Garden, he says: "This book has been written for young folk beginning to look out on the wonder of life.' And he seeks to make them feel the charm of the Bible manifested in its stories. 'For it is not only full of the enchanted poetry of the East; it is a shining mirror of life in every age and under every sky.' Dr. Gordon has a clear, beautiful style of his own, and he draws his illustrations in prose and poetry from the best English literature. If teachers and parents can lead young people to read these volumes, three of which have now been published, the effect must, in many ways, be powerful in imparting a knowledge of the Bible, and quickening the love and appreciation of classic literature.

Old Testament Stories in Modern Light, by T. Rhonndda Williams. This small book, published in 1911, condenses thirty-three expositions into less than one hundred and fifty pages; it begins with the Tower of Babel and comes down to the time of David. The author wished 'to supply a point of view from which to tell the Bible stories, and to illustrate the point of view sufficiently, so that the parent or teacher may have no difficulty in applying it to the parts of Scripture not in these addresses.' These expositions are short, attractive, and stimulating. The writer, as he tells us, has a pedagogic purpose. He wishes to suggest the idea of historical development; e.g. he notes that most of the brothers we read of in these early stories-Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob-are very unbrotherly; the explanation he suggests is 'that what we have, in some measure, in these old stories is the history of tribes and their actual relations put in the form of the history of single persons.' The following is certainly frank enough: 'A school boy once wrote an essay on Samson, which he finished by saying that Samson killed an awful lot of Philistines, and though in the end he was also killed himself, he did not mind that. Well, there is not anything much better than that to say about Samson, and if you had never heard about him it would be no loss to you, so far as his character is concerned.' There are many of us, however, who do not think that even the story of Samson needs to be dismissed in that summary fashion. The closing words of the book, written three years before the Great War, sound

strangely now, and would draw from the cynic a sarcastic comment. 'You see even the good people in the time of Chronicles did not think it wrong for a victor in war to treat prisoners with cruelty! That would not be allowed to-day, because the world is still growing better. It will grow so good by-andbye, that there will be no war at all. We can all help that time to come by cultivating the spirit of love.'

Two books may be mentioned, which do not call for an extended statement; Kent's Beginning of Hebrew History (1904), and Sheffield's The Old Testament Narrative (1919). The first covers Genesis to Judges, arranging the stories in parallel columns, on the basis of the Documentary Theory, so that students can compare different versions of the same narrative. The nature and purpose of this work is best stated in the author's own words: "While this work aims to do three things, (1) to rearrange the writings of the Old Testament in a logical order, (2) to indicate the approximate dates and the classes of writers from which they come, and the more important reasons for the critical analysis of the different books, and (3) to introduce the reader by means of a clear translation to the beauty and thought of the original, it also seeks by occasional interpretative notes on obscure passages, and by titles and brief side-headings, to make clear the thought of each section and the logical relations of the parts to the whole.' The second volume gives substantially the entire Old Testament narrative from the earliest times to the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees. The author lays special stress on two points: (1) the translation should do justice as literature; (2) foot-notes should give only such matters of fact as either explain the text or supplement it. It will thus be seen that no interpretation or exposition in the larger sense is attempted.

A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis, by Rabbi Julian Morgenstern, Ph.D., is interesting as showing how a Jew who accepts frankly and fully the results of modern criticism deals with these ancient stories. It is true that in spite of this he criticizes the critics and declares that 'the usual scientific, analytic interpretation of the Bible is inadequate, and lacks final authority.' The book is meant for young people

and also for teachers. The method followed seems to us peculiar, though the author has his own good reasons. The nature of the story is stated as legend or folk-lore, the lesson is set forth and illustrations of the same are drawn from Rabbinic literature, then at the close of each chapter there are critical notes on the details of each narrative. One brief passage will be sufficient to reveal the writer's standpoint and style. Speaking of "The Deluge', he says: "The similarity between the Babylonian myth and our Biblical story is striking. Clearly one is borrowed from the other. And since the Babylonian story is older, it must be that our Biblical story is borrowed from the Babylonian original. Actually, however, the points of similarity between the original Babylonian flood-story and the Biblical version are of less significance than the numerous points of difference. Since the Biblical story is borrowed from the Babylonian, these points of difference were more probably purposed than accidental. They must have been introduced into the Biblical story deliberately, in order that it might voice certain vital and fundamental Jewish truths.' The probability is that the great mass of pious Jews keep to the old lines of rigid traditionalism, but this volume, by a professor in the Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati), is a testimony to the fact that scholarly Jews feel that they must reckon with the results of modern research.

