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Conn. (Longmans, Green & Co., New York), is a small but valuable volume. Its existence is amply justified by the fact that, a year ago, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Cornell voted unanimously to recommend the dropping of arithmetic from entrance examination, and that a knowledge of the metric system and the ability to solve numerical problems in plane geometry be required instead.

Dr. O. J. Thatcher has abridged the "Europe in the Middle Ages," prepared by Dr. Schwill and himself, and the title of the smaller book is

A Short History of Mediaval Europe. (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.) It is a good book either for schools or for the general reader.

MISCELLANEOUS

The President of the King's Daughters, Mrs. Margaret Bottome, has written a light account of her journey to the Holy Land, under the title of A Sunshine Trip: Glimpses of the Orient. (Edward Arnold, New York.)

The Street Railway System of Philadelphia: Its History and Present Conditions, by Frederic W. Speirs, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and History in Drexel Institute, is a volume of exceptional interest and importance. Few distinctly national questions are of such national concern as the local questions here discussed. Philadel phia's experiences are in their main outlines the experiences of every American city, and to have them presented in a graphic style, with scholarly thoroughness and with a judicial temper, is a boon to municipal reformers all over the country. (The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md.)

Literary Notes

-It is rumored that there is to be a memoir of the late Coventry Patmore, and that its preparation has been intrusted to one of his oldest friends.

-We learn that Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar, the young negro poet, is writing a novel. Mr. Dunbar is at present giving readings from his verses in England.

-Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac" is another work which has been worthily distinguished by the favor of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, and the book will shortly be printed in raised letters.

-The London "Saturday Review" says that the political diary of the late John Bright may, in large part, be published. It ought to have much biographical and historical value. The work is now being edited by the great statesman's eldest

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satisfaction, until the editor (wishing to secure a successor in good time) wrote to ask at what date the story would probably be concluded. "Sir," was the reply, "I am entirely content with your terms: so well content, indeed, that, since our agreement says nothing on the point, I propose never to terminate my story."

-The New York "Evening Post" says that

The retirement of Sir G. O. Trevelyan from Parliament, on the score of ill health, has served to raise the question how much a man's political career is helped or hindered by his being a man of letters. Distinguished literary talents have been steadily in the House of Commons for the past hundred years, from Burke to Macaulay and John Morley. The House to-day contains (to

speak only of the names that jump into one's mind)

writers as well known as Mr. Lecky, Professor Jebb, Augustine Birrell, Mr. Bryce, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Curzon, Justin McCarthy. But the literary character and the political character usually struggle for supremacy, and one or the other goes down. Burke was greater as a writer than as a statesman, though by no means so inferior in the latter capacity as is often said. Macaulay's Parliamentary career was a success, yet it is the Macaulay of letters, not of the Commons, who lives and will live. On the other hand, all Mr. Gladstone's contributions to literature go for nothing beside his eminence as an orator and public man. John Morley comes nearer than almost any of them to blending the two characters happily. He has grown amazingly in strength as a Parliamentary speaker, and, most surprising of all, as a popular orator, but he has not thereby sacrificed any

thing of his literary insight and finish. It must be ad

mitted, however, that his experience is exceptional.

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JOHN LANE, NEW YORK

Chapman, Elizabeth Rachel. Marriage Questions in Modern Fiction and Other Essays on Kindred Subjects. $1.50.

J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO., PHILADELPHIA Carey, Rosa Nouchette. Doctor Luttrell's First Patient. $1.25.

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., NEW YORK

Estill, J. G. Numerical Problems in Plane Geometry.
M'COY & CALVIN, MEADVILLE
Washburn, O. R. Out of a Young Man's Life.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK
Woodbury, Josephine Curtis. Echoes. Decorated by
Eric Pape. $2.50.

ROBERTS BROS., BOSTON
Farquhar, Anna. A Singer's Heart. $1.25.

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, NEW YORK Thatcher, Oliver J., Ph.D. A Short History of Mediæval Europe. $1.25.

Wharton, Anne H. Martha Washington. (Women of
Colonial and Revolutionary Times.) $1.25.
Stockton, Frank R. A Story-Teller's Pack. $1.50.
THOMAS WHITTAKER, NEW YORK
Hodges, George. In This Present World. $1.
Whiton, James M. Reconsiderations and Reinforce
ments. 50 cts.

