[Samuel A. Eliot, D.D., in Christian Register.]

It is always in the little things of life that there is discord. In the big things there is unity. Whenever, in or outside of the churches, a great truth emerges, whenever tragic disaster stirs a common emotion, whenever new ideals are lifted before a nation, whenever the zeal of uplifting the downtrodden or serving human kind kindles in men's hearts, there unifying and energizing forces are let loose. Then men speak a universal language. It is when we lend ourselves to such movements that we are swept into cooperative efficiency. It is the recognition of the comprehensive unity of the intellectual and social and religious life of humanity that will restore our patience and brace our endeavors. We shall give up looking for short cuts to the millennium and steady down to sober, persistent, effective work. For that same unity is the justification of our confidence. It may seem that our individual or collective efforts must count for little or nothing in the face of such a vast and complex organism as the world in which we live; but the fact is that, because of these interlocked relationships, a good stroke anywhere counts everywhere. Each step in personal discipline is a step in social progress. Each private burden borne makes one stronger to bear the burden of the world.

[Public.]

Church-going persons and those who sneer at churches are alike in danger of confusing genuine religion with mere piety, the spiritual grain with its external husks. Easier than being religious is it to go to church regularly, to attend prayer meeting occasionally, to be reverent in conversation, to say grace perfunctorily, and to subscribe money in amounts you won't miss to works of mercy respectably endorsed. Also is it easier, on the other hand, to sneer at churches and penitents and leaders in prayer and financial supporters of church enterprises, than to be vitally averse to mere piety. There is no difficulty in spotting either kind of paganism, however tempting the line of least resistance it offers to lazy souls. Inasmuch, however, as no man has ever seen universal fairness and rightness and justice, how shall any man love them, except by bringing his wish to love them to bear as best he can upon his behavior to his fellow men—not alone as individual to individual in personal neighborliness, but also as social unit to social unit through social adjustments?

[Watchman.]

The Christian faith has more than mere endurance of the ills that imperil body and soul, for it is supplied with the power of Christ in which to subdue those ills themselves. It is not obliged to keep itself in patient waiting for relief, but is capable of providing a full remedy. Christian faith has power to meet "spiritual wickedness in high places" and possesses "those wrestling thews that threw the world." Christian faith makes peace in human experience. It accomplishes those changes in government, society, and hearts which remove persecutions and all the ills of life. It works for healing the passions and excesses of human nature. It attacks the spirit of war in the heart of man. It is today bringing its power to bear upon disease, poverty, intemperance, and all the forces that disturb the health and happiness of human beings.

[Christian Advocate.]

No amount of care for his body could account for Jesus' intense enthusiasm. His energy was not born of perfect health alone. His spiritual resources gave him the chief sustaining power of life. He confirmed in advance the psychology of our day by showing that the inner man upholds and impels the outer man. The sharpest contrast between himself and his disciples appears in the supremacy which he gave to the life within. They were principally concerned with what they should eat and drink, and where-withal they should be clothed, the contemplation of which, to the disregard of higher things, will reduce any man to the lowest stature compatible with human life. Jesus exalted the interior life to the utmost.

[Zion's Herald.]

To be desirous that the kingdom shall advance is right and proper; to strive to this end, to work in all manner of ways for this purpose, and to recognize the dangers that beset the church, is necessary. But to fear for the future of the religion of Jesus Christ—that is different; that is irreligious solicitude for God. Let it be acknowledged that there is much of it at the present time. These are trying days through which we are passing. The social unrest that is so marked, the estrangement that has taken place to such a large extent between the working classes and the church, the flood of worldliness that is keeping so many away from the sanctuary, the meager gains, and at times the actual losses that are recorded by the various denominations,—all of these make us think long and seriously.

[Universalist Leader.]

Christ Jesus did preach pointedly to his day, as he would have his followers preach pointedly to their day. He rebuked the rich for their selfishness. He rebuked the Pharisees for their pride, called them hypocrites, called them whited sepulchers, preferred a helpful Samaritan to them. He rebuked the publicans for their extortion, and led Zacchaeus and Matthew to throw up their jobs. He rebuked the spirit of caste, and allowed a repentant harlot to bathe his feet. He rebuked the spirit of graft, and with his own hands whipped the money changers from the temple. Even in the meager reports of his sayings and doings that we possess it is made clearly evident that he fitted his gospel to his times. He intended it to be applied as faithfully to all times, and it fits them all.

[Rev. H. J. Wood, B.D., in Pacific Christian Advocate.] Christianity itself is forever on trial, submitted continually to test. The non-Christian world doesn't read its Bible very much, but it reads you and me all the time. If our daily conduct is right, Christianity will be considered a success and people will be led to it. But if your life and mine are empty of the things we talk about, then Christianity will also be considered an empty claim and people repelled from it. The fact that Christianity makes as much headway as it does in the world is largely because of the faithful lives of thousands who claim to have the love of Christ in their hearts, and make good.

[Rev. David Baines-Griffiths in Christian Work and Evangelist.]

To most of us the spiritual life means a consciousness of the presence and power of God in His grace. To the believing mind there is no reality so profound as that of divine nearness. Given this sense of the real presence, and all life takes on a heightened dignity and preciousness; the common day is "bordered with the pale edge of fire." Yet the spiritual life does not disdain the plain tests of moral utility, and moral forwardness is of its essence. It takes the eternal principles of righteousness, applies them relentlessly to the case in hand, and it bends to the burden of the hour.

[Rev. S. G. Barnes, D.D., in Hartford (Conn.) Seminary Record.]

The true life must be nourished by the truth. The perfect life will require all the truth in proper relation and emphasis. The Holy Spirit conducts us into a life of holiness by guiding us into all the truth. By as much as we reverence the Christian life, we must reverence the truth by which it is to be sustained and developed. If we are seeking to secure in ourselves, and in those whom we influence, the life which shall match the life of Christ, it will have to come from such a knowledge of God as Christ possessed and imparted.