25. Joy in Heaven over Repenting Sinners. April 1. Practical Test of Supreme Love to 8. The Walk to Emmaus. - Luke xxiv: 13–32. 15. Symmetry of Christian Character.-Ps. cxix: 6. 22. The Two Ways.-Matt. vii: 13, 14. "29. The Blessedness of Giving.- Acts xx: 35. MAY. May 6. Compelling them to Come In -Luke xiv: 23. 13. Religion in Business.-Rom. xii: 11. June 3. Indifference to Human Suffering.-Matt. "10. The Great Change.-2 Cor. v: 17. "17. The Wonder of the Angels.-1 Pet. i: 12. 24. How to Hear the Word.-Heb. iv: 2. QUERIES AND "O. T. REVISION."-When will the new revision of the Old Testament be published? A.: Dr. Schaff, the Chairman of the American Board of Revisers, informs us that it will be published next spring. JULY. July 1. Christian Decision.-Josh. xiv: 15. 8. Alarm to the Careless.-Isa. xxxii: 11. 15. Faults in Prayer.-Janies iv: 3. 22. The Fruit of the Spirit. Gal. v: 22, 23. 29. David's Recourse in Trouble.-1 Sam. XXX: 6. AUGUST. Aug. 5. The Unity of Faith and of Believers.Eph. iv: 5, 6. "12. The Almost Saved -Acts xxvi: 28. 19. Destructiveness of Sin.-Eccl. ix: 18 "26. Afflictions Providential.-Amos iv: 6-13. SEPTEMBER. Sept. 2, Citizenship in Heaven.-Phil. iii: 20. "16. God's Helping Hand.-Ezra vii: 6. 30. Hold Fast.-1 Thess. v: 21. OCTOBER. These "Prayer Meeting Topics for 1885," neatly printed, we shall be happy to send to clergymen for distribution among their people at thirty cents per one hundred copies. No advertise ments will appear on the back of the leat as heretofore,-PUBS, OF HOM. MONTHLY. "A CALL."-I have received a call to the pastorate of a church, but I learn that the call was not unanimous, and that several of the minority are bitterly opposed to me. The vote stood, 125 in my favor to 25 against me. Should I accept, under the circumstances, or not? I am free to say, that had the call been unanimous, I would have accepted at once. Should I permit the small minority to change my decision? A. A rule in such cases cannot be laid down. Much would depend on the ground of opposition, and on the character and degree of influence of the minority. If the case were an average one, we should advise against acceptance. "W. O. H. P."--Will you give us the best urrent explanation of the discrepancy between the Evangelists in the matter of the blind man-Matt. xx: 29-34; Mark x: 46-52; and Luke xviii: 35-43? A.: This discrepancy has never been satisfactorily explained. According to Matthew and Mark, this healing occurred as Jesus "went out of Jericho"; while Luke says, "as he was come nigh unto Jericho." Matthew mentions "two blind men," while Mark and Luke speak only of one by name. French remarks: "The silence of one narrator is not to be assumed as the contradiction of the statement of another; thus Mark and Luke making especial mention of one blind man do not contradict Matthew, who mentions two." Dr. Brown observes: "Many ways of accounting for slight divergences of detail have been proposed. Perhaps if we knew all the facts we should see no difficulty; but that we have been left so far in the dark shows that the thing is of no moment any way. One thing is plain: there could have been no collusion among the authors of these gospels." It is not improbable that Bartimeus was a well-known personage, and hence was specially singled out by Mark and Luke, and referred to by name. "FAIRS."--My people propose to hold a fair, and to have a lottery, grab-bag, etc., in connection with it. My conscience is against these things, but so set are some of my members in this matter, that they would sooner give me up than give up these objectionable things. Can you advise me as to the course I should pursue? A.: Firmly, yet prudently, express your views from the pulpit, and thereby wash your hands clean of the iniquity. If your people persist in it, remember that you cannot control their actions; and your duty will be done when you have protested against it. We do not think a difference on such a point ought to lead you to resign your pastorate. THEMES AND TEXTS OF RECENT LEADING SERMONS. 1. David's Idea of Divine Worship. Based on Psalms xcv., xevi. E. P. Goodwin, D.D., Chicago. 2. The Fountain Head of Crime. "For the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence."-Ezek..vii: 23. Heber Newton, D.D., New York 3. Practical Working of Christian Faith "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."-Matt. vi: 33. Russell H. Conwell, D.D., Philadelphia. 4. The Give and Take of Life. "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again."— Matt. vii: 2. Rev. J. Brierley, B.A., Balham, England. 5. Don't Stop. "Le: the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God."Luke ix 60. Justin D. Fulton, D.D., Brooklyn. 6. God Hiding and Revealing. "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee. O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."-Luke x: 21. Dean Vaughan, D.D., London 7. What shall we do with our Sabbath Evenings? "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."-Mark ii: 27. A. J. Lyman, D.D., Brooklyn. 8. The Spirit of the Cradle. "And they brought young children to him, that he should tonch them," etc.-Mark x: 13-16. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Brooklyn. 9. Some Laws of Spiritual Work. He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not," etc, -John iv: 32-38. John A. Broadus, D.D., Louisville, Ky. 10. Light for those who See Not. "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see: and that they which see might be made blind."