* * * * * Sin is very much like the ordinary North American mule. It may be very tame and docile at the front, but in the rear there is always a sly kick hidden away and you'd better be on your guard. OUR BOOK TABLE BOOKS RECEIVED. ARIUS THE LIBYAN: AN IDYL OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. Author unknown. NEW YORK: D. Appleton & Co. CHICAGO: Jansen, McClurg & Co. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50. This is a romance of the church in the latter part of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries. The scene is laid near Cyrene, A.D. 265. It is an exquisitely written idyl of primitive Christian life, and can not fail to attract a great deal of attention, especially now that the public mind is being turned in the direction of early church history. It deals in a powerful, yet simple, manner with that subtle question, the Trinity of the Godhead, and gives the reader many new thoughts in connection with it. The characters portrayed awaken an unusual degree of interest, being as they are, persons eminent in history, both secular and religious. As one follows the story to its close he can not but agree with the author, that Arius, the hero and arch-heretic of the Nicene age, was "one of the grandest, purest, least understood, and most systematically misrepresented characters in human history." The latter portion of the book brings out, prominently, the real character of Constantine, stigmatized by Arius as "that unbaptised pagan, the flamen of Jupiter." The noble plan of the book and the grave importance of the questions that agitate the characters, combine to make it a valuable production to both believer and skeptic. THE ORGANS OF SPEECH. By G.H. Von Meyer, Professor In Ordinary of Anatomy at the University of Zurich. NEW YORK: D. Appleton & Co. CHICAGO: Jansen, McClurg & Co. 12 mo. Cloth. Price $1.75. This book is the forty-sixth volume in the international scientific series, and needs no better introduction than the well-known name of the author. The subject of the organs of speech and their application in the formation of articulate sounds is treated in a masterly and exhaustive manner. The object of the author has been not merely "to enter into the field of discussion upon the various modifications of sounds, * * but to bring forward a sufficient number of examples in confirmation of the laws explained," in which purpose he has most admirably succeeded. The work contains forty-seven wood cuts, and will be a valuable addition to any library. We would recommend it especially to teachers of vocal music and declamation. FIFTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS. By Jeriah Bonham PEORIA, ILL.: J.W. Franks & Sons. Sold by subscription.