RELIGIOUS LITERATURE, THEORETICAL

AND PRACTICAL.*

Those who find any discouragement in the fact that the religious literature of our time is filled with bold and sharp criticism, should be encouraged by the further fact that it is also practical in many new ways; in many new ways strives to understand and remove the evils that have so long vexed society. We have nothing to apprehend from criticism, although it may seem to be destructive in form, so long as it is associated with an active corrective mood of mind. The religious literature which flows in upon us in full stream aims, much of it, at a regeneration of life which must, in the end, put us in firmer possession of spiritual truth. It is certainly well to know of the doctrine, by doing the will of God.

"The Messages of the Seven Churches of Asia " demands respect both by the excellency of its purpose and by the diligence with which it is pursued. It is intended for good old-fashion people,— of whom we are glad to believe there are many,—and will bring to them comfort and that form of edification of which they are capable. It is written under the ruling idea that every portion of Scripture has a specific and divine purpose by which it is united with every other portion, and that all taken together make a complete and immaculate record. It is not fitted, therefore, to play any part in current discussion, or to bring it any light. Fortunately the volume, though a large one, confines itself to the mere margin of the Apocalypse, and so saves the reader from a hopeless wandering among the prophetic imagery of which its body is made up. No one with the temper here indicated has ever pushed into the heart of the book and reached anything which could be called dry land. The volume shows somewhat, in spite of its unswerving belief, the modern method by giving the subject an historical and geographical background. Compelled by the facts of the past to accept a figurative coming of Christ, it still clings, in reference to the future, with

*THE MESSAGES OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. By Rev. Thomas Murphy, D.D., LL.D. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work.

THE JOHANNEAN PROBLEM. By Rev. George W. Gilmore, A.M. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work.

THE TWO ST. JOHNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. By James Stutker, D.D. American Tract Society.

NATURE AND DEITY. By Frederick Meakin. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co.

THE CHRIST OF TO-DAY. By George A. Gordon. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

A STUDY OF DEATH. By Henry Mills Alden. New York: Harper & Brothers.

CHRISTIAN TEACHING AND LIFE. By Alvah Hovey, D.D., LL.D. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society. THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. By George C. Needham. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society.

HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS. By Amory H. Bradford. New York: Macmillan & Co.

PASCAL AND OTHER SERMONS. By the late R. W. Church, M.A., D.C.L. New York: Macmillan & Co.

undying faith to a judgment and a judgment-seat. "The Johannean Problem" is a clear and concise rendering of the argument for the authenticity of the fourth gospel. "It is our purpose to summarize the evidence for the genuineness of the fourth gospel so far as ascertained at the present time." This task, certainly not an unimportant one, the author has satisfactorily performed. It would hardly be possible to find as much on this topic in as compact a form elsewhere. The work is thorough and candid. It is difficult to resist the force of the internal evidence, especially as presented by Bishop Lightfoot.

"The Two St. Johns" is a life of John the Disciple and John the Baptist, extended by reflection and enforcement after the manner of a sermon. It is a book of practical piety, of good taste and good judgment, and is fitted to render the service of a religious tract.

"Nature and Deity" is a noteworthy book. The theme is treated in a comprehensive and penetrative way. The author shows a strong grasp of thought. The object of the volume is "the rationalization of religion." This is to be done by finding in experience widely interpreted the impulse and law of our religious life. This impulse is the quest of the ideal. Our religious life is given in our natural life. How given? is the inquiry of our author. The sufficiency of natural law in the sphere of religion is the postulate of the book. It is well fitted, on the one hand, to steady the steps of those who are losing the footing of faith; and to make, on the other hand, more cautious the steps of those who are pursuing the unseen in a conventional and assured way. It is easy for us to accept the general conclusion of the book, though we cannot feel that the inner force of truth receives quite equal emphasis with its outer form. The narrowing tendency of a primarily empirical inquiry seems to us to be distinctly present. "Nature coheres by an imminent or inherent vital law." We are entitled to more than this. As certainly as a vital process transcends a mechanical one, so certainly does an intellectual and spiritual process surpass a vital one. Nature coheres by a complex process, both vital and spiritual. Neither do we think that religion is adequately represented as an effort to harmonize our lives with universal power. The religious life is harmonized with universal power, but by virtue of a transcendent impulse. The difficulty here, however, may arise from the inability to say all things at once. It is a volume worthy the consideration of those who study the inner reason of the ways of life.

