LITERARY NOTICES | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 13, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 28.

LITERARY NOTICES.

“Lucretia Borgia.” By Ferdinand Gregorovius, author of “A History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages.” Translated from the Third German Edition, by John Leslie Garner. Illustrated. 378 pp. Price, $2.25. D. Appleton and Company, New York.

The object of this work is to set down a faithful, authentic account of the life and times of Lucretia, the noted and beautiful woman of the infamous Borgia family. The author has had access not alone to the basic accounts on which other histories have been founded, but he has collected much new material which appears in modern history for the first time. He presents no flattering defense of Lucretia Borgia. Her early life was that of a light-hearted, frivolous girl, no better and no worse than those of the circle in which she moved. She was in her girlhood years wholly in the hands of her monster father, Pope Alexander VI. Her whole early life was surrounded by an atmosphere thick with unparalleled corruption and crime of every sort in public and private life, among those in exalted position in church and state. She and all her brothers and sisters were “natural” children (born out of wedlock) of a “prince of the church,” afterward Alexander VI., whose adulterous conduct continued during his reign as pope. Her own brother Cæsar was a monster of vice and cruelty. Yet all this wickedness was covered with a cloak of sacerdotalism, and at the very heart of a religion that was more pagan than paganism. In such an atmosphere Lucretia was reared. Her first betrothal was broken by her father; her first marriage was annulled; and her second husband, only seventeen years old (she at the time was eighteen), was cruelly murdered, presumably by her monster brother Cæsar. Nourished under such influences, the wonder is that Lucretia was not worse than she was. After becoming the duchess of Ferrara, however, where her life was independent of Rome, she seems to have been all that could be expected; and her later years were devoted to her family and to noble deeds of charity and benevolence. This volume, consisting of two books, throws a strong, clear light on the papal church of that time, and the influence of that period upon subsequent times.

“Holding the Ropes: Missionary Methods for Workers at Home.” By Belle M. Brain. Cloth, 12mo., 224 pp. Price, $1.00, net. Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York and London.

Miss Brain is well-known as an indefatigable worker in heroic endeavor to sustain interest in missions among Christians at home. The title to the book comes from the following incident: “We saw there was a gold mine in India,” said Andrew Fuller, in 1793, after listening to the stirring words of John Thomas, who had been pleading for India, “but it seemed almost as deep as the center of the earth. ‘Who will venture to explore it?’ we asked. ‘I will go down,’ responded William Carey, ‘but, remember, that you must hold the ropes.’”

Miss Brain’s book is full of most excellent suggestions in making missionary meetings very helpful in interesting individuals, in the training of children, in arousing church and school. She has given to all home missionary workers, or would-be workers, a hopeful, inspiring volume.

“A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, with a Sketch of Josephine, Empress of the French.” Illustrated from the collection of Napoleon engravings made by the late Hon. G. G. Hubbard, and now owned by the Congressional Library, Washington, D. C., supplemented by pictures from the best French collections. By Ida M. Tarbell. 486 pp. Price, $2.50. McClure, Phillips & Co., New York.

Miss Tarbell’s genius and painstaking labor has given us an authentic and faithful life of Napoleon. The first appearance of this biography appeared in McClure’s Magazine, Volumes III and IV. It was then published in book form. The present edition includes a sketch of Josephine’s life, the first in English, presenting her, not a saint, but as she was—a frail, selfish woman—who lost her power over Napoleon in later years by the seed sown in the earlier years of her married life. “The proud, selfish ambition of Napoleon was laid in his training as a child. If rightly reared, his powers of mind might have been used for good; but his mother had little time for her children’s training,” and his father gave them no attention.” How different might have been the career of this remarkable man! Instead of the death of thousands sacrificed to his unbounded ambitions, he might have been the helper of millions. His checkered and contradictory career has been well recorded by Miss Tarbell.

“Historical Studies.” By John Richard Green, author of “History of the English People.” 366 pp. Macmillan & Co., London and New York.

This volume is a series of essays, historical sketches, and reviews, on various periods of English history, gathered from various sources, mostly from the Saturday Review, by Alice Stopford Green. The largest space is given to the Norman Conquest. The volume will be of interest, especially to the close students of English history. The price, we believe, is $1.00.

“How a Little Girl Went to Africa.” By Leona Mildred Bicknell, the girl who went. With an introduction by Eliza H. Morton, author of “Morton’s Geographies.” Illustrated from photographs. 172 pp. Neatly bound in red cloth with appropriate decorations. Price, post-paid, $1.00. Lee and Shepard, Boston.

This little book tells in a simple, childish way the story of a child’s two years’ experience in travel. It is straightforward and interesting. It is well printed and well bound. The book can also be obtained from Review & Herald, Washington, D. C., or Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.

“The Federation of Religions.” By Rev. Hiram Vrooman, president of “The Federation of Religions.” 138 pp. The Nunc Licet Press, Philadelphia and London.

The object of this little book, and the organization it presents, is to bring into active co-operation as many persons as possible from any and every religion, “who are truly open-minded and loyal to truth.” The author aims in this book to set forth scientific and philosophic methods, by which this can be accomplished and the truth be learned; and he thus expresses his “guiding principle:” “To give to facts of phenomena the invariable preference over all historical claims and precedents.” But this nullifies the Scriptures, although the author admits that the Bible is the external instrumentality for shedding light upon the microcosm of mind, “but the basic facts must be found in the microcosm, or in the realm of personal experience.” Of course this sets aside the Bible and the law of God; for thus being made secondary, it will be interpreted in the light of “personal experience.” This leaves the soul but one witness, one standard—himself, his changeable experience. It sets aside the twofold Bible witness, God’s Word first, always first, and present phenomena witnessing to the truth of that Word and confirming its life-giving power. If the same effort were put forth in humble, Christian faith, in advancing the cause of Christ, that is put forth in “federating” religions, and studying “comparative theology,” it would have vastly greater and infinitely more favorable results.

“Socialism: the Nation of Fatherless Children.” By David Goldstein. Paper covers, 374 pages; price, 50 cents. The Union News League, Boston.

The author was for several years a Socialist, but broke from them because he believed that the success of Socialism would mean “the destruction of those institutions which promote and sustain civilization, namely, the church, the state, and the monogamic family.” But Mr. Goldstein thinks that the fight centers around the Catholic Church, and if that church should fall “all religions, sects, and cults would collapse in its ruins.” If Socialism were atheistic, as he declares it is, and he ought to know, and impracticable, as the future will prove its most beautiful theories to be politically among a selfish race of men, there would still be little to choose between that and Roman Catholicism. In the end, according to the “sure word of prophecy,” Socialism will be found with the Catholic Church, as will all “man-made religions,”—all of them listed against the Word of God. That organization will then go down, but God’s Word and all who trust therein will stand.