that can be agreed upon and adhered to will there be much profit in exegetical disputes.

Dr. Ives is, however, quite confident not only that his method is the right one but that his result is the final one. To prove his confidence, he makes the following liberal offer: "If a reply shall be written within two years from January 1, 1878, which by a majority of three arbitrators shall be adjudged to have refuted the argument from the Bible of this work, the writer of this hereby pledges himself, at his own expense, to publish and to place at the disposal of their (?) author, five thousand copies of such reply."

The other book to which we have referred is largely exegetical also; but it enforces the doctrine by arguments drawn from nature and from reason as well as from Scripture. The ethical reasons for disbelieving in endless misery and in universal salvation are strongly put; and the argument for a conditional immortality is presented with clearness and good temper. "That the good only will live forever; that immortality is not the natural inheritance of all men from Adam but the gift of God's grace through Jesus Christ; and that those who do not seek it or receive it from him cannot have eternal life"this is the doctrine here set forth. It was formerly held almost wholly by the Adventists; but many men in all the Orthodox churches have now accepted it; and it has supplanted, in many personal creeds, the doctrine of endless suffering.

"The survival of the fittest," is the adopted phrase by which Mr. Pettingell describes his doctrine. Doubtless the recent speculations of the scientists have made way for the doctrine of conditional immortality. Some points of analogy between this theory and that of Mr. Darwin are supposed to exist. Whether it will serve to commend the Christian faith to the favorable consideration of men of science is a question.

This theory springs, no doubt, from a reluctance to accept the doctrine of endless suffering. Devout men who read the absolute statements of the Scriptures concerning the future condition of those who die in their sins, feel that they are debarred from hoping for the final restoration of all men; and yet the belief that God eternally preserves the existence of millions of his creatures in order that he may inflict suffering upon them is one that they cannot entertain. The doctrine that the death threatened in the Scriptures is the extinction of being is the refuge to which they fly from a theory which seems to them morally untenable. There is, they think, no moral objection to this theory. It is not incredible nor

unjust that a creature failing to fulfill the law of its life should cease to live. That fact is constantly before our eyes in nature. And therefore they find in this theory a certain relief.

1 The Theological Trilemma: The Threefold Question of Endless Misery, Universal Salvation or Conditional Immortality (i. e., The Survival of the Fittest), Considered in the Light of Reason, Nature and Revelation. By Rev. J. A. Pettingell, M. A. New York: Sherwood & Co.

It is not for us to pronounce upon either of the theories of this trilemma. To all of them there are strong objections. The ethical difficulties in the way of the doctrine of endless suffering we have already referred to. The doctrine of universal restoration, on the other hand, seems to be largely a dogmatic assertion-against which many facts of human experience strongly militate. And as for the doctrine of the survival of the fittest, while there is nothing in the moral sense or in human experience that directly contradicts it, the step that it takes toward the doctrine of the Sadducees, in relinquishing the essential immortality of man, is one that many good men are quite unwilling to take.

This whole question of the future condition of men is one that must be thoroughly reconsidered. And in order that the truth concerning it may be reached there must be liberty of discussion. The teachings of the Scriptures concerning it are not clear enough to warrant us in denouncing those who fail to accept any given theory; the conclusions of philosophy are yet quite doubtful. Whatever any honest and reverent thinker can say upon the subject ought therefore to be welcomed Honest and reverent thinkers by all good men. these authors certainly are; and their books are worth the consideration of all those who wish to know the truth.

It is evident that the Dutch Rationalists have taken Holland, and are now making that country the base of operations for the conquest of the world. Their last expedition is under the command of Doctors Oort and Hooykaas; and it attacks, in a vigorous fashion, one of the strongholds of evangelical faith-the inspiration of the Bible. The opinion of a single “very grave doctor," in the Jesuitical casuistry gives to any doctrine a degree of "probability;" the opinions of two doctors as grave as Doctor Oort and Doctor Hooykaas must, on this principle, give to their doctrines concerning the Bible two degrees of probability. But there is so much of conjecture and assumption in their arguments that they will fail to carry conviction to some minds.

