either minced or plain, to give point to a story; but if a story requires anything of that kind to set it off, it had much better remain untold. Many of Mr. Fraser's anecdotes are so brimful of "racy wit and pawky humour," that he can easily afford to "extirpate" the objectionable ones, and in doing so he will vastly improve his next edition.

Handbooks for Bible Classes.-The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia. With Introduction and Notes by the Rev. James Macgregor, D. D., Professor of Systematic Theology in the New College, Edinburgh. Edin, T. & T. Clark, 1879.

THE Free Church Assembly's Committee on the welfare of youth, have made arrangements to publish a series of Handbooks for Bible Classes, dealing with separate Books of Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments, and also with such subjects as the Life of Christ, the Church, the Sacraments, the Doctrines of Grace, the Shorter Catechism, the Reformation, the Scottish Church, and Church and State. They are to be issued under the united editorial care of the Rev. Dr. Dods of Glasgow, and the Rev. Alex. Whyte, MA, of Edinburgh, whom the Daily Review, with questionable taste, describes as, the one, "the most accomplished theologian," and the other, “the most effective preacher," of the Free Church. The correctness of this estimate we are not disposed to question, though such comparisons are proverbially odious; but it is one thing to be "accomplished" and "effective," in the sense in which such terms are commonly used, and another thing to be reliably "sound in the faith." And as acknowledged soundness in the faith is of essential importance in those who have to deal thus with the whole youth of the Church, it appears to us that the work of editing these Handbooks might have been assigned to equally competent men, occupying in this respect a clearer position than either of the two that have been intrusted with it. The views of Dr. Dods on the vital subject of the inspiration of Scripture have been seriously challenged and condemned, while Mr. Whyte is of opinion that the Free Church cannot be thankful enough for such a man of learning as Professor Robertson Smith, and it does therefore seem a little remarkable that two such men should be charged with the duties of issuing Bible Manuals for the instruction of the youth of the Church. What their precise editorial responsibilities may be we cannot say, but it would of course lie with them to secure the various writers of the Handbooks, the names of whom have been announced along with their respective subjects, and each book, we presume, will be submitted to them for examination and approval before publication. It is to be hoped they will be careful not to pass anything through their hands (should such a thing be presented to them), so objectionable as Professor Plumptre's Cambridge Handbook on the Epistle of James appears to be-a book by the way, for the recent recommendation of which, to be used in the instruction of the young in the Free Church, Mr. Whyte, as convener of the Committee above referred to, must have been so far responsible.

The scheme proposed is no doubt in itself a commendable one, and if carried out with due care the books to be issued should prove very helpful to the conductors of such classes as they are specially designed for, though we can imagine some difficulty may at times be felt in using them to advantage in imparting oral instruction, if they all take after the work now before us, by Professor Macgregor, which is the first of the series. Coming from one so competent to handle effectively such an important Epistle as that to the Galatians, the work, we need hardly say, is in many respects an excellent one. The writer is evidently master of his subject, and deals with it in a very fresh and interesting, and, on the whole, satisfactory manner. In an introduction of some thirty pages he treats of the authorship of the Epistle the Churches to which it was addressed-its date-and its contents, of which he gives a full and clearly arranged outline, which must be very useful to the student. And in an appendix to the introduction he gives a series of brief pithy dissertations on some of the leading terms employed in the Epistle and other cognate topics, such as "Justify," " Righteousness," "Faith," "Law," "Flesh," "Pauline Justification," ""Paul and James," ," "Case of believers under the Old Testament," and "Case of infants," &c. Then follow the expository notes upon the Text, which form the bulk of the volume, and which are throughout marked by vigorous thought and terse expression, bringing out very clearly the meaning of the Epistle, though marred occasionally by outre modes of illustration. As might be expected, Professor Macgregor gives forth no uncertain sound on the great vital question dealt with in this inspired Epistle, that of justification by faith without works. It is thus he expresses himself on the subject:—

"To Evangelical Protestants the epistle is peculiarly precious as a monument of their doctrine of justification by faith. Well might Luther call it his 'Catharine Bora.' It would be worse than idle for one proposing to expound the epistle to conceal his view, if he have a definite view, of its doctrine. For on the face of it, it is doctrinal or nothing; it plainly is a battle for a theological proposition affecting the very foundation of Christian life in God. And the present writer is fully persuaded that the doctrine battled for is the Protestant doctrine of justification. After carefully weighing every sentence and clause of it, he has an unhesitat ing and settled conviction, not only that that doctrine is taught in the epistle, but that, theologically, the whole epistle is a battle for that doctrine, and for nothing else. He therefore regards the epistle as entitled to peculiar fulness of affectionate appreciation on the part of Evangelical Protestants, because it is a monumental trophy of a victory won for their fundamental doctrine by the greatest of apostles.'

