BOOK REVIEW.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 22

BOOK REVIEW.

THE TEN COJQCAHDXENTS. In 'The Permanent Value of the Ten Commandments," issued by t \llen and Unwin, of London, the Rev. H. J. Flowers discusses the historical background of the Mosaic law and its bearing on many of the problems which confront us to-day. The historical part of this book is particularly valuable, and shows both research and a wide acquaintance with the most recent literature on the subject. It may be said at once that the writer does not take the commonly accepted view- of the origin of the Decalogue. He says in his first chapter: "The difficulty with the Ten Commandments is this: They show clearly that they are the result of stages of development, and could have been arrived at only after centuries of ethical thinking. Anyhow, they could not have been given by God to Moses on the top oi the mountain as though thev were being accepted f®r the first time by a religious people. In regard to that, the verdict of history is clear and unmistakable. That, however, does not mean that theif origin ia other than Divine. It ought to be possible to show that they are far more Divine, and far more binding upon the human conscience than if they had been given ten times by God on the top of ten mountains." The writer deals with each commandment separately. He shows how the first I commandment was made for a primitive people when it was thought that each nation had its own peculiar God, who led it, punished it, protected it, and upon whose continual providence the nation

could rely. He does not disguise the fact that Jehovah at first was regarded as the God of Israel, just as Chemoeh was regarded as the God of Moab, and Amon-Ra as the God of Egypt. Among the primitive Israelites Jehovah was regarded as a mighty warrior, having His home in Sinai, and travelling with the people of Israel in the Ark into Canaan, being carried into battle like a mascot, and giving victory, gradually spreading His power over Palestine and bringing the local gods under His sway. It is not till we reach the Second Isaiah that we get the conception of the universal and absolute sovereignty of God. In the chapter on the Second Commandment he deals with the naturalness of idolatry, and shows how art and images have frequently been aids to worship. At the same time he considers that there is a danger underlying even the use of the Crucifix. The danger, as he sees it, is that we are led to dwell too much on the details of the Passion and to forget that "the power that saved men was beyood all those physical actions, the power of a great love which endured to the very end." In regard to the Fourth Commandment the writer traces the origin of the Sabbath. He rejects the idea that it was connected with the Creation, and he is inclined to connect it rather with the Deuteronomic version, which- says that it was a commemoration of the deliverance from Egypt, in the chapter of the Sixth Commandment he considers very carefully the bearing of ~ this prohibition on capital punishment and war. The chapter on the Eighth j Commandment seems to us one of the 'best. He deals with the whole question ei the rights of property in relation to the individual, the State, the Church, Communism and Socialism. Ha gives 1 a wide interpretation to the word "theft," and says: "Some men thieve by robbing the till; others by giving short measure; others by supplying goods not up to standard; others by scamped workmanship; others by floating companies which they know perfectly well 'will newer prosper; others by being nothing but parasites on society. We can roh an individual by taking from hiir his due. We can rob a society by not (riving it what it can claim from us." The whole book is marked by an incisive and epigrammatic style, and it is well worth reading for the fresh light it brings to bear on what is admittedly a difficult subject.

CURRENT NOTES.

The Archbishop of Canterbury entered his 80th year on April 7. The Rev. W. H- Stych, Vicar of Little River (Canterbury), since 1923, has resigned the cure and goes to the Waikato Diocese at the beginning of August. At the Baptist World Congress, to bp held in Toronto in June, 1928, there will be a celebration of the tercentenary of John Bunyan. "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it jolly," is the way many people are reading the fourth commandment, was the pronouncement of Dr. Charles Brown of Yale.

American religious leaders have entered a protest against the practice of writing Christmas ' t Xmas M as being Uttidng |n reverence to the founder of the faith.

A messenger has been appointed by the Bishop of Liverpool to instruct the younger clergy and ordinandi in elocution and voice production. The idea is not merely the purification of speech, but also the purification of the voice. Pitt Street, Sydney, Independent Church (Rev. T. E. Ruth) has decided to devote ten per cent of all collections to Home and Foreign Missionary work. This offering is to be supplementary to personal gifts, and in no i way takes their place. The Rev. A Pringle, speaking at Babbacombe, said one of the most depressing things at present was that tree churches competed with one another .like rival shops. He considered the question of overlapping was a serious one.

of Ethiopia. Rev. Ahma Mattheos, who had reached the *5 47 ***** one of the high dignitaries of the Coptic Church, and ever most friendly to Britain. He also showed keen interest in the work of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Early in August a World Christian Conference is to be held at Lausanne on tha northern shore of Geneva, when delegates are expected to be present from many and different countries. The first International Christian Conference was held at Copenhagen in 19*22, and the second at Stockholm three years later.

Dr. Orchard, of King's Way House Church, contends that civilisation has to be converted. The industrial and commercial civilisation of the present generation, lie considered, was coming to-an end, and nothing was going to ever patch it lip. The wretched system would fall to pieces, so there was no need to worry about anyone blowing it up. Dr. Orchard said where he disagreed with his revolutionary friends was in their belief that they could change everything without first everybody. The belief, in Conversion was ~ "