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That is the

we lay aside every

we, in the highest and truest sense, "grow in grace." point at which growth begins. It is when weight and the sins which easily beset us" that we are able to stretch every nerve in the heavenly race. It is only by "leaving the things that are behind" that we can reach forth to those that are before. Only when we are crucified with Christ and buried with Christ can we with Christ arise from the empty tomb, and sit with Him in the heavenly places.

"The holy to the holiest leads,

From thence our spirits rise."

If we will, we can wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb; we may be indwelt by Christ, as He was indwelt by the Father; we may be "saved to the uttermost," "sanctified wholly," and "preserved blameless." We may be reproductions of Christ-living over again on this earth the life of the Lord Jesus. Do not let us be content to grope in the lowlands of Christian experience; the Alpine heights are before us, the "mount of transfiguration even. If we will we may climb those sunlit peaks, and be transfigured on that holy mount. Do not let us soil our pinions in the dust, when we may cleave the skies. Do not let us bring down to our low level the great Apostle of the Gentiles, by saying, with apologetic air, "By the grace of God I am what I am." When we can say it as he said it, then we may go a step further, and say, "By the grace of God" I may be, and "by the grace of God," I will be what He is, "holy even as He is holy." God grant that we may be so faithful to the grace given unto us, that it shall be proclaimed in the skies of you and me and all our loved ones, "They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy."

Notices of New Books.

By

Consecrated Culture: Memorials of Benjamin Alfred Gregory, M.A. BENJAMIN GREGORY, D.D. London: T. Woolmer. Crown 8vo., with Portrait.

5s.

It is not uncommon for a son to write the biography of a distinguished father, but very seldom does the duty devolve upon a father of giving to the world memorials of a departed gifted son. In this volume, however, Dr. Gregory, the accomplished editor of the Wesleyan Magazine, has taken upon himself the mournful duty of writing an extended memoir of a son who was removed by death from the ranks of the Methodist Ministry at the early age of twentyseven, and who from his earliest days had given evidences of the possession of intellectual powers of the highest order.

The subject of the memoir in the course of the volume is allowed to speak largely for himself, by his letters and conversations, and by quotations from

his diaries, and essays, and sermons. We must, however, say the whole arrangement of the book is choice, and the pages, and occasionally, chapters, written by Dr. Gregory, to explain and illustrate and connect certain points and periods of his son's life, are characterised by great tenderness and beauty. A mind replete with information, a facile pen, and a loving, chastened spirit, have all been brought into requisition to produce this fascinating book.

We cannot worthily set forth such a life, and indicate the lessons to be learnt from it, in the limited space at our disposal. So we must content ourselves with giving a brief sketch, in hope that it may induce some to purchase and peruse the volume for themselves.

Benjamin Alfred Gregory was born at Rochester in the year 1850. Moving from place to place with his father, who was then in circuit work, tended to give a breadth to young Alfred's mind and a vividness to his imagination which those do not usually possess who remain always in the same place. As a boy he showed his fondness for books, but this did not check the flow of fun with which he was so largely endowed. As his intellect seemed much stronger than his physique, his parents endeavoured to check his mental development. For this reason he was sent to two ladies' schools, then his father had him under his own tutorship for about a year and a half; and though Dr. Gregory speaks of it as merely a "nominal tutorship," we are disposed to think a great part of his success in his intellectual career is traceable to the general guidance he had at this time in the course of his studies. He was made familiar with the greatest living masters of the English of the present day, his attention being especially directed to such writers as Whateley, Ruskin, J. H. Newman, Spurgeon, and Richard Cobden. This had much to do in the cultivation of his taste and in the formation of his own clear, forcible style of writing.

When he went to a public school he soon made his way to the head of his class, though he had to compete with boys two or three years older than himself, and at the examinations managed to carry off some of the best prizes. This naturally exposed him to the evil of conceit, but failing occasionally to win prizes for which he competed checked its rising, and, as he was aware of the danger, and resisted it, he was preserved from its marring effects. While attending the Manchester Grammar School he highly distinguished himself, winning important prizes. In consequence of the marked excellence of his divinity papers in the Oxford Local Examination, he received through the secretary, the Rev. J. W. Burgon, M.A. (now Dean of Chichester), a letter, urging him to set himself apart for the functions of the sacred office, and asking him to communicate with him. This led young Alfred to open his mind to his father, and declare his purpose of devoting himself wholly to the service of God, in connection with the church of his parentage. Above all earthly things, he wished for a University education, but if it could only be obtained at the expense of his Methodism, he should relinquish the idea without a moment's hesitation. This certainly showed sound judgment in a lad of fifteen. Though he was reared among Christian influences, and attributes the first rise of religious desires to home influence, a crisis came in his spiritual experience. Through the reading of "Bleak House" spiritual feeling was brought into play. The character there drawn of Esther Sommerson had that effect upon him. Towards the end of 1864 a student from Didsbury College preached a sermon in Altrincham Chapel from the text, "O Lord, revive Thy work," and that was the finishing stroke towards confession of Christ before men. Having been aroused from his slumber, and having seen that "God is love," he entered upon the active life of a Christian. It was at this period that the two streams of intellectual and spiritual life met and blended. He

resolved to devote himself to the work of the ministry, and do all in his power to train himself for it.

