Paterson Si Lia NEP Dou. Hoddet ahd Stoughton Anyone acquainted with the works of Archdeacon Paterson Smyth must. feel a thrill of anticipation upon opening a new book by him. He possesses the gift of pictorial think-4ng, combined with the simplicity of the true artist, He has a faith that is refreshing in these days. rer when faith had fallen asleep, ad n voice ae Nambied the godless Seep warmth within the breast Ws it Ana ikeda ivan im wealthy Ue heart, The freezing reason's colder part, Stood up and answered, "i have felt."
And as Tennyson on another occasion wrote "the cardinal point of 'Christianity is the life after death" 0 has Dr, Paterson Smyth the same message to 'The Bishop, of London, revi "Phe Gospel' of the Hereafter" said "For the frst tine it makes the life beyond the The lite after death Is in truth "the cardinal point" of Dr. Paterson Smyth's teaching, and he ap-Proaches the subject with so deep a faith and 90 sympathetic an out-Took that he has a sure message of hope and joy for any who, like Himself, have known the agony of reavement, His, latest book is collection of addresses, typical of his writing. The tite is taken from the frat thee, Here he deals with the and fect of married ite' with, much understanding and insight that it is a dlsnppointnent to find that the next chapter is a separate study, He gives some very practical hints dow tore nay be peseated Semain through the years larried tte, tht the dullness which often follows the first beauty and romance ("The marriage custom of te ace a sheet boy essay, "was to have one wife, which commonly. ened monotony, Thay "never" be experienced, and put them into use, he gets to the root of the matter. "These are merely superficial suggestions.
If you want the best the secret li ceper down...... The secret of the happy married life is this: Keo Godin it, keep religion in it." He sees thatin these days of carole ness he is expecting rather a lot from the ordinary young people of today, amongst whom. it isthe fashion to fight shy of religion, but ina single sentence he shows' how ronianee and love can be kept into eternity where God is: "Just two children walking through life with the consciousness of the Father's Presence." To any married couple who. are beginning to find. the Tomance of life wearing a little thin, this short study should be-of {nottimable valu We paso on to a sermon preached to boys, It may be that the world of boyhood is very different. from that of manhood, but Dr. Paterson Smyth is able to enter it as though he still belonged there. One would have liked to have been present when this address was given, It is typical of the author. Anyone familiar with his "A. People's Life of Christ" will remember the same quotation from Longfellov the similar description of Christ turn to "the dull life of the vil home and the village school" count of the boys' Crusade in the: Middle Ages, told here at greater' Jength than in his "Life of Christ," where less than four lines were given to it, The address ends "the cardinal point of Christianity,"
aleo does the study on marriage. "For the boys who are Christ's faithful soldiers and servants here shall continue that service in joyous, untiring youth in the great land beyond." "We find it again in an address on the Rock of Ages—"Death becomes the loveliest revelation in the whole Christian exper'- nee," and on the Riddle of Life: "Go' out with God into the bound Jess romance of life in the here after." In another we read of tiny of unutterable nobleness and ty." One study is given up to liseussion of "it, a chapter re~ minis cent of one of his "Myself and other problems," recalling als. memories of his "Life of Christ," when he is writing of Dives and Lazarus, and of Christ and the Benitent' thief, It is a good thing that in his sermons Dr. Paterson. Smyth is not ashamed to make use of his own works. In addition to examples already given he repeats quotation from Kant which he had used in "Myself and other problems," he makes use of the "noblesse oblige" appeal which wo} find in the memories of the Jerusalem road, he speaks of the promise of the Messiah "running down through the web of prophecy like a golden thread," a simi so full-of colour that the reader expects to find the same colour in his sermons, and should the design appear similar in places, there is, no cause for complaint. Thus to point out the similarity of design is a compliment rather than an adverse criticism, for it shows the Insting impression that his writings upon the reader.
There is one strikingly original address, in which the thought is that of "humanity feeling the urge of hereditary instincts coming down through the ages from its first ancestor—God" even as the young: wolf dog harked back to his far-off ancestry. in Jack London's well Known story. We have here a striking example of his simple faith. There are no arguments as to the theories of the origin of man. In a few short sentences he refers to the proofs from the Bible, and Teaving it at that, proceeds with his thesis.
In all there are eleven addresses, easy to read, easy to understand. One feels that here is an author and preacher who practices "the presence of God." He makes an appeal to the heart that there is no gainsaying. It is only a small book of 218 pages, but it should help to the building of character "for the eternal Heavens."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.