THE MODERN READER'S BIBLE. EDITED BY DR. RICHARD G. MOULTON, University of Chicago. Single volumes, cloth, 50 cents each; leather, 60 cents each. Rev. Dr. LYMAN ABBOTT, Editor-in-Chief of the OUTLOOK, writes: "I had intended to write to Professor Moulton, congratulating him on this work. It may almost be said that he has inaugurated a new epoch in Bible study. The scholars have been telling us for some years that the Bible is literature. Particular passages of beauty in it have been pointed out, and some single books, such as Job and the Song of Songs, have been put in literary form and given a literary interpretation by special writers. But Professor Moulton is the first one, so far as I know, to deal with the whole Bible as a collection of literature, to discriminate between literary study and historico-critical study, and to present the results of the former in such a form as to render them available to the ordinary English reader. The low price of the little volumes puts them within the reach of the great majority of American households, and I look for a large increase of interest in the Bible, for a much better understanding of its general spirit and teaching, and especially for an increased appreciation of its inspirational power, from the publication of the Modern Reader's Bible." THE MODERN READER'S BIBLE ures.... Godey's The world has waited over long for this treatment of the ScriptThe books gathered into the Old Testament constitute by far the most important part of the Bible (from a literary point of view), and they make up a body of work whose breadth and depth and height are hardly rivalled, certainly not surpassed, in the whole worldliterature. The purpose of Dr. Moulton's series is just this exposition of the strictly literary value of the Scriptures. . . . His book has the definite aim of supplying what the common editions of the Bible do not furnish. THE WISDOM SERIES This first volume is ample evidence that the whole series will prove of capital importance. Professor MoulThe Evangelist, ton's Introduction discusses the Wisdom LiteraNew York. ture, the principles underlying it, the progress of thought found in the four works, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon, which will form the first series of the Modern Reader's Bible, and then proceeds to an admirable introductory study of the first of the series. "The Wisdom Series" does not treat the points of the text critically, but in a literary way, to bring out the Methodist Maga- larger and deeper meanings. They are printed zine and Review. so as to show the poetical forms that are more characteristic of modern poetry. PROVERBS A suggestive and valuable arrangement of the Book of Proverbs. . . . As the Proverbs have looked out upon us from these pages, they have seemed to take on new force and point. The Christian ... The student of the Bible will take great pleasure in the study of this little volume, and it will reward him richly. The book deals principally with the applications of ethical ideas to conduct. There is an essay on duties to parents, others on duties to the poor, and one on the general duties of a householder, including observances of religion, charity, and social intercourse. ECCLESIASTES AND THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON ... This suggestive little book cannot be perused without interest and profit. As an appreciation of the two writings with which it deals, it is simply admirable; the aim of the editor The Presbyterian has been rarely well achieved. By all means Review. let this little book be read, and also the companion volumes. The "History" and "Prophecy" series will be greeted with a special welcome by many. It may be added that these brief manuals, besides being exceedingly tasteful in appearance, are very convenient in size, and are supplied with ample indices. DEUTERONOMY His Introduction is an explanation and appreciation, not a criticism; and certainly no one, after reading it, can The Congregation- fail to share the editor's enthusiasm for the high alist, Boston. literary quality of these farewell orations of Moses. The usefulness and value of this series is well shown in the skilful editing and helpful presentation of this particular book. "The Introductory Essay is delightfully illuminating and suggestive, and the notes are sagacious and learned. No one can fail to derive a new sense of the dignity, profundity, and symmetry of this wonderful poem from the critical treatment here applied to it." The Watchman, "It is the best The Congregationalist, Boston. edition we have seen of perhaps the greatest poem in all literature, which should be read and reread as a whole, with the editor's help and guidance. It is of the most fascinating interest." BIBLICAL IDYLS: Song of Solomon, Ruth, the Book of Esther, and the Book of Tobit. The World, "A marvellous effect of literary form has been produced by the recent serial edition of Biblical Idyls and Apocryphal Poems edited by PROFESSOR MOULTON, of Chicago University. One sees, as few other books have given him an opportunity to see, how much the beauty and charm of any literary work may be lost or marred by its typographical arrangement. Imagine what Tennyson or Shakespeare would be were they transposed into unlined prose, separated into arbitrary paragraphs, called verses, and numbered, and one can see how much has been lost by those who know the Bible only in the antiquated costume fashioned four centuries ago. ་་ Those to whom literary form makes no appeal will, of course, look upon this new departure with scant justice; but the number of students, ever increasingly large, and of cultivated readers who will gain a new delight from this Modern Reader's Bible ought to make the attempt a triumphant success in many ways, both tangible and |