"Do you intend sending in your resignation, William? Was that your purpose when you spoke to the committee?"

"It was at the time, but I have reconsidered; and I think, my dear, it would be better for us to have a talk with your father before doing anything about the matter. He is a very sensible man and wise adviser."

"By all means. It was just what I wished, what I was going to say. Let us see father. But is it not time, William, to give up this folly? Don't you see what it leads to?"

I think," continued Mr. Fraser, "that, now he has had his fling, he'll settle down, and move quietly along in the good old way. The fact is, Nylesome, all our ministers to-day meddle too much with these questions which belong to us practical men. And I doubt whether you can get a better man than Merrivale for your church. They are all tainted. The younger they are, the worse they are."

Mr. Nylesome made no direct reply, but his silence was a sign of agreement. The conversation took another turn, a turn to business, and to other than ecclesiastical

Mr. Merrivale is still pastor of the

in it, that she knew it had ended.

The family of Mrs. Merrivale was of a much higher social position than that of her husband. Her father, Mr. Fraser, was a man of some influence in the city. He and Mr. Nylesome were old acquaintances. They had not seldom joined together in business transactions. And though Mr. Fraser, living in another part of the city and belonging to another denomination, could not attend his son-in-law's church, yet nothing was more natural than that he and Mr. Nylesome should often chat over the doings in and about the Church of Select Souls. When Mr. Fraser next called to see Mr. Nylesome at his office on High Street, the son-in-law's sins came up for discussion.

"And, by the way, Nylesome, I hear in a roundabout way that my son-in-law has of late been giving himself considerable trouble over the so-called wrongs of the poor."

"If he only troubled himself, Fraser, it might be all right; but he troubles the whole church,-the whole church."

"Very foolish, Nylesome. It seems to me he is throwing away great opportunities for good."

of old, the far-away order of sermons. Το him there is a land of pure delight far, far away. The further off he gets it, the better pleased is his congregation. But now and then the old thought takes up the matter, and carries it along the old line which once so troubled the pastor.

"I have a church. I have a people. I have a family. I have friends and luxuries. I have sons and a daughter. I have the love of a good woman. What more can I ask?"

And yet he does ask for more. question presents itself for an

"Have I done a true life's work?" Mr. Merrivale is still in doubt.

Ever the

answer:

LIBERAL AND PROGRESSIVE ORTHODOXY AND UNITARIANISM.

BY REV. W. H. FISH.

That liberal and progressive Orthodoxy keeps its churches more in unity and better attended and supported by being liberal and progressive, and that Unitarianism for that reason fails to draw from them as once,thus losing one staff of its former accom

"What do Butterthorne and Maxwell and the women say?

?"

servers. We lose, and they gain; but it is a loss and gain in which both churches can well rejoice, as the gain is for truth and

"I rather think from what I can gather, Nylesome, that Mr. Merrivale's eyes are at last opened to the folly of his late conduct.

numerically and financially. Some of the orthodox churches, however, have only grounded arms and decided upon a truce, holding the same or slightly modified

dogmas still, but thinking discretion the better part of valor now, and so by silence instead of belligerency hold their own, perhaps. They appear to see very clearly that the mass of their people, especially outside of the communion table, would not tolerate the preaching of the old and worst dogmas of the Westminster Catechism any sooner than Dr. Parkhurst or his Presbyterian sympathizers would; and it is plain enough that from the days of Channing the old Calvinistic and semi-Calvinistic dogmas have been put and kept in the way of the progressive evolution going on in all directions, and, as Dr. Channing said in his day even, that, if the stern Genevan were to reappear, "he would not own the doctrines dispensed as his, and indignantly bid his professed friends to go from him and join their real friend, Arminius," and even the milder form of eternal punishment is rarely heard now from any orthodox pulpits, not even as distinctively as "the endless consequences of sin" was preached by most American Unitarian ministers fifty years ago, though the English Unitarians were always "Restorationists," from Priestley and Fox and Estlin and Martineau; and, indeed, all the rest, though Channing vacillated between the destruction of what were called incorrigible sinners and their restoration, the ground occupied, or similar, it seems, by Dr. Lyman Abbott to-day. But the superiority of good over evil in the universe, and the final triumph of the good when "God will be all in all," is now probably the universal faith of Unitarians, as "the glorious gospel of the blessed God," the "good tidings of great joy" which Christ distinctively preached as the prelude of to-day and of the far-off period when

"Every winter will be changed to spring," and, as even Cowper once sang in one of his lucid and illuminated moments,

"All things once perfect,

All must be at length restored."

