New-York tribune., 1912-02-17
LENTEN READING
Rocks of Devotion, Looking In
ward and Upward.

asters in the life Of the spirit VIII turn
,rstinctively to the old, to the faVorlle
ond tried volumes, for there is III 'he
r,rituaI classics a catholic width, the
unmoved eye and the look of eternity'
which makes them ever timely. since
there are tides Of the divine life WHICH,
as George Eliot once said, move uhder
the thickest ice of theory, the great
moralities and spiritualities arc tet py
ne aDart from the consideration whether
their exponents are of an age pelore
Copernicus or after. II we take up 'ne
newly published essays in religious as
piration it is not with the expectation Oh
finding truths that were hidden from ot'
Augustine and John Tauler, or from
Runyan and Wesley and John Woolman'
hut rather with the hope that the
authors, being of the company or our
fellow strivers, will give us, II not the
massive wisdom of genius, at least some
friendly help in the business or hVlns
and toward solving perplexities that are
both theirs and ours
OF such aids to the devout life an ad-
mirable example is seen In the Rev. A.
w. Robinsons Spiritual Progress: a
Word of Good Cheer Gongmans, Green
& Coz, to which the Bishop Of London
subscribes a warmhearted introduction.
The wisdom of relying on power be-
yond our own and trusting to the benef-
cent purposes Of that power while doing
our utmost TO cooperate with 1t. the
temper and method, "ardor and order
Of the life of faith are indicated here in
terms that are never trite. Urging a
return to the neglected disclpines Of
Bible study, meditation, fasting and
almsgiving, DR.. Robinson has before him
the saying Of Lord Acton that mas
terry is acquired by resolved limitation" ="
The grace Of faith is illustrated with a
story of Scots shepherd who was one
| day standing on the Cheviot hills and
endeavoring to explain 10 his little son
the greatness of the Divine love. Point
ing north and south and east and west
he told him that the love OF God was so
vast that it reached to Scotland and
England. across the North Sea, and over
| the Atlantic Ocean:
After the lad had reflected in silence for
| moment or two, he said one Of those
simple and beautiful things by which II is
given to children to perfect Gods praise.
"Then. father. we must be in the very
middle OF the love OF Cod
In Dean Hodges's "Everyman's Re-
ligion" (The Macmillan Company, the
Rev. Julian X. Smiths Religion and
Life" CNew Church Board OF Publica-
tion) and in DR.. William Porcher Du
Bosses THE Reason OF Life" 6ong-
mans, Green g. Coz the outstanding
commonplaces of faith and duty are en-
forced in a fresh and inspiritng way.
DR.. Du Bose returns TO view OF the
Incarnation to which he has on former
occasions given effective utterance, the
view, namely, that the Incarnation was
act. 1t is a twofold process, I'm which
not only is God making Himself at one
with humanity, but In which coequally
humanity Is in the person OF the real
man, Christ, making itself at one with
God. DR.. Henry A. Stimson is the
the World and Beyond" (Eaton g.
Mains). Those realities called by Plato
the "noumena" as distinct from the
phenomena" OF life are the values most
TO be set by, and as In sympathy with
such preference Mrs. Meynelrs question
in her sonnet on the daisy is invoked:
Oh. daisy mine, what will II be to look
From Gods side even on such "A simple
thing?
The clarity and grace with which Sir
William Robertson Nicol unfailingly
treats the themes OF the inner life, the
skill with which he subordinates the
zest Of bookman and the learning Of a
theologian TO the aims OF true preach
ing, 20 far 10 account for his widening
constituency. His latest collection Of
expositions, Sunday Evening UIodder
e. Stoughton), will be found to afford
no little light and sustenance 10 inquir-
ing and devout minds. AS points OF
departure for five vigorous sermons, AT
the Gate Beautiful" (American Tract
Society, DR.. David James Burrell en-
plOys events in the life Of the early
Church, all of which occurred within
the space of fifteen hours, and soon after
the first Pentecost. Messages TO his
Montcair congregation written by Dr.
Amory II. Bradford in the days of his
last illness have been edited by his son.
Mr.. Arthur Bradford, and published by
| Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., with the title,
''Preludes and Interludes," a welcome
little book, rejecting. as it does, the
brotherly spirit which informed the forty
years of a memorable ministry.
Coming 10 books given to considera-
ton Of the words and activities of the
Lord of the Church, their classification
would seem to rest not, as formerly on
metaphysical differences respecting "the
person Of Christ" but simply on the
| question whether the writer's on the in
comparable theme are to be numbered
among the disciples or among the
patrons Of Jesus, whether they are wor-
shippers or only welwishers. Thus in
THE Poet of Galilee" (B. w. Huebsch),
Mr.. William Ellery Leonard offers a
series of essays in appreciation Of Jesus
as the observer, the lover. the seer, the
scourger, the humorist, the storyteller
and as hero of folklore. Although dis
senting from the catholic alteration of
Christ, the author, after close pondering
of the evangelic record, is ready with
a lyric Of his own. A reverent and
felicitous study of ruling ideas is given
by DR.. T. Calvin McClelland in "The Mind
of Christ" (Thomas Y. Crowell & Coz.
The closing chapter, on the absolute