J. SELWIN TAIT & SONS, NEW YORK Pennington, Mrs. Clapham. A Key to the Orient. $1.25. Lectures on Ecclesiastical History. With Preface by the Dean of Norwich. $2.25.

Ian Maclaren's Heresy

It has all ended just as we predicted it would. English and Scotch Presbyterianism is very different from American. The editor of the "British Weekly" said that if the charge against Dr. Watson ever came before the Presbytery it would know how to deal with it. He has been proved to be correct. The same kind of a man that the majority of American Presbyterians would, not long since, have convicted of heresy-the finest, ablest, and most Christian preacher in all their fellowship-the English Presbyterians have refused to consider a heretic. A telegram from London, dated April 28, says that at the meeting of the Presbyterian Synod held that day at Sunderland "the Business Committee decided to reject the petition containing a charge of heresy which had been presented against the Rev. Dr. John Watson. The only way in which the petitioners can now revive the matter is by moving an amendment to the Committee's report." The dispatch adds: "But such an amendment would have little chance of adoption." A second dispatch confirmed the first. The Presbytery formally rejected the petition containing charges of heresy by a vote of twelve to one. It is said that strong feeling was shown. The petitioners, by way of explanation, said that they desired to avoid a repetition of the disaster which overtook the Church at the time of the Unitarian defection, and that all they desired was that Dr. Watson himself should assert the soundness of his position. The Synod, however, refused even to call on him for an explanation. That is perhaps the most significant fact of all. The case is settled, as nearly as can be learned, without a word from him, and the vote was as nearly unanimous as it could be without being entirely so. This is probably the last that we shall hear of the heresy of John Watson. That his teaching is not oldtime Calvinism every one knows; but, then, English and Scotch Presbyterianism is not old-time Calvinism. It retains all the strength of the ancient system, but is shot through and through with gleams of a light which has come from "the return to Christ." There are among English and Scotch Presbyterians a few who represent the past age. Now and then they swoop down like the Highlanders of old upon those who are too busy with the practical work of the present time to revive controversies which were long since dead and ought long since to have been buried. It is intimated in the English papers that the inspiration of the movement against Dr. Watson came from this country. It would not be surprising, in view of the many articles which have appeared in our papers. But, wherever the movement started, it has reached the only end that was possible among English Presbyterians. We will

continue to read the "Bonnie Brier-Bush" and the "Mind of the Master" in the consciousness that their author has behind him the confidence not only of his own Church and denomination, but of nearly all his Christian brethren in his own country.

Professor Harnack's Seminary

As is well known, Professor Adolph Harnack is a Professor of Church History in the University of Berlin, Germany. In addition to his nine lectures a week this Professor conducts a seminary, which is a weekly gathering of about forty students, most of whom attend one or more of his courses of lectures. The room in which the class meets is furnished with two long tables with chairs arranged around them, and three or four reference libraries for the use of the students. Each member of the class has a copy of the book being read. Dunng the winter term of 1895-6 the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" and the six books of Eusebius's "History of the Church' were read. The lesson begins with a brief review of the preceding lesson by the secretary, and comments by the Professor. Then follows a thorough translation and study of the text, the chief points being brought out and explained by means of questions and conversation. The teacher frequently and in various ways repeats the main thoughts of the lessons. "He uses comparisons and illustrations, analyses and summaries, and very often short, sharp definitions. As a result of this method of instruction one may grasp the main points of the explanations though he imperfectly understands long, complex German sentences." Private work is assigned to those who desire to pursue special investigations. The results of these investigations are handed to Professor Harnack; brought by him to the class; a brief analysis given, and suggestions made in the presence of the entire class. The session continues for nearly two hours. There is also one hour in the week when the student may come in contact with the Professor at his residence. "Underneath the routine drill of the class-room one soon begins to feel, not only the breadth of research and intelligence, but also the reverent spirit and purpose which characterize the Profes

sor.

