pulpits and pews, many who are more truly liberal than some who are in the so-called liberal pulpits and pews.

Liberality is a mental attitude, asserting itself in freedom of investigation, involving possible changes of opinion and belief. Sometimes such changes tend one way, and sometimes another. Occasionally it leads the inquiring mind from Unitarianism to Trinitarianism, as in the case of Thomas Scott of Aston Sanford, mentioned by John Henry Newman in his "Apologia." Newman bears testimony to Scott's vigorous mental independence, and he says Scott "followed truth wherever it led him, beginning with Unitarianism and ending with a zealous faith in the Holy Trinity." More frequently, however, we find that it leads from Trinitarianism to Unitarianism. The

term "liberal" properly refers to the spirit of the inquiry rather than to any conclusion whatsoever. Among Christians properly liberal there are as many dialects as there are diversities of gifts, temperament, and training, but the same spirit, ever ready to give due respect to the equal rights of others. Christianity pure and simple, meaning thereby the Christ religion as distinguished from the Christianity of prevailing creeds, cannot be cramped by verbal definitions coming from one side or other, -from one side as for affirmation or from another as for depreciation. Christianity pure and simple is a spirit and life ascending with man's ascent in things spiritual, showing itself through an inward and upward working force as of the Christ formed within,-a Christ-like

mind and a Christ-like life.

This is the ideal life which brings man's deliverance from the sway of sin and sense and lifts him into consciousness of divine sonship. In man's spiritual elevation on the line of purity of thought and conduct is found his salvation. Man's grandest work lies in this direction and for this end. And, if the Liberal Christian Alliance lately formed can, through a broadening spirit and co-operation, promote this end, future generations will bless it for the benefit. The little seed planted, if planted in faith and faithfully watered, will in due time yield a God-given increase. We may look for a hopeful harvest of results in religious progJOHN CORDNER.

ress.

Boston, Mass.

A WORD ABOUT MEADVILLE.*

Somebody has shrewdly remarked that the man who has gained a reputation for early rising can lie abed "till noon." And it might be said with the same measure of truth that the church which has once gotten a reputation for scholarship can trade upon that reputation for a long time after its just claims to it have disappeared or partially disappeared. The world is a lazy old concern at the best, and always finds it cheaper to re-echo old opinions than to be at the cost and trouble of forming new ones. And one of these old opinions, which it still reverberates, relates to the value and range of Unitarian scholarship. Even our enemies, who denied us piety and grace, have conceded to us the possession of great intellectual power and catholic scholarship.

Only part of this concession, in my opinion, has much justice in this latter part of the nineteenth century. It still remains true that our church represents a mass of intellectual power, especially in its pulpit utterances, which may compare favorably with that of any church in Christendom. It is my private judgment, imparted to you confidentially, that it surpasses other churches in that respect. I read and hear all sorts of sermons, from "all sorts and conditions of men," and I am convinced that, taking the range from Channing to the present hour, no other body can present as rich a mass of sermonistic literature. Nor do I think we are surpassed in the range and variety of general scholarship. But in the matter of specific theological training our claim to pre-eminence has, like the witches in Macbeth, vanished into thin air. While we have been busily engaged in blowing our own antique trumpet with solemn self-complacency, some other churches have passed us on the road of scholarship and left us far behind. With the single exception of Martineau, who has no peer in any church, -we have few men in our ranks who fully deserve the title of theologians. We have preachers, poets, scientists, critics, historians, and names eminent in literature, but we have few men to take rank with some minds which have grown in the soil of other portions of the Christian Church. We do not have, nor are we likely to have, many specialists in

* A paper read at the Unitarian Mass Meeting in Chicago, Oct. 29, 1890.

the science of theology. And this is more to be deplored because this dearth springs neither from the lack of intellectual fruitfulness nor sound preparatory training. We have men who are eminently qualified for this science, but their power has been drafted into other departments of thought and study, and we are rapidly becoming that curious anomaly, a church without a theology. I do not mean without a creed (that we shall always be), but a church without a religious philosophy, without an intellect ual system of the universe. And, what is even worse than this, we have grown indifferent to the need of such a system. Theology is a discredited science. One of our ablest ministers was being consulted about a new president for Meadville. There was suggested to him the name of a man of marked ability. He replied to the man who made the suggestion: "Oh, he is too good a fellow to be wasted on a theological school. don't you take the position yourself?”

