was a tree-lined avenue near Ellermore, where the footsteps of the guardian saint of the family were often heard, and her ghostly presence sometimes seen. This story of Scottish life, and of the tragic fate of the heir and hope of the house, is told with absorbing interest. It is strange that such a classic writer as Mrs. Oliphant should indulge in such solecisms as "Neither her nor me could do itneither her nor me ;" and again, “Don't think it's him ;" and "It's only him." We know that nice customs must courtesy to great kings, but even great writers should obey the laws of language.

Seven Puzzling Books of the Bible. By the REV. DR. GLADDEN. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Toronto: William Briggs.

Dr. Washington Gladden is a man whose name is growing on our age in his marked influence and personality. He is not rated among higher critics in philology, though in very close alliance with them. He does not pose as a scholar, but as a practical Christian, having the same practical aim now as led him some years ago to write "Applied Christianity," and since then various works on social questions. From his pulpit in Columbus, Ohio, he has recently been striving to remove difficulties in the minds of thoughtful hearers on certain books of the Bible. The substance of these discourses is now given in the bright, attractive volume before us.

In this work are views which may startle some, but will not take by surprise scholarly students of the Old Testament. The ethical teachings of the books discussed are presented with much interest, while larger concessions are made to the view of errancy in Scripture than most intelligent readers will be prepared to admit. W. I. S.

His Grace of Osmonde. Being the portions of that Nobleman's Lite Omitted in the Relation of his Lady's Story presented to the World of Fashion under the title of "A Lady of Quality." By FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT. Toronto: The Copp, Clark Co. Price, $1.50.

We regret that we cannot commend this latest work of this accomplished writer. The pen that gave us the beautiful creation of "Little Lord Fauntleroy," could be better employed than in portraying the coarse society of the

Restoration and Times of James II., William III. and Anne. We suppose the portraiture is correct, but the subject is an unpleasant and unedifying one.

Uncle Bernac. A Memory of the Empire. By A. CONAN DOYLE. London: George Bell & Sons. Toronto: William Briggs. Price, $1.25.

None of our modern writers surpasses, we think none of them equals, Dr. Conan Doyle for the painstaking accuracy and fidelity to the facts and spirit of history in his stories. In his latest narrative we have a vivid picture of the menace of Great Britain by Napoleon when he gathered a great army at Boulogne for the invasion of England. Not only is the narrative one of absorbing interest, but from it one gains a conception of the greatness and meanness of the arch-despot of Europe. While recognizing his military genius, the author describes the base personal character of the man Napoleon. His treatment of his officers, his wife, and ladies of the court, resemble more the character of an oriental despot of the Byzantine empire than of a ruler of the nineteenth century.

Karma. A Story of Early Buddhism. By DR. PAUL CARUS. Third Oriental Art Edition. Printed and Illustrated in Japan. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. Crêpe paper, tied in silk. Price, 75 cents.

This is a very quaint and beautiful booklet with the artistic coloured pictures of Japanese designs. These are decidedly an artistic and literary curiosity. It has been translated into English, French, German and Russian.

The Little Lump of Clay, and Other Addresses to Young People. By REV. H. W. SHREWSBURY. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier. Toronto: William Briggs. Price, 50 cents.

Preaching to young people is one of the most difficult kinds of preaching. Yet if it be well done no kind is more useful to both children and adults. It is gratifying to find such an admirable volume by a Wesleyan minister issued from the press of a standard Scottish publisher. The author selects some of the most striking texts of Scripture and uses them as golden nails fastened in sure places by the Master of Assemblies.

Theory of Physics. By JOSEPH S. AMES, Ph.D. New York: Harper & Bros. 8vo, pp. xviii-511. Toronto: William Briggs.

