Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Kerr, Dr. Ayres are presidents to be proud of, each working out a different set of problems in his own way for the good of the state and the church.

We must say a word to welcome President Roosevelt to the stormiest administration in times of peace. Surely indications point that way. In financial as well as industrial and political fields he must be wise-as we are sure he will be. With the people on his side he should be victorious, for we expect no great blunders. We of Missouri feel as though we now have a better right to speak of our pride in the president in view of the fact that a voice will from now on be heard in the senate on his side. Once William Stone and William Warner were rivals for the governorship of Missouri; now they are colleagues in the senate. The new senator has the ability and makes the promises. We trust he will prove above all suspicion, worthy of state and nation.

Russian affairs are still red-hot. We sympathize with the desire of a certain class in Russia for more freedom and political rights. Still we see no outcome of a revolution except horrors worse than convulsed France. Such may be necessary, but we would fain wait till such a leader as Washington rather than a Robespierre come to the front. The weakness of the Czar and continued defeat at the hands of Japan unsettle conditions the more, and we can only wait and pray for peace on earth, but even before peace the victory of truth and right.

PROBLEMS OF GENESİS.*

We are glad to be able to commend this second volume as the best available treatment of the opening chapters of the Old Testament from the point of view of conservative orthodoxy. In a few instances we find peculiar personal interpretations which touch matters not essential but on the whole there is very little of this. The chapters on the relation of the creation history and science should be read by every Bible student. In several cases we do not feel that the author has fully proved his point, as in regard to the vowels of the name Jehovah, but his discussion of the main problems is clear and to the purpose. We would offer two particular criticisms. On page 150 he calls as a witness to the antiquity of the name Jehovah the very last writer we should expect, Delitzsch of Babel and Bibel fame. Delitzsch's claim to have found a divine name Ja-a'-ve or something like that in Babylonia was never more than a guess and Eduard Koening, with equal right to speak on the subject, has denied the possibility of finding the counterpart of the name Jehovah in the inscription. Surely such testimony should not be overlooked. Likewise, though with Urquhart we find no basis for the destructive rearrangement of the Old Testament, we cannot agree with the summary dismissal of the possibility of separate documents in the historical books of the Old Testament. A careful study of the whole volume leads to the conclusion that in spite of some such flaws the book is as nearly satisfactory as could be asked at present.

ANOTHER GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE.†

It may

Perhaps Weyman writes too many novels: we have heard so. be that his heroes are rocking and his heroines beyond wonder. Nevertheless we enjoy reading his stories when he is at his best. This story of des Ageaux and his warfare and his love and victory is better than some of its predecessors though lacking somewhat of the freshness and reasonableness of the author's earlier work, of his best. We expect the impossible in times like those of Henry of Navarre so we may not cavil

*THE BIBLE: ITS STRUCTURE AND PURPOSE-By John Urquhart. Vol. II. 244 pages. $1.25 net. New York City: Gospel Publishing House.

†THE ABBESS OF VLAYE-By Stanley J. Weyman. 423 pages. $1.50. New York City: Longmans, Green & Company.

at it in the story. We can only rejoice that we live in quieter and happier times and then ask for another book, at least as good, better if possible.

HISTORIC EVANGELISM.‡

Especially opportune is this volume at this time when we are looking forward, hoping for this generation's great revival. The account is satisfactory in almost every particular. The wonderful revivals which have had so much to do in making the American churches what they are today cannot be studied without profit. One trouble is to get a fair account of conditions and occurrences. This survey is as free from any bias. as is humanly possible. The reading gives rise to much thought and opens up many lines for study. The gathering together in the one volume the special movements which have swept over the country in the early days and that have moved the various denominations later on gives better material for fair conclusions than we can get in any other way.

ECONOMICS.°

We have not space to enter into a technical criticism of this work, comparing systems and discussing treatment in detail. We might point out sections and paragraphs with the conclusions of which we disagree. But we have been lead to choose a different point of view for our esti- ; mate. Little by little, the table of contents and the preface started it, the charm of the book caught us. Think of it-the charm of political economy. But that is the truth. We have never seen an outline, of economics which appealed to us as strongly as this volume before us. It is naturally developed and clearly explained. We were interested by the author's theory of distribution. The whole work impresses us as adapted to the advantage of the student and the development of clear and original work on the part of the teacher.

