both we have earnest Christian men, zealous for God's truth, and fervently longing for the blessed unity of all who call Christ Master. But they propose to us opposite methods, and we must use our own best judgment.

The former pamphlet emanates from a considerable number of clergymen and laymen of different ecclesiastical bodies in Scotland, proposing a Conference with a view to bring about ultimately a perfect consent on the meaning of Scripture. The fundamental principle is, that the Bible is its own interpreter; and to set forth the meaning and importance of the assertion, the following propositions are maintained::

"I. The Bible, which is the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and duty to men, contains a Divine record of doctrines to be believed and precepts to be obeyed.

"II. This Divine record is infallible, and has only one true meaning, and therefore while all care for the purity of the text is necessary, equal care for the purity of the Truth is, if possible, more necessary, the text being only the vehicle of the Truth.

"III. It is the duty of every man to study diligently and devoutly this Divine and Infallible Record for himself, and he who does so will, from time to time, come to a certain and accurate knowledge of Doctrines which he ought to believe, and Precepts which he ought to obey.

"IV. Whoever adopts or adheres to a false interpretation of any Doctrine or Precept taught in the Bible, whether secondary or fundamental in importance, though he do so only from thoughtlessness or prejudice, and not from design, cannot but be regarded as blameworthy, and as bringing reproach upon the Word of God.

"V. Since in every case of conflicting opinions one of them must be wrong, the existence of conflicting interpretations of any of the Doctrines or Precepts of the Word of God is a great evil in the Christian Church, the culpability of which attaches to the party whose interpretation is wrong.

"If these propositions be well founded, and the legitimate exposition of the truth that the Bible, whose sense is not manifold but one, is its own interpreter, the question naturally arises, Has the time not come to form an Association whose object should be to labour by prayer to God, and every other suitable means that may be available in His Providence, for the removal of the scandal and the injury to which the cause of Christ has been long exposed, in consequence of the prevalence of conflicting interpretations of the Bible, even in the Protestant evangelical community?

"By their contradictory views of important statements in the Divine and Infallible Record, the counsels of God's people have been distracted, and their energies wastefully dissevered. It is only by the gradual disappearance of this conflict of convictions, in matters of faith and duty, that the fellowship and brotherhood of the Christian Church can be expected to reach its proper development, and her evangelistic work to be blessed with full success."

Among the seventy-one names attached to a memorial based on these propositions, we find those of Drs. James and Robert Buchanan, Dr. Cairns, Dr. Eadie, Dr. Patrick Fairbairn, Dr. Guthrie, Dr. Lindsay, Dr. Paterson, Dr. Andrew Thomson, and many others of equal note. The memorial is addressed to the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Alliance, as a body believed to be better adapted than

any other for seeking to accomplish the object proposed. And in addition to the five propositions above given, nine others are submitted "as to the Scriptural nature of Church organization and Christian fellowship."

Among other means proposed is, "The promotion of intercourse between the representatives of denominations which adopt some plan of co-operation, with the view of their reconsidering, and by degrees ultimately correcting, their opposite interpretations of the doctrines and precepts taught in the Word of God, so as to remove the only tenable ground for their continued separation from each other: &c."

It would be superfluous for the Christian Spectator, so well-known to be founded on broad undenominational principles, to express the hearty interest of its friends and supporters in everything that tends to the removal of all barriers that separate Christian from Christian. And for the holy desire in which this proposal originates, and for the high character and devoted zeal of the faithful men whose names support it, we have the utmost respect. And yet the second, if not, indeed, the very first, feeling excited within us by the perusal of this pamphlet was one of admiration. We felt as a man waking out of sleep in a strange place, who wonders where he is, and what time of day it may be, And then we thought of the many admirable attempts that have been already made to bring Christians to unanimity of opinion by discussion of their differences. And scene after scene came vividly before us: Luther and Zwingle, in debate on the sacrament of the Supper, when the former, at the commencement of the proceedings, wrote on the cloth that covered the table, in large letters," Hoc EST MEUM CORPUS!" and, at the close, took the cloth from the table, held it up open before him, and advanced towards his opponent with it as if he would cover him therewith. Luther stuck to the plain declaration of our Lord, as Romanists do to this day. Zwingle presided, or at least was present, at the drowning of the Baptists, for whose literal understanding of the word "baptize" he had no respect, and uttered the sorry jest, "Let the dippers be dipped."

