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College, Edinburgh. Dr. Davidson, a scholar of international reputation, was a man of deeply emotional nature protected by a crust of reserve. A biographical introduction portrays his character. The discourses "all deal with the history-generally with a spiritual crisis in the history-of some Scripture personality."

Characters of Theophrastus (The). A Trans

lation, with Introduction, by Charles E. Bennett and William A. Hammond. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 44x64 in. 85 pages. 90c., net. Christian Science and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By Rev. George Francis Greene, D.D. The Chronicle Print, Cranford, N. J. 4×61⁄2 in. 24 pages.

Vigorous effective; a brief description of the claims of "Christian Science," and an expression of the writer's views of their fallacy. Christ of the Ages (The): In Words of Holy

Writ. By William Norman Guthrie. The Western Literary Press, Cincinnati. 68% in. 162 pages. This is in some points a unique work. The demand of Christian thought to-day is for the historical Jesus, as he went about in Palestine, for the exact reproduction of his personality in word and deed, as it appeared to his disciples. Dr. Caird, the Master of Balliol, has shown that, however desirable be the closest possible approximation to this, it is beyond realization; the Christ, through the interpretation of him by his spirit after he had passed beyond earthly limitations, has necessarily become, and must permanently remain, an ideal conception-none the less authoritative for that, since there is no authority more imperative in conscience than that of the moral and religious ideal, when once conceived. So much is necessary to hold to, if one would fairly estimate the idea on which Mr. Guthrie's work is based. "The Christ," he says, "is He we sec-not He alone whom the Gospels give." Mr. Guthrie's Christian consciousness finds the lineaments of his Jesus in the Hebrew equally with the Christian Scriptures, and has drawn on both to paint his portrait of the Son of Man in the freest exercise of the right of" Christian appropriation." Thus, the story of the temptation in the wilderness is introduced by a series of prophetic visions given in the Old Testament, which Jesus is represented as pondering during the "forty days." The portrait resulting from this treatment of the Scriptures is a mosaic, for which not all parts of the Gospels were found serviceable; so that there are some large omissions. The literary form is that of the "loose" blank verse used by the later Jacobean dramatists, and the sequence of the parts conforms to the order of the Christian year.

Collection of the Writings of John James Ingalls (A) Essays, Addresses, and Orations. Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Co., Kansas City, Mo. 6x91⁄2 in. 536 pages.

Commodore Trunnion's Courtship and The Cruise of H. M. S. Thunder. By Tobias Smollett. Herbert B. Turner & Co., Boston. 42x61⁄2 in. 245 pages. $1.25.

Essence of Christianity (The): A Study in Definition. By William Adams Brown, Ph.D., D.D. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 5×8 in. 332 pages. $1.50, net.

Reserved for later notice.

E. W. Dadson, B.A., D.D.: The Man and His Message. Edited by Jones H. Farmer, B.A., LL.D. William Briggs, Toronto. 54x734 in. 379 pages. Dr. Dadson, who died in 1900, was a beloved pastor in Montreal and elsewhere, widely influential as a denominational leader and as editor for some years of the "Canadian Baptist." His memorial in this volume is that of a strong and much-loved man. It includes a sketch of his life, with many paragraphs from his writings on current topics, besides some characteristic sermons.

First-Hand Bits of Stable Lore. By Francis M. Ware. Illustrated. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 5x8 in. 297 pages. $2, net.

In delightfully conversational language Mr. Ware gives us many hints concerning the proper care of horses. Every one who owns a horse should also own this volume.

Hasting the Pirate. By Paul Creswick. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 5x8 in. 303 pages. $1.25.

This romancer harks back to the age of the Vikings for his tale of love and war. Saxon and Dane struggle for supremacy of sea and land, and for possession of two fair maids who are stolen back and forth, and gently and roughly wooed by turns. When finally they are given to their rightful lovers, it is by Alfred the Great. In the earlier chapters the two heroes are Alfred's guests at Corpe Castle, where the King holds Witan, persuading his councilors to co-operate with him in building many ships that England's navy may match the Vikings. There is a fine feast at Corpe Castle, and some love-making, while the pirates busy themselves in stealing such vessels as the good King commands. But everything comes right in the end, as it was bound to do with Alfred for King. The fault of the tale is that the heroes rush so foolishly into danger-but that is the way of heroes in romance.