In this volume are summed up the latest results of science in the department of physics. It treats briefly Matter and its Properties, Conservation of Matter, and more fully Mechanics and Properties of Matter, as kinematics, dynamics, etc., sound, heat, light, electricity, and magnetism. The latter subject has been almost created within a very few years, so manifold are its recent developments. The book is adapted rather for the class student than the general reader, the mathematical formulæ and diagrams being especially useful for the elucidation of these subjects.

The Christ Brotherhood. By LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D.D. New York: Eaton & Mains. Toronto William Briggs. Price, $1.20.

We are glad to see the increasing use made by Methodist preachers of the press. Dr. Banks had reached a large and appreciative audience—if we may use that word-through his previous volumes of printed sermons. But sermons, to stand this test, must be readable and not the least soporific. Such eminently are Dr. Banks'. They are filled with the very marrow and fatness of the Gospel, and in appropriate illustration are models of their kind.

The Choir Invisible. By JAMES LANE ALLEN. Toronto: George N. Morang. Cloth, $1.25; paper, 75c.

This is a strongly written book which describes life in Kentucky a hundred years ago, shortly after the treaty with England had ceded the Ohio valley and put an end to the long and cruel Indian wars. In mental analysis it resembles Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter." But John Gray, the frontier school-teacher, wrestled with his great temptation and overcame it. It is a story of affection that hopes and endures and is patient, and is made the purer and holier by trial and disappointment. Thus are its characters fitted to join "The Choir Invisible."

Quo Vadis. A narrative of the time of Nero. By HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ. Translated from the Polish by Jeremiah Curtin. Toronto: George N. Morang. Cloth, $1.50; paper, 75c.

The title of this book is taken from a legend that the apostle Peter, fleeing from Rome to escape martyrdom, was met by our Saviour, and addressed Him in the words, "Domine, Quo Vadis," "Lord, whither goest thou." To whom our Lord replied, "I go to Rome to be crucified again." The apostle was SO conscience-stricken that he went back to the scene of persecution, and ended his life with glorious martyrdom. It is one of the most realistic pictures of that old Roman life of mingled luxury and poverty, of pagan vice and Christian saintliness, of bitter persecution and heroic endurance, that we have ever read. Indeed, the portrayal of that old pagan life, its cruelty and wrong, is almost harrowing in its reality.

LITERARY NOTES.

The Copp, Clark Company, Toronto, in connection with Adam and Charles Black, London, issue an admirable series of Sir Walter Scott's novels in twenty-five volumes at the low price of $12.50 for the set. They are well printed and indexed with notes and with a few illustrations. These are printed from the same plates as the well-known Centenary Edition, which was published for $31.25. This set is well adapted for holiday presents or libraries.

This Little World. By David Christie Murray. Toronto: The Copp, Clark Co., Limited. London: Chatto & Windus. Price, $1.25.

The Builders. By J. S. Fletcher, author of "When Charles the First was King." London: Methuen & Co., 36 Essex Street, W.C.; Toronto: Copp, Clark Company.

The School for Saints. Part of the history of the Right Honourable Robert Orange, M.P. By John Oliver Hobbes. 12mo, pp. 514. Toronto: The Copp, Clark Company.

WESLEYAN METHODIST.

The missionary report for the past year reached us lately. The income amounts to $638,292, besides $188,648 on account of the debt, and also the Famine Fund in India near $5,000. The Woman's Auxiliary is $67,000.

The missions in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and elsewhere give increasing evidence of their utility. The largest halls and other buildings are not only crowded to their utmost capacity, but in many instances hundreds cannot obtain even standing room. This is especially the case West London, where St. James' Hall is sometimes crowded an hour before the service. Few Sabbaths without pass conversions.

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The Band of Hope Jubilee has been celebrated with great éclat throughout England. Rev. Dr. Jenkins preached the Jubilee sermon in Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London. There are in all 2,852,924 members as a result of fifty years' toil. An attempt is being made to

secure a Jubilee Permanent Fund of $125,000.