It can not be said, however, that these are irreverent thinkers. They treat the historical portions of the Bible with great freedom, but they accept with equal devoutness the spiritual truth it contains. Even its historical portions are not

1 The Bible for Learners. By Dr. H. Oort, Professor of Oriental Languages, etc., at Amsterdam, and Dr. I. Hooykaas, Pastor at Rotterdam, with the assistance of Dr. A. Kuenen, Professor of Theology at Leiden. Two volumes. Authorized Translation. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Springfield: Whituey & Adams.

to be despised. They contain "almost our only authorities for the history of Israel and the origin of Christianity." Some portions of the Bible, too, "have seldom been equaled as works of art and may therefore serve to ennoble our taste and elevate our sense of beauty. But above all the Bible is the book of religion. Observe, we do not say, the book of our religion, but of religion. Not that we would treat the other Sacred Books as of no value. Far from it. Hindoos and Persians, Egyptians and Greeks have thought of God and the invisible as earnestly as the Israelites; and what the men of greatest piety and genius among these people have believed, what the founders of religion or the philosophers among them have disclosed, so far as it has been preserved to us in writing, not only in their sacred books but elsewhere too, furnishes no small amount that might safely be placed by the side of many portions of the Old Testament at least. Nor can we assert that every part of the Bible gives us a pure reflection of God's being and God's will. Time after time we shall be compelled to allow that the writers of the Bible were men-constantly going astray as such, in their ⚫ search for the way to God. But we call the Bible the book of religion, because the place of honor in the religion of mankind and of each man belongs to Jesus, and because it is upon Jesus that the whole Bible turns. In this lies the value, not only of the New Testament, a great part of which turns upon him directly, but of the Old Testament as well."

To the great majority of Christians, a volume like this, which deliberately sets aside as mythical a large share of the Bible, could only give perplexity and pain. But those scholars who wish to know the results of the latest rationalistic criticism upon the Biblical narratives can find them here in small compass and in readable form. The style of the writers is luminous and the translation is admirably done.

In the "Wisdom Series," a place is now given to the German mystic John Tauler.1 "The History and Life of Tauler," by his friend Nicolas, showing how a layman instructed him, and led him into a deeper knowledge of spiritual things, is given almost entire; along with a portion of Miss Winkworth's historical sketch, and several

extracts from Tauler's sermons. The little book will serve as a convenient memorial of the saintly man, and of that type of piety which he so well illustrated. The German mystics have their spiritual successors in these days. As there are always philosophers who are trying to define the infinite, and mathematicians who wish to square the circle, and mechanics who are determined to

1 Selections from the Life and Sermons of the Rev. Dr. John Tauler. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Springfield: Whitney & Adams.

produce a perpetual motion, so there are always pietists who will be content with nothing short of an absolute holiness. The determination to attain this developes a few noble characters, and produces not a few bitter and narrow-souled Pharisees. Everything depends on the grain of the nature to which this forcing process is applied. Tauler was one who was not spoiled by it; and there is much in these meditations of his that will prove nutritious; but his method of introspection and his passionate concern about his own spiritual condition may easily enough be copied by modern Christians to their great detriment.

THE second generation of the Abbotts appear to have inherited the industry as well as the talent of their fathers. Indefatigable book-makers are they all; and many of the books that they are making are likely to have something more than an ephemeral usefulness. Mr. Lyman Abbott, for one, has done some extremely good work, not only in journalism, and in the lighter forms of literature, but also in lines of work that require research and accurate scholarship. His "Life of Christ" is one of the best yet written in this country; his Dictionary of Religious Knowledge is a most serviceable work; and the commentaries that he is now preparing ought to take the place that has long been held by the

notes of Barnes.

