_Adjamenta Oratoris Sacri, seu, Divisiones, Sententiae, et Documenta de
iis Christianae vitae veritatibus et officiis, quae frequentius e sacro
pulpito proponenda sunt_, collecta atque ordine digesta opera Francisci
Xaverii Schouppe, S.J. Brussels, Goemare, pp. 543. 1865.
From the materials here collected and prepared by Father Schouppe, the
preacher may build his discourse with ease and advantage. And yet, though
the materials are placed ready to his hand, the work will still be all his
own. The author does not undertake to supersede labour, but to lighten the
preacher’s fatigue by lending his friendly help. He supplies matter for
the discourse, he even traces the outline of its form, and then leaves to
the preacher himself the task of construction. In the opening pages he
addresses himself to the question, _how is a priest, especially a young
priest, to render himself a useful and even a perfect preacher of the Word
of God?_ In answer to this question, he touches in a masterly way on these
two points, 1. What is a preacher of the Gospel, and what is the
perfection that belongs to him? 2. By what process may a preacher attain
to this perfection? Part of this process consists, of course, in the
preparation of the sermon, and it is to facilitate this preparation that
the work before us has been compiled. The author reduces to fifty heads
the entire cycle of subjects suited for pastoral exhortation, embracing in
this number whatever can serve to bring the sinner to justification, to
guide him in the path of a Christian life, and to conduct him to Heaven.
He gives on each of these fifty subjects a treatise which is a marvel of
brevity and fulness. So judicious is the arrangement of the texts bearing
on the subject; so clear and full the statement of the case; so simple the
division of the arguments, that each of these little treatises makes the
reader complete master of the subject of which it treats. On the more
important subjects, and on those which require more frequent handling, the
author supplies many and different divisions or outlines of sermons, thus
guarding against the monotony that arises when a subject is presented
often under the same form. One other merit we would signalise in this
work. It deals with the wants, defects, and vices of the men of our own
times. The books of sermons which are to be found on the shelves of the
clergy generally belong to an extinct period; the exhortations they
contain are coloured by circumstances that have long ceased to exist.
Modern modes of thought, modern manners, modern literature, have given
rise to a peculiar class of temptations and of dangers, and as these
differ quite from those of a century ago, so also do they demand peculiar
treatment and special remedies.
Father Schouppe has not forgotten this, and takes care to grapple with the
difficulties that beset the Christian life of the nineteenth century. Two
indexes close the volume. One exhibits a general synopsis of the contents;
the other refers to the various passages whence materials may be drawn for
a sermon appropriate to the gospel of each Sunday and holiday in the year.
Both indexes enhance the practical value of this excellent book, which we
do not hesitate to call a real boon for the clergy.
_The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland._ By John P. Prendergast, Esq.
London: Longmans, 1865.
This is a valuable accession to Irish history. It gives an account of the
cruelties practised on our people in the Cromwellian Confiscations. It
confirms, from official sources, the painful details contained in Dr.
Moran’s lately published sketch of the persecutions of the Irish Catholics
in the seventeenth century. The Irish land question cannot be well
understood without the aid of Mr. Prendergast’s excellent book.