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the notion that the truth of Christianity is bound up with the authority of a Book. For those who are still in the toils of this error and for all whose motives are unsettled on the question of Inspiration Mr. Puleston Jones's Davies Lecture will bring great relief. In common with them and with all ministers in Wales a few decades ago our author began with the old static view of Inspiration, but in this volume he presents a sane and lofty theory which has the great merit of attempting to express in modern terms the meaning of the Bible's inspiration. The older view was hardly Biblical at all it was not based upon what the Bible says about itself, but on what the Church, especially the Pre-Refonna- tion church, had thought about it. In this volume the witness of the New Testament itself is reviewed. It will be best to give in the writer's own words the conclusions which seem unwarranted by a study of the New Testament evidence on the doctrines of Inspiration. The last chapter begins with the following resume of this material The inspiration of the Bible is one among many gifts of the Holy Spirit. Like other gifts, it is to be recog- nised, not by the forms in which it appears, but by the purpose it serves or the message it brings. The form is a certain division of history the message is Christ, in whom this history culminates; and it is his name that gives the history its unique character. This history and this message it is the privilege of the Church to recom- mend. Recommendation is the limit to which any external authority is entitled to go. You cannot make the spirit depend upon the letter by making the form in which revelation is embodied the final guarantee of its truth." This theory is expounded mainly in chapters II..IV. and XII., and the rest of the book deals with some of its implications and with the objections which may be brought against it. Mr. Jones in defending his view says without equivocation that we cannot seek the ground of the uniqueness of Scripture, either in the miraculous method of its production or in the infallible character of the result (page 35). And further rather than make the difference between the in- spiration of Scripture and other inspirations a matter of life and death, let it be, first of all, very jealous of the fundamental unity of all inspiration." Even then there is enough to distinguish the Bible from all other products of Inspiration. It is a difference of function the Bible holds the same place among Christian books as the Apostles did among Christian teachers. As the apostles were first hand witnesses of what they taught and were characterized by an unique insight, so the Bible is a record of revelation at first hand and its inspiration is that of a pioneer in the domain of revelation (p.p 42-46). This reference to the apostles provides Mr. Jones with an analogy which is marked out in detail in the two succeeding chapters on The Letter and the Spirit," wherein the New Testament doctrine of Inspiration is inferred or largely deduced from its teaching concerning the ministry and orders in the Church. Throughout these pages in many suggestive ways the primacy of the Spirit is insisted upon we must not interpose any ideas about the Bible between men and the message of the Book. And in the last resort (this is one of the great insights of the book) men believe in the inspiration of the Bible because they share it (p. 109). Nothing can convince but the power of the spirit. The message is guaranteed only by its power of giving men life, and we become sure of it in proportion to our dependence upon it for life. (p. 124). In the space at our disposal it would be impossible to give an adequate idea of the riches of this book. In addition to the chapters which form its nucleus there are many good things in the other sections of ft". In fact, if we take the title of the volume strictly, one or two of the chapters could have been dispensed with. The chapter on Christ as the Heir of Revelation for instance is full of sound truths, but it is not strictly ad rem. We believe also that the exegetical portions could in many places be curtailed without real loss. In many sections, too, we feel that what appears to be an original sermonic mould is too marked for a treatise of this character, but as a compensating feature we have a wealth of illustrations which helps to make the author's thought clearer. There is fearless criticism of opposing views, but it would be thoroughly misleading to regard the book as a negative or destructive one. Lord Morley's words about J. S. Mill's method might be applied to Mr. Jones, for he too fears that violent surgery which in eradicating a false opinion fatally bruises at the same time a true and wholesome feeling that may cling to it." For novelty of exposition and suggestiveness as well as completeness of treatment this book deserves unqualified praise, and in addition to doing much to improve the reputation of the Davies Lecture, it will, we hope, help many to form a rational and truly scriptural view of the Bible. The Hope of the Redemption of Society," by Malcolm Spencer, M.A. (Student Christian Movement, 1913. Pp. 204.) Cloth, 2s. 6d. net. Paper, Is. net. This valuable study written by the Social Service Secretary of the Student Christian Movement has been prepared for the use of college students in their Reading Circles. It opens with a discussion of the relation between the social and religious life, leading up to an interpretation of the Gospel of the Kingdom in its bearing upon social progress and social action. Then follows a description, in the light of the Sermon on the Mount, of what should be the true response and witness on the part of present- day Christians. The three ways in which this witness may be made more effective are (I) the Education of Sympathy, (2) the Re-direction of Service, and (3) the Revision of Personal Standard. The book closes with a searching plea for such a reform of Church Worship and fellowship as will include the social hopes and activities of Christian people in their corporate praise and prayer. Each chapter begins with a clear synopsis of its contents, and closes with a list of foundation Scripture passages, suggestions for further reading, and some leading questions for Circle dis- cussion. Mr. Spencer's diagnosis of the contradiction between our religious faith and our social life makes serious reading. He shows how the rule of God with all its redeeming power of love and righteousness has been excluded from the sphere of our social I effort and, in illustration, he points to the condition of the lives of the very poor on the one hand, and the separation on the other, of our social and economic creed from the religious. Then there is the embarrassment due to the suspicion of insincerity attach- ing to those who profess to follow Christ, and yet care so much for their political possessions and so little for the welfare of others." And while the social implications of Christ's teaching, the hope and power inherent in the Christian life, and the new social awakening, all constitute a strong appeal for social service, yet the art and practice of this aspect of the Christian life calls for education and training. Believing as he does, that the forces of reaction are half-sterilized with good will, whilst the forces of resolution are half-inoculated with good sense. Mr. Spencer looks confidently to the awakening church for the realisation of the Christian ideal as an ideal which alone can transform our materialistic conception of life. "We need," he says, a new spirit, a new baptism of love touching the imagination and purpose of the nation throughout, and such things are only in the gift of religious faith. For ourselves, we believe, they are only to be realised through the renewal of the Church." In his examination of some of the concrete moral problems involved in our business relations, he indicates his belief that the only sane and practical course is that Christian people should dare to affirm in their lives the full law of Christ. In furtherance of this object he pleads for corporate study and corporate prayer and this by groups of men and women, in touch with other thinkers and workers, giving of their time to corporate thought and reading, investigation and