New Publications [pp. 420-432]

New Publications.
and we remember noticing one decidedly anti-Catholic note, but these
slight faults may be pardoned in a
work of such great excellence and
value. We have had no time as yet
to collate any portion of the translation of the two new volumes before us with the original text. The
quality of the translation of the
preceding volumes, however, is a
fair guarantee for the fidelity and
elegance of the present one. The
scholarship and reputation of the
editors are a sufficient security that
they will spare no pains to do their
work well, and the works of St.
Augustine afford very little room
for any serious mistakes in regard
to his real meaning. It is in the interpretation of his meaning and deduction from his principles that
there is room for error, and that
the grossest heresies have been
manufactured by Lutherans, Calvinists, and Jansenists from a perk
version of his doctrines on original
sin, grace, and free-will. These heresies are now very unpopular and
not at all dangerous. In respect to
the constitutive principles of the
Catholic Church, as opposed to
every species of Protestantism,
there is no room for mistaking or
perverting the doctrine of St. Augustine. We cannot think of any
way of convincing educated persons in England and the United
States of the identity of the modern with the ancient Catholic
Church more efficaciously than that
of giving them the chance to read
extensively in the works of the
great Doctor through the medium
of a good translation. We are rejoiced, therefore, that English scholars should engage in this work and
in those of a similar kind. The
quantity of pure Catholic literature
thus disseminated by Protestants
and among Protestants in England,
and to some extent in America also,
is truly inspiring. The republication of choice specimens of old English literature by an antiquarian
society in London, the translation
of the Venerable Bede's History, the
abbreviated Lives of tle Saints from
the Bollandists, and other books of
the same character which are multiplying with an inconceivable rapidity, show what an avidity the English palate is acquiring for this
most wholesome and pleasant medicine. The editors frequently seek
to counteract the effect which their
inward misgiving warns them these
books must produce, by remarks of
their own in notes and prefaces, for
which their readers will care but
little. Sometimes they avoid almost or altogether this futile procedure, and provide the Catholic
reader with a valuable book in English which is a considerable accession to his library, and is free from
anything which can offend his eyes
-a service for which they have our
sincere thanks. The volumes which
are at present under notice are not,
we regret to say, unexceptionable
in this respect. The Preface to the
anti-Pelagian works speaks in a
very inexact and misleading manner upon the supposed differences
of the Eastern and Western theology, upon the judgments of the Pope
in the case of Pelagius, and the relation of the teaching of St. Augustine to Protestant doctrine. The
very meagre sketch of the Donatist schism prefixed to Vol. III. is
long enough, nevertheless, to permit the author to indulge in the
only amusement which can make an
English Protestant perfectly happy,
and to get off the little squib he always carries in his pocket, "the
despotic intolerance of the Papacy,
and the horrors of the Inquisition."
A Catholic scholar cares nothing
for the flippant and superficial cavils
and sneers of theological amateurs
who venture to criticise and judge
the Fathers, the Popes, and the
church of God. But he does not
like to have a book in his library
which has such blots on it. The
editors may say that they consult
the tastes and convenience of Protestants and not of Catholics. Very
well. It is convenient. however
for Catholics to have certain works
424