It is not possible to adequately characterize "The Christ of To-Day" in a brief space; but we have no alternative. The temper of the book is of the best. There is much everywhere to which one would heartily assent. The enthusiasm with which the subject is presented is boundless. Yet one is not quite satisfied. There is too much rhetoric in the book for its best effect. Not that the rhetoric is bad; on the other hand, it is good, but it leads

to an exaggeration and reiteration which are inconsistent with the clearest, most persuasive thought. The aim of the author is to enforce the divinity of Christ, especially on the practical side as the redemptive force of the world. This aim is the exact opposite of that of the volume we have just considered. The purpose of the one author is to find God in nature; of the other, to find him in the revelation of Christ. In lucidity and closeness of thought, the first author has decidedly the advantage. Dr. Gordon is not as explicit as his theme requires him to be on either of the two essential parts of his subject: what is meant by the divinity of Christ, and how is the salvation of man involved in it. The difficulty with most persons who doubt this divinity is, that it seems to them an obscure, unverifiable dogma, and one, if accepted, of no obvious practical value. It is through the words of Christ, their truth and their love, that we find access to God; not by virtue of any mystery of his being. Concerning this we are at liberty to maintain any theory which seems best to cover the facts; knowing that any and every conception will be inadequate. This volume will be satisfactory to those who share the beliefs of its author; but will not persuasively lead those who stand remote from them.

"A Study of Death" is an unusual, a singular book. It is a prose poem, after the method of Browning, and must be wrestled with by most readers with something of the penetration and patience that that author imposes. The title is suggestive, not descriptive. The theme is not death simply, but all the darkness which braids the light of the world. It is a discursive treatise on moral chiaroscuro. The author has a highly cultivated mind of remarkable insight and unbounded faith. Faith is with him not so much the product of a reasoning process as of wide vision. The shadows of the world are visible and inseparable parts of its beauty. They carry no disturbance to the mind, and cast no burden on the spirit. "Faith boldly occupies the field of pessimism, finding theism its largest hope." The volume is full of insight, and contains passages of great force and beauty. Most will need to read it in a detached manner, taking a little now and then, as they can make use of it. One feels as though the author had gone forth in a clear night among the mountains, had seen strange, vanishing, beautiful things, mingled them with his own sensitive, vivacious thoughts, and rehearsed them in a sporadic way as the impulse prompted. The progress and adherence of the volume are quite as much in the feelings elicited as in its logical continuity. One must tread lightly if he is to keep step with the writer.

The next two volumes, "Christian Teaching and Life" and "The Spiritual Life," are of a practical type, and are sent out by the American Baptist Publication Society. The first is designed to be an aid in Biblical study. The general topics are: The teachings of Christ and of the Apostles, The use of Creeds, Relation of Christian teaching to Life, Improvement in Christian Teaching. The subordinate

topics under each of these divisions are stated and supported by liberal Scriptural references. The work has been perspicaciously and diligently done, and the volume will be aidful to those who wish either to study or teach the Bible in the approved method. The treatment of immediate social questions is neither full nor forceful. The second volume contains addresses given on various occasions by Mr. Needham. It comprises also a brief sketch of the life of the author. Mr. Needham has been an active evangelist for many years, working by himself and in connection with Mr. Moody and others of like temper. He has been active in forming and guiding conferences. The critic's function is suspended in the presence of discourses of this kind. They are to be chiefly judged by their practical effects. A movement cure is not to be estimated by a description of its processes, but by its actual results.