-John ix: 39. Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon, London. 11. The Discipline of Delay. "And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus band," etc.--Acts i: 20. Joseph Parker, D.D., London. 12. Baptized for the Dead. "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead; if the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?"-1 Cor. xv: 29. W. F. Gill, D.D., Brooklyn. 13. The Dignity of Christ. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature," etc.-Col. i: 15-20. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D., Brooklyn. 14 A Great Battle. Swing, Chicago Michael and his angels fought against the dragon."-Rev. xii: 7. Rev. David SUGGESTIVE 1. Fairness to the Laboring Classes. ("The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning."Lev. xix: 13.) 2. A Neighborly Duty. ("Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him."-Lev. xix: 17.) 3. Majorities not to be Feared. ("When thou goest out to battle... and seest horses and people more than thou, be not afraid," etc. --Deut. xx: 1.) 4. Unclean Speech. ("I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips."-Isa. vi: 5.) 5. Self-Renunciation. ("Jesus only."- Matt. xvii: 8.) 6 The Unreason of Prejudice. ("His hand was restored whole as the others. And they were filled with madness," etc.-Luke vi: 10, 11.) 7. A Vain Ostracism. ("Blessed are ye when THEMES. men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company... leap for joy; for behold your reward is great in heaven."-Luke vi: 22, 23.) 8. A Visit from God. ( God hath visited his people."-Luke vii: 16.) 9. A Mother's Plea. ("Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son."-Luke ix: 38.) 10. The Power of a Godly Life. (That they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."-1 Peter ii: 12.) 11. Business and Devotion Wedded. ("Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."- Rom. xii: 11.) 12. Right Motive no Security against the Violation of Physical Law. ("For the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life," etc.-Phil. ii: 30.) GERMS OF ILLUSTRATION. The Value of a Soul may be not inaptly illustrated by the story told of Retchmuth, the wife of the consul of Cologue. The story is recited in German verse engraved on her monument. Retchmuth apparently died of the plague in A.D. 1511. Fortunately a ring of great value had been buried with her, and to recover it, the grave was reopened and the coffin lid removed. Strange to say, the supposed corpse revived, and was carried back home. Rechmuth lived to "He become the mother of three children. brought me up also out of an horrible pit," etc. -Ps. xl: 2. A Worldly Faith has many times lured men to their destruction. When the great test of death comes near, how frail proves the trust placed in riches, or power, or fame! Gübner mentions that a Jew once presented himself before Duke Albrecht, of Saxony, and offered him a charm engraved with rare signs and characters, which should render him invulnerable. The duke, determined to try it, had the Jew led out in the field, with his charm round his neck; he then drew his sword, and at the first thrust ran the Jew through. "In the Lord put I my great laws, it has become a second Eden, with new life for the sickly, rest for the weary, and bowers of beauty for all. The Church of Christ has been assailed by many foes, but it has survived the generations of men and the wreck of nations. Said General Woodford, in a recent speech: "I stood in the Alps one morning when the mist clothed mountain and vale. As we watched, slowly it began to rise. First was unfolded to our gaze the valley, with its peaceful homes. Again we looked, and the slopes of the mountains had become visible. Slowly, higher and higher rose the mist, lifted by the breeze, till at length the cold, glittering summits were seen high above, and last of all, towering above all its rivals, grand old Mont Blanc stood before us, crowned with the snows of centuries, standing as it has stood while kingdoms waxed and waned, the sunlight of God flooding its peak with glory." The Hidden Life is the secret which es capes so many who observe but the surface of of things. Skilled hands have whittled a piece of wood so like a grain of wheat that practiced eyes could hardly detect the difference. But when it came to planting, there was no longer doubt; for the one had an inner life, hidden from the eye, but ready to burst the grain and rear the bearded stalk. Said Mr. J. Q. Maynard of Brooklyn, recently: "When I was a boy I saw a neighbor making a flower-garden. He spaded and hoed and raked; divided it into regular sections, smoothed the surface, rounded the corners, trimmed the edges. I went home, determined to have a garden like my neighbor's. I followed his course as nearly as I could, spaded and hoed and raked, and when I finished, it seemed to me that my garden looked full as well as his. In the course of a few days a warm rain brought forth in his beds tiny shoots of green. I rushed home, expecting to find the same in my beds. In vain: nothing had appeared. Day after day, week after week, my garden remained barren, while his was the pride of the village, with its rare and beautiful blooms. What caused the difference! Was my garden not made just as his? Ah! I had failed to drop the tiny seeds upon the soil, and all my labor was lost." HELPFUL