Quiet Days for the deepening of spiritual life have been held in several places. This we regard as a favorable sign of the times. Holiness is power. Time was when Methodists were almost alone in their advocacy of this grand subject, but other churches are now becoming equally zealous in the propagation of this truth. Quiet days may be regarded as essential for the development of personal holiness, because public demands are so pressing that it is not easy to find time for Holiness Conventions.

The New Bolton Mission has been inaugurated. Property has been purchased to build a hall on the lines of the "Central" at Manchester. The cost of the property and building will be $92,000. Mr. Walker, J.P., has given $50,000 and Mr. J. Barber $5,000.

services; 2,000 members of the Band of Hope; 500 mothers are members of the mothers' meetings. The social agencies comprise homes for men, labour yard, food depot, employment bureau, servants' registry, preventive home for girls, medical union, night shelter for women, and free breakfasts for poor children.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL.

California Conference has a Japanese district with ten appointments supplied by Chinese ministers.

A beautiful church was dedicated in Bloomsburg, Central Pennsylvania Conference, September 19th, the cost of which was $55,000; all was provided on that day.

The Board of Church Extension at its annual meeting asked for the sum of $305,225, to be raised by the Annual Conferences.

The amount asked for on behalf of the Missionary Society for the year 1897-98 is $1,500,000.

There are 6,000 students in the college classes and 25,000 in the preparatory classes. The college equipment of the church is valued at $11,500,000, and the productive endowment reaches $7,500,000.

Bishop Foss and Rev. Dr. Goucher are visiting the Conferences and the work generally in India.

The Wesleyan Missions in Germany have been annexed to the Conference of the M. E. Church in that country. There are now more Methodists in Germany than there were in the M. E. Church at the close of the first thirty years of its existence.

Bishop Taylor has closed his missionary tour in South Africa, and by the time these notes are printed he will have returned to the United States, via London, Eng.

Seven hundred and fifty orphans have been secured and are being trained in the Mission Orphanage, India.

A Rest Home has been established at Ocean Grove by the Woman's Home Missionary Society. In sixteen years

about $750,000 worth of supplies have been sent to needy ministers.

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society collected last year $313,937, being an increase of $28,113.

Messrs. Grant and Fowler have presented property in Chile, S.A., to the Missionary Society, valued at $200,000. Mr. Fowler also donated $1,140, which he had loaned to carry on the work of the Society.

The indebtedness of the Missionary Society is $186,143.79. Attempts are being made to obtain subscriptions of $20 each toward the entire liquidation. The Bishops have subscribed $100 each, and it is hoped that a sufficient amount will be obtained for the purpose.

The lepers in the asylum at Asansol, Bengal, India, requested to be allowed to contribute towards the payment of the missionary debt, and as they had no way of earning money they saved it out of their allowance of food.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. The Church has grown since the war from 700,000 to 1,500,000.

The Woman's Missionary Society in Virginia Conference raised $7,116 23, and the Rosebuds-the children-raised $5,291.

The Japan Conference reports as follows: Meinbers, 559, a net gain of 17; Sunday-schools, 64; scholars, 1,554.

One of the preachers in Texas was offered by a Northern firm $75 a week to do newspaper work in Mexico, but he declined, though his salary for preaching is only $250 per year.

The Missionary Society has sustained a great loss in the death of its Treasurer, T. B. Holt, Esq., who died while attending Texas Conference.

Christianity in its various aspects has found much favour in Korea. In 1892 the wife of the Korean Minister to foreign countries connected herself with the Presbyterian Church.

The next General Conference is to be held at Baltimore, May 1898. Professor Davidson is the fraternal delegate from the English Conference, and Principal Sparling, of Wesley College, Winnipeg, Manitoba, will bear the greetings of Canada Methodism to the Southern Church.

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

Rev. Messrs. Crossley and Hunter, after two years' successful labours in the Maritime Conferences, have returned to the West. Our religious exchanges speak in commendatory terms respecting these brethren and the good that has been accomplished through their instrumentality.

