furnish us with some of the most proper Weapons of Defence. Hard names and damning Sentences; the Arrows of bitter words and raging passions, will not defeat those Sons of Anak; these are not fit weapons for our Warfare. No, they must be met by a Reason instructed in the knowledge of Things, and sought in their own Quarters, and their arms must be turned upon themselves; This may be done, and the advantage is all ours. We have Steel and Brass for our Defence, and they have little else than Twigs and Bullrushes for the Assault; we have Light and Firm Ground, and they are lost in Smoak and Mists; They tread among Bogs and dangurous Fens, and reel near the Rocks and Steeps. And shall we despise our Advantage, and forsake them? Shall we relinquish our Ground and our Light, and muffle ourselves up in Darkness? Shall we give our Enemies the Weapons and all the odds, and so endeavor to insure their Triumphs over us? This is sottishly to betray Religion and ourselves." The sixth chapter, which is about ghosts and witches in Glanvill's time, reads like a section from the stories of Salem witchcraft. An interesting part of the book is "Glanvill as a Man of Letters." Some of the characteristics which Glanvill admired in literature may be inferred from what he says of Sprat's History of the Royal Society: "The Style of that Book hath all the properties that can recommend anything to an ingenious relish; For 'tis manly and yet plain; natural and yet not careless; The Epithets are genuine, the Words proper and familiar, the Periods smooth and of middle proportion: It is not broken with ends of Latin, nor impertinent Quotations; nor made harsh by hard words or needless terms of Art: Not rendered intricate by long Parentheses, nor gaudy by flaunting Metaphors; not tedious by wide fetches and circumferences of Speech, nor dark by too much curtness of expression: 'Tis not loose and unjointed, rugged and uneven; but as polite and fast as marble; and, briefly, avoids all notorious defects, and wants none of the proper ornaments of Language. I say, proper; for Styles are Cloathes and must be fitted to the Subjects they are upon, and altered according to the kind of things they describe and express." Of Glanvill's sermons, Dr. Greenslet writes: "If they do not repay the reader so well as the sermons of Donne and Taylor, or even of Tillotson and South, it is only because the style is made to serve the homiletic end, and not allowed to gather flowers by the way." He adds that "a certain clear and vigorous speed" is one characteristic of Glanvill's style, which does not emulate "the contrapuntal harmonies of Taylor, or the elaborate and conscious arabesque of Browne." We who have often realized the uncertainty of reaching wise and sober conclusions through the agency of strenuous and vehement debate will agree with Glanvill in this saying: "He is a wonderful man that can thread a needle when he is at cudgels in a crowd; and yet this is as easy as to find Truth in the hurry of disputation."

The Life of Dwight L. Moody. The Official Authorized Edition. Illustrated with More than One Hundred Reproductions from Original Photographs, many of which, being the Exclusive Property of the Family, were Reserved Solely for this Volume. By his son, WILLIAM R. MOODY. Royal 8vo, pp. 590. New York, etc.: Fleming H. Revell Company. Sold by subscription only.

It is not easy to write the life of Mr. Moody. He was so extraordinary a Christian worker, in a century of distinguished leaders of the Church of Christ, that only an extraordinary biography will satisfy the times or please the generations which are to follow. And, furthermore, it is too soon after Mr. Moody's death to trace in the most judicial spirit the story of his rise to the world-wide lay ministry which he exercised and to unfold the narrative of the phenomenal success which attended his labors. The fit portrayal of such a great character-as that of all the illustrious leaders of human history-needs a perspective which only the years can give. Towering mountains are best seen from a far distance, as Mont Blanc shows its snow-crowned head to the beholder upon the far plains of Geneva. Some biography of Mr. Moody being, however, absolutely demanded by present readers, there cannot be a moment's hesitation in pronouncing this life of the departed evangelist, written by his son, William R. Moody, to be beyond question the desirable volume for the purchaser. Several things naturally contribute to make it the best book of its kind which has yet been produced. The use of various "important data and incidents" furnished the biographer by different friends, the reproduction of many original photographs owned by the family and reserved for this work, and the interpretation of the revivalist's career from the peculiar standpoint of a son have all contributed to the completeness and worth of the book. It is, of course, impossible-as it is unnecessary-to quote even in outline the story of Mr. Moody's life as it is here written, including his obscure birth, his conversion, his early business industry, his drift into religious work, and his marvelous evangelistic and educational successes. Most of these facts are so definitely and vividly known to the Christian world that rehearsal is superfluous. Yet it is satisfactory to find so many of the incidents in Mr. Moody's career which have become household tales here receiving the stamp of authenticity. Such a result was, in fact, Mr. Moody's personal desire. "What I want is," he said to his son, "that you should correct inaccuracies and misstatements that it would be difficult to straighten out during my life. You are the one to do this. All my friends will unite on you and give you their assistance." With all their familiarity, nevertheless, these conspicuous incidents in the evangelist's career will serve as a tonic to the weak faith and a spur to the lumbering footsteps of the ordinary disciple of religion; and even the most zealous worker will find therein a new incitement to fervor in the King's service. But, dismissing all particular notice of Mr. Moody's life, personality, and evangelistic methods, we may only quote, at the risk of repetition, two items from the chapter entitled "Preparing Sermons," as reminders of the sermonic methods of the

