BOOK NOTICES. 719 



is speedily to expire — that the long day of grace to the Gentiles is all but over, 

 and that apostate Christendom, so long spared by the goodness of God, is soon 

 to be cut off by his righteous severity — that the mystery of God is all but finished 

 and his manifested rule about to be inaugurated — that the closing Armageddon 

 conflict is at hand and the complete overthrow of the confederated hosts of evil ; 

 that scarcely a single prophecy in the whole Bible, relating to events prior to the 

 second advent of Christ remains unfulfilled." 



In elucidating the subject and explaining the fulfillment of scripture-pro- 

 phecy he has presented an astonishing array of facts regarding the world's history 

 and chronology, the nature and object of prophecy, the plan of providence, the 

 system of times and seasons of nature and the periodicity of vital phenomena. The 

 facts of nature and of revelation are collected and compared, and the author 

 finally claims that all the proofs are of a character that no sober minded Christian, 

 student can reject. 



The amount of information on obscure historical points, astronomy and phi- 

 losophy crowded into this work is wonderful, and the fact that it has, in six 

 years, reached its sixth edition, is strong evidence of its acceptability to a large 

 class of intelligent readers. 



The Theistic Conception of the World: By B. F. Cocker, D. D., LL.D. 

 Octavo, pp. 426. Harper Brothers, New York. For sale by M. H. Dick- 

 inson. $2.50. 



This work, though not exactly new, is still one of the best constructed argu- 

 i^ients in opposition to certain materialistic tendences of modern thought to be 

 found, and is decidedly worthy of the careful study of all who are interested in 

 the question of the personality and providence of God. Professor Cocker is the 

 author of a treatise upon "Christianity and Greek Philosophy," published sev- 

 eral years ago which attracted much attention among earnest Christian thinkers, 

 at least. The present essay is devoted to an effort to show that the theistic 

 postulate is not degraded to a mere hypothesis, inadequate to explain the Uni- 

 verse, but that man must still continue to look up to a personal God and to that 

 providence which is pre-eminently revealed in history, ''instituting a Kingdom 

 of God upon earth by a supernatural guidance and grace." 



The author has constantly in mind the issue made by Strauss in his "The 

 Old Faith and the New," as between God and no God — between the belief in a 

 personal God and the impersonal All, which justifies him as he says, in his attempt 

 to restate and defend the " Theistic conception of the world." 



The scope and logical sequence of the work canbe judged of from the follow- 

 ing titles of the eleven chapters-comprised in the book : The Problem Stated ; 

 God the Creator ; The Creation ; Creation — the Genesis or Beginning ; Creation : 

 its History ; Conservation — the Relation of God to the World; Providen»e of 

 God m Ilumaii History; The Relation of God to Humanity; Special Providence 

 and Prayer ; Moral Government — its Grounds, the Correlation between God and 

 Men ; Moral Government — its Nature, Con-dition, Method and End. 



