to its very roots. Do acquired characters go down to posterity, or do they not? That is fundamental. Dr. Archdall Reid says they do not. He is one of the most distinguished advocates of 'that theory of Heredity

which excludes all inheritance of characters acquired in the lifetime of the individual.' But probably the interest of the subject is not made less by these fundamental differences.

As for Dr. Archdall Reid, the doctrine to which he gives his strength is the doctrine of Recapitulation. By that, if it is established, his fame will stand. The doctrine of Recapitulation is in these words: "The development of the individual is a recapitulation of the life - history of the race.' What that means, it

takes Dr. Archdall Reid a long chapter of his book to explain, and no unnecessary words are used. So it cannot be condensed into a paragraph.

And there is so much else in the book to attend to. Dr. Archdall Reid is a fiery temperance reformer, who abhors teetotalism. His cure for drunkenness is perfect freedom to every man and woman on earth to drink as much as he pleases. The Israelite was a drunkard until he entered Canaan and sat down under his own vine and could drink to his soul's satiety. The great majority of Englishmen are now temperate, because they have so many opportunities of getting drunk.

And this also has to do with Heredity.

Altogether it is a fascinating volume, admirably written, and fiercely believed.

THE LIFE OF REASON.

THE LIFE OF REASON. 1. REASON IN
COMMON SENSE. 2. REASON IN SOCIETY.
By George Santayana. (Constable. 2 vols.,
5s. net, each.)

Professor George Santayana has resolved to write the Biography of Reason. He counts it possible to overtake so large a topic in five volumes. Two of the five are published as above. The remaining three will be called Reason in Religion, Reason in Art, and Reason in Science.

The enterprise is at once attractive. It appeals to our desire for completeness. It appeals to our reason. It is clear in a moment that Professor Santayana uses Reason in the philosophical, not the popular sense, for he speaks of the Reason that is found in common-sense, while we have popularly understood that reason is common-sense, and common-sense reason. It is further clear, very soon, that Professor Santayana is a severely scientific writer. He is neither imaginative nor sentimental. Still the first impression is right. These volumes are easily read, and eminently reasonable. If we find it possible to go to the end of the series, it is certain that we shall feel reasonable satisfaction and be reasonably benefited.

But what is the Life of Reason? It is a history of human progress. Reason in man is that which makes him dissatisfied and keeps him so till progress is made. For it is dissatisfaction with what he has attained to, and the reaching out towards an unattained ideal, that sends man forward.

Reason acts in two ways, on two different types of life, and brings them together. The one type is the life of impulse, expressed in affairs and social passions; the other is the life of reflexion, expressed in religion, science, and the imitative arts. gress is made by the fusion of these two types, and it is the business of Reason to bring them together.

Pro

When Reason brings together impulse and reflexion, then reflexion always issues in action, and action always ends in happiness. The barrenness of most men's (and women's) lives, and the misery of them, is due to the almost total separation of impulse and reflexion in the world. It is the great mission of Reason to end the separation and make for progress.

The first chapter in the second volume is a chapter on Love. Many chapters have been

written on Love, as well as many sonnets; but Does never a chapter nor a sonnet like this. Professor Santayana glorify Love, like the poet? He does. Does he criticise it and materialize it, like the scientist? He does. His originality lies in the combination. There lies also his value; for there lies progress.

And Professor Santayana is a writer. He does not despise paradox. A Don Juan and a Dante are both genuine lovers'-that is one of his

sentences.

Notes on Books.

In the year of John Knox, in the year when men have made such mighty progress in their estimate of John Knox's imperishable gift to Scotland and the Church, it is fitting that there should be also some recollection of the men who followed in Knox's footsteps. They are called The Covenanters. Under that simple title a simple narrative of the life and death of the Covenanters has been written by the Rev. John Beveridge, B.D., and published by Messrs. T. & T. Clark (6d.). It is one of that firm's famous 'Bible Class Primers.'