A ROMANCE OF AFFAIRS.*

This is the author's best novel. The plot is full of interest though loose. The development is consistent and marked by originality of treatment. The style is less involved than we have come to expect. It is

HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS-By Frank G. Beardsley. 324 pages. $1.50. New York City: American Tract Society. THE PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS-By Frank A. Fetter. 610 pages. New York City: The Century Company.

*A CAPTAIN IN THE RANKS-By George Cary Eggleston. 337 pages. $1.20 net. New York City: A. S. Barnes & Company.

still possible to skip large sections of the between-acts but it is easy to do this. The conception is out of the ordinary and is very pleasing. We are tempted to suggest that a little too much twentieth century ambition and ideals is carried back to just-after-the-war times. The wonderful expansion of those days and the possibilities of the future are well pictured but it is easier to see the bearing of those movements now than then and the foresight of the hero smacks too much of the present day ..omoter. However he is an attractive character and the others associated with him in the prominent roles of the story are well handled and htted together. There is a real life to the whole and the story is more than ordinarily pleasant to read.

BIBLE GEOGRAPHY.†

We welcome this survey of Bible localities and historical connection first as a practical working help for Sunday school teachers and Bible classes. Also for ministers there is nothing so concise and so complete and exact available even at a much higher price. Two-thirds of the book are given to the geographic survey of Palestine, Babylonia, Syria, Phoenicia, Egypt, Arabia, Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. The rest of the book is devoted to a sketch of Jewish history, short sketches of the other Bible lands being given in connection with their geography. The workmanship is careful and exact. The style is necessarily broken but does not lack in sufficient clearness. The sketches of history are so brief that they might easily be criticised for omissions. The only instance which we feel leaves a decidedly false impression is in the chapter on the kingdom of Israel. No use is made of what we now know which proves the northern kingdom to have hourished materially till it was far more important than the southern kingdom among the nations of the time.

AT THE JERUSALEM SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION.‡

It was an inspiration when Mr. Hartshorn suggested Jerusalem for the World's Sunday school convention. Such an undertaking would have been impossible in another age or land but not here and now. Difficulties were slowly mastered till at last the suggestion was an accomplished fact. This account of the pilgrimage by the editor of The Sunday School Times is charming, to be read not only from the convention point of view but as a book of travel far above the ordinary, in interest. The book

+HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF BIBLE LANDS-By John B. Calkin. 180 pages. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

‡A PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM-By Charles Gallaudet Trumbull. 437 pages. $2.50. Philadelphia: The Sunday School Times Company.

The vividness Above all else

is beautifully bound, printed and illustrated. The mechanical reading is a treat and the literary appeal of the whole is strong. of description and aptness of choice of scene is striking. is the message brought so freshly from the Holy Land.

A GREAT MISSIONARY STORY:"

A dozen years have passed since the publication of this story of missions approving themselves and demanding enthusiasm in place of ignorant criticism. It still remains the best missionary novel. The interest of the story is such that it will appeal to those who find no pleasure in narratives of missions or rather are prejudiced against trying. Judged as a story it has good reason for being. As a missionary book, there are few as good for use in awakening interest in missionary reading. A bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church is persuaded by his wife to spend a year in India, living just as the missionaries must. He goes with all his ideas of how the work ought to be run and his wife also, both expecting to revolutionize work and methods or else come back ready to force a change in mission management. There is a revolution but it is in their hearts. They come back with a determination to make changes but these are to be in home support and methods, not on the field. Would such a conversion could come to the Church of Christ!

A FOREIGN PLEA FOR HOME LEADERSHIP.*

Any word on missions or mission problems from Mr. Mott deserves our closest attention. He is in a position to know what to say. This new book in which he treats of the relation of the pastors of the home land to the mission work is no indefinite message. Sadly it is widely needed. There is considerable nominal interest in missions in our minstry and a growing reality of interest but we need just such a message as this. Every minister should be a leader in the world evangelization. The first chapter is introductory treating of "the non-christian world at the beginning of the twentieth century and its message to the churches of christendom." Following this we find chapters showing the pastor's relation to the world's evangelization as an educational force, as a financial force, as a recruiting force and as a spiritual force. Every pastor should read this book.

"THE BISHOP'S CONVERSION-By Ellen Blackmar Maxwell. 384 pages. $1.50. New York City: Eaton & Mains.

249 pages.

*THE PASTOR AND MODERN MISSIONS-By John R. Mott. New York City: Forward Movement, Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »