THE DATE OF GENESIS.—While not a few modern scholars are assigning a late date to the composition of the Book of Genesis, it is interesting to note an incidental proof of its origin in the era, if not from the hand of Moses. In his introduction to the "Temple Bible," Professor Sayce remarks that "it is clear that the writer of Genesis has drawn his materials, not from a Babylonian library, but from a library of Canaan, where the euneiform literature of Western Asia was still stored in the days of Moses." The clay-books that had been brought from Babylonia here became, he continues, the basis of other historical works, in which the local coloring was modified in accordance with the environment. "The literature of Babylonia, in other words, was adapted to the new country and the new population to which it had been carried; it remained Babylonian in origin, but its setting was that of Canaan."

Professor Sayce then points out that there was one period only in the history of the Oriental world when this could have been the case. "It was the period when Canaan was for long centuries a province of Babylonia, and when the culture of Babylonia was transported to the West; and it was a period that lasted down to the Mosaic age. When Moses, or Messu, the adopted 'son' of the daughter of Pharaoh, was born, there was still intercourse between Canaan and the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon. The Canaanitish libraries had not as yet been destroyed, and though Canaan had ceased to belong to Babylonia, and had become a province of Egypt, it was still so permeated with Babylonian influences that its official correspondence with its new masters was carried on in Babylonian script. But all this came to an end before the great Hebrew legislator was dead, By this time Egypt had been driven out of Asia. The Hittites were overrunning Canaan in the North, and the Israelites were threatening it with invasion and devastation in the south. Soon it ceased to be possible even for one who was trained in all 'the wisdom of the Egyptians, to collect the older records of western Asia; the libraries were destroyed in which they had been preserved, the meaning of the cuneiform characters was forgotten, and a new system of writing came into use. The ancient documents which form the background of the earlier chapters of Genesis must have been read and consulted before Kirjath-sepher, or 'Book City,' was sacked and Jerusalem transformed into a Jebusite stronghold."

The Examiner.

THE BAPTISTS AND EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT.—It would take a large section of our paper to republish all the evidence of change that is taken, and has taken, place in the theology of the modern Church. The change has not been limited to any one denomination. Though the Congregationalists are in advance of their evangelical neighbors, they are obliged to keep moving lest they be overtaken. The Baptists have, in some sections, been a little more stalwart than others in upholding the standards of Orthodoxy, but even they have had new light. The story will perhaps come best through The Congregationalist, for then there can be no charge of bias. That paper says:—

"The changes in the character of orthodox speculative theology were strikingly illustrated in the discussion in the recent Baptist Congress in New York on 'The Function of Penalty in the Christian Religion.' Twenty years ago no minister in a Baptist assembly would have questioned the fixed and eternal punishment of the sinner who died unrepentant. According to the reports in Baptist newspapers the impression is given that opinions for and against this position in the Congress were nearly evenly divided. One of the two papers read asserted that after centuries of discussion agreement had been reached that punishment is 'a bringing forth of the evil that resides in sin on the principle that sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.' One of the speakers insisted that punishment is admonitory, retributive, vindicatory, and that 'the idea of an external tribunal before which men must appear for judgment is universal.' Another held that punishment is the result and action of a natural law, that character determines destiny, which is eternal. But on the other hand, one speaker said that if penalty is simply a natural consequence it has no function in religion. God is the Father, sustaining loving relations with His children, and thus gives penalty a function in Christianity. Other speakers held that punishment springs from love, that its purpose will be fulfilled in love, that the doctrine of annihilation is a confession of failure, and that good will be the final lot of all. It does not seem strange that the assertion that this is not Universalism should have called forth a ripple of laughter, but we are sure that the discussion of this subject in former times would not have elicited, as the Examiner says a paper on this subject did, 'frequent laughter and applause.' "

The Universalist Leader.

THE PRINCIPLE OF BETTING AND GAMBLING.—Betting and gambling have lately received the commendation of an apologist coming to their defence from a new direction. This is no less a personage than a Bishop of England, who has publicly maintained that "a bet is neither more nor less than a price paid for a chance," and he concludes that as chances must be taken by every one in every walk of life, the purchasing of a chance in betting is no more a sin than the taking of other chances. The Bishop has been driven to defend his positions "at considerable length in one of the English reviews," in which he expresses the opinion that "the only sin of betting lies in the direction of extravagance, as when one devotes to it more time and more money than he can properly afford. Then, but then only, in the Bishop's opinion, does betting become sinful gambling." We are pleased that the Churchman, from which we get these facts, dissents entirely from the Bishop's teachings, and points out that covetousness is the sin of gambling.

But we think that even this is too mild. The essence of gambling is the hellish lust of getting something for nothing. It is a contrivance for taking money away from another, and appropriating it to yourself, without giving any equivalent for it. The fundamental basis of eternal life, the rock, indeed, upon which man's communal relation is founded, a relation which is the very essential of heavenly law, is the law of use. That each should contribute by his life's work to the uses of the neighbor, and that he should receive an equivalent from the neighbor, is the law of charity, by which is expressed the love of the Lord. The very existence of divine life in the soul of man is dependent upon his conforming to the law of use.

New-Church Messenger.

PROHIBITION PROSPECTS IN MANITOBA.—Prohibition prospects have greatly brightened in Canada by reason of the favorable decision of the Privy Council on the Manitoba liquor act. Some eighteen months ago this measure passed the provincial legislature, and was afterwards challenged in turn in the courts of the province, the Supreme Court of the Dominion, and the highest tribunal of Great Britain. After the long, weary waiting, it is the more gratifying to prohibitionists to have the act declared constitutional by a judicial body against which no appeal can be made. Some months, however, must yet go by before the efficiency of the measure can be tested, as the license year does not expire until the coming May. Then there will come into force this much-debated enactment, which aims at the closing of all places where liquor is sold, excepting drug stores, where it can be procured on the presentation of a doctor's certificate. The act also forbids the dispensing of free drinks and the importation of liquor except for individual use. Infringement of the law will mean a fine of from $200 to $1,000 for the first offence, and imprisonment with hard labor for the second. It is believed that the act will be generally effective because of the strong temperance sentiment which prevails throughout the province. The results will also extend beyond Manitoba. Now that the provincial power to prohibit is assured, all the other provinces, with the exception of Quebee, may be expected soon to follow in line.

The Congregationalist and Christian World.

Sheriff Pearson's rigid enforcement of the prohibitory law in Cumberland County, Me., already has far-reaching results. In his speech before the Twentieth Century Club in Boston he said that there were only six hundred men at the free Thanksgiving dinner this year given by the City Mission to over fifteen hundred a year ago. Some of the persons who hitherto have been recipients of the feast contributed cash this year to its maintenance. Thus does sobriety convert a parasite on society into a useful and productive citizen.

The Congregationalist and Christian World.

The present tendency on the part of Churches in Christendom to devote themselves to moral reform, has been frequently noted. The interest which once prevailed among the Churches in questions of doctrine has almost entirely disappeared, and but little trace of it is to be found in the pulpits even. The call is for "practical religion;" and in response to that call there is an unwonted interest and activity in all humanitarian and moral reform movements. The time was when a portion of the Church openly taught salvation by faith alone. Today the tendency seems to be toward salvation by good works alone.

New-Church Messenger.