of Philadelphia. These discourses show the marvelous faculty of illustration which Dr. Newton possessed, and which made him for so many years the prince of preachers to the young; they also reveal somewhat of the secret of his success as rector over the several parishes he served in the city of Philadelphia. For no one can read them without feeling that the preacher was a genial, large-hearted man, thoroughly consecrated to his Master's work. Their homiletic style is good, and the student preacher will find them profitable for study. A brief biography of Dr. Newton, by his son, Rev. W. W. Newton of Pittsfield, makes the book more valuable to all who find profit in the story of a very busy and remarkably successful Christian ministry.

FIVE-MINUTE SERMONS.*-This little volume contains an even hundred five-minute sermons or "talks " rather, to children. Evidently Mr. Armstrong has genius for this work. The pastor who desires to cultivate the art of such preaching, will do well to examine this book.

SPURGEON'S "SERMON NOTES."-This is the last in a series of four volumes of outlines of sermons delivered in the London Tabernacle. There may have been some good reason for their publication. Perhaps an occasional student of homiletics will be interested in them, and yet there are enough complete discourses by Mr. Spurgeon, in print, for that purpose. In the preface, the author says that "there are times of special pressure, bodily sickness, or mental weariness, wherein a man is glad of brotherly help, and may use it without question. For such occasions I have tried to provide." It is to be hoped that Mr. Spurgeon does not train the young men in his college to such use of other men's homiletic work in their preaching. If a minister is ill or weary so that he cannot prepare an original sermon, let him read one of Robertson's or Brooks' or even Spurgeon's and frankly tell his audience whose sermon it is. Books like these encourage "mental weariness," and foster pulpit plagiarism. Their only possible good use is in the lecture-room. There are scattered through the book, in foot notes, many illustrative historical incidents, which would make the book really valuable, were they properly indexed. *Five-Minute Sermons to Children; by Rev. WILLIAM ARMSTRONG. New York: Phillips & Hunt.

My Sermon Notes. By C. H. SPURGEON. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

THEOLOGY OF THE SHORTER CATECHISM.*-Dr. Schaff says of the Westminster Catechism: "It is one of the three typical catechisms of Protestantism, which are likely to last to the end of time."

Undoubtedly it is in the main, an accurate and remarkably comprehensive statement of Christian truth. Its influence upon the religious thought and life of modern Christendom has been, and still remains very great. In view of these facts the authors of this book have done a good work in their exposition of the Shorter Catechism, thereby giving to pastors and teachers a valuable text-book, by which to popularize the study of theology. The work was begun by the late Dr. Hodge of Princeton, but his sudden death left Part II., relating to "Duty Required of Man," unfinished.

Dr. J. A. Hodge of Hartford who writes this portion of the book has so successfully carried out the plan and followed the style of the Professor, that one would scarcely suspect the volume was thus prepared, if the title page did not reveal the fact. The book is provided with a full set of questions, and a complete index.

THE STORY OF THE PSALMS.t-Dr. Van Dyke has here given us, most charmingly, the story of the best loved of the Psalms of the "Hebrew Hymn Book." And he has done it in a way that very suggestively combines their historical, ethical, and spiritual elements. In showing how incidents in the lives of their authors are set forth in these poems, he gives them a touch of reality, and brings them home to our hearts, so that they become mirrors of our own life. No one can read-for examplethe expositions of Ps. li., "The Prodigal's Return,” and of Ps. xxxii., "Music and Dancing," and not realize how true they are to his own personal knowledge of sin, penitence, and pardon. The volume includes only eighteen of the psalms, but the pleasure and profit derived from our author's exposition of them, leads us to wish that he would continue his delightful "Story of the Psalms."

*Theology of the Shorter Catechism. By Rev. A. A. HODGE, D.D., and Rev. J. A. HODGE, D.D. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son.

The Story of the Psalms. By HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D. New York: Chas. Scribner's Sons.

ARTICLE I.-THE NEW DANGER WHICH THREATENS RUSSIA.

The Russian Peasantry: their agrarian condition, social life, and religion. By STEPNIAK; author of "Russia under the Tsars"; the "Russian Storm-Cloud," etc. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1888. 12 mo. pp. 401.

