spring of 1896, repeated at Auburn, Lane, and Allegheny. Each part is accompanied by a bibliography, which for completeness and fulness we have never seen surpassed. Taken together, the lectures furnish a magnificent and inspiring vindication of the social value of missions, and thus supply us with a new line of apologetics of a positive kind, whose value one can hardly overestimate, and which is yet, with all its present development and force, only in its very beginning. They show how mighty a force the Christian religion has already proved in penetrating, transforming, elevating the life of heathen society. The power of this force is shown in comparison with the social results of the ethnic religions. In dealing with this aspect of his subject, the author has been fair and just, and has duly recognized whatever of good and truth he could find in these religions. He is faithful in this study to the principle of the supernatural, and the place which it occupies in any true theory of social development. The topics of the several chapters or lectures are as follows: The Sociological Scope of Christian Missions; The Social Evils of the NonChristian World—(1), The Individual Group; (2), The Family Group; (3), The Tribal Group; (4), The Social Group; (5), The National Group; (6), The Commercial Group; (7), The Religious Group; Ineffectual Remedies and the Cause of their Failure; Christianity, the Social Hope of the Nation. Each lecture is preceded by a well-prepared synopsis, which will greatly aid the careful student. The illustrations, many of them full-page, are most attractive, suitable, and suggestive. Dr. Dennis' own long and successful experience in the foreign field, and his well-known powers of observation, fit him in a peculiarly happy way for the work which he gives us in this splendid volume. GULICK'S GROWTH OF THE Kingdom of God. By Sidney L. Gulick, M. A., Mis- THE GROWTH of the KingDOM OF GOD. The germ of this book, the author tells us, was an address delivered to an audience of wide-awake Japanese young men, the aim of which was to show them the growth and influence of the Christian religion in the world, and to study the transformation which it had wrought in the life and thought of the western nations. His aim was practical rather than theoretical, and this shaped the book. It therefore furnishes a valuable, practical "apologetic" of a positive kind. After some preliminary statements of the problem, the method, the standpoint, the purpose, and the sources, he gives definitions of Christianity, the church, and religion. He then enters upon that which forms the great inquiry of the book, viz.: Whether or not the kingdom of God is growing. The answer to this question is found, first, in a growth in numbers. This is clearly set forth by a series of striking charts. It is also shown in connection with the financial prosperity and educational developments of the world. It is next traced in various countries, as England, and Wales, and the United States, and its influence proved by its development of different forms of activity, as Sunday-schools, organized charities, university settlements, education, etc. A chapter is devoted to the growth in understanding Christianity, another to growth in practical forms of religion, another to growth in influence upon social order, respect for life and property, marriage, Sabbath observance, etc. A few paragraphs in the last chapter contain some sentences on the subject of slavery which are of the Wendell Phillips order, evincing more rhetoric than intelligent grasp of the facts and principles. The book is valuable and suggestive, and especially so in its practical features and use of statistics. While as a philosophical study it falls far short of Dr. Dennis' work, described above, it shows the trend of thought of our missionaries and the character of work which they feel they must perform. Each book is in its way an adaptation of the form of answer which the Master gave to John's disciples: "Go your way and tell John what things ye have seen and heard." X. RECENT PUBLICATIONS. THE VERACITY of the HexATEUCH. A defence of the historic character of the first six books of the Bible. By Samuel Colcord Bartlett, D. D., LL. D., Ex-President of Dartmouth College. New York, Chicago, and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Co. 1897. 12mo, pp. 404. $1.50. In this most timely and ably prepared work the author not only overthrows the main position of the destructive critics, but gives strong, affirmative proof of the soundness of the old views of the historicity of the record of the Hexateuch and of the contemporaneousness of the writing of all but Genesis with the facts recorded. He first states the case, reducing the positions of the critics to three, namely, the analysis of the record into the writings of from eight to eighteen or twenty discernible hands, the assignment of late dates to all these writers, and a denial of the truth of much of the early narative as being tradition modified or colored by the judgment of the writer as mythical and unhistorical. It is with the latter that the author deals in this book. His method is to begin with the book of Joshua and move backward. He proves the trustworthiness of this book by showing how baseless and unreasonable is the theory of its late authorship; by showing the proximity of the date to the events recorded; by setting forth the life-like minuteness of the narrative, and the proof therefrom of its original and contemporaneous origin, and by the authenticity indicated by the minute and exhaustive description of the land in conquest, and of its distribution among the tribes; by the portraiture of Joshua himself; by the confirmation derived from recently discovered documents, such as the Tel el Hesy and Tel el Amarna tablets; by the corroboration of the account of Joseph's burial; by the references in later Old Testament books to events related in Joshua as unquestionable facts of history. Having thus substantiated the veracity of this book, the author traces the testimony backward. He holds that the statements and allusions of Joshua are inseparably interlocked with the previous history. The salient points of this history, such as the period from the Exodus to the Conquest, the residence in Egypt, the patriarchal history, the table of nations (Gen. x.), the deluge, antediluvian life, man's primitive condition, temptation and fall, and the creation narrative, are studied scientifically, and with special reference to those aspects of them in which the critic's denial is so bold. The use of monumental evidence here is very full and forceful. The remainder of the book, about onethird of the whole, is then devoted to the more direct evidence, or positive lines of proof. He