NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THE METAPHORS OF ST. PAUL AND COMPANIONS OF ST. PAUL. By John S. Howson, D.D. Boston: Hurd and Houghton, Riverside Press.

1872.

This book is published by the American Tract Society, and belongs to a class of English religious writings which are doing a great deal to make the Scriptures intelligible. It is pleasantly writ ten. It contains all the knowledge that can bear upon the subject. It is very perfect in its way. If it does not take us very deeply into the mind and heart of the apostle, it brings us into pleasant and familiar intercourse with him and his companions.

ENGLISH LESSONS FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE. By Rev. Edwin A. Abbot, M.A., and J. R. Seeley, M.A. Boston: Roberts Brothers. We should be glad to have all our young people who desire a good education made familiar with these admirable lessons. They may here learn the meaning of words defined by usage or by derivation, the diction of poetry and of prose, faults in diction, metaphorical diction, metre, hints for composition in arrangement and selection, hints on some errors in reasoning, &c. All this has been prepared by two accomplished scholars.

FIRESIDE SCIENCE. A Series of Popular Scientific Essays connected with Every-day Life. By James R. Nichols, A.M., M.D. These essays are written in a very agreeable style. They abound in information clearly stated on important practical subjects. They were originally read to a family group, and would make pleasant and useful reading for any home circle. Among the subjects are, "The Origin and Nature of Springs," "Rebreathed Air," "The Human Hair," "Chemistry of a Lump of Sugar," "What shall We use for Water-pipes?" "The Clothing We Wear," "Diamonds and Diamond Cutting." There are twenty-three essays, every one of which has its practical side. It is not a book got up to order, but contains the ripened fruit of thought and study.

THE WONDERS OF WATER. From the French of Gaston Tissandier. Edited, with numerous additions, by Schele De Vere,

D.D., LL.D., of the University of Virginia. New York: Chas. Scribner & Co.

This is a comprehensive treatise on "Water;" "The Ocean, its extent, depth, color, tides, currents, &c. ;" "The System of Circulation, fogs, clouds, rivers, &c.;" "The Action of Water on Continents, its physical and chemical properties;" "Its uses, mineral waters, baths, public hygiene, artesian wells, analysis of various mineral waters in the United States." We are glad to see the multiplication of books of this class. This is very handsomely got up, and makes one volume of the "Illustrated Library of Wonders,” filled with curious and useful knowledge.

THE BREMEN LECTURES, on Fundamental, Living, Religious Questions. By various eminent European divines. Translated from the original German by Rev. D. Heagle. Boston: Gould & Lincoln.

These lectures, from an orthodox stand-point, are by very able men, and may be studied with profit by any theologian; for even where they may not satisfy us they furnish materials for thought, and suggestions which may help us upward to higher points of view. The lecture on "Miracles," by Rev. M. Fuchs, and that on "The Authenticity of our Gospels," by Constantine Tischendorf, have impressed us as very satisfactory.

THE INCARNATION, and Principles of Evidence. A Theological Essay. By Richard Holt Hutton, M.A. With an Introduction by Samuel Osgood, D.D. New York: Pott & Amerag.

This essay is introduced by a thoughtful, scholarly, modest, and gracefully written preface by our old friend, Rev. Dr. Osgood. We have read them with care. We recognize the catholic spirit which pervades them both, with the exception perhaps of a slight assumption of superiority on the part of the English writer. We do not find that the essay contains anything new or striking. We cannot put ourselves into an attitude of mind which makes the peculiar doctrines of the essay in any wise necessary to us. The wants of the soul craving this peculiar manifestation to us of the divine nature have no place in our mental constitution. It is enough for us that God is speaking to us through Christ, manifesting his love and mercy and truth to us through him as a mediator, and so drawing us into sympathy and union with himself. This view of the Incarnation, the mind and heart of Jesus so perfectly in harmony with

the will of God that what he did and said is to us the mind and the will of God, seems to us better than any other to fulfill the conditions of the New-Testament teachings, and to meet the wants and necessities of our intellectual and spiritual nature. The doctrines of the Trinity and the Atonement, while they may seem to have some slight ground of reality to stand upon in the Scriptures and in human nature, seem to us to have a forensic or unreal character, as if they had been made up with great skill to meet a deepseated propensity in man to find out some vicarious substitute for the self-devotion, the self-sacrifice, and the personal and spiritual worship which Christ demands of us. They seem to us a substitute for the vital, spiritual Christianity of the Gospels, rather than Christianity itself. And they seem to us to appeal to feelings partly imaginary or factitious rather than to the great, essential, deeply-rooted wants and convictions of our nature.

THE AUGUST STORIES. AUGUST AND ELVIE. By Jacob Abbot. New York: Dodd & Mead.

