p. 15 | LITERARY NOTICES by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Nov 29, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 48.

LITERARY NOTICES.

By Editor

"The Blue Book of Missions." Compiled by Henry Otis Dwight, D.D., LL.D. 200 pages. Cloth, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.10. Published by Funk & Wagnalls, New York and London.

The book contains the gist of the annual reports of a hundred or more missionary societies for 1904, together with the latest data concerning area, population, religions, and missions in the non-Christian countries of the world. The information it contains is carefully indexed for ready reference, making it a valuable help to all who are interested in practical missionary work in foreign fields.

"Songs for Service in Church and Home." By Charles P. Whitford, the singing evangelist. Published by the Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Texas. Bound in boards with cloth back; 252 pages; price, 50 cents; per dozen copies, $5.60.

We have no hesitancy in recommending this song book to our readers. It is filled with good, stirring hymns. Sense is not sacrificed to music—the words of the hymns are good, as well as the melodies to which they are set. The author and compiler has shown the good taste, in whatever old melodies he has used, to use them as they are, to leave them in just the way that they sung themselves into our souls. He has dropped no offensive pebbles into the wheels of their mechanism to grate upon the sensibilities of singers and hearers. We feel certain that those who purchase this little book will not regret the expenditure.

"The Traveler's Handbook for Transatlantic Tourists." By Josephine Tozier. Published by Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York City. Small 12mo, cloth, 211 pages; illustrated with photos of tickets, time tables, telegraph forms, etc. Price, $1.00 net.

This little book will be found almost invaluable by persons going abroad, especially those who have never traveled in foreign countries. The little knotty problems, the perplexing questions, that are bound to arise, are all answered before hand in this little handbook. It is not designed as a guide book through the different countries—there are plenty of these already; but to instruct the traveler how to travel without inconvenience in countries whose customs are very different from our own, whose language we do not know, and whose denominations of money are a problem. It goes into the details of railway and steamship travel, letters of credit, express and mail, and foreign etiquette—a valuable book for travelers.

"The Ideal Church." By Rev. William H. Zweizig, Tobyhanna, Pa. Cloth, 113 pages; price, 75 cents; in paper cover, 50 cents.

By "Ideal Church" the author does not mean the ideal denomination, sect, or form of belief; but the individual company in any place organized into church membership. We find in this book very much to commend. The work is the outgrowth of pastoral experience. The writer has been in close contact with the problems that confront every church, and the working plans which he sets before the church are in nearly all respects ideal. He would have a prayer-meeting church, a tithe-paying church, a church which gives more attention to the meat of the Word than to a criticism of its contents, the Bible to be above all creeds as the ultimate authority, a church believing in the fall of man and redemption and regeneration through Christ only, a church which believes in and teaches the second coming of Christ, a spiritual church, a church discountenancing theaters, card parties, and all questionable amusements. In the matter of what the ideal church will be teaching, we are glad to see that the author recognizes the instability of the doctrine of eternal torment and the unreliable nature of the doctrine of inherent immortality. We can not agree with the author's position in the matter of Christian citizenship, but would highly commend the Christian spirit manifested throughout the work. The needs of the church are real, and the author has set them forth in a commendable manner.

"Balance: The Fundamental Verity." By Orlando J. Smith. Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York. Cloth, 279 pages. Price, $1.25 net.

The book is written for the purpose of proving the immortality of the soul. It attempts to do this entirely apart from Biblical authority,—proving by this the author's recognition of the fact that the Bible gives man no authority for such a hypothesis. The author reasons that as all actions have their equivalent reactions, all causes their resultant effects, the soul must pass into another existence to receive the just awards denied it in this. The fact that in all ages men have believed in spirits and in the continued existence of their dead friends is made to do duty as a proof of the soul's immortality. His abandonment of the Bible in this argument is perfectly in harmony with his espousal of that other unscriptural belief, the theory of Evolution. The author would make the consequences which follow our acts the law by which to square our lives, and declares that our common conceptions of morality are the results of the observation of human actions and their consequences. Religion he considers an evolution through fetishism to idolatry, idolatry to polytheism, polytheism to monism; and the Decalogue an effective agent for good only so far as nature corroborates it. It is simply another statement of that doctrine so popular to-day, that man is able to construct his own moral code and act in the capacity of saviour for himself.

"The Way to Jesus," by E. Payson Hammond, M.A., the noted evangelist; and "The Blood of Jesus," by William Reid, M.A., Two pamphlets, each 108 pages, combined in one. Price, 15 cents. Published by J. S. Ogilvie Pub. Co., 57 Rose Street, New York.

Mr. Hammond's part of the work is written for children, and tells of experiences in Syria and Palestine, together with numerous letters from young folks. It is written and compiled in Mr. Hammond's well-known attractive style, and is fraught with interesting information and good instruction.

Mr. Reid's section of the pamphlet is a special effort to assist the inquirer who is troubled with the idea that there is some hard work for him to do before he can be accepted of Christ. The author disclaims any design to give a theological treatise. His work is an effort to induce anxious inquirers to accept without question the sacrifice of Christ for their sins.

"The Church of Christ," by a layman. 346 pages. Cloth, $1.00 net. Published by Funk & Wagnalls, New York and London.

This book sets forth the doctrines and ordinances of the church, as viewed generally by the Disciples, or "Campbellite" body. It is well written, and in so far as it adheres to Scripture is a plain presentation of various subjects; but must necessarily depart from and pervert the Word, when sustaining the popular traditions of antinomianism, immortal-soulism, and Sunday observance as a substitute for the Sabbath of the Lord.

"Beautiful Stories from the Good Old Book." By Isabel C. Byrum. 311 pages; liberally illustrated; handsomely bound in cloth. Published by Gospel Trumpet Company, Moundsville, W. Va.

This is a book for children, comprising short Bible stories. The period covered is from Creation to the time of Esther. The attractive style of the work will serve to please the children, as well as to impress the lessons upon the minds of young readers.