New Publications [pp. 420-432]

New Publications.
reading than this. Equally instructive and entertaining, its perusal
cannot prove otherwise than acceptable to those for whose especial
benefit it is published. It is admirably adapted for a premium, and
we hope that in the coming distributions it will occupy that prominent placewhich its intrinsic merits
deserve. It is a handsome volume
of over 200 pages, got up in that
style which "The Publication Society" was the first to introduce-a
style of mechanical excellence and
simple elegance.
VIA CRUCIS; or, The Way of the Cross.
Translated from the German of the
Rev. Dr. Veith, Preacher of St. Ste phen's Cathedral, Vienna. By the
Very Rev. Theodore Noethen. Bos ton: Patrick Donahoe. 1872.
Did any one ever see a book on
the Passion of Christ and not wish
to buy it? The very title appeals
to the heart. It is because we
would go on for ever trying —but in
vain-to sound the depths of that
fathomless ocean of divine love and
mercy.
We cannot have too many books
on this great theme, that there may
be some adapted to every cast of
mind: now emotional, again embodying every tender legend and
the pious imaginings of saintly
hearts, or full of profound reflections on the great scheme of salvation through the sufferings of our
Lord. Every person should have
at least one such book in which to
bathe his world-weary soul from
time to time. In these days, when
ease, luxury, and self-indulgence of
every kind seem to be the great aim
of life, the image of the Divine
Sufferer cannot be too constantly
presented to the mind, with its lesson of mortification and self-crucifixion.
Protestants often say the Blessed
Virgin has been made by Catholics
to supersede our Lord in the economy of grace. Let such read this
book, and see on whom we rely for
salvation, and how Christ and him
crucified is preached in all the purity of the Gospel in the great Catholic centre of Vienna.
This book is the last of a series
of works on the Passion which
have already been noticed in our
columns. The author being now
blind, it was dictated to his amanuensis. Under such circumstances,
his great familiarity with the Holy
Scriptures is the more striking,
showing that a knowledge of the
sacred volume is not quite a Protestant monopoly.
A calm, dignified, thoughtful tone
pervades the whole volume. The
piety is not strained; it is elevated,
but not exalt6e; there is no false
sentiment, nothing to offend the
most fastidious taste. A few quotations will give an idea of the
author's style and suggestiveness:
"He who lives within and for himself,
who only makes use of others for the
sake of adding to his own pleasure, is
ignorant of the first principle of charity
or of true life, which cannot be obtained
without sacrifice and without entering
morally into communion with thee.
"It is by no means necessary that true
humility must spring forth from the consciousness of guilt, like a flower whose
root grows only in the mire; its true
foundation is the acknowledgment of the
relation in which spiritual beings find
themselves to their Creator, Lord, and
gracious Ruler.
"Whether or not my bodily life shall
one day bloom again in the transfigured
state of happiness, will depend upon my
moral fidelity, which keeps my spirit,
while on earth, in thy holy grace.
"Fall not into the common error of
imagining that a negative state of existence is compatible with the duties of a
Christian."
"This narrow gate, which alone leads
to true life, but which many do not wish
to enter because they shun the work of
self-denial and privation, what is it but
the entrance into the communion of thy
death and life-into thy grave!"
This work was intended particularly for Lent, but is suited to any
season. As the church, on the
most joyful of festivals, never fails
to show forth the Lord's death at
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