won and retained for Christ; and we dare further to aver that the study of Mr. M'Cree's ideal in the right mood will help to prepare them.

V. SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE AMONG THE PUBLICANS.-The leader of the House of Commons is making an interesting record, as the Americans say; and it is desirable to keep it to the front. He has lived to contradict, in act, all that he before said and wrote concerning finance, to violate his own maxims, to play the part of the "unjust steward" in the parable; and, finally, to crown the edifice by preaching the imaculate virtues and splendid public utilities of "the Pig and Whistle." The children of this world are -wiser? No, that is not the word. Stafford is making friends with the mammon of drunkenness, so that when the mischief of "foreign policy" fails, he and his may yet be received into the tabernacle of Downing Street. Anything more ineffably despicable than the speech of Sir Stafford Northcote at the Exeter licensed victuallers' dinner we have not seen, even in the politics of the last five years.

Sir

VI. "OUR CHURCH SCRIBES." - The Rev. J. T. Roberts, of West Vale, writes a word of counsel for church secretaries; affirming the value of an obliging and accurate secretary, and urging, on behalf of the future historians of churches, a most painstaking attention to their minutes of business, to the details and dates of events, names of persons, etc. He advises a substantial, strongly-bound, and good-sized book to be purchased by young and small churches for the record of their work. Further, he counsels that copies should be inserted in the church book of foundation-stone layings and other great events. This is of much importance. Further, special care should be taken of church books that are full. It would be well to deposit them in our denominational safe at Chilwell. Decaying books should be copied.

VII. WHO SUPPORT THE PUBLIC HOUSES?-We do not often find an opportunity to place confidence in the utterance of the "D. T."; but when it says, "As regards drinking, it is the sober men of England who are the best customers of the public houses, and it is they who swell the statistics," we have not the heart to quarrel with it. Possibly the Daily Telegraph is right. If so, the sober people are surely wrong in keeping in vigour so prolific a source of evil as the drink system of our day. The country spent in 1878, £142,188,900 in intoxicants; i.e., the "sober people of

England" spent the larger part of that sum, on what, by the confession of many of them, is not a food, but only a luxury, and according to the testimony of a good many medical authorities, is a poisonous luxury. If that be so, "sober people"

have much to answer for. Total abstainers are clear of that responsibility.

VIII. BRAINS IN THE PULPIT.-Dr. Holland says in the December Scribner, that "one of the great reasons for the lack of popular attraction to the pulpit is the fact that brains enough are not put into the sermons." That witness is true; but it admits of another setting. Practically the question of "brains," more or less, is a question of work. It is too late to talk of increasing the original brain stock; but we may make better, more persistent, more energetic, more wise and methodical use of what we have; we can and must get more complete discipline of our brain power; and some two or three of us might work a little harder. There is a fearful amount of absolute indolence in the neighbourhood of the pulpit; and in addition to that there is an afflictive quantity of ministerial work that is simply dissipation of mental energy. It is said our greatest statesman keeps to his deskwork at least four hours every day even yet. How many ministers are there that do anything like that? Men must keep themselves to the "grindstone" to the last if they are to be effective for good as long as they live.

IX. REV. CHARLES PAYNE. - Many of our readers will be glad to hear that our friend and comrade, the Rev. Charles Payne, returns to his pastorate at Louth this month. He was trained in our College at Chilwell; further trained in his pastorates in this country; and still further by his experiences in the "far West" of America. "The fruits of this experience," he says, "I shall give to the church of my early love." Mr. Payne leaves a good name behind him in the States, and we can promise him a warm and cordial welcome back to his and our "beloved denomination."

X. COLLECTIONS FOR OUR HOME MISSION. Do not fail to give them a good place before the end of MAY. Gather in fresh subscriptions. We are glad to hear that the late Rev. J. Greenwood, who loved the Mission so warmly, has left us £10. Our friends at Nantwich report collections on the 18th of January, the sermons being preached by Mr. J. Brittain, of Chesterton. Our needs are greater than ever. On no account forget us.

THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR: THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS. By C. H Spurgeon. Hodder and Stoughton. Price 3s. 6d. As this is a new and improved edition of one of the earliest works, if not actually the earliest work, of Mr. Spurgeon, it would have been wise to have prefaced it with a note as to the original date of publication. It is marked 1880, and yet the book itself must be nearly a quarter of a century old; and bears not a few signs of the "'prentice hand" of the voluminous writer and preacher of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, In this last respect the volume is highly interesting. Students of the formative forces; of the mental and spiritual, the literary and personal influences, which have contributed to make one of the most remarkable men of our age, will find abundant material here. The Puritan flavour is intense and dominant: far more so than in Mr. Spurgeon's recent work. The presence of the work of a former generation is strongly manifest, although the genuine individualism of the writer is still latent. But Mr. Spurgeon is dwelling mainly with the minds of a previous century, and does not betray the same quick and living sympathy with the actual thoughts and feelings of living men that he does to-day. Indeed compared with "The Bible and the Newspaper," "Eccentric Preachers," and other works written by Mr. Spurgeon, "the Saint and his Saviour" belongs more to an earlier century than to the closing years of this. And yet there is the same flaming earnestness, the same glowing enthusiasm to catch men, the same "passion for souls," the same clearness of conception and fluency of style, the same blending of devoutness with practical sense pervading his work that have secured to Spurgeon so large an influence over the religious life of his generation, and which will secure to this volume a cordial welcome, and a useful career.