Haunted Mine (The). By Harry Castlemon. Illustrated. Henry T. Coates & Co., Philadelphia. 5x71⁄2 in. 433 pages. 80c.

Her Majesty the King. By James Jeffrey Roche. Illustrated. R. H. Russell, New York. 5x8 in. 149 pages.

Her Wilful Way. By Helen Sherman Griffith.

Illustrated. The Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia. 5x7% in. 360 pages. 90c., net.

Girls' stories are rare of late. This is one about a girl of good heart and mind, but thoughtless and irritable. A quarrel with a stepmother and the reconciliation of the two form part of the plot.

History of Christianity (The): From St. Paul to Bishop Brooks. By William Edward Gardner. Thomas Whittaker, New York. 5x7 in. 209 pages. 50c., net.

Mr. Gardner has very fairly accomplished the difficult task of condensing into some hundred and seventy pages an account of the development of primitive into modern Christianity. It is written in a catholic spirit and serviceable in any Sunday-school. Occasionally the narrative is so condensed as to be misleading. A serious case of this is the representation of the civil war in England, 1642-1648, as growing out of a religious rather than a political controversy. It is also quite amiss to speak of Tyndale's version of the Bible as discred

ited by its "inaccuracies." It was rather its annotations that made it distasteful to the church authorities. Tyndale's work set the standard for his successors.

History of the Middle Ages (A). By Dana Carleton Munro. Illustrated. (Twentieth Century Text-Books.) D. Appleton & Co., New York. 5x8 in. 242 pages. 90c.

A commendable attempt to simplify an intricate subject. Though compact, the book has something more than the dry bones of history; there are color and dramatic rendering of stirring episodes to be found not infrequently. The author's division and arrangement are excellent. He emphasizes three topics-the work of the Christian Church, the debt due to Byzantine and Arabic civilizations, and the life of the times.

Horace's Odes, Epodes, and Carmen Sæculare. Edited by Clifford Herschel Moore, Ph.D. The American Book Co., New York. 5X7 in. 465 pages. $1.50.

Immortality and Other Essays. By Charles

Carroll Everett. The American Unitarian Association, Boston. 5x734 in. 280 pages. $1.20, net. This third volume of essays by the late Dean of the Harvard Divinity School bears the stamp of his penetrating and cultivated mind and the charm of his felicitous literary style. While the transient occasions for which he wrote and temporary phases of thought are reflected here and there in these essays, they are so pervaded by the ideas of universal reason as to have permanent value. Theologically Dr. Everett was a rationalist; religiously he was a mystic, as any one must be who is profoundly possessed by the thought of the immanence of God. To listen to the discourse of such a mind brings enlightenment and

peace.

Isle of Content (The). By George F. Butler, M.D. The Erudite Press, Concord, Mass. 64×934 in. 135 pages. $1.50.

This elegantly made volume contains the reflections of an educated and thoughtful mind on a variety of themes, the first of which loans its title to the whole. Without any trace of originality, and with no special charm of literary form, they are marked by good sense and sincerity, by cheerfulness and human sympathy.

Jewish Encyclopædia (The): A Descriptive

Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Prepared by more than Four Hundred Scholars and Specialists under the Direction of the following Editorial Board: Cyrus Adler, Ph.D.; Gotthard Deutsch, Ph.D.; Richard Gottheil, Ph.D.; Joseph Jacobs, B.A.; Marcus Jastrow, Ph.D.; Frederick de Sola Mendes, Ph.D.; Isidore Singer, Ph.D., and Others. Vol. III., Bencemero-Chazanuth. Illustrated. Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York. 74x11 in. 684 pages. Nothing in our day more strongly attests the renaissance of the spirit of Judaism than this great work, Jewish in its inception and design, but supported by the co-operation of Christian with Jewish scholars. Its field is as wide as is the dispersion of the children of Israel. Every country, every town of note, where they have become a part of the community, every person of note whose history connects with theirs, comes into this record-a record of the religious, political, social, and scholarly activity of