studies the nature of the historic basis upon which all writings of ancient times must be judged, illustrating his position, happily, by the history of the criticism of the Eneid, Horace, Livy, and other classical writings. The literary problem and analysis are then luminously discussed and illustrated, and in terms rather more popular than usual or practicable in works of this kind. That common, universal trait of the new criticism, its assumptions of theories and subsequent accommodation of the facts to these unfounded assumptions is next admirably characterized as it deserves, and the unwarrantableness of some of the assumptions clearly shown. An appendix contains much valuable matter, and the whole is well indexed. Throughout, the work is strong, clear, popular, scholarly and fair, and deserves well to take its place by the side of Dr. Green's, Dr. MacDill's, and other works of the same kind. THE OLD TESTAMENT UNDER FIRE. By A. J. F. Behrends, D. D., S. T. D., Pastor of the Central Congregational Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. 1897. 12mo, pp. 246. The contents of this book were given first to general audiences of intelligent, thoughtful people, but not with a view to leading them into the intricacies of technical details. It is, therefore, a popular discussion of the practical issues of the present day discussion. The first chapter gives a general survey of the position of literary criticism, showing how it is predominately conjectural, how the problems to which it addresses itself so confidently are insoluble, how it is itself dominated by historical criticism, how unwarrantable are the assumptions upon which all its processes and results are based, and how its acceptance involves the honesty of the biblical writers. He then discusses practically and logically Our Lord's Use of the Old Testament, Christ and the Old Testament, Criticism and the Old Testament, Criticism and Common Sense, The Historic Faith, and The Integrity of the New Testament. A note, written after the book had gone to press, gives a remarkable extract from the latest work of Harnack, of Berlin, showing how this great scholar is forced to repudiate the Higher Criticism in its assaults upon the integrity and credibility of the New Testament. The book is a brilliant and successful defence of the word of God. It is as timely as it is powerful. THE GOSPEL AS TAUGHT BY CALVIN. By Rev. R. C. Reed, D. D. Richmond, Va.: Presbyterian Committee of Publication. 1897. Paper, 16mo, pp. 157. 15 cents. This is a good addition to the doctrinal publications of our church. The Woodland-street pastor is developing power as a thinker and writer. As we read this clear and vigorous production our pleasure grew to the end. We commend it as a most satisfactory statement of Calvinism in comparison with the Pelagian and Remonstrant systems, and wish for it a wide circulation. It is a choice book for a pastor to drop in the homes of his people on his rounds. One chapter is a preliminary historical survey, holding up to the eye the lives and services of Calvin and Arminius. Then follow five chapters on the five points of the "grim Synod of Dort." Another chapter, perhaps the most masterly and suggestive in the cluster, treats of Calvinism tested by love. The final chapter is on the fruits of our doctrinal system, especially as to purity of morals, heroism of character, zeal for liberty, intellectual activity, and spiritual aggressiveness. The author states fairly the difficulties that are met with in each of the contrasted systems, and exposes the defects of those theological schemes by which the Calvinism of the Bible is evaded or explained away. It is as full of quotable sentences as the Yukon Valley is of gold nuggets. Don't lay down your pen, Brother Reed. HOW TO OBTAIN FULNESS OF POWER, in Christian Life and Service. By R. A. Torrey, author of "How to Bring Men to Christ," "How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit," "The Baptism with the Holy Spirit," etc. 12 mo, pp. 106. 50 cents. New York, Chicago, and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company. 1897. The author's answer to the problem named in the title is, “by making personal trial of The Power of the Word of God, The Power of the Blood of Christ, The Power of the Holy Spirit, The Power of Prayer, The Power of a Surrendered Life, The Power of Personal Work." These chapters on these topics are full of earnestness and spiritual fervor, and almost all that the author says is well worth reading and following. He indulges, however, in the recently popular theory of the special enduement of the Spirit, with its attendant mystical interpretations of the word of God and inclination towards some phase of the doctrine which, in its grosser forms, is called the "second blessing," "perfection," or "place of rest," etc. He disparages the study of the Bible in its original languages, though it was in those languages that it was inspired and that prophets and apostles and Christ himself proclaimed the truth. He applies numerous passages of Scripture to all Christians which were spoken only to apostles. The earnestness and spirituality of all this school of thought which the author represents make it difficult to criticize their views, and yet, for this very reason, the error which is in it is the more insidious. Added to this difficulty is the further fact that any one who resists these views is apt to be set down popularly as well as by those with whom one disagrees as resisting that which honors and magnifies the Spirit, and thus of almost sinning against him. All the same, care must be taken lest in the attempt to honor and magnify him we are only honoring and magnifying some fiction of our own imagination and committing the grossest of all possible sins against him, that of laying upon him or holding him responsible for, or reading into his word our own ideas and thoughts. THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY AND ITS CONFESSION FOR GOD. By Rev. Joseph A. Vance. Pp. 24. Richmond, Va.: Wnittet & Shepperson, Printers. 1897. A sermon preached to the congregation of the Maryland Avenue Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Maryland, on the Sunday before the last G neral Assembly opened, and published by the session of the church. It is a clear and eloquent statement of the fact that Presbyterianism long antedated the Westminster Assembly, of the historical importance of the two great symbo's of faith, the canons of the Synod of Dort and the Westminster Confession, of the calling and work of the Westminster Assembly, of the marked influence of its work upon civil government and the church at large, of the result of its work upon character, church unity, literature, the Christian Sabbath, and of |