Paul Bourget has been called "the prince of youth in a very old century." Young as he is-only some thirty years of age —he is already the leader of “the psychological school." His views are rather gloomy, but his visions are different from Zola's. He loves science, but he has discovered its impotence; he takes offense at love, because it has become a lie, a materialism, which devours the strength and the thoughts of the young. He desires to soar to the lofty heavens, but the yoke of naturalism has left such deep marks upon his body, that he cannot rise; like the broken-winged bird, he must fall to the ground. The actors of his books have all come to that stage where they feel the good will to act, but also discover the broken backbone of their energy.

Paul Bourget, together with Maurice Barrès and Edoard Rod, are the leaders in literary matters.

Edoard Rod has, in the Revue Bleue, shown how thoroughly Zola is without the moral element, though he does not belittle Zola's talent. By pointing out the moral defects he has hit the weak point of realism, and the main issue between it and idealism. "It is of no use," he wrote, “that Zola affects to be scientific, and claims the privileges of physiologists. We know him, and how much we are to believe. The living and imponderable stuff-our soul—his vulgar and coarse hands cannot handle. The doings of our soul are not indifferent; they are the doings of humanity in the past, the present, and the future. No matter what arguments he may draw from Solomon, Schopenhauer, or others, we know, we live, and our life is important to us personally, though it may not be so to the universe. We are, as the old alchemists said, microcosms— small worlds, but still worlds. Even the millions who do not study, but who toil, will never believe that their lives go for nothing." How strong an emphasis is here laid upon individual responsibility and eternal reality!

A few years ago, such thoughts would not have been tolerated in the great city on the banks of the Seine. Laughter and contempt would have ruled them out of order. But now the Parisians read Maurice Barrès's "A Free Man," and Bourget's "Mensonges," "Le Disciple," "Un Cœur de Femme "and cannot resist the temptation to cry. Stanislaus de Guaëta's poems, "Rosa Mystica," etc., run in the same direction. The movement stretches as far as the artists; even Sarah Bernhardt has left the sensuous parts behind her, and has played "The Mother of God" in the Passion Play. The movement has also struck Montmartre, and what is more remarkable yet-Zola himself, if the report be true.

RELIGIOUS.

THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE.

THE REVEREND W. RUPP, D.D.

Reformed Quarterly Review, Philadelphia, January.

THE

quality of infallibility is one that is not needed at all in order to make the Bible a sufficient record of divine revelation; and the claim of this quality is one that cannot be sustained by the facts as they lie before us. There is in the Bible, the infallible divine truth-for all truth as such is infallible-that is required in order to make men wise unto salvation. But there are also in the Bible innumerable things that have nothing to do with salvation, What, for example, has the size of Og's bedstead, or the number of men who fell in a battle to do with our salvation? But it may be objected, that, if we admit this distinction between infallible religious truth and fallible human additions in the Bible-or between the Word of God in the Bible, and things which are not the Word of God-we have no criterion by which to distinguish one from the other. To this we would reply that there is indeed, no criterion or rule, by the mechanical application of which we could distinguish between the divine and the human, but that the Christian consciousness is nevertheless a practical criterion

sufficient for the purpose; just as the cultivated taste of the artist is sufficient to discriminate between a true work of art and its opposite. The application of this criterion, however, must be made in a moral way, agreeably to the declaration of Christ: "If any one will do the doctrine, he shall know whether it be of God;" and the result will be moral certainty instead of mechanical infallibility.

We maintain that for the actual need of the religious and moral life, the Bible is practically errorless, but this position excludes the idea of infallibility.

We maintain, however, that there is nothing lost by giving up this idea. What good would an infallible Bible be to us, so long as we ourselves are not infallible? An infallible Bible would by no means make our theological knowledge infallible. My knowledge of divine truth is only my knowledge and though it were based on an infallible Bible would be no more infallible, than I am. In order to make my knowledge infallible, I have need of an infallible teacher to whom I must bow in blind submission. Indeed, this idea of an infallible Bible leads further to the idea of an infallible priesthood and at last to the idea of an infallible Pope.

We hold, then, that by rejecting the notion of a mechanical infallibility as belonging to the Bible by virtue of its inspiration together with that whole view of the Bible as a book of divine statutes which this notion implies, and substituting for this the conception of a vital spiritual energy inhering in the Word of God, and making it quick and powerful for the generating and developing of a spiritual life in the soul, there is nothing lost, but much gained. For as thus conceived, inspiration is a quality that belonged, not merely to the original manuscripts of the sacred writers, but it is a quality that cannot be lost in any translation, and pertains, therefore, to every copy of the Bible that is now in the hands of the humblest Christian.

