LOST FRIENDS FOUND AGAIN. London: Hamilton and Co.

This volume contains a selection of passages from the works of some of our most eminent divines. Books on "Heaven" have often been more imaginative than Scriptural; and we have therefore the greater satisfaction in introducing to our readers the volume before us. Mr. Smedley, to whom we are indebted for the selection, has gleaned the best thoughts of writers of mature judgment and advanced Christian experience; and his labour will be gratefully recognized by many who hope to find lost friends in heaven.

THE PROTOPLAST. A Series of Papers. London: William Macintosh.

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A book for thoughtful minds. Amongst the subjects treated we have "The First Matter," The First Day," "The First Animal," "The First Man," The First Sabbath," The First Sleep," "The First Woman," "The First Temptation,' "The First Sin," "The First Curse," "The First Promise," "The First Child," "The First Recorded Sacrifice," "The First Death," "The First Translation," First Resurrection," &c. Our readers will judge of the work from an extract in our present number. Intellectual power, experimental piety, and Scriptural knowledge, equally characterize "The Protoplast."

The

"In the Bible, between writers separated from each other by the lapse of thousands of years, writing in different lands, and under various forms of civil government, we perceive a unanimity of sentiment on that subject, which, beyond every other subject, has given rise to mutual opposition. In it we find worthy descriptions of God, when other religious systems described Him as reflecting all the vile passions of human nature. In it we find a code of morals with which no other can stand comparison. In it we find no one trace of flattery of prevailing prepossessions, whether among rulers or the multitude. In it we find an unvarying consciousness of truth, which shrinks at no one of its statements, and stoops to no apology or evasion. In it, while penetrating farther into the unknown than ever entered Plato's conception-while treading fearlessly regions on which human eye had never looked-there is a silence upon supernatural subjects which in other religious systems have been fully discussed. We find humility where we might expect boldness-absence of curiosity where curiosity

was most natural-silence where we might look for many words-bold speech where we might look for surmise, contradiction, and indecision. We come to regard the book written by many men as dictated by one mind, and that the mind of GOD."

UPWARD AND ONWARD: A Thought Book for the Threshold of Active Life. Py S. W. Partridge, Author of "Our English Months," &c. London: S. W. Partridge.

The title of this volume indicates its character. The book is worthy of its title. Five thousand copies have already been circulated. It is the very book to place in the hands of our thoughtful young men: it will help them to think wisely. We quote a passage or two.

REASON AND FAITH.

"Believe, and thou shalt know. Thrice blest is he
Who, feeling reason's limit, sits him down
To learn with reverence at the Master's feet,
What reason could not find. The highest truths
Are often those that we the least can prove."

THY WORDS.

Weigh words
Before thou dare to give them utterance.
Few blush for silence: silence oft is good,
And speech not always better. The unsaid
Is sometimes most sublimely eloquent."

FAITH AND TRUST.
"Have fullest faith:
Thou lovest, brother, to be trusted too,
And canst thou, then, too fully, firmly trust
Almighty love and wisdom?

Have faith, too, in thy prayers. Our arrowy prayers
Awhile may seem to linger in the sky,
But never yet was prayer propelled in faith
But fell at length in blessing."

THE ECHOING WORLD.

"Thou livest in a sternly echoing world,
And thine own acts will all return to thee-
Aye, and with interest. What thou givest,
Thou wilt most surely get; thy garnering
Is thine own sowing. Art thou liberal?
Then shall thy sheaves be neither few nor small.
Or niggardly? A niggard's harvest-home
As surely shall be thine. Dost thou complain
The world is selfish, cold to thee? Perchance
'Tis thine own image mirrored in the glass.
Speak, therefore, but as thou wouldest wish to hear,
And be as thou desirest to behold;
Nor think to speak or act, to plan or do,
But all shall echoing be returned to thee."

Our extracts will show that Mr. Partridge at least has had no share in bringing upon the earth what he terms

"The eighth plague that Egypt never knew," -the deluge of unmeaning, silly, and vicious books which find so many readers.

MISSIONARY SHIPS. London: W. Stevens. Our youthful readers will pronounce this book most interesting and instructive. The

ships referred to were all built by the selfdenying zeal of the young friends of missionary effort. The volume is well illustrated.

THE LOST CHILD: A Ballad for Mothers and Fathers. By Mrs. Sewell, Author of " Mother's Last Words," " Our Father's Care,” &c.