DATA IN CURRENT LITERATURE. G. P. Putnam's Sons. "The Unity of Nature," by the Duke of Argyll. This is a sequel to the author's former work, the "Reign of Law." The subject of Law in Christian Theology is too broad a subject to be discussed in a single treatise. A preliminary work is necessary, viz., to trace the connection between the reign of law and the ideas which are alike fundamental to all religions, and inseparable from the facts of nature. This is the object of the present discussion. Modern Doubt has called in question not only the whole subject of inquiry, but the whole faculties by which it can be pursued. Many of the problems which perplex us most are soluble in the light of the unity of nature. The work is a thoughtful and able one; and, while some of its positions are open to criti cism, yet, as a whole, it cannot fail to give satisfaction to the distinguished author's friends."An Outline of the Future Religion of the World," by T. Lloyd Stanley. Same publishers. A shallow, pretentious and worthless octavo. We marvel that so respectable a house should put its imprint on a book of this character. It is a confused medley of conjectural criticisms of the myths and religious traditions of all sorts of people. The Bible is treated with even less respect than the myths of other religions, indicating a perverse heart as well as a confused head. Such stuff as this man gives us as the "Future Religions of the World" is both puerile and disgusting.-"The Jukes: a Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease and Heredity." We welcome a new and enlarged edition of this very remarkable little book, with an Introduction by W. M. F. Round, Secretary of the National Prison Association of the United States. The author, Mr, Dugdale, was a remarkable man, and spent years in tracing the history of the Juke family, the extraordinary results of which are given in this volume. It is indeed a study," and one of an appalling character, and yet highly instructive. Robert Carter & Brothers. "An Explanation of the Epistle to the Hebrews," by Samuel T. Lowrie, D.D. This goodly octavo has cost the author years of study and careful preparation. As a detailed exposition of chapter and verse of this remarkable Epistle, it is a valuable commentary, and will reward the student's examination. But it is quite evident that the author lacks the critical spirit, and fails to grasp the Epistle as a whole, and to develop its grand themes, and trace its relations to other portions of the New Testament. It is not the work of an original, independent, discriminating, broad-cultured, even balanced mind, and hence it will never take a high rank in our religious literature. Undertaking the work of exposition without an Introduction, or a word as to the authorship of the Epistle (which he attributes to Paul), or its date, or peculiarities, is proof that he has no just conception of what is imperatively required of one who assumes the task which he has executed -"A Red Wall Flower," by the author of "The Wide, Wide World," "The Shores of Peace," by Anna B. Warner. Same publishers. These sisters continue to instruct and delight their ever-widening circle of readers. The "Red Wall Flower is truly a charming story, and, we are assured, "in its whole chain of facts is a true story." Through its 650 pages the interest of the story is kept up. There is great variety of incident and character, so that there is no dullness or weariness experienced in reading the book. The moral aim and the wholesome lesson are conspicuous throughout, as in all the productions of this popular voluminous author. The work by the sister is a dainty little volume, as beautiful within as without, and full of timely and instructive Christian thought. A. C. Armstrong & Son. "Anecdotes Illustrative of New Testament Texts." This forms one of the series of "The Clerical Library," an English work reissued in this country by the above publishers. The series is specially intended, as the title indicates, to furnish preachers with stimulus and suggestion in the various departments of their work. The present volume is somewhat unique in form and structure. We have suggestive themes for pulpit treatment, with an appropriate text, a very brief exposition, and a striking fact, incident, or historical illustration to each. Many of these are excellent; some are fanciful, others very commonplace or familiar; but, as a whole, the preacher may derive many a useful hint or suggestion from its pages. "Letters from Richard Bentley & Son, London. Hell." With a Preface by George MacDonald, LL.D. This book appeared in Denmark eighteen years ago, and was speedily translated into English, but has long been out of print. A German edition recently appeared and awakened intense interest in Germany. The present English version is made from the German, and the translator has faithfully followed the author's powerful conception, but pruning certain portions, and omitting or recasting others, and adapting it to the English mind. The title of the book is repelling. And yet it is a book of intense interest. It may be classed with Miss Phelps' "Gates Ajar" and " Beyond the Gates,' as an imagina tive description of the future life. Like those, it is intensely realistic. The author is evidently familiar with the Bible, and the scenes he portrays and the characters he describes in the world of lost spirits are substantially in the line of Scripture