Dr. Lyman Abbott has written a new book on Preaching. At least he has published a new book. For he confesses that some of the book has been published more than once already. He has gathered together some things written by him long ago on the business of preaching and the person of the preacher, and he has written some new things. And now he publishes to the world all that his great office has ever meant to him, all that it is ever likely now to mean. The title of the book is The Christian Ministry (James Clarke & Co.; 5s. net).

Dr. Lyman Abbott is a very modern preacher. Even for America he is very modern. But in his Broad Street phraseology he says the things that are eternal. For he has discovered that what is the matter with much of our preaching is not that it is unattractive, but that it has no abiding influence. When the grace of the fashion of it perisheth there is nothing left. Dr. Lyman Abbott would agree with the Apostle Paul that the preacher is a builder, and should build his house with the certainty in his mind that there will be a fire. Not of wood, hay, stubble, therefore.

To the preacher himself, what Dr. Lyman Abbott has to say might be summed up in two phrases: Never remember that you are a preacher and never forget it.

The Story of the English Baptists has been 'related' by Mr. John C. Carlile (James Clarke & Co.; 3s. 6d. net). It has been related in a popular fireside manner, there being in these days a very large audience, far exceeding the numbers of the Baptists themselves, who want to listen to this story. It has been related for the interest of those who are without. Stress is laid on the things that are of universal excellence; space is given to the most excellent men and women. Spurgeon has his place, a large place, in the book, and all the world accepts Spurgeon now. So the book will remove mislike and open the way a little to that better understanding of the comprehensiveness of the kingdom of God.

Mr. G. K. Chesterton, speaking in Hengler's Circus on the same day, said: 'The great evil and the great sin of the English people-the only essential sin of the English people-is the fact that they do not believe in equality. I am an enormous believer in the spirit and genius of my own people. I believe that the English are not only right upon a hundred matters, but that they are nowhere so right as on those particular points upon which the whole of the rest of the world is wrong. For instance, if Napoleon had conquered this island, he would have succeeded in making all the roads straight; and if Nelson and the other Englishmen fought with the deliberate consciousness that they were resisting the making of the English roads straight, I think they were absolutely right and died glorious deaths. The one country where you can find a really romantic and beautiful countryside, made natural by the operation of the ages, by the people themselves, is England. England is a sacred and divine country, because it is the only country in the world where they do not use stoves.

The open fire is by far the most poetic, and it embraces the proper idea. So that when I say there is a great sin and shame upon the English character, I say it with entire absence of that cheap and babyish kind of criticism of your own country for the sake of criticising, which is far too common, more so than all other forms of scepticism in the modern world. The one serious sin of the English people is that sin which Thackeray described as snobbishness, which otherwise may be defined as the disbelief in human equality.'

The Bishop of Ripon went to Harvard in 1904 and in the Phillips Brooks House there he delivered the William Belden Noble Lectures. Remembering William Belden Noble and Phillips Brooks, the Bishop of Ripon had not to hesitate a moment in the choice of his subject. He chose The Witness to the Influence of Christ (Constable; 4s. 6d. net). He left aside the miracles and prophecy and all the ordinary stock-in-trade of the professional apologist. He told the American audience, who listened with joy to his melodious aristocratic voice, what Christ was to him, why he believed Him, and loved Him as he did. It was for His influence. And he ran through the history of the Church, and showed that in every generation it was the influence of Christ Himself that kept Christianity alive. He was so bold as to say that the painters and sculptors, and even the men of physical-science fame in our own day, owed all that was great and good in them to the influence of the person of Christ. As for himself and those who sympathized with him, the song was always breaking forth from their lips: "Thou hast loved us, and loosed us from our sins, and made us kings and priests unto God.'

