CHURCH LITERATURE

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 31, Issue 1, 1 March 1940, Page 9

CHURCH LITERATURE

BOOKLETS OF PRAYERS. Wealth Of Prayers In PrayerBook. The Church Book Store m Wellington has several useful booklets of ■ prayers for use m wartime and other seasons too, mostly published by S.P.C.K. Perhaps the best is ''Prayers from Ihe Prayer-book m Time of War." This includes an adaptation of the Xitany with biddings interspersed. There is a suggestion of using by itself the supplication which ends the ' Litany. This is the part which begins with "O Lord, arise, help us," and was originally drawn up as a war intercession. A rather less practicable suggestion is to use the Service of Prime from the 1928 book with intercessions added. There is also a long list of collects and other prayers from the Prayer-book, arranged Tinder various headings, e.g., for chil"dren, for moral welfare, for defence,

for the wounded, etc. Few realise what a tremendous wealth of prayers there is m the Prayer-book. For Each Day of the Week. The "Victory of God" contains meditations and prayers for every day m the week, either m solitude or where two or three are gathered together. "Prayers for Wartime" seems to be another helpful little book with a collection of prayers, some old, some new, at least to the reviewer. Not a book of prayers, but suitably to be grouped with them is a reprint of the broadcast talk given by the Archbishop of York last October on the spirit and aims of Britain m war. His Grace has established his reputation as an effective speaker, and wise counsellor m this time of stress. There is also a Litany "chiefly taken from the Litanies of the Eastern Orthodox Church," which may be useful. A translation of the Litany of St. Chrysostom was printed m the Gazette a few months ago. Instructive and Reverent. A few years ago there were no books to help m instructing the young m sex matters. Now some

people would say there were too many. Here is one for boys, called "How Does Life Begin?" by Mr. T. F. Tucker, under the auspices of the Church of England Moral Welfare Council. It seems clear, sensible and reverent. But read it for yourself before giving it away. The Sheldon Readers are useful for ; those who want to grasp the main outline (not the details) of the Old Testament. Here are two new numbers of the series, Joshua and Judges, and the Greek Period. The former throws a good deal of light on the tangled period from .Joshua to Samuel. The latter has extracts' from Joel, Daniel, Maccabees . and other books, with notes explaining and connecting them.