"Heredity and Christian Problems " is a pleasant and practical presentation of a wide, suggestive theme. Dr. Bradford belongs to the still small though growing number of ministers who are striving to render the truth under the terms of our present knowledge, and to redirect it more skilfully to the solution of social problems. This class has not only the past behind it, but the present around it, and the future before it. The first chapters are occupied with a résumé of the law of heredity as expounded by various leading authorities; and cover the ground somewhat extendedly. The later chapters apply the doctrine to theoretical and practical problems; such as the freedom of the will and the person of Christ, education and the home, pauperism, crime, and race-renovation. The book is well fitted to instruct and to guide the general reader desirous to make wisely his contribution to the common welfare. It is quite often conceded that genius does not pass by inheritance. The author seems to accept that conclusion. More, however, seems to be envolved in the concession than they are aware of who make it. We shall hardly say that genius has fixed boundaries, and is distinct in kind from talent and intelligence. If it is not, and is not transmissible, it becomes improbable that pure intellectual endowments are transferred. There are so many implications of mental power in physical organization, that simply physical inheritance simply physical inheritance goes far to impart moral and intellectual quality.

"Pascal and Other Sermons " constitutes a final volume of gleanings from the discourses of Dean Church. It is made up chiefly of occasional sermons preached elsewhere than in St. Paul's. Dean Church was one of the most distinguished of English preachers of the present generation, and his sermons have been extendedly published. They are among the best of their kind. What Dean Church says of "The Penseés of Pascal," in its ministration to men is true of his own discourses. They deepen "the grounds of evolution by elevating the level of religious thought, and enlarging its horizon. Devotion, to be kept pure, needs ideas as well as feelings." His sermons owe their helpful power to a

profoundly reflective and spiritually earnest frame of mind. He renders the spiritual world for himself and for others under the leading beliefs wrought out by the Church, and these beliefs show in him, as they showed in Pascal and in many another, a wonderful power to search the thoughts, strengthen them and give them a divinely productive and stimulating force. The ruling ideas of the discourses indicate a somewhat severe orthodoxy. It was by virtue of depth of conviction rather than by concession to the growth of opinion that Dean Church exerted his influence. JOHN BASCOM.

A new edition of John Donne.

BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.

Whoever can write anything which shall give a true and sufficient idea of John Donne, such an idea as will make the general reader of poetry understand why he is regarded as a poet of surpassing genius, may deem himself no longer an apprentice in the art of criticism. Donne is the most baffling of the minor poets; Whipple and Lowell, Gosse and Dowden, and a number of lesser men, have tried their hands, and yet no lover of Donne feels that anything adequate has been said, and those who know the poet still remain an elect number. One bar to a more general reading of Donne is now removed by the publication of his poems in two volumes (Scribners), excellently edited by Mr. E. K. Chambers. A careful text and sufficient apparatus in the way of variants and notes are supplied by the editor, and the work appears in the attractive form of the "Muses Library," now becoming more and more familiar to us. There is, too, a very remarkable portrait, which is a better comment on the characteristic poems than much that has been written on the subject. But in coming to the introduction by Mr. George Saintsbury, the reader of other essays on Donne will feel a disappointment, less keen now for the many that have gone before. Mr. Saintsbury is known to be a devoted admirer of the poet, and it would go hard if such a one could say nothing rightly. Accordingly here, as in what Mr. Saintsbury had written of Donne in the "Elizabethan Literature," we have several good things well put; but taken all in all no sufficient word is said of the real man, the intense, the fascinating, the inscrutable poet. True to his own nature, as to the inevitable secrecy of youth, Donne drew around him a cloudy something which keeps him forever to himself. And whoever may have penetrated within has been unable, on coming forth, to render a good account of what he has experienced. The reader must still depend upon himself, and here he will be helped by Mr. Chambers's notes, for Donne is a poet who needs a good deal of annotation, and Mr. Chambers is often happy in suggestion and comment, and frequently offers something of value as to he historic fact.

An acceptable summary of

"A History of American Literature" (Silver, Burdett & Co.), by ProfesAmerican literature. sor F. L. Pattee, is a new text-book for schools and colleges. It is, on the whole, an acceptable summary of our literary history, wellarranged and comprehensive. The author has grasped the truth that "no one ever learned literature from a text-book," and has not resorted to the pernicious practice of making his manual a compendium of "elegant extracts." Instead, he gives the student brief directions, classified as "required reading" and "suggested reading," and in every way encourages him to use the text-book as merely a point of departure for the real study of the subject. Among the noteworthy features of the book are a considerable admixture of American history—and a larger degree of attention to the political writers and orators than their literary importance would warrant, the frequent references to works of standard criticism, and the numerous bits of brief comment from other writers that we find inserted in appropriate places. We have noticed but few errors. The author can hardly be blamed for saying that no life of Governor Hutchinson has been written, although Mr. Hosmer's biography, just published, has been for some time announced. We are told that the Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe is in twelve volumes instead of ten, and are given the surprising information that "the most complete and authentic biography of Lowell that has yet appeared" is Mr. Woodberry's in the "American Men of Letters" series. We must also protest against the one-sided view of Whitman that is given us. To say that he is "confessedly the poet of the body," without large qualification, is distinctly false. A serious omission is that of all mention of Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston from the section devoted to Southern novelists.

Notes of the Northern Renaissance.

The last half century has found its prodigies of the higher life, in scholarship, art, and letters, in Russia and the Scandinavian countries. It is perhaps the Renaissance, now at last reaching most of Northern Europe; but whether a Renaissance or not, it has affected the public mind profoundly. Everybody has heard something of it; the names of Tourgenieff and Tolstoï, of Ibsen and Björnson, are more familiar to many than those of contemporary writers of France and Germany. So it is that "Six Modern Women" (Roberts), by Laura Marholm Hausson, is in a way attractive through its Northern coloring. The author is of Swedish family, and of the six women, two are Russian, Sonia Kovalesky and Marie Bashkirtseff, two Scandinavian, Amelie Skram and A. C. Edgren-Leffler, while of the two others, George Egerton, in "Keynotes" at least, smacks of the North very strongly. The one real Southerner is Eleanora Duse, who is presented to us as more remote from the common conception of the Italian than any of the others. The book, then, arouses one's dormant sympathy with the present

insurgence of the forces of intelligence and heart in Northern Europe. It is a restless book, extravagant and foolish at times, but still with vigor and life. As such, many will like to read it, although whoever thinks of getting much else will probably be disappointed. The author hardly seems a dispassionate observer or a keen analyst, and her thinking and writing border too much upon the spectacular and the emotional to carry conviction. The critical value of the book is small. But beside its indication of the movement of ideas, its frankly expressed views on men and women are not without interest to those who have not a deeply-rooted aversion to things they cannot applaud.

An interesting sketch of

Mr. Chamberlain.

Mr. S. H. Jeyes has written, for the useful "Public Men of To-Day" series, a very interesting sketch of "The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain" (F. Warne & Co.). Mr. Jeyes writes confessedly from the Conservative standpoint; but this does not prevent him from being generally fair to the pushing and forceful Birmingham Liberal. We are glad to note that the book is quite free from personal chatter, the author wisely devoting his rather limited space to matters likely to interest intelligent people. Mr. Chamberlain's public career has been eventful and picturesque; and Mr. Jeyes's outline of it from the early days of Mr. Chamberlain's municipal activities down to his skilful handling, as Colonial Secretary, of the recent complications arising out of the insensate foray of Dr. Jameson forms no bad sketch of English political history during the period embraced. Ample materials are afforded for enabling the reader to judge of Mr. Chamberlain's political aims and convictions, and of his powers as a debater. Very effective was his retort courteous to the Irish taunt (apropos of his Birmingham reforms) that his was a "Mayoral mind": "I will confess to you that I am so parochially minded that I look with greater satisfaction to our annexation of the gas and of the water, to our scientific frontier in the improvement area, than I do to the results of that Imperial policy which has given us Cyprus and the Transvaal; and I am prouder of having been engaged in warring against ignorance, and disease, and crime, in Birmingham, than if I had been the author of the Zulu war, or had instigated the invasion of Afghanistan." The volume is neatly made, and it contains a good portrait of Mr. Chamberlain.