Why

Our friend Mr. Savage says, with much penetration, "Somebody's clear thinking underlies all rational action.” And a great English Positivist declares that, if you take, the first step in metaphysics, you end in a theology. As all men do take this first step,―aye, and many steps upon the road of metaphysics, however unconsciously, we shall find, if we take enough steps in this direction, that every theory that underlies the fabric of our civilization is essentially theological in character. As far as that civilization is great in ethics or spiritual ideals, it has its roots in certain fundamental theological concepts. In its last analysis, every question of morals, however apparently superficial, is involved vitally with a certain system of man's universal relations. To the common mind, of course, these fundamental things are covered by many layers of secondary causes. There are to him links either obscured or missing between ethical conduct and theological belief, just as the ordinary merchant sees no relation between the modern maxims of trade and the theories of Adam Smith. But every ethical theory can trace its genealogy back to some germinal religious idea. The very structure and color of your moral ideals had to do with the fundamental theological beliefs of your ancestry. Had that ancestry been pantheistic or atheistic instead of

theistic, the difference would have been reported in the fibre of your character.

Of course, I know that these questions are remote from the interests and affairs of the average man; but the average man acts, consciously or unconsciously, upon theories which are a normal part of his inheritance. He thinks and has his moral being inside an atmosphere that has been generated for him, by great minds, at the secret sources of spiritual inspiration. This atmosphere is changed and affected by profound causes, which lie hidden far below the surface of things. Therefore, that community is wise which cherishes all those subtle agencies that wholesomely affect the sources of its moral life. The most prominent among these is unquestionably the church. Not primarily, perhaps, because it stimulates moral action,-other agencies work to that end, but largely because, as an institution, it seeks to create and educate a body of men whose special business it is to strengthen and sharpen those great intellectual conceptions which lie at the basis of common character.

There is a heresy abroad in our denomination, which takes shape in the impression that the disintegrating forces are so active in other churches that we can safely leave our work to their hands. I think no more harmful delusion ever affected any church. That the scientific spirit will ultimately destroy the fabric of orthodox theology, I do not question. The destructive work is certain to be done. But are there forces present in the older churches for the healthful and rational reconstruction of theology? I sadly fear that there are not. Churches are rarely reformed from within. There is no provision for the open growth and wholesome organization of the new spirit that is working mightily in the older churches. The result at first will be secret infidelity, a surly hostility to the birth of an unwelcome child. Only in pulpits pledged to a rational and progressive theology can we reasonably expect to see the healthy growth of that liberal faith which, as Francis Abbot says, is to be the "heir of the future."

For that liberal pulpit, the future holds no easy task. We are upon the eve of a great renaissance of theology. Into the new structure must pass the best results of

science and philosophy. Neither can solve the problem of the universe alone. Science will furnish the facts: philosophy must furnish the theory of their relations. Never in the history of the church was there as great a need of an educated ministry as exists to-day. Strong men will not be content with a religion of the emotions or the affections or the sentiments, any more than they will with a religion of traditions. Our church is plethoric with prophets. We need more strong, logical, disciplined thinkers, who shall be able to grapple with those fundamental questions upon the settlement of which religion depends for its continued existence in rational minds. Our very existence as a Christian Church depends upon the continued supply of such a body of men. And it is because I hold this conviction so earnestly that I venture to call to your remembrance the claims of what may be called, with some qualifications, the only Unitarian theological school in this country. I know, of course, that the obvious and crowning difficulty which stands in the way of the work we have in hand is to be found in the natural reluctance of business men to give of their substance for schools the studies of which seem to be so remote from the practical interests of common life. A school of divinity does not touch the imagination like an industrial or artistic institution. Men must be educated to the sense of its need. To the ordinary mind, no science could be more impracticable than astronomy. But all intelligent navigation depends upon astronomy, and the man who built the Lick Observatory for star-gazing made every common sailor his perpetual debtor.

Let me tell you, as briefly as I can, some of the reasons why we ask Unitarians to adequately endow the Meadville School.

1. Because Meadville is the only Unitarian theological school in this country. Cambridge Divinity School claims to be simply an institution for the study of scientific theology. Of the superior value of Cambridge in supplying our pulpits with men of noble quality and worth it would be useless, even absurd, for me to speak in this presence. With its noble endowment and special corps of teachers, its work cannot be overestimated. But there is and always will be an imperative need for a school

which is pledged to the education of men for the administration of Unitarian churches, men who, while they are not pledged to specific creeds, still hold themselves under an unwritten obligation to devote a reasonable measure of the future to the organization and service of such churches.