His aim is not simply to furnish data; he is an advocate, and an intensely earnest one, of Protestant Christianity." At the opening of the winter term he delivered an address on "Christianity and History." In it his tribute to the place of Christ in history, and his testimony to His power to save from sin and despair, are perfectly clear. In Dr. Harnack's thought the Church is not simply a society belonging to men. He says: "In every Christian Christ dwells. The Church is Christ's bride." The writer in the

"Christian Advocate," the Rev. W. S. Manship, from whom we have quoted, says: "No one who comes in contact with this teacher can fail to appreciate his sympathetic and businesslike methods of instruction, his careful researches into the history of the Christian Church, and his earnest, brilliant advocacy of those truths which faith and reason have brought home to his soul." Any student paying for admission to the lectures, and gaining permission of the Professor, is admitted to the seminary without charge. An American student attending the lectures may be admitted to the seminary first as a guest; and afterward, when he has a fuller knowledge of the language, may be admitted as a member.

Christianity and Buddhism

That was a fine and almost unique evening at the Outlook Club in Montclair, N. J., on April 23, when the teachings of Buddhism were presented by Dharmapala, the Buddhist monk from Ceylon who made so profound an impression at the Parliament of Religions, and the teachings of Christianity by Professor George Palmer, of Harvard University. Dharmapala, with a beautiful spirit and reverent earnestness, expounded the teachings of Buddha. He insisted that if we would know what Buddhism is we must get away from those who have criticised it, and go back to the words of the great master himself. For an hour and more he explained those teachings. His manner was so courteous and his spirit so fine that no one could doubt the spiritual power and earnestness of the man. When at the last he said that he did not come to attack our religion, but could not help expressing his mind concerning the terrible sufferings of the animal world, and declared that such sights as are witnessed at the stockyards in Chicago are a disgrace to civilization, and would not be tolerated in a Buddhist country, the audience manifested its approval in a round of the heartiest applause. Professor Palmer presented in contrast the Christian interpretation of religion and the universe. There was no controversy, only a contrasted presentation of the salient truths of the two religions. The address of Professor Palmer was one of the finest and loftiest utterances on a religious and philosophical theme to which we have ever been permitted to listen. Indeed, it is doubtful if any English-speaking scholar, with the possible exception of Principal Fairbairn, could have treated the theme with such discrimination and yet depth of thought as was manifested by Professor Palmer. He first showed the points in which Buddhism and Christianity agree, and then those in which they differ, making plain the fact that the divergence often comes in the line of emphasis rather than of affirmation, and yet that the change of emphasis leads to wide separation. If certain circles in Boston and elsewhere, after listening to the exponents of the ethnic religions, would only secure the services of such a man as Professor Palmer, not to contro

vert but to place side by side the teachings of Christ, there would be much light let into many dark places.

Plymouth's Semi-Centennial

Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, will celebrate this year the semi-centennial of its organization and of the call and settlement of Henry Ward Beecher, its first pastor. The first meeting, out of which Plymouth Church grew, was one which a few gentlemen held at the house of Henry C. Bowen on Saturday evening, May 8, 1847. On Friday evening, May 7, the prayer-meeting will be devoted to reminiscences by various lay members of the church. On the 16th of May Mr. Beecher preached his first sermon in Brooklyn before Plymouth Church was organized. He was invited, however, to preach the sermon by ized the church and were instrumental in extendsome of the gentlemen who subsequently organing the call to him. On the 16th of May this year, which also falls on a Sunday, this day will be recognized by historical sermons in Plymouth Church-in the morning by the pastor, the Rev. Lyman Abbott; in the evening by Dr. A. H. Bradford, of Montclair. The principal recognition services, however, will be held in the fall in connection with two anniversaries: one, October 10, when Mr. Beecher preached his first sermon after he had accepted the call; and one November 16, when he was publicly installed over the church. The arrangements for these services have not yet been completed.

Forward Movement in Chicago

A new movement has been started in Chicago with the object of combining the more popular idea of the social settlement with a more distinctly religious purpose. The promoters think that the ordinary mission among the poor has proved more or less of a failure, and believe that the social settlement which has no other purpose than social benefit must fail. They therefore propose to unite the social settlement with the religious work of the mission. If we had any criticism to offer on this proposition, it would be on the assumption that the social settlement is always, or even generally, without a distinct religious purpose. In London, the Mansfield House, Browning Hall, Oxford House, Bermondsey, and others are all conducted along distinctly religious lines. They are not evangelistic in the ordinary sense, but the motive is recognized as religious. The same is true of many of the more prominent settlements in this country. They aim to supplement the work of the church rather than to antagonize it. As illustrations of settlements with this spirit we may mention the Andover House in Boston, the Chicago Commons, and the Whittier House in Jersey City. That all such work to be efficient must have behind it a religious principle and purpose, we have no doubt. The field

