We cannot follow Elsmere in his mental battles or listen to the pleadings of his wife with-; out. a pang, .especially, when. we consider! how little foundation there is given for, his loss of faith. It is- worthy of re-! : mark that although. .Elsmere saw fit to! abandon certain tenets of the orthodox! ; creed,' lie continued essentially and in-; tensely a religious,. man, and his most; brilliant oration is a very 'pointed and; well-merited rebuke to the religious; nihilists — --the sage, know : nothings — and the scoffers of the present clay. One -passage is worth quoting. In ad-; dressing a club composed of men of: this character, he says : — { Do you sup pose tliat' mere violence, mereinvective and savage mockery ever accomplished j anything — nay, what is mor.e to the point, never destroyed anything in human, history I ,-Np, an idea can only be supplanted, transformed,, by another idea, aiid that one' of equal virtue and magic. Strange paradox 1 :-; In the moral world you cannot, pull down except' 'by • gentl eness — you cannot revolutionise , except ,by. .sympathy. Jesus only superseded Judaism by ab sorbing and recreating all that' was best in it. There are no inexplicable gaps and breaks in the story of. humanity. The religion of to-day, with all its faults " and mistakes,. will go: on un shaken so long as there is nothing eke ; of equal loveliness and potency to put in its place.' A splendid character is Rose, the.beautiful, wilful, and talented sister of Elsmere's wife, She gives life and tightness and ; relieves the' otherwise sombre character of the book. Among her admirers is the other strange male iabove referred to-rr-Langham,. an in decisive hesitating creature, who cannot give up the habits of bach el ordom even for. the love of a .woman such as Rose. His vacillation causes her a period of suffering, but she is at last made happy and is united to a man who admires herself and her brothor-m-law. It is almost a painful story to r?,ad, but full of interest from first to last. It is told in beautiful. language and. contains descriptive passages worthy of George Elipt.:; '.., ■/: :,•:>. ' In the, ojiher ■religipus novel John Ward is a strict Calvinistic Prosbyterian rtiinister, in a, cAmm unity whose -bigotry exceeds his.own. 