SOME BOOKS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20952, 15 February 1930, Page 4

SOME BOOKS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

“ A E « asoaablß £ alth a Plain Man." 6d 1* Ashby ' Dickleburgh, Norfolk. (3a

‘“The Universal Prayer." Rev.. James Munich’ K ("s° r 6d) f th ° Amcrlcaa Church, "Short Addresses After Evensong." Edited by .Rev. John Henry Burn, Rector of Whatfleld, near Ipswich. (65.) t 0n „ the Track of the Prodigal.” Rev Julian Harvey.,Yiar of North Rode. Congeltom In the .Days of Thy Youth'." R.. Tootell. C2s^6d? eadmaSter ° f Surrey H °use, Thanet , £ Ail Published by Sbefflngton and Son, London. Prices net.) D "i a * fn Life and Word." By (Is 6d : ) Melbourne: Angus and Robertson. " Christianity and the Home.” By Dean libertsoT Melbourne: An^3 ’ T iL Fr^ e ,9 hl i rch Book of Common Prayer.” L r?hn n L 3 ,f; ,? ent . and Sons. (3s 6d net.) r °f the Sevens." By Mr I® JJ' Bassett. Obtainable from " Sevens," Box 57, Wanganui. Price not stated. One turns almost instinctively to the St 7, L ‘ Aehby «. book in which he discusses the _ question of what is a reasonable faith for a plain man? The contents of the book appeared as Saturin the Morning Post in 1929. Holding that the true method of teaching is to proceed from the known to the unknown, and that to know God we must first know Jesus Christ, he begins with the Church’s Year, and gives an exposition of the life and teaching of Jesus. There are six chaptf rs ; or sermons—on the Bible and a closing section of 10 chapters deals with the application of Christian teaching to the everyday life of the plain man. Let us say that these sermons are the production of a man of devout life and Christian conviction. Mr Ashby has clear and definite ideas: a’s to the lesson he desires to teach, and sets out to reach his end. No one can read them without being sure of these points, but whether they will satisfy the man who has 1 difficulties is a very open question. Some will very certainly be helped. Others—possibly most—will be left just where they were.

e T‘ J. ames Sheer in is rector of the Church of the Ascension in Munich, Germany. His book is offered to , readers of devotional literature in response to requests made by thinking laymen that they should be printed. _ To these the sermons of which the book is composed seemed to b| practical helps to a religious method of thinking not necessarily out of accord yuth modern material science nor yet with theology, the queen of the sciences. While using the Lord’s Prayer as the basis of his discourses, Mr Sheerin gives himself considerable latitude. For example, the term “heaven” gives him an opportunity to discuss where and what it is. And u Kingdom of God lets him speak on some great ideas of the Kingdom as well as upon the “likeness of the Kingdom.’ Similarly the clause in the prayer “ Deliver us from evil ” gives reason for ;ono discourse on the rise and fall of evil and another on bow and when evil will fall.

Dr James Henry Burn edits a volume of short addresses to be used after evensong. This is the first volume of a series, and the discourses are for the Sundays from. Advent to Trinity. To this book is prefaced a chapter on “ Ecclesiastical Bureaucracy, 1 ' by the Rev. J. O. Hannas', the exact import of which really eludes us. Nor can we see exactly what place it has in such a book as this. Its tone is controversial to a marked degree. However, there may be some quite good reason for its inclusion. There, are some- 52 . discourses included in the book, and a reading of them gives • the impression that they are well chosen.. Not a few are suggestive; all are-.helpful. The book will certainly be of help to anyone who desires to preach along the line of the Church’s year, #. * * “On the Track of the Prodigal ” is a new work on the well-known parable. In certain respects the book is fresh, for the Rev. Julian Harvey has contrived to connect each chapter with some scientific and psychological teaching. Mr Harvey’s sermons read weli, and one can ima.gine that they were interesting to listen to. He has read widely, and quotes well, using with wisdom authors and incidents to fasten a truth in a sure place, * * # “In the Days of Thy Youth” is a series of Sunday talks to ;■ boys by Mr R. Tootell, headmaster of Surrey House. Northdown. Thanet. This is the least satisfying of the books before us. For one reason, though a schoolmaster is the author, we doubt whether his boys quite grasped his thought. _ And there is, fur ther, a lack of that'firm Christian, conviction which one wishes to see in such a book. Such a criticism may be somewhat sharp, for it' is not easy for. one in New Zealand to-sense the position of things in England. What might rojsonably be held to be boring to a colonial boy may be interesting enough to an English lad. But even away there we imagine that the boys would demand a firmness of religious belief and statement which would make clear exactly where the speaker stood. Let us not be understood to mean that this is a book of little moment. That is far from our meaning. There are good things in it, and wise suggestions put in a beautiful and commonsense way. There is, too, much that will cause the mind to go out on lines of thought which will prove of value. From the illustrations used by another, culled from various sources, the wide-awake reader will get great help. Mr Tootell has rend widelyand‘ has sought to give to hi- boys the results of his study. No lazy jr careless man this, but a keen and hard-working student-and- eager teacher.