occupied by this new movement in Chicago lies west of the Chicago River, and contains about a half square mile of great spiritual and temporal desolation. In the district there are few influences for good, and these are altogether inadequate for the need. This forward movement plans to have three social settlements in the district: one to be known as the Epworth House, in charge of a board composed entirely of members of the Epworth League; another to be called the Endeavor House, to be under the control of a committee appointed by the Endeavor Society; and another which aims to be related to the public school. It is hoped that, in addition, a "Forward Movement Auditorium 39 may be erected in a central locality, to be open from early morning until late at night, which shall aim to minister to all the wants of the district in which it is located. The object is good, and the city large enough for many such additions to the force already at work in the cause of humanity.

The Home Missionary Debt

The Executive Committee of the Congregational Home Missionary Society is again facing a great crisis. It has been more successful in meeting its obligations than almost any other similar society, but it is beginning to feel a serious burden. Its receipts from gifts and from legacies have fallen off in the total during the last year more than $150,000. Thus far there has been no suffering caused among the missionaries, because the Committee has been able to borrow money at the banks. The Committee now is seriously hampered, and before long the missionaries must suffer. If it be said that the expenses of administration are too great, the reply is that they have been cut down in the estimates for the current year by more than $20,000, while the estimates for the field were reduced by $53,000. The difficulty is not in the expense of administration; it is in the falling off of receipts. This condition of things cannot continue, and it ought not to be allowed to continue. Many reasons may be given for the decline in receipts; probably they are all summed up in the words "hard times." We do not believe that much, if any, fault can be found with the expense of administration, or with the planting of churches where they are not needed. This Society has been singularly careful about aiding merely denominational movements. The knowledge of the facts ought to elicit an immediate response from the churches.

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The auditorium will seat about fifteen hundred, and the chapel, with its adjoining rooms and galleries, will seat nearly fourteen hundred. The building is complete in every respect, and is an example of beautiful architecture. The church is an important one, numbering nearly sixteen hundred members. The pastor and people are to be congratulated on their new home, and the beautiful city on another addition to its already long list of beautiful churches.

The Rev. George H. Wells, D.D. Speaking of affairs in Minneapolis reminds us of another exceptionally strong church in that city, of which the Rev. David N. Beach, D.D., recently of Cambridge, is now the pastor. His predecessor was the Rev. George H. Wells, D.D., who was recently killed by accident near the city of Milwaukee. Dr. Wells was a man of singular eloquence, as all can attest who have heard him on great occasions, either in Montreal, where he was formerly settled, or in Minneapolis, where his ministry ended. His oration at the meeting of the National Society of Christian Endeavor in Minneapolis was a singular triumph of oratory; and his welcome to the National Congregational Council, which met in his church soon after his acceptance of its pastorate, will never be forgot. ten by those who heard it. A fine, earnest, princely spirit was his, and he will long be remembered among the churches and by all who had the privilege of his acquaintance. Had he lived, a still larger influence must have attended his already fruitful ministry.

Notes

We have received several communications from persons who have read the extremely interesting article of Mrs. Ballington Booth in a recent number of The Outlook, asking for her address. Letters to her should be addressed to the Headquarters of The Volunteers, 34 Union Square, New York City.

On Sunday morning, May 2, sixty-three persons united with Plymouth Church, forty-one on confession of their faith. On Sunday evening a meeting on behalf of the George Junior Republic was held, addressed by Messrs. George, Jacob Smith, Hunt, and Seitz. This first meeting in any church in behalf of this cause, it is hoped, will be followed by other church meetings in different parts of the State..

A few weeks ago we mentioned "The Polished Arrow," edited by the Rev. F. J. Goodwin, of Glen Ridge, N. J., as an almost ideal parish paper. Since then a similar paper published by the Brick Church in Rochester, N. Y., called "Brick Church Life," has come to our notice. It is more elaborate than "The Polished Arrow," and beautifully illustrated. Such papers cannot fail to do good in the churches.

