Lord Halifax’s Live Bomb.—While the House of Bishops was busy considering the course of action to be taken with reference to the New Prayer Book, Lord Halifax, as the villain of the plot, has dropped among the Bishops a real live bomb in publishing his Notes of the Conversations at Malines. These Notes show how seriously the Archbishop of Canterbury is implicated in this friendly gesture to the See of Rome. According to the “Daily Telegraph,” it was well known to many persons that the full report of the Malines Conversations were in the printers’ hands and would have been
published before this had not the Archbishop of Canterbury desired the delay of the publication until the Prayer Book was through Parliament. The unexpected turn of events by the Commons’ vote has indefinitely postponed the publication of the report with the result that Lord Halifax’s patience, being exhausted, he published his Notes with the remark that the report of the Conversations “ought, as promised, to have been in the hands of the public some time ago.” These Notes will only deepen the impression on the public mind that the Archbishop is a time-server of a very dangerous type, and that, notwithstanding all the adulant flattery of a worldly public press, he is a man who is steering the Church of England straight on the rocks, where she may be broken to pieces. The House of Bishops has decided to present the notorious Prayer Book to the Church Assembly for its consideration with a view to being again presented to Parliament. A few changes, it is reported, have been made to obviate the misunderstandings that had arisen on certain points.
Sound Books.—We would take the liberty of again calling attention to two books reviewed in the Magazine—”Calvin’s Calvinism” and “Free Grace Sermons.” The former is published by the Sovereign Grace Union, 98 Camberwell Grove, London (5s net). We regret to learn from the Secretary of the Union that at the time he wrote only 10 copies had been sold in Scotland. Poor Scotland! there were days in it when a work of Calvin would be readily bought up, even at a much higher price than that charged for this volume. The “Free Grace Sermons” by the late Rev. J. R. Anderson, may be had from Mr R. W. Anderson, 41 St Vincent Place, Glasgow, at the exceptionally reasonable price of 2s, post free. The sermons are searching, and full of sound scriptural teaching.