BOOK NOTICES by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 10, 1906

BOOK NOTICES.

By Editor

The Red Telephone; or Tricks of the Tempter Exposed. By Lilian M. Heath. Cloth; 398 large pages; over 40 full-page illustrations. W. R. Van Sant, Publishers. 351 Dearborn Street, Chicago.

This is not such a lurid book as its name implies. The lady author represents sin by the under world, and the calls to sin on every hand are messages from the under world over the "red telephone." It is designed to portray the grave dangers found in the various walks of life, the pitfalls and methods of escape, in short, a warning note to save young men and women from wreck and ruin. These temptations are set forth as various calls over forty wires of the red telephone. For instance, the first chapter, "An Old Acquaintance" reveals the selfishness in making "number one" first. The object of the allegory is to call souls from the oneness of self to the oneness of God. Among the "common traps" to ensnare souls are idleness, intemperance, gambling, the dance hall, and many, many other things which lead downward to destruction. The allegory is not a Pilgrim's Progress, but it is an earnest, clean book, and will help in these days of great need.

The Eye, Mind Energy, and Matter. By Chalmers Prentice, M.D. Cloth, 132 pages. Published by the author, Chicago, Ill.

The author contends truly that man is made up of physical, mental, and psychic forces; that the overtaxing of a function in continuous excessive demand on the common energy fund deprives other parts of healthy functioning power; and that, of all organs in the body, the eyes are most capable of demanding and getting an excessive share of the general fund of nerve energy from the human power-house. He sustains his conclusions by good arguments. Further conclusion inevitably follows that through the overuse of the eye, strained vision, and other abuses, the nerve energy is weakened, and rendered much more susceptible to attack. Glasses well fitted often aggravate the trouble, leading to further overtaxation. Indoor work, using the eye in short range, is responsible for serious difficulties. Helpful suggestions are given. The author truly says that God made our eyes much more perfect than they are, but "He did not invent the present, so-called civilization."

Studies in Character Building. By Mrs. E. E. Kellogg, A.M., author of "Science in the Kitchen," etc. Cloth; 368 pages; illustrated. Good Health Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

This book sets forth the methods which have been followed in the Haskell Home in Battle Creek, Mich., and the lessons which have been learned there. Some of the chapter headings will give a good idea of the book: Held in Trust; The Parents' Equipment; Come Let Us Live with Our Children; Overcome Evil with Good; Obedience; Self-control; Education and Appetite; Purity and Parental Responsibility; Training in Truthfulness; The Question of Punishment; Patience; Perseverance; Physical Culture; Employment for Little Fingers. It is full of helpful suggestion to mothers, and its perusal will enable them to see more of their God-given mission.

What a Young Man Ought to Know. By Sylvanus Stall, D.D. New Revised Edition. 280 pages. Cloth, $1.00, net post free. Vir Publishing Company, 2237 Land Title Building, Philadelphia.

Dr. Stall has done good service to the young men of this generation in stating important truth in a clean, delicate, forcible way. Every young man would do well to read the book. It has a supplement on Physical Culture of eight pages, with diagrams for exercise. The information given as to one's own being and its purpose, apart from its moral instruction, is worth many times the price of the book.

The Parochial School. A Curse to the Church; a Menace to the Nation. By Rev. Jeremiah J. Crowley, a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and American citizen. Illustrated; cloth; 416 pages. Published by the Author, Sherman House, Chicago, Ill.

This book, as declared on its title page, is "an exposé of the parochial school. It is an account of "an appalling amount of priestly graft, sacrilege, and immorality in the Roman priesthood. Archbishop Katzer of Milwaukee is quoted on the title page as saying: "I am convinced that Almighty God brought Father Crowley to America to save the Catholic Church." Mr. Crowley, who declares himself a Catholic forever, presents a fearful arraignment of the priests who are principals and upholders of the parochial schools. He charges them with graft, drunkenness, lechery, lewdness, and other sins innumerable, and when exposed the priest is often removed, promoted, and allowed to continue his hellish work. Persistent attempts, we are told, are made, and will be continued, to place a papal nuncio at Washington and an American ambassador at Rome.

The Apple of Discord; or Temporal Power in the Catholic Church. By a Roman Catholic. Cloth. 26 chapters; 496 pages. The Apple of Discord Co., Buffalo, N. Y.

The writer does not give his name. Evidently he does not believe in the restoring of temporal power to the Papacy, because of the difficulties and discord bound to follow, and because he believes it would be better for the church spiritually to be as she now is. Still he holds that "the Catholic Church had a palpable excuse for exercising temporal or political power as long as the Christian commonwealths of Europe were in their period of formation. Laws had to be made, records of deeds had to be kept, and justice had to be administered; for having done this, the church deserves the gratitude of all future generations." But this admission is fatal to all following argument. If in the beginning it was right for the church to leave her God-given mission for the low political realm, it was right that she could continue therein. But those very laws she in the beginning helped to make have been the germ of all trouble which has followed. The church of God in no age, under no circumstances, has any business to assume, or strive for, temporal power. It is always to her ruin spiritually and the ruin of the world. The author begins the temporal power with Pepin's grant to Innocent III. in 752. Neither has the church any more right to the spiritual domination granted her by civil law during the Medieval Ages.

Outline Studies in Bible Doctrine. By J. E. Fulton. Avondale Press, Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia.

This is a pamphlet of 80 pages, containing 161 short lesson outlines of various Biblical subjects with Scriptural or historical answers. It would prove a real help to the beginner in systematic topical Bible study.

The Bible Chemistry Course. For use in Young People's Bible classes. By Leonard W. Doolan, Waco, Texas.

This large page, nicely printed, pamphlet of 32 pages, with cloth-backed paper cover, contains a deal of information on both the Old and New Testaments. Twelve subjects are considered in each. The special feature is the formulas and directions for illustrative chemical experiments on each topic. This is a revised edition, the price of which is 50 cents.

Jonah and the Sea Monster is the title of an unpretentious tract of 20 pages by W. H. Littlejohn, Battle Creek, Mich., in which the Holy Scriptures are "defended against the attacks of infidels, atheists, and the higher critics." It is an able argument, worth reading.