Barnes was, indeed, in his day no mean interpreter. His fair scholarship and his rare common sense enabled him ordinarily to give the meaning of the text. But the bonds of a traditional and dogmatical exegesis were strong when he wrote, and he was not always able to break them. We often find him trying to tell what the text must mean rather than what it does mean. Besides, his notes, following the fashion that before his time was nearly universal, are largely homiletical. The 66 'improvement" often quite overshadows the explanation. Ready-made sermons are not so popular as once they were: the majority of Bible students prefer to be told what the text means, and to be left to make their own reflections upon it. Moreover, since the day of Barnes much fruitful study has been expended upon the Scriptures; a freer and juster criticism has obtained among Orthodox expositors; and the discoveries in Bible lands have thrown much light upon the sacred page.

A new popular commentary has, therefore, an volumes are taking possession of it. The Comopen field; and Mr. Abbott's shapely and sensible mentary on Matthew was published in 1875; the

1 An Illustrated Commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew. By Rev. Lyman Abbott. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co.

An Illustrated Commentary on the Gospel according to Mark and Luke. By Rev. Lyman Abbott. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co.

Commentary on the Acts was made ready for the use of Sunday Schools during the last year, and the volume containing Mark and Luke has just been issued.

Mr. Abbott has all the qualifications of a good popular expositor. He is an industrious scholar; the results of the latest Biblical study are carefully sought out and set in order by him; and he shows great discrimination in his use of these materials. He is also a journalist; he knows how to write clearly and tersely; and his notes are neither scholastic in form nor obscure in style. The ethical sense is strong in Mr. Abbott; and the primary purpose of the Scriptures is therefore always emphasized. Dogmatism and sentimentalism are forced to make way for the truths that bear directly upon conduct. Mr. Abbott possesses one other happy qualification for his work, and that is candor. He is by no means a radical in his theology, and his natural reverence keeps him close to the beaten ways of interpretation; but when a fact is shown him he does not deny it, nor seek to hide it. The spirit in which his discussions are conducted is the spirit of fairness and of Christian sincerity.

The illustrations in these volumes are not the least valuable part of them. Excellent woodengravings representing most of the principal places mentioned in the text, as well as many of the Jewish antiquities and customs, are generously supplied; and not only to young readers, but to those no longer young, these pictures are often worth more than whole pages of description. On the whole we know of no Commentary on the New Testament which is so serviceable to ordinary readers as this of Mr. Abbott.

Sumter brought the nation to arms
of loyalty quickly determined the
choice. There was little room left
what this man's calling was. Ki
no more divinely chosen to be a s
William Francis Bartlett. He was a
of men. It may be for his fate on every battic
field would justify such a judgment—that he
was somewhat lacking in that prudence which is
the better part of valor; but there was never any
want of thought for the safety of his men; if he
forgot anything it was his own personal safety.

The record that is made in his diaries and his letters to his mother of the engagements in which he took part is one of thrilling interest. The story of Ball's Bluff is told as no man but Bartlett could have told it, yet there is not a boastful note in the whole narrative; he has no other consciousness than that of a man who has done a simple duty. This terrible slaughter was the first serious engagement in which he took part; and the coolness and judgment of the man were beyond praise. At Yorktown a few months later a bullet from a sharp-shooter's rifle cost him his leg. The entry in his journal is simply this: "While I was visiting the pickets, watching the enemy with my glass, a sharp-shooter hit me in the knee with a minie ball, shattering the bone down to my ankle. Dr. Hayward amputated it four inches above the knee, and I started for Baltimore in the same afternoon." Once during the operation he looked up to Colonel Palfrey and said, "It's rough, Frank, isn't it?" and this was the only word of complaint that came from his lips. His conspicuous bravery afterwards at the assault upon Port Hudson and in the mine at

