continuous ride of a hundred and twenty miles through the enemy's country to get his copy on the wire for London)-such were a few of his many experiences. Mr. Forbes's books, made up largely of his correspondence, had more than an ephemeral value, because he was skilled, not merely in reporting facts, but in showing their significance and the trend of political and international events.

The Rev. Newell Dr. Hillis on Election Dwight Hillis, pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, in a sermom Sunday before last, read, and denounced with great vigor, that clause in the Westminster Confession of Faith which declares that God has been pleased to pass by the non-elect without making provision for their salvation, and that the number of those for whom he has made provision is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. As Dr. Hillis was, at the time of preaching this sermon, a member of the Chicago Presbytery, from which he had not then taken his letter, it is not, perhaps, strange that other members of the Presbytery took umbrage at his declaration that this doctrine of particular election is incon sistent with the love of God and the spirit of the Gospel; and since he is now pastor of a Congregational church, he has done well so far to accede to their criticism as to withdraw from the organization. At the same time the incident appears to us to illustrate afresh the fundamental principle that agreements rarely or never are permanent which are founded on the use of standards in a double sense. The doctrine of particular election which Dr. Hillis so vigorously condemned was condemned with scarcely less vigor, years ago, by Mr. Albert Barnes, by Charles G. Finney when still a Presbyterian, and by Dr. Lyman Beecher when President of a Presbyterian theological seminary. It was because the Old School branch of the Church insisted on this doctrine, and the interpretation of the Confession which emphasized this doctrine, and the New School branch of the Church repudiated this doctrine, and insisted that it was no integral part of the Confession, but only an incident, that the division in the Church took place; and the reunion of the Church

ought never to have taken place unless either both branches had agreed upon one or the other interpretation, or each branch yielded in liberty of interpretation to the other. The spirit in the Church which demands that such men as Dr. Briggs, Dr. McGiffert, Dr. H. P. Smith, and Dr. N. D. Hillis shall withdraw because they are not literalists in Biblical criticism and Calvinists in philosophy, is the same spirit which put on trial Albert Barnes and Lyman Beecher; and the controversy in the Presbyterian Church will not be settled until there is a definite and explicit agreement that both the old and the new method of interpretation of both Bible and creed shall have liberty within the Church, or until the creed itself is set aside as a standard, though left as a historical monument, and a simpler and more catholic creed substituted.

Rabbi Wise

Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, who died in Cincinnati last week, was a pioneer and leader in liberal Judaism. He was also a man of marked individuality of character, of extraordinary and varied reading, and of distinct power as a writer and speaker. He was born in Bohemia eighty-one years ago, and was educated at the University of Prague and at a Jewish theological seminary. His knowledge of English was acquired, it is said, by reading the Bible, Shakespeare, and Cooper's novels. He came to this country in 1846, and even then was strongly impressed with the urgent need of freeing his race and Church from the dry-as-dust ceremonialism and scholasticism to which it was addicted. He found a slender movement for reform and relig ious vitalizing of the Jewish churches, and at once entered into it with vigor. His basic belief has been thus stated: "Religion is intended to make men happy, good, just, active, charitable, and intelligent, and whatever tends to this end must be retained or introduced, and whatever opposes this must be abolished. Judaism will die out in this country if the young people are not attracted to its houses of worship. The English language must take the place of the Hebrew in the prayer-books, and English-speaking rabbis must occupy our pulpits." His practical reforms included liturgical changes, the

broadening of education, recognizing the work of women in the Church, and the lessening of the superstitious reverence paid by the rabbis generally to the Talmudic teaching. Naturally, he met with strong opposition, which continued through his life; but his work was an increasing one, and the results have grown to be comprehensive and valuable Since 1853 he had held the pastorate of a church in Cincinnati, and there, in 1873, a convention of reform delegates organized the union of American Hebrew Congregations, out of which grew the Hebrew Union College, of which Dr. Wise became President. The list of books and tractates put forth by Dr. Wise is a long one.

