'Rich is the banquet both for heart and eye,
As varying still their hues by night and day,
A world of flowers, like sparkling jewelry,
Their opening loveliness around display.
'When shines the sun aloft without a cloud,
His smile evokes a pomp of colour bright;
Or if in gloom his radiant face he shroud,
Sweet violets shed their perfume thro' the night.'
We are tempted somewhat profanely to ask, however, whether the perfume
of the violet quite carries out the idea of flowery beauty as a banquet
for the _eye_ through the night? To many of these meditations four or
five great texts are prefixed, and the reader feels that the gentle
pressure of a powerful hand has crushed these sacred fruits, and handed
him the fragrant wine of the kingdom in a golden goblet. The writer
seems to blend his own spiritual history with his exposition in such a
way as to aid the reader to make such experience his own. Reading
between the lines it is easy to perceive the philosophic dissertant, the
accomplished Biblical scholar, the learned theologian, but all is
subdued to the language of simple, earnest piety and profound devotion.
Some of the deepest mysteries of the kingdom of God are made more
comprehensible when thus brought into the light and glory of the Most
Holy Place. We note particularly the meditations on 'Drawing nigh to
God,' and on 'By grace made free from sin.' Thus, 'If peace have
departed from thy heart, build upon the vacant spot a penitential altar,
and peace will again return, for the Lord Himself will place upon it the
atoning sacrifice. Can any suppose that a servant who has transgressed
his Lord's will, and then with anxiety in his heart sets about amending
his ways, is as well qualified to do good works as the child who has
wept repentant tears upon his Father's bosom, and has had his faults
forgiven? Oh, no; the future cannot be made better until the evil be
made good.' The abundance and variety of the material furnished in this
volume for quiet pondering render further characterization difficult. We
are thankful for the introduction of this wise, thoughtful, helpful book
in this dark, sad season.
_The Holy Bible, according to the Authorized Version, arranged in
Paragraphs and Sections; with Emendations of the Text, also with Maps,
Chronological Tables, &c._ The New Testament. Religious Tract Society.
It is very difficult to amend the authorized version without proceeding
to a thorough revision which again would necessitate a revision of the
_textus receptus_ of the Greek. There is no intelligible principle to
guide an editor in pursuing a middle course. Dr. Jacob has improved the
renderings in the _more important instances_ in which the labours of
later critics have shown that the translators to whom we owe our justly
venerated English version were in fault. We are too thankful to have
errors removed in any degree to demur. The truth is, that a false
superstition for the authorized version, like all false things, is
permitted to suppress true reverence for the Divine Word as God gave it.
It will soon cease to be a question of the excellencies or defects of
the authorized version, and will become the imperative duty of all who
reverence that which is the truest and most perfect record of
revelation, to protest against its usurpation of a reverence due only to
the original text. Another bondage from which the editors of this
admirable edition are helping to deliver us is that of chapters. The
arrangement of the text in paragraphs according to the sense, and its
division into sections corresponding thereto, is a much greater service
in interpretation than many might suppose. This beautiful, clearly
printed, and carefully edited volume deserves very high praise.
_Night unto Night._ A Selection of Bible Scenes. By the Rev. DANIEL
MARCH, D.D. Hamilton, Adams, and Co.
Certain well-known night-scenes of Scripture are here sketched with a
vividness and graphic force which make us spectators of the varied
incidents, while the lessons that are drawn from them of warning, of
hope, or of duty, are brought home to the heart and conscience with
tenderness and power.
_Bible Lessons._ By the Rev. EDWIN A. ABBOTT, M.A., Head Master of the
City of London School. Part II., New Testament. Macmillan and Co.
Mr. Abbott has very opportunely published the substance of the Bible
lessons which he gives to his fifth and sixth forms, thereby
demonstrating how practicable it is to give to pupils the very highest
form of religious teaching, without any ecclesiastical or even dogmatic
sectarianism. He must be a fanatical theorist indeed who can take
exception to the contents of this volume; and yet pupils receiving them
would be possessed of all that the most exigeant need care for in
religious teaching. It is not every teacher who can inculcate religious
truth with such penetrating wisdom and catholic breadth of sympathy as
characterize Mr. Abbott; but it is almost certain that, practically, he
must be an ingenious fanatic indeed, who, with the Bible alone in his
hand, can do much in sectarian teaching; at any rate if he do, he will
do it wilfully, and the remedy will neither be far to seek, nor slow of
application. Mr. Abbott has done good practical service--over and above
the intrinsic value of his book, which is great--by this timely
publication.
_The Pulpit Analyst._ Vol. V. Hodder and Stoughton.
The 'Analyst' has completed the fifth year of its existence, and has, we
think, continued to grow from the beginning. The present volume is a
rich and valuable one. A course of sermons by Alford 'On the Parable of
the Ten Virgins,' a very valuable series of discourses by Mr. Baldwin
Brown 'On Misread Passages of Scripture,' a miscellaneous series of
fresh and vigorous sketches by Mr. Watson Smith, and a short series by
the Editor on the life of Jacob, constitute a homiletical department of
unusual excellence. Dr. Parker's odd concatenation of wise, clever, and
incongruous advices to a young preacher, of which we have spoken
elsewhere, run through the volume under the title 'Ad Clerum.' Mr.
Godwin contributes two or three able discourses on 'Proving Knowledge,'
and a new translation, with notes, on the Epistle to the Galatians. The
'Analyst' again changes hands. It comes with the new year under the
editorial control of Mr. Paxton Hood. It enlarges its dimensions, and
changes its name to 'The Preacher's Lantern.'