Another calamity has befallen our brethren in the East. This time the fine church in Moncton, N. B., is destroyed. The church was being heated for a missionary lecture to be delivered by the Rev. Dr. Henderson, and somehow the building became enveloped in flames, and before it could be extinguished the fine organ and most of the edifice were destroyed.

Rev. Dr. Henderson has been spending several weeks in Newfoundland, then he returned to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and before returning home at Christmas spent one Sunday each at Quebec and Montreal. The people everywhere have given him a royal reception. He is booked for missionary services until the end of April.

A new church was dedicated at St. Thomas, November 28th, when the General Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Carman, and the President of Toronto Conference, Rev. Dr. Stone, officiated. The financial results were highly satisfactory.

The efforts of our young people in their Epworth League and other societies in helping the missionary cause are being crowned with great success. During the last few months, Rev. J. A. Jackson, M.D., was sent to Bella Bella to labour among the Indians; next Rev. D. Norman went to Japan, and now Rev. Dr. Ewan and his wife are on their way to China. They will both labour as medical missionaries among the Celestials. The brethren already named will be largely supported by the Epworth Leagues' Missionary Department.

Evangelistic services have been successfully held in very many places. Rev. A. J. Ranton, after labouring at Tweed and other places in Bay of Quinte Conference, proceeded to Newmarket, then to Toronto and laboured for three weeks in McCaul Street, and will conduct a series of evangelistic services at Berkeley Street, Bathurst Street and Avenue Road churches.

Mr. McHardy has conducted very successful services at Southampton, Dundalk

and other places. Rev. Arthur Browning spent some weeks at Meaford, and was encouraged with the results of his labours. Other brethren and sisters who are in the evangelistic field have been usefully employed.

METHODIST NEW CONNEXION.

Leeds, Yorks, stands first in the Connexion in the amount it contributes to the Mission Fund. At the late anniversary two missionaries from China were present, Rev. John Innocent, President of Conference, and John Robinson, who laboured in China thirty-seven and twenty years respectively.

PRIMITIVE METHODIST.

Rev. W. L. Watkinson, President of the Wesleyan Conference, has agreed to preach the annual sermon for the Council in London, February 8th.

Rev. Thos. Jackson has made arrangements for students to spend their Christmas and other vacations in work at the Working Lads' Institute, Whitechapel, London.

RECENT DEATHS,

The Obituary List in the Wesleyan Conference Minutes contains fifty-three names. The average life was 63 years, the oldest being in his ninetieth year and the youngest just turned 25 years. The period in the ministry averaged 46 years.

On the last week in November, Rev. J. A. Diome, missionary at Caughnawaga, came to his death while walking on the railway near Montreal. He was very Ideaf and was not aware that a train was

coming rapidly after him, and was struck by the engine. He had only been in the ministry seven years.

Rev. W. B. Jost, B. A., of New Brunswick, was a young man of more than ordinary ability, of whom many years of usefulness were expected, but he was called to his reward in the morning of life. His father and grandfather were Methodist ministers. With a view to better fit himself for the ministry he went to Chicago to pursue a post-graduate course, when he was seized with typhoid fever and soon died. Among his last words were: "My heart is full of the love of Christ, and God's will is best."

Rev. R. R. Wilson, Hamilton Conference, entered the joy of his Lord after being four years in the ministry. He was deservedly esteemed for his amiable disposition and manliness. In respect to study he was wonderfully successful and gave promise of great usefulness. His death is greatly lamented.

Rev. Thomas Swindell, Primitive Methodist minister, Norwich, Eng., died November 8th, aged 83. He was in the active work thirty-eight years, the whole of which was spent in Manchester and Norwich Districts. Two of his sons are in the ministry.

Rev. Dr. Raymond, for several years Professor in Evanston University, has gone to his reward at the ripe age of 86 years. He spent a few years in the pastorate. The Wesleyan Academy and Garrett Biblical Institute shared his labours for many years. He left behind him a valuable work on "Systematic Theology," in two volumes.