Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/508

 84 LITERATURE. [1899.

published a volume of essays, also rescued from the periodical press, on C at holici sm : Roman and Anglican (Hodder <fc Stoughton), in which he discusses from the Nonconformist point of view, in a manner perhaps more brilliant than but not so profound as that of Mr. Hutton, the whole question of authority in religious matters.

Of collected sermons, a second instalment of those of Professor Jowett, the late Master of Balliol, demands notice more for their general interest than for any special theological value. Their title is Sermons, Btographioal and Miscellaneous (Murray). They are, in fact, chiefly biographical, and show the late master's great gifts as a bio- grapher, and the insight and force with which he estimated the work and character of men of the past, such as Wycliffe, Loyola, Bunyan, Pascal, Spinoza— or of his contemporaries, such as Disraeli, G&mbetta, Tait. Under the title of Conformity and Consoionoo (Smith, Elder) Canon Page Roberts publishes a course of sermons delivered at St. Peter's, Vere Street, on "Our Prayer Book." He pleads strongly from the Broad Church point of view the comprehensiveness of the Church of England, and appeals to those who think their own con- sciences supreme to have regard for the consciences of others ; to whom conformity is a comfort and a support. The sermons are marked by a literary tone and wide reading, which, however, detract nothing from the lessons of practical charity and tolerance which the preacher desires to enforce.

Dr. Swete's The Gospel according to St. Mark (Macmillan) and Canon Gore's Practical Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, vol. i. (Murray) — the one the product of Cambridge, the other of Oxford— are among the most notable of the many commentaries in the year's list of theological works.

The History of the Church Missionary Society (C. M. S.), designed to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the society, became in the hands of Mr. Eugene Stock a really important record, in three bulky volumes, of the progress of evangelical work during the century. It is full of biographical details about all the leaders of evangelicalism, and chronicles in a comprehensive way the growth of missionary effort at home and of missionary enterprise in every quarter of the globe.

Passing from publications concerned with the various aspects of Christian doctrine and work, we have two volumes on the philosophies of the East.

Sir William Hunter, as we have seen, had begun a comprehensive history of India. A standard work of equal importance by Professor Max MUller deals with Indian thought. This is The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy (Longmans). It is founded on the original texts, on which Professor Max MtUler is our chief authority, and describes with great perspicuity and sympathy the intricate speculations of the Indian metaphysicians. Sir Alfred Ly all's Asiatic Studies : Religious and Social (Murray), though it touches other parts of the East and other subjects besides religion, is largely devoted to the theological problems arising from the contact of East and West in India, discussed in the spirit of an experienced Indian administrator.

Lastly, a word must be given to the book in which Mr. Lecky, the