While bearing testimony to the general excellence of this manual, we by no means think it faultless. On the contrary, there are a number of things in it which we cannot but regard as blots detracting from its value. To say nothing of the somewhat doubtful speculations in which he here and there indulges, and especially when writing about the Galatian race, it has surprised us not a little to find our author classing the heathen, who have never been reached with the gospel offer of salvation, among those whom the Confession of Faith describes as "incapable of being outwardly called by the gospel," and as capable, therefore, of being saved like "elect infants" without that "call" and the "faith that cometh by hearing." The mere fact that

many adult heathens have not been "outwardly called by the ministry of the word," surely does not prove them to be "incapable" of being so called; and to represent such heathens as occupying a position in relation to the gospel similar to that of "infants" or "idiots," appears to us to strike a fatal blow at the cause of Christian missions-the very cause for which the Church of Christ exists in our world.

Another point in regard to which we are of opinion Professor Macgregor has, to say the least, failed to give forth a "certain sound "--a sound much needed at the present time is the question of the Church's treatment of heretics, or how those should be dealt with who are found chargeable with preaching "another gospel." In two different places in this Epistle this question comes up-in chapter i, 8, 9, and chapter v. 9-12-and yet, with the Apostle's example, and the strong language he employs in these passages regarding heretical teachers, before him, Dr. Macgregor says not a word in vindication of the Church's right and duty to cut off from her fellowship such as persist in "troubling "her with their erroneous teaching or pestilent heresies. On the contrary, from one of the questions he puts in connection with this subject, for students to answer, viz., "Is a Church entitled to curse heretics on God's behalf?" he appears to us to cast doubt upon-if not to deny the right of the Church to protect herself from the withering “curse” of false doctrine.

There are two or three other matters to which, had space permitted, we might have referred as being to our mind not quite satisfactory, but we refrain. We would express the hope that nothing more objectionable will appear in future volumes of the series, and if so, the anxious fears of not a few interested in the maintenance of sound doctrine, and its inculcation upon the youth of the Church, will be to a large extent agreeably disappointed. As to the style in which this handbook is got up, this, as might be expected, is all that could be desired, and we presume the whole series will be uniform.

Life of John Erskine of Dun. 1508-1591. By Scoto-Britannico. Edinburgh : John Maclaren and Son. 1879.

We need hardly say that we have read this "Life" with very deep interest, and this would have been the case even though it had not been so well written as it is. For the subject is one that comes home at once to the hearts of all who value our great national religious privileges, and who have a grateful sense of our indebtedness for these privileges, under God, to the valiant contendings and sufferings and achievements of our reforming ancestors. Most fully do wo agree with the anonymous writer of this little book, when he remarks that "all who took part in the glorious work of Reformation deserve to have their names kept in everlasting remembrance, and to have a particular description of their toil and labour, and the opposition which they encountered in their noble work, handed down to posterity;" and in that heroic band John Erskine of Dun deservedly holds a prominent place. It is a small matter, however, to keep the

names of our Reformation worthies in remembrance, if the cause with which they were identified-if the grand scriptural principles for which they contended, and which made them what they were-be lost sight of and forgotten or despised. Assuredly the men themselves would have thought little of any honour done to their own persons or efforts, if along with that they had witnessed dishonour cast upon that glorious covenanted work of Reformation for the accomplishment of which they so arduously toiled and willingly suffered and died. We trust this neat little book will be widely circulated and read, and that it may be a humble means of awakening and increasing an interest in the great cause, to the furtherance of which the subject of it devoted his life.

The Catholic Presbyterian, for February, March, and April. London: James Nisbet & Co.

THIS new and interesting Presbyterian Journal, the first number of which was briefly noticed in our last, has been fairly started, and gives promise of holding on its way with increasing vigour. The articles in these three numbers are very varied in their subjects, and the leading ones have been read by us with almost unqualified satisfaction, and we trust with not a little profit. In a very able paper, in the February part, Professor Cairns discusses "Recent Theories of Future Punishment "those, viz., of annihilation and restoration, his special object being to bring them to the test of "the Analogy of Faith," by inquiring whether or not they agree with Bible theology as a whole. And in doing this, he considers the theories in question, in relation particularly to the great doctrines of sin and atonement, of free will and sovereign grace, and in relation also to the design of the Church, and the means of salvation, and tried by all these tests they are found sadly "wanting," and more than wanting-irreconcilably at variance with the whole scheme of redemption. In the same number, Dr. Marshall Lang, of Glasgow, has a very judicious paper on "Revival and Revivalism," in which he shows that the former, not the latter, is the blessing to be longed for.

