national Congregational Council, to be held in Boston in 1899. Methodist Hospitals The ninth annual report of the Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn calls attention to the fact that the Methodist denomination is establishing similar institutions in nearly all of our large cities. Indeed, the rapid growth of interest in the form of religious work has materially narrowed the field from which the Brooklyn Hospital can draw its support. In the past, twenty-seven annual conferences have officially contributed to the maintenance of the Brooklyn work; but the new Deaconess Hospital in Boston, the Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia, Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, and the Wesley Hospital now being established in Chicago, as well as some smaller institutions elsewhere, have narrowed the source of supplies for the Brooklyn institution to the territory immediately about New York. Fortunately, however, the interest in the work has deepened as well as widened, and last year the Brooklyn Hospital received upwards of $50,000 for its current expenses, as well as nearly as much more for its building fund. The work of the hospital is in no sense denominational. Of the twelve hundred patients cared for last year, nearly one-quarter were Catholics and a few were avowed skeptics. Christian hospital work knows no creed except that laid down in the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is certainly most gratifying to see how effectively the work of the religious orders of the Catholic Church among the sick is now being discharged by the awakened conscience of the Protestant laity. This work should be pushed forward until free hospitals shall be as much a matter of course in church communities as free churches and free schools. Such ministrations as these are twice blest. They enrich the communities that provide them as much as they enrich the individuals who are healed and taught. The International Y. M. C. A. The International Young Men's Christian Association recently held its annual meeting in Mobile, Ala. The President of the Convention was Major Joseph Hardie, of Birmingham, Ala. Especial attention was given to the development of the educational work of the Association throughout the country, and the college and university work. Naturally, Secretaries John R. Mott and L. D. Wishard were prominent in the meetings. It is reported that there are now sixtytwo associations of colored young men; forty-two in colleges, of which thirty-eight are in the South; and twenty city or town associations, twelve being in the South. One of the most significant utterances of the whole Convention was that of the President, Major Hardie, himself an ex-Con federate soldier, who spoke as follows: "I heard a man say, the other day, that the colored race was on trial, but in my opinion it is the white race that is on trial. You and I are on trial. God gave us the African when he permitted man's avarice to penetrate the wilds of Africa to shackle him and bring him to our shores. He finally brought about the means by which he was declared free. And I take it that this was God's way of taking him away from his idols. Shall we be like the priest or Levite, who passed by on the other side, or shall we, like the Good Samaritan, take these people and lift them up, and make them a blessing to themselves and to their race? It is the white race that is on trial. Are we going to meet this question and bring these people to God?" That is a noble utterIt was worth having the meeting at Mobile to have that address made. The Convention was regarded as one of the very best that the Association has ever held. ance. Disciples' City Evangelization Conference On April 27 and 28 the Disciples of Christ held at Cincinnati the third in a series of conferences on city evangelization. The attendance was large, there being about two hundred preachers and church workers present from outside of Cincinnati, showing clearly the widespread interest in this often-discussed and unanswered question now pressing so heavily upon civic Christendom. A part of the first day was occu pied with an able address by the Rev. E. W. Dorst, city evangelist of Chicago, whose large experience and all-consuming zeal in this work gave much unction to his message. He showed that the modern revival of interest in evangelizing the cities is but a renewal of the Apostolic methods of spreading the gospel of grace. The "Chicago plan" is that of keeping a city evangelist in the field who gives his whole time to the planting of new churches or the strengthening of weak ones. In that city it has proven a marvelous success. The Rev. S. L. Darsie, of Buffalo, in his address on "Methods in City Work," brought into clear light the commendable features not only of the system employed in Chicago, but described also the "St. Louis plan," which centralizes all the forces of the city churches in a "City Mission Board," made up of representatives from the various churches, who co-operate in the planting of new missions without the help of a city evangelist. Just now, however, they are holding a great tent-meeting in which the Rev. J. H. O. Smith, of Chicago, is preaching to 2,500 people every night. Another method of work discussed is known as the "Pittsburg plan," by which new communities are reached through the quiet but remarkably successful agency of the cottage prayer-meeting. One of the chief values of the Conference was indicated in a strong address by the Rev. J. E. Pounds, of Indianapolis, who spoke on "Utilizing Our Forces." It reminded the Conference of the vast