veriest mythology; and the marvelous predictions attributed to the pagan prophetesses have no basis but credulity. It is true the Sibylline Oracles contain descriptions of Jewish and Christian belief, which would be truly miraculous if written by priestesses of Apollo centuries before Christ. It is true, also, that some of the Fathers, notably Lactantius, Justin, and Augustine, laid great stress upon the apologetic value of the Oracles, and considered them divinely inspired. But the whole fabric of miracle tumbles to pieces when we remember that critical study has proved that some Alexandrian Jews wrote the oracles concerning Judaism, and some Christian hand composed the Sibylline accounts of Christ and Christianity.

This elementary piece of information seems never to have come within the consciousness of the author of this volume. As for the Fathers, all we can say is they were grossly deceived. However it happened that so manifest an imposture could have deluded men like Augustine and Justin, the fact remains that it did delude them. There are a few classic instances of credulity in the pages of the Fathers, of which the Phoenix fable is the most amazing, with the belief in the Sibyls a fairly good second.

If any student wishes to investigate the extremely attractive subject of the Sibyls, we advise him to study scientific sources, such as Gförer, Hilgenfeld, Geffcken, and Kautzsch.

When Lyman Abbott's book on THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. the ministry touches upon mat

By Abbott.

ters of doctrine, the Catholic reader naturally finds it insufficient and censurable. Particularly in defining the nature of authority, Dr. Abbott seems to fall into the prevalent but mischievous notion that an authoritative church puts some obstacle between the soul and God; whereas a free church leaves the human spirit full liberty to commune with its Creator directly and simply. The function of authority and organization is simply to preserve us from vagaries, and to treasure up for our benefit the manifold spiritual experiences of past ages, not to check true growth, true liberty, or true piety. The distinction between authority and non-authority is not where Dr. *The Christian Ministry. By Lyman Abbott. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

Abbott seems chiefly to put it. But when the author describes the moral and spiritual qualifications of the preacher of the Gospel, he has some very noble and inspiring pages. His plea for sincerity, simplicity, and courage; his sharp censure for weak, cowardly, stilted, or sensational preaching; his exhortations to go back to Christ, until, by meditating on his allperfect character, the preacher of the Divine Word shall touch his lips to the divine fire; his insistence on robust manhood as a foundation for a public ministry-are all finely conceived and vigorously expressed, and perhaps will be found useful and helpful by priests themselves.

SERMONS.

By Father Phelan.

A criticism frequently urged against many volumes of written sermons is that the discourses are too vague, abstract, and bookish; that they seem to have been composed without any reference to the needs of the congregations for whose benefit, presumably, they are ultimately intended. They read like monologues or meditations, in which the regular rythmical return of my dear brethren fails to give them the semblance of living thoughts addressed to concrete men and women. The sermons of this volume are not open to this stricture. Take any page in it at random, and before you will have read very far, however sluggish your imagination may be, you cannot help fancying that you are listening to a strong, energetic preacher, fluent of tongue and liberal of gesture, addressing a representative American congregation, whose virtues and faults, needs and temptations, he knows with the knowledge that has come from personal acquaintance. He takes the Gospel of the Sunday, as authoritative tradition recommends, for his text. But he has no intention of confining himself to the limitations which convention has thrown around the treatment of the subject. He extracts from the narrative some precise, practical lesson that will find its application in the life and circumstances of the people whom he addresses.

In thought and language Father Phelan is plain and clear. The important point of instruction or exhortation is so explicitly stated, and repeated, that nobody can miss, or forget

*Christ; the Preacher. Sermons for every Sunday in the Ecclesiastical Year. By Rev. D. S. Phelan, St. Lous, Mo.: B. Herder.

it. Ample illustration and argument, of a kind suited to interest and arrest the attention of an American congregation, are liberally employed. There may be, at first sight, an absence of division, and a seeming want of unity in some of the sermons; but division is only a means towards keeping the central thought of the sermon well in view, and this Father Phelan manages to do in his own way. If he does seem, occasionally, to indulge in irrelevant digression, one finds that he is but approaching his theme from another direction. Judged by the canons applicable to literary composition, the volume. might not claim a very high place; nor would every incidental statement pass unscathed the ordeal of theological and historical criticism. But solid, practical instruction, not literature or dialectics, is Father Phelan's aim.