The Biblical Illustrator, now passed into the hands of Mr. Francis Griffiths, of 34 Maiden Lane, in the Strand, is still appearing. Two volumes have just been published together. They cover the Minor Prophets (7s. 6d. each, net). In these volumes there is less packing, a paragraph does not often cover more than ten pages, because the Minor Prophets are not so often preached from as other books of the Bible. The publishers should make a rush to the end now, for there is some risk that we shall have left this style of preaching, with its 'firstlies,' 'secondlies,' and 'thirdlies,' before the last volume is out.

The Sunday School edition of St. Paul's Travels has been written by Mrs. Carus-Wilson, B.A., and published by Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton (IS.).

Class-leading is a serious business and there are Wesleyans who take it seriously. Their vademecum, their indispensable companion by day, and the source of all their happy inspirations in the evening, has been prepared by Mr. Thomas Barclay. Its title is The Class-Leader at Work (Kelly; 2s. 6d. net). With this book (at least after studying it) anybody could be a class-leader. Class-leading will now be a more serious and a more successful business than ever.

Messrs. Owen, of 286 High Holborn, are the publishers of a students' manual of Psychology (6s. net) which comes from America. The author is Dr. Alfred Cook, formerly Fellow of Johns Hopkins University. Two classes have been before Dr. Cook's eye. First those who are beginning the study of Psychology, and next those who wish to gather into one what they have already learnt. And Dr. Cook's method is to teach by way of illustration. He loves formal definitions; but he loves better to illustrate his definitions and give many concrete examples.

Is not Dr. Cook's method the only method of teaching? And the more numerous the examples, if they are examples, the better. Dr. Cook gives us example upon example, long after we have seen the meaning of his proposition; for he will have us remember it for ever as well as see it for the

moment.

The Religious Tract Society has published a series of letters.' Each letter has its own title and its own author, but the whole series is known as 'Letters to my Brothers.' They are the latest for sending in envelopes to young men. They are the best.

On a subject like the Sibyls there is room for various hands. Miss Mariana Monteiro has written and published a book which differs utterly from, say, Professor Geffcken's work. For Professor Geffcken is critical and Miss Monteiro is not so. Miss Monteiro says that some authors had formed the idea that the Sibyls were mythical beings, and not real prophets sent by God.

idea is quite erroneous'; and she refers to Plato,

Virgil, and other pagan writers who existed before the coming of Christ,' men of undoubted veracity,' who have 'spoken and described them as real women endowed with the gift of prophecy by God Himself, on account of their virginity, and sent to the Gentiles, lest they should ever allege that God had only favoured the Jews.'

Miss Monteiro gives the portraits of the twelve Sibyls, which she found in a French and Latin volume of 1586 in the British Museum. She also writes their lives and translates their oracles. The title of her book is As David and the Sibyls Say (Sands; 3s. 6d. net).

A good book to keep those who have scientific gifts steadfast and immovable on the Supernatural has been published by Mr. Elliot Stock. Its author is the Rev. W. L. Paige Cox, M.A., and its title Aids to Belief in the Miracles and Divinity of Christ (2s. 6d. net).

Under the title of The Original Poem of Job (Fisher Unwin) Dr. E. J. Dillon makes popular the theories of Professor Bickell as to the laws of Hebrew metre, as well as Professor Bickell's discovery of a Saidic manuscript of the Septuagint, which omits certain passages in the Book of Job. The result is a new version, and, more than that, a new Job. For not only have we many new readings and many new arrangements of the old readings, but we have also so many omissions that the character of Job is seen in a new light, and the problem of the book receives a new solution. Dr. Dillon's attachment to Bickell is touching. Scholars hold their hand more. But if this is not the real original form of the Book of Job, it is at least a most interesting version.

The Rev. Francis J. Hall, D.D., Instructor of Theology in the Western Theological Seminary of Chicago, has written three volumes of 'Theological Outlines,' which deserve the attention of the student of the Bible. They are thoroughly biblical and they are thoroughly theological. The literature also has been used all along the line and it is tersely recorded. A second edition of the first volume on The Doctrine of God is now ready (London: William Walker; 4s. 6d. net).

