Presbyterianism in Missouri has been specially interested in the outcome of the movement toward union. Aside from the great spiritual arguments for the organic union of all Presbyterian bodies, we have a material interest beyond that of any other state. The Cumberland church is strongest in Tennessee, where we have less than one-fourth as many members. Texas comes next with them, where we have less than one-eighth as many members. In Missouri the churches are almost exactly equal in membership, while in Illinois, where they come next in strength, we have six times as many members. So a complete union would double our membership and would put us on the Presbyterian roll of honor above such states as Kansas and Iowa, which are now above us because there are very few members of the Presbyterian branch churches in their bounds.

The Cumberland church in Missouri reported last year 22,814 resident members, with a total membership of 28,490. The Presbyterian church reported a membership of 24,692, part of which is non-resident. Besides which it is not possible even to estimate the number of names on the reserved rolls of the various churches. Last year 1,233 names were added to that roll. When the union is carried through there are sure to be a good many who will not come into the united church. These will be largely those who are not Presbyterian at heart, and they will naturally be more at home elsewhere. Some may hold off because of misapprehension, but this number will be far less than some of the pessimists have prophesied. The chief problem of the union. will be in the particular cases. Already local union has been completed in a number of communities in the state, and other churches are making their plans to follow that example. In some cases there will be friction, but it will needs be local. The two assemblies have voted for union; the two denominations have voted for union. Even if there continue to be a church called the Cumberland Presbyterian Church it will be a new denomination.

We are very glad that the two sections of the Baptist Church have taken steps to follow the example of the Presbyterian Church in reference to union. Their meeting together in St. Louis will mean very much for the future of the great denomination. The prospects of federation between the Congregationalists, United Brethren and Protestant Methodists are now immediate. This national movement toward denominational union is right, and may be the great spiritual movement of the twentieth cenutry.

The day before the opening of the general assembly at Winona a conference of Presbyterian college presidents was held. All but a half dozen of half a hundred colleges were represented, and a lasting impulse was given to the work of the denomination along this characteristic line of work. The new secretary of the college board has been received enthusiastically, as he has visited many of the colleges and as he explained his plans at the conference.

The importance of the work of the young people's societies is being forced upon the attention of the assemblies the last few years. The permanent committee is still a new departure, and this year the proposal to appoint a secretary to oversee this work was postponed, but the recognition of our failure as a church to give the young people's work its place is at hand. This is at the same time the hardest problem we have because of neglect, but also it is the easy way to solve many of the other church problems if we once wake up to possibilities.

The permanent committee on temperance is also looming up in the public eye. A field secretary was sent out this last year, and this first representative of any denomination in such work has made such a success that a Presbyterian elder has offered to sup port another man in the same work if the proper person can be found.

JAPAN-INDIA-CHINA.*

The history of missions

The time was when it was difficult to get full and correct information about the needs of the heathen world and the success and possibilities of mission work. That time has passed away. There is hardly a corner of the world without its missionary literature. in Japan, India and China is in many ways more important than elsewhere and the result is there is a greater mass of printed information. These three books in the United Study of Missions are the most important outlines yet written primarily for study. Missionary societies of many denominations have used the books already and approve them. They are being taken up all the time by new study classes. In addition to their value for such work they are written in a way to be very interesting for reading as well as study. We need not enter into a discussion of style and method here. It is enough to say that each writer is an authority on the subject in hand and the result is in all ways satisfactory.

A STORY OF CHARLEMAGNE.†

Never have we seen as magnificent a volume at the price. The illustrations, cover, letterpress, all is fitting and artistic. The story itself is compelling in its interest. The setting of Viking and Saracen, love and war, Thor and Christ, Oliver, Karl, Rothada, Fastrada and even Zora makes a striking picture and the interweaving of event and character has a charm of its own. The skating scene in the face of the wolves is unsurpassed in recent literature. Villain and hero, sweetheart and witch, plot and surprise fill the stage and the time till they seem real and present. Not only is the story good but there is a subtle meaning to it all that is insistent though not forced. The story maintains the standard of the beauty of the book itself.

A STORY OF STRUGGLES AND VICTORY.

This is easily the author's best novel. and he has grown in power in his writing.

*DUX CHRISTUS-By William Elliot Griffis.

