a noble testimony to the value of the book. "My dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge with thanks the account of your voluntary incarceration in a private asylum, and the observations you there made in the interest of the public and of suffering humanity. This is the way to work. A great battle is not to be won without self-sacrifice. Accept a tribute of respect from a brother writer interested in that good cause, and may Heaven prosper your efforts. "I am, dear Sir,

"Your very faithful Servant,

"CHARLES READE."

A GLOSSARY OF LITURGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL TERMS. By REV. F. G. LEE, D.C.L., F.S.A. London: Bernard Quaritch, 15, Piccadilly.

In this work the Compiler has brought together a very large and varied amount of information concerning the meanings and applications of the many liturgical terms and other ecclesiastical words bearing on the study of ritual. The learned Author informs us that the work was commenced as far back as the year 1854.

To produce a volume of this character, involving so much research, studies in libraries, and visitations to scenes of ecclesiastical note, required many years of close application. To all clergymen this volume will be of great interest, especially to those whose sympathies are with the symbolic and ornate in worship. Nor should any student or writer on ecclesiastical subjects be without a copy in his library. Indeed, the shelves of a theological or ecclesiastical library would be very incomplete without such a book as this. So far as we have looked into the volume, the information on the various words, whilst very concise is most lucid and complete. The reverend Author has discharged the mission he voluntarily undertook with great ability, scholarship, and success. The publisher should also be congratulated; he has done his part well. The illustrations, the type, paper, and general get up are all first-class.

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE OF CHINA. BY J. THOMPSON, F.R.G.S. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

This book consists of eleven chapters, the subjects of which are "(1) Geographical Position and Physical Features of the Chinese Empire. (2) The Provinces of China. (3) Summary of Chinese History. (4) Population. (5) Chinese Cities and Villages. (6) Social Condition of the People. (7) Architecture, Art, and Industry. (8) Religion. (9) Agriculture. Language."

(10) The Government of China. (11) The Chinese

A work throwing light upon the geography, history, religious and social life, arts, industry, and government of more than one-third of the human population, cannot fail to interest and instruct every reader. The Author has put into a comparatively small volume an enormous amount of valuable information on all these points. Whilst the book

contains narratives of absorbing interest, it has at the same time many striking pictorial illustrations. We heartily commend this work.

THE PROPHETS OF CHRISTENDOM.

SKETCHES OF EMINENT PREACHERS.

By Rev. W. BOYD CARPENTER, M.A. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 27, Paternoster Row.

This volume contains sketches of St. Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Dr. John Sauler, Luther, Herdep, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Jeremy Taylor, Chalmers, Dean Kirwan. At the head of these illustrious men it has one, the Head of all, the "Preacher who spake as never man spake," He that is the Sun, giving light to all.

It would seem that all the articles in this book are reprints from the Clergyman's Magazine," and they must be regarded, not as full biographies or criticisms, but merely outlines, intended to stimulate readers to go to other sources for a fuller account. Every page of this volume, bringing us, as it does, in contact with some parts of a great and noble life, has a charm and an inspiration. The Author has done what he undertook in a masterly way and a Catholic spirit. It will scarcely fail to obtain a large circulation.

THE QUIVER: AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE FOR SUNDAY AND GENERAL READING. VOL. XI. TONED PAPER, SERIES, 1876. Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, Ludgate Hill.

This annual is too well known to require us to describe it, and too highly appreciated to require us to recommend it. To us the most uninteresting parts of the volume are some of the sermons. There are but few that, in vigour and suggestiveness of thought and beauty of force and expression, approach the true ideal. Most of them are but platitudes strung together in no very elegant shape. We think that, on the whole, this work would be much better without the sermons, which throw a dulness over the sprightly tales, striking narratives, and beautiful illustrations. Our young readers will be specially delighted with this very handsome volume, and to such we most heartily commend it.

ARROWS AND ANECDOTES BY DWIGHT L. MOODY.

WITH A SKETCH OF
By JOHN

HIS EARLY LIFE, AND HISTORY OF THE GREAT REVIVAL. LOBB. London: Christian Age Office, 89, Farringdon Street. Although we regard Mr. Moody as a sincere man, and supremely anxious to "save souls," as the phrase is, we neither approve of his theology nor the measures he employs. Albeit thousands do. And if majorities are to pronounce the sentence, we are doomed to the region where sceptics live. For the sake of these thousands Mr. Lobb has collected a number of anecdotes and given a sketch of Mr. Moody's early

life, which will be read with interest by his numerous votaries. The Author has done his work well, and with the best intentions.

THE MINISTER'S POCKET DIARY AND VISITING BOOK FOR 1877. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

The arrangements of this diary will make it a great help to ministers who are methodic enough to use it, and whose memory can scarcely carry all the minutest of details that enter into a busy life. We should scarcely be candid if we did not say that it would have been at least courteous if the Compiler of this little manual had acknowledged his indebtedness to the last edition of "The Biblical Liturgy," both for the idea of the selection of Scripture sentences for visiting and for the free use he has made of the Service itself entitled, "Visitation of the Sick," designed for the use of hospitals, sick rooms, etc.

THE CHATTERBOX FOR 1876. Edited by ERSKINE CLARKE, M.A., D.D.
THE PRIZE FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, 1876. London: Wells Gardner, 2,
Paternoster Buildings.

