reception its contents will receive at the present day. Omitting the question of the probable sale of the series and its profit to the publishers, it seems difficult to suppose that much attention will be paid to S. Augustine's stiff writing on the intricacies of infant baptism, or his exposition of Pelagius's quibbles, except by those who attended to such things before this translation appeared-students of Catholic theology, chiefly, a few Evangelicals, inheritors of the spirit of Beza or Arminius, and omnivorous German historians. The great and fundamental question raised by the Pelagian heresy is as vital in our days as it was in the days of S. Augustine. But in the fifth century the discussion was whether Pelagius could belong to the Church—to the body of Christ, which was regulated by the Holy Scriptures and the bishops; whereas, in our times, it is very certain that a man who denies grace cannot be a Christian in any real sense of the word, and the dispute is whether it is necessary to believe as a Christian or not. The Pelagian heresy meant the cause of Naturalism against Redeeming Grace. Those who wish to see how Pelagianism is Naturalism-how it contradicts the Scriptures on the Fall of Man, on man's will, on man's passions, on regeneration and merit through Christ, will find all they can wish for in the writings of S. Augustine.

Dr. Holmes has some good remarks in his Preface on this subject :—

"The key to this wonderful influence is Augustine's knowledge of Holy Scripture, and its profound suitableness to the facts and experience of our entire nature. Perhaps to no one, not excepting S. Paul himself, has it been ever given so wholly and so deeply to suffer the manifold experiences of the human heart, whether of sorrow and anguish from the tyranny of sin, or of spiritual joy from the precious consolations of the Grace of God. Augustine speaks with authority here; he has traversed all the ground of inspired writ, and shown us how true is its portraiture of man's life." (p. 18.)

The translation of these two new volumes of S. Augustine seems to be exceedingly well excuted. There has been no attempt to re-write the original in a more modern dialect of thought, and therefore the English reads a little stiff and complicated at times, and requires some attention to catch its full meaning. But faithfulness more than makes up for whatever is wanting in ease and transparency. We will mention a few of the mistakes which we think we have detected. At the very commencement of the Anti-Pelagian volume it is a little unfortunate to render S. Augustine's humble phrase, "nostrorum peccatorum," by the words "the sin which is inherent in us all;" he merely means his own (actual) sins. At p. 166, the translator renders "se sibi ad vivendum caput facit" by "makes himself the chief aim of his life;" whereas it should be "makes himself the source of his own works." A little lower down on the same page the intrusion of the word "alone" makes S. Augustine talk unsound doctrine by seeming to say that all that can be done by a sinner is a sin. There is a curious mistranslation at p. 236. S. Augustine tells his correspondents that he has carefully read through the book which they had sent, interrupting, to some extent, what he was actually busy with (intermissis paululum quæ in manibus erant). What can have possessed Dr. Holmes that he should have rendered this clause, "omitting only the few points which are plain enough to everybody!" In the "Donatist" volume, at p. 32, Mr. King translates the epithet "poste

riore," applied to S. Paul, by "later"; whereas it is evident that in both the passages where it occurs, S. Augustine means "inferior" or lower, the context showing that he is praising S. Peter, the "primus," for yielding on one occasion to his subordinate. In addition to these slight slips, which we merely give as specimens, we had marked some dozen others which have fallen under our notice; but perhaps it is not worth while to mention them. We gladly bear witness to the evident desire and aim of the translators to be liberal and impartial, and to present S. Augustine to the English reader as he is, divested of all glosses that may have been put upon him either by heterodoxy or by orthodoxy. We think, of course, that it would be a much more profitable thing for theology if the present edition had been edited and translated by men who were both able to understand S. Augustine, and possessed of the Faith which alone can read him aright. The edition is colourless. There is hardly a note, the language is of Quaker coolness and neutrality, the prefaces are gentlemanly and unexciting, or if eloquent, eloquent on everything except the Church, the grace of Christ, and the sin of heresy. Still, we may well be thankful for what we have. S. Augustine, even though he be as dried up as a "specimen," cannot fail to make himself felt. When allowance has been made for all that is local or temporary, tedious or minute, in his immortal pages, there will still remain enough of the mighty thought of a great mind,-enough of that living power of enunciating undying principle, which has left him without a superior, and with only one or two rivals among the doctors of the Church.

