876 Book Review -mteratur Book Revie' .r -£itcratuf An books reviewed in this periodical may be procured from or through Concordia Publishing House, 3558 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, Mo. Simple Talks on the Tabernacle. By D. H. Dolman. Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. 228 pages, 51f2X7%. Price, $1.50. Dr. Dolman, who took great interest in teaching Jewish young men the way of salvation, is a fundamentalist and holds to many truths now denied by liberals. Yet in presenting these Scriptural truths the author too frequently adopts a mode of interpretation not in keeping with sound Scriptural hermeneutics. We believe all that the Scripture passages concerning the tabernacle tell us, but where does Scripture tell us that the "badger's skin speaks to us of a Savior who emptied Himself of His glory and took the form of a servant (Phil. 2: 7), of One who had come 'not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to give His life a ranBom for many' (Matt. 20: 28). It speaks of a high priest who on the day of atonement put aside His garment of glory and put on the linen coat (Lev. 16: 4). It speaks of the Son of man, who less than foxes and birds, had not where to lay His head (Luke 9: 58)" (p.153). And where is warrant for the meaning of the five bars uf acacia wood holding together the boards of the tabernacle as explained by Dolman: "Five bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold, fastened in staples of gold, held the twenty boards on each side closely and firmly together. . .. These bars together with the silver sockets helped to bear the boards up and keep them from falling down. The lowest bar joining God's children together reminds us that God's children all over the world have all the word of God as food for their souls. . .. The second bar tells us that united prayer joins God's children together. . .. The third bar tells us that there is one bread we break, one table spread for us. . .. The next bar tells us there is still another bond that joins God's children together (universal prayer). . .. The fifth bar joins the boards from the inside and goes through the midst of the wood. When one goes to different churches, one often hears the complaint that there is so little brotherly love. We need not be surprised at it; the middle bar is lacking" (p.124 f.). With regard to the symbolism of the Temple and its service there are many lessons taught by Scripture and lessons of sufficient importance to fill many a book. Yet we must be on our guard against proffering our own fancies and imaginations as lessons intended by the Holy Spirit and insisting that Scripture teaches what we surmise or imagine. That is opening the door wide to human interpretations and fantastic additions. That is twisting and garbling the words of Scripture and slowly but surely undermining the authority and clarity of the Bible. In interpreting Scripture let us not read into anyone passage our own thoughts, though they may be taught elsewhere in Scripture. Book Review - ~ i t e t c l t u r 877 Let us rather be satisfied with what Scripture actually states in the passage under consideration, what the words actually say and express. Only then can we truthfully assert: Thus saith the Lord! TH. LAETSCH Behind the Opened Hedge. By E. H. Tanis. Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. 114 pp., 5X7%. Price, $1.00. The author, a pastor of the Refonned Church, offers twenty-five meditations on the Book of Job. The discerning pastor will find many an apt remark and many a suitable illustration which he may use in his sennon work. His exposition of Job 19 and 33 in Chapters 16 and 23 does not at all satisfy. Both Job and Elihu knew more than the author seems willing to concede. Both knew of the promised Woman's Seed in whom Job rejoiced as his Redeemer and Deliverer, and not merely his vindicator (p. 77), and whom Elihu has in mind when he endeavors to comfort Job, 33: 23-28. TH. LAETscH Along the Highway of Prayer. By Mrs. A. T. Robertson. Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. 73 pages, 51f4x7lt'z. Price, 35 cents. The author is the widow of the well-known Baptist theologian Prof. A. T. Robertson, who for many years taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary of Louisville, Ky. In thirteen chapters she briefly writes on prayers of spiritual struggles, intercession, thanksgiving, confidence and praise, war, dedications, confession, on answered and unanswered prayers, prayers of Jesus, the early Church, and Paul's prayers. Her brief notes frequently throw an illuminating light on the passage treated and bespeak a Christian woman of wide and varied Christian experience. I do not believe that "only the greatest in the Old Testament realized the tender love of God which the New Testament teaches us all." (P.54.) While they did not realize the fullness of God's love in the measure revealed in the New Testament, all believing children of God in the Old Testament gratefully realized His love evidenced in His many material and spiritual benefits. It was not Peter's prayer that took him "through such a wall of prejudice," but the heavenly vision, Acts 10, and the experience at Caesarea. As an example of the style we append the following paragraph from "Paul's Prayers for the Churches": "The church at Philippi was especially dear to Paul. They alone shared his missionary enthusiasm, and it kept them sound and sweet. He wrote to them with joy and exultation. But Euodias and Syntyche, both great workers, would not work together and spoiled the happiness of the church life. The bondage of the law, the grossness of heathenism, the buzzing isms,these disturbed the early Christians, and the devil besides. They seem remarkably like us. Yet to them was entrusted the Gospel, and to them were written the marvelous letters of Paul and the rest. If they were 'called to be saints,' can't we be