The conception of inspiration, moreover, puts an end forever to the old battle between the Bible and science, and relieves the Christian apologist from carrying a burthen that is becoming too heavy for him. With this view of inspiration, and of the design of revelation, it is no longer necessary, for example, to maintain the literal accuracy of the account of Creation in Genesis, and then to perform impossible exegetical feats for the purpose of bringing it into harmony with incontestable facts of science, such as the identification of the six creative days with the various eras and epochs of geology; or to assume the literal historical truth of the narrative of the Fall, and then to explain how it was that Eve was left alone at the tree of temptation, how the serpent could address her in human speech, and what physical change there occurred in the serpent after the pronouncement of the curse. Nor is it necessary any longer to accept the literal accuracy of the Flood, and then to exert our ingenuity to find out whence sufficient water could have been obtained to cover the whole earth to the depth of fifteen cubits above the tops of the highest mountains, or to explain how the animals could have been brought unto Noah from all parts of the globe, etc., etc. These and similar matters will give us no further concern.

As the physical and historical errors in Shakespeare do not mar the æsthetic truth which Shakespeare meant to convey, or destroy the moral effect of his dramas, so any physical, historical, scientific, or ethical errors that may be found in the Bible, do not mar the religious truth which the Bible is intended to convey or hinder its religious effect. And we shall, therefore, no longer be surprised when we are told, even, that some of those Bible narratives which serve as mediums for the inculcation of most precious religious truth-truth which needed to be inculcated particularly at the time when these narratives were composed-rest not upon literal history or fact, but upon popular legends and myths.

We believe not in Christ on account of the Bible, but we believe the Bible on account of Christ. And Christ must be the ultimate interpreter of Scripture, also-Christ in His people, or Christ in the Christian consciousness.

THE RELIGION OF THE TCHAMES OF CAMBODIA.

A

ETIENNE AYMONIER.

Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, Paris, December, MONG all the Indo-Chinese subjects of France, the Tchames, who dwell in the delta of the Cambodia River, are the most superior race. They are extremely interesting from several points of view and deserve more attention than they have yet received from their conquerors.

The countries which at the present day we call Eastern IndoChina and the islands of the Malayan Archipelago were at a very distant epoch colonized by emigrants from India. Near the beginning of our era, however, there had been founded a kingdom in the delta of the Cambodia by a people called the Khmêrs, whose descendants, some centuries afterwards, built those nnmerous and gigantic structures which astonish us by the finish of their details and the grandeur of their plans This kingdom was called Tchampa, and the descendants of its inhabitants are now known as Tchames. Although this Cambodian monarchy was constantly attacked by the Chinese on the north and the Annamites on the south, it lasted until near the end of the fifteenth century, when, the Annamites having taken the capital, put to death forty thousand men and made slaves of thirty thonsand more, Tchampa ceased to exist.

The most ancient inscriptions remaining of Tchampa up to the tenth century are nearly all in Sanscrit. After the tenth century we find Sanscrit replaced by the Tchamic tongue. In distant times, the Brahmanic religions were prevalent in Tchampa, and Buddhism also appeared from time to time. In the course of ages, however, the Tchames have become Mussulmans, and in many respects, from free contact with Java and Arabia, their religion is of an orthodox kind, though bearing marks of the old civilization of the Khmêrs.

They worship Allah only, whether in their mosques or in their private orisons, these being the "vaktou." which are said prostrate, with the face towards Mecca, at five different times in each twenty-four hours-an hour before the dawn, at noon, towards three o'clock, at six o'clock, and at eight o'clock.

The Mussulman priests of Cambodia have the following hierarchy: 1. The Mufti. This dignity, the highest in rank, existed formerly, was abolished, then revived. The present holder of the position, Imaum Il, residing in a village near the capital, is the recognized chief of all the Mahomedan priests, Malay or Tchame, of Cambodia; (2) the Tich-Kalik; (3) the Radjah-Kalik; (4) the Tuon-Paké. The present holders of these dignities reside in the same village as the Mufti. All four dignitaries are held in high consideration. The Cambodian court invites them to pray at the royal palace during the national festivals, at the same time as the Buddhic bonzes, and both bonzes and Mussulman dignitaries appear to be of political creation, for the advantage and convenience of royalty. The democratic spirit shown in the obedience to sacred law. very lively in both religions, Buddhism and Islamism, seems to me not to agree well with the institution of a high sacerdotal hierarchy. In fact, all these dignitaries enjoy much consideration, and yet exercise very restrained powers.