Experiments

in Prose.

Those who read "Vistas," and expected great things from Mr. William Sharp, are disappointed in " Ecce Puella" (Way & Williams). It is by no means an advance, which is not strange, for the greater part of the book seems to have been written, not after "Vistas," but before. The piece which gives its name to the book is rather a rambling thing on the beauty of women that seems originally to have been written to go with pictures. It is no very extraordinary collection of quotations and gossip about

ideal beauty and historic beauties. The short prose fantasies at the end are elaborate developments of very slight themes. There remains the "Fragments from the Lost Journals of Piero di Cosimo," which strikes a much surer note than anything else in the book. Not throughout, but certainly here and there, are things which touch the right spot. Still the book can hardly be called a success, nor will it increase Mr. Sharp's reputation. We see but one direction in which it has a real interest. This is in its style. In the later imaginings Mr. Sharp is striving, with many others nowadays, to do with prose what has rarely been done with it before. He would make it the medium of expression for color, emotion, fancy, that has generally taken form in poetry. It does not seem to us that he is completely a master of his instruments; there is hardly a page where a careful reading aloud would not bring out some absolute discord in rhythm, diction, or sentiment. But the effort has its charm; there are not many men who have been able to use our language in this way, and to the lover of style, at least, there is always interest in the attempt.

A volume of sound art criticism.

Mr. Bernhard Berenson's "The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (Putnam), the second of the four projected volumes on the Italian painters of the period, is now ready. The little book shows the same good qualities of critical acumen, sound scholarship, and descriptive accuracy, which mark its popular predecessor on the Venetian school. The series aims to be a thorough critical presentation of the essential characteristics of the great Schools of Italy, and a detailed guide to Italian paintings everywhere as well each volume containing a list of principal works and an index of places, which renders it a very desirable hand-book for the European tourist. Mr. Berenson is an accredited member of the scientific school of art criticism, and his data and attributions may be relied upon as correct through

out.

The volumes are very compact, the author's aim being to interpret as concisely and clearly as possible each School in a way that may enable the reader to grasp its historical development and to enjoy it æsthetically and intelligently. The frontispiece in the present number shows a portrait presumably after Verrochio, which is evidently selected rather as a characteristic example of the aim and manner of the Florentine School, than by reason of the charm of the original.

patory Subjunctive in Greek and Latin," by Mr. William Gardner Hale; “Vitruvius and the Greek Stage," by Mr. Edward Capps; "The Direction of Writing on Attic Vases," by Mr. Frank B. Tarbell; "The Oscan-Umbrian Verb-System," by Mr. Carl D. Buck; and "The Idea of Good in Plato's Republic," by Mr. Paul Shorey. With the exception of the last-named paper, these studies are of strictly technical interest, and appeal only to specialists in their several subjects. Mr. Shorey's paper has both technical and general interest, since it is possible to know something of the ethical system of Plato without being a classical specialist. Mr. Shorey's rank at the head of American Platonists gives exceptional value to this discussion, and his compact and weighty, but attractive and well-ordered, style makes of his paper a contribution to ethical philosophy of the highest importance. His essential aim is to make clear "the true form and pressure of the body of Plato's thought, which sentimental Platonists are forever losing in rapt contemplation of its gorgeous vestment."

An historical essay on parody.