It is truly

CHATTERBOX is as sprightly and as beautiful as ever. amazing how the Rev. Editor can provide a banquet so rich and so varied every year for children. The last always seems to us the best.

THE PRIZE is of the same class as the former. It has capital pictures and most interesting stories, and will no doubt obtain what it deserves, a very large circulation,

BOOKS TO BE NOTICED.

"HYMNS OF CONSECRATION AND FAITH." Compiled and arranged by Rev. J. MOUNTAIN. "THE SUPREMACY OF MAN." London: Hamilton, Adams & Co. "SLAVES AND TURKS." "THE LEISURE HOUR FOR 1876." 56, Paternoster Row. "HEART AND HOME SONGS." Arranged by M. E. TOWNSHEND. Hatchards, Piccadilly. "THE LIFE OF CHRIST" (Illustrated). By F. W. FARRAR, D.D. Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, London. "AMERICAN PICTURES." By Rev. SAMUEL MANNING, LL. D. "THE BOOK OF RUTH." By SAMUEL COX. "THE TRACT MAGAZINE." "THE WRONG TURNING." By GEORGE E. SARGENT. "EXPERIENCE OF THE INNER LIFE." By EDWARD GARBETT, M.A. "THE TURKISH EMPIRE. ' By Rev. T. MILNER, M.A., F.R. G.S. "THE HOME AT BETHANY." By Rev. Dr. CULROSS. "THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S ALMANACK." "THE SCRIPTURE POCKET ALMANACK." "THE COTTAGER AND ARTISAN." The Religious Tract Society, 56, Paternoster Row. "CHURCH DISCIPLINE." By CLEMENT CLEMANCE, B. A. "THE NONCONFORMIST DIURNAL." By Rev. T. C. HINE. How TO SUCCEED IN LIFE." By Rev. J. B. LISTER. John Snow, 2, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. "MEMOIRS OF REV. CHARLES FINNEY." Written by himself. THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL." By F. LEWIN. Vols. I. & II. "THE HISTORY OF CRIME." By O. PIKE. Vol. II. "THE ROSE IN BLOOM." By L. ALCOTT. "MERRY SUNBEAMS." Ward, Lock, & Tyler. "GOOD WORDS FOR 1876." "THE YOUNG RAJAH." 66 etc., etc.

66

HISTORY OF ART,"

"AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN TO DIVIDE THE DAY FROM THE NIGHT; AND LET THEM BE FOR SIGNS, AND FOR SEASONS, AND FOR DAYS, AND YEARS."-Genesis i. 14.

A

LITTLE insignificant insect, that hides in the darkest

corners of our houses and in the most obscure

nooks in the fields, furnishes the astronomer with a measuring line by which the august motions of the orbs of heaven may be determined. By the slender threads of a spider's web, stretched at equal distances across the glass of the transit instrument in the Royal Observatory, the exact instant at which stars and planets pass south or north of Greenwich is noted, and the chronometer of every vessel in our seaports about to proceed on a distant voyage is regulated. By observations of the heavenly bodies, taken by aid of such chronometers, mariners can ascertain with perfect accuracy the latitude and longitude of their ships in the loneliest parts of the ocean. Every vessel that sails upon the high seas is thus as much indebted for its safety to the delicate web woven by some spider between two clover-leaves, for certain purposes of its own, as it is to the sails and cordage by which the breeze propels it over the waters.

Our human tasks, that appear insect-like to higher intelligences, are also correlated with the stars of heaven. Wrought VOL. XL.

G

in obscure corners, and in humble walks of life, they mark the transit of the heavenly bodies, and are timed to the motion of the spheres. Across the webs woven by the toil and expenditure of brain and muscle, the sun, moon, and stars pass, to be to us for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.

But not for secular purposes alone are these divisions of time marked out for us by the heavenly bodies; they have a still higher and more important purpose to serve in connection with our spiritual life. Man does not live by bread alone; and nothing was made by God for a mere temporary or physical use. Everything in God's universe exists, not for its own sake merely, but for the sake of something higher than itself. For the immortal education of souls,-as their grandest use,-the visible heavens and earth were made. This lower creation is but a scaffolding for the erection of the spiritual temple of the heirs of glory. What a grand thought it is, that the whole mass of the earth, from pole to pole and from centre to circumference, has been weighed in the balance, in order that a snowdrop may hang its fragile blossom on its stem, in the right way to produce and ripen its seed! But it is a thought grander still, that the stars in their courses fought against Sisera; that the sun and moon stood still over the valley of Ajalon, in order that Israel might have light to fight the battle of the Lord; that the whole material universe is subordinated to, and even sacrificed for, the spiritual welfare of those heirs of salvation to whom the very angels are ministering spirits. Just as the spider's thread serves to catch a fly and mark the transit of a star; just as the silky web beaded with morning dew, that glitters on the lawn, is correlated with the canvas sheet, wet with the spray of the storm, that spreads to the gale in mid ocean; so the grand unity of design which binds together every law and substance of the visible universe, links the stars of heaven with the spiritual condition of man, and makes of them signs by which his spiritual life may be regulated.

The revolution of the earth on its axis marks off for us the