Each of these four leading Mahomedan dignitaries of Cambodia, is surrounded by forty Imaums, who, like their chiefs, are exempt from paying taxes. This exemption, granted by the king, is not extended to the other Imaums, who may be

numerous.

Then come: (5) the Hakem, the head of those who take charge of each mosque; (6) the Katip, a sort of readers or preaching brothers; (7) the Bilbal, a kind of religious censors, whose business it is to watch for infractions of religious discipline and disobedience to the rules of religious conduct. They censure on occasion all the faithful and even the Imaums and the Katip who are superior to them in the hierarchy.

The members of the eight classes of priests, or clerical persons, enumerated, are clothed wholly in white: turban, gown

and tunic; they shave the head and body, leaving only a little beard on the chin.

To worship Allah solemnly in the mosque on Friday, requires the presence of forty priests or clerical persons. Then the Djamaah (assembly) is complete. Below this figure, the assembly is not constituted, and each person present can only say his individual prayers. During the Djamaah, the Imaums are in the mosque, the laity generally remaining outside. Women seldom come to the Djamaah, though once in a while some old women appear there. After prayers a repast is taken in common. In the small villages which have no mosques, the inhabitants assemble for prayers in a house belonging to them jointly.

These Tchames of Cambodia, notwithstanding the relative purity of their Islamism, practice some superstitious rites, which seem to have came down to them from their pagan ancestry. They worship sometimes in the house the manes of their ancestors. The priests are invited to come and pray, while there is offered to the manes a white, or black, or red chicken, the color of the chicken being traditional in each family. The fowl is afterwards eaten. In certain cases of sickness, they think that they must appease their manes by offering them cakes, black, white, and so on. They still preserve vague traditions and superstitious fears in regard to certain animals, squirrels, snakes, crocodiles, and others, changing according to the families, the members of which respect the animal, not daring to put it to death and even refraining from calling it by name, designating it by some special term, which is generally djanang, that is, the officer, the dignitary.

These Tchames would receive much more consideration from those who rule them, were the latter better fitted to govern foreign populations, and not modern French acting everywhere by virtue of preconceived ideas and uniform rules.

THE

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE DECLINE IN RAILROAD-BUILDING. ·
THOMAS L. GREENE.

Engineering Magazine, New York, February.

HE extent of railroad-building in the United States during 1891, was a little over 4,000 miles; the new mileage in British North America was about 450, and in Mexico about 350; in all, not quite 5,000 miles for the continent. This is a small addition to our mileage, judged by former years. In 1890 the construction in the United States amounted to 5,700, and in 1889 about the same. During the decade it amounted to 69,000. All this new construction was undertaken by a number of companies with an average of about fifteen miles of new road each. Thus the additions were mostly branches, or short connecting links.

Not only was the total new mileage in 1891 smaller than in previous years, but there was a shorter average length ascribed to each constructing corporation. This arose from two causes, one financial, the other commercial. The first is owing to the difficulty, dating from the Baring liquidation in London, and still obtaining, of selling to the public, new bonds or stocks. While railroad companies with high and long-established credit have been able in some cases to sell bonds for work done or in prospect, a number of railroads of undoubted financial soundness have been embarrassed in finishing lines begun or contracted for before the Baring troubles. These latter roads have been obliged to borrow money from banking institutions on demand, or time loans, while awaiting the return of public confidence in railroad investment, Though no data exist for accurate statements, it is estimated that the railroad floating debts of the United States amount to $200,000,000, including in that term only those sums which have been spent for new construction or betterments, and which will be paid by future bond issues on good roads.

The new mileage was built almost wholly by existing cor

porations; and the new enterprises, strictly so-called, that is, those which were begun independently of the large systems, formed but a small fraction of the whole. When to this is added the further fact that our older but smaller roads are slowly being absorbed into the large systems, it is apparent that railroad-building and operating is falling into the hands of huge and powerful corporations. One of the results of this consolidation is the growth of an idea that an existing railroad has vested rights. Though as yet rather vaguely held, this theory about the moral wrong of building parallel roads has weight.

