1 BUDDHIST AND CHRISTIAN GOSPELS. Now First Compared from the Originals: Being "Gospel Parallels from Pali Texts" Reprinted with Additions. By Albert J. Edmunds. Third edition. Edited with parallels from the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka by M. Anesaki. Tokyo: Yuhokwan. 1905. Pp. xiii, 230. This work represents the mature results of a quarter century of earnest investigation. Although nominally the third edition, it is really the first comprehensive work under this title because the preceding editions were but fragmentary. The work as a whole is an interesting and illuminating contribution to comparative religion. The author's attitude is thus expressed: "No borrowing is alleged on either side-Christian or Buddhist-in these Parallels. We offer no theory but present them as facts. They at least belong to a world of thought which the whole East had in common....The Parallels are mainly in ideas, not in words." The editor, whose interest in the work lies in his zeal in discovering the common elements between the Pali Nikayos and the Chinese Agamas, adds parallels and notes from the latter. The book begins with an historical introduction with reference to the antiquity of the canonical Pali texts and the relation between Christianity and Buddhism. Then follow three parallels in the infancy legends of both religions, five in the initiation and preparation for the ministry and thirtythree in the ethics and subject matter of the teaching; also nineteen parallels on the character of the Lord, and twenty-eight on the closing scenes, and the future of the Church and the individual, ending with an appendix containing mention of six parallels from uncanonical texts. The Open Court Publishing Company has undertaken the agency for Mr. Edmunds' book in the United States and Great Britain. GOETHE UND DIE KÖNIGLICHE KUNST. Von Hugo Wernekke. Leipsic: Poeschel & Kippenberg. 1905. Pp. 194. Dr. Hugo Wernekke, who has published through the Open Court Publishing Company his translation of Fechner's Life After Death, is the author of a book that is of no little interest to freemasons as well as admirers of Goethe. Goethe was a mason and he joined the order during his sojourn at Weimar. He became a member of the lodge of Amalia, and has expressed his interpretation of the masonic doctrines, symbols, and rules of the order in poems and prose. Dr. Wernekke, head master of the Realgymnasium, is at the same time past master of the Amalia lodge, and as such he has had access to documents otherwise inaccessible. He publishes in the present volume all that is known of Goethe's masonic life, his letters and other utterances, including his masonic poems. He has not limited himself to Goethe, but includes a brief history of Goethe's lodge, and other comments on the German conception of masonic life which in many respects differs from that of other countries, especially France and England. The German freemasonry is rather philosophical, having had the benefit of such men as Goethe, Lessing, Herder and others. French masonry is anti-ecclesiastical, while the English masons are almost churchy in their rituals. The French and English requirements are so much opposed that while in England belief in God, and indeed in a personal God, is deemed indispensable for admission to masonic privileges, the French positively insist on excluding any man who is not an atheist. German masonry is to some extent conservative like the English, but the German lodges allow individual interpretation as to the nature of God, and any one who holds views such as Goethe, Lessing, and Herder is welcome, and would rather be regarded as a good and orthodox mason. Dr. Wernekke does not touch upon these material differences but his readers outside of Germany will easily find out the typical features of the German lodges and the philosophy which Goethe developed therefrom. Goethe had taken the higher degrees of the so-called red lodges, but the more he became acquainted with masonic life the more he preferred the simpler rite of the blue lodges, the lodges of St. John. The book is embellished by 12 full plate illustrations and a frontispiece, and in accordance with Goethe's preference, it is bound in a tasteful blue cover. THE STORY OF THE CONGO FREE STATE. Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the Belgian System of Government in Central Africa. By Henry Wellington Wack, F. R. G. S. New York: Putnam. 1905. Pp. xv, 634. This book purports to be the true story of a great colonizing undertaking founded upon modern social science, and in spite of all the criticism of the Congo administration, the author declares that this civilizing movement is the greatest colonizing success in the history of the world. Mr. Wack is a member of the New York Bar, who, during a stay of several years in Great Britain did not fail to recognize the growth of an organized campaign there against the Congo Free State. The fact that a small number of Englishmen interested in the rubber trade should succeed in craftily deluding the British public sufficiently to obtain general credence for stories of cruelty and oppression alleged against King Leopold, did not impress him seriously, until he observed very recently that the calumny was extending to the United States. His knowledge of Central African affairs was such that he felt the injustice of the impression thus widely and systematically circulated, and he applied to King Leopold for help in gaining access to the government records with the avowed purpose of stating plainly and truthfully the complete history of the Congo colonization, but at the same time making it very clear that he would write the story in his own way. He was granted every permission and assistance necessary to his purpose, but indicated again to King Leopold and his Majesty's ministers that he would write the story in his own way. He declares in his preface very plainly that he has not submitted manuscript nor proofs directly or indirectly to any part of the Belgian Government, and though he hopes his plain unvarnished statement of facts will be acceptable to His Majesty, he has no assurance that it will please him and feels under no obligations to him. All this he makes very emphatic, that the reader may know at the beginning that his account is written from purely disinterested motives, and his object is to acquaint the English reading public with the conditions, that they may think out the underlying motives for the campaign against the Congo, and appreciate the real issues at stake. The book is plentifully illustrated and has a fine portrait of the Belgian ruler as a frontis piece. There is an appendix containing copies of