A few stories remain this month. The Religious

great drops of blood, and pleading, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.'

iii. Our last thought is the splendidly illogical nature of spiritual power. It cannot be measured or calculated. If the footmen have wearied you, to contend with horses is manifestly impossible. And yet Jeremiah was bolder in the swelling of Jordan than he was in the land of peace. You cannot pass from premise to conclusion, because you are dealing with an infinite quantity, and the amount of your power simply depends on the amount of capacity you possess to receive from God. Touch His infinite hand, and you can do anything.

The Dark River.

By the Very Rev. C. J. Vaughan, D.D.

The Bible has sanctioned our regarding Canaan as a type of heaven, and the Red Sea as a type of baptism into life; so it follows that the wilderness is a type of the present life, and the passage of Jordan a type of death.

Death is called by some the debt of nature, but more truly by others the debt of the Fall; but whether immortality was never given, or, after being given in creation, was revoked and forfeited by reason of sin, certainly now death is the common lot of all men. Let us look at four of its aspects.

i. The loneliness of death. There is a ring of comfort in the common phrase 'We must all die.' There is a sense of companionship about it. the truth is, each of us must die-alone and solitary. Though a thousand fall at once in battle, every death is a solitary one. Standing beside a deathbed there always comes a time when you are no longer with the dying, though still you may be holding his hand, and uttering words of cheering and comfort.

ii. The mysteriousness of death. We all know something about the symptoms of its approach, about the circumstances of its completion. But who can tell us what death itself is? It is the dropping of the body, the separation of mind from matter, of thought from brain, of enjoyment from sense. We shrink from our own definition in amazement.

iii. The mysteriousness of death is, for wonder; a more practical topic is its solemnity. There is a seriousness about the close of anything, whether it be some work that has occupied.our energies for many years, or simply a passing from one age of

natural life to another-from youth to manhood, from middle age to old age. How much more solemn, then, is the change which ends all these, when we go into a state of which we know scarcely anything except by negatives. But that is not all. This change is the crisis of our destiny, the summing up of all accounts and the entrance into an everlasting state of happiness or misery, according to the use we made of the talents entrusted to us.

iv. The last thought about death is its truthfulness. It strips off all masks and shows a man as he is, not as he seemed to be, not as he professed, not as he wished to be, but according to truth.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee.-It is said that Bilney, a holy martyr in Queen Mary's days, tried his finger in the candle before he tried his whole body in the fire at the stake. If he could not have stood the burning of his finger, how could he have endured the burning of his whole body?

IF in the smaller ills of life my spirit yields to fear, What shall I do in that last strife, which brings the judgment near?

O Lord, on me Thy strength bestow in every trying hour,

That in death's struggles I may show Thy all victorious power.

The Swelling of Jordan.—A good Christian soul said to me the other day, 'They said I was dying, dying out; but I knew it was not death, for in the dark, empty space I had strength enough left to look and feel around, and no one had come to meet me; I knew it could not be death.' And she was right; she would not have been alone, she would have heard and seen Him.-B. J. SNELL, in the Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv. p. 313.

Now, I further saw, that between them and the Gate was a river, but there was no bridge to go over, and the river was very deep. At the sight, therefore, of this river, the pilgrims were much stunned; but the men that went with them said, You must go through, or you cannot come at the Gate.

Then they addressed themselves to the water, and, entering, Christian began to sink; and, crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said, 'I sink in deep waters; the billows go over my head; all the waves go over me.'

Then I saw in my dream that Christian was in a muse a while; to whom also Hopeful added these words—' Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole'; and, with that, Christian brake out with a loud voice, 'Oh! I see Him again! and He tells me, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Then they both took courage, and the enemy was, after that, as still as a stone, until they were gone over.—The Pilgrim's Progress (Venables's ed., Pp. 142, 143).