Consolidation of our railroads into systems, and the consequent growth of a sort of code of railroad morals between the great companies, will not, however, stop railroad-building. The great and essential difference between European and American conditions is, that there, railroads were built to accommodate existing traffic; in the United States they are built principally to create traffic. The early American railroads were pioneers; they carried clothing and shoes from the settled part of the country to the prairies and brought back grain and cattle. This wide exchange has continued, even after the growth of powerful inland States and cities. Exactly this reasoning still holds good. The Great Northern, for example, building 2,000 miles of line through an unsettled country. will, by the opportunities offered to immigrants, in time create its own local traffic, which, without that line, would not exist. In a more restricted sense, this is true, too, of the older States. A competing railroad is constructed into a town, to the disgust of the road already there, but after a time of confusion and rivalry it becomes apparent that the impetus given to trade by the competition has resulted in such an increase that both companies are benefited.

To follow this question a little further; let us take the case of wheat-growing and shipping. It is assumed by certain magazine writers that our wheat-production has reached its limit; that we may indeed import wheat cheaper from India or South America. This contention does not consider the whole question. The wheat-acreage of the United States could be doubled at once, if required, from land now uncultivated or used for other crops. Nor ought we to say that we have reached the limit of cheap production as against the poorlypaid, but really dear, labor of Asia or of South America. It is not a question of productiveness or limit of wheat-land, but one of price or rather, of profit. Farmers will continue to grow wheat and increase the acreage, and the railroads to carry it to the ocean for export, if the profits of the crops are not turned to absolute loss. Again, every mile of new road, especially west of the Mississippi, opens up more grain-fields. Irrigation will also, sooner or later, increase the supply; new settlements will create new traffic; and when financial conditions change, there will come a widespread "boom." Railroad men, with this prospect of increasing traffic in mind, are agreed in expecting a fever of railroad-building in the East as well as in the West, which will make up by its violence for the comparative quiet of the few preceding years,

Railroad-building implies the expenditure of capital. In the long run the investing public decides the matter, for without the confidence of moneyed men our railroad extensions cannot be built. It has long been considered that railroad bonds and stocks afforded by far the best investments into which the ordinary capitalist could put his money. Nevertheless, it is a fact that large losses have been made in railroads, and that there is, at least at present, hesitation and distrust on the part of the investing public.

Aside from the efforts of legislatures to reduce railroad tariffs, there is a constant commercial pressure toward lower rates, with small hope of any further economy in expenses. Under further possible tariff reductions, and growing demands for better service, where is the railroad bond-interest and dividend to come from? Whatever may have been the case

formerly, the railroads need protection against unjustly low charges, rather than the public against exorbitant tariffs. Still, profits can be made at present rates if the volume of trade is large enough.

We are now passing through a period of distrust, due partly to dishonest management, and the issue of false reports, but it is proper to say that railroad extensions, when warranted commercially, are worthy both of approval and of financial support, though the argument for them should be sustained conservatively, and through the application of good business principles.

It must be acknowledged, too, that we have complicated the subject of railroad-building, and the consequent investment and returns of capital, by not setting forth all the facts in our railroad reports. Particularly where we ask for foreign capital to help us build new railroads, we do not put emphasis enough upon the fluctuating conditions of business in the United States. We say too much about the large earnings at times, and not enough about a possible decrease.

PALESTINE CUSTOMS AT THE BIRTH OF A CHILD.
PHILIPP BALDENSPERGER, JAFFA.
Evangelische Blatter aus dem Morgenlande, Jerusalem, Vol. I.
No. 5.

HE recent celebration of the birthday of our Lord gives

tants of Palestine, especially as the New Testament goes into no details in the case of the Birth at Bethlehem, and because the customs and habits of Palestine have been virtually unchanged in the last 1,900 years and these were probably in part, at least, observed in the case of the Christ child.

Immediately after the birth of a child, the father gives it a name, then salve is put upon its mouth and eyes. The whole body is washed in salt water, anointed with oil and wrapped in swaddling clothes. During the first week the salt is applied daily, and from that time on to the fortieth day, it is repeated once a week. Only after that is it allowed to wash a child with soap and water.

In case the child is a boy, the entire relationship is immediately invited on the day of birth to a grand feast. Those invited bring presents of money, or other gifts. In case it is a girl baby, only the female relatives are allowed to be present, and only smaller presents are given.