THE great disturber of the peace of Europe and Asia is Russia. That one nation is a constant menace to every other "from Hecla to the Ganges." Everywhere she is aggressive. In Asia, she is rapidly absorbing province after province. There is not a sheik in all the central region of that vast continent who is not in her pay, or who does not tremble as he marks the progress of her armies. In Europe, her influence is everywhere exerted in favor of absolutism, and her statesmen do not hesitate to avow that it is the "historic destiny" of Russia to convert the Western nations to their own peculiar ideas of govern

ment. Nothing is better known than that her aim has been for years to absorb the whole Turkish empire; and that all the resources of her diplomacy have been, and still are, directed to effect that coveted object. If she is successful—as an "old resident of Constantinople," well known and honored in the United States, has recently warned the English people, in an Article in the Contemporary Review, with the title "Is Constantinople worth fighting for?"—if she is successful-in a month, a quarter of a million of bayonets would be added to the effective force of the armies of the Czar; an enormous revenue to support them would be extorted from the rich towns and villages of European and Asiatic Turkey, and the influence of the new and greatly enlarged Russia would be quadrupled in every cabinet in Europe. What government but would think twice before saying nay to any intimation that then came from St. Petersburg?

If there is any doubt about the extent of the influence of Russia even to-day, let it be remembered that the people of Western Europe had scarcely ceased to applaud those brave words of Prince Bismarck, "We run after nobody," when he set himself against the marriage of the daughter of the Emperor Frederick to Prince Alexander for fear lest the Autocrat of the Russias might take offence! Almost the first official act of Emperor William was to pay a ceremonious visit to the Czar; and, on his return to Germany, we were told that he went straight to Varzin, where, on arriving at two o'clock in the morning, he was ushered into the bedroom of the Chancellor, who was roused from his slumbers that he might listen to an account of what had been said and done! What wonder that Figaro jeered, and, pointing the finger of scorn, announced that now for the first time in history it had come to pass that a German Emperor had gone in person to make an official report of his doings to his own prime minister!

It has long seemed as if there was nothing to stay the growth of the power of the Czar. We have been told that a large body of the educated classes among his subjects were dissatisfied, and were hoping for a constitutional government. But living under such a reign of terror there have been few who have even dared to avow their convictions publicly, and Mr. Kennan has

made us only too well acquainted with the sufferings which those few have had to endure. As long as eighty-two per cent. of the whole population of Russia proper are ignorant peasants who are religiously obedient to the Czar, what is there for him to fear? The taxes are collected, the conscripts for the army are each year forthcoming, and the government presents the same bold front to the world.

But rumors have for some time been coming to us that there is beginning to be a change in the condition of that vast inert mass of peasants. It is not the pleasing tidings that there is at last a manifestation of progress or improvement of any kind. among them. What we have heard is more in keeping with the past terrible history of this strange people. The story is that the peasants, under the present regulations of the government, are actually dying from the want of proper and sufficient food. This very week there was a letter from a recent traveller published in one of the New York newspapers, which repeats this statement.

But we are not left to the reports of unknown newspaper correspondents. Mikhail Dragomanoff, formerly a Professor in the University of Kiev, who was driven into exile in 1876 for political offenses, has written the book whose title we have placed at the head of this Article, to make known to the world the present condition of the Russian peasantry. Dragomanoff has, before this, written several books under the nom de plume of "Stepniak," and has shown that he has a thorough understanding of all that pertains to the interior condition of his native land. He writes dispassionately, and has long been recognized as a trustworthy authority. He says that, in the thirteen provinces which comprise Central Russia, "the mortality, always on the increase, reached when the last census was taken (1882), sixty-two per thousand per annum! Nothing approaching this prevails in any other part of Europe. It would be incredible, were it not officially attested. The birthrate in these provinces being forty-five (the normal rate for the whole empire), this is equal to a decrease of seventeen per thousand per year. In the heart of Russia the population is being starved out! The medical report, moreover, notices that the provinces where the mortality is greatest are those where