Its intended application, no doubt, to this world, "the millennium," but as applicable to all worlds and to the final destiny of mankind; but, as the lurid and torturing fires of hell have been put out by even the Calvinistic churches of to-day, and all outward arbitrary and vindictive punishments

repudiated, those churches have thus taken out a new lease of life, their preachers no longer teaching that sinners, and heretics especially, must either "turn or burn." Unitarians can very well be satisfied with even the change, though it does not help them denominationally, the progress indicated is so improving for the present and encouraging for the future. And, as within the last fifty years Calvinism in its most cruel and barbarous features has been driven from the pulpits or silenced, it will hardly take another half-century to drive it out of the Westminster Catechism and other kindred creeds. The tendency in the most advanced orthodox churches is to unity and peace, especially with all who follow the Christ, who is "the way, the truth, the life," "the way the holiest know," and the highest, divinest ethical and spiritual ideal and manifestation of God; for to follow him in his path of love and light is to enter into the eternal peace and joy of God.

Now it is so much easier than formerly to find a basis for Christian fellowship and co-operation that two churches in one small or sparsely populated place are not often a necessity, especially where all are ready to unite "in love of the truth, in the spirit of Jesus Christ, and for the worship of God and the service of man,” and all granted equal freedom; and Drs. Edward Everett Hale and Lyman Abbott are not far apart, and may be taken as eminent representatives of the advanced and uniting parties, and yet it is, no doubt, better for them to continue for the present at least as they are, representing their different denominations, acting together when it shall seem wisest and best.

Unitarianism in its highest, best form, theologically, Christologically, spiritually, and practically, is still a great need of the world. and should be devoutly, earnestly, and vigorously sustained denominationally, even if it were generally, as it is not, of the "high and dry" quality which Dr. Bellows once so repudiatingly spoke of; that is, as too exclusive intellectual and ethical, "culture" its breath of life, and as cold as an iceberg, having no inspired and inspiring messages for the hearts or deeper souls of men. Such representatives of Unitarianism-half representatives- no doubt have an important place in the progressive cause of phil

osophical and scientific religion; but what our churches now most need is to hear preached and practically applied the Christian gospel of "good tidings of great joy to all people," which carries with it the potency to convict and to convert the dead or half dead and dying in trespasses and sin, and even to produce "revivals," better, simultaneous awakenings, but on as much higher spiritual plane than Mr. Moody's as his is higher than Elder Knapp's or Swan's, or John Moffit's, whom I heard seventy years ago. A new and first gospel coming down out of the heavens to-daysuch as the best Unitarianism is-would no doubt quicken many slumbering souls into an interest and enthusiasm that would lead thousands to a grateful and joyous consecration to it, both in heart and life; and, when our noble brother Chadwick preaches that remarkable ideal sermon that has long been in his mind, as referred to by him in a late Christian Register, and others catch the inspiration, then we shall see revivals of religion among us,—revivals of reasonable, spiritual, practical religion, as I am told Dr. Martineau said he expected to see from Unitarianism. And, had he been at the last National Conference at Saratoga, when "the religion of Jesus" was reaffirmed as still the religion of Unitarians, he would have seen the beginning of his prophecy in fulfilment; and if it could only have been diffused through the churches! And, when any of our brethren turn from ordinary revivals in distrust, if not disgust, at some of their manifestations, let them also turn their thoughts to Saratoga, and say whether that, too, was unreasonable or superstition or the life of God in the souls of his ministers thus newly and so impressively manifesting itself, and say, too, if their memory extends as far back, if the establishment of the devotional early morning meetings of Anniversary Week in Boston, under the leading auspices of James Freeman Clarke and Gov. Andrew, were not also an incipient Unitarian revival, that may be reasonably followed up by similar meetings in all our churches, not leaving the youth without any such social influence and too exclusively with clubs for intellectual, ethical, and æsthetic culture, albeit of the first importance in their place, but not as substitutes for spiritual religion,

which is the greatest need of the young as well as old, helping to produce that "experience of religion" which alone finds God satisfactorily.