Dr. Crombie's translation of "Origen against Celsus" seems to be faithful and intelligible. It is disappointing, as we read it, to feel how different the English idiom is from the original, and how tamely the sentences succeed each other in a work which, in the Greek, frequently reminds one of the sonorous rhythm of the "Histoire Universelle." But to reproduce the spirit of a work in a modern language is quite another thing from writing a readable translation for purposes of historical and theological study.

The small concluding volume of the "Ante-Nicene Series presents us with a translation of the "Early Liturgies," and of several early liturgical fragments. The Liturgy of S. James, the Liturgy of S. Mark, and the Liturgy of the Holy Apostles are the only ones which the authors give at length. As to the Roman Liturgy, the editors say in their introductory notice :-"Some have attributed the authorship of the Roman Liturgy to Leo the Great, who was made Bishop of Rome in A.D. 451; some to Gelasius, who was made Bishop of Rome in A.D. 492; and some to Gregory the First, who was made Bishop of Rome in A.D. 590. Such being the opinions of those who have given most study to the subject, we have not deemed it necessary to translate it." (p. 5.) We never heard of any one who said that S. Gregory the Great was the author of the Roman Liturgy. What is certain is, as we are told by his contemporary biographer, that he reformed the Gelasian sacramentary by shortening it considerably, making a few changes, and some additions. And the Gelasian sacramentary itself was modelled on a yet older use. It would, therefore, have been well if the Roman Liturgy had not been omitted in this volume, if only to show its agreement in all essentials with the others. We have a pretty minute history of the Roman VOL. XIX.-NO. XXXVII. [New Series.]

R

Liturgy, extending far back to the times of the persecutions, and as we never find mentioned the institution of any of the important and essential parts, we may justly conclude that in all essentials it is Apostolic. Among the essential points which the editors admit to be common to all the ancient liturgies, without exception, is Prayer for the Dead. If ocular demonstration were of any use in controversy, we should hope that now, by degrees, the assertion that Prayer for the Dead is a Roman corruption will disappear from the répertoire of the Protestant platform.

Scripture Truth in Oriental Dress.

By the Rev. J. LONG.

TH

Calcutta Thacker & Co.

HE author of this book, who has sent it to us from India for notice, is or was (for we hear that he has just retired), one of the most distinguished Protestant missionaries in India, distinguished not so much for missionary work proper, though we believe that he was in no way behindhand in this, but for the great influence he had acquired among the natives, by genuine interest manifested in their welfare; whence it arose that, being equally in the confidence of the Government, he not unfrequently acted as the interpreter of the wishes and opinions of the governed to their governors. Having travelled for some time in Russia, he had to a certain extent familiarized himself with the genius and habits of that people, the natural link between the European and the Asiatic; and of this knowledge he freely availed himself in dealing with the people of India. It is, we understand, to the interest with which he read certain articles which appeared in our pages for 1869 and 1870, on the subject of the new sect of Indian Theists, that we owe the transmission to us of the present volume for notice.

The principle of the book is to popularize the teaching of Scripture, by illustrations drawn from those Oriental proverbs and proverbial sayings which appeal at once to the sympathy of the common people. As the preface says, "Emblems, parables, pictures, proverbs are even in Europe regarded as of great value in instructing the masses; how much more ought they to be used in Eastern lands, where it is so important, in announcing new dogma, to fix them [sic in orig.] in the mind by illustrations which excite interest and arrest attention." Accordingly, some 250 of the principal texts in the Old and New Testament are selected, and accompanied with comments more or less full, showing how, in the opinion of the author, the truth inculcated by the text can be best brought home to an Oriental audience by illustrations and proverbs with which they are familiar. These skeleton sermons are followed by a collection of proverbs in use among various Oriental natives and tribes, with references to passages in Scripture which more or less closely correspond. The book appears to be entirely free from any anti-Catholic tendency, and in fact, in many cases the illustrations which, in simply following out his text, the

author gives, afford a very strong argument in favour of some characteristic Catholic principle. Thus, on the text Rev. i. 18, where our Lord, appearing to S. John, says that He has the keys of death and of hell, Mr. Long comments thus :-"Silence was represented by the Greeks as a golden key on the tongue. Christ said to Peter, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; Mat. xvi. 19. As stewards of a great family, especially of the royal household, bore a key, probably a golden one, in token of their office, the phrase of giving a person a key naturally grew into an expression of raising him to great power. Is. xxii. 22; Rev. iii. 7. This was, with peculiar propriety, applicable to ministers, the stewards of the mysteries of God. 1 Cor. iv. 1. Peter's opening the kingdom of heaven, as being the first that preached it both to the Jews and the Gentiles, may be considered as an illustration of this promise; as also the power given of binding and loosing; authority to explain the law and the prophets was given among the Jews by the delivery of a key." And again, "In the East the carrying of a key on any great occasion was a mark of a person holding some office of rank and power."