Mr. A. S. Martin's book "On Parody" (Holt) takes us into one of the pleasant byways of literature, giving us a historical essay upon the subject, and an abundant sheaf of illustrative examples. Parody, like all other literary forms, began with the Greeks, and the author of the "Batrachomyomachia" was, in a sense at least, the first great parodist. Aristophanes, of course, revelled in parody, and numerous others of the ancients tried their hands at it. It is extremely interesting to trace the influence of this literary form down through the Middle Ages to modern times, and Mr. Martin has pursued the task with industry and a keen scent. His examples are taken from a wide range of English poetry, but we are surprised to find that they do not include what are unquestionably the best parodies in the language -those published by Mr. Swinburne in his "Heptalogia." This is all the more surprising from the fact that Mr. Martin quotes from the "Heptalogia" in his prefatory essay, so that he cannot be charged with ignorance of its existence. Calverley, too, although quoted from, is not illustrated by his best work, "The Cock and the Bull." These are serious omissions, and ought not to have been found in a work so painstaking and generally acceptable as Mr. Martin's undoubtedly is.

Mr. Field's last volume.

66

Those who relish the humor of the late Mr. Eugene Field may find a rather favorable specimen of it in "The House" (Scribner), a pretty book detailing an episode in the lives of Reuben Baker, astronomer, and of his wife Alice." The scene is laid in Chicago; and we rather suspect certain residents of the city will find little difficulty in recognizing themselves among the dramatis persona. Mr. Field had an amiable way of springing these little surprises on people. In the opening chapter Mr. Baker and his

wife "buy a place"; and in the succeeding ones they proceed to furnish and put it in order, the humor of the story hinging mainly on the transparent simplicity (peculiar to astronomers) in practical matters of Mr. Baker. The book is amusing enough, and Mr. Field's fun is as usual decidedly "obvious," without being exactly coarse.

BRIEFER MENTION.

Mr. W. R. Jenkins, of New York, has added “ QuatreVingt-Treize" to his series of reprints of the novels of Victor Hugo. The work is published in a single volume of 595 pages, and presents the text complete, together with an introduction and English notes prepared by Dr. Benjamin Duryea Woodward, of Columbia University. Notes are particularly needed by English readers of this great book, and Dr. Woodward has supplied the desirable information in a compact and acceptable shape.

The volume of "Trinity Verse," just edited by Mr. De Forest Hicks and Mr. Henry Rutgers Remsen, and published at Hartford, Connecticut, is, like a former volume of similar title (part of whose contents are reproduced), made up of verses written for "The Trinity Tablet" and other undergraduate publications. There are not many familiar names among the writers represented, those of Mr. Richard Burton and Mr. C. F. Johnson being perhaps the only ones that have attracted public attention. Nevertheless, the book contains some excellent verse, in moods alternately grave and gay, and speaks well for the literary influences at work in the institution whence it comes.

66

Two stories by Zschokke, "Dar Abenteuer der Neujahrsnacht" and "Der Zerbrochene Krug," edited by Dr. A. B. Faust; Herr Wichert's "An der Majorsecke," edited by Mr. Charles Harris, and Herr Heyse's 'L'Arrabiata," edited by Miss Mary A. Frost, are German texts recently published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. At the same time we have from the American Book Co. Frau Hillern's "Höherals die Kirche," edited by Mr. F. A. Dauer; Herr Volkman-Leander's "Träumereien an Französischen Kaminen," edited by Miss Amalie Hanstein; and Herr Heinrich Seidel's "Herr Omnia," edited by Mr. J. Matthewman.

Mr. Ernest Rhys has done students of Elizabethan literature a real service in editing a collection of "The Lyric Poems of Thomas Campion." Such a book would not have been possible had it not been for the labors of Mr. A. H. Bullen, to whom we practically owe the restoration to English poetry of one of the sweetest and truest singers that our language has ever possessed, and to whom Mr. Rhys makes ample acknowledgment. The present edition, published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co., is the first, however, that has made Campion accessible to any other than a narrow audience, and is exceedingly welcome.

Mr. A. C. Benson's "Essays," just published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co., are thirteen in number, and are, for the most part, critical studies of minor English authors. The writer says: "I have always chosen, for biographical and critical study, figures whose personality or writings have seemed to me to possess some subtle, evasive charm, or delicate originality of purpose or view." Among his subjects we find John Hales, Henry More, Andrew Marvell, Vincent Bourne, Gray, Blake,