will. We can be responsible for no act which does not include will functioning. A free act, whatever else it may rightly be described as being, is also a volitional act. And our assents are at no stage involuntary, for the act of attention in which the assent occurs is an act of will as well as of intelligence.

FRANCIS J. Hall.

The Cross, Studies in the Sacred Passion of Our Lord, by the Rev. Jesse Brett, L.Th., Chaplain of All Saints' Hospital, Eastbourne. pp. 103. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., $1.25.

There are many reasons why intensive spiritual culture is not generally popular, but the book before us is the work of an expert in mystic theology and will be warmly welcomed by the comparatively few who are lovers of devotional literature. The author finds in the teaching of the Cross the word of wisdom for all seasons of conflict and trial, and particularly in the present day of suffering when men and women are rising to deeds so great that notwithstanding a desolating war the world must be the richer and humanity greater for all that they are doing.

The steps to the realization of the Passion are shown to be a consciousness of sin, a sense of the divine love, and a gratitude for the great delivery. Part 1 treats of foreshadows of the Passion in the sacrifices of the Old Testament evidencing the soul's personal relation to God, the prophetic prevision by holy men of old who were sympathizers with the Christ from afar, and of love supreme as now made known to us. In Part 2 the Passion is shown to be the inspiration to the heroic virtues theological and cardinal, reaching their conclusion in obedience the beginning and end of the soul's sacrifice, and humility, of which the author truly says that our care must be to acquire and practise it and not merely to discourse upon it and admire it. We commend this book to those who would meditate more devoutly upon the sacred Passion.

W. H. B.

Social Problems and Christian Ideals. Edited by E. A. Wesley and J. R. Darbyshire. Longmans, Green & Co., $1.00 net.

The reports which form the substance of this book were prepared by selected writers at the invitation of a committee in connection with the National Mission of Repentance and Hope to consider "National and Social Issues." These are not all printed in full but in some cases extracts have been made in order to avoid overlapping. About principles

Christian men are in general agreement, but method must be left to those who possess practical knowledge and organizing ability. Care is taken, where specific reforms are advocated, to avoid detail.

The débâcle in Europe has made men ask whether, in our daily dealings with one another in the past, we have ever given Christianity a fair trial, whether, in fact we have ever taken Christ seriously. It is fast being recognized that unless a new principle guides and transforms the relations between capital and labor, when the war is over, the conflict will simply be transferred to the world of labor, and the last state be worse than the first. And it is an interesting observation that has been made as to what the Church can say to labor, if the Social Revolution, which is seen by many to be imminent, be bloody. She commissioned her sons to take up arms for Democracy. What will she say to labor, when labor starts a crusade to win for itself by force a greater share of this world's goods and joys? So much for fear; now for hope. The commission of the Master is to preach the Gospel to every creature. It is ours to be satisfied with nothing less than to "Build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land," and not only there but everywhere that men live and foregather.

There are many obstacles of all sorts; hitherto we have been in the habit of considering spiritual obstacles far too exclusively. Is it not high time that we gave equal attention to material obstacles? For whatever keeps a human soul from fulfilling the purpose of its Creator is a subject for our most serious study. This book is mainly a book of obstacles, a diagnosis of society's diseases-but not a mere denunciation-and the thought is implicit that when once the Christian Church makes up her mind really to end these evils, the Holy Ghost will show her the way in very truth. He who reads this book will be enabled to help towards an enlightened public opinion. Someone has well said, "We must make our good will intelligent"; and certain it is that those who will the Kingdom of Love on earth must understand the laws of economics. In other words we must not only be good, but good for something: our salt must savor the actual world in which most men and women have to labor hard and painfully to obtain the barest necessities.

But it is not a partisan or one-sided treatment of the labor situation; indeed to a thorough radical, it seems somewhat dilettante and cold. Such subjects are dealt with as, Employment, Intemperance, Impurity, Status of Labor, High Prices, etc. It is strongly felt that the home is the place where the young should be grounded in religion, and that the

Church should give more adventurous expression to her interest in the ideals of young people. A very good chapter is that on The Responsibility of a Christian Man for His Investments. It is felt that his duty is a very high one. If you think that you cannot apply your ideal of right-doing because you are living in a 'very real world'; perhaps the story of the Russian student will help you. The student was asked to do something which his Christian training forbade. A powerful official asked him the reason and the student said, "I cannot do this because I believe in the Kingdom of God." "That's all right," said the official, "but the Kingdom of God hasn't come yet." "No," retorted the student, “It may not have come to you, but it has come to me." When we have more Christian men willing to live on that basis, we shall have the new world for which men long. Chesterton has said that the characteristic demand of Christianity is for a new world. The book before us insists that no permanent amelioration of social conditions is possible without reformation of character. Nevertheless, the fact is recognized, that we cannot have the new world which is desired by both the Church and Labor, unless we replace the immorality of competition by the sanity of cooperation in industry. It would seem to be almost a truism-but it is not so recognized-that two or more people can get ahead a good deal faster by working together and sharing both burdens and profits, than by constantly pulling apart. If fellowship is good in Church it is good in industry. The working man demands something more vital than the glad hand and the pleasant, smile which are well enough if they are sacramental; but of themselves they do not warm or clothe the naked. We must face the facts of social disintegration, as they are so dispassionately recorded in these studies; and then it is ours to rise up in our might and demand as good a life for the toilers as we have ourselves. Kingsley said long ago that trade must be Christianized or Christianity will become a trade. This book well illustrates this observation. It is a day when Democracy is talked about, to say the least, and one is reminded of Rousseau's saying, ""Tis the people that compose the human race; what is not people is so small a concern that it is not worth the trouble of mentioning." This same common people crave not privilege -hated word-but opportunity. Does the Church stand for privilege or for opportunity, for a class or for a common humanity?