The place of honour in the March number is assigned to a deeply interesting paper by Professor Mitchell of St. Andrews, on "Calvin and the Psalmody of the Reformed Churches," in which we are told of the valuable services the great Reformer rendered to these Churches by his successful efforts to get introduced into the worship of the sanctuary the Psalms of Scripture in metrical translations in the French language. We differ, of course, from the writer of the article when he remarks, regarding Calvin, that "he was perhaps overanxious to confine the service of praise to those songs of Zion which the inspired volume had provided, and especially to the Psalms of the Hebrew poets, which are still the inspiring source of all that is grandest in Church liturgies and hymn-books." But we fully agree with him when he goes on to say that "it was no mean service Calvin rendered to the Church of God, in getting these (Songs of Zion) put into a shape and adapted to music which kindled the devotion, sustained the faith, and cheered the hearts of so many in his own and succeeding times."

In the same issue there are also very able papers on "The Episcopal Church of Ireland," by Professor Killen of Belfast; "The Peril of a Degraded Pulpit," by Rev. H. D. Ganse of America; and "The Genesis of Presbyterianism," a subject on which the writer, Dr. Wylie, is thoroughly at home. There are many, now-a-days, especially among Broad Churchmen, who boast of attaching little importance to such matters as forms of Church Government, regarding one form as good and scriptural as another. With such sentiments the sagacious writer of this article has no sympathy, as will be seen from the following weighty remarks which we would commend to the attention of all latitudinarian Presbyterians:

"What labour it cost to organise the government of the Church! We see the great minds of the sixteenth century toiling at the work, groping along amid uncertainties and difficulties, carefully searching for principles and precedents, each profiting by the labours of his predecessor, building on what another had laid, and so advancing the work a further stage. In the course of long years only is the edifice completed. The lifetime of a single generation sufficed to recover the doctrine of the Church-for to the luminous expositions of truth in the writings of Calvin and other reformers, nothing that is absolutely new has since been added, nor is ever likely to be-but it required a century to develop the plans, and, some will perhaps say, other two centuries to perfect the working of Presbyterian Church Government! Surely it is not the part of wisdom to hold as of little practical value, or to be ready to abandon, either in whole or in part, what it cost the labour of so many men and the experiences of so many years to construct. Nor will our duty in this respect seem less when we reflect on the importance of a pure, vigorous, and scriptural government, to the well-being of the Church as shown in the partially ruinous condition of those Churches which had the misfortune to be put under a lax and imperfect code of discipline, contrasted with the comparatively flourishing estate of those Churches which had the happiness to enjoy a stricter and more complete ecclesiastical regime.”

The first article in the April number is on the important subject of "The Bible a Law of Nations," from the pen of Dr. Sloane, of America; and it is worthy of the prominent position given to it. wish we could transfer the paper entire to our pages, but as this cannot be done at present the following extract must suffice :—

"The recognition, both in theory and in practice, of the law of God as supreme, is the only security for the rights of the people. The nation is sovereign in its own domain. There is, in its own territory, no power superior to itself, or to which it is amenable. The only security of the people is the affirmation of the supreme authority of the Divine law. That is supreme over the nation. 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more than unto God, judge ye.' Luther at the Diet of Worms, John Knox in the presence of Mary, Andrew Melville reminding James that he was 'God's silly vassal,' are each the embodiment and assertor of the principle of the absolute supremacy of the law of God over all human laws and legislations. This, indeed, is the very source and spring of all liberty, civil and ecclesiastical; for the power which the State wields demands that there be a 'higher law,' to which it is accountable. There is no interest of man from the cradle to the grave which it does not affect. The State or Government under which a man is born and lives has a powerful moulding influence upon his character and destiny. The German, the Frenchman, the Englishman, the American,-these are types, whose peculiar characteristics are due much more to the institutions under which they have been born and reared than to the peculiarities of the soil and climate of their respective countries. The state assumes, in most free countries, the function of the education of the young; in some countries, as in the United States, the children are almost entirely taught in the public schools. The time is scarcely yet sufficient to realise the radical influence which these institutions must exert upon the national charac