this persevering people for the past three thousand years. Thus in the present volume Lord Byron has place as the writer of "Hebrew Melodies;" the Emperor Caracalla of Rome, and the Empress Catherine II. of Russia, for their friendliness to the Jews. In whatever field Jewish activity has expressed itself, it finds a record here; e. g., the British Museum has two pages for an account of the books and other objects of Jewish interest therein. The largest space is accorded to the Bible in various points of view, among which the two pages given to the Bible in Mohammedan literature illuminate a field too much neglected. Cantillation, the mode of intoning in public prayer and reading, is illustrated by some eight pages of musical notation. Among the numerous illustrations, those of the censorship to which Jewish publications have been subjected during the last two centuries are conspicuous: the first volume of this encyclopædia appears thus defaced by Russian intolerance. The bibliographical department is rich both in information and in illustration. Were it worth while to speak of slips, a singular one to notice in such a work is the etymology assigned to "catacomb," as a hybrid compound of Greek and Latin, whereas it is wholly Greek. It is matter for National satisfaction that only in America was it found possible to launch this epoch-marking work, nine more volumes of which will be required for its completion.

Literary Values and Other Papers. By John
Burroughs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 34×7
in. 256 pages. $1.10, net.
Reserved for later notice.

Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive. Introduction and Notes by J. W. Pearce, Ph.D. The Macmillan Co., New York. 4x6 in. 186 pages. 25c.

My Life-Work. By Samuel Smith, M.P. Illustrated. Hodder & Stoughton, London, England. 52x84 in. 630 pages.

This volume is doubly interesting. It is of moment first as the autobiography of one who has deservedly occupied a prominent place in the eyes of all Englishmen, especially of all Dissenters; secondly, because the book comprises a capital history of Parliamentary proceedings during the past half-century. Though Mr. Samuel Smith is a veteran in politics, his matured opinions are not always those which one might expect for instance, he thinks that India involves by far the most difficult problems confronting the British nation in the future, and adds: Our future relations with America are almost as important as those with India." Other observers might think that the South African problems now exceed in complexity the Indian; and that the future relations of Great Britain with America are even more important than the relations existing between England and India. The most noteworthy part of the volume to the student of history and to the student of religion alike is Mr. Smith's account of his position on various questions affecting the Anglican Church and the Dissenting bodies. In 1897 he offered a motion to disestablish the Church of England, and says: "I never undertook anything that was more unpopular. All the

Liberal leaders were opposed to it, and made me feel it so in a manner that was very trying, and of course it was resented by the whole Conservative party. I was well aware that as a politician it was mere folly to raise such a question. None had touched it since Mr. Miall, in 1873, and the cause had greatly gone down in the country. The impelling motive that urged me to this course was the apparent impossibility of rousing the country to the stealthy Romanizing of the Church [of England] except by a motion of this kind." If disestablishment ever comes, the name of Samuel Smith will be remembered as a courageous protagonist, although the time was not ripe for such an extension of freedom as he and others have endeavored to bring about. The autobiography is rather too diffusely written; it might have been condensed with profit to the average reader. It will be found, however, not only a recognized source of information for the student of English politics, but also a source of inspiration to any man. It shows how religion animates not only one department of life but all departments.

Myrtle and Oak. By Rennell Rodd. Forbes & Co., Boston. 5x734 in. 115 pages. $1. Orchestral Instruments and Their Use. By Arthur Elson. Illustrated. L. C. Page & Co., Boston. 518 in. 29 pages.

An introductory chapter deals with primitive and "savage" instruments, and is followed by one on the growth of the orchestra. The final chapter treats of the orchestra as a unit, and characterizes some of the most eminent orchestral conductors. The intermediate chapters describe the individual instruments: first •he violin, and then, in order, the other stringed instruments, the reeds, the brass, and the instr.ments of percussion. The book is enlivened with a large number of pertinent stories about music and musicians. The author has not only a capital sense of humor, but also a ery good wit of his own. He has succeeded adorably in making a necessarily brief and terse treatment of his theme very readable and clear. The volume is well worth adding a musical library, and deserves a welcome amateur and the concert-goer. There

, a well index. Prayers and Thoughts for the Use of the Sick. Lucy Forney Bittinger. The 1. B. LipPladelphia 458 in. fl pages.