amount of wasted talent in all our churches, which, if utilized, would multiply the power of Christendom many fold. Professor Graham Taylor, of Chicago, spoke two hours in the evening on "Social Problems of the City," in which he made an eloquent appeal for the unredeemed masses of our city population. The latter part of his address was taken up in answering questions. This proved one of the most valuable features of the Conference. The Rev. I. J. Spencer, of Lexington. Ky., in his address on "Sunday-Schools in City Work," urged the ministers to preach oftener to the young people, and to make the connection between the church and school closer and more vital. The Rev. T. E. Coramblett, of Pittsburg, discussed in a sensible manner the hard problem of "How to Reach the Worldly and Well-to-do in the Cities." J. D. Forrest, of Chicago, presented a masterly paper on "Institutional Methods and Social Settlements," and the Rev. A. B. Philputt, of Philadelphia, fittingly brought the Conference to a close with a strong address on "The Adaptation of Our Position to the Cities." It was the largest and best Conference of the kind yet held by the Disciples. Chicago Theological Seminary The closing exercises for the year of the Chicago Theological Seminary seem to have been of peculiar interest. They grouped themselves around the Alumni Institute, the President's Reception, the Triennial Convention, and the graduating exercises. The addresses at the Alumni Institute were delivered by the Rev. Dr. Willard Scott, who spoke on "Theology and Preaching ;" and Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus, who spoke on "The Future Life in Literature." In addition, brief addresses were given by men from the outposts; while three papers were also presented on the subject of "Preaching "by the Kevs. W. R. Day, A. R. Thain, D.D., and J. W. Fifield. At the reception of President Fisk addresses were given by prominent men connected with the Theological Seminary. The chief feature of the Triennial Convention, which is composed of pastors and delegates from the Congregational churches of the interior States, was the address by the Rev. Michael Burnham, D.D., of St. Louis, on "The Preacher's Book." Thirty-five students received the graduate degree; of these, fifteen received that of Bachelor of Divinity; eight, the diploma of the English department; three, that of the Danish-Norwegian department; and ten, that of the Swedish department. The Seminary is especially fortunate in the fact that Professsr W. Douglass Mackenzie has at last definitely accepted its chair of Systematic Theology. Dr. Mackenzie came from Scotland two or three years ago under a provisional arrangement. He has proved himself singularly strong and efficient in his department, and the Seminary and the churches are both to be congratulated on his acceptance of this important chair. Dr. Martineau On April 21 the venerable James Martineau celebrated his ninety-second birthday. Probably no man who speaks the English language is more universally honored for his great ability, his catholic spirit, and his Christian character. It is somewhat curious, however, to notice that he is now a regular attendant at the Camden Road Congregational Church, Holloway, London, of which the Rev. A. H. Moncur Sime is pastor. This, of course, does not indicate any change in his theological opinions, but only that he finds a congenial spiritual home in the church which he attends. But he and Dr. Stopford Brooke are generally classed with Unitarians, though both of them have always refused to admit the justice of the classification. "The Kingdom" King One of the brightest and best-edited papers which come to our table has been the " dom," which has been published in Minneapolis. With the last issue it disappears from our list of exchanges for a few months to reappear later. It is proposed to greatly enlarge the paper, and make it the organ of what is known as "Christian Socialism." It will seek to interpret in a Christian spirit the great social movements of our time. It will devote itself to social rather than to ecclesiastical Christianity. Among those who are to be associated with it are such men as Professor Graham Taylor, of Chicago, Henry D. Lloyd, and Professor Charles Ceublin. It is proposed to issue the first number of the new paper in October. Abundant provision is made for those whose subscriptions have not yet expired. It gives us pleasure to note the progress of a paper which has been so eminently fair, spiritual, and Christian in all its treatment of public questions. If into the new and larger field which it will seek to cultivate it carries its old spirit, it will be a blessing, not only to social, but also to organized Christianity. Notes The annual meeting of the Congregational Home Missionary Society will be held at Saratoga, June 1-3. The sermon will be preached by the Rev. Frank T. Bailey, of Denver, Colo. A subscriber calls our attention to a statement made in our columns that the Dr. Paxton who is engaged in evangelical work in Paris is not the Rev. John R. Paxton, D.D., formerly of New York, but the Rev. James D. Paxton, formerly of the Spruce Street Church in Philadelphia. The third International Convention of the Epworth League will be held in Toronto, Canada, June 15-18. It is reported that the correspondence already indicates that there will be an attendance of at least twenty thou sand Americans. The event is a great one in the history of Methodism. The Rev. Walter Laidlaw, Ph.D., who was recently called to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church in Albion, N. Y., has declined, preferring to remain in New York in the service of the Federation of Churches and Christian Workers. The Treasurer of this organization is Mr. Harvey E. Fisk, and the address is 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York. NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS.-It is seldom possible to answer any inquiry in the next issue after its receipt. Those who find expected answers late in coming will, we hope, bear in mind the impediments arising from the constant pressure of many subjects upon our limited space. Communications should always bear the writer's name and address. 1. What does the Christian Church enjoy to-day with respect to the Holy Spirit not enjoyed by the Jewish Church? 2. What are we to learn from John vii., 37-39; John xiv., 16-18; John xvi., 7-11? 3. What are we to learn from Christ as recorded in Matt. xxv., 46, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment"? 4. What is the unpardonable sin? Or is there more than one? Why unpardonable? P. M. S. 1. The Holy Spirit must be thought of as working from within the world through spiritually minded men, rather than from above the world. There are more such men now than anciently, also more and richer material in history and experience for the Spirit's use in teaching. 2. The first passage cannot mean that the Spirit was not yet in the world, since the writer believed that the prophets spoke by the Spirit; rather that the peculiar power of the Spirit, as shown later in the Church, was not yet. The second passage emphasizes the thought of "forever;" the coming Spirit was not to depart like Jesus. The third passage teaches that the withdrawal of Christ's bodily presence was essential to the prosecution of his work by the Spirit abiding in his disciples, and that, because he had departed, his work of convincing the world would be carried on by the Spirit. 3. That those who are guilty of rejecting the law of brotherly love (as described in the preceding context) go to their own place among the enemies of mankind (described as "the devil and his angels") into the retributions of eternity. For "everlasting R. V. uses "eternal," meaning not lasting through, but belonging to, eternity-i.e., involved in the eternal nature of things; which is that the unloving must suffer. (For a full discussion see Beyond the Shadow," T. Whittaker, New York.) 4. It is the deliberate rejection of what one knows to be essential to his salvation: unpardonable, not because God is unforgiving, but because the man is stubborn. "Irremediable" is less liable to misunderstanding than "unpardonable." " "the You say," A man may be what the Church calls 'saved' and not be a Christian." 1. Is that equivalent to saying that a man may be "saved" in God's sight and not be a Christian-that is, he need not have a knowledge of or a belief in Christ in order to be saved? 2. You further quote from Peter, " In every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with God." If that is true, why need the Christian world struggle so strenuously to persuade the world to accept Christ? 3. Yet this same Peter declares (Acts iv., 12)," Neither is there salvation in any other," etc. I confess I cannot reconcile these statements. I had thought salvation meant being saved, and that this came through the power of the Christ life. If men are to be saved without Christ, why trouble them to accept him or his plan of 1. Certainly not; rather what the New Testament means in such passages as 2 Timothy iii., 5; Revelation iii., 1. 2. Because the knowledge of Christ is the most effective means to the saved character which the Apostle describes as "accepted." So we deem education a necessity, although some of the ablest men have been uneducated. 3. This does not mean that there is no salvation without a historic knowledge of Christ; rather that there is none without the saving thing which Christ represents, and for which he came into the world-i. e., the saved character. This may exist apart from the historic Christ; but it cannot be apart from the essential Christ. It is not a name, but a thing, which the Scriptures insist on as essential to salvation. There are several varieties of Adventists. All of them believe that Christ is soon to return to the world in visible form to inaugurate a millennial reign of righteousness. They all, so far as we can learn, practice baptism by immersion. The Evangelical Adventists believe that man is naturally immortal, and that the wicked are punished everlastingly. The Christian Adventists believe that the wicked are annihilated at death. The Seventh Day Adventists believe that the Jewish Sabbath is for perpetual observance. The text quoted (2 Timothy iv., 1) is changed in the Revised Version, which substitutes "and" for "at"-thus impairing its value as an argument. It is true, however, that the Apostles believed that the judgment was to take place at Christ's appearing, but they thought that this was to be during the lifetime of those then on earth. If they were mistaken in this point, they were not infallible in the other. I have lately been re-reading with much interest Tennyson's "Holy Grail," and, as the book lay on my table, my niece, a young lady of nineteen, took it up. She soon came to this, which she read aloud: "This, from the blessed land of Aromat, After the day of darkness, when the dead Went wandering o'er Moriah," etc. "Why, Auntie, do you believe the dead got up from their graves and went wandering about Mount Moriah?' I had marked on the margin Matthew xxvii., 52-54. I hardly knew how to answer her, but said, "I believe the other three do not