A Worthy Offering
Speculum Religion's : Being Essays and Studies in Religion and Literature from Plato to Von Bilge. With an Intro- duction by F. C. Burkitt, F.B.A. Presented by members of the Staff of University College, Southampton, to their President, Claude C. Montefiore, D.D., D.Litt. (Oxford University Press. 21s.) THERE is a peculiar fitness in the form taken by this tribute offered to Dr. Claude Montefiore on his seventieth birthday by members of the University over which he presides. The variety of the subjects which are here examined in the glass of faith, the breadth of sympathy with which they are treated, yet the harmonious impression of scholarship imbued with spirituality which is given by the book as a whole— all these are appropriate to the nobly rich and tolerant outlook of this great Jewish student and lover of religion. Opening with Professor Burkitt's delightful appreciation of Dr. Montefiore's personality and work, and closing with Professor Albert Cock's important study of the thought of his great friend Baron von Hugel, the fine mixed feeding which is pro- vided for us includes such well-contrasted dishes as Mr. Dyson's essay on " Orphism and the Platonic Philosophy," Professor E. W. Patchett's study of " Pascal and Scepticism," and Professor Rae Sherriff's expert and somewhat horrifying investigation of the " Entomology of the Bible "—a ruthless irruption of brute fact, which does not spare us awful examples drawn from the more intimate experiences of the War.
A paper of special interest to students both of English literature and of religious thought is Professor V. de Sola Pinto's account of Peter Sterry, Puritan, Platonist and Mystic." One of the least known, yet one of the most attractive of the Christian Platonists of the seventeenth century, Sterry has a far better right than some of his more eminent contemporaries to a place among the genuine mystics. There is also a simple freshness in his expression which is often extremely winning, as when he calls that apex " of the soul which is the organ of mystic contemplation the " spire-top of the spirit," or speaks of having " delightfully lost myself by drinking n eagerly this Wine of Angels and Glorified Saints." There are certain elements in Sterry's thought which seem to anticipate Blake ; and it is possible that we must include some influence derived from him in the cultural background which—as we are now beginning to realize—conditioned the development of Blake's genius.
The many devoted students of Baron von Hiigel's work will turn with eagerness to Professor Cock's essay. Though we have still to wait for that full and critical estimate which will analyse his thought, and give him his definite place among the great philosophers of religion, there is much here for which we must be grateful. Especially valuable is the reminder that his vast intellectual sweep only repre- sented one side of the Baron's greatness. Important as his permanent contribution to thought will certainly turn out to be, in dwelling on this we must never forget that, " tried by suffering and acquainted with grief, he became the healer of souls that we knew." But those who realize this most fully will find it somewhat hard to bear the Pro- fessor's suggestion that Von Hfigel had something to learn, c.g., from Francis Thompson's poems : a comparison which seems to do less than justice to the massive and prophetic character of his spirituality, and slurs the fundamental distinction between the mystic and the mystical poet.
EVELYN UNDEann.L.
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