THE INQUIRIES which come continually to the office of the Unitarian, from those who desire Liberal literature that they may know what the Free Church offers as the Living Word of To-day, would, if published, reveal emphatically to our people that they can do no better work than assist in the circulation of our books and tracts, and of our periodicals. Whenever even the possible occasion comes, or can be made, we should have sufficient of the "missionary" and "propagandist" spirit to hand at once, or send, the book or paper or leaflet. Our Word is what thousands are hungering for yet have no conception of.

chapter "Up and Enter,"-sample paragraphs of its whole style, through more than 200 pages:

Leave others to discuss the theory, do you take the thing.

Understand first what I mean by getting life's reality, even while you have not a full understanding of it. It is like this: Here is a man in some despotic country, under bad laws, wretchedly paid for his labor, his children growing up poor and ignorant, his sons liable to be conscripted into the army. He hears something

about America. Some one tells him about its discovery by the adventurous voyager, Columbus. He hears accounts of the freedom and prosperity of its people. The whole matter is full of things he cannot understand; whether

the voyage of Columbus be a history or a fable he is quite unfit to judge; the very idea of a "self-governing" people is a mystery to him. If he stays at home till these things become clear and certain to him, he will stay there till he dies. But he may save his money till he can pay his passage to America, and actually go there with his family. Getting there, he can earn the higher wages, his children can go to the free schools, his sons undergo no military service, he finds himself soon made a voter and picking up some knowledge of public affairs, he and his are in full realization of the privileges of American citizenship. He does not know much about Columbus, he could give only bungling answers to questions about the history of the country and the philosophy of its institutions, but he is an American....

Whenever a man comes under the inspiration of fidelity and love and trust, there the kingdom of God is planted in a soul. As the inspiration spreads from one to another, and men ally and associate themselves under its influence, there the kingdom of God is set up in society. Its progress is slow, no infallible guidance is given to it, the mistakes and shortcomings of its members delay it; but it exists, it grows from age to age, its present tokens are just as visible to seeing eyes as are the tokens of an American life and society, . . . its sign, the spirit and disposition whereby we become faithful, serviceable, humble, reverent, hopeful, open-eyed, and open-hearted.

See, then, how simple a thing it is to enter the kingdom of God! As simple as for a foreigner to come to America. There is no more need to clear up all your doubts about Jesus than for the immigrant to make sure about the story of Columbus. . . . You need no more wait to understand the mysteries of God's existence and administration than the foreigner need wait to understand the growth of American institutions and their philosophy. Up, and take your birthright!

The chapter then goes on to further reveal how, as it is the purpose of all the other chapters to do. The various topics are these:

I. Introduction: The Character of Jesus; II. Up and Enter; III. The Unfailing Resource; IV. Knowledge of God; V. The Friendliness of Law; VI. The Fullness of Life; VII. Immortality; VIII. Our Father's House; IX. The Personal Revelation.

We add a few press-notices of the volume:

Mr. Merriam has written one of the most helpful books that the new and reverent liberalism of the day has inspired. It will be gratefully received and should be widely read. The healthful spirit preserves the living faith undimmed, not spent in mere exultation and sentimental ardor, but given to the care and pressure of daily life. The counsel and help is presented, too, in a singularly graceful and finished literary style. It is clear and fine, unmarred by effort, and rises at times into poetic beauty.-Springfield Republican.

A volume by one of the clear-headed apostles of progress and religion. It will tend to thoughtfulness and reverence.-Spectator.

The temper and style of the book are of the best. It is pure, candid, devout, and suggestive. Independent.

It is a most refreshing book to take up in these days of agnostic honesty and material hopelessness. We have in this book some of the best fruits of reverent radicalism.-Unity (Chicago).

[Cloth, 205 pages, $1.00.]

In Spirit and in Truth.

Essays by Younger Ministers of the Unitarian
Church.

In a brief notice of this book, in this Department for March, a few quotations from the work were promised later, with excerpts from press-notices. A sentence or two from Mr. De Normandie's word in the book, in the way of Introduction to the Essays, may well be given place first:

This little volume represents a constructive tendency among the younger ministers of the Unitarian Church. All the differences which disturbed the councils of the Free Church a quarter of a century ago are lost in an earnest and united effort to discover the best way by which the religious needs of the present generation can be met.

The theological and doctrinal battle has been fought. The great purpose of society to-day is to call forth every effort for that union which is to encourage moral growth, to fix the mind and heart upon present evils rather than future salvation, and to interpret Christianity as a religion which is to concern itself chiefly about the regeneration of humanity by personal righteousness. It represents a tendency away from negations and criticisms to a religion of positive assertions, to the life of the Spirit.

This "changed atmosphere" permits the Liberal Church now to proceed to more positive and devout expression. It makes this present volume possible, and, more than that, will "permit the liberal minds of all sects to accept, as unreservedly as they surely will," the conclusions of many of the essays here gathered.

A very thoughtful volume.-Boston Traveller. Inclusive in sympathy, largely progressive in tendency, and conveying a message to many conditions of men.-Boston Times.

