[48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. ONE PENNY.

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS

WORKS by H. SINCLAIR PATERSON, M.D.

FAITH AND UNFAITH: Their Claims and Con

flicts. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d.

The Antagonists and the Alternatives.
The Conflict: its Purpose and Progress.
Agnosticism; or, Nescience and Science.
Intuition versus Revelation.

Materialism; or, Atom versus Person,

Evolution; or, Becoming versus Creation.

"In our opinion, however, it is matter for profound thankfulness that the author was induced by the committee to revise the notes taken by a friend and give them the publicity they so richly deserve. Clear and forcib'e in style and expression, masterly in grasp of thought, and trenchant in argument, these lectures on present-day aspects of unbelief will be simply invaluable in the help they will render to intelligent young men and others who have become entangled in the meshes of modern doubt.' To such, and to all who have to deal with such, we most heartily commend this little volume."-Literary World.

The so-called higher criticism' stands unmasked in Dr. Paterson's lectures as pure subjectivity; while the author's own scientific training makes his voice of more than ordinary authority on all materialistic theories Perhaps the best parts of the volume are those in which Dr, Paterson practically asks why we should trouble to reconcile science and the Bible; and enforces the seeming paradox that Romanism is Rationalism with certain safeguards, and Rationalism is Romanism without any precautions, beyond those which individual learning or skill, or even caprice, may supply. Dr. Paterson also, in a couple of pages, gives a neat refutation of Williamson's elaborate article, Israel' in the new Encyc'opædia Britannica, which has given so much surprise and pain in the Pentateuch controversy. Altogether 'Faith and Unfaith' is interesting reading, and is sure to serve its purpose."-Baptist.

"In this book we are brought face to face with the citadel of Christianity, to wit, the historical records of the person of Christ aud His work upon earth, as one of the most distinct and powerful evidences of the inherent truth of our holy religion. . . It takes up a distinct line of argument, and though within a narrow compass has worked out the problem by some remarkably clear reasoning; so much so, indeed, that after reading it through we wish that the size had been fourfold. . . . We have noted many things in the Gospels which this volume has cleared up.... We expect many persons will ejaculate, How full this book is of the Lord Jesus Christ!' So it is. 'What an enthusiastic writer this is on such a grand theme!' So he is. And we thoroughly recommend the book.”—Clergyman's Magazine.

CHRIST AND CRITICISM; or, The Witnesses

Examined and Cross-examined. One Shilling.

These lectures certainly form one of the ablest of all the contributions to the literature of the evidences that have been made in recent years. A better book to place in the hands of a thoughtful sceptic it would be hard to name."-Christian Leader.

CROSSES AND CROWNS.

Uniform with the Parchment Library. One Shilling. "Thirty-one forcibly written essays of a few pages each, and so full of sterling wisdom that we suggest the book as valuable for a mouth's daily reading, especially as the articles are systematically arranged, and deal with practical truths in the Christian life."- Clergyman's Magazine. "The book is rich in spiritual experience, and will be highly esteemed by many Christians."-Nonconformist.

"A dip into this little book will be to mind and heart what a brisk walk, on a clear frosty morning, is to the body."-Literary World.

LONDON: JOHN F. SHAW & CO., 48, PATERNOSTER Row.

we find the experiment of self-government tried on a large scale, and in an open field, and the result is the most cruel oppression of those who are unfortunate enough to be in the minority. Unless government is to be a mere pretence, one would think, the law of the kingdom ought to vindicate itself by a firm repression of lawlessness and the establishment of order where now disorder reigns. Instead of that there is reason to fear the country may be invited to pronounce the present rule, which is only as yet de facto, to be also de jure; or, in other words, to offer a premium to lawlessness in the future by crowning it when it proves successful.

IF

EXPERIMENTS IN SELF-GOVERNMENT.

F there is to be any real remedy found for the sorrows and sufferings of Ireland it must be honestly sought outside the strife of parties. Any

GOVERNMENT A DIVINE ORDINANCE.

students of Scripture the outlook is instructive.

prize is only to heal the wound slightly, and such action must be followed by its recurrence in a more acute and painful form. All the inhabitants of the United Kingdom are entitled to justice, and if some happen to be loyal their claim is none the less. At the present moment the law-abiding members of the community on the other side of the Irish Channel are exposed to the unceasing persecution of a lawless majority. The practice of self-government has surely reached its limits when, in defiance of common law, an organized league issues its mandates which few are bold enough to disobey, over a large portion of the Queen's dominions. Already Home Rule in a most effective form manifests its character far and near. Certain individuals have banded themselves together, and by a system of terror and tyranny they exercise sovereign control over whole districts. Wherever this league sets up its tribunals law and government are paralyzed. Without freedom of contract and protection for property industry stands still and capital is being scared from its shores.

We have no opinion to offer on the political aspects of this strife; nor do we choose to say a word on the civil rights involved. But we are at liberty to point a lesson, which even in these democratic days some may find it not too late to learn. In Ireland certain selfconstituted rulers have quietly taken the reins into their own hands, and have at once set all lawful authority aside. Nominally, Ireland is subject to Queen Victoria; actually, a large part of it is subject to the National League. It chooses to be governed by the one rather than the other, and it has its choice. If this is the logical issue of the right to self-government, it may well give pause to those who have been the most confident advocates of popular progress. Here

ment is a Divine ordinance, and that rulers ought to be just, ruling in the fear of God. Modern democracy, on the other hand, asserts that government is only a human institution, and derives all its authority from the will of the people. Once upon a time we believed governors were placed over the governed, and that obedience in all lawful matters was a duty; now we are being told that governors must do as the governed bid them, or if they refuse to obey they will be forthwith stripped of their authority.