There is more meaning to it
The frontispiece is one of

296 pages. LUX CHRISTI
REX CHRISTUS-BY
New York City: The

-By Caroline Atwater Mason. 280 pages.
Arthur H. Smith. 256 pages. 50 cents, each.
Macmillan Company.

FOR THE WHITE CHRIST-By Robert Ames Bennet. 474 pages. $1.50. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Company.

THE RAVANELS-By Harris Dickson. 420 pages. $1.50. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.

the most expressive illustrations of many a day. The little boy sits looking at the picture of his father who has been murdered. He was shown the dead man with the wounds on face and neck and now he sits before the picture wondering why there is "no gash across the face and no ugly blue spot on the throat." The little boy grows up and his meeting with the son of the man who murdered his father and then with the man himself make the story. The love thread winding through to the end is a winning element of the story. The description of the trial and of the operation on General Grayson are specially graphic. The style and development are quite above the average of such stories.

THE GATEWAY IVANHOE.*

It is far from necessary to enter into any discussion of the story itself. Hardly a man, and few women, could be found who was not once stirred by this masterpiece. And its charm is not alone for the youth. Many a father has started to read the book to his children only to find himself once more in the grasp of its thrilling plot. This edition is prepared as one of a series which are required for entrance into college. It is edited by Professor Stoddard, which guarantees its accuracy. His introduction and notes are short, direct and satisfying. The type is small, but the volume is therefore handy and such an edition is wel

come.

CHURCHES OF THE REFORMED SYSTEM.†

There is a great deal of interest and value in this history of the Presbyterian churches of Europe, Great Britain and the United States. The author has worked carefully and the result is satisfactory. No such survey has been in available form before this. The account of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. shows somewhat of the unnecessary prejudice of the writer's connection with the Southern Church. This is also indirectly apparent in his treatment of the New School and Old School division. His figures to show the slow growth of the one are chosen from the years after the separation of the United Synod while to prove the greater prosperity of the other he chooses the years before the separation of the Confederate Assembly. Between the years of division and reunion the New School branch gained 66 per cent in membership and the Old School branch 46 per cent. The chapter on the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is specially satisfactory. The concluding survey of

*IVANHOE-Edited by Francis Hovey Stoddard. 551 pages. Chicago: American Book Company.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF THE WORLDBy R. C. Reed. 408 pages. $1.25 net. Philadelphia: Presbyterian

Board of Publication.

the organizations in missionary lands is interesting though it is to be regretted that such a work published in 1905 could not have included the final organization of the Presbyterian Church of India.

POLITICAL PARTIES.*

There is no study of political parties so thorough and at the same time so interesting. The author is widely known for his admirable works already read and studied through the country. He brings the same careful thoroughness to bear on this new investigation. In recent years a number of books have appeared covering part of this work and others will follow as the historian is awakening to the meaning of party development in this country and abroad. A long neglected field is being thoroughly opened up. This study is complete, nationally, in state and locally. The survey of organization in typical states adds a definiteness that would otherwise be lost. Every American citizen should have more than the common hazy idea of party workings and such a book as this will do more to awaken patriotic ideas of personal duty in politics than many an impassioned appeal without a basis of information and training.

A STUDY IN CONTINUOUS EVANGELISM.

This book is written from a Methodist point of view but is of value for any minister who desires evangelistic success. John Wesley has a place in the modern life of every evangelical church. The purer methods of the Methodist revival have become world methods. The idea of continuous evangelism is a development as a modern growth outside of the Methodist conception. The result is that today the best men in all the denominations are nearer together in their desires than ever before. Few of us desire a continuous revival of the sensational type, but we do agree in praying and working for the continuous winning of souls to Christ and His service. This study is very helpful along practical lines and is very suggestive.

THE MISSOURI STATESMAN.

The second volume of a series called American Crisis Biographies, is given to Thomas Hart Benton, the greatest of Missourians and one of the great Americans of his day. During this year the work of Benton, especially with reference to the slavery question, has been discussed

*PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY-By Jesse Macy. 299 pages. $1.25 net. New York City: The Century Company. THE SUNDAY-NIGHT SERVICE-By Wilbur Fletcher Sheridan. 244 pages. $1.00. Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham.

THOMAS H. BENTON-By Joseph M. Rogers. 361 pages. $1.25 net. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Company.