“THE most conspicuous soldier" that Massa- Petersburg are part of the history of his country;

chusetts sent to the civil war, according to Governor Andrew, was General William Francis Bartlett. And yet there were few of all the gallant company who sought less to make themselves conspicuous. The modesty of the man was as rare as his courage was splendid. And in this neat volume by his comrade in arms we have a record of his life that does not shame his character. The simplicity and reserve of General Palfrey's story admirably befit his hero. Of the story, indeed, General Palfrey tells but little in his own words; the diary and letters of General Bartlett make up the greater part of the memoir. It is curious to note the sudden change that passed upon the spirit of this young Harvard student during the fervid days of the spring of '61. He was a southern sympathizer of pronounced

opinions; he had maintained the cause of the South in college themes written during the first months of that year; yet when the attack upon

1 Memoir of William Francis Bartlett. By Francis Winthrop Palfrey. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co. Springfield: Whitney & Adams.

and his diary gives us something of the dreariness of prison life that followed the last named engagement.

Though every inch a soldier, the life of General Bartlett after the war was one that reflected

great honor upon him. The part which he played in the politics of his country showed that his judgment and his high-mindedness were fully equal to his courage. Though flattered with the offer of the nomination to the governorship by both of the great parties in the same year, he declined both offers for reasons highly honorable to himself. This entry in his journal tells the story: "The papers in Massachusetts and else

where nominate me for high office, as if that were the only reward a man can seek. I don't

propose to decline any office until it is offered: but just as sure as I am offered the governorship of Massachusetts I shall take the opportunity to prove that the satisfaction of doing one's duty so as to win the applause and approval of good men is a reward greater than any office, and I am already repaid." Toward the restoration of friendly relations between the North and the

SUNDAY AFTERNOON:

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

VOL. II. -AUGUST, 1878.-No. VIII.

CHAPTER I.

FISHERS OF MEN.

BY S. T. JAMES.

gallantry of a brakeman who would lend a hand to some young woman not yet used to the mauvais pas.

Ir was at fifty-one minutes after seven o'clock on a March morning, that the Lower Falls train on the Great Western road, stopped, with its customary precision, so that the cow-catcher toed an imaginary line drawn across the track at the first milestone out of the city. It stopped, as by law required of every train, before crossing the track of the Little Southern road, which lay a few rods beyond, and the engine-driver could not start it again until the white iron shutters in the watch-tower at the crossing were plainly open. A bridge covered the road-bed just by the mile-stone, and under it were standing a half dozen travelers who met each morning at this point, coming from different quarters to board the train during its single moment of halting. They were workmen with their kits, school-boys swung themselves upon the rear platform and acted as amateur brakemen, and young women who by frequent practice had discovered the least awkward way of clamThere was just a touch of country to be bering upon the lowest step, and at the same had by this young man, taking a somewhat time of holding fast such baskets, books, roundabout way to his daily business, which parasols and other impediments as knocked reconciled him to the peremptory demands against them or poked out from them. The of the railway, and to the petty punctuality train itself never officially recognized the which attended a start in the morning. passengers who boarded it here; if any one The little station where the train left him chose to risk his legs or his neck, the comwas the depot of a charming suburban vilpany looked the other way, so to speak, only lage, in summer hidden in a depth of green, winking at the irregularity by the occasional and the river which here broadened sud

Just as the train stopped, with an impatient snort of steam, a young man sprang over a board fence which separated the roadbed from an adjoining stable yard, and walking quickly to the train, which began to move as he reached it, swung himself upon the platform step and entered one of the cars. He was a recent comer in the little group of habitués, and the two or three school-mistresses, who journeyed daily by this train, had begun to speculate mildly as to the probable destination of a young man who made such regular, yet slight use of the conveyance; for he remained scarcely five minutes, leaving the train at the first station, where he could be seen from the car windows, as he was seen by the gently inquisitive teachers, stepping quickly down the road leading to a bridge, which at this point crossed the river, by the side of which the railway ran.

who

Copyright, 1878, by E. F. Merriam.