In order to protect the child from all danger, its hair is dedicated to some saint. If for any reason whatsoever it is necessary to cut the hair before the fixed time, then this hair is carefully preserved. One or two years later, on the pilgrimage day of the saint, the head of the child is shaved clear and clean and the weight of the hair is distributed in the shape of silver coins to the poor, who are then obliged to take part in the pilgrimage.

Then efforts are made to protect the child against bad influences. Amulettes, with sentences and three-cornered pieces of leather, which are fastened to the head covering, are expected to protect it from the “Jahn,” i. e., the evil being who is half human and half satanic. Blue glass pearls protect it against the "evil look."

The two "companion angels" record the good and the bad deeds of the child. Daily, when the child goes to sleep, they report to God. In case of the death of a person, this "angel" is assigned to somebody else.

Notwithstanding the amulettes and the "angels," the "Jahn," is continually on the watch, and is especially odious in kitchen and cellar in order to purloin from there the provisions as soon as the child commits a sin against God. For this reason mothers are enjoined, as long as their children are not yet able to speak the name of God, to be as their guard. Since the "Jahns" neither sow nor reap and cannot live without food, their favorite places of resort are the graneries and the threshing floors.

Ex

XCEPTIONS to the determining influence of heredity and environment are numerous enough to encourage individual effort, even when both are unpropitious; but in Sir Philip Sidney a long line of distinguished ancestors combined with courtly surroundings for the production of this fine flower of English courtesy and heroism. The grandfather, Sir William Sidney, held a high place under Henry the Eighth. King's Chamberlain and General of the Forces, diplomatist and courtier, he received from the son of that monarch the gift of the old castle of Penshurst in Kent, which became for generations the family home. The grandfather, Sir John Dudley, also in the king's service, had succeeded in the ambitious schemes which made him in rapid succession Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland. Close intimacies connected the younger children of Henry the Eighth with the young Dudleys and Sidneys, but the marriage between Sir Henry Sidney and Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, in 1551, arose from the desire of the latter to attach permanently to the Dudley faction so powerful a partisan of King Edward as Sir Henry.

Philip Sidney was born Nov. 30, 1554, in the fourteenth-century castle of Penshurst, which still retains, with slight changes, the appearance it presented three centuries ago. Visits could have been but few and occasional on the part of the father, with whom diplomatic missions to the continent alternated with his important positions at home. More definite information of Sir Philip's boyhood begins first in 1564 when, at the age of ten, he became, in a way characteristic of the time, clerk of the church at Whitford and the possessor of its revenues. His name was also registered in the same year with that of Fulke Greville in the Shrewsbury school under Thomas Ashton.

From Shrewsbury he went, in 1568, to Christ Church College, Oxford. The three years at Oxford were years of unusual intellectual progress. His tutor, Dr. Thomas Thornton, was so proud indeed of his success as to have the fact of the relationship recorded upon his own tombstone. A prolonged residence on the continent seems next to have been arranged for, through a special license from the Queen, and the succeeding summer of 1572 was occupied in a visit to Paris in the train of the Earl of Lincoln, where friendly intimacy with Francis Walsingham, the English ambassador, who eleven years later became his father-in-law, and the view as an eye-witness of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, were his first introductions to that world of European politics of which his intimate knowledge became later so useful to the government of Elizabeth.

His three years in Europe strengthened on every side his Protestaht sympathies and his detestation of the Catholic ambition of Philip of Spain, in resistance to whlch he finally offered up his life.

In 1577, Sir Philip undertook a special embassy among the European governments, visited the Palatinate, and had his earnest appeal to the young Emperor Rudolph for the formation of a general league in opposition to the tyranny of Rome and Spain been listened to, the history of the sixteenth century would have had a far different ending. His diplomatic mission was fitly closed by a visit to Prince William of Orange, with whom he formed a lasting friendship.

Of the circumstances connected with his marriage with Mistress Frances Walsingham, we have but scanty accounts. It was welcomed, however, by his friends and the depth and sincerity of the affection are abundantly shown in the three short years of his life which remained, and in its closing scenes in the Netherlands. In 1583, Sir Philip's attention was strongly drawn for the second time to the New World. A charter for an expedition and the grant of a domain of three million acres were given him and he seriously contemplated joining the unfortunate enterprise of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, when, in June, 1584, the Queen's old suitor, the Duke of Anjou, died. A month later, William of Orange was assassinated, and, at last, the time had come for that intervention of England in the affairs of the continent which he had so long urged upon Elizabeth.

