WATTS'S LITERARY GUIDE i
B E I N G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L I B E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D P U B L I C A T I O N S .
No. ioo.]
MARCH is , 1894.
[ P r ic e O n e P e n n y .
N E W P U B L I C A T I O N S .
Messrs. Williams & Norgatf. are issuing, under the title o f “ Our Christian Creed ” (3s. 6d.), a second edition of a work which was very favourably received on its appearance eight years ago, the book running out of print in less than three months. The author, who writes from the Rationalist standpoint, explains that during the interval he has examined afresh, and in a most careful manner, all the sources of information he had availed himself of, and, where possible, he has added to them. The opening chapter is devoted to general considerations on religious evolution; next are disclosed the principal sources front which the doctrines of Christianity have been derived ; then the various orthodox religious dogmas are traced to Paganism ; and in subsequent sections the similarity of Christian and heathen rites and doctrines is indicated, and critical comments are appended on the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Miracles, the Existence of Jesus, and Buddhism and Christianity.
Mr. F. C. Conviieare’s “ Monuments of Early Christianity,” which is described as a book for scholars and ecclesiastical historians, will be issued by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschcin & Co. It will contain eleven very early Armenian MSS., themselves translations from earlier Greek and Syriac documents.
M e s s r s . C hapman and H a l l have published an attractive little work, entitled “ Aphorisms from the Writings of Herbert Spencer ” (3s.). The selections have been made by Miss (or Mrs.) Julia Raymond Gingell.
P ro fesso r H u x l e y is contributing a new preface to each of the volumes of his “ Collected Essays ” now being published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. In the introduction to the sixth volume, “ Hume ; with Helps to the Study of Berkeley ” (5s.), the Professor maintains that Socrates and Descartes arc the proper predecessors of Hume. Descartes is the true “ father of modern philosophy.” Socrates was the first Agnostic, being the man who, “ so far as the records of history go, was the first to see that clear knowledge of what one docs not know is just as important as knowing what one docs know.” Plato grievously befogged thought by his doctrine of ideas and of the baseness of matter. Descartes is the true modern, inasmuch as he was the first in the search for truth to break absolutely with authority. With him we must place Berkeley and Hume. The first carried out to its logical result the Cartesian principle, that absolute certainty attaches only to the knowledge of the facts of consciousness; the other, Hume, extended the Cartesian principle to the whole range of principles commonly “ taken for truth," showing, in a multitude of instances, that, so far from possessing clear knowledge, we have none at all. J j f .
conclusion, in a word of advice to students, Mr. Huxley urges that, while for fluent and learned discourse on philosophy one needs, at least, Greek, I^atin, German, and French, and a study of the history of philosophy from the Ireginning, yet, if we want a clear conception of the deepest problems set before the intellect of man, we may get it in three English authors— Berkeley, Hume, and Hobbes.
T he author of “ Supernatural Religion ” has written what he describes as “ A Study ” on “ The Gospel According to St. Peter ” (6s.). The work is deeply interesting, and will be reviewed at length in these columns in an early issue.
O U R L I B R A R Y S H E L V E S .
It is to be regretted that occasional expressions of a Theistic character may hinder Rationalist parents from putting into their children’s hands Mr. Edward Clodd’s otherwise admirable
“ CHILDHOOD OF THE WORLD.”
l he style is a fine example of clearness in narrative and accurate exposition of historical ideas. It should be added, however, that a certain level of intelligence and education in the juvenile reader is pre supposed. Mr. Clodd’s manner would soar remotely above the brain of the average Boardschool urchin. The special edition of his Irooks for schools must, therefore, be understood as appropriate only for good private and middle-class academies. Anthropology writ plain is the topic of Part I. of the “ Childhood of the World,” and it deals, in a most orderly and interesting way, with early man’s habits, pottery, dwellings, tools, language, counting faculty, etc. The Second Part takes up mythology, and its relations to sun, moon, stars, the soul, and witchcraft. Nature worship, polytheism, monotheism, etc., are described in brief chapters.
Equally good is the same author’s
“ SKETCH OF JEWISH HISTORY
to the Birth of Christ.” A rational view is provided for the young student of Israel’s national growth from the Egyptian era to the conquest of Canaan, the Exile in Babylon, the Return, and the War of Independence waged by the Maccabees. The supernatural clement is quietly closured. Mr. Clodd’s bent is in no wise towards aggressiveness against orthodoxy. But he is stirred into righteous outspokenness when he denounces the foolish theology which finds in the noble aspirations of the Hebrew prophets circumstantial prophecies of the career of Jesus of Nazareth. Forcibly he observes: “ Such harmful and unfair use of these ancient writings will go on until they arc re-arranged, issued with truthful notes and comments as to their origin and meaning, and read in the light of knowledge of the times and of the events either happening, or which it needed only keen forc-
must happen. Then will their real value and
