PUBLICATIONS

New Zealand Tablet, 8 December 1910, Page 2029

PUBLICATIONS

From Messrs. Louis Gille' and Co., Sydney, we have received Mysticism: Its True Nature and Value, _with a translation of the ‘ Mystical Theology ’ of Dionysius and of the Letters to Gains and Dorotheas, by the Rev. A. B. Sharpe, M.A. The author begins by defining Mysticism as the final outcome of a congenital desire for knowledge which appears in all animate creatures. Knowledge, lie says, is of two kinds —abstract and concrete, or experimental and theoretical. These two kinds of knowledge go hand in hand; the theoretical in the last resort depends on the experimental. There is a point at which the experimental test ceases to be possible, and that point is fixed by the limit of our senses, but these take us only a very short distance into the nature of things. The style of the book is admirable, the subject being treated in a most comprehensive and lucid manner. It is, however, a work more for the scholar tlian for the general reader, and by those who can follow the author’s convincing arguments the book will be highly prized as an able exposition of the subject. Sydney: Louis Gille and Co.; pp. 233; cloth; price os. Within the Saul: Helps in the Spiritual Life, is the title of a book of instructive essays by the Rev. Father Watson, S.J. The contents of this book are as varied as they are admirable, and have all for their object the advancement of . the Kingdom of God, the propagation of the Faith, and strengthening the spiritual fervor of the reader. In the first essay Father Watson tells us that ‘ every man owns a castle,, into which none but himself can enter. There he lives a solitary life, for, though many friends are his, and a multitude of acquaintances, he is as much alone as if he dwelt in a desert. The castle nobody can enter to discover its secrets and view the arrangement of its interior, and it is beyond the power of every man himself to enable anyone to pass its threshold.’ Among the subjects dealt with briefly and succinctly are ‘God and Man,’ ‘ True Adoration,’ ‘ Prayer,’ ‘ Life and Happiness,’ ‘ Purity of Heart,’ ‘ Our Lady -the Ideal Woman,’ 1 When the Soul is Sad,’ ‘ Supernatural Hope,’ ‘ Remember thy last end,’ etc. There are chapters also on such subjects as serenity of character, self-sacrifice, vocations, thoughts about conversation, the old year and the new, and Christian manhood. In the essay dealing with ‘The tongue,’ Father Watson has this to say; ‘Many evils spring from unrestrained indulgence in talk, and we ought to make generous efforts to curb too great a desire to indulge in gossip. Useless chatting offers an enticement to gratify a curiosity . which, if we are wise, we should rather mortify than yield to. How' restless and greedy is such curiosity, especially in all that concerns the public and private life of our neighbors! What loss of time it entails, even in the case of Catholics who declare that they have no leisure for daily Mass, or visits to the Blessed Sacrament, or works of charity, and yet they spend hours and hours in frivolous chatter. Then what rash judgments are formed, how unsparing is the criticism of other people, by which the character is so often injured, and what loss of friendship, what quarrels are not seldom the unhappy result.’ The foregoing extracts will give our readers a very good idea of the valuable moral lessons inculcated in the work winch has the imprimatur of his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne. Melbourne; William P. Lenihan; cloth, pp. 224; price 2s 9d, post free. The latest pamphlets issued by the Australian Catholic Truth Society are entitled Buses and Bosarics and Other Tales, by Miriam Agatha, and The Superior Excellence of the Catholic Bdig inn, by the Rev. M. H. Maclneruey, OP. The first-mentioned is made up of five short tales, which will be most acceptable to young people. Father Maclnerney takes for the basis of his pamphlet the admissions of Mr. Mallock, the well-known writer, philosopher, sociologist, and keen and observant critic. The admissions arc contained in the closing chapters in the volume entitled Is Life Worth Living? Mr. Mallock (as quoted by Father Maclnerney) admits that Catholicism is ‘ the oldest, the most legitimate, the most coherent form ’ of Christianity. And again; ‘The Catholic Church is the only historical religion that can conceivably thus adapt itself to the wants of the present day, without virtually ceasing to be itself. It is the only religion that can keep its identity without losing its life, and keeping its life without losing its identity, that can enlarge its teachings without changing them; that . can always bo the same, and yet be always developing.’ We have received from Messrs. M. IT. Gill and Son iOn the Priesthood: .4 Treatise in Six Boohs, by St. John , Chrysostom, translated by the Rev. Patrick Boyle, C.M., ■' l ' of the Irish College, Paris. Eminent -writers (says Father Boyle) have treated of the dignity, the duties, and responsibility of the priesthood, but none has written on the subject with greater eloquence or greater unction than St. John Chrysostom. ‘His treatise on the priesthood has ever been regarded as the most finished work of the greatest of Christian orators. The treatise is written in the form of a dialogue, a form which the Fathers of the Church made use of in the discussion of questions of Christian philosophy and Christian perfection. The personages in the dialogue are Chrysostom and Basil. The occasion of the dialogue, as set forth in the first book of the treatise, was the con-

secration of Basil and the escape of Chrysostom from the episcopal dignity.’ Useful as a work of spiritual instruction, the treatise is also a valuable testimony to the faith and discipline of the Church in the fourth century. The teaching of St. Chrysostom regarding Baptism, Penance, the Real Presence and the Sacrifice of the Mass, Extreme Unction, Viaticum, Holy Orders, and the dignity of the priesthood is the teaching of the Catholic Church at the present day. The treatise has therefore a historical and doctrinal as well as a spiritual value. Dublin M. H. Gill and Son, Ltd. cloth, pp. 131.

The readers of the Austral Light who followed with profit and pleasure the Rev. J. J. Malone’s fascinating account of his travels in the East, especially in Egypt and the Holy Land, will he especially pleased to hear that at the request of his many friends he has published these papers in book form under the very happily chosen title, The Purple East. The book from beginning to end holds the attention of the reader, and so realistic is the author’s descriptive style that one feels as if he were looking on the scenes so graphically described, and listening to the word-painting of the writer. His Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne was one of those, who suggested to Father Malone the idea of publishing in book form his contributions to the Austral Light, and this of itself would be a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the work. His Grace has written a Foreword ’ to the volume, in the course of which he pays due credit to the author’s qualification for what was to him a labor of love. ‘ The most casual reader of Father Malone’s volume (says his Grace) cannot fail to observe how the supernatural manifests itself on every page, from the morning his boat anchored at Jaffa till, a month later, in the same water, lie is lost in admiration at the simple faith of the Russian peasant prostrating himself on the deck in reverence to the land of his Saviour. It is tho possession of this gift in realising the supernatural which distinguishes The Purple East from the ordinary guidebook, no matter how fully and accurately written, and saves it from blemishes which often mar books of travel when a'sacred subject is introduced. . . The Purple East needs no commendation or external aid; there is stored within itself sufficient motor power to carry its ideas over an ample field, and thus reward the labors bestowed on its composition. The traveller preparing for the East cannot select a more charming companion, and those denied that privilege will find in its pages an admirable substitute.’ There are several full-page illustrations of scenes in Ceylon, Egypt, and Palestine in the volume. Apart altogether from its literary style, the book is a storehouse of information regarding Egypt and Palestine, and this information is given in a manner which cannot fail to interest the reader and broaden his views. Melbourne: \V. P. Leuihan • cloth, pp. xiv., 474; price 4s, post free.