In Sir Philip's own view, now as before, Spain could best be met by crippling her colonies. When the expedition of Sir Francis Drake was fitted out for this purpose with twenty-five ships, he aided in its preparation and was on the point of personally joining it, but peremptory orders from the Queen were laid upon him to accompany, as the Governor of Flushing, an army of 8,000 troops which Elizabeth was at last preparing to send to the aid of the Dutch. Active hostilities followed at once upon the arrival of this force in the Netherlands and Sir Philip early received a wound which, through the mistake of his surgeon, became mortal. The immediate occasion of the exposure

of his life may seem to us Quixotic in its rashness, but his refusal of a drink of water in favor of a dying soldier, while himself lying wounded, is the world-famous incident in the gentle heroism of the man who by universal acclaim has been adjudged "the president-of nobless and of chivalry."

THE

CHINESE: THEIR PRESENT AND FUTURE; MEDICAL, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL. By Robert Coltman, Jr., M.D., Surgeon in Charge of the Presbyterian Hospital and Dispensary at Teng Chow Fu; Consulting Physician of the American Southern Baptist Mission Society; Examiner in Surgery and Diseases of the Eye for the Shantung Medical Class; Consulting Physician to the English Baptist Missions, etc. Illustrated with Fifteen Photo-Engravings of Persons, Places, and Objects Characteristic of China. In one handsome Royal Octavo volume. 220 PP. Extra cloth. Philadelphia: The F. A. Davis Co., Publishers, 1231 Filbert Street.

[This work, written in easy, narrative style, by one familiar with the country, and people, affords a better view of Chinese life and character than is usually to be found in works on China. As a surgeon on the staff of missionary societies, the author had an opportunity of penetrating the seclusion of Chinese homes, and to this fact we are indebted for the many life-like portraits of Chinese home-life, with which the book abounds. As a missionary, he goes into the subject of missionary work in China, as a doctor he treats of the prevailing diseases, and as an intelligent foreign resident he has a great deal to say on the social and political condition of the country, and its future prospects. The work presents a mass of information which may be accepted as reliable, and advances opinions which, qualified by long residence, are deserving of careful attention. In the following digest we present the author's introduction to the country, and of his later matured views.]

THE

HE Monday morning after our arrival at Chefoo I was called by Dr. Corbett to be introduced to the gentleman who was to act as my teacher. I found in waiting a pleasant-looking man whom Dr. Corbett introduced to me as my teacher, Mr. T'an. He does not understand a word of English," said the Doctor, "and is not a scholar of marked learning; but he is a clear speaker, intelligent, and what is of more importance, patient."

"But if he does not understand any English, how am I to ask him questions, or understand his answers?" I ventured. "You will not need to at first. None of the teachers speak English. But first we must find you a name; Mr. T'an has already asked, and I have been obliged to inform him that as yet you have none.' What, am I not to be called Dr. Coltman?" I asked, surprised beyond measure, and by no means pleased. "No that is impossible," he replied, with an amused smile at my greenness, "you see," he continued, "the Chinese can pronounce only words already existing in their language, and besides, they have the hundred family names' and every foreigner, upon arrival, selects, or has selected for him, a name from this list; bearing as nearly as possible some resemblance to his former one.' Now ensued a discussion between Dr. Corbett and my teacher which resulted in my being converted from Robert Coltman to Man Lo Tao.

The Doctor then produced a book of Chinese and English lessons, and left us. I seated myself on one side of the table; Mr. T'an bowed and sat down at my side. Then we looked at each other and smiled; then pointing to the first character (an ordinary dash), he said "Ee." "Ee I repeated easily enough. “Day la," said Mr. T'an, and passed on to the next character. What "Day la" meant I did not know, but Mr. T'an passed at once to character No. 2 and said "Erhl." I looked at him and hesitated. He repeated it: "erh" or erhl." I

could not tell which. I endeavored to repeat it. Evidently I had not got it right, for he kept repeating it and each time I answered he muttered under his breath Bu day, Bu day. Finally I must have caught the right tone, for he said " Day la," and passed on to the

next.

For two hours I repeated these queer sounding words, and time after time I was obliged to repeat the same character before my patient teacher was satisfied with my pronunciation, and when at last I succeeded in pronouncing the word correctly, I was mortified to find that I could not repeat it.