, which includes many passages A both judicious and serviceable n and patience, not only to the to those in various kinds of

s Life A: An Autobiography and sen Parker, D.D. Hustrated. BOL New York. 5-g× Sig in

of Dr. Parker, the manyreacher, draws fresh attenrapy, penned barely tive

other memorial of this will be its natural the real Parker to be se as others saw him. is divided into

"Personal and Pastoral," "Literary and Controversial." The appended Album" is a series of personal sketches-Gladstone, Beecher, and others. A royal personality pervades the whole.

Selected Poems. By William Watson. . John
Lane, New York. 4x7 in. 143 pages.
Reserved for later notice.

Short Tales from Storyland. By Evelyn
Everett Green. Illustrated in Color and Black and
White. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 7x9 in.
96 pages. $1.50.

Ten Girls from Dickens. By Kate Dickinson Sweetser. Illustrated by George Alfred Williams, J. F. Taylor & Co., New York. 6x91⁄2 in. 236 pages.

Triumph of Love (The). By Edmond Holmes. John Lane, New York. 612x8 in. 68 pages. Reserved for later notice.

True History of the American Revolution (The). By Sydney George Fisher. Illustrations. J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. 5x8 in. 437 pages. $2, net. Though falling short of a great work, the narrative of this volume sustains its daring title. Passionately patriotic, in fullest sympathy with the revolutionary elements which carried on our great struggle for national independence, the author puts in the clearest light the excesses committed on our side, the divisions in the ranks of our own citizens, who the loyalists were and why they sided with Great Britain, the moderation shown by the British commander Howe, and innumerable other things which are practically unknown by the great body of cultivated Americans-unless they have read Lecky or Tyler-and yet must be known if a true or even plausible picture of the Revolution is to be presented. It is a commonplace to say that history is past politics, but the very historians who repeat it write of our Revolution as if in that political struggle society divided in a different way from that in which it divides to-day, and as if all the arguments were on one side, while to-day there is so much to be said on both. As Mr. Fisher pertinently remarks:

The people who write histones are usually of the class who take the side of the Government in revolution, and as Americans they are anxious to believe that our Revolution was different from others, more decorous, and

altogether free from the atrocities, mistakes, and absurdities which characterized even the patriot party in the Revolution. They do not like to describe in their full coloring the strong Americanism and the doctrines of the rights of man which inspired the party that put through our successful rebellion. They have, accordingly, tried to describe a revolution in which all scholarly, refined, and conservative persons might have unhesitatingly taken part, but such revolutions have never been known to happen.

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Our Plutocratic Government

To the Editors of The Outlook:

The article in The Outlook of November 22, on "The Trust Problem," is gratifying to me, but at the same time makes assertions which the facts in the case would seem to refute.

For example, on page 671, you assert that this government is "democratic in politics, education, and religion;" and that "the plain people control the government of city, State, and Nation." Now I

say that these statements may be true some day, that they ought to be true to-day, but that they are not true now, nor have they ever been true in this country, especially since the adoption of our present Constitution in 1787. The preamble to that Constitution is as much out of harmony with the Constitution itself as is the Constitution out of harmony with the principles of liberty and equality laid down. in the Declaration of Independence eleven years before. One is wholly inconsistent with the other. To say that our present government is democratic, or even republican, in principle is to say what is not true. To say that it is aristocratic is not to come as near to the truth as to say that it is plutocratic. Our Constitution was written primarily for the defense of private property, and hence, of necessity, the powers of government were placed in the hands of private property (capital) by those who made the Constitution. This act on the part of the framers of the Constitution was done deliberately, as their own statements will show; hence they cannot be excused, nor can they be held to be innocent of the conscious betrayal of the rights of the people.

That our government is not a popular government in any true sense can be shown, first, by the expressed purpose of the prominent framers of our Constitution, and, second, by the working of the instrument itself.

