But

fulness and freedom, if it were conditioned otherwise than voluntarily [italics ours] by the laws of time and change. is it not the very point of God's great work of creation that therein and thereby the Almighty vouchsafed to limit Himself through entering into relations with His finite creatures? In so doing God acted voluntarily, indeed, for all His acts are voluntary. Another questionable statement, as it seems to us, is that "while God can cause temporal, mutable and contingent events, He would not be God if He could initiate, modify, or bring to an end His causal action itself." (p. 275). In this passage, as in the following pages, Dr. Hall protests overmuch against the idea of any voluntary self-limitation on the part of the Divine Being. His attitude in this regard was made sufficiently clear by his work, published some years ago, on "The Kenotic Theory," in which Kenoticism in all its forms, from that represented by Martensen and Bishop Gore to the more radical theories of Godet and Gess, was root and branch condemned. "The nature of these effects" (wrought in the sphere of Creation and Providence) "is due to the will of God, and they may not be regarded as limitations of His power, which cannot be reduced or abandoned" (p. 276). True; but to accept limitations is not necessarily to 'abandon' one's power, or even to have one's power 'reduced.'

Once more; we fail to see how the statement that predestination to life is conditional (p. 281), is reconcileable, either with Article XVII, or with Dr. Hall's further statement on the following page, as to "the eternal, immutable and all-controlling quality of the divine will, as contrasted with the reality of temporal contingency and human freedom."

In spite of the above strictures which we have felt it our duty to make (and which of course by no means indicate the positive and constructive value of Dr. Hall's work), we feel that we ought not to lay down these volumes without saying that in our judgment the present series, as it has thus far appeared, is making a significant and encouraging addition to the somewhat scanty theological literature of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

W. S. B.

THE ONE CHRIST: AN ENQUIRY INTO THE MANNER OF THE INCARNATION. By Frank Weston, B.D., Canon and Chancellor of the Cathedral, and Principal of the Theological College, Zanzibar. Longmans. 1907.

This is another of the books called forth by the Kenotic controversy. It is a study of the divine personality of our Lord, in its relation to His human nature. Cautious and conservative, not to say somewhat timid in his method, Mr. Weston is careful to maintain the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation as this is summed up in the Athanasian Creed. At the same time, he is anxious to make allowance for whatever elements of truth may have been brought to light by such recent students of the subject as Godet, Dr. Fairbairn, Professor William Newton Clarke, and Bishop Gore. The works of Dr. DuBose he appears not to have seen; but, as he says, "Books take a very long time to reach a mission library." The present volume is the outcome of diligent study of the New Testament passages which set before us the divine Personality of our Lord in its various aspects; as well as of a careful investigation of the teaching of the Church Fathers upon the subject. But, owing perhaps to the vastness and complexity of his theme, Mr. Weston has hardly succeeded in placing before the reader a clear and definitive result. The book, as the title itself would indicate, presents us with a process of inquiry rather than with a final conclusion. In fact, the subject as Mr. Weston leaves it at the end of his book seems even more conplex and intricate than it did at the outset. On the whole, the author appears to have been mastered by his subject, rather than to have in any real sense mastered it; his conclusion, as stated on pages 319-324, is involved and obscure. Indeed, the impression left upon the reader's mind is that the publication of this book was premature, inasmuch as the author seems to have no sufficiently definite and positive conclusion to present. On pages 313-317 Mr. Weston has some helpful remarks upon our Lord's divine Sonship, as exhibiting "two essential characteristics of sonship; reception and dependence." This line of thought, if it had been followed up, might have resulted in shedding a much fuller light upon the great subject of the Incarnation.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. By The Rev. Wm. Walter Smith, General Secretary of the Sunday School Federation of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Secretary of the New York Sunday School Association, etc. Milwaukee: The Young Churchman Co. 1909.

Dr. Smith is one of the foremost workers in the cause of the advancement and improvement of Sunday-school methods to-day. He regards the work of the Sunday-school as of paramount importance in religious education; and would base it upon sound psychological and pedagogic principles. In the present volume he has collected a great mass of material bearing upon the subject, with copious suggested readings and an ample bibliography. At the end of each chapter are "questions for thought and discussion," making the book a suitable one for use in normal training classes. The book concludes with an interesting history of religious education, and, in particular, of the modern Sunday-school movement. A volume to be heartily commended to all who are interested in the religious training of the young.

THE MAKING OF CARLYLE. By R. S. Craig. New York: John Lane Co. As the title suggests, this volume purposes to be a biography of Carlyle, covering the period of his life from birth until his reputation as author was fully established, namely, with the publication of the "French Revolution." The biographer's intention is to present a less formal and more intimate "life" than biographies generally do, but he fails in this. Perhaps it is an impossible task. At any rate the author convinces us that Carlyle's personality is unsympathetic and unattractive.

The elements that entered into the "making" of Carlyle were the character of his borderland peasant parents, his strong clan feeling, the creed of his kirk, his wife Jane Welch, his loyal friend, Edward Irving, and — his dyspepsia.

The book suffers from several grave faults. One is diffuse style. Another is the constant recurrence of tiresome anticipation of future events. For example, the numberless allusions to Jane Welch and the married life of the pair. They begin almost on the first page and are often repeated in almost the same

words. The thread of the narrative, consequently, is often broken, and to one who is unfamiliar with Carlyle's life, the references to future events about which he as yet knows nothing, must be extremely annoying.

The author does not hesitate to lay bare the serious blemishes in Carlyle's character and work, but on the other hand he is too fulsome in his praise of his really good qualities. Such hyperboles as "Was there ever such a family?" "Was there ever such a brother?" "Thomas Carlyle was a very lonely old man, none lonelier then living;" "Carlyle was the bravest of the brave," etc., are tedious and unconvincing. Aside from these faults, the book is interesting and instructive enough. really fine portraits of Carlyle adorn the volume.

Two

A LORD OF LANDS. By Ramsey Benson. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

In the teeth of illustrious failures, Mr. Ramsey Benson has had the courage to put into fiction a situation which both Economics and Sociology might claim as their own. The tale he has made is thoroughly engaging; one would never suppose that a story of this class would engross the reader's attention to the point of demanding to be completed in one sitting; yet such is the case. An Irish-American switchman in a great city finds himself and his neighbors menaced by poverty too terrible to be endured. Selecting sixteen families, carefully chosen, and securing after a struggle the financial backing of a great railway president, he persuades his neighbors to answer the call of "Back to the land!" Each family is made the holder of thirty acres; the homes are thus close together and social contact easy, the advantages of a community secure, while the effects of community ownership are avoided. Within a few years the former carpenters, teamsters and mechanics have made themselves fairly successful farmers and have paid back the railway president's loans.

The author earns the reader's good humour by his reasonableThe Robinson Crusoe style of the narrative - the switchman relates it all with its naïveté, and the orthodox

amount of "homely wisdom," is gravely maintained, and delights the reader with its fine consistency. The author has a pet theory about the necessity of cross-breeding among the nations and perhaps on this score we may excuse the ponderous and somewhat unimaginative Irish-American, for surely he is a hybrid type.

After the quiet humour of the manner of the story's telling, the skill with which Mr. Benson makes the situation of the entire artisan class evident, deserves comment. He has tried to make the life of a class of humanity his subject, and in so far has failed to do justice to character. This we are ready to forgive the writer of so amusing and thought-provoking a book.

TWO OF THE MOST REMARKABLE OF THE SONNETS OF FRANCIS BACON, THE TRUE SHAKESPEARE. By Henry Hamilton Harwood. A Compilation, Arrangement and Composition. Richmond. 1908.

The one hundred and thirty pages of accumulated evidence, collected at the cost of valuable time and still more valuable money, have grown out of the challenge of Richard Grant White to Baconians to "produce the goods." And this book is anything but a freighted argosy. Anyway, whether Sonnets XXVI and LXVI are Shakespeare's or not, the writer certainly proves that they are Bacon's, provided you are inclined to believe that way. The main trouble lies in the giving of challenges by literary men, particularly Shakespearian scholars, to Baconians.

RAHAB, A DRAMA. By Richard Burton. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1906.

THE SAXONS. A Drama of Christianity in the North. By Edwin Davies Schoonmaker. Chicago: The Hammersmark Publishing Co. 1905.

The younger writers who attempt the poetic drama frequently invite failure. If the theme is one that can be dramatically treated, there is a tendency to over lyricise; if it cannot be, there is the temptation to run into the epic. Burton's drama handles the Old Testament theme with restraint and is comparatively free from the lyric weakness. The "Saxons" is only a drama in name.