China is greatly overcrowded; the Chinese are nevertheless a homeloving people and not fond of mixing with other races. So far the emigration has been only from the extreme South, from the province of Kuang Tung in the vicinity of Canton. There is, however, no need for the surplus population of China to leave their own country. To the north of the eighteen provinces, the whole of Mongolia, nominally under Chinese control, and but sparsely populated, with its thousands of square miles of fine soil and temperate climate, would seem to offer a much more inviting field for the Chinaman forced to leave his birthplace, than emigration to a foreign country, but the Chinese of the South, that is the uneducated, are ignorant that there is such a country, and the expense of getting there would be an effectual bar.

If the Chinese Government were more wide-awake to its duty in caring for its people, and at the same time to its opportunity of preparing for national defense, it would assist the surplus population of the eighteen provinces to remove to and settle in the Mongolian territory and thus furnish an additional barrier to Russian invasion. Nothing, so far, has been done in this direction or seems likely to be, for the reason that the importance of national well-being is always secondary to private ambition.

As to production, the policy of the Government is the same. Mines are the property of the Crown, and are not allowed to be worked by private individuals, and manufactures are impossible, owing to the absence of native iron and coal, and to restriction of foreigners doing business in the interior.

Riots in the interior against the missionaries, and even in some cases against foreign customs' officials in Chinese employ, are the outcome of agitation stirred by mandarins and literary men disappointed in obtaining office, who seek in this way to stir up the people against the existing government and effect a change. The mild demeanor of the Western Powers in dealing with the Chinese is calculated to create the impression that they are afraid to interfere vigorously. One reason for this lack of protection on the part of the Powers is a general feeling of unconcern for the missionaries. It is felt that in exposing themselves in places known to be hostile, they only get what they deserve when they are beaten or mobbed, and their residences locted.

China is able to take her place among the foremost Powers of the carth, if she would only realize her position and rise to meet the emergency. Her natural resources are abundant, and her enormous population affords material for an army that could discount that of any European Power, but in the present state of the exchequer they could neither be armed nor equipped.

The safety of China thus far has lain in the fact that the Powers of the world have been too much engaged elsewhere to devote much attention to that country; but now, with the peace of Europe tolerably well assured, it is by no means certain that the Celestial Empire will be allowed to pursue the even tenor of her way, to the exclusion of the interests of the rest of the world. It is next to a certainty that Russia is determined to have a Southern seaport. England is very jealous of Russian interest in Korea; but one thing is certain, England cannot prevent the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway, nor, when it is completed, can she interfere with a Russo-Chinese war, except by an alliance with China, which, at present, there is no likelihood of China accepting.

le probleme de l'IMMORTALITÉ. By Pétavel Olliff, Anc. Past. Dr. E.; Etude Précédée d'une Lettre du Prof. Secrétan. Octavo. pp. XII., Paris Libraire Fischbacher. 1891. 441.

THE

HE literature on the discussion of a conditional immortality over against an absolute or natural immortality of the human soul is very extensive. The theory is not a new one, that the soul of man attains to immortality only through its connection by faith with Christ Jesus, the source of life, and that all those who do not come in touch with this source, by a natural course of events shall gradually disappear altogether after death and the judgment. In England and America, in France and in Switzerland this problem has attracted the attention and called forth the earnest scientific researches not only of the theological world, but also of many laymen. It stands in the most intimate connection with the question of the endlessness of the punishment of unbelievers, and is the true solution of this vexed enigma. Premises and methods of drawing, the conclusions are simple enough, and the doctrine of immortality conditioned by faith and holiness (Immortalité conditionelle: Conditionalism) are simple enough. The central thesis is that without and outside of Jesus Christ, who has come into the flesh, there can be no immortality. It is not a quality or part of the nature of the sinful soul; nor are there any evidences to show that from any other source this gift can be acquired or be given. Accordingly only those who

have faith in the Giver of Life can receive it; all who are outside of

Him, by virtue of the poison and distinguishing power of sin, must eventually end in annihilation. Unbelievers, when at the general resurrection the soul shall have received a body, shall meet ultimate and total destruction by the slow torments of hell. The arguments in favor of this proposition can be drawn from many sources. In the first place, scientific investigation in itself (la science indépendante) makes this exceedingly probable. Psychological and biological reasons strengthen it. The exegetical argument from both the Old and the New Testaments, even on the basis of verbal inspiration, confirms the theory. No proposition is clearer from the Gospels and the Epistles than that Jesus and He alone is the only source of life (source unique de l'immortalité). Man who is severed from his divinely appointed object and aim is not immortal. This is one of the essential points in the system of Christian truth. Then, too, the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are symbols of immortality, and hence intended only for Christians. The mass of confirmations, evidences, and proof passages on this point is very great (Supplément, almost 200 pages), the nature of this argumentation being historical, philosophical, and exegetical.