Messrs Angus and Robertson, of Sydney, have sent us two small volumes which they have published on behalf of the Church of England Men’s Society. At the Ballarat Conference of the Australian section of this society in 1928 it was urged that the times call for a fresh and up-to-date presentation of the fundamentals of the faith ‘ with the teaching contained therein for the guidance of thought and conduct/ It was further urged that such a presentation would be more welcome if produced amid Australian conditions and not imported. We have before us, then, two of these little books

Dean Batty, of Brisbane, has written on Christianity and the Home. Using the clauses in the Marriage Service of the Revised 'Prayer Book of 1927 as a basis for discussion he speaks very wisely and pointedly on the home and its place in the body politic. The book gives evidence of careful thought and has that evident reserve which characterises the writing of the man who realises the importance of his words. He has a good chapter and also a short appendix on Divorce which ' should do something to check careless thought, so much in evidence just now, oil a matter of supreme moment.

Dr Crick, Bishop of Ballarat, writes on Early Christianity in Life and Word. Any reader with a cursory knowledge of the subject will be disappointed with this book. It is not that Dr Crick has tackled something beyond his powers. Quite evidently the subject is one he could handle quite well. But he has attempted the impossible. To put into the space of 37 small pages a historical background and perspective for the study of the New Testament, and, then to pass in review the individual books and survey briefly their contents in the light of the circumstances attending tbeir composition—well, it simply cannot be done. AIL toe same the book is worth reading and will help the man who is desirous of going into some detail on these subjects to find a starting point. Bishop Crick has missed an opportunity in his Bibliography A brief note on the commentaries he indicates would have been helpful. Further, the mam to whom the International Critical Commentary would be of use will not be reading this book.

We have gone through f( A Free Church Book of Common Prayer ” with much interest. To review a book of this kind is a difficult task. One would have Hked to know who compiled it. We are told that a group have been engaged for a long time upon it. Whoever they were they, were men of a balanced piety and unusually good judgment. One point strikes the reader at once,—the catholicity of sources from which prayers have been chosen. In the non-Episcopal Uiurches, those in which there is what is termed extempore prayer, there is a grave danger of careless and slipshod methods and even of meaningless sen* tences. No minister of these churches is unaware of this danger and he seeks by means in his power to avoid it. This book will prove a great help. Possibly its very wealth of matter will be a drawback to some, but to every hardworking minister it will be a help The book cannot be used without thought and study, and it is, moreover, too good to be used in any other way. We commend this Free Church Book or Common Prayer very cordially. It deserves careful attention.

The Light ”of the “ Sevens/' by Mr Len. E. Bassett, of Wanganui, is a remarkable book. The copy sent to us ia the fourth edition (intensified) containing chapters 4 and 6 only of the work when it is to be complete in form. The writer has qu»te clearly had some remarksolo experiences in which the number seven has played a part—the seventh month, seventh day, seventh year, or a year like forty-seven. From this he goes on to study sequences of seven in Scripture. In some ways, as a study of a mans mental processes for example, this is an interesting book. Whether the average reader will get much from it we tell. To us it all appears a little

G-. H. J.