The Dawn of All. By Father Benson. (Hutchinson and Co.)
—Father Benson has achieved the feat of producing a book which literally does not contain a single woman's character. One or two women appear for brief moments, and in secondary positions, but otherwise the population inhabiting the world of sixty years hence, of which his story is a prophecy, is apparently composed entirely of men, and almost all these men are Roman Catholic priests. As usual Father Benson starts with the assumption, which is extremely offensive to Protestant readers, that Christianity and Roman Catholicism are synonymous terms, and that every step of progress which the world takes towards spiritu- ality must be taken also in the direction of a universal Roman Catholic Church. This is an assumption which, besides being offen- sive to Protestant readers, is entirely absurd, and it therefore needs all Father Benson's art to make them take an interest in his latest story. The plot is chiefly concerned with the struggle between the few remaining atheists, who are Socialists, and the all-em- bracing, all-powerful Church. The Church, it may be incidentally stated, does not show herself in very attractive colours, and the execution of a most excellent young priest for heresy will not inspire confidence in Protestant breasts as to her methods. The only dramatic scene in the book, that in which the Pope him- self comes to argue with the Socialists who are holding Berlin, is well managed, but judged as a work of fiction the story is not successful. There is not a single character in it which is the least sympathetic.
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