2. Because Meadville has for fifty years been growing with a slow and wholesome growth into the very fibre of our denominational life, and every educator knows the subtle value of the element of time in any educational work. There is a wealth of association and power of prestige about its history which elude the imprisonment of words, but the value of which will be felt by every mind not closed to the sentiment of reverence. It is the inestimable legacy bequeathed by the passing years, of which every student unconsciously partakes. The place is redolent with memories of those who, being dead, yet speak the untranslatable language of spiritual power. The true radical never destroys a healthy root; and, whatever its admitted faults of administration, Meadville has for a half-century sunk its wholesome, vigorous roots into the very life of our Liberal Church in America.

3. Because Meadville already has a "plant"-using that word in its broadest sense-worth in money value nearly a quarter of a million of dollars. Deducting $70,000 of this as the estimated value of its buildings, furniture, ground, and library, $175,000 is available as an endowment fund. This yields annually about $7,500 with which to pay all its running expenses, including the salaries of three professors and one instructor. This property has been managed with rare wisdom and judgment by the domestic administration of the school, but, of course, is wholly inadequate to its obvious needs. Some months ago it was suggested that $35,000 should be raised to endow a new professorship, bearing the revered and honored name of James Freeman Clarke. The demand met a generous response. When the amount was nearly raised, it was recognized by the wiser heads of the denomination that, owing to the prevalent low rates of interest for stable and secure investments, at least $50,000 would be needed for this chair. At this juncture, some of the brethren declared that it was easier to do a great thing than a little one, so

they proposed that $100,000 should be raised and two new chairs be endowed, the latter to bear the name of that splendid scholar and rare thinker, Frederic Henry Hedge. You will understand that, in my estimate of the present value of the school "plant," the $35,000 already nearly subscribed is included. So that, when the $100,000 is all obtained, the school will be in the possession of about $350,000. According to the mature judgment of Eastern capitalists, this endowment could not reasonably be expected to yield more than four per cent annually. The work to raise this needed amount is being organized by the Women's Auxiliary Conference. This is a guarantee that the work will be done. But I should be sorry to see the great West, that owes so much to Meadville, voluntarily cut itself off from the joy and privilege of bringing about this blessed consummation.

You have heard to-night an eloquent plea made in the interest of a needed school in the heart of the great Mississippi Valley. I can see such a school on the horizon of the future, but it is the future of the twentieth century. I speak no slighting word of "castles in the air": they are the fabrics in which our hearts have spent their happiest hours; but let us put our hands to the nearest and most imperative duty. Meadville pleads her fifty years of valued service; points with silent pride to her long roll of preachers, living and dead, who held and hold many of the commanding pulpits of our church; can exhibit the records of a rare wisdom and conservatism in the administration of its business affairs; and, what is worth all the rest, displays an honest and earnest effort to put itself abreast of the newest and most courageous thought in religion and theology. It is seeking to enlarge its Board of Administration with the presence of men who truly represent that larger faith.

If you will endow it adequately and generously, give it the means of commanding the services of the best teachers, and help put at its head some man of national reputation for scholarship and administrative ability, it will abundantly justify your largest expectations. Let us make one strong, united, and national effort to equip this school with the instrumentalities of the best ministerial training.

The real demand for another theological school does not exist. Every man of business knows that the argument of distance has no validity. Travel is so cheap and rapid that Meadville is nearer to the Pacific Coast than it was to Chicago fifty years ago. The multiplication of cheap and superficial schools I believe to be the weakest link in our system of modern education. And I sadly fear that the present demand for an increase in theological schools will mean scrappy, superficial, and imperfect training in our younger ministers. No denomination can less afford to have in its work men who are poorly equipped for service. The dependency and isolation of our churches; the absence of trained overseers to watch the growth of feeble societies and restrain the natural tendency to experiment in brandnew systems of religion,-all demand that the minister shall carry to his first charge as great a measure of knowledge and of the garnered fruits of others' experience as his capacity will permit.

