for "special" correspondents then take up the work of the stock performers. I have met in Paris a good many distinguished special correspondents, men who have earned reputation in other spheres, but who were as much misplaced in Paris as a boulevardier would be in the wilds of Kamchatka. In default of understand ing, therefore, they invented.

No doubt their journals were quite pleased, for I know it is a well-accepted maxim in the most progressive newspaper world that false news is better than no news. Most of the correspondents go so far as to act on the principle that false news is better than true news if the false news have the characteristics of sensationalism, of lurid display, of the "tang" so delectable to the public.

One of the most successful newspaper editors in London once told me that he believed in sending men to cities they knew nothing about, because their impressions were livelier and more interesting. That is also doubtless the reason why a Frenchman's description, say, of a baseball match, makes such enjoyable reading.

I remember one of these lively impressionists, who came from New York to take charge of the local edition of a worldrenowned paper, rushing to his office to order an "extraordinary" in New York one Sunday afternoon, on the ground that something like a new French Revolution had commenced. He had seen the President driving to his palace with a terrifying escort of cuirassiers armed with revolvers; and as he had never before seen this imposing piece of pageantry that so delights our Gallic Republicans, he became excited and "splurged" it across the Atlantic. This was "good" journalism, no doubt. But what would we think of a Frenchman cabling to his newspaper -supposing for a moment a French newspaper ever indulged in a cable-that President McKinley had decided to abolish the army because he saw him receive some officers in mufti? The parallel is not overstrained.

The most fertile field for ingenious reporters is undoubtedly a war campaign. I do not speak particularly of the South African war-for it is becoming increasingly evident that long before the war, as during its continuance, a well-organized system of falsification of news was in

operation-I speak of war correspondence generally. One of the most famous of all war correspondents was undoubtedly Edward O'Donovan, who perished with the army of Hicks Pasha in the Sudan. O'Donovan was endowed with Celtic exuberance, allied to a perfectly Oriental richness of coloring, and he could pile up graphic details with a facility only possible to one who loved his art. The traditions of mendacity that O'Donovan inaugurated have been well continued; only the tone of romance and poetry and the genial atmosphere have disappeared. Mendacity has become "commercialized." The English newspapers are, I believe, the chief offenders in this respect, especially the newer arrivals in the field, which pique themselves on what they call American methods, and which secretly rejoice in, while ostensibly rejecting, the title of "yellow journals."

I myself have been special correspondent to different English papers in various parts of the world, and I know from experience so acquired that the vaunted. accuracy of the English press is not always in evidence. The staid English papers have a more heavy and solemn manner of printing inaccuracies. That is all.

However, my object in writing this article has been, not to arraign any particular journal or journals, but to make a plea for a greater seriousness of conception of the province of journalism in general. We are the historians of a living present, and there is no limit to the importance which such a function might acquire. Occasionally it falls to the journalist's lot to assist in some degree in the march of history itself.

Yet the leaven of a bad old time still clings to the journalist's profession. Properly considered, such a remark as that cited above of the London editor, who sent men as correspondents to cities of which they knew nothing, should be considered as degrading to journalism. Is there any other profession in the world in which so small a premium is placed on great abilities and honest work, and in which there are such facilities for scamped work, shoddy work, bluff," flash, and meretricious work?

In my remarks I have referred mainly to the demerits of the system, but while I am quite alive to the great progress of

that he has but just passed his fiftieth birthday, the record of his literary activity is astonishing. The Dogmengeschichte was finished before he was thirty-seven. Of the monumental "History of Early Christian Literature," two large parts have already appeared. To record the special monographs of which he is the author, the books which he has edited, and the scholarly enterprises with which he has been associated, would be to weary the reader without profit. In all his work one feels that mastery of detail which is the mark of the great scholar, and which gives authority to his teaching.

But it is not his learning alone which gives Harnack his power over his students. It is rather what we may call his insighthis keen perception of the living issues which give vitality and worth to even the driest page of human history. He has a fine sense of proportion. He sees the great things great, and the small things small, and it is his constant effort to put them in their true relations. "History," he once said to his students, "is full of ghosts-issues that are dead, but whose shadowy forms are still moved about by those whose interest it is to persuade men that they are still alive. The true his torian must learn to distinguish between the living and the dead, and give his strength to the description of the former." He records that he may interpret, and he will be able to fasten the attention of his students to the record just in the measure that he makes them feel that interpretation is worth while. No doubt this attitude has its dangers. The man who is always looking for meanings may easily find them when they are not there. Harnack is not blind to this possibility. When one seeks to determine what is essential in a complex historical phenomenon like Christianity, mistakes cannot be wholly avoided. But that is no reason for refusing to make the attempt. "As mere archæology, all history is dumb.”