Dr. Albert J. Lyman, of Brook

Preaching lyn, has just commenced an interesting course of six lectures at Hartford Theological Seminary on "Preaching in the New Age: Its Office and Art." Lectures on preaching have become so common that it would seem almost impossible for a new lecturer to give any new message. Dr. Lyman has, however, succeeded in making a unique course by his method of preparation. In order to reproduce the point of view of the seminary student, he has obtained by conference and correspondence from a great number of such students a statement of their answers to the question, "At what points are the problems of our great vocation pressing upon you?" In his opening lecture he reports forty-four of the questions which he has received in reply to his request. Three or four of these questions may serve here as types of all: "To what extent can the modern minister use the tone of authority formerly common?" "How far ought one to recognize the demand, sometimes heard, that ministers inform the people as to the present status of Biblical criticism, and do the people care for such information?" "How can I reach the unrepentant sinner in the congregation?" "What What should be the relation of the preacher to social problems and political issues?" "What I want is knowledge of the field from the man who has been there," If Dr. Lyman succeeds in answering these and kindred questions which have been addressed to him, he will make a valuable series of lectures, and we hope that they

will be put into book form, that they may reach not only other theological seminaries, but others than theological students, for these are the kind of questions which the earnest preacher is always asking himself.

Congress of the Disciples

The Annual Con

gress of the Disciples of Christ, whose rapid growth has made it now the fifth in numerical rank among American Protestant bodies, was held at Indianapolis March 27-29, inclusive. The Congress was noteworthy for the pre-eminence it gave to two of the great problems of to-day, the Biblical and the social. To the former three of the eight sessions were devoted, in addresses and discussions upon the "History of the Doctrine of Sacred Scripture," the "History of the Interpretation of Sacred Scripture," the "Methods and Results of Textual Criticism," and the "Methods and Results of the Higher Criticism.' After the first two of these subjects had been handled at the opening session, there was a strong ferment of suppressed feeling against the alleged rationalism of "college men," which was let out the next day when the remaining topics came up. Although the Disciples accord with Chillingworth's dictum in the seventeenin century, "The Bible is the religion of Protestants," and look to it, especially to the New Testament, as their basis and bond of fellowship rather than to a creed, it is, of course, to the Bible as they under. stand it. Hence they do not escape the present conflict between older and newer understandings of the Bible, any more than their "creed-bound" brethren. Between the older and the newer views a very warm but also an entirely goodnatured discussion ensued on the second day. Conservatives seemed to be in the majority, but much applause greeted Professor Willett, of Chicago, who spoke for the critical school. This he declared was "giving and destined still more to give us a new evangelism, which shall lose none of the fervor of the old, but shall supply elements of instruction never sufficiently recognized." The burning question that evening was of a political kind-the arrest of State Auditor Sweeny, of Kentucky an esteemed member of the Church, for al leged complicity in the murder of Senator

Goebel. This was denounced as a political trick, and the Congress by a rising vote unanimously approved the sending of a telegram to Mr. Sweeny expressing its entire confidence in his integrity, and its sympathy with him in his present difficulty. Without expressing any judgment respecting Mr. Sweeny, we doubt the wisdom of any ecclesiastical assemblage in endeavoring thus to prejudge a member of the Church who is brought before the civil tribunals for trial. "Benefit of clergy" belongs wholly to a past age.

The Social Problem

As the Congress gave the Biblical problem precedence at its opening, it gave prominence in its closing sessions to the social problem. In the main address at the last afternoon session Mr. A. W. Taylor, of Cincinnati, affirmed that a social crisis is upon us; that its solution is in the translation of the principles of Jesus into social life and institutions; that individual righteousness depends on the social righteousness of the individual; and that the pulpit must strive to create a social conscience. "The Civic and Social Obligation of the Church" was the subject of the evening, and Professor Graham Taylor, of Chicago, deeply stirred a great audience by its presentation. Describing the social function of the Church as formative rather than reformatory, Professor Taylor defined it as first in the inculcation of the ideal of human relationship exhibited by Jesus, next as in the organization of social movements inspired by that ideal, and lastly as in the sacrificial spirit vitalizing the whole. "The religious life," said he, "goes up no higher on the perpendicular than it goes out on the horizontal. In the whole evangelical movement we have come to a dead center. We are not keep ing pace with the world. There is not enough of the reality of religion in our relations with our fellow-men. There is a demand for social democracy. What is wanted is real brotherhood." The churchorder of the Disciples being of the Congregational type, their Congress is for conference and fellowship, not for legislation or discipline. The denominational questions discussed concerned the needful expansion of their educational institutions, and the advisability of consolidating their

