other doctrinal departures from the simple teaching of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God which he came to set up on earth. I must, however, touch very briefly on one other point; and that is the practical attitude of the Church in the Middle Ages as compared with the practical attitude of Jesus towards humanity.

The Church had come to be a great oppressor of the poor. In order to maintain itself as a great political power, it had to ally itself with the emperors and kingdoms of the earth; and so it had come to stand for the great, for the high, for the mighty, as measured by worldly standards, and it was everywhere at that time in Europe the oppressor of the weak. It stood for tyranny as against the rights of humanity. Not one finger did it ever lift to elevate men politically, to set the common people higher, to give them an opportunity to rise up into their own manhood. Never one finger did it lift for centuries. And, then, the people throughout the Middle Ages were so ignorant as is almost impossible for us now to conceive. Scarcely one man in a thousand could write his name. The man who could write his name earned the reputation of being a scholar. And the Church not only made no effort to remove this immensely dense cloud of ignorance from the popular mind, but did everything she could to keep the people in ignorance, taking the Bible away from them, encouraging nothing whatever in the way of popular instruction, lest there should be a dangerous freedom of thought that should interfere with the supremacy of her own fixed and hardened dogmas.

The Church having committed herself to the doctrine of her own infallibility, standing in the position of teaching persistently throughout the ages that which is now demonstrated as not being true, did all that she could to prevent men from finding out what was true. Not one single step of intellectual advance has the world made for a thousand years except in the teeth of and in defiance of that Church which has claimed to stand as the representative of Jesus.

And, then, for the sake of belief, for the sake of sacrament, for the sake of an instituted organization,—that is, for the

sake of opinion, for which we find not one single syllable of warrant in the teaching of Jesus,- she has turned herself into the most pitiless persecutor that the world ever saw. No religion on earth has been so relentless, so cruel, so inhuman, as has the Church in defence of this opinion that Jesus never enjoined, concerning which he never gave even the slightest hint.

So in all directions, trace it where you will, we find that by the time the sixteenth century had come Christianity represented almost anything else except that which is the logical unfolding of the life and teachings and principles of Jesus.

Now, I would not have you think the remedy for this is to turn about and go back towards the first century. Nothing ever stops in this world, nothing ever goes back. There is no reverting to any past. There is no such thing as reviving primitive piety. There is no such thing as turning the wheels of progress the other way. What, then, is the next natural step? It is to cleanse, to clarify, to purify, this great movement which has come to be called by the name of the Christ. It is to recognize the authority of God and no longer the authority of man. It is to recognize the right of the brain to think, the right of the conscience to claim justice, the right of the heart to feel. It is the renaissance of the human, the renaissance therefore of the divine. This is the only way by which the evils of any great historic movement can be cured.

Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast given us power to see the truth and hast made us care for it, and that Thou hast made us strong to fight for that which is for the good of the world. Let us recognize that, when we are doing this, we are fighting for Thee. But let us beware that we fight for God in no ungodly way or under the impulse of any ungodly feeling. Let us fight darkness with light, error with truth, hatred with love, tyranny with help, and so, developing all that is divinest within us, outgrow that which is evil and wrong. Amen.

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Unitarian Catechism. With an Introduction by E. A. Horton.
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Mr. Savage's weekly sermons are regularly printed in pamphlet form in "Unity Pulpit." Subscription price, for the season, $1.50; single copies, 5 cents.

GEO. H. ELLIS, Publisher,

141 Franklin St., Boston, Mass.

The preface by Mr. Savage gives the reasons, clearly and concisely, why a book like this is needed. It answers a great demand, and it will supply a serious deficiency. Having had the privilege of reading the contents very thoroughly, I gladly record my satisfaction in the character of the work, my hope of its wide acceptance and use, my appreciation of the author's motives in preparing it. The questions and answers allow of supplementing, of individual handling, of personal direction. It is not a hard-andfast production. There is a large liberty of detail, explanation, and unfolding. The doctrinal positions are in accord with rational religion and liberal Christianity, the critical judgments are based on modern scholarship, and the great aim throughout is to assist an inquirer or pupil to a positive, permanent faith. If any one finds comments and criticisms which at first sight seem needless, let it be remembered that a Unitarian catechism must give reasons, point out errors, and trace causes: it cannot simply dogmaI am sure that in the true use of this book great gains will come to our Sundayschools, to searchers after truth, to our cause.

tize.

EDWARD A. HORTON.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE,

This little Catechism has grown out of the needs of my own work. Fathers and mothers have said to me, "Our children are constantly asking us questions that we cannot answer." Perfectly natural! Their reading and study have not been such as to make them familiar with the results of critical scholarship. The great modern revolution of thought is bewildering. This is an attempt to make the path of ascertained truth a little plainer.

This is the call for help in the home. Besides this, a similar call has come from the Sunday-school. Multitudes of teachers have little time to ransack libraries and study large works. This is an attempt, then, to help them, by putting in their hands, in brief compass, the principal things believed by Unitarians concerning the greatest subject.

The list of reference books that follows the questions and answers will enable those who wish to do so to go more deeply into the topics suggested.

It is believed that this Catechism will be found adapted to any grade of scholars above the infant class, provided the teacher has some skill in the matter of interpretation.

GEO. H. ELLIS, Publisher, 141 Franklin St., Boston, Mass.