COMMENTING AND COMMENTARIES. Two Lectures addressed to the Students of the Pastors' College, Metropolitan Tabernacle; together with a Catalogue of Biblical Commentaries and Expositions, By C. H. Spurgeon. London: Passmore & Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings. Price 2s. 6d.

THIS second volume of Mr. Spurgeon's series of works for students and ministers, has very speedily followed its predecessor. The former volume was mainly occupied with the work of the pulpit, and repeated perusals of it have confirmed our opinion that our friend's prolific brain has produced nothing that will be longer lived or more useful than the thirteen lectures which it comprises. Though quite of a different character, the volume now before us will be of the greatest use to Biblical students on account of the pithy notes of the author on more than fourteen hundred Biblical commentaries and expositions, together with the description of each volume, and its date and cost. We are quite sure that our friend is not to be relied on as a prophet when he says, "We know from the nature of the work that its sale will in all probability never cover the cost of production." We, on the other hand, venture to think it will be indispensable to all our great libraries, both private and public, as a repertory of invaluable information on all that

relates to commentaries on Scripture. In the first of the two lectures, in which Mr. Spurgeon addresses students, "A Chat about Commentaries," he discourses in his usual facile style on the prominent characteristics of the leading commentators. How charmingly true it is of Matthew Henry, "He is most pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, terse and trustworthy. You will find him to be glittering with metaphors, rich in analogies, overflowing with illustrations, superabundant in reflections. He delights in apposition and alliteration; he is usually plain, quaint, and full of pith; he sees right through a text directly; apparently he is not critical, but he quietly gives the result of an accurate critical knowledge of the original fully up to the best critics of his time. He is not versed in the manners and customs of the East, for the Holy Land was not so accessible as in our day; but he is deeply spiritual, heavenly, and profitable; finding good matter in every text, and from all deducing most practical and judicious lessons. And

of Poole, "Poole is not so pithy and witty by far as Matthew Henry, but he is, perhaps, more accurate, less a commentator and more an expositor. You meet with no ostentation of learning in Matthew Poole, and that for the simple reason that he was so profoundly learned as to be able to give results without a display of his intellectual crockery." And of Trapp,

"Trapp is salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, and all other condiments."

In the second lecture" On Commentary," Mr. Spurgeon presses the practice of expounding Scripture in public worship, on the ground that "the public reading of the abstruser part of Scripture is of exceedingly little use to the majority of the people listening," that brief comments "are most acceptable and instructive to our people," that it affords "the opportunity of saying many things which are not of sufficient importance to become the theme of a whole sermon." He then prescribes with admirable skill the manner in which such comments should be made.

A few specimens of the wit and wisdom of Mr. Spurgeon's comments on commentaries cannot be unacceptable to our readers:

"Coke, Thomas, LLD. Wesleyan Methodist minister, died 1814. A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. 6 vols. 4to. Lond., 1803. 17s. 6d."

"A Wesleyan comment. Too big: ought to have been put in half the space. Moreover, it is next door to a fraud, for it is in the main a reprint of the work of Dr. Dodd,' without that author's name. Ah, Dr. Coke, this is a burning shame!"

"Burroughs, W.K., M.A. Lectures on Genesis. 8vo. Dublin, 1848.

Useful to grocers and buttermen. Worth nothing to students."

"Bush, George. Prof. of Heb. and Orient. Lit., New York. Notes on Genesis. 2 vols., small 8vo. New York, 1852. Reprinted in London in 1 vol., 8vo. S. 58.

Bush has in the most barefaced manner taken copious verbatim extracts from Andrew Fuller, without acknowledgment, and he has also plagiarized Lawson on Joseph by wholesale, without even mentioning his name. For such a scholar to be guilty of wholesale plunder is inexcusable. It is one of the worst cases of robbery we have ever met with, and deserves a far stronger denunciation than our gentle pen and slender space will permit."

Kelly, William. Notes. 12mo. 1s' 6d. London, Morrish. 1870.

It needs minds of a peculiar organization to enjoy Plymouth writings. They abound in peculiar phraseology, which only the initiated can understand. We are sorry to see such a mind as Mr. Kelly's so narrowed to party bounds."

"Collyer, William Bengo, D.D., F.A.S. Lectures on Scripture Miracles. 8vo. London, 1812. 2s. 6d.

"While reading we seem to hear the rustling of a silk gown. The lectures are by no means to be despised, but they are far too fine for our taste."

"Cumming, John, D.D. Lectures on our Lord's 's Miracles, as earnests of the age to come. 12mo. London, 1851. S. 2s.

"Below the Doctor's usual mark, which is none too high."