rugged prophet who is henceforth silent. The first is a citation made by Henry Drummond-himself no mean master of Christian speechfrom one of Mr. Moody's discourses: "I can imagine [spoke Mr. Moody] that when Christ said to the little band around him, 'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel,' Peter said, 'Lord, do you really mean that we are to go back to Jerusalem and preach the Gospel to those men that murdered you?' 'Yes,' said Christ, 'go hunt up that man that spat in my face; tell him that he may have a seat in my kingdom yet. Yes, Peter, go find that man that made that cruel crown of thorns and placed it on my brow, and tell him I will have a crown ready for him when he comes into my kingdom, and there will be no thorns in it. Hunt up that man that took a reed and brought it down over the cruel thorns, driving them into my brow, and tell him I will put a scepter in his hand, and he shall rule over the nations of the earth if he will accept salvation. Search for the man that drove the spear into my side, and tell him there is a nearer way to my heart than that. Tell him I forgive him freely, and that he can be saved if he will accept salvation as a gift.'" "Prepared or impromptu," asks Mr. Drummond, "what dramatist could surpass that touch, "Tell him there is a nearer way to my heart than that?'" The other extract, illustrating Mr. Moody's method of sermon-making, may be of practical value to some: "Having decided to prepare an address on any text or topic-he preferred to use subjects mostly -he first took a large envelope, and on the outside wrote the title or reference: 'Heaven,' 'Psalm XXIII,' 'Backsliders,' 'Let the wicked forsake,' 'How to deal with inquirers,' etc. Many people wished to learn the secret of his sermon-making. 'I have no secret,' he said to a body of young men. 'I study more by subjects than I do by texts. If, when I am reading, I meet a good thing on any of the subjects, I slip it into the right envelope and let it lie there. I always carry a notebook, and if I hear anything in a sermon that will throw light on that subject, I put it down, and slip it into the envelope. Perhaps I let it lie for a year or more. When I want a new sermon I take everything that has been accumulating. Between what I find there and the results of my own study I have material enough. Then I am all the time going over my sermons, taking out a little here and adding a little there. In that way they never get very old. I am never ashamed to repeat a sermon.' . . . Hundreds of his sermon envelopes are in his study-many of them showing signs of frequent use, many representing sermons in embryo. When he wished to preach on a certain subject he ran through the envelope of clippings and selected such points and anecdotes as he wished to use on that occasion. Weaving these into an outline, he wrote out catchwords and fastened the sheets into his Bible by means of elastic bands. This method of making sermons he found to possess many advantages. It gave him full opportunity for impromptu speaking, since he was not bound hard and fast to a written manuscript. Many of Mr. Moody's best and most often quoted sayings were impromptu.