Occasional irrelevance or redundancy, a not infrequent overemphasis of merely personal opinion, may be justified on the grounds that they serve to add a flavor of piquancy to the main subject, and to sustain the attention of the hearers. This is, probably, Father Phelan's motive when, relative to the miraculous cure of the deaf and dumb man, he indulges in a little disquisition on philology; or, again, when he awards the palm for the most perfect observance of evangelical poverty to a body whose claim to pre-eminence in this respect has seldom been advanced so uncompromisingly as it is in the following passage: "There is, to day, only one order that observes fully the vow of poverty; and that is the noble, apostolic order of parish priests. They have nothing that they do not receive from the people, and what they get from the people is given them for good value received. I say parish priests; because they are the only ones who depend entirely on the people, as it is chiefly they who continue the life, office, and spirit of Jesus Christ. The parish priest is about the only man to-day who must accept Jesus Christ as the portion of his inheritance. He is the only man on earth, today, for whose maintenance there is absolutely no provision. He must support the Church, and keep it in proper repair. He must support the charities of the parish. He must support the poor within his jurisdiction; and woe to him if any man goes from his door hungry. He must support the bishop and his assistant clergy. Assistants must receive their salaries. But where is he to receive his salary? Whither does he turn

He has no pay

on pay day? There is no pay day for him. master." It must be said, in fairness, that there are not many

freaks of this kind in the book.

FIFTY YEARS OF JESUITS
IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Even a very meagre knowledge of the history of the development of religion in the city of San Francisco would persuade one, that among

the most important elements in that development was the work done by the Jesuit Fathers of St. Ignatius' Church. The Golden Jubilee of their coming to San Francisco has recently been celebrated and on the occasion a memorial volume, full of illustrations, was issued. It is replete also with good material for the future historian of the Church on the Pacific Coast.

While the chronicle is well written, still it does not give an adequate estimate of the influence of the Jesuits on the city. of San Francisco. Perhaps it is just as well that this estimate comes from one outside of the Society.

The very conservative judgment of such a one places the Jesuits in the front ranks of Church influence on the Pacific Coast. Their church and college date from the time when San Francisco was only a frontier town with scarcely an organized government

Archbishop Alemany at that time bade Father Maraschi to go "anywhere over there," at the same time indicating with a sweep of his hand the range of sand hills that surrounded the little settlement of gold seekers. A location was selected, that meant in pioneer days grading the hills and filling the valleys. This same locality had to be abandoned twenty years later, because of the encroachments of city activities.

To-day there is probably nowhere in the country an ecclesiastical establishment so splendidly equipped as the one under the control of the Jesuits in San Francisco. It represents an outlay of probably $2,000,000, and it is out of debt.

This is the material side; but what of the spiritual work of these fifty years? Needless to say, these Jesuits have been a band of devoted men. Their Church has been always crowded with worshippers; their confessionals constantly besieged by penitents; and their zeal has asserted itself in every channel

The First Half Century of St. Ignatius' Church and College. By Joseph W. Riordan, S.J. San Francisco, Cal.

of spiritual activity. Their college has been a centre of educational influence among the young men of the city. The religious communities of women throughout the city have relied on them almost entirely for training in the spiritual life. The extra work of the diocese, such as the visitation of prisons, industrial schools, and asylums, has fallen largely to them. In these and many other avenues of missionary activity they were the most efficient helpers of the Archbishop.

The Fathers themselves were associated with the Turin province, and were for the most part Italians. The names of Fathers Maraschi and Accolti and Burchard and Congiato and Varsi, and a score of others, were household names to the older generation of San Franciscans. Their work remains as a monument of their zeal and devotion.

The Jesuits of San Francisco begin their second half century with a wonderfully complete plant. It remains for the newer generation to uphold the high standards of devotion and efficiency that have been left to them by their saintly prede

cessors.

CONVENT DAYS.
By Agnes Repplier.

It is impossible for us to renew our youth; but still it is in the power of genius to make the days of childhood live again. Miss

Repplier, in her latest volume,* has recalled the past years, and presented them with such living power that, in all the charm, the frankness, the mischievousness, and romance of childhood, they live again.

We who are old were delighted to be brought into such close association with young hearts and even though we never knew the heroines, we felt that we knew many who were like them; only that ours lacked something of the vivid imagination. and the romantic enthusiasm which warmed, sometimes overmuch, the young blood of the author's fellow-students.

The theme of the book is distinctly personal. It is Agnes Repplier's own convent days, and she returns to them with a love that, evidently, has only increased with time.

Everything has changed in the convent that I loved, and I am asked to believe that every change is for the better. I *In Our Convent Days. By Agnes Repplier. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.