The kangaroo can safely be born "at a very early stage of his existence," because he rarely wanders far away from his mother, who has been wisely provided with the means of supplementing the defects of his premature appearance upon this sphere of being. And the other denominations may safely throw into their work unformed and ill-educated men, because such men are being watched and helped by tried masters in the work of organizing the kingdom of God. With us every minister stands alone. In the mount of vision he may see the patterns of the things that belong to the heavenly city, but he has no earthly models upon which to pattern his religious work. Every new church is expected to be an educational pattern shop, and the untried man must waste valuable force in a creative labor which none but minds of rarest power can hope successfully to perform. Fortunately or unfortunately, each Unitarian expects his minister to be a religious genius. Now, under our system, none but men of much native force can generally be utilized. But, with a method of thorough ministerial training, we can safely employ a body of inferior men, who, supplementing their devout zeal with wise education, may become, if not brilliant preachers, sincere master-workmen in this divine art of creat

ing the kingdom of God. But this great work will never be done in hastily improvised and poorly equipped institutions of learning.

Our need of workers is confessedly great; but one man clad in the whole armor of God is more valuable in fighting ignorance, superstition, unrighteousness, and wickedness enthroned in high places than a dozen men who wear the hastily constructed pasteboard helmets of Don Quixote, that are shattered in the first encounter.

I know all that can be said about the narrowness of pure professional training. But, when I see the ease and facility with which some of our ministerial Jacks-of-alltrades throw off the lightly assumed habits of their profession for the seductive pursuits of secular life, I long for a body of specialists who are so colored and saturated with the ingrained spirit of their profession that its abandonment shall seem almost like a dislocation of the soul,-men who make their richest and broadest culture always the servant and minister of the sacred function which is the supreme interest of their lives.

The word of the hour is concentration. Let us put our gifts and energy into an established school. To create a new theological school would mean the expenditure of an incalculable amount of energy, and at least $350,000 in money. Who will supply this wealth and work? Our present and pressing duty is to strengthen the things we have. If we will bravely and wisely resolve to make Meadville what it ought to be, we shall soon see a school which can meet every rational demand inside the next half-century of denominational life.

St. Louis, Mo.

JOHN SNYDER.

OPEN LETTERS TO MR. GLADSTONE.

REVELATION AND INSPIRATION.

We referred last month to the series of articles that Hon. W. E. Gladstone has been writing in Good Words, now published in book form, under the title, "The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture." The views of inspiration and revelation maintained in these articles are so medieval and utterly inadequate to the best thinking of our time that Rev. John Page Hopps of Leicester,

Eng., begins the first number of his new monthly, The Coming Day, with an "Open Letter" to Mr. Gladstone upon the subject, followed by a reply from Mr. Gladstone and a brief rejoinder of his own. The three letters are so well worth reading that we reproduce them. Mr. Hopps promises still farther correspondence upon this subject.

MR. HOPPS TO MR. GLADSTONE.

LEICESTER, July 15, 1890. Dear Mr. Gladstone,-A careful and sympathetic reading of your articles in Good Words suggests to me a possibility far beyond the immediate purpose of your deeply interesting papers. In the sphere of Theology,-one might almost say in the sphere of Religion, the one great and urgent want is some reasonable idea of Revelation. The revolt of the nineteenth century against Revelation is not revolt against Religion, but is the revolt of the rational, historical, and scientific mind against the theory that the Almighty once supernaturally interfered with the ordinary course of human life in order to produce a Book, every part of which should represent and, in fact, be his one final message to mankind.

It is this that has produced, is producing, and will produce nothing but the stress of contention within the camp and the sterility of agnosticism outside of it. It is time to end all this, and to produce a doctrine of Revelation which shall be at once rational, historical, and scientific.

Part of a sentence in your chapter on the Psalms suggests such a doctrine. You use the words, "that specialty of Divine suggestion and guidance which we term Revelation." But surely "Divine suggestion and guidance" never cease. It is, indeed, astonishing that the advocates of the old impossible theory of Revelation do not see the enormous logical difficulties that beset them in relation to the present influence of the Almighty in human affairs, and the enormous inconsistency that also besets them when, while insisting on their theory of Revelation, they also pray for the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit.

The way out is clear. The Almighty is the ever-present Creator and Providence. In him we all "live, and move, and have our being. As one of our own poets has taught us, Nature is the body, but God is the soul. Well, then, all is from him, -the delicate natural influences that color leaves and flowers, and the subtile and profound natural influences that tone the thoughts of men. If we conceive of Nature as a mighty whole, and of God as, in some unknown way, its informing and guiding Spirit, we shall tion able to stand the scrutiny of Reason, arrive at the only possible theory of Revelathe questionings of History, and the analysis of Science.