SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as hare not been reserved for renew in other forms.] A History of the Church of Christ. By Herbert Kelly. Vol. II., 324-430 A.D. (Longmans and Co. 35. 6d.)—This is a very thoughtful book, closely reasomed and full of insight. We do not know where a more lucid account of the important movements and crises in the Christian Church could be found, or where its great men—and the period included in the volume is emphatically the age of great men—are more intelligently and impartially estimated. We cannot always accept Mr. Kelly's judgments ; he concedes too much, for instance, to monasticism. But, on the whole, we find him a most instructive and enlightening writer. The survey of the " Roman Question," which assumed in the hands of Damasus,
Anastasius, and Innocent I., whose pontificates fall in this period, a serious development, is very good. So, indeed, is the -whole treatment of Augustine. We cannot help saying that what is said about the death of Arius (p. 68) is an exception to the general tone of Mr. Kelly's remarks. It is perilous to say of any- man that the hand of God smote him."
Previous page