initmations. No one can read the work without a shudder. And yet it does not aim at the "horrible," but simply to trace the workings and effects of retributive law, in the light of a guilty conscience and a lost eternity, in the world of despair. Funk & Wagn 'lls. Memoirs of David Brainerd." We are quite sure the religious public on both sides of the Atlantic will welcome a new and complete edition of this eminent Christian missionary. It has long been out of print, except in fragmentary parts, or in the ten volume edition of Jonathan Edwards' Works. The basis of this beautiful edition is that of Dr. Sereno E. Dwight's 1822), which was much fuller than the original work written by President Edwards. It has been carefully edited by Rev. J. M. Sherwood, revised, portions of it rewritten, with Notes, and an Introduction on the Life and Character of Brainerd. And in addition to the work of the Editor, and the liberality of the Publishers, a stirring Essay on "God's Hand in Missions," by Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., is given. These new papers, covering 66 pages, will be found to add greatly to the interest of this standard edition of one of the most remarkable biographies ever given to the world. The name of David Brainerd will live in history, and in the heart of the Church while the world stands. He has well been called "the missionary saint of New England" The story of his life has been a potent force in the modern missionary era. Reading the life of Brainerd decided Henry Martyn to devote himself to the missionary work. Carey received a baptism from the same source. Thousands of Christians in America and Europe, and all over the missionary world, have had their piety deepened, their faith quickened, and their spirit of consecration fanned into a flame by reading the wondrous record of this man's brief life and Christian experience among the Indians of the American wilderness. We know no better manual of Christian experience, no loftier example of Christian heroism and consecration to the work and purpose of Christianity since the apostolic age.-"Pastoral Theology," by James M. Hoppin, D.D. Same publishers. We have here a companion volume to the author's work on Homiletics," published in 1881. Prof. Hoppin does all his literary work so carefully, conscientiously and thoroughly as to have won the confidence and esteem of the Christian public in an eminent degree. His "Pastoral Theology" possesses all the characteristics of his "Homiletics," and we have no hesitation in affirming our belief that it will be found to be not only a worthy companion of it, but will take the very front rank in the kindred department to which it is devoted. We are familiar with the many similar works which have appeared of late years covering this field, the best of which in our judgment, is Vinet's, edited by Dr. Thomas H. Skinner. But no one of them, nor all combined, possess all the excellencies of Prof. Hoppin's royal volume Its characteristic features may be stated in few words: "1. Its style is clear, simple, incisive, scholarly, as is true of all the Prof's writings. There is nothing involved, mystic, doubtful, hard to be understood. 2. It is comprehensive. It covers the whole field, both in its theoretic and practical aspects. Every legitimate topic is treated. and treated in its proper relation and fullness. 3. It is systematic: thoroughly so, not only in arrangement, but in its methods of treatment. It is based on a broad and true ideal of the dignity and responsibility of the ministerial office. 4. It wisely blends theory with practice, doctrine with life, the pulpit with pastoral work; the author hits the mean, and unduly exalts no one quality or service to the injury of another. 5. Accordingly we have, as a whole, without any parade of learning, or undue exhibition of scientific skill, the best results of modest, thorough Christian scholarship and study the fullest, most philosophical and instructive work on Pastoral Theology which the ages have brought forth. It is a work that cannot fail to be highly popular and useful, and is an honor to American authorship."-"Stories in Rhyme for Holiday Time," by Edward Jewett Wheeler. Illustrated by Walter Satterlee. Same publishers. The author of this beautiful holiday book is not unknown to the readers of THE HOMILETIC MONTHLY, St. Nicholas, and other publications. There is decided merit in his verses, a charming delicacy and quaintness of thought that is pleasing. The dedicatory lines to his mother are touchingly beautiful and a good specimen of the author's poetic gift: "TO MY MOTHER. "As, when a child, I brought to thes As if a precious gem I bore: So'now these simple tales of mine To thy rich love I do consignNot for their worth, but just to see The smile I know will welcome me, As in the merry days of yore." The artist has done his work well, as the numerous spirited sketches testify. The publishers also have brought out the book in admirable taste. The Outlook [Alfred Centre, N. Y.]. contains Volumes I. and II. of this Sabbath - Reform monthly bound. Price to ministers, 75 cents. It is published by the Seventh-day Baptists. While we have no sympathy with its peculiar views on the Sabbath-day question, yet there is a large amount of highly useful reading-matter in the volume in relation to Sabbath observance, temperance, and all the great reformatory move ments and religious questions of the day. |