None of his severe studies, nor even the spiritual earnestness he manifested, checked the flow of his animal spirits. Under his quiet exterior there was a large reserve of fun, and he relished keenly the humour of Thomas Hood, "The Ingoldsby Legends," "The Biglow Papers," and Artemus Ward.

At the Grammar School Alfred succeeded in winning two scholarships, worth jointly £116 8s. per annum, so his course was clear for Oxford, and he was elected scholar of Brasenose College. During his school life in Manchester, and while working hard at his studies in preparation for his examinations, he was very regular in attending both the public and private means of grace, and active in various departments of Church work. And when he got to Oxford his life as a Christian and as a Methodist was exemplary. Oxford University life is well calculated to test the reality and robustness of a young man's Nonconformist principles. And, alas! how many young Nonconformists, sons of ministers and wealthy laymen, have yielded to Episcopalian influences, and have forsaken the Church of their fathers, to which they ought to have repaid, with all the culture they could gain in that ancient seat of learning, the advantages their fathers and themselves gained from it in their earlier days. Alfred Gregory, however, was made of the right material. Persecutions to which he was subjected, temptations to which he was exposed, did not move him. He enjoyed a Methodist experience, and was by conviction a thorough Methodist. He united himself to the Wesleyan Church in Oxford, attended its public and private services, and took preaching appointments in the circuit. He also hunted up in the University other Methodist undergraduates, and influenced them to attend chapel and class.

Because of his resolute adherence to the Church of his choice he did not suffer in the esteem of the authorities of his college. He never considered he had lost anything through his loyalty to Methodism, but that he had gained much. At college his career was as successful and brilliant as at school, thus proving that when Nonconformity has fair play it can hold its own with Church-ofEnglandism in the matter of culture.

When it was announced in the papers that Alfred had won at Oxford a first. class in honours, he received from the Head Master of the Manchester Grammar School an offer of a mastership in his old school, and as he wanted about a year and a half of comparative ease before entering on the toils of the Methodist ministry, he accepted the post. At this time he was about twenty-three years old.

During this residence in Manchester he applied himself diligently to more thorough preparation for his life's work, and, in addition to taking appointments in the circuit with which he was connected, he frequently preached in mission rooms and in the open air.

In due course he offered himself for the Wesleyan ministry, and after passing the necessary examinations was placed on the President's reserve list. He had not long to wait for an appointment. He was sent to supply a vacancy in the Runcorn Circuit, and there he spent the first seven months of his ministerial life. In that sphere he worked earnestly, preparing most thoroughly for his pulpit duties, and, with unremitting diligence, systematically visiting the members of his flock.

While he was at Runcorn he took his M.A. degree two months later than he had intended, rather than miss his class for one week.

In April, 1875, he was sent to supply a vacancy in the St. Columb Circuit, Cornwall. The circuit was wide and the labour heavy, but he had entered the

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ministry not to enjoy learned leisure but to work, and right earnestly did he devote himself to the discharge of his duties. At the ensuing Conference (1875) he was duly appointed to the circuit and went to reside at Padstow, and at the Conference of 1876 he was reappointed to the same place. It was at Padstow his greatest successes as a mini-ter of the Gospel were achieved. A series of revival services were held, and, through the efforts of their pastor, so thoroughly were the people prepared for them, and so completely were all arrangements made, that the whole town was moved, and many additions made to the Church. The method of working in relation to this revival movement is well worthy both of study and imitation by those who have to do with such services, and, if Alfr d Gregory's method were adopted more frequently, revivals would be more genuine and their results more permanent.

In addition to his purely scholastic studies and ministerial duties he found time to read a vast amount of general literature, and to write many essays and reviews for various periodicals. Some poems of his that are given in this volume show that he possessed a true poetic genius.

We could easily give a much more extended sketch of this beautiful budding -yea, fruitful life, but we must hasten to a conclusion. A cold, caught through getting wet in returning from an appointment, developed into diphtheria, and cut short a life that promised to be pre-eminently useful in the service of the Great Master. After a brief illness he fell asleep at Padstow, on December 14, 1876, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, and the third of his ministry.