Of course the Unitarian point of view is assumed throughout, but there is much which others than Unitarians can indorse.-Congregationalist (Boston).

Old differences are lost in an earnest endeavor to discover the best way by which the great religious needs of the present generation can be met.-Religio-Philosophical Journal.

The essays are all very significant, and have a common ground in the fact of earnest thought and constructive purpose, though the views presented are quite contrasted in some respects, and represent a large variety of outlook. It is a very creditable volume in every way.-Every Other Sunday.

Earnest and helpful. Stimulating to thought and a better life.-Morning Star.

There is the breadth of life and interest through them all, and the volume stands as a concise summing up, in popular form, of modern Unitarian belief on the subjects of God and man, the Bible, revelation; and, at the last, not exactly in unison with the rest, a statement of the Christ, and a treatment of the liturgy as a portion of Unitarian worship.—Boston Commonwealth.

The essays are scholarly, and representative of the best religious thought of a body who recognize in Jesus that union of the human and divine in which all God's children are participators, and who regard the Bible as a literature revealing human life, and not as a collection of proof-texts for theological propositions.—Literary Digest.

[Cloth, 163 pages, $1.00.]

Social Equilibrium,

And other Problems Ethical and Religious.
By George Batchelor.

The capacity for broad sight, the calmness of the judicial mind, the earnestness of the prophet, the sympathy of the humanitarian, ought certainly, when combined, to produce something of value in the way of the solution of tangled problems, whether social or religious. In this book we find manifested this broad sight, this calmness, this earnestness, and this sympathy, and in their product we are not disappointed, but inspired and helped.

The essays in the volume, says the Preface, "present in various aspects the one question, How shall the modern man so adapt himself to the new conditions of his life as to keep the faith, hope, and charity of the older time, while he yields himself to the revelations of science and enthusiasms of progress?"

There is, in the Social essays, "an attempt to look calmly at the deeper causes of unrest and disturbance,"-not so much "on the surface" as many of the current "burning questions" lie. "The first thing society needs is a comprehension of the causes of the evils which afflict it."

In the Ethical and Religious essays, the general doctrine of evolution being taken for granted (all the "ethical conclusions" of its advocates, however, not being accepted), "various aspects of freedom and duty are discussed, in the confident belief that the old order may

change into the new without shock of revolution." Through affirmation and agreement and the discouragement of needless controversy about non-essentials, "the world of intelligent men and women is preparing for a new union, such as was never possible until now.”

The treatment of all the topics is unique; the style is luminous, attractive, straightforward. The thought commends itself on every page. The book is a real contribution to the great modern task of Untanglings.

The Social essays are these:

Social Equilibrium; The Revolt of the Majority; The Future of the Minority.

Some of the Ethical and Religious topics are as follows:

Religion its own Evidence; Righteousness its own Law; Free Thought; Heredity and Education; Heredity and Tradition in Morals; Ethics and Happiness; The Natural Meaning of the Word "Ought"; The Natural History of the Moral Ideal and the Law of Progress; Is it Religion vs. Righteousness?

To show something of the appreciation of the book by the thoughtful public we append a few extracts from press-notices:

A calm, thoughtful and comprehensive consideration of vital questions.-Age of Steel.

Bold and manly, . . . terse, comprehensive and logical, ... a complete review of the deeper social and moral questions of the present day.New England News.

This thoughtful and in many respects remarkable book certainly merits a wide audience. The originality of thought-the quality of thought-lifts it far above many if not most of the books published on the important subjects of which it treats. An interesting, stimulating, intellectual delight is this. We commend it most heartily.-Buffalo Times.

Too much in the way of "commendation” cannot be said of the book. It will disappoint no thoughtful reader, but be a revelation and an inspiration.

[Fifteen Essays, cloth, 286 pages, $1.50.]

Afterglow.

By Frederic A. Hinckley.

There are few who, reading it, will not be strongly attracted to this. little book. It is written out of life-out of the struggling, perplexing, troublous, hopeful, aspiring life we all know and dread and delight in. And grow in. And this is how the book is to help us.

"Full of thought, feeling and experience,” says the Boston Times, of the little volume. "A strongly suggestive little book,” says the Boston Traveller. "Earnest, devout, and thoughtful,"

"The

remarks the Congregationalist (Boston). entire contents of the little volume are uplifting," comments the Boston Sunday Gazette; and especially is the first in the series of papers, it remarks ["Voices out of the Silence"], "full of consolation for any who are suffering from a great bereavement." "Leads us to recognize more of our affectional and spiritual likeness,” remarks the New Church Messenger (New York). "Gracefully written, suggestive of deep experiences, and full of beauty as expressions of the spiritual life," writes the Universalist; "such sermons reach not only the understanding, but cultivate the spirit. In Arnold's phrase, they are 'aiders and abettors of all who would live in the spirit.'"

