LITERARY NOTICES | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 19, 1902

LITERARY NOTICES.

“ECCLESIASTICAL EMPIRE.” By Alonzo Trévier Jones, author of “Two Republics,” “Empires of the Bible,” “The Great Empires of Prophecy,” “The Rights of the People,” etc., etc. Bound in cloth, 874 pp., 27 chapters, five maps, price $2.50.

Historical writers are frequently disposed to relate in an interesting way only the salient facts, and leave the student to draw his own lesson. There are exceptions to this, but usually the lessons are quite general, and the moralizing concerning times far away. Not so, however, with the work before us. The aim is to make history valuable, not alone or primarily to teach us of the past, but to bring its lessons to the present, to show that the causes which produced certain effects in the past will produce like effects, other things being favorable, now. This one volume covers the great salient features of Mosheim, Neander, Schaff, and others, and brings the history and its lessons right down to our own time. Beginning with the first apostasy in the Christian church, the author sketches its workings among the various kingdoms into which the great Roman Empire was divided, the influence and work of the great councils, the Papal Supremacy, the Papal Empire, its attitude toward God’s law, the Reformation, its principles and works in England, in Bohemia, in Germany; and the attitude of Protestants toward the principles of the Reformation in America and elsewhere to-day. The book is of immense value. We wish that its great value had been helped by a good index. It has quite a full table of contents, but is more than a book for the student; it is a book of reference, and it needs, deserves, nay more, demands, good alphabetical indexes. Yet, notwithstanding this defect, and others mechanical which we might name, we devoutly pray that its shadow may never grow less till its work is done.

“THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL HARMONIZED IN SCRIPTURE LANGUAGE.” Compiled by Rev. S. W. Pratt. 12mo, cloth. Price, 75 cents. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

We are not to understand by this title that the life of Paul was out of harmony. It was not from the time that the Master keyed it to the divinest of melodies, so far as we know. What is meant by the title is that the compiler has brought together in harmonious arrangement what the Sacred Record says of Paul’s life and work at any time or place in chronological order. The plan has been to construct, after the inductive method, a complete Scriptural life of Paul, following in general the record of Luke in the Acts, and presenting in addition thereto, and in chronological order, whatever the apostle himself has written in his Epistles concerning the same facts and events, and whatever he has written about other parts of his life and work. The book will prove a timely suggestive help in the study of the International Sunday-school lessons for the first six months of this year.

“OUR COUNTRY: THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Its Past, Present, and Future, and What the Scriptures Say of It.” By Uriah Smith, author of “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,” “Here and Hereafter,” etc. Third edition. Nicely bound in cloth, with side and back cover designs in black and white, profusely illustrated, two colored plates, 324 pp., price, cloth, $1.25; gilt edges, $1.50. Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich., Chicago, Toronto.

“The Marvel of Nations” is a household word in a large circle of acquaintances. And those who have read and perhaps reread the old edition will be glad to know that it has been revised, enlarged, and brought up to date. The new, or third edition, is also more extensively illustrated than its predecessors. The fact that 244,000 copies of the former editions have been sold will pave the way for a large circulation in its present form. The primary object of the work is to show that the United States Government is a subject of prophecy, and to show its place in prophecy. In doing so it has been necessary to portray the beginning and the growth of this “marvel of nations” in its political and material aspects. It also shows clearly, from the prophecies and the history to date, what we are to expect from developments in the near future.

“THE CRY OF THE TWO-THIRDS.” By S. R. Graham Clark. James H. Earle & Co., 178 Washington Street, Boston.

This book is written by an earnest, Christian, temperance woman in behalf of those who are going down by drink. It is a passionate appeal, in story form, dedicated “to the young man over whom no mother weeps.” We fear that the mighty needs set forth in the book will be lost in the pathos awakened by the romance of its incidents.

“A MANUAL FOR HOME AND CHURCH SCHOOLS.” By Prof. C. C. Lewis, Principal of Keene (Texas) Academy, and educational secretary and superintendent of church-schools for the northwestern and southwestern conferences of Seventh-day Adventists; with an introduction by Prof. E. A. Sutherland, President of Emmanuel Missionary College, Berrien Springs, Mich. Bound in cloth, 192 pages, price 50 cents. Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich., Chicago, Toronto.

This “Manual” has been called out by the general inauguration of this new system of schools among our people, and details the requirements quite fully, under six general departments: I. General Principles. II. The Home School. III. The Church School. IV. The Intermediate School. V. Hints and Helps. VI. Practical Problems. It would be impossible to give in a notice all the excellent points contained; for it is a “manual,” and such a work must needs be a compilation of itemized instruction and directions concerning a great variety of points upon which information is desired. Only the book itself can give these details. All who are interested, or who ought to be interested, in the organization and conduct of such schools should get the book.