missionary, educational, and benevolent enterprises. Seldom, if ever, does an assembly of this kind devote itself, as in this case, more to questions which concern all churches than those of peculiar concern to its own. It should be added that the Disciples are a peculiarly American organization. Of their 1,118,396 communicants, all but about 43,500 in the British dominions are Americans. About one-eighth of the whole reside in Missouri, and their strength is in the Central States. Their flourishing growth, their evangelistic zeal, their educational enterprise, and their social-democratic spirit must be reckoned prominently among the hopeful auguries for the future of the great valley where the seat of political power is.

"The Works of Satan"

The latter half of the sixteenth century was a period of religious intolerance and persecution. Sects hated each other only less than they hated liberal thinkers. Protestants and Roman Catholics alike were keen to detect and punish heresy. No torture was too severe, no agony too intense, for those who sought to discover truth. It was quite in accordance with the spirit of the age that Giordano Bruno, after being kept in prison eight years, was burned at the stake in the Campo di Fiori, at Rome, on the 17th of February, 1600 A.D. He was born at Nola in 1548, entered the Dominican order at the age of fifteen, and was ordained a priest in 1572. Four years later, being brought to trial on charges, some trivial and some unknown, he left the order, put off his gown, and was excommunicated. He passed the next sixteen years of his life in Switzer land, France, England, and Germany, learning and teaching, investigating and writing. At last he was decoyed to Venice by a false friend, Mocenigo, and, as the Venetian Inquisition did not display sufficient keenness, was turned over to Rome. But even his death did not satisfy clerical animosity. In 1889, when a statue of the heretic was unveiled by Italian Liberals in the same Campo di Fiori and in full view from the windows of the Vatican, the Pope declared that the Holy See had been subjected to the "greatest insult of modern times. And last month he

again illustrated the immutability of the hostility of the Roman Church to free thought by asserting that the recent demonstrations in honor of the three hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of Bruno were "the works of Satan.”

Death of Dr. Mivart

Dr. St. George Mivart, who was a recognized authority in scientific circles and until very recently a devout and faithful member of the Roman Catholic Church, died in London on Sunday last. His name has recently appeared before the public prominently in connection with his controversy with Cardinal Vaughan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. The correspondence with Cardinal Vaughan grew out of articles contributed by Dr. Mivart to the "Nineteenth Century" and "Fortnightly Review," and in this correspondence he definitely declared his conviction that modern scientific conclusions, and Roman Catholic traditions cannot be reconciled, in which conviction the Cardinal agreed with him. Dr. Mivart's severance from the Church was, therefore, almost a matter of course; but the correspondence, the gist of which was reported in The Outlook of February 17 last, was of significance because it emphasized the conflict between science and ecclesiastical tradition from both the scientific and the ecclesiastical points of view. Dr. Mivart was a scientist of high standing and a specialist in zoology.

Death of Count de Benedetti

Count Vincent de Benedetti, who died in Paris last week, will always be remembered chiefly if not solely from his connection with the events leading to the breaking out of war between Germany and France in 1870. At that time he was the French Ambassador to Berlin, and it was because of the failure of negotiations between Benedetti and Bismarck that war became inevitable. The picturesque account of the final interview between Benedetti and the King of Prussia in the Gardens at Ems, long accepted as historical, has of late years had some doubt thrown upon its accuracy. At the very beginning of the war Benedetti had published in the London "Times" a secret

treaty between France and Prussia. After the defeat of the French, Benedetti published a statement in which he threw the responsibility of the failure of the negotiations directly on Bismarck; and in view of the recently published letters written. by Bismarck himself, there is now no question that nothing would have displeased Bismarck more than to have had the peace negotiations successful.

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The Ramapo Scandal

The fact that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty receives a new and striking illustration in the case of the Ramapo Water Monopoly. The case interests very directly the people, not only of New York City, but of the entire State; it also indirectly interests the people of every State, because it is an illustration of the methods through which the rights and property of the people are liable to be transferred to private owners while the people and their guardians sleep.