Hence a Catholic missionary might use Mr. Long as his authority for laying the distinctive foundation of the Catholic religion by showing, from this expression alone, that our Saviour raised S. Peter to great power in His Church, —we might add unique power, since it cannot be contended that He ever made the faintest sign of conferring the possession of "the keys " on any one else. He might also prove that, to the nation to which S. Peter and the bystanders belonged, this commission implied in a special manner "authority to explain the Law and the Prophets," the germ, we need hardly point out, of the dogma of infallibility.

In other texts it is no less evident that, by omitting the Catholic sense of a text, the whole point of a simile is destroyed in Mr. Long's comments. Thus in one of the texts which compare the Church to the moon, under that very heading, he writes: "The moon receives her brightness from the sun; she is dark herself and reflects his light. Such is the Christian: he is dark himself, but reflects the light of his Lord. For the graces of Christ beheld by faith produce like graces in the soul. Christians are like the moon, (1) Receive light from the sun. Christ is the Sun of righteousness—-Mat. iv. 2. (2) Dispense what they receive-Mat. v. 14, &c. &c."

Now, properly considered from the Catholic point of view, no comparison could be more happy (if we may use the expression without any appearance of disrespect to the place where it is found) than that of the Church to the moon. While the sun is removed from our view, the moon acts as a medium for transmitting its light to us. We cannot obtain the light of revelation from the sun direct, as it is below the horizon; but this light, not the full flood of light, such as we shall see it hereafter, when, as S. Paul says, we shall no longer see as in a glass darkly but face to face, but such light as Heaven vouchsafes for a guide to us, is all conveyed to us by the moon, and in such manner that while it appears to come to us from the moon, it in fact emanates from the sun, and is only reflected to us in a pure and undivided stream from the orb of the moon. So it is with the Catholic Church. Christ having ascended into heaven, has left us His Church, and set

it on high, above the world, that from it, a single whole and undivided teacher, we may obtain the light of His revelation. Yet this light, seeming as it does to come from the Church, is only the reflection of the light infused into it by the Author of light. Look to the moon, and you are at once placed in communication with the sun and receive its light; look anywhere else, and it is all darkness.

When, however, instead of the united body of the Church, the individuals who compose it are supposed, as is done by Mr. Long, to be signified by the moon, instantly the whole comparison fails; instead of one moon, you have thousands; instead of one vehicle for reflecting to us the divine light of revelation, you have a mob of dispensers, innumerable as the sand of the seashore, emitting sparks in every direction, which cross and conflict with one another, and bewilder the eyesight of those who try to walk by the light which they give out.

We need hardly mention that Mr. Long's system of teaching by emblems, pictures, and proverbs is most thoroughly Catholic; in fact, though adopted largely by Protestants in the present age, it is more than doubtful whether, in the last analysis, it is consistent with the fundamental principle of the Bible, and the Bible only, without note or comment.. The work before us is one which will be found useful as a storehouse of illustration to the Catholic as well as the Protestant missionary.

A Guide to the Members of the Spiritual Union, established by the Ven. Domenico Gesu and Maria, General of the Discalced Carmelites. Translated from the Italian. By A. M. R. BENNETT. London: Burns & Oates.

THOROUGHLY solid guide, based upon the work of the Rev. F.

A Dominic of Jesus and Mary, the object of which is to prepare the

reader step by step to understand the advantages of spiritual union in prayer and good works. Thus the excellency of merit, the possibility of continually meriting, the renewal of our intention; how one single action may have several merits, and what is required in order to acquire several merits by one single action; the proportion between acts and intentions, desires, the extension of desires, and the deceptions which there may be in them; the union between our works and those of our Lord; the value of good works, all these subjects are first placed before the reader, so that having mastered them he may be the better able to see in what the special form of spiritual union consists which is advocated in this work. In chapter xxi. will be found the articles of F. Dominic of Jesus and Mary, in which are contained the intentions which all men ought to have who are members of this union. The following extract will sufficiently explain its

nature :-

"It is a pious society to which may be applied the words of S. Ambrose, Dum singuli orant pro omnibus, etiam omnes orant pro singulis. In this