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We do not believe that in themselves religious symbols have the slightest spiritual efficacy. All their virtue for the souls of men resides in the truths which symbols represent, and the personal relationship of men to the truths. A symbol is a description of a spiritual fact in a material form or an outward act. The broad distinction between the evangelical and the sacerdotal view of Christianity is that those who hold the sacerdotal or sacramentarian theory maintain that actual spiritual virtue is resident in material things,—in the bread and wine of the Lord's supper, or in the act of Christian baptism,—so that they believe that spiritual life is imparted. . . . "Now I know," said Micah, "that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priest." Micah thought that if he had the symbols he had the reality, just as multitudes of people think that if they are baptized and receive the Communion, somehow they stand in a different relationship to God, as if there were some magical efficacy in the sacraments that made the means of grace without reference to the disposition of the recipient.

The Watchman.

The interest in the union of religious denominations is constantly increasing and we note steps taken in that direction every week. Committees of the Presbyterian Church North and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met to select a basis of union in St. Louis, September 29. Presbyterians and United Presbyterians, who have each a theological seminary at Alleghany, Pa., are talking of consolidation. The subject of union is becoming acute among the dozen or more sects of the Lutherans. The Primitive Methodists are discussing the subject of union with Methodist Protestants, while the latter are considering union with Congregationalists. More and more as the reasons urged for separate organizations shrink to their true proportions, the union of religious sects similar in creed and polity and one in spirit will be imperatively demanded.

The Congregationalist.

And what is a battle-ship, which costs as much to build as it does to endow a university? It is a temporary, fragile thing, made to smash and be smashed, soon out of style, like a woman's bonnet, and equally thrown aside when after a few years worn out. It is the expression of the destructive, the cursed side of national character and life, that which makes for loss and ruin, or at best for defence against wanton attack. It may be necessary to build vessels of war, we do not deny it, but Sir Norman Lockyer is right in saying that brains are a better defence than battle-ships, and better worth building.—The Independent.

"And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two." It is because of refusal or reluctance to go the second mile, that much of the trouble and soul-distress is due. A cheerful and hearty yielding and going the second mile would solve many difficulties and bring large blessings into the life. The rich young ruler would not go the second mile, neither would the "many of his disciples" that "went back and walked no more with him." Many to-day who have gone the first mile have stopped right there, and refuse to go the second mile even with the Son of God for a companion.—Pacific Baptist.

Rev. Joseph F. Newton says in The Universalist Leader, "The preacher must be a man to whom the great truths are realities and who has the power to make them real to others. The time is past when men must be preached at. Not exhortation but inspiration is what they need. When the real truth is presented, humanity does not have to be exhorted to receive it; that is, if it be presented in appropriate dress. Beauty is the natural garment of truth and, in the last analysis, we must rely upon the divine beauty of truth to win the souls of men.

A knowledge of the Bible and of the history of the Bible is as essential to a general comprehension of present society as to the development of literary taste. If the universities can revive the study of the Bible they will establish a new claim to our respect.—Chicago Tribune.

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