By successive acts of legislation the Ramapo Water Company has been created and given powers which enable it to seize all the water of the State of New York not now in actual use. It can do this either by private purchase or by condemnation proceedings. This water it can sell "to any city, town, or village, and to other corporations, and to any person who may lawfully contract therefor." It has already secured options which, it is said, give it control of the essential water rights in thirteen counties of the State. Not only the city of New York, therefore, is made practically dependent on this monopoly for its water-supply, but in these counties any village or town desiring water-supply for its own use can secure it only by the consent of the Ramapo Company, and on such terms as the Ramapo Company may be willing to concede. Nor is this all. This water-power can be used for other purposes than water-supply. In many localities electric lighting is practicable only as water-power can be used for generating electricity. Thus the Ramapo charter gives a private corporation power to secure a practical control of the watersupply and the electric lighting for the entire Empire State, except in those towns and villages which already possess a water-sup

ply or an electric plant, or both. "He wants the earth "has been heretofore supposed to express the highest measure of cupidity. The Ramapo Company wants more than the earth; it wants the water-supply and the water-power of the entire State. And through the political skill of its agents, and perhaps the corruption, perhaps only the carelessness, of the agents of the State, it has the power to secure, without further legislative action, the exclusive control of such water-supply and water-power. It is clear that all the people of the State have an interest scarcely less than that of the three or four million inhabitants of New York City in releasing the State from the engagement so carelessly or corruptly entered into. It is clear, too, that other States are interested in the case as an object-lesson of the perils to the people from the commercial greed of the age and the carelessness or the corruption of their public representatives.

What should the people of New York State do about it? To that question three answers have been given in three measures introduced into the New York Legislature: the Fallows Bill; the Demarest Bill; the Morgan Bill.

The Fallows Bill forbids the city of New York from entering into any contract with a private corporation for a water-supply without the consent of the Comptroller, and allows any taxpayer to appeal to the courts, whose approval of such contract must then be secured to make the contract legal. The Demarest Bill repeals the extraordinary powers conferred by the Legislature in 1895 on the Ramapo Water Company, which enable it to secure a monopoly of the water-supply and the water-power of the State. The Morgan Bill gives the city of New York the right to go into any part of the State and take the "surplus water" of any district upon giving such compensation as the courts may adjudge, much as private property may be taken for highways and railroads or other public uses.

The first bill has been passed. It is absolutely right; but it is also entirely inadequate. It will probably suffice to prevent any fraudulent or grossly unfair contract from being entered into by the city of New York with the Ramapo Com. pany. But it does nothing to give the city of New York any other means of

securing water than by contract with that company. The city is left dependent on the corporation for that water-supply which is absolutely essential to the life of its citizens. This bill will halt the proceedings which, had they not been halted, would have given the city over bound hand and foot to the monopoly; but it does nothing more.

The second bill has not been passed, and probably will not be passed by the present Legislature. The Ramapo interests were able to bring very strong personal and political pressure against this bill, and the public pressure for it is not very strong. But it must be conceded that there are honest arguments against it. In the eye of the lawyer a charter is a contract; and the lawyer's argument is very simple: The State having entered into a contract with the Ramapo Company, and money having been expended and stock sold on the credit of that contract, it is not honest for the State to set that contract aside. "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not," is a description of honesty which applies to the State as well as to the individual. The Outlook recognizes the weight of the argument. We agree that such a contract ought not to be set aside for light reasons. A State ought not to be vacillating. But in this case the reasons are not light. The Legislature never ought to have given to a private corporation the rights of the people of the State to their water-power and their watersupply. Whether it did this corruptly or carelessly, or whether the transfer was due partly to carelessness and partly to corruption-which is probably the casethe transfer is one which never ought to have been made. have been made. If a guardian had made such a gift of the rights and properties of his ward, the courts would promptly set aside the gift on the application of the ward. The Legislature is the guardian; the people are the wards; and the people have a right to demand that so careless a gift of its wealth, so dangerous an infringement of its liberties, so perilous an im pairment of its life, be at once set aside. If innocent purchasers have suffered by the carelessness or corruption of the guardian and by the folly of the people in intrusting their interests to such guardians, let the people make good the loss. But no argument based on the rights of