Literary Notices | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 22, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 43.

Literary Notices.

The Concise Standard Dictionary. Abridged from the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary by James C. Fernald. 4¾ x 6½ in. Cloth, 480 pp., 60 cents. Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York and London.

The baby member of a noble, useful family is always welcome. True, they may sometimes turn out bad, through over-petting and unwise coddling, but that is not the case with our baby. First came the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary, with its 304,000 vocabulary terms, its 125,000 synonyms and antonyms, its encyclopedic features, its precise definitions and pronunciations, its beautiful colored plates, its 5,000 illustrations, and its splendid appendix—the dictionary par excellence. The next member in the family which came was “The Office Standard Dictionary,” the best abridged dictionary in its comprehensiveness ever published. The third member in the family to make its appearance was “The Comprehensive Standard Dictionary,” a little further abridged than its predecessor, yet giving in concise form the orthography, pronunciation, definition, and etymology of over 38,000 words and phrases, with 800 illustrations. The last in the series is the one named at the head of this notice. It contains 28,000 words and phrases selected from the Standard Dictionary, with special reference to the needs of the average man. Its system of pronunciation is accurate and easily understood; its appendix contains a list of geographical and historical names, foreign words and phrases current in literature, tables of weights and measures, including the metric system, list of common abbreviations, tables of current coinage, etc. We know no better dictionary of its size. It is a welcome child of a noble family.

Outlines of Modern Science and Modern Christianity. By Geo. E. McCready Price. Cloth, 272 pp., 75 cents, post-paid. Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Kansas City, New York.

Profoundly convinced of the truth of the Bible, the author, for many years a teacher and an indefatigable student in the things whereof he writes, takes strong ground against the vague, uncertain hypotheses of evolution, and geology, and the misty, unsupported traditions of the so-called “liberal” religion of the higher critics. He punctures many a scientific swelling by lances furnished by scientists themselves, and crushes many a pretentious-looking edifice under which men of unbelief are seeking refuge, by ponderous blows of facts furnished by noted men in scientific fields. Every minister, Christian worker, and student ought to read the book.

Rataplan, a Rogue Elephant, and Other Stories. By Ellen Velvin, F.Z.S., author of “Tales Told at the Zoo,” etc. Pictures by Gustave Verbeek. 12mo., cloth, ornamental, illustrated in color, $1.25. Philadelphia, Henry Altemus Company.

This is a beautiful book, exceedingly well printed, and superbly illustrated. It tells us in an entertaining way the characteristics and habits of not less than sixteen animals. Among these are the story that gives the name to the book: Siccatee, the Squirrel; Leo, the Lion; Hippo, the Hippopotamus. The giraffe, kangaroo, camel, chamois, jackal, porcupine, tigress, ostrich, seal, bear, monkey, buffalo, have all a part in this book. The book is marred by the introduction of the sex idea and the courtship between young animals, to an extent not only not necessary, but injurious. Sex-consciousness is developed altogether too soon among little boys and girls, not naturally, but through the teaching of foolish elders. Apart from this defect the stories are replete with useful, interesting instruction.

Jesus the Jew, and Other Addresses. By Harris Weinstock. 5½ x 7¾ in. Cloth, 220 pp. $1.00 net. Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York and London.

This volume is composed of a number of addresses by the author, “a liberal Jew.” He has endeavored to answer such questions as, “What is the modern Jewish idea of Jesus?” “Do the Jews look forward to the coming of a Messiah?” “Do they continue to look upon themselves as God’s chosen people?” “Does the modern Jew approve of intermarriage?” In the “Introduction,” by Prof. David Starr Jordan, Mr. Weinstock thinks Jesus a good man, a very good man, knowing simply Judaism. He learns this from the Gospels. But if Jesus is not all the Gospels teach Him to be, He is the greatest impostor the world has known. Mr. Weinstock fails to grasp the great essential principles and life of Christianity. It is to him but a system of ethics, of modified Judaism. Jesus and Paul were great, broad men, and they were—Jews. We are told in answer to the second question that “the enlightened thoughtful Jew of to-day” does not look for a personal Messiah, but for “a reign of universal peace,” “a messianic age.” The entire book, theologically, might have been written by a liberal Unitarian. To God through the Jews, Christians owe much. “Salvation is of the Jews” are the words of Jesus; but the generalizing, shapeless, lifeless theories of modern Judaism furnish no hope to the sin-sick soul. Not until the Jew shall see this hopelessness and embrace the best Jew that ever lived, as the way, the truth, the life, the True Witness of the Father, will he find rest.

The Blue Badge of Courage. By Henry H. Hadley. Cloth, 468 pp. Illustrated. Price, $1.25. The Saalfield Pub. Co., Akron, O.

In brief, this book, written while the writer was at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, or at least started there, is a striking sketch of the life of Col. H. H. Hadley, the noted mission worker. It is written, as he tells us, so as not to be “too respectable.” In other words, he has tried to make it intensely interesting to that class out of Christ who are non-church goers. He sometimes assembles incidents scattered over a period of time into a meeting or a day, but he assures us that the record of religious work is true. He gives his life, with its interesting incidents, from his boyhood in Ohio to his latest religious work in the slums of the great cities.