And this case will answer our purpose as well as any, for it is indeed a fair specimen. We all know what the Baptists affirm, on the one hand, and we know also that many of the most scholarly of those who follow the general method of Christendom (excepting the Greek Church and the Baptist body) cheerfully concede to them that the balance of philological evidence is in their favour, and that it may even be indisputable that the ordinance was originally administered in the way affirmed. But what then? The strength of the position held by those who sprinkle rather than dip is not in the least affected; else, how could they so cheerfully make the concession? which, be it observed, is not extorted, but freely volunteered. The Congregationalist (or American Presbyterian) Moses Stuart, and the Episcopalian Dean Stanley, with a host of others equal to them in learning, continue to sprinkle as unquestioningly after their concession as before it. Or, to pass on to doctrine, is it conceivable that any possible discussion of their points of difference could have brought Fletcher of Madeley and Toplady to

any other agreement than at best an agreement to differ? But the theme is so large, and our space so limited, that we cannot even venture on a beginning of the treatment it demands. Our little knowledge and our much ignorance, our conscious or unconscious philosophy, our social and political tendencies, and a thousand other things blended with these, quite as much as the pure critical element in us, conduce to the judgment we form on the doctrinal or ecclesiastical points we find in our New Testaments. The differences of opinion that obtained, not only in the Apostolic Churches, but among the Apostles themselves, on some matters, are full of suggestiveness, as the way in which the Apostle Paul treated these differences is full of perennial instructiveness. And we incline to the belief that even in the nineteenth century "the more excellent way" will still be found to be that which is pointed out in the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

We regret to have left ourselves no room for an adequate notice of the second of these two pamphlets, but as the price is so small (it is published at sixpence) we will hope that our readers will obtain and ponder it. It seems to have been caused by Mr. Howard's "Caution agaiust the Darbyites," and is a bold plea for the largest mutual toleration of opinion, founded, to a great extent, on the broad difference between opinion and truth. Even those who may not altogether agree with the author will not be able to peruse his tract without benefit. After all, the greater unity we are all longing for will have to be effected, we believe, by taking the renewed Christian heart rather than the disciplined brain as the novum organon of Christian brotherhood and fellowship. Of all the formulas that can be devised, we incline to think that this, after all, will bear the palm and achieve the triumph, viz.:

"GRACE BE WITH ALL THEM THAT LOVE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST."

Characteristics of Christ's Teaching, drawn from the Sermon on the Mount. By C. T. VAUGHAN, D.D., Vicar of Doncaster. London: Alexander Strahan. 1866.

Ir any persons should wonder at the frequency with which Dr. Vaughan comes before the public as an author of sermons, they may understand that "the profits of this little volume, like those of one preceding and one following it, are devoted to the assistance of a costly undertaking, the re-building of the Church Schools of my parish." But the readers of Dr. Vaughan's sermons will not require any such apologetic notice; for, though they may not often find anything very original or striking, and would look in vain for those flights of fancy, or rhetorical flourishes, or bits of poetry which make the fortune of so many a popular preacher, they know that they will always have in Dr. Vaughan's discourses the best results of earnest and conscientious study and thought, calmly and equably presented by a man who is more free than perhaps most men from one great vice of the modern pulpit-self-consciousness. Dr. Vaughan manifestly cares only to discharge his high duties as a faithful servant of our common Master, and we are sure that in this busy, bustling, noisy,