EINLEITUNG IN DAS ALTE TESTAMENT. Von Carl Heinrich Cornill, Dr. Theol. et Phil., Professor der Theologie un der Universität Königsberg. Pp. XII 325. Freiburg: J. C. B. Mohr. 1891.

[So many and varied have been the detailed critical discussions of recent years in the Old Testament department, that a summary of what the critical school regards as the result of all its exact investigations, is a desideratum. Such a summary has been supplied in a most satisfactory manner by the young and brilliant Old Testament specialist in the Prussian University at Königsberg. A resumé of his birdseye view of the historical growth of the literature of the Old Testament will give these views in a nutshell.].

O

No part or portion of the literature found in the Old Testament

from the Mosaic period, no part of the Pentateuch, was written by the great Lawgiver. Indeed, from the entire period preceding the establishment of the kingdom in Israel there is nothing but the Song of Deborah. From the earliest times of the Kings we have only David's" authentic" Song of the Bow, II. Sam. i., 19–27, and Solomon's "authentic" Prayer of Dedication, I. Kings, viii., 12-13, according with the Septuagint. During the period of the divided kingdoms, after the death of Solomon down to the overthrow of Samaria, 722 B.C., we have the following literary remains in the Old Testament books: the so-called Blessing of Jacob; the Book of Covenant, Ex: 21-23; the Book of the Wars of Jehovah; the oldest Ephraimitic narrative in the Elbhist Document in Judges and Samuel, the Ephraimitic account of Elijah and Elisha; the so-called Blessing of Moses; Amos, cir. 760; the historical work of the Elohist cir. 750; Hosea, 1-3; The Book of the Just; the Saying of Bileam; the Jahorst Document in the times of Jehosephat; the anonymous prophet in Isaiah 15-16 (the oldest piece of prophesy in the Old Testament); then Hosea, 4-14, about 738; Isaiah (portions of); Micah, 1-3. From the overthrow of Samaria, 722 B.C., down to the Babylonian captivity the following are the leading literary remains: Isaiah (portions of); the Judaistic account of the Temples in I. and II. Kings; the original Obadiah; portions of Micah; Revision of earlier historical documents; Zephaniah, cir., 630; portions of Jeremiah; Nahum; the original basis of Deuteronomy, cir., 624; the Prayer of Hannah; portions of Habakuk; completion of Kings; Ps. 89: portions of Ezekiah; Jer. 30-31. From the first half of the Babylonian captivity we have Is. 23; completion of Ezekiel, together with additions; two new editions of Deuteronomy; Lamentations 2 and 4, I and 5 being of a later period. During the second half of the Babylonian captivity the following were written: Revision of the great historical book to adapt it to the spirit of the Deuteronomic legislation; the first systematic composition of Law books of a priestly character; Biographical portion of Jeremiah; portion of Isaiah, especially xxi: 1-10, 40-48, and 34-35 later. From the Persian pericd the following are the literary remains: Ps. 137; Is. 49-66 (after 536); Haggai; Zechariah 1-8; portions of the Law Book; Malachi; Aramaic account of the history of the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem; Proclamation of the Priestly Law Book, cir., 444; Ezra's Memoires; Nehemiah's Memoires; Practical completion of the Hexateuch, i. e., Pentateuch and Joshua. From the fourth century before Christ there remain the following: Completion of the historical books, Joel, cir., 400; the Canonical Obadiah; Jonah; Proverbs; the great mass of the Psalms, from the time of the Second Temple and older than Chronicles; Song of Songs. To the Greek period the following must be ascribed: Is. 24-27, Chronicles, the writer of which also edited Ezra and Nehemiah; Zechariah 9–14; translation of the Pentateuch into the Greek; the reproducing of the prophetic writings found in various portions of Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Habakuk, and Zephaniah; completion of the Prophetic Canon; Job, at all events later than Proverbs; Koheleth; the latest retouching of the Historical and Prophetical books as the basis of the Septuagint. From the Maccabaen period, we have as a certainty Psa. 44. 74, 79, and 83; also Daniel, cir., 164; Esther, cir., 130. The Old Testament literature closes about the year 100 B.C.