With insight goes sympathy. Harnack has his heroes. Who that has ever heard can forget his description of Athanasius, of Augustine, of Luther? For Cromwell, too, he has unbounded admiration, and for our own Washington. But it is not only the great men and the heroic characters that engage his interest. No personality is so unattractive that he has not

the patience to try to understand him; no page of history so dull that it is not worth his while to try to unravel its secrets. The theme of the Dogmengeschichte, it is well known, is the fact that dogma in the narrower ecclesiastical sense of the word has had its day. Yet it is safe to say that there is no book which gives the reader such insight into the real meaning of the process of which the great Christian dogmas are the outcome, or such sympathy with the feelings and the motives of the men who have labored in their definition and defense. How marvelously in his study of Augustine does he enter into the conflicting motives by which this great. man was swayed! The Augustine of Harnack is neither the Protestant Augustine with his predestination and original sin, nor the Catholic Augustine of the Donatist controversies. It is the real Augustine, who unites within himself both the Catholic and the Protestant; to whom both Catholic and Protestant appeal with equal right; who, out of the experiences of a life of unusual variety and complexity, has gained sympathy with and understanding for aspects of life which to us seem irreconcilable. Or, to take another illustration, how under his inspiring guidance does the scholastic philosophy lose its deadness and dryness, until we feel again the living issues which all the distinctions of the schools have not been able utterly to efface!

Of more personal characteristics we may mention his engaging frankness. Unlike certain German Professors, Harnack is never ashamed to confess his ignorance. On one occasion, he had been lecturing upon the Johannine problem, and propounding a certain theory which involved the co-operation of two Johns, one the Apostle, the source of the tradition, the other the disciple, the author of the Gospel as we know it. After setting forth in great detail his reasons for adopting this theory, he suddenly stopped, leaned forward, and remarked confidentially, "Gentlemen, perhaps some of you are unwilling to believe that this is the true explanation. I will let you into a secret. I do not more than half believe it myself."

Add to all this the possession of a German style of singular directness, simplicity, and beauty, the ability to speak clearly and readily without notes, and above all a vitality and personal magnetism which

are irresistible, and you have some conception of the qualities which give Harnack his power as a lecturer.

To measure the influence of a German Professor you must see him not only in his lecture-room, but in his seminar, where he meets a selected group of the more advanced students for critical investigation and training in methods of original research. Here Harnack goes a way of his own. Instead of having one of his students read a paper, or, as leader, conduct the discussion, he keeps control of matters in his own hands. Papers are written, of course, and critical work exacted of the men. But the time allotted to this part of the work in class is relatively small. The paper is submitted privately, and presented to the class only in the form of a brief abstract given by the Professor, and accompanied by such words of comment or criticism as he thinks worth while. This done, the rest of the time is occupied by Harnack himself. He teaches by example, as a demonstrator at a clinic, showing his students by actual experiment how a theme should be approached, and each knotty point which it suggests unraveled. It is on such occasions that his originality and insight become most apparent. Rare, indeed, is the subject which does not suggest a dozen others still uninvestigated, and the student, already oppressed at the multitude of books which have been written, finds his amazement growing at the number of important problems which still remain unsolved.

But it is in the social gatherings held under his own roof that one comes closest to the man. Here the formal restraints imposed by lecture or seminar are thrown aside, and teacher and students meet in a new relation. A modest refreshment for the outer man prepares the way for the banquet of the spirit. It must be confessed that the conversation is largely a monologue. Harnack is so good a talker that one cannot have too much of him, and an occasional question from one of his listeners alone breaks a flow of speech that seems inexhaustible. It makes no difference what is the subject under discussion; whether it be a newly discovered manuscript, big with possibilities, of which the Professor has received early information, or some practical movement

of religious or social reform, or the newest phase of Roman Catholic politics, or the last move made by the Social Democrats ; to each he brings the same enthusiasm, and on each he has something fresh to contribute. One wonders that a man of such breadth of sympathy should never have crossed the ocean in order to study for himself, at first hand, the later chapters in the history of Christianity. One wonders-until one remembers the magnitude of the tasks to which he is already committed-and then one understands. That his refusal to be tempted away from Germany is not due to any lack of interest in what goes on in the outside world, no one who has observed the eagerness with which he welcomes information concerning recent developments in the religious life of England and America can doubt.