This is a clear, honest and practical attempt to solve some of these social problems by Church workers who for years past have been fighting the dire evils which abound in a great seaport, and who write out of the depth

of their experience and in the light of the Christian Faith. The book is carefully edited, well printed, with a flexible cloth cover.

ALBERT FARR.

The Idea of God in the Light of Recent Philosophy. The Gifford Lectures for 1912 and 1913. By A. Seth Pringle-Pattison, LL.D., D.C.L. New York: Oxford University Press, 1917. 8vo. pp. xvi+425. Price $3.50 net.

This volume contains two series of Lectures delivered at the University of Aberdeen under the Gifford Foundation. Professor Pattison has given us a most useful guide, a veritable thread of Ariadne, to lead us through the labyrinth of the philosophical speculation in so far as it deals with the Idea of God. Perhaps nothing will strike the Christian reader, who bases his views on the Divine Revelation, quite so much as the fatuousness and the futility of it all. Beginning with the "attenuated Theism" of Hume and the "central idea of value" of Kant, the lecturer traces out the conception of the Idea of God in the various modern systems of Philosophy. The contest between Naturalism and Idealism is depicted. Biology is hailed as the "liberator" from Naturalism. The conclusion of the whole first series seems to be "God as immanent-the divine as revealed in the structure and system of finite experience."

The second series opens with the Criterion of Value, taking up the old Ontological Argument, and progresses to discussions of the Ideal and the Actual, the Absolute and the finite Individual, Creation and Teleology, Time and Eternity, and closes with a discussion of Pluralism which includes a study of Evil and Suffering.

Throughout we notice an apparent lack of systematic arrangement and cohesion of parts. The actual gain in constructive positions, that comes to the reader is very problematical, in our opinion. This impression results, assuredly, from the central weakness of the book, which the lecturer partly acknowledges, to wit, his method of arriving at constructive conclusion from the criticism of the opinions of others. The work is encyclopædic in scope; and the author displays a vast amount of metaphysical erudition. The great value of the lectures to the student of philosophy lies just in this fact, and in the careful criticisms, which are generally quite just and which are most lucidly stated.

We would most emphatically dissent from his views on the Bible which are based on the "made in Germany" Higher Criticism. Whenever he refers to passages from the Old Testament, he quotes them as "the old story," "the sacred legend," "the old legend." And yet, he speaks of man as "the only religious animal." Whence did man get his religion, if

the Bible is a collection of legends, and not the Revelation of God? This apparent opposition to Revelation comes out most clearly in the discussion of Creation. The opening words of Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" are considered as "Metaphysically insufficient." Yet the whole philosophical speculation on this subject is supremely futile. As a matter of fact, the world either was created by God, or it was per se eternal. The religious world as a whole, accepts creation by God. If the world was per se eternal, we have crass materialism and Atheism. If the existence of God is philosophically postulated, the result is either pantheism or dualism. From these conclusions we can see no escape. If we accept the view that the world is coeternal with God, then-provided God and Nature are equated, the result is again Pantheism. If we accept the idea that the world is coeternal with God, as His eternal Creation, we have an attempt to explain God's method of Creation, which has the fault of going beyond what is written. The lecturer's own view seems vague and inadequate on this subject. And yes, for the Christian student, such considerations are the most important in the whole discussion. F. C. H. W.

The Twentieth Century Outlook Upon the Holy Scriptures. By Edward Lowe Temple, M.A. Post 8vo. pp. 314. Illustrated. To be procured from the author. Price $3.00.

The author, one of those instructed laymen who are the pride of our Church, has given us in this volume what is, undoubtedly, the twentieth century view of the Bible. In the main he is in full accord with the conservative and traditional view of the Church especially in dealing with the New Testament. The volume treats each Book of the two Testaments in a clear, lucid manner, giving the contents and the teaching of the book, and stating so far as possible, who is the author and what is the date.

Despite the fact that he has not a little to say in his "Argument" in defense of the "Higher" or-as he prefers to call it-the "Literary Criticism," he makes but slight use of it. Taking, e.g., the Pentateuch, we may note that he ascribes the greater part of it, except Leviticus, to Moses. It is also surprising to find him practically acknowledging the integrity of the Book of Isaiah, and rejecting the Deutero-Isaiah theory.

He holds that the Bible, especially the Old Testament, has mythical or legendary elements. We note also the wrong translation of II Tim. 3:16, "Every scripture which is inspired," etc., that has been the root of much false teaching on the Bible.

The book is beautifully illustrated with copies of famous pictures.