First, as to the purpose of the framers; and I can take the time to refer to the ideas of but a few of the men in the Philadelphia Convention. Many other statements, with these which I ask your permission to give, may be found printed in Mr. Madison's Minutes of the Federal

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"Mr. Madison: In all civilized countries the people fall into different classes, having a real or supposed difference of interest. There will be particularly the distinction of rich and poor. In framing a system of government which we wish to last for ages, we should not lose sight of the changes which ages will produce. An increase of population will of necessity increase the proportion of those who will labor under all the hardships of life, and secretly sigh for a more equal distribution of its blessings. These may in time outnumber those who are placed above the feelings of indigence. According to the equal laws of suffrage, the power will slide into the hands of the poor. How is this danger to be guarded against?"-E. D., V. 243.

"Mr. Hamilton stated that he did not believe in a republican government, but urged those who did to tone their government as high as possible. Inequality constituted the great and fundamental distinction in society." -E. D., V. 244.

slave in South Carolina was as productive

"Mr. Butler insisted that the labor of a

and valuable as that of a freeman in Massachusetts; that as wealth was the great means of defense and utility to the nation, they were equally valuable to it with freemen; and that, consequently, an equal representation ought to be allowed for them in a government which was instituted principally for the protection of property."-V. 296.

"Mr. Hamilton: All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born; the other, the mass of the people. . . . The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give, therefore, to the rich and well born a distinct, permanent place in the government. They will check the unsteadiness of the mass of the people.”— E. D., I. 421.

"Mr. Gerry: Government should be moved as far as possible from the people.”—V. 136. "In Massachusetts there are two parties: one devoted to democracy-the worst of all political evils; the other as violent in the opposite extreme."-V. 537.

"Mr. Randolph: The general object of the Senate was to provide a cure for the turbulence and follies of democracy.”—V. 138.

There are several other extracts I

would like to give, but must limit myself to these, with one other from Mr. Madison: "In a republican government the majority, if united, have always an opportunity. The only remedy is to enlarge the sphere, and thereby divide the community into so great a number of interests and parties that a majority will not be likely to have a common interest separate from that of the whole, or of a minor ity; and, in the second place, that in case they should have such an interest, they may not be so apt to unite in the pursuit of it.”—V. 163.

When it is remembered that the attempt was made by the Convention to have these records destroyed, and that they were not given to the people till more than fifty years after the adoption of the Constitution, and that the Constitution was made so rigid that it is practically impossible even to amend it, is there not manifest in these facts, as well as in the statements made in the Convention, that the framers knew that they were robbing the people of the United States of their rights and liberties?

Now, in the second place, let us see how the Constitution has worked practically. To show this I append a diagram

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Executive veto are each checks upon it, and nothing can pass the House upon which these other powers do not agree. But, strangest of all innovations in the establishment of a government, should these three branches finally agree upon any new measure in the interest of the people, and it become a law, the Supreme Court, with a rigid Constitution back of it, stands ready to kill the measure with an absolute veto. This feature of our government, which Mr. John Fiske has highly commended as a purely " American idea," is good if the people want a constitutional monarchy, but such an absolute negative power placed in the hands of a few men, naturally aristocratic in tendencies, or with any tendencies, however good they may be, in itself refutes the statement so often made by the press and by political speakers in this country, that this government is founded upon democratic principles.

THOMAS C. WISWELL.

University Congregational Church,
Seattle, Washington.

[It is impossible for us to refute the statements of our correspondent, because he is discussing-it appears to us-not matters of fact, but matters of opinion. If the people and government of the United States are in the state which he believes them to be in, the condition of all concerned-plutocrats, proletariat, editors, clergymen, everybody indeed excepting the members of the Supreme Court and the United States Senators (although the popular election of Senators which we foresee in the not far distant future is going to knock them out, too) is sorry indeed. In our turn we should like to ask our correspondent what he proposes to do about it. Has he or any other one individual, or set of individuals, invented a system of government to take the place of our present system? If so, we should be glad to know about it. Our conviction, amply confirmed and sustained by history, is that governments are the fruits of evolution, not of invention. The farmer of the State of Washington who wants to improve his apple crop does it, not with the saw, with the ax, and with fire, but by grafting, plowing, pruning, and spraying. This is the method to be followed, we believe, in developing a true democ racy.—THE EDITORS.]

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