Thus far we have spoken of Harnack chiefly as a teacher of theological students. It would, however, be a great mistake to think of him as confined to his work as a Professor. His public is a far wider one than that of the university, and no interest in questions of scholarly detail blinds his eyes to the responsibility which every true man feels to the life of his times. In the preface to the recently published translation to his lectures on "What is Christianity?" occurs this significant sentence: "Whether there is as great a need in England as in Germany for a short and plain statement of the Gospel and its history, I do not know. But this I know: the theologians of every country only half discharge their duties if they think it enough to treat of the Gospel in the recondite language of learning and bury it in scholarly folios." Certainly no one can accuse Harnack of this failing. He has the art of expressing the great truths of religion with a simplicity and directness which many a preacher. might envy, and many an address upon practical themes attests the generosity with which he is ready to put his services at the disposal of any good cause which commands his interest. Whether it be a practical talk on right living for a Y. M. C. A., or an address on foreign missions, or a paper before some pastors' conference upon a theme of present day interest, he is equally at home. No one can measure the influence of the man who has not read, or better heard, some of these informal addresses, in which

the fundamental conviction of his life comes to clear expression.

If it be asked what this conviction is the answer can be given in a sentence. It is the abiding significance of Christ as the center of human history, and the Saviour and Master needed for our day. Do you wish to know what is essential Christianity, asks Harnack. The answer is very simple. It is Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Christ is the creator of Christianity, and to understand Christianity means to know Christ. For this insight no lengthy studies are necessary; no profound researches in comparative religion; no deep delving into the mysteries of philosophy, not even a knowledge of contemporary history, however welcome the help which that may bring. The Gospel of Jesus is at once so simple and so original that even without elaborate instructions the plain man may find his way to it. Whoever has an open eye for what is living and a true feeling for what is really great cannot fail to see it, and to distinguish it from its contemporary dress. The Gospel of Jesus? It is "eternal life in the midst of time, in the strength and before the eyes of God." It is "divine sonship spread out over the whole of life, an inner harmony with God's

kingdom, and a joyful certainty in the possession of eternal goods and in confidence of protection from evil." It is all this, not merely as theory but as experience, realizing itself first of all in the life of Jesus and afterwards in all those who through him have been brought to know themselves as at once sons of God and servants of their fellow-men. What the world needs to-day is to substitute for the dogmas of a narrow orthodoxy and the negations of a materialistic philosophy wrongfully arrogating to itself the name of science a new insight into the inexhaustible riches and beauty of Jesus Christ.

Harnack's latest work, in the beauty of its diction, the warmth of its feeling, and the intensity of its personal conviction, has been not inaptly compared to the theological classic of a century agoSchleiermacher's "Discourses on Relig ion." Surely it is matter for no small thankfulness that in these days of theological indifference and coldness there should be found in the chair of the leading German university a man of the highest scientific standing, able to give utterance, in a manner at once so worthy and so persuasive, to the fundamental conviction of the Christian life.

Apostles of the Lord: Being Six Lectures on Pastoral Theology, Delivered in the Divinity School, Cambridge, Lent Term, 1901. By W. C. E. Newbolt, M.A. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 5x7 in. 215 pages. $1.40. While written especially for young ministers of the Anglican Church, and from the Anglican point of view regarding the relations between Church and State, this volume of instructions concerning pastoral work and the cultivation of personal character is valuable for any one engaged in the Christian ministry. Based on our Lord's instructions to his Apostles in Matthew x., it is characterized by a felicitous and suggestive use of Scripture, by a spirit both devout and strenuous, and by inclusive attention to the multifarious questions and situations bearing either on official duty or on personal culture and conduct.

Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture,

and Religion. By J. L. Spalding. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. 41X7 in. 292 pages. 80c.

A certain business firm made a practice of

presenting a copy of the canonical Book of Proverbs to every young man entering their employ. Bishop Spalding's "Aphorisms and Reflections" is good for similar use. A good book, too, it is for any one to have on his table convenient for the vacant moment that is enough for an aphorism in a line or a reflection in a paragraph. Certainly it is not a book to read by chapters, but rather by sentences, a few at a time. The collection gives evidence of wide acquaintance with the treasures of thought and experience. The general idea is, that things are to us what we make them to be, and that the best satisfactions come not from circumstances but from selfculture.

Egyptian Ring (The). By Nellie T. Sawyer.

The Abbey Press, New York. 5×8 in. 105 pages. 50c.

Elements of Plane Geometry. By Alan Sanders. Illustrated. The American Book Co., New York. 5x7 in. 247 pages. 75c.