Concerning the book the Boston Pilot (Roman Catholic) is unusually gracious :

Mr. Hinckley's four sermons are worthy of examination by any one curious in such matters, inasmuch as they speak the very highest word of the contemporary New England mind outside of the Church. It is beautiful to see how those who have never yet beheld the perfections of Christianity are yet sustained in the lofty system of morals which it brought into the world, and are not condemned, because of their lack of knowledge, to live in utter darkness. That the light may one day be revealed to them, and that its full glory may shine upon them, will be the prayer of every Catholic who reads this little book, so noble in what it contains.

We may add a word or two from Unity (Chicago): "The line between prose and poetry is growing less clear and distinct with the growth of the poetic sense. 'Afterglow' is a little book printed in prose, but we cannot see where much of it falls short of being high poetry; four beautiful discourses, born out of the deep places of the author's soul, and tending to such places in other souls. 'Voices out of the Silence' is the utterance of one speaking while overshadowed. The 'Spiritual Awakening' is the best internal study of Browning's 'Saul' that we know of; and the last discourse, 'The Star! the Star!' is a universal interpretation of the picture of the Magi in 'Ben-Hur.'"

[Cloth, 81 pages, 50 cents.]

Jesus Brought Back.

A Study, by Joseph Henry Crooker, Author of "Problems in American Society."

A new edition of this book, in connection with the announcement of a fresh work by the same author ["The New Bible and Its New Uses": Geo. H. Ellis, Publisher, price $1.00], brings its value again into prominence. Within the compass of its 214 handsome, large-typed

pages it treats, in an adequate and interesting way, the following topics:

The Messianic Hope; How the Gospels were written; Jesus of Nazareth; The Glad Tidings; The Ministry of Jesus To-day.

From the brief Introduction we gather this statement of the general scope and earnest purpose of the volume:

Its aim is to give intelligent and earnest inquirers, who have no time for extended research, some of the most important results of recent scholarship upon this topic and other related subjects, together with certain observations bearing upon the religious life, suggested by these discoveries. While it has been prepared for the purpose of helping on that intellectual reconstruction of religion which is fast sweeping aside so many notions long held respecting the origin and nature of Christianity, yet the chief object has been to set forth an interpretation of the character and teaching of Jesus which will make him more attractive, and his gospel more powerful in human lives.

However strangely the medieval scholastic may have misrepresented Jesus, and however unwisely the iconoclast may scoff at this sacred name so rich in religious associations, yet we cannot afford to ignore Jesus of Nazareth. And an age which asks justice for Mohammed and pays loving tribute to Buddha cannot with reason be indifferent to Jesus.

In this age of religious and theological transition, when old forms of belief are disappearing and old ideals of conduct are losing their power, it is worth while to cultivate just as rational an appreciation of Jesus as possible; and also to put forward that interpretation of his life and message which is least open to destructive criticism and is most serviceable for training in righteousness.

The object of this book being as much to show the results and tendencies of modern scholarship as to discuss the problems involved in the title, it has been felt that this could in no better way be done than by placing frequently before the reader the very words of eminent authors, which in many cases would carry more weight and be of more interest than any other statement of the same facts.

The whole of this purpose, as thus outlined, is well carried out. And as a whole, so adequate is the volume in the fulfilment of the task it undertakes, and so rich and suggestive is its life-help in the pictures of duty and human possibility it paints, that we wish the volume might be in every household. Thoughtfully read it would be an intellectual quickening and a moral inspiration for young and old. It would be just the gift, also, to hand to any earnest soul struggling out of the growing unsatisfactoriness of the Old into the warmth and hopefulness of the New.

[Cloth, 214 pages, $1.00.]

THE

VOL. VIII.

LUCY LARCOM.

Farewell, benignant spirit, wise and good,
Beloved singer for all womanhood!
A softened brightness from the day
With thee has passed away.

No. 6.

later addition, so that we are not at all sure that Jesus ever spoke these words. But, so far as the purpose I have in hand is concerned, it makes no sort of difference whether he spoke them or not. They are at least in accord with the spirit of his thought and his life; and this is enough for us today.

All the religions of the world, from one point of view, may be divided into two classes, the non-missionary religions and the missionary religions. In order to understand the nature of these non-missionary religions, you only need very superficially to study one of them for a moment. Take the religion of ancient Greece, for example,of any one of the tribes of Greece or of its cities. The gods that were worshipped, perhaps, were first their ancestors or heroes,at any rate, they were their peculiar, personal deities; and the allegiance which the people held toward these gods was a part of the allegiance which they held to the State, and it never occurred to any one of them that a stranger had any more to do with their worship than he had to do with the management of their government. It was a purely national matter, a part of good citizenship, to help maintain the worship. Under these circumstances, of course, it would never occur to them to wish to extend this religion beyond their own borders. It was a part of their own civic ceremonial. The only way by which a stranger could have any part in it would be by becoming a citizen; that is, for example, being adopted into a family or into the State. This is one type of religion.

But all the great religions, the religions that have had any human power, that have been worth anything to the world, have been missionary religions. They have inspired the hearts of their followers with the feeling that here was a truth, a life, a hope, a gos