The appearance of this book has been delayed from various causes, but its utility and interest are not thereby diminished. It places before us distinctly a character in which were combined the highest intellectual culture and the most simple faith and evangelic earnestness; and of such characters the Church stands in need more and more every day. The possibility of this combination is here proved, and its effects are here illustrated, and we would strongly urge our young ministers especially to make the acquaintance of Benjamin Alfred Gregory, "who, being dead," in this book "yet speaketh."

The Book of Psalms in Hebrew. By ROBERT YOUNG, LL.D. Edinburgh: Young & Co. 158.

THE laborious Dr. Young is publishing Grammatical Analyses of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Scriptures, consisting of the original text unabridged, the parsing of every word, with all its prefixes and affixes, and a literal English rendering. This volume is another contribution to the series, and everywhere bears evidences of painstaking and learned labour. Following the Book of Psalms are a number of paradigms of the Hebrew verb, with the servile letters in open-faced characters, for the use of beginners, and at the end of the volume ar› some very excellent and interesting specimens of ancient manuscripts. The production of such works must entail an enormous amount of labour, and as their circulation must of necessity be very limited, the price of them is high. The Expositor. Edited by the Rev. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A. Third Series, Vol. I. Hodder & Stoughton. 78. 6d.

THE first volume of the "third series" of the Expositor has come to hand, and though we miss from its pages the lucid expositions of its late editor, as also articles from the pens of other well-known contributors to the former volumes, yet the papers contributed to it are by some of the finest and most scholarly writers of the day, and are on topics of unfailing interest, and are characterised by distinguished ability. Dr. Maclaren furnishes several studies on "The Epistle to the Colossians," full of beautiful thoughts, and written in his clear

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and pungent style. Professor Beet is represented by four useful articles on "The Aim, Importance, Difficulties, and Best Method of Systematic Theology." Professor Henry Drummond tells of the contribution of science to Christianity, and a very interesting "Defence" of his Natural Law in the Spiritual World" is made by an anonymous writer. Professor F. Godet contributes two articles, and a host of other distinguished writers combine to make this volume equal to any of its predecessors. A new feature of this series will be the etching of some distinguished theologian which will in future be given with each volume. The first etching is of Bishop Martensen.

If the new editor continues to be supported by such an array of talented writers as have enriched these pages, we venture to say the Expositor will fully maintain the unique position to which it was raised by Dr. Cox.

The Religious History of Israel. By Dr. F. E. KÖNIG. Translated by Rev. A. J. CAMPBELL, M.A. T. & T. Clark. 3s. 6d.

THE general aim of the author, apart from mere criticism, has been to bring out the facts of the religious history of Israel, and to trace the connection which they necessarily have with their presupposed causes. The Development Theorists contend that the religion of Israel in the process of time altogether changed in form, and against this view Dr. König argues, conclusively we think, that the fundamental elements of Old Testament religion were not altered by the writing prophets, and that the historical phases through which the Mosaic religion passed wrought no change in its substance. As with a plant, the germ shows the species, which remains the same from first to last in the course of its development, however great may be its variations, so has it been with the religion of Israel. It is not other in substance than it was in the beginningthe change has simply been the change of growth. The volume contains an able treatment of the subject.

Religion without God, and God without Religion. By WILLIAM ARTHUR. London : Bemrose & Sons. 28.

PART I.-POSITIVISM AND MR. FREDERICK HARRISON.

We cannot but tender our thanks to Mr. Arthur for this most timely and capable book. To our readers who have taken an interest in the so-called philosophy which has found such favour and fostering in the ranks of modern opponents of Christianity as has Positivism, we can promise no ordinary treat in the masterly discussions of our author. The pithiness and pertinence of their title are admirably sustained in the style of the opening of the short series to which they are to belong.

Though without the bulkiness and approach to metaphysical incomprehensibility we have come to associate with such works, we have found in this volume a vigour of grasp and trenchancy of analysis which must secure for it a conspicuous place amongst writings of its class. The glamour Mr. Harrison has certainly succeeded in throwing over the daring and extraordinary speculations of Augustus Comte has its due meed of attention, and their actual order and utter untenableness are brought out so clearly, that to many who are only acquainted with the fascinating rhetoric of the English disciple, this divulgement of his French master's system in its entirety will be matter of curious interest and wonderment.

We shall look for the promised volumes on Agnosticism and Mr. Herbert Spencer, and Deism and Sir Fitzjames Stephen, with pleasant expectations, and may recur to the one before us in an after notice of its subject and argu:nents,

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