J Allen DD

Our Own Will J Allen DD

THIS little book, which we have read with much interest and attention, seems to us to supply a great want, and we therefore wish it a large circulation. Though written chiefly for Religious, and those who aspire to the perfect life, it is full of plain and practical lessons for all who are in earnest in the service of God. There are books almost innumerable on the state of perfection written from the earliest days, when Christians abandoned the world to serve God in all simplicity under the direction of a Rule of life sanctioned by the Church, down to the present time; yet there are few comparatively suited for the English-speaking public. The style of those we possess, translated from the languages of continental Europe, is often too exalted, or it may be too polished and refined, to satisfy the demands of a healthy appetite, and the grain of sound teaching is generally so much involved in sweet phraseology and gilded sentitnent, carefully elaborated, no doubt, so as not to shock the delicate taste, that it passes through the mind with. out salutary fruit. The book before us is free from these defects. The author, like a good physician, having made a satisfactory diagnosis of a serious evil that affects many earnest souls, applies himself with a skill and determination that recognize no mere foolish sentiment to root it out effectually. No one can follow him in his simple and plain analysis of the symptoms that is not impressed with the conviction that he has made the study of the will a subject of long and careful consideration. His attention is never diverted by trifles from the object of his pursuit. He sees it in all its deformity and probable results. In watching with what ease he flings aside the poor disguises which so frequently deceive the afflicted patient, one is often urged to exclaim, -how true! how unmistakable! and so is prepared to admire without a murmur the stern treatment