several of the documentary records. We are in receipt of The Every Day Book; Just a Thought for Your Birthday, by Suzanne Wardlaw, containing quotations from prominent poets and thinkers for all the year around. Mr. Don R. Marquis, of Atlanta, Georgia, strikes a deep note in his poem "In Mars. what Avatar?" The philosophical problem whether there are kindred religions on other planets than ours, is not without great significance. It is true that we can not go out into space and arrive at a definite solution, but it is not unlikely that if there are other habitations on which rational beings develop, their religious development must in many respects resemble ours. It is probable that they believe in a God incarnation; that they build churches and pagodas as magnificent as St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, and the Shwe-Dagon in Rangoon; and that there, too, religious leaders are credited with miracles as was Joshua when he made the sun stand still in the Valley of Ajalon. Mr. Marquis puts the problem in the form of a question, the mere stating of which can not help but broaden our own religious views. Theoretically it has been answered in the affirmative, although practically it can never be solved. A peculiar coincidence in the shape of an acrostic is at present agitating the circles of Moscow. The names of the five sons of Alexander II are Nicholas. Alexander, Wladimir, Alexis, and Sergius, and if the initials of these names are read forward and backward they yield the words nawas sawan, which means in Russian "Over you the shroud." We have taken measures to procure an authoritative contribution on the religious life of the Moslems, and have succeeded in obtaining the promise of articles from Thomas P. Hughes, D.D., L.L.D., the author of the Dictionary of Islam, one of the greatest, if not the greatest authority on Islam aside from native followers of the Prophet. While chaplain of the British Army in India, Dr. Hughes had rare opportunities of becoming familiar with this most important faith of the valley of the Ganges. THE CULTURIST. A Periodical of Progress. Edited by Walter Hurt. Cincinnati: Culturist Publishing Co. Price, $ 1.00 a year; 10 cents a copy. A new liberal periodical is in the field under the name The Culturist, the character of which is best understood by considering the contributors to the first number. It is opened by a poem to the New Year by Walter Hurt, the editor. The leading article "Punishment and its Function" is written by Clarence S. Darrow. Among other contributions we note a poem to the late Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, a number of additional poems by the editor, an article entitled "All is matter; All Matter is Mind," by William Colbey Cooper; "Obsolescence of the Church," by the editor, etc. The editorial on the mission of The Culturist closes with these words: "Until reason has conquered instinct and man has learned to master his impulses, the mission of The Culturist will not be fulfilled-its work will not be completed." The leading article for the February number will be "Toward the Sunrise" by Eugene V. Debs. La LYRA GERMANICA LATINA. Deutsche Volks- und Studenten-Lieder. teinisch in den Versmassen der Originale. Von Waldemar Kloss. St. Louis: Gedruckt in der Office der Amerika. 1904. Pp. 103. In these days of strenuous life, it is difficult to find, even among scholars, a man who is able to speak Latin, and especially one who has the ability to write Latin verses with sufficient ease to make them both readable and singable. But this remarkable task has been accomplished by Prof. Waldemar Kloss of St. Louis. He has published his songs at the request of many of his friends whom he mentions in the preface; and among them are Bishop Spalding of Peoria, several Professors of the Washington Catholic University, and Professor Hatfield of Northwestern University. Many of his verses are very happy renderings. The collection consists of forty-two German songs such as are well known all over the Fatherland, and frequently sung in academic circles. They include verses by Scheffel, Geibel, Heine, Uhland, Wilhelm Müller and others, and it is remarkable how well, upon the whole, the Latin words fit the music. As an instance we select No. 33, Heine's wellknown song, "Du bist wie eine Blume,” rendered as follows: "Ut flos tu virgo pura Pulchra, gratissima, "Caput attrectans precem Ut Deus te servet puram, "Die Lorelei," No. 19, reads as follows: "Est anima mea onusta; Cur hoc sit nescio; Narratio vetusta Non excidit animo. Aer mitis, coelum nigrescit Et Rhenus placidus, Mons summus erubescit In sole aureolus. "In monte vides sedentem Nympham pulcherrimam, Ornatu et auro nitentem; Virorum corda corrodit Per mirum modulum. "Nautam in cymba amentem Hoc carmen inficit, Non rupem imminentem, THE DIVINE COMEDY OF DANTE. Four Lectures by Walter L. Sheldon, Philadelphia: Weston. 1905. Pp. 126. Price, 50 cents. These lectures which are intended especially for those who have never read the poem but would like to know something about it, were delivered as regular Sunday morning addresses before the Ethical Society of St. Louis. The author makes no pretensions to originality, and presents the book not for the sake of any information it may give but for its practical ethical lessons which will have the same importance whether or not the interpretation of Dante is correct. The first lecture is on the man Dante, and the age in which he lived. Each of the others is devoted to the consideration of one of the great divisions of the Divine Comedy. It is a noteworthy fact, that the attendance of Mr. Sheldon's lectures was unexpectedly almost doubled during the delivery of this course, thus showing the increased interest in the subject, or its treatment, or both. JESUS AND THE PROPHETS. An Historical, Exegetical, and Interpretative Discussion. By Charles S. Macfarland, Ph. D. New York: Putnam. 1905. Pp. xvi, 249. The author sets himself the task, first, to set forth Jesus' use of prophecy; second, to indicate his attitude towards it and the standard by which he valued it; third, in the light of this to show what its fulfillment signified with him, and how he regarded himself as the "fulfiller" of prophecy. The book is written in a very conservative spirit but shows an indication of broadening. The author finds that Jesus is after all the best teacher of his own religion, he being greater than the evangelists and greater than the four Gospels. To gain a vision of Christ he claims that the interpretation of the writings of the Gospel is not enough, but must be accompanied by an exceeding effort of the human mind to gain the vision of Christ himself. |