KEYIEWS. 
73 
his whole strength to settle down, finally and clearly, that which, during 
the present century, has been the greatest mystery to all who have entered 
upon it. Such men are ever ready, at a few months’ notice, to take up any 
subject, and satisfy themselves that they understand it fully. They forget 
how many have already been in the field — how numerous have been the 
different views as to Bible and Science reconciliation — and, finally, how 
instantly their ideas would have been rejected less than one hundred 
years ago. It would be idle to examine this work, which is merely 
a sort of scrap-book, containing extracts from the many men who have 
written upon the subject, without any adequate conception of the 
matter by the author, who is simply one of those men who are prepared 
against science, and who necessarily come into the world and leave it without 
influencing in the slightest degi ee the views of those who are capable of forming 
opinions. He holds the views he states — that is all. He quotes a number 
of writers to show that scientific men differ much among themselves. He 
has given a book full of quotations of this kind ; in fact, it is what his book 
consists of. But then, we ask, what on earth does it prove ? That men 
disagree P "We admit it, of course ; what would the world be if they didn’t P 
But if the reader cannot see that the conclusions of scientific minds are, as 
years advance, becoming more and more distinct from the ideas of the Old 
Testament, and that such conclusions are in general terms complete, we 
pity them. The Old Testament is losing much of its force as it was 
laid down a hundred years ago, but we do not see that this lessens Christi- 
anity in the slightest degree. We deplore books like the present, written 
by churchmen, in a bitter spirit of hostility to men of science, and impossible 
to be read by those who are desirous of knowing nothing but the truth, 
and who seek it to their own cost, and their own disadvantage. Does 
the author think his book will satisfy a single really scientific sceptic ? 
If so, he is mistaken. And yet, we ask, is it not the fact that every sceptic 
would desire to be convinced that there was a future life in store for him ? 
Can the Christian conceive that life in this world is so delightful, that 
man would not hail with the supremest delight the belief in a future and a 
God, did he really imagine before that they were not ? It is impossible for 
the thoughtful mind to imagine so wilful a sceptic, and it is for that reason 
that we think that a book which is written in the style that this one displays, 
in pages 174, 5, 6, is one entirely unsuited to the sceptical mind. 
A “HANDBOOK OF THE TELEGRAPH.”* 
W E know of no better book than this to place in the hands of a beginner, 
and we think, now that the management of the telegraph has been 
practically placed in the hands of the Government, that it should place this 
work on the table in every office in the kingdom. It is essentially a book 
which should be in such a place, for it especially deals with telegraphy as 
* “ Handbook of the Telegraph.” Being a Manual of Telegraphy. By 
R. Bond. Third edition. Lockwood. 1870. 