We have been broadening the efficiency of the people's will from precedent to precedent; is it not

time to consider the issues to which the doctrine of popular government must inevitably lead? Great Britain has had statesmen who dared to think for themselves, and who, true to their God and their country, piloted the State through many a storm; what will be its fate if it stands at the mercy of statesmen who take their directions from popular clamour or rebellion?

Last week, in reporting a speech by Prince Bismarck, the Times made some pertinent remarks on the parallelism between Germany and Great Britain in the present state of affairs. The Prince said :

"Meanwhile, all we mean to do in this way is to acquire such Polish estates as may become free, and to farm them out to Germans, who pledge themselves to remain German, and above all things, to marry German wives. The estates would be allotted to time tenants, who would, however, gradually become lords of the soil in from twenty-five to fifty years; and the money for purchasing land in this way we should demand from you. Then we should see to it that Polish soldiers and officials should convince themselves of the advantages of German civilization, in provinces far away from their homes. All these things we can do without the Reichstag. The future is not free from care nor from foreign complication and danger; but nothing_can be done with this hostile majority in the Imperial Parliament.

"We must show that we stand on feet not of clay, but of iron. We must look about for means of making ourselves independent of obstructionism in the Reichstag. In ordinary circumstances I should be no advocate of such a policy, but when the cause of the Fatherland is imperilled I will not hesitate to give the Emperor becoming advice. That Minister would be a coward who did not risk his head to save his country, in despite even of the will of a majority. (Stormy applause on the Right and hissing on the Left.) I am not inclined to let the achievements of our army be destroyed in internal frictions, and I shall find means of obviating this. But meanwhile I am grateful to you (Conservatives and National Liberals) for tabling your motion; and now let us go hand in hand in mutual confidence." (Loud and prolonged cheers mingled with hissing and disorder.)

After some characteristic remarks from Dr. Windthorst and others, the debate was adjourned till to-morrow.

Such a speech as that of the German Chancellor above summarized cannot fail to be intensely interesting to Englishmen, at a time when their attention is engrossed with a great political problem, analogous to the Polish question; and doubtless many of them, whatever they may think of the Prince's theories of expropriation and land allotment, will sigh for a statesman of their own ready to risk his head in order to save his country from the perils of a factious or a factitious majority.

As far as we understand the matter, the plea of the German Chancellor is that, after doing justice and giving ample time to the Polish inhabitants of a certain province, he is resolved, if they persist in disloyalty to the German Empire, to purchase their estates and sell them to Germans faithful to the Crown. There may be hardship in such action, or even unfairness, but, as the Chancellor argues, the hardship and unfairness began with those who refused to be subject to "the powers that be." We do not presume to judge the case, but we must say, if any are to be protected on the one hand and punished on the other, a distinction must be made in favour of those who are loyal to the Throne. So far as our information goes, on the other side of the Irish Channel the distinction is at present made the other way.

The great German statesman apprehends that the first duty of government is to govern. "We must show," he says, "that we stand on feet, not of clay, but of iron." The Government which so stands, and seeks in the fear of God to do justice to all, is strong. Its action becomes its best vindication, and only wickedness will fear or hate it. But the Government which chooses to form its notions of right and wrong by listening to the cries of the populace rather than by looking to the law of God becomes the slave of the people whom it pretends to rule.

WE

WE have followed the controversy between Premier and Physiologist in the pages of the Nineteenth Century with some interest. We had no intention, however, of commenting on it before its close. Professor Huxley has intimated this month his unwillingness to continue it any longer, and the right of final reply rests with Mr. Gladstone. Whether he will avail himself of this privilege we cannot tell until the March number appears. Meanwhile another combatant has entered the field, who proposes to silence the antagonists by exposing the wrong issue they have both agreed to raise. On the one side it has

been argued Scripture is corroborated by Science; on the other side it has been asserted Science contradicts Scripture. The new disputant alleges that Scripture makes no statement of any kind with which Science has any right to meddle. In plain language, the story of Creation contained in Genesis is baby-talk well fitted, though only fitted for the period of infancy.

We do not think we are exaggerating the position which Professor Drummond assumes in the Nineteenth Century for the present month. We are anxious to do him no injustice, and therefore we hasten to say there are some statements in his gracefully written paper to which, if we took exception, it would mainly be on the ground of their one-sidedness. He is also careful to insist on the inspiration of Scripture, though he uses language which certainly needs explanation. Then he says, "The Bible of development is the Bible "of modern scientific theology. It is not less authori"tative than the first (the Bible, we presume, of ancient "non-scientific theology), but it is differently authorita"tive; not less inspired, it is yet differently inspired." As we understand him, modern criticism has aided natural science in giving him a new Bible. He has not fully informed us to what extent the skill of the critics has changed the aspect of the old Bible, but some of the words he quotes from " one of the most recent as well as most able of these" are suggestive, if not instructive. From a commentary on Genesis he extracts the following passage with evident approval:

"This narrative (the Creation narrative, remember) "is not careful to follow the actual order in which life "appeared on the globe it affirma, e.g., that fruit "trees existed before the sun was made; science can "tell us of no such vegetation. It tells us that the "birds were created on the fifth day, the reptiles on "the sixth; Nature herself tells a different tale, and "assures us that creeping things appeared before the "flying fowl. But the most convincing proof of the 'regardlessness of scientific accuracy shown by this "writer (the writer of Genesis, be it remarked) is. "found in the fact that in the second chapter he "gives a different account from that which he has 'given in the first, and an account irreconcilable with "physical facts."

These statements he assures us "anticipated Professor Huxley in so many words"! Unquestionably they do so by surrendering the whole position hitherto assumed by all who accept the Creation narrative as a Divine revelation.