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"This world is thus to be conceived as a place of surprises which take place under natural law, but are quite as revolutionary as if they were the products of chance, or a result arising from the immediate intervention of the Supreme Power. It is evident, moreover, that the existence of critical points makes the interpretation of the world much more difficult than it would be if such accidents did not occur (pp. 75, 76).

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It may encourage some who are struggling under the bondage of fear lest the invariable laws of nature shall rob us of our cherished belief of a present Deity, to quote the closing words of this chapter in which the author reveals to us his own experience.

"Speaking from my own experience alone, I may say in conclusion that by dwelling on these considerations we may attain to a view concerning the course of nature which differs widely from that which seems to be held by most naturalists. We see that this world, though moving onward in its path of change under conditions which are determined by the persistence of energy and of matter, is subject to endless revolutionary changes. These crises seem to be arranged in a certain large and orderly way. The minor of them occur with infinite frequency, appearing in every combination of matter; the greater happen but rarely, the greatest only from age to age. After all, the supreme test of our general opinion concerning the material world is the satisfaction which the view may give to the beholder. For my own part I find this rational introduction of the unexpected and the unforeseeable into the conception of nature more satisfying than the purely mechanical view which is so commonly held by my brethren in science" (pp. 101, 102).

BOOKS AND THEIR USE: An Address to which is appended a List of Books for Students of the New Testament. By Joseph Henry Thayer, D. D., Litt. D., Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation in Harvard University. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. 1893. (Pp. 94. 6x34.) 75 cents.

Professor Thayer has done excellent service in printing in this volume one of the familiar introductory lectures which he is accustomed to give to his students as they enter upon their course of instruction in the New Testament under him. We do not know where wiser and more suggestive direction to such with reference to the use and purchase of books can be found. The list of books recommended is nearly twice as long as the lecture, and is almost faultless in its selection and characterization. Small, also, as the volume is, it is supplied with a full index. We heartily commend it not only to students, but to all pastors and Bible scholars who are selecting a working library for the study of the Bible.

THE

BIBLIOTHECA SACRA.

ARTICLE I.

THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO SOCIAL

REFORM.

BY MR. DAVID KINLEY, MADISON, WISCONSIN.

EVER since her establishment the Church of Christ has been an object of attack either in the realm of the credibility of her doctrines or in that of the character of her practices. A generation ago the battle raged furiously in the former region; to-day the latter is the basis of a wide-spread criticism. The present article is concerned with only one phase of the discussion,-the alleged failure of the Church to do her duty in matters of practical concern in the life of society, and the alleged consequent alienation of the masses from her. The article does not, therefore, enter the field of discussion with those who, in a spirit of hostility to the Church as an institution, declare that in her long career she has done more harm to the world in the physical and moral life of men than she has done good in the spiritual life; but the paper confines itself to a consideration of the position of those friends of the Church who think that she is not making the most of present opportunities, and that she fails in her duty in participating so slightly in direct measures of social reform. There is a feeling abroad, that if Christianity be VOL. L. NO. 199.

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what it claims to be it should justify its pretensions by bringing about the social regeneration for which the world is working. It is alleged that, in consequence of its failure to do so, it is losing its "hold" on the masses of the people, and that the alienation of the masses from the Church is at once the sign and the expression of the decay of the Christian religion.

The claim that the Church is losing her hold on the people at large is not new. Many years ago John Stuart Mill wrote that it was at least doubtful whether any church except the Roman Catholic retained great authoritative influence over its communicants or among the people at large. More recently the great German Economist, Roscher, has declared that the alienation of the masses from the Church is one of the five main causes of the social discontent and of the strength and progress of socialistic schemes. "When," he says, "every one regards wealth as a sacred trust or office coming from God, and poverty as a divine dispensation intended to educate and develop those afflicted thereby, and considers all men as brothers, and this earthly life only as a preparation for eternity, even extreme differences of property lose their irritating and demoralizing power. On the other hand, the atheist and materialist becomes only too readily a mammonist, and the poor mammonist falls only too easily into that despair which would gladly kindle a universal conflagration, in order either to plunder or to lose his own life." The thought to which these eminent writers thus give expression is very decidedly reaffirmed in the popular opinion of to-day. One of the "burning questions" of the times is "how to evangelize the cities," "how to reach the masses" with religious influences.

There is abundant proof that the outcry has a considerable basis of truth. Almost any clergyman will admit that one of the problems of his ministry is how to get hold of the working-people, especially the men. Evidence of the reality

of the difficulty is seen in the attitude continually taken by labor unions towards the churches and religion. They declare that experience teaches them that they need not look in that direction for help or sympathy.

The complaint against the Church with reference to present social movements is really a double one. It is asserted, first, that the Church as a body, or as an organization, takes but little direct interest, and still less direct action, in the great questions of the methods of elevating the masses, the abolition of poverty, the reformation of the criminal, the suppression of injustice on the part of wealth towards poverty, the protection of the industrially weak, as the factory girl, the shop girl, and children and women employed in our mills. The Church does little, it is asserted, towards the suppression of the spirit of greed which prompts great corporations sometimes to sacrifice the health and life of employees for gain; she does not interfere in disputes between laborers and employers to establish justice in their relations, and she is usually arrayed against the working-men in any struggle for their rights or the betterment of their conditions of life.

The second charge, or group of charges, against the Church is, that with all her influence she fails to produce in actual life more justice, more purity, more self-sacrifice; that she fails to influence conduct, to make the lives of her professors any nobler than those of other people. The preaching of the pulpit, the confession of the creed, the professions of faith, of love, of self-sacrifice, that are made at the altar, find no realization, it is declared, in everyday life. The church-member is no less unscrupulous in business than the non-church-member. The professing Christian legislator, or manufacturer, or railway director, does not let his religion influence the laws he makes, the bargains he drives, or the relations that exist between him and his employees.

The explanation usually offered of the alleged neglect

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of practical social problems by the Church is, that she has concerned herself so much with theology that she has neglected religion. It is said, that, "whenever an agreement has been reached between the Church and the World, the terms have been a division of territory, as it were, and that on this wise: The world has transferred the domain of dogma and the future life to the Church, but has kept for itself the present life." In other words, it is maintained by some that the Church has fixed her attention on a future life, and has been inclined to regard all things in this life, not only as not accessory to a future better state, but as absolutely antagonistic to it; that she has been logically led, therefore, to lay but little stress on social struggles, and on the improvement of life in this world, so far as material comfort and ease of living are concerned, and that in this she has done wrong, because no great spirituality can be developed in hearts that are tainted with social evil or that are suffering from social wrong. The result of this course of action, it is maintained, has been to make religion theoretical rather than practical, to emphasize dogma and faith rather than "works" and practical life; in short, to try to practise the first, while neglecting the second, of the two great commandments on which “hang all the law and the prophets."

It is evident that the accusations brought against the Church are serious, and that, if they are well founded, they point to a condition which she should try to change. It is important, therefore, to determine how far they are true.

The complaints against the Church may be grouped into two classes according to the thoughts underlying them. The first class consists of those the underlying thought of which is that the principles of Christianity have not the power which is claimed for them. Those who believe this, logically deny that the Christian religion is the proper force to which to look for social regeneration. It is not necessary to discuss this view of the subject here. Probably very few of

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