The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-05-26
NEW PUBLICATIONS


Burns & Oates. New York Catholic Publ
cation Society.
In the able hands of Father Formby, Ancien
History becomes q bes utiful unfolding of tn
| Divine plan In the events of time, instead o
| being mere succession OF fact and mass o
| unconnected transactions. In the presen
| volume he developes the action of. the DIVINE
| Providence, which from the beginning pre-
pared the world for the coming Of it's Redeemer
| and insists that course Of classical studies
mast como upon the traces of this preparation
| If they exist. 1t follows then that the study
of history is Of the utmost Importance, i
Christian faith is to be developed in the mind
of youth, or if return of mems minds to tn,
old material unbelief is to be guarded agains
as the one crying evil of our day.
A course of classical studies thus becomes
according to Father Formby, sharp, two
edged sword; that is, either a power directly
| copfirmatory of Christian faith, or power d.
rectly opposed to it and tending to undermine
and destroy it.
The reason of the long delay of four thou
san years before the coming of the Redeemer
Is satisfactorily explained as q part of the Di
vine scheme of preparations; and unfolds mani
fold traces of the Interpolation of Providence
in all the events of that lengthy period.
Father Formby's style lacks the perfect
clearness and eloquent conciseness which cha
acterise Cardinal Msnning's writings 1t is
even wanting, in our estimation, in the tren :
chant qualities of Father Thebaud and in the
fuency of DIR. Corcorap; but the work is an ex-
ceedipgly able one, eminently fitted for our
day and sge; and while displaying the erudi-
tion and classical attsinments of ripe scholar,
it is pervaded with a humility as worthy of the
vocation as it is indicative of the genius of the
writer. The crownipg merit of the work is
the logical chain of reasoning by which he
shows the unbroken continuity of the Divine
Government over the nations of the world, up
to the present hour, and to the end of time; and
that the city of Rome is living tcitness of the
truth Of This government.
Any one who peruses this volume, will fully
understand the true significance of the title
eternal City," which Rome alone of all the
cities of the world, has assumed, and retains as
her own special prerogatiYe. The conclusion,
of course, must necessarily follow, that Rome
will continue to be the Eternal See of Christ's
appointed Wears, and that neither puny
Italy nor all the infidel nations of the world
combined, can for more than brief season,
scepter of Rome's imperial power-a power
sovereign in things spiritual and co extensive
with the confines of Christendom, nay, with
these of the world itself.
The Lore Of Jesus to Penitents By Henry Ed
ward. Cardinal Arch bishop of Westminster.
New York: Catholic Publication Society.
The truth OF the saying that zone must not
judge by appearances" receives full copfirma-
tion in the sze of this little volume, which ia
as small as childe hand, bat as vast in it's
subject, as the interests of sonl and the bound
leee love of the Redeemer.
When such men as Cardinal Manning write
books for the instruction of Catholics, it is
little enough that such as we, the Catholic
public at large, should read every line with
grateful love and reverent attentio The
subject of the book is the Sacrament of PEN
ance, an old and sometimes most uniuterest-
ing theme, one we have learned from the cate
ohism, heard explained from tho pulpit, and
meditated upon in books of devotion bat in
the hands of Cardinal Manning the subj .ct
displays a brighter light, assumes a newer
aud reveals such world of beauty,
interest and grace, that our hearts are taken
captive by its SPELL
Cardinal harning's sty 10 is simply fau7tless;
not only is every sentence a model of perspicu.
ity and eloquence. but every word possesses
the quality of the mosaic stone, in being the
best one suited for the place and purpose He
says:
There are two things of which the world
would fsin rid itseif--ot the Day of Judgment
and the Sacrament of Penance of the former
because it is searching and inevitable; of the
latter, because it is the anticipation and the
witness of judgment to come. For this canse
there is no evil that the world will not say Of
the Confessional. 1t would dethrone the Eter-
nal Judge if it could, therefore it spurns the
judge who sits in the tribunal of Penance be-
cause he is within the reach of it's heel.
And not only the world without the Church,
but the world within its unity, the impure, the
false, the proud, the luke warm, the worldly
Catholic, and, in o word, all who are impeni.
tent, both fear and shrink from the shadow of
the Great White Throne which falls on them
from the Sacrament of Penance."
The Gulf Citizen. Monthly Magazine of Lit
erature and General Reading. Conducted
By 7. G. DeLeon, Mobile, Ala.
G,oI Al.:z