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fussy age, living in an atmosphere of most questionable excitement, and all of us in danger of becoming more and more Americanized, and adopting go-a-head" as our noblest motto, the calm and simple teaching of Dr. Vaughan on a Sunday, must be a most valuable influence. Full gladly would we often exchange the so-called “zeal and earnestness" of some amongst us for the sober, devout, reverent, and practical tone which pervades all the pulpit labours of the excellent vicar of Doncaster. If some of the Episcopal clergy might very well learn of some of their Nonconformist brethren, we are quite sure that our Dissenting congregations would have only to be congratulated if they could be brought to prefer the solid and the practical to the flashy, or fervent, or exciting. Alas! how many a congregation as good as insists on a style of preaching whose practical results in every-day life, in the home, in the shop, in the social circle, are simply-nil! We reckon Dr. Vaughan among the workmen that need not to be ashamed.

Ecclesia Dei: The Place and Functions of the Church in the Divine Order of the Universe, and its relations with the World. London: Alexander Strahan. 1866.

LIKE Ecce Homo this work also is anonymous, but the author deals with his great subject in a way which impresses the reader with considerable respect. He brings to his task the competence supplied by adequate learning, patient industrious research, and a serious and religious spirit, combined with great earnestness of purpose. The reader is sometimes reminded of Isaac Taylor, sometimes of Hooker, and anon of St. Augustine's Civitas Dei. The book is one of those which elevate the soul by the sweep and grandeur of the survey that is taken, and quicken and strengthen the mind by the intellectual vigour displayed. But while signs are by no means rare of a catholic and unsectarian spirit, we fear that the idea of parochial and diocesan organization has perhaps rather too much hold of the author for us to flatter ourselves with the belief that in Ecclesia Dei we have at last the word for which so many in our day seem anxiously waiting in expectant attitude. The question put by various classes to the Jordan prophet, "What shall we do also?" is to-day on many lips; but though we cannot say that the full answer is supplied, we recognize the present volume as a valuable contribution, sure it cannot be read by any thoughtful and candid Christian without much benefit of the best kind. For ourselves, we confess, we read in the signs of the times some tokens that seem to intimate a possible increase for a time of the process of disintegration, and a still further intensification of the individualism which is already so conspicuous, and often painfully so. And if we thought of this as any other than a temporary stage, perhaps necessarily to be passed in the way to happier combination and a deeper unity of the spirit, we should be more saddened by it than we are. Such books as Ecclesia Dei cannot but be helpful to us all.

(For Books Received see the cover.)

THE

CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR.

OCTOBER, 1866.

THE ROUND TABLE.

CHAPTER XI.

THE EVENING WALK AND TALK-THE NARRATIVE CONTINUED—A FIRST VISIT-GOING AWAY DEFERRED-DR. SMITH'S INQUIRIES— IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY-MR. SYDNEY RECEIVES A VISITOR.

WHEN Mr. Sydney bore off Edith Langston from the Dorcas meeting "so easily," as poor Miss Moppett thought, the two, as we have seen, did not take the absolutely shortest way home. Nor do I know any special reason why they should. The evening was still early, the air was fresh and soft, as one sometimes gets even later in the season than the end of September, and it was so pleasant to the now motherless girl, whose girlhood had been prematurely brought to a close by the series of painful bereavements which had terminated by leaving her the only child of her widowed father, I say it was so pleasant to Edith Langston to find herself with one whom it was so natural to regard tenderly and to confide in as in an elder brother, that somehow they half unconsciously, I fancy, made a rather circuitous route. Mr. Sydney led her to talk of all that had occurred during his three years of absence, and many were the pathetic reminiscences she was encouraged to indulge in. And then about her father, and his health, and the future, till at length Mr. Sydney said

"

"Edith, my child, you must leave Bablyk-Hythe, I am sure," 'Oh," she replied, "I don't think Papa will be induced to leave, unless the leadings of Providence are very, very, plain