Mr.

THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN FROM THE BRICK-YARDS OF ENGLAND. By Mr. George Smith. Messrs. Haughton, 10, Paternoster Row.

THIS work cannot fail to command an extensive sale, and will be read with deep interest and profit by every sympathetic Christian. The book forms an excellent companion volume to "Our Canal Population." It has reached its sixth

edition, and is illustrated with a number of striking and painfully suggestive plates. The thanks of thousands are due, and will, it is needless to say, be freely accorded to Mr. Smith for his fearless and successful championship of the oppressed, downtrodden, and neglected class, whose wrongs and ill-treatment he so pathetically describes in his book. Messrs. Winks and Son have undertaken the Leicester agency. G. HIND.

THE PSALMIST: A COLLECTION OF TUNES, CHANTS, AND ANTHEMS FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP, AND FOR DOMESTIC AND FAMILY USE. By E. Prout, B.A. Haddon and Co.

THIS edition of the widely known Psalmist contains a supplement of 130 hymn tunes, bringing the tunes up to 627, and is specially rich in capital tunes adapted to the peculiar metres, as Rev. W. R. Stevenson has shown on page 486 of last year's Magazine. The chants number 126, and are well chosen, and cover all possible needs for this part of the service. In the anthems some of the old favourites appear, as well as new ones that will soon gain a place by the side of the favoured ones. The anthems number one hundred. Altogether this is an admirable collection.

THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. By Robert Mitchell. London: Hamilton, Adams and Co. Glasgow: T. D. Morison. WE have more than an ordinary interest in the issue of this series of books on permanent questions of theology. There is a freshness, a breadth, a vigour, and a scripturalness about them with which we are in perfect sympathy. This vol. on the Divine Fatherhood does not profess to be exhaustive, nor is it: indeed it omits some most important phases of the theme: but it gives a succession of glimpses of this fundamental subject that must irradiate the lives of men, soothe their perplexities, allay their suspicions, and beget within them a filial devotion to the Father of spirits. We hope to welcome other volumes written in the same spirit, and with the same ability, as this and its precursor on "Regeneration."

CRISSY'S LITTLE MOTHER. By Emma Leslie. Marlborough & Co

THIS is the story of a little girl who was unexpectedly left by her father and mother. In the next room dwelt a

motherless girl of about fourteen years of age, who took Crissy under her charge, watched over her in her illness, acted the part of a "little mother" to her, and though herself but a poor girl, made Crissy's lot far happier than otherwise it would have been. It is a lovely story, told in a most interesting way. When once you begin to read it you "feel you must just finish it." K. C.

THE NEW SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS' BIBLICAL DICTIONARY. Part I. Price 3d.

Stock.

THIS is a compendium of information on the principal subjects referred to in the Holy Scriptures; including geography, biography, natural history, antiquities, biblical literature, eastern manners and customs, theology, scripture characters, topography, the sciences, etc., etc. It is illustrated with woodcuts, and has a good and useful introduction by the Rev. J. F. Kitto. It is difficult to judge of a dictionary from the pages making this first part, but we have tested it on several points, and find that its information is exact and extensive, its theology of a conservative type, its biblical exegesis cautious and traditional, and its treatment practical. It is meant for S. S. teachers, and is well calculated to help them.

GLEANINGS FROM THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF CHRIST. By Henry H. Bourn. E. Stock.

THE title of this book lacks definiteness. In the main the volume is an exposition of the fourteenth chapter of John, though the volume contains a discussion of the Character of Christ, of the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God, and of the relation of the Gospel to the Law. The work is animated with a holy purpose, characterized by devoutness of spirit, pathos, and "unction," and is sure to be a messenger of glad tidings wheresoever it goes.

BAD TRADE, AND HOW TO REMEDY IT. By A. F. Winks. Manchester: Heywood.

A THOUGHTFUL, but unsuccessful, attempt to find a cheap and permanent cure for bad trade. The "remedy" is agriculture!! One would think the author had never heard of agricultural depression; or of the fact that scarcely a farmer in Great Britain has been able to "pay his way" for the last five years; and that probably not ten per cent. are solvent at this moment. If our only hope is in "dependence upon our own climate and soilthe finest in the world," (?) we shall only escape from Scylla into Charybdis.

J. C―k.