saints, too?" (P.71.) TH. LAETSCH On Paths of Destiny (127 pages) and On Sandals of Peace (133 pages). Published by Concordia Publishing House. Price, each, 25 cents. These are the first two books (the Rev. G. Mahler, author) prepared under the auspices of Synod and supported by the International Walther 878 Book Review -£itetatut League for the purpose of aiding pastors and congregations in establishing an intelligent mission study program in their circles. On Sandals of Peace covers the missionary theme as presented in the Old and New Testaments of Holy Scripture. On Paths of Destiny undertakes a sketch of the heathen world and shows the need of missionary work. In both volumes the method of presenting the material is unique. While it is true that the books are written chiefly for the young people of the Church, the style is so vivid and gripping that the members of the upper school grades will not find them too difficult, and adults will discover that they are not too juvenile for their own reading and study. The author has sufficiently demonstrated in these volumes that the study of missions need not be a dry and tedious process, but can be done with keen enjoyment. We earnestly recommend these books to our pastors and hope that throughout our Church they may help to establish and build up a zeal for, and interest in, missions among old and young, so that we as a group may be ready and willing to do our part in the expansion of the Church after the present war comes to its God-ordained end. W. G. POLACK Romance of Woman Hymn-Writers. By F. W. Pitt. Published by Fundamental Truth Publishers, Findlay, Ohio. 96 pages. $1.00. Mr. Pitt is one of the chief leaders in the Advent Testimony and Preparation Movement in England and was for some years editor of its official organ, The Advent ·Witness. In his introduction the author rnakes the statement: "The Latin fathers wrote some grand hymns, while the Latin mothers remained silent, nor can I find the record of any woman writer of hymns for nearly eighteen hundred years after the Church was formed, nor indeed since the world began." We cannot imagine that the author never heard of the Virgin Mary's Magnificat. for, of course, he did, but in his effort to prove that when women finally began to write hymns they outstripped men, he maintains that the Magnificat was not written for others to sing. Is that not true of many hymns and yet they were later sung the world over? And, as is so often the case with English writers, he evidently did not carefully scrutinize the hymn writers of the European continent. In the seventeenth century we have Ludfunilie Elizabeth, Countess of Schwarzburg, author of the fine hymn "Jesus, Jesus, Only Jesus," and her cousin Kmilie Juliane, Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, author of the well-known hymns "The Lord hath Helped Me Hitherto" and "Who Knows When Death may Overtake Me?" Also, in the same century there was Anna Sophia of HesseDarmstadt, among whose hymns is "Speak, 0 Lord, Thy Servant Heareth," which is still popular today. In the sixteenth century we have Elizabeth Creutziger, whose Christmas hymn "Herr Christ, der einig' Gott's Sohn" was first published in Eyn Enchiridion, Erfurt, 1524. In French hymnody we have in the seventeenth century the Cantiques Spirituels of Mme. Guyon, which Mr. Pitt might have become acquainted with in English since Wm. Cowper translated them quite some time ago. Mr. Pitt can therefore hardly expect us to agree with his next statement: "The silence of women singers was at last broken by Miss Annie Steele." Mr. Pitt's list of women hymn writers includes such well-known 880 Book Review -s:!itcrutur with Church Property; Part Four, with Special Pastoral Activities, the latter including Marriage, pp. 161-184; Copyright, pp. 185-193; and Wills, pp. 194---214. A five-page double-column index increases the value of the book. No pastor will regret spending $2 for this book. TH. LAETsCH Curriculum in Christian Citizenship for Lutheran Schools. By Herbert Gross. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. 18 pages, 8ljz x10ljz. Price, 25 cents. This pamphlet is a worthy successor to the other monographs issued by the Curriculum Committee, which have definitely proved their worth in our Lutheran parish schools. The author's mastery of his subject is apparent on every page, and the best recommendation of the pamphlet is the fact that it teaches Christian citizenship. The suggestions will not only serve our Lutheran teachers and school-teaching pastors, but will prove of great value in any course of topics or any individual talk on Christian ethics. The book deserves to be widely disseminated and carefully studied. P. E. KRETZMANN BOOKS "RECEIVED From Zondervan PubLishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich,: In Quest of the Best. By Porter M. Bailes. 131 pages, 5%X71,k. Price: $1.00. Practical Proverbs for Everyday Christian Living. By C. Gordon Brownville. 113 pages, 51/4 X 71,k. Price, $1.00. This Critical Hour. And Other Heart-Searching Sennons. By Robert G. Lee. 146 pages, 5 % X 7 I , ~ . Price, $1.00. Why Believe? Sennons to Establish Faith. By Wi! R. Johnson, D. D. 141 pages, 5%>(7%. Price, $1.00. Life's Supreme Decision as Revealed in the Strangest Book in the World. By C. E. Matthews. 127 pages, 5V4X7ljz. Price, $1.00. From FLeming H. ReveLl Company, New York, L0'ndon, and Edinburgh: The Romance of Evangelism. By Roland Q. Leavell. 95 pages, 5X7V2. Price, $1.00. Intermediates' Worship Programs. Compiled and Edited by Mary Elizabeth Past. 205 pages, 5lj2 X 8. Price, $2.00. From Harper and Brothers, New York and London: Meditations for Days and Seasons. By M. K. W. Heicher. 271 pages, 5% X 81;'4. Price, $2.50. From Concordia PubLishing House, St. Louis, Mo.: The TrebaIto Collection. Two-part and Three-part Choir Numbers. No. 114: Service Selections. By J. C. Wohlfeil. 16 pages, 7X10. Price, 60 cents.