church, in any way to define and settle what Christ himself has manifestly left to us undefined, and, in a certain sense, open to question and interpretation. A man, we must admit, may receive and reverence the Master himself, for his own sake; for the sake, I mean, of his moral and religious teaching, and the spirit of his life, as recorded for us; while yet he is unable to do so for the mere sake of those wonderful works which stand, indeed, in close connection with his memory, but which, nevertheless, fail to touch many readers as actual facts of his history; nay even, shall I not say repel many from that history as for them incredible. "A man may, in short, as I submit, receive Jesus Christ as the Great Spiritual Teacher, the well-beloved Son of the Almighty Father, the appointed Agent of a benevolent Providence manifestly working by and through him in the past ages of the world; he may receive him as one now in heaven, the actual Founder, and also the Head, of the visible church on earth, and may, therefore, rightly call himself by his name, even though he does not regard him as having ever been the Hebrew Messiah, or look upon the belief in him in that character as anything else than a popular error of his time. "And let us consider this, too: if the question of miracles, by the lapse of ages and the nature of the case, has been left in what may appear the undecided and doubtful position of which I have spoken, no man is to blame for this. Shall we not rather say that it is even the will of Divine Providence that so it should be; that we, of this later age, should depend less than our predecessors have done upon external authority, and that we should rather give ourselves up to a higher witness, even the witness of God's own Spirit, through devout reason and conscience, within the heart? And if the Almighty Ruler should thus speak to us, or thus invite us to do, shall we refuse to listen to His voice? We may depend upon it that here, too, the lapse of centuries, with the altered feelings and the increased knowledge which they have brought the world, are designed to speak to us and to teach us. Our part must be, humbly and gratefully to admit that teaching too; and to welcome the better light which, from any quarter, may be thrown even upon our established principles or long-cherished beliefs. "Whatever, then, may have been the character and value of those marvellous events of early Christian history to those who actually saw them, we who have not seen them cannot be intended to be moved by them as they were. The nature of the case forbids this. The Great Master whom we serve would leave us freer men ;-freer to serve Him, not from any outward constraint, but from the love and obedience which we owe Him; would make us depend upon our spiritual nature, the religious hopes and fears within us; and so warn us that it is not into the past that we are to look for the most potent evidences of His divine power in the world, but much rather to the immediate present, and the living contact of His Spirit with ours." The Actonian Prize Essays are a series of dissertations on some scientific subject "illustrative of the Wisdom and Beneficence of the Almighty," which owe their origin to the liberality of Mrs. Hannah Acton, who in 1838 left a sum of money, the interest of which, after accumulating for a period of seven years, is devoted to this purpose. The managers of the Royal Institution select the subject and award the prize. The last "ouvrage couronné" is an essay by Mr. G. Warrington, on the "Phenomena of Radiation,"* which now lies before us. Mr. Warrington both sensibly and modestly disclaims either scientific or theological originality. His facts are taken from recent specified works on physical science, and his religious object is rather to justify and strengthen belief, than to convince unbelief. These honest admissions to a large extent disarm criticism, and we can confidently recommend his little book as a wellwritten popular exposition of recent discoveries in a very interesting field of investigation. But whether it was worth Mrs. Acton's while to provide for the septennial production of such amplifications of the design argument as the present essay, or whether such essays would not have been produced in sufficient abundance without the help of her bequest, are questions on which it is possible to have more than one opinion." Philosophy of Religion"t is a great and deep subject, yet one which Dr. Hugh Doherty exhausts in less than fifty octavo pages. We must confess that his method is somewhat too rapid for our lagging intellect, and that we cannot follow him when he settles in a paragraph questions about which men's minds have been perplexed and divided since speculation first began.-A pamphlet of a very different and perfectly intelligible kind examines the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ as given by the four evangelists, and comes to a conclusion which has at The Phenomena of Radiation, as exemplifying the Wisdom and Beneficence of God. By George Warrington, F.C.S. London: Skeffington. 1865. + Philosophy of Religion. By Hugh Doherty, M.D. London: Trübner. 1865. The Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as given by the Four Evangelists, critically examined. London. 1865. least the merit of being unusual. The author, who in his manner of writing is quite free from the common vices of believing or unbelieving controversialists, has no faith either in the resurrection or in any other miracle, and yet is firmly convinced that Jesus, after the crucifixion, was seen alive by the disciples. The only method of reconciling this seeming contradiction, is by the belief that the death of Christ was only apparent. The anonymous critic states clearly and forcibly enough the difficulties which attend the attempt to harmonize the narratives as they stand; but he prudently abstains from considering the greater difficulties which are involved in the reception of his own hypothesis. When rationalistic inquirers ask of believers in the ascension, what became of the body of the risen Christ-the question is not altogether easy to answer; but surely far less difficult than to account for the disappearance from history of a Christ who, with powers of mind and body unimpaired, had escaped from the cross. We have received the two first volumes of the Memorial Edition of the Collected Works of W. J. Fox.* The first contains "Lectures, Sermons, &c., prior to 1829;" the second, the well-known series of sermons, entitled, "Christ and Christianity." We hope, on a future occasion, to return to these interesting volumes, in an attempt to estimate the whole character and religious influence of their author. NOTE. E. A correspondent requests us to correct a slight misstatement of fact in the note appended to the article on "Woman's Work in the Church" in our September No., p. 521. We give the correction in the words in which we have received it. "The writer says, 'The funds for such assistance (meat, wine, tea, &c.) are supplied to the ladies (managing the district) by the Society, and are duly accounted for by them at the end of the year.' This is not correct. The wages of the nurses are paid by the Institution; but for their lodgings, and for the entire expense of the relief given to the patients, the Lady Superintendents are responsible. These must be furnished by herself, or friends, or, as in the case of the district managed by members of the HopeStreet Church, by congregational subscription." * Memorial Edition of Collected Works of W. J. Fox. Vols. I., II. London: Fox: Trübner. 1865. INDEX TO VOL. II. AIKIN LUCY AIKIN'S LETTERS, 92. Miss Aikin's powers of conversation, 93. Allsop, T., "Letters, Conversations and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge," 343. BARMBY, Rev. Goodwyn, "Aids to Devotion," 342. Beard, Dr., "Christ the Interpreter of Scripture," 453. Beke, Mrs., "Jacob's Flight, or a Pilgrimage to Harran," 297. CAMPBELL, Douglas, "New Religious Thoughts," 459. Candlish, Dr. R. S., Lectures on "The Fatherhood of God," 551. Chenevière, Professor, of Geneva, resigns his chair of theology, 352. Church-rates, Mr. Newdegate's Bill rejected, 463. Cobbe, Miss F. P., "Studies, Ethical and Social," 457. Colani, T., "Jesus Christ, où les Croyances Messianiques de son Temps," 241. COLENSO ON THE PENTATEUCH, Part V., 583. Analysis of the volume, 583. Conscience clause-controversy between the clergy and the Privy Council, 461. DALE ON THE HEBREWS. "The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church, by DANIEL, THE BOOK OF, I., 172. Uncritical spirit of Dr. Pusey's lectures, 173. and Cyrus, 197. Were there two conquests of Babylon? M. Niebuhr's the book of Daniel, 201. DANIEL, THE BOOK OF, II., 477. Considered from the apocalyptic point of view, Darwin, Charles, "On the Origin of Species," 150. Davidson, Dr., Translation of Fuerst's "Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the DENMARK, RELIGION IN. Society of theological students in Bonn and its tra- |