He always insisted that what the Church needs is 'men who can think on their heels.'" Of the great evangelist's last days and burial upon Round Top the biographer writes with a tenderness that will carry balm to thousands of sympathetic hearts which mourn for a father in Israel-his triumphant departure upon his "coronation day" befitting his long life of toil in his Master's vineyard. Only one general criticism seems possible upon the workmanship of this volume-it being the regret that, with such a vast quantity of material undoubtedly at his command, the author did not write a biography even more ample in its citation of incidents and characteristics. The fact of haste must, however, be accepted as a sufficient reason for any abridgment that may be felt, the assurance being given by the writer that "at a later date it is intended that a more studied interpretation of his [Mr. Moody's] life should be prepared to meet the expressed desire for a fuller account of his career." What is here written is most attractively embellished by frequent and speaking illustrations; so that the book throws a spell over the reader, as a gem among Christian biographies. Mr. Moody belonged not only to Congregationalism, but to the entire Church of Christ; and it is not difficult to discern, from the Arminian standpoint as Iwell as the Calvinistic, the leadings of God in his rise from obscurity-like that of Moses, who kept the sheep of Jethro, and of Elisha, who plowed the fields of Galilee-to rulership over his generation. The fact that the profits from the sale of this biography are applied, according to our understanding, to the needs of the great Northfield schools incidentally adds to the wish that the widespread demands for this valuable and attractive book may far outrun its edition.

The Conquest of Arid America. By WILLIAM E. SMYTHE. 12mo, pp. 326. New York: Harper & Brothers. Price, cloth, $1.50.

This book, illustrated with pictures and maps, sets forth important victories of American pluck and industry. First, it treats of colonial expansion at home, in the conquest of this continent; of the homebuilding instinct; of the blessing of aridity and the miracle of irrigation. Next, of the utopias of the arid West; of the Mormon commonwealth, the Greeley colony of Colorado, the evolution of southern California, and the revolution brought about on the Plains. Next, of Idaho, and Washington, and Oregon, and Wyoming; of the potential greatness of Nevada, the prosperity of Montana, the awakening of New Mexico, and the budding civilization of Arizona. Lastly, the army of the half-employed, the surplus of people of crowded regions and why they do not go to the inviting lands of the West; the profitableness of colonization with cooperative capital, colony plans and institutions, the administration of cooperative settlements, the adjusting of old ideals to new conditions; ending with a look forward to the greater republic of the future when the waste lands shall have been redeemed and the vast resources of our country fully developed. The author has been moved to

write this book because he sees in the East a multitude of landless men, and in the West wide tracts of manless land, both under the same flag. Many parts of the West have advantages of climate and other natural resources, which, if they were known, would attract many from older and thickly settled regions. He thinks the time is ripe for the occupation of the great unoccupied West, and hopes his book may be a sort of Star of the West to light many on the pathway to homes, to independence, and possibly to wealth. He insists that the true opportunity for us lies not in the tropical islands of the Pacific and the Caribbean, but in the unsubdued and undeveloped portions of this huge continent. There is room for a population of one hundred millions between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, a region which now holds only an average of three persons to a square mile. Undeveloped America has in this book a vigorous exploitation. "The development of all the lands bordering the Pacific, the rise of Alaska and the North, the opening of Russia's new highway from Europe across Siberia to Asiatic shores, the building of the Isthmian Canal with the cheap and ready access it will give to both the American and European coasts of the Atlantic -these great events all prophesy the rapid settlement of Western America during the twentieth century."

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Junior History of Methodism. For Young People, Study Classes in Epworth League, and the General Reader. By Rev. WILLIAM G. KOONS, B.D. With an Introduction by ROBERT R. DOHERTY, Ph.D. 12mo, pp. 95. New York: Eaton & Mains. Price, cloth, 35 cents.

It is to be feared that an intimate knowledge of denominational history is not extensively cultivated among the Churches. To this rule, in so far as it is unfortunately the fact, Methodism is not an exception. Any effort, therefore, to inspire in our membership a more thorough acquaintance with our romantic origin and history is praiseworthy. And, since the hope of the Church is in this and all other respects with the young, such booklets as this history by Mr. Koons are to be greatly commended. Its different chapters were first used by the author in the leadership of his own Junior League, and are now sent forth upon a wider mission. They cover the whole growth of Methodism, from its origin at Epworth to its present vantage in 1900, and are at once comprehensive and inspiring. The Prophet of Hope. Studies in Zechariah. By F. B. MEYER, B.A., Author of The Way into the Holiest, etc. 12mo, pp. 157. New York, etc.: Fleming H. Revell Company. Price, cloth, $1.

In these discourses on Zechariah the speaker has aimed to present "the salient features and lessons of each chapter," in the hope of inspiring a closer study of the prophecy. They bear Mr. Meyer's well-known and attractive characteristics.