The Inner Way : Sermons of John Tauter. Edited by
A. W. Hutton, MA. (Methuen and Co. 2s.)—Here is another volume of "The Library of Devotion" to which serious objection may be made. The "Guide to Eternity" of Cardinal Bona contained much that was unacceptable to a loyal Anglican, and the same may be said of the volume now before us. The editor practically concedes as much. "He [Tauler] was a Dominican friar of the fourteenth century, and held all the beliefs of his age and of his Church without any trace of reserve." And he explains his own object as having been "to present these sermons of Tattler's in such a form as may aid towards a more accurate historical appre- ciation of the man and his teaching." That is a good object—in its place. But the place is not "a library of devotion." Such considerations are wholly alien to the mood which such books ought to suit. These two volumes are a mistake, and it is hardly fair to include in an advertisement, under the healing of" Soms Opinions of 'The Library of Devotion," words of praise which would not have been used of the series as it now stands. What may be said of "The Serious Call," "St. Augustine's Confession," "The Temple," and "The Christian Year" does not apply to such a volume as this. Let any one look at the sermon (VII.) "Our Lady's Candle-Mass," or take this specimen of practical teaching :—" Thou must do as one of the old Fathers did, who dwelt in a wood. His own brother came to him and said : 'Dear brother, I am in great distress; a cart of mine, laden with goods, has fallen into the water; help me to drag it out. The old Father replied : ' Go and ask that brother, who still dwells in the world, for help. Why comest thou to me ? ' Then the man said: 'That brother has been d-'ad a whole year.' Then said the old man : So have I been dead for twenty years.' And then he dismissed him and troubled himself no more." If this is devotion, the leas we have of it the better.
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