If Unitarians have not a gospel with a potency to awaken dormant souls into religious life, aspiration, progress, and consecration to the work of building up the kingdom of God on earth, then they have not the gospel of Christ, his sweet, inspiring message being, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink; and the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life," and this out of "the acme of religious experience as we know it," at our highest and best, as the marvellously illuminated Dr. Martineau has said; and when the gospel of Christ according to Unitarianism shall be preached and applied with the earnestness and enthusiasm with which Mr. Moody preaches his mixed superstition and true religion, high and dry above his narrowness and bondage to the killing letter of the Bible, as much, perhaps, as under the influence and guidance of its spirit, then under the influence of such Unitarian preaching we shall see grand spiritual and practical results,-often many souls translated from darkness to light, and to peace, joy, and hope in God, with the full assurance of eternal life in him. Our churches thus opened with new aspirations and expectations to heaven, heaven will be opened with new clearness and brightness and beauty to the churches; and even Senates, under the faithful and universal application of the Christian and Unitarian gospel, will seriously pause and consider their action before meditating their own independent rule and reign, as against God's and his advancing cause of "peace on earth and good will to men,"-war and bloodshed their rule, yet not for themselves, but for others to engage in.

"Fly faster round, ye wheels of Time, And bring the welcome day" when Christian love and peace shall prevail universally.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand just where we are. It is just as near us as our work is, for the gate of heaven for each soul lies in the endeavor to do that work perfectly.-W. C. Gannett.

OUR CHILDREN.

The most important period of the relig ious life is generally from the thirteenth to the sixteenth year. And almost all religions and sects have recognized this by fixing upon this age for confirmation. This period marks the dawning of adult life, when the feeling of personal importance and responsibility is first keenly felt. If, therefore, before this time the young soul has not been fed with information, inspiration, and spiritual life, it is likely to shrivel and become dwarfed and incapable of coming to full bloom, or to seek in Orthodoxy something to satisfy its craving. Even if the unsatisfied religious interest should persist until maturer years, and strive to meet the doubts and perplexities that spring from insufficient religious foundation, time is usually lacking, then, for the requisite study and thought. We should therefore begin early to give the spiritual nourishment necessary to tide the soul over this critical period, and our watchful care should not be relaxed until it has been safely passed.-Our Church, Newburg, N.Y.

PROGRESSIVE RELIGION.

Religion is not concerned with any pursuit of spiritual things to the exclusion of material things. Human life is the result of the adjustment of all the forces and the powers in the universe, traditionally called material and spiritual. In such adjustment all the activities of the mind and the body are called into action. Religion is that element in our human life that is constantly in pursuit of the greater possibilities of such adjustment in its perfection. It is as important to make life ideal here as to think of ideals in some other sphere, or heaven. Religion is concerned with every function of life, supplementing it; but the peculiar song of religion is uttered for the sake of making the hitherto uncomprehended familiar, the ideal real, the so-called supernatural natural, the transcendent present. In short, it is the constant task of lifting up that which is into communion with that which shall be, revealing to the life of the world the infinite suggestions of its eternal worth.-Church Exchange, Farmington, Me.

THE TRUE REVELATION.

If man is what science defines him to be, and if the thought of God is given naturally in human experience as described, then we must understand by "revelation" a process as natural and comprehensive as human life. All discovery of truth is a revelation of God, and all progress of mankind is incarnation of God. And, while some writings become Scripture because of the precious truths which they contain, they are neither supernatural nor infallible. We accept and honor the Bible as the best of many similar Scriptures, but all were produced by the same causes and under the same laws. It is the most valuable religious literature in existence, worthy our constant and reverent study. But it must be read for increase of life. Its texts must be handled by the free reason, not to formulate a creed, but to enrich character. It has no monopoly of truth. The Bible contains some errors and many ¡noble truths, numerous legends and much inspiring history. No statement is true simply because it is in the Bible, while all its teachings must be tested by experience and subjected to the authority of reason and conscience.

