The first part, The Age of Fable, is a realistic account of the childhood of two boys. The second part, The Age of Reason, records the victory of doubt in one of the boys as he becomes a man. The final part, The Age of Faith, fails because there is no real faith in it. The more attractive man emerges from his doubt into an uncertain faith in himself while his brother, though a clergyman, proves his absolute lack of any religious faith. Even with the picture of the one passing through his doubts to his half way victory, we might at least have had the contrast in one who had found the secret of a real faith. (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York City. $1.50).

Songs of Flag and Nation is a new song book which should be popular in the school and the home. There is a special school edition which gives a third staff with the tenor rewritten in octaves as a first and second alto to enable the low altos to help the tenors and thus fill out the four parts. The selection of patriotic songs is good, giving all the best known and others easy to learn. (Hinds, Noble & Eldridge, New York City).

Laura E. Richards is known everywhere for her sweet stories. The Golden Windows is a book of fables for old and young. Many of them are very forceful in the pathos and humor of their use of very familiar scenes and simple stories from child life. The lessons are good and the telling is so natural that it is a pleasure to read. (Little, Brown & Company, Boston).

Judge Nelson Case, of Oswego, Kansas, has written an excellent volume on the Constitutional History of the United States. It is a popular treatment written in a way that shows the scholarship and critical knowledge of the author. We have found special value in the chapter on topics bearing on the general subject. The brief treatments of the president's power to declare war and such questions is illuminating and interesting. (Published by the Author, Oswego, Kansas.)

Ancient European Philosophy is a history of Greek Philosophy psychclogically treated. The author, Denton J. Snider, Litt. D., is expanding a new system of thought in which he brings psychology onto an equality with religion and philosophy instead of leaving it subordinate. His survey of Greek philosophy is good and his interpretation and constructive work is worthy of examination and study. (Sigma Publishing Company, St. Louis.)

Sherwin Cody's A Selection From the World's Great Orations is an addition to the series with which we are growing very familiar. In one way this is the best as we do not find the works of the great orators as available as they should be. A small selection such as this brings the very best within the reach of every one and the introductions by the author are worthy of the occasion. They light up the selections themselves and add meaning to these masterpieces of the past. (A. C. McClurg & Company, Chicago. $1.00 net.)

The Silent Pinces is the latest of several stories by Stewart Edward White. They all have to do with the forests and the snows. This has caught even more than others the gaunt, deadly chill of the silent places of the frozen north. The time of the Hudson Bay trappers gives the setting and the story is almost dreadful in the fearful coldness of its tragic events. As a story it is too hopeless but as a reflection of a life like that it is hardly surpassed in literature. (M'Clure, Phillips & Company, New

York City. $1.50.)

Dr. Carl Heinrich Cornill has written several popular works incorperating the higher critical attitude toward the Old Testament. His History of the People of Israel is an attractive setting forth of the times between the earliest accounts we have and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. To the conservative mind sometimes he takes all the meaning out of the Bible account but there is much that will be helpful to any lover of the Scriptures and there is no better book to read to get a fair idea of what men of his school have to offer. (The Open Court Publishing Com

pany, Chicago. $1.50.)

Kindly Light is a little volume containing two stories by Florence M. Kingsley. The stories are simple and homely but touch the heart with their reality. They have the true ring which we always expect to find in Mrs. Kingsley's stories. (Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, 50 cents.

When President Thwing writes on college themes we are sure of something worth while. It would be a pity if there were nothing in his books or addresses to which others do not agree at once. He is always original and his insight is keen. College Training and the Business Man is a title full of possibilities. It is treated under five heads: In General Administration; In Banking; In Transportation; In Insurance; In Human Relations. Young men who do not expect to prepare for the professions will find good advice here. (D. Appleton & Company, New York City, $1.00 net).

Quiet Talks on Power is a very helpful book on the Holy Spirit. Its devotional value is quite above the ordinary. There is a freshness of treatment often wanting in such studies. The illustrations are generally new and apt. The title chosen by the author, S. D. Gordon, exactly describes the work. Taken in that way and read slowly and prayerfully, each chapter is full of strength. (Baptist Book Concern, Louisville, Ky.)

The Bonanza Bible Class is quite out of the ordinary. It is a story by Henry F. Cope, in which he takes us into a camp of rough men, and we are treated to some very frank discussions of the Bible. Some of the critical questions of the day are handled in rough and ready style and

there is a kind of "Black Rock" pathos and humor to the story which adds to the interest. (Winona Publishing Company, Chicago, $1.00 net).