The following is very just :-"The Gnomon of the New Testament,'by John Albert Bengel, is the scholar's delight. He selected the title as modest and appropriate, intending it in the sense of a pointer or indicator, like the sundial; his aim being to point out or indicate the full force and meaning of the words and sentences of the New Testament. He endeavours to let the text itself cast its shadow on his page, believing with Luther that the science of theology is nothing else but grammar exercised on the words of the Holy Spirit.""

But if we quote more we shall incur the denunciations so justly uttered on Dr. Coke and Mr. Bush. We hope that enough has been said to make all our readers purchasers of this valuable vivacious volume.

"To WHOM SHALL WE Go?" A Review of Dr. Pusey's Sermons before the University of Oxford on Sexagesima Sunday, 1876. By John Pyer. Barnett. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. AN able, orderly, respectful protest against the sacerdotal teaching of the aged champion of modern Priestism.

THE ARCHEOLOGY OF BAPTISM. By Wolfred Nelson Cote, Rome. London: Yates & Alexander, 21, Castle Street, Holborn.

SINCE the publication of Robert Robinson's scarce and valuable work on the "History of Baptism" in 1790 we are not aware that any writer on baptism has pursued the exact line of the argument to which Dr. Cote has devoted his attention. A residence in Rome, where Dr. Cote labours in connection with the American Baptist Mission, has placed within his reach the treasures of the Vatican Library and the numerous ancient baptisteries which abound in the churches of the Italian peninsula. The result of Dr. Cote's laborious investigations in the elegant volume before us is one that will be thoroughly appreciated by the antiquarian, while it will contribute invaluable historic testimony to the student of the baptismal controversy.

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The learned author, having quoted numerous passages frem early patristic writings illustrative of immersion, furnishes his reader with many carefully executed fac-similes of paintings which portray the primitive mode of administering baptism. That it was by immersion these frescoes place beyond all doubt, the candidate being frequently seen pletely submerged in the water, and, we think, there is equal evidence that it was by prone immersion. "The administrator and candidate both standing in the water, the former placed his right hand on the head of the candidate, and, pronouncing the baptismal words, gently bowed him forward, till he was completely immersed in the water." In the cata

comb of San Ponziano outside Rome, the Saviour is represented standing up to His waist in the waters of the Jordan, and upon His head rests the right hand of John the Baptist about to immerse Him. An attendant angel

has charge of the Saviour's clothing. According to Boldetti, this painting is

of the Saviour. After a copious selection of similar frescoes, Dr. Cote furnishes his reader with a list of MSS. in the Vatican Library, in which baptism is represented according to the primitive mode. The history of early corruptions and additions to the ordinance is discussed in a masterly manner. The authorities quoted throughout the work are clearly indicated, and extracts are given with a scholarly accuracy as commendable as it is rare. Nor can we withhold our admiration of the skilful care which our publishers have evinced in the production of this rare specimen of elegant typography.

GOD'S LIGHT AND THE SEEING EYE. An address delivered to the students of the Baptist College, Bristol. By the Rev. W. T. Rosevear, of Coventry. London: James Clarke & Co., 13, Fleet Street.

WE are sorry that Mr. Rosevear's address, delivered so long ago as last autumn, has not come under our notice

six months sooner. Like all that proceeds from its author, it teems with thought clad in chaste and impressive discourse. Certainty, sympathy, comprehensiveness, and intensity, in regard to truth, are exhibited as the indispensable qualifications for ministerial work; the nature and scope of each of them is discussed in a method which must have exercised great force over the minds of those who heard this address, and its quiet perusal will be found a profitable process by

all who undertake it.

The second part of Dr. Cote's volume is on Baptisteries and Fonts. Ground plan, and sectional drawings copiously illustrate this branch of the subject. From a list of sixty-seven baptisteries in Italy, we gather that rather more than half are octagonal in shape, about a dozen are circular, and the remainder polygonal, square, and a few cruciform. The fonts constructed for the immersion of infants in England, Belgium, and other parts of the Continent are beautiful engraved, and the baptismal liturgies of the Greek Church, the Maronites, and the Taxa Samadha of the Nestorian ritual give great completeness to this portion of Dr. Cote's labours.

We could wish that a copy of this volume were on the bookshelves of every Baptist minister in England, and we suggest to our readers that the moderate price at which it is published (fifteen shillings) would not trouble the poorest

GOSPEL LEAFLETS AND CARDS. Lon

don: C. P. Berry, 7, King Street, Snow Hill.

THESE are striking texts of Scripture, printed in good type, on good paper, of handy shape and size, and published at the very cheap rate of a shilling per thousand. They are to be had in English, Welsh, French, Italian, and Spanish, and will be found most useful to Christian workers both at home and abroad. Coloured tickets, about the size of a railwayticket, also bearing passages of Scripture, are published at three shillings per thousand. Their close resemblance to a railway-ticket is, however, in our opinion, disadvantageous rather than beneficial. We advise our readers to send for a specimen of the assorted leaflets, a thousand of which will be forwarded for fifteenpence.