Religious Genius. By L. S. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6e.)— This
book is in reality a treatise upon the imMense difficulty of maintaining a proper equipoise between the spiritual and the practical in matters of religion. "L. S." considers religious genius to be a gift analogous to all other kinds of genius, something which cannot be attained by taking pains, "a quality or kind of power rather than a degree of it." Some persons possess, as he truly says, a "spiritual vision," a "God-consciousness and realisation" which is denied to others. Religious genius has, he believes—and, we think, proves—a power of begetting religious genius,—a theory by which he accounts for the difficult pheno- mena of conversion. "L. S." does not, we gather, regard the gift as at all rare. "Its office is to fit specially and speedily the recipient as a leader and pioneer in the domain of religion." The latter half of the book is taken up in pointing out the terrible snares which lie in the path of the man of religious genius, and in suggesting methods by which the gift may be put to the best use,—" the true romance which the world exists to realise will be the transformation of genius into practical power." To sum up, the book before us is an interesting, but somewhat visionary, piece of work.
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