John Strange Winter has written several peculiar stories and The Little Vanitics of Mrs. Whittaker will at once take its place among them. Mrs. Whittaker is an odd type and the girls are generally interesting. The story is not very lively and is rather tame. (Funk Wagnalls Company, New York. $1.00 net).

MAGAZINE NOTES.

Considerable interest is aroused in Lawson's "Frenzied Finance" which is running in Everybody's Magazine. It is almost too early to write critically of the series. We can only say now that there is the possibility of important disclosures, though whether they will make the solution any clearer is a question. The article itself is frenzied enough to justify the title and the whole story is so evidently given in the desire to even things up with "Standard Oil" that we must be cautious in our conclusions. One thing is sure, we may well study the author's opinion that the Republic is in danger. This underhand financial work which no man can deny is the menace of the century. But we have faith in American principles and expect the solution in its proper time. Our duty now is to seek for the truth.

The four Learned girls in The Booklovers Magazine for September are as far superior to some of the types we have gone wild over in recent years as the simple, natural American girl is to the cold, artistic statue. These seem real. Harold Boyce's articles on the far East continue from month to month to be one of the important features of the magazine. As we have remarked before the stories have become a valuable specialty. Eleanor Hoyt's "The Vanishing Boarder," and Clara Morris' "The Old Lace-Mender" in the August number are very different from one another but are both above the average in interest and plot.

The May and June issues of The Bible Student and Teacher contain a stenographic report of the proceedings of the first convention of the American Bible League. The convention was a noteworthy success. The addresses were to the point and combined to prove to the public what we have known individually that scholarship, in its truest sense, is not captured by the extreme party of today, as some would have us believe. The League still has the indiscretions of overzealous friends to meet, but a firm stand has been taken and a future of earnest and successful work is sure.

There are many people who wish to know more of what is happening in the world of history, politics, religion and science, but who cannot un

derstand technical discussions and cannot afford to subscribe to many papers in the many different departments of present day activity. Our Day is well adapted to suit such needs. Without long articles, it gives from month to month the miscellaneous information which many of us wish.

An article called "Some American Landscape Painters," in the August Critic, will be of interest of any American with a eye for beauty, for the illustrations prove that we have beautiful landscapes and artists who can paint them.

The Record of Christian Work for August is largely filled with reports of the Northfield Student Conference. In many ways this is the most important feature of the work of today which perpetuates the plans of D. L. Moody which center in Northfield. This gathering of Christian students from our Eastern colleges has made its influence felt through all this land in the present generation of young men. Those who speak bring their best, as the reading of this magazine proves easily to those who have never been at Northfield.

Dr. Ramsay's series of articles on "The Letters to the Seven Churches" continues to be the most important feature of The Expositor. Those who are interested in the authorship of the epistle to the Hebrews should read Dr. Eagar's article in which he champions the authorship of Luke. He is a little summary in his dismissal of Barnabas and Apollos, but his argument for Luke is as good as can be made for him.

The Woman's Home Companion continues at the very front. For several months the illustrations, especially the photographs, have been especially attractive. The August cover bore a design quite original among the many faces which have smiled at us from various covers this year. The article on the work of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor will be widely read.

VOL. VI.

JANUARY, 1905.

No. 2

CHRISTIANITY AND CURRENT LITERATURE.*

HENRY VAN DYKE, D. D., LL. D.

To attempt a description of the relations of Christianity and Current Literature in a twenty-minute address is as absurd as it would be to try to explain the philosophy of the absolute between two courses of a dinner. The most that I can hope to do is to suggest a few thoughts which may lead you either by way of agreement or by way of contradiction to a further consideration of the subject.

Literature is the art in which the inner life of man seeks expression and lasting influence through written words. Races and nations have existed without it; but their life has been dumb and with their death their power has departed; they have vanished into thin air. What do we know of the thoughts and feelings of those unlettered tribes of white and black and yellow and red, flitting in ghost-like pantomime across the background of the world's stage? Whatever message of warning, of encouragement, of hope, of guidance they may have for us remains undelivered. They are but phatoms, mysterious and ineffective. But with the art of literature, life arrives at utterance and lasting power. The Scythian, the Etruscan, the Phoenician are dead. The Greek, the Hebrew, the Roman still live. We know them. They are as real and potent as the Englishman, the American, the German. They touch us and move us through a vital literature.

Religion is a life-the life of the human spirit in contact with

An address delivered before the Pan-Presbyterian Council at Liverpool, England.

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