Revelation, therefore, is not only past, but present. The truth found to-day by the appeal to experience is decisive in religion as everywhere else. Religion is progressive; for it is the spiritual side of human life, which is progressive. There is evolution in religion, because also in human nature. Hence we ask no one to sign a creed because we affirm that doctrines are neither central in religion nor essential to salvation, and also because it is wrong to tie the mind to finalities where progress is the true law of life. The use of a creed (though it may contain many elements of truth) injures religion by diverting attention from reverence and righteousness of life (the essence of piety) to mere opinions-often remote from conduct-by enslaving reason and arresting growth, and also by fostering insincerity; for in this way people are often led to pretend to believe what they really reject. We have very strong convictions, but we strive to keep them vital and strong by fitting them continuously to the truth as we discover it.

Unitarians demand the right to reason

freely in religion, and they grant all others the same privilege. They strive to have, as far as possible, a perfectly rational religion; and they use reason and conscience as the supreme authorities in religious matters.Joseph Henry Crooker, Troy, N.Y.

THE DIVINE ELEMENT.

Goodness is not an immigrant or an import it is native to the mind. The preeminence of Jesus is due to this, that he recognized the God within. We learn from him to respect ourself, to listen to the voice within, to run without scruple to the obligation that knocks at our door. God is not an obstruction. We are part of him. Test it, and see. Separate the man from the God in him, and you love the man. The relation is vital. The man bleeds to death. His form remains, but the manhood perishes. This is the meaning of sin, of the wrecks of character which we find everywhere. The divine is overpowered and trampled down. In the lower ranges of life ignorance fetters us: knowledge sets us free. But in the higher ranges only character is freedom,-not what we know, but what we are. To see in your fellow and to respect in yourself that divine element which belongs to all,—that is the total impulse of religion and the liberation of the human soul.-Rev. A. J. Wells, San Francisco.

CHARITY TO OTHERS.

It is well that we should have some definite understanding of what ought to be our feeling toward those religious organizations with which we differ. The first step is in the direction of forming a correct estimate

of ourselves. If we are narrow in our judg

ment of ourselves, we will be no less narrow in judging others. If we can be broad, it will not only influence modesty of feeling,

but generosity of conduct. We gain both modesty and courage when we realize that, in spite of all differences, we are an integral part of the advancing army of humanity.

We need, first of all, to bear constantly in mind that the primary purpose of all religions is the same. Each is seeking in the way that seems best to uplift humanity, to make men and women better. There are all sorts of hearts in the world, from the rudi

mentary that hardly deserves the name to the super-refined that is worn so smooth that it rolls rapidly from one new ism to another. It takes all sorts of churches and all forms of faith to meet the demand. We cannot be too zealous if our zeal is intelligent and just; but church, for its own sake, is not a sufficient motive, and, unless we serve our church because we believe that by it we are best serving humanity, we do not deserve to succeed. Attitude depends upon altitude. The various churches have so much in common that from a sufficient height they are practically one. Our duty as a church, is, first and foremost, to fight with any church that is fighting sin and wrong, to join forces whenever and wherever we can in bringing to earth the kingdom of heaven.-Charles A. Murdock.*

THE BRITISH JUBILEE.

Rev. Charles R. Weld of Baltimore preached on the British Jubilee June 20. We quote from the sermon as printed in the Baltimore American :—

Sixty years ago to-day at five o'clock in the morning a girl of eighteen years was awakened, and told that she was Queen of

Great Britain and Ireland and Defender of the Faith. This 20th of June directs attention to certain very great and significant facts which give it a religious aspect; for it is God who makes nations, and through the races develops his purposes. Though we are revolted colonists, we are one in

blood, religion, language, and political institutions with the mother country. Let us note four things:

:

look at the globe to realize the magnitude First. The British Empire. We need to of the empire whose morning drum-beat, land itself could be dropped into the Britfollowing the sun, circles the earth. Engish Empire two hundred times. This empire is to be found in India, Australia, Africa, South and North America, and in the islands of the sea, so strategically connected as to make the oceans of the globe a British lake. This empire, practically created within the last sixty years, is

*From a paper on "Our Attitude toward Others," read at the Pacific Unitarian Conference.