mention it; if they stop there, we shall have to." But that was not a good reply, so I added," That may be a traditional passage. In times of excitement much is told, and each one embellishes a little as the narrative is passed along." I should like very much to know how The Outlook would answer that question. To me the resurrection of Christ is one thing, this is another. I try, for myself and for those in my care, not to substi tute credulity for faith. Young people ask questions, and I believe in educating them as their contemporaries are being educated. They will probably have enough to unlearn then. H.G. You are quite right in saying that the resurrection of Christ is one thing, and the report of other resurrections at the time of the crucifixion is another. It is entirely consistent with an implicit belief in Christ's resurrection to regard this passage in Matthew as an early addition to the narrative, and of the same legendary character as the story of the angel in John v., 4, which the Revised Version has expunged. I have great difficulty on the subject of prayer. I can only ask heartily for grace or for wisdom for myself. On all other subjects I have the feeling that our heavenly Father knows so much better and cares so much more than I do that any petition seems foolish. I know the Bible injunctions to pray without ceasing, and in everything to make supplications without ceasing with thanksgiving, but they do not appeal to me. What is the matter? V. C. The object of Christian, as distinct from heathen, prayer is that we may do God's will, not that we may get God to do our will. We are to confess our needs before him, that we may more conscientiously work with him for the supply of our real needs. Prayer is a special form of cooperation with God. Food nourishes us, though one be ignorant of the process of its digestion. Doubts as to the mode in which prayer operates ought not to discourage prayer. The example of spiritual heroes like Paul, the example of Christ, may serve us as a good substitute for a philosophy of prayer. Still, the prayer of Socra tes, "Grant that I may be inwardly pure, and that my lot may be such as shall best agree with a right disposition of the mind," may be recommended to any one who finds prayer for specific things hindered by reflection on human shortsightedness. The subject is too large to dispose of here in all its points. The Outlook, page 972, speaks of the daughter of Jairus as raised from the dead-placing her case in the same category of miracles as that of Lazarus. But Jesus distinctly said she did not die-ouk áπélave. Whose word are we to believe; that of Jesus, or of the hired mourners whose interest it was to make out she was dead? J. W. C. With most scholars, we regard Christ's words in this case as allegorical, and his intention to teach that death is but a sleep and an awakening. The other interpretation is a possible, but, it seems to us, not a probable, one. "G. P. B.'s" statement, March 20, page 807, "vice is from Latin' vitium,' but nothing to do with 'vitis,"" was controverted in our correspondence column, April 10, page 1000, by an appeal to Skeat's Etymological Dictionary. The appeal is a mistake. "G. P. B." was correct, according to Skeat. Vice signifying immorality is from Latin About People -The great historian Gibbon may not appear even in a memorial tablet at his Alma Mater, Magdalen College, Oxford. The reason is that Gibbon left on record the following statement: "Life stagnates there in a round of college business, Tory politics, personal stories, and private scandal." -The new President of the Swiss Confederation, M. Adolphe Deucher, is a physician by profession. He was President once before--in 1886. His manners are simple and affable; he has considerable power as a speaker, and has excellent business capacities. The success of the recent Geneva exhibition was largely due to his efforts. -The fact that genius will out has been proved once again in the case of the Belgian painter, M. Charles François Félu. He was born without arms, and has attained his reputation solely by the use of his feet in manipulating his colors and brushes. He holds his palette with his left foot and paints with his right. He is not only a talented artist, but has some title to distinction as a literary man, having translated several works of Horace into French verse. -According to the Boston "Globe," Esther Damon, of Plymouth, Vt., is the only living pensioner of the American Revolution in New England. She was born on August 1, 1814, and in 1835 she was married to Noah Damon, a volunteer from Massachusetts. A pension was given to him just before his death. His widow has had $80 a year since 1842. Esther Damon keeps herself informed on the condition of the list of pensioners of the Revolution. "I am," she "one of the last five widows of that war says, who receive pensions from the Government." -The Washington "Times" says that Captain Robley D. Evans, of the United States Navy-who, by the way, objects to his nickname of "Fighting Bob "--was a junior officer when the war broke out, and his Virginia mother, thinking her son had not yet learned his own mind, sent in his resignation without consulting him. The resignation was at once accepted, and the young man was out of the Navy. But he found a way to induce the Department to rescind its action, and saw much service during the war. He walks to-day with a slight limp, due to a wound re ceived in action. -Oliver Wendell Holmes always had a profound respect for the Dutch. He used to call them "the European aborigines of America." He also maintained that