New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME RELIGIOUS BOOKS.

1.-THE New Redemption" by the Rev. George d.
Heron CThomas Y. Crowell & Coz. is described
In It's subtitle "a call to the Church to recon-
struct society according to the Gospel of Christ"
In the opinion Of the author. things are In bad
wav Our present social system is built on false
princples (which have bred social inequalities"
AS result of this. "in the beginnings Of a
revolution that will strain all existing religious
and political institutions" and Will hnally
degenerate society with the judgments OF INFINITE
love" His chief count against our social system
Is that IT is built on sehshness of which flows
competition which is defined as anarchy Cnder
the operation Of these two principles he thinks the
State has become an engine of robbery ana OPP
preston Capital receives more than It's just snare
of the fruits of labor. and the workingman mas
ceased to be the social equal of the capitalist me
authors remedy for all this is return 10 the IDEAL
Of Christian Socialism. as embodied in the sermon
on the Mount and the Golden Rule.
In all this and much more in the same line that
the author urges. there is modicum OF truth
which, however, is inflated with great deal OF
windy rhetoric and doubtful political economy. IL
Is an old story that the world is on the verge OF
cataclysm. The fact has been announced by count
less woud-be reformers who have been largely IN
debted for their inspiration TO a disordered hNer'
But the cataclysm invariably comes in the shape
of a continuous and peaceful evolution uhuer 'ne
operation of which the problems that confront the
human race slowly but no less surely ma Some
solution. The old order is constantly chahghs'
and out of it the new order Is con-
stantIv springing into birth. Mr.. Heron
appears TO be an Unbalanced doctrinaire
who takes himself too seriously. His constltu-
tonal pesslmism drives him every few minutes INTO
that distinctly feminine refuge italics In lact ne
fairly reves in italics He appears to take gloomy
pleasure in slantng type and to imagine that
their employment will make a well-worn platitude
pass for profound wisdom or crude half truth seem
q revelation from on high. He also makes the HIS
take so frequently made by doctrinaire thinkers.
of talking though the State were living ana
sentient thing AS matter of fact, the state
IN a Republic like ours, is simply joint stock
corporation of the men and women who compose
1t. The people the State, and If they choose
10 do so they can make 1t over to please theih-
selves at the next election without waiting lot
Mr. Herron's cataclysm. And If they do not choose
10 do so it Is pretty good evidence that they are
on the whole content with things as they are or
~ they are not. that they will bring about the
necessary reforms through the orderly processes
of law Men like Mr.. Heron. who inveigh against
sefshness and competition. are simply buttins thelr
heads against the stone wall of human nature
For while human remains what ii Is enllght-
ened selhshness must continue to be motive IN con-
duct and competition a law of the industrial world
What Christianity has done, and may do stu more
fully, is teach men that an observance OF the
Golden Rule really makes for self-interest BECAUSE
as the Apostle TO the Gentiles put it. None of us
liyeth to himself" The whole tendency of modern
life Is toward a recognition of the interdependence
of man, and would-be leaders of thought ike MI
Heron who call for a social revolution because tne
millennium fails to when they think 1t due DO
incalcuable harm among ill-educated and super
fetal people.
E. p Dutton & Co. issue the sixth volume OF the
sermons of Bishop Phillips Brooks. to which
special and mournful interest will attach because
of the recent death of the great preacher II may
however be said of the twenty sermons composing
this volume that they abundantly able 10 stahd
on their own merits without any Fictitious alds.
Indeed there are some sermons in 1t that are as
brilliant as any to be found in the previous hve
volumes.
Sermons, good ones. are not always read
able But that is with the sermons OF Phil
lips Brooks. Not only the thoughts noble ana
inspiring but they clothed in pelucd language
and cast In the simplest possible form. They are
the appeal Of to men. One does not think
of their author divine. but as human and
therefore able to speak message TO the human
heart. II the sermons in this volume were chosen
as the best expression of Bishop Brooks's genius
the object has been attained. Every one of them
reveals his personality power and magnetism, and
every one of them lifts the reader up far above
the vulgar strife and camor of the world to the
serene heights of purity ind goodness.