The next three volumes that claim a brief mention have this in common, that they are written by University professors who are not engaged in teaching Hebrew or O. T. Criticism. This reminds us that in American Universities increased attention is being paid to the Bible as literature. J. H. Gardiner, whose preface dates from 1906, was at that time Assistant Professor of English at Harvard, and he calls his volume The Bible as English Literature. He deals with the poetic as well as the narrative sections of the O. T., pointing out the artistic and dramatic qualities displayed in the varied forms of the great spiritual message. After making a comparison between the short simple narrative in Samuel and Browning's 'Saul', he says: 'In Browning's poem the simple realities of the original story of David are overlaid and obscured by his own (i.e. Browning's) imaginings. These

imaginations, though in themselves interesting to many people, are individual and personal and therefore of limited appeal, where the Old Testament story is impersonal and universal and therefore permanent. Our more elaborate art may build more complicated structures, and carry its chiselling of detail to a higher degree of subtlety; but in so far as it loses its hold on the qualities which belong to the Biblical narratives it loses power. For, after all, swiftness of movement, unflagging earnestness of purpose, and depth of feeling are the qualities which give to narrative the surest hold on the human imagination.' He confesses to having drawn freely 'on the larger results of the great school of learning which is commonly known as the Higher Criticism'; and declares strongly that 'no literary criticism of the Bible could hope for success which was not reverent in tone.'

The Story Books of the Early Hebrews, by Charles Reynolds Brown, Dean of The School of Religion, Yale University (1919), covers a large area of the story-telling region; in three hundred and fifty pages we have sixty chapters, divided into three sections: The stories (1) of Individuals, (2) of Tribes, (3) of a Kingdom. These chapters are necessarily short but they are also bright and suggestive and the preacher may find a healthy stimulus in the way the subjects are treated and in the applications to our present life. The modern critical position is implied, not discussed. "There has been no effort to shape them into a continuous record—they are snap-shots taken here and there of the unfolding history of that people which for centuries held the right of the line in spiritual leadership. The stories have value for the history of ideas even where their value for the history of literal fact may be much less important.' With Samson, as a text, the author preaches a strong temperance sermon, and one chapter concludes with the words, 'Balaam juggling with his conscience, trying to get its consent to do wrong that he might obtain the rewards of evil; Balaam meeting with obstacles on his journey and referring them to some mysterious opposition from on high because his heart was wrong; Balaam trying to work his spell upon the people of God, but compelled in spite of himself to bless them-it is a dateless and eternal picture of vital moral processes.'

Human Nature in the Bible (1922) is by W. L. Phelps, Lampson Professor of English at Yale: those who know his writings will probably expect a vigorous lively treatment of the subject. He speaks with no uncertain sound as to the place that the Bible should hold in our modern system of education. 'Everyone who has a thorough knowledge of the Bible may truly be called educated; and no other learning or culture, no matter how extensive or elegant, can, among Europeans and Americans, form a proper substitute. Western civilization is founded upon the Bible; our ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art, our ideals, come more from the Bible than from all other books put together. It is a revelation of divinity and of humanity; it contains the loftiest religious aspirations along with a candid representation of all that is earthly, sensual and devilish. I thoroughly believe in a university education for both men and women; but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible. For in the Bible we have profound thought beautifully expressed; we have the nature of boys and girls, of men and women more accurately charted than in the works of any modern novelist or playwright. You can learn more about human nature by reading the Bible than by living in New York.' No critical or theological questions are raised but the author tells the stories and draws the lessons in a free unconventional style. There is a certain 'smartness' about the remarks like those contained in these two statements: 'Methuselah would have been interested could he have known that when he passed the record set by Jared, who lived nine hundred and sixty-two years, he would be famous so long as there is a man left on the earth. Few men in history are more of a household word to-day; and Bernard Shaw is the latest to make use of his name in literature.' 'He (Samson) was not conspicuous for intellectual brilliance; his head was as solid as the muscles of his arm. He was fond of betting and an easy prey to women; his humour expressed itself in practical jokes. He never had his hair cut but once, and found that even more expensive than it is to-day.' The history is vigorously presented, with a run