the Dutch were not altogether stolid, but that they had some sense of humor. He would say: "For instance, the crampet story has a Dutch origin." Then his friends would inquire, "What is the crumpet story?" and he would tell them that it had many variants, but that the one with which he was familiar was about a man who was about to be hanged, and was asked whether he had any last request to make, whereupon he said he would like to have a dozen hot crumpets, very buttery, because he had never dared to eat more than one before. Good Deeds By the will of Mrs. Sarah van Nostrand, who died recently, the sum of $25,000 is left to the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University for a memorial fund, and the sum of $5,000 is bequeathed to the General Theological Seminary in New York City for a scholarship. The probating of the will of Judge Benjamin R. Sheldon, who died at Rockford, Ill., lately, reveals the fact that among his bequests is $100,000 to Williams College, while the Hampton (Va.) Institute also receives $100,000. Judge Sheldon left an estate of more than $300,000. His only surviving relatives are two nieces and a nephew, who live in Rockford. Judge Sheldon was the last surviving member of the Williams class of 1830, and in 1877 received the degree of LL.D. from his Alma Mater. He was for eighteen years on the Supreme Bench of Illinois, and served for more than forty years on the bench in that State. The children attending public schools in Brussels, Belgium, were requested some time since by their teachers to gather up, on their way to and from school, such apparently valueless objects as tin toil, tin cans, paint-tubes, bottle capsules, refuse metals, etc., and deliver their collections daily to their respective teachers. In eight months the following amounts were collected: old painttubes, 220 pounds; tin foil, 1,925 pounds; scraps of metal, 1,200 pounds; and bottle capsules, 4,400 pounds. This rubbish was disposed of for a sum so considerable that the proceeds clothed five hundred poor children completely, sent ninety invalid children to recuperation colonies, and there was still a goodly balance to be distributed among the poor sick of the city. In 1891 the late Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt gave to St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City, the superb building on Forty-second Street for use as "St. Bartholomew's House." To this, her son, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, is now adding an extension about as large as the original. The new building will open into the old, and is so constructed that the two present a homogeneous front. The cost of the new building, including the furnishing, is about a quarter of a million dollars. St. Bartholomew's House is the domicile of the various clubs and organizations connected with St. Bartholomew's Church. The original building was of such generous dimensions that at the time of its erection it was considered abundantly ample, but the work has outgrown even those dimensions. The basement of the remodeled structure will contain the employment and loan bureaus. The first and second floors are to be given over to the offices and to the Res. cue Mission Church. The Assembly Hall occupies the third and a part of the upper floors. It is used also for a girls' gymnasium, and on Sunday for a Sunday-school room, Part of the fourth floor will be given over to the kindergar ten, and part of the fifth to the Girls' Club. The sixth and seventh floors will contain the Men's Club, with the gymnasium and running-track. Above this will be the Boys' Club, the drill-room, and working-room. It may be remembered that, in addition to her original gift, the late Mrs. Vanderbilt bequeathed $250,000, the income of which was to maintain the parish house. The Outlook has already called attention to the unselfish life of a royal oculist, Duke Charles Theodore of Bavaria, a brother of the Empress of Austria. We ought also to mention that his wife, the Duchess Maria Josepha, and her daughter, Marie Gabrielle, devote the greater part of their time to the care of the three eye hospitals of the Duke, one of which is at Munich, one at Meran, and the third at Tegernsee. In most of his operations the Duke is assisted by his wife and daughter, the latter being thoroughly skilled and trained nurses. They enter perfectly into the spirit of the Duke's philanthropic work, and are adored by the patients. The costume of the ladies when nursing is a simple black dress with collar, cuffs, and big apron of blue and white striped linen. These royal people rise early, and every morning at seven o'clock the three may found at the bedside of a patient. The Duke has already more than three thousand successful cataract operations to his credit. It is by such Christly labors that injustice in social distinctions may be lessened and the world brought a long way nearer the millennium. University Extension and the be On the 8th of January, 1897, a petition was sent to the Senate of the University of Berlin, signed by more than half of the instructors in the University, requesting the University authorities to take up University Extension work in and about the city of Berlin. The list included such names as Dames, Delbrück, Diels, Dilthey. Gierke, Harnack, Paulsen, Schmoller, Wagner, and many others equally prominent. After a brief review of the course of the University Extension movement in other countries, and especially in Austria, the petitioners set forth the many signs of social disintegration in modern Germany, and their reasons for thinking that this movement |