Quite equal to Mrs. Sewell's former tracts; we doubt not this will have an equal circulation. Mrs. Sewell is a national benefactor, and deserves the nation's gratitude. Who can attempt to estimate the influence for good exerted by the four hundred thousand copies of "Mother's Last Words," which have already been distributed through the length and breadth of the land? How thankful to God must the author of that tract be, that she was ever moved to write it!

THE DOINGS OF DRINK. By the Rev. S. J. Stone, B.A., Curate of Windsor. London: S. W. Partridge.

Apart from the philanthropic object of the author, this little pamphlet contains genuine poetry. Read as it should be read in an assembly of working men and working women, it would produce a marvellous effect. THE DOINGS OF DRINK are depicted in three pieces entitled, "The Drink Fiend," A Speech on the Gallows; or, The Reason he Killed his Wife," and "What the Fiend did at the Spen." We are not surprised to learn that more than five hundred of the clergy of the Church of England, seeing, as they must see, the "doings of drink," have resolved to test the influence of total abstinence as a remedy. It is a Scriptural and noble resolve. "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth." Mr. Stone's vivid and too truthful sketches, give an almost overwhelming force to his appeal to the individual conscience

"Is there no summons herein to thee
To work and to withstand?

Then answer its call by the truth of thy love,.
For man below and for God above!"
THE ADOPTED CHILD. By the Author of
"Katherine Douglas," &c. London: Seeley,
Jackson, and Halliday.

This story is designed to "illustrate the spirit of adoption." Many valuable hints on Christian experience are interwoven with the narrative. The author shows that the adopted child has new and holy motives for obedience; and although at times assailed by unbelief, yet it remains substantially true in every case: "We love Him because He first loved us.” The "contents" of a chapter will give an idea of the character of the volume:-"Courtesy No Respect of Persons-Self-denial-Circumspection-The Child's Access to his Heavenly Father To Give with Cheerfulness-PrideOn Motives-Quietude-Humility."

A SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. By James Cornwell, Ph.D., F.R.G.S. Thirty-sixth edition. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.

As a school geography, this cannot be sur passed.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM. By the Rev. John M'Nab. Edinburgh: W. Oliphant and Co.

Young men will find in this discourse the truth enunciated in the text enforced as a sober intellectual conviction. We thoroughly recommend it.

By the

COUNSELS FOR COMMUNICANTS. Rev. George Venables, Incumbent of Christ Church, Friezland. London: W. Macintosh. Valuable notes and Scriptural counsels.

LITTLE REVIVINGS (Ezra ix. 8): A Book for a Sick Room. By the Author of " Old Peter Pious," &c. London: W. Macintosh.

Really suited for its object: namely, to supply a "word in season" to invalids, feeling a little better.

OUDENDALE: A Story of Schoolboy Life. By R. Hope Moncrieff. London: W. Macintosh.

A story which schoolboys will read. The hope he has overdrawn a few of his pictures; author has closely studied boy-nature; but we if not, it is high time reformation should begin in public school life. In a second edition, some slang expletives will be best omitted.

THE FIRESIDE HYMN-BOOK. Compiled by Martha Braithwaite. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

An admirable selection. If, in household worship, one of these hymns were read, or, better still, sung, the benefit would be very great. The book is well got up.

LOUISA HODSON; or, The Power of Influence. A Tale. By R. A. Somerville. London: W. Macintosh.

A very suitable book for "our daughters." It is ably written, and the lesson of influence is powerfully enforced.

A SELECTION OF PSALMS AND HYMNS. By the Rev. Charles Kemble, M.A. The music arranged, and partly composed, by Samuel Sebastian Wesley. London: J. F. Shaw and Co.

Evangelical in character, copious in its contents, suitable alike to the church, the school, and the closet, and published (with tunes composed and arranged by Dr. Wesley) at the marvellous price of Is., this hymn-book claims our strongest recommendation. Its compiler has accomplished a work the value of which the Church at large will gratefully recognize.

"Is the Bible Inspired?" By W. H. G. (W. Macintosh)-A very effective answer to the question. "Miscellaneous Poems." By T. H. Aston (Birmingham: Chellingworth)-Simple and Protestant. The Training of Idiotic and Feeble-minded Children. By Cheyne Brady, M.R.I.A. (Dublin: Hodges, Smith, and Co.)Let every philanthropist read it. "The Christian Governess: her Position and her Prospects. By a Surgeon's Daughter. (London: F. Pitman) -Should be read by all parents who would rightly value a Christian governess.