The American Guild of Organists gives its third Public Service in the New York Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn this week. The musical part of the service, which conforms to the liturgy of the Guild, is of the usual high quality of these services. The address is by the Rev. Lyman Abbott. The Guild deserves the cordial support of all those who desire to improve the standards of church worship; full information concerning its object and organization may be obtained by applying to the Secretary, Dr. Henry G. Hanchett, 136 Fifth Avenue, New York.

From Colorado

1o the Editors of The Outlook:

As it is evident that much has been said in criticism of the article by Priscilla Leonard on "Woman's Suffrage in Colorado," I feel impelled, as a Colorado woman and a representative of many who share my views on this subject, to dissent from the critics. Barring a few slight errors in fact, which did not essentially affect the argument, I believe it presented truthfully, and in a spirit exceptionally fair, the result of the experi

ment as thus far shown in Colorado. It is a mistake to suppose that a large majority of the women in this State are now enthusiastic believers in woman suffrage. I do not know on: who was opposed to it before its adoption-and the number included very many intelligent and conscientious women, unfortunately for the most part silent-who has reversed her judgment as to its advisability in the last three years, while I know many, who at that time favored the movement, who now say openly that they regard participation in politics as a burdensome and uncongenial duty, with no compensating advantage to the sex or the State.

A lady correspondent for a prominent New York daily, summing up her observations after election last November, says: "Of the thirty-five women with whom I talked in the hill districts" (the most intelligent part of Denver), "twenty were directly against woman suffrage. Of the other fifteen, ten were enthusiastic supporters; the others were undecided."

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What is a Christian?

To the Editors of The Outlook:

For once I am disappointed in an Outlook editorial. It is that in last week's issue, entitled "What is a Christian?" And I speak of my disappointment, not because that has any importance, nor in a carping spirit, but because the question is one that seems to be in so desperate need of a clear answer. Nearly the whole of the answer you give to this question has to do with Christian belief, although you say, toward the end, as one would expect you to say, "This only makes him a Christian believer; it does not make him a Christian." In the first part of the article you go even so far as to say of the belief "that there is a great historic fact, and in that historic fact there has been a special and further revelation of God:" "This is Christianity." Yet in the last part you say: "A Christian believer... is a Christian only as he follows this Christ . . . in the service and sacrifice of love, ... and this he

may do without any theory at all." Once more: "A man may be a good man and not a Chris.. tian" (e.g., a good Jew). Yet: "It is the Christ life which makes him a Christian."

All this seems to me to illustrate the impossibility of attaching any particular intellectual content whatever to the Christian life, as a form essential to it. We cannot answer the question "What is a Christian?" clearly if, after refusing to draw the definitive line of essential Christian

ity at the belief that Jesus was the "Second Person of the Trinity in a human body," we attempt to draw it at the belief in "a great historic fact in which there has been a special revelation of God." The second statement may contain much more truth than the first (so some of us believe); it may be far more conducive to Christlikeness; but both are intellectual conclusions, the one called psychological, the other historical. Indeed, the historical fact, if it is to be worth anything at all religiously, involves philosophy, as your further definition of it as "the coming of Infinity into finite form" shows. Yet on what ground shall we say, "So much philosophy in the essential make-up of a Christian, but no more"?

Belief has, of course, a tremendous influence over life. And we know that certain truths have been mighty in the building up of holy character But we have no certain data to show us just what beliefs are essential causes of a given total effect in life. Would it not be better, therefore, to call a tree by its fruits rather than by any account that could be given of its culture? Would it not promote the genuine Christianity we so much need, if we should refuse the name Christian to the merely intellectual believer, whether dogmatic or historic, and apply it to godly humanity wherever found?

In a word, it seems to me we must choose between two positions: Either we must still claim that Christianity is essentially a philosophy of religion, i.e., a theology; and then we may say he is a Christian who believes that the Second Person of the Trinity once dwelt in a human body; or, he is a Christian who believes that "Infinity has come into finite form;" or, he is a Christian who believes that the four Gospels as they stand are historic; or we may apply any other intellectual standard we think important. And then we must use the word Christianity in its doctrinal really a Christian, because he does not call himsense, and say a godly Jew or Buddhist is not self one. Or else we must cling, through thick and thin, to the position that Christianity is essentially religion itself, the life of God in the soul of man; and then we must say he is a Christian who, whether he calls himself so or not, is really

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