A merchant in New York does not know what to do with his son, a half-invalid boy about eight years old. He sends him to an intelligent lady in the country, who engages a model boy a few years older than himself to be with him every afternoon, and to initiate him into such country amusements and pursuits as are fitted to a boy of that age. In this way the merchant's son spends some months most advantageously in the country, and returns home late in the autumn renewed in health and spirits and the faculty of taking care of himself. The details are carried out in Mr. Abbot's plain and (to boys) interesting way. Important ideas are suggested. But, after all, is there not something unnatural and unwholesome in the absorptions of mercantile life which so separate the father from his son, and shut him out so entirely from the joy and improvement of associating and sympathizing with him.

CUES FROM ALL QUARTERS; or, The Literary Musings of a Clerical Recluse. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

One of those quiet, meditative books which it is equally pleasant to have by us in our winter retirement and our summer rambles. It treats of a large variety of subjects, and draws its interesting and often beautiful illustrations from many authors. It may furnish thoughts that lead to thinking, and suggestions which may stay in the mind and make apparent solitude a blessing.

THE LAST TOURNAMENT. By Alfred Tennyson. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co.

This poem bears unmistakable marks of its authorship. The artistic skill of the most artistic poetical genius of the age, the fine sense of moral beauty and of the secret ruin that finds its way in everywhere when the moral integrity is ever so little impaired, the taste and the power, by which the English laureate has been so long distinguished, are all here. And yet the poem is so painful in its subject and its treatment that we shall be glad to have it in its subordinate place among "The Idyls of the King" rather than in a volume by itself. There it will add to the grand solemnity and impressiveness of the remarkable poem, or series of poems, to which it belongs.

THE DIVINE TRAGEDY. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co.

We have read this poem with unmingled satisfaction and enjoy- ́ ment. Our sense of harmony, of poetic beauty, of religious propriety and fitness, our sentiment of Christian love and reverence, and our faith in what is divine, are all touched and heightened by it. It is the story of the Gospels, almost in the exact words to which we are accustomed, and yet by slight omissions and slighter variations, with a few remarks not recorded in the Gospel narratives, the wonderful story comes to us with new interest, awakens new emotions, and fills us anew with loving admiration and rever. ence. It leaves us stronger and better than it found us, hopeful, with clearer intuitions of the divine life, with deeper convictions and a truer sense of the living power and presence of God. In this respect, the contrast to Tennyson's poem is a great and happy relief.

MEMORIAL OF THE CHURCH IN BRATTLE SQUARE.

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It is late in the day to speak of this very interesting pamphlet and the services to which it relates. The last day of public worship and religious instruction in the old historic church of Brattle Square was commemorated by a sermon which is entirely worthy of the occasion, and which will be itself a monument of the occasion which it commemorates. In addition to the account of the last services in the old church, the pamphlet contains an account of the services at the laying of the corner-stone of the new church. It is sad to think that of the prominent members of the parish who

were most interested in these services four have already been taken away.

AUNT MADGE'S STORY. By Sophie May, author of "Little Prudie Stories." Boston: Lee & Shepard.

This is a very charming book, and one which we gladly commend both to parents and children. It is natural, life-like, and points out with great skill the Christian and effective method of dealing with a wayward child. It is very entertaining.

THE YOUNG DODGE CLUB. AMONG THE BRIGANDS. By Prof. James De Mille. Boston: Lee & Shepard.

A book of boy adventures in Italy, with sketches of scenery and society and the old Italian towns.

RUBY DUKE. By Mrs. H. K. Potwin. Boston: Lee & Shepard.

This book is evidently written for the purpose of teaching a lesson, and, as is often the case with books of this class, the moral and the story neutralize each other.

THE NEW YEAR'S BARGAIN. By Susan Coolidge. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

This is a collection of the most charming original fairy stories that we remember to have seen for a long time.

THE TURNING WHEEL. Boston: Lee & Shepard.

This is a book for boys, and a good one of its kind. We would suggest, however, that it would be better if the hero, whose chief merit seems to be his respect for a poor old man, were to give part of that respect to his invalid aunt.

A NEW SERIES OF Books is to be published by Charles Scribner & Co., under the title of "Library of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure." The "Library of Wonders," by the same firm, is nearly completed, and has been every way a decided success. The new series is to be edited by Bayard Taylor, -a name which will be a sufficient pledge that the work will be well done. The first volume is now issued, — Japan IN OUR DAY. It is copiously illustrated, and its style of print, paper, and binding a luxury to the eye, and especially to weak eyes. The history, the scenery, the manners, and religious customs and literature of these singular people are all depicted, making a very attractive volume of two hundred