It is not the wrong or sin revealed that is most to be feared, but rather that which lurks in secret—that which is the serpent in the grass in human nature. To uncover and expose sin is to cripple it, and to guard men against it. It was a disguised evil which lurked in the tree of Eden. Satan covered it with the of a blessing, so that the disobedience to God seemed advantageous instead of destructive. "Ye shall not surely die: ... ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Men are not so base as to choose evil because it is evil. They choose evil because it is depicted to them as good. As Satan clothes himself as an angel of light, so he paints the way to destruction with alluring advertisements. Music, which was borrowed from heaven and meant to be a vehicle of religion, the Prince of Darkness has stolen and made to lead in the dramas of death. Paul warned the Thessalonians against the mystery of iniquity which is already at work, after the power of Satan, with lying wonders, using to the uttermost the power of deception in unrighteousness. Unrighteousness has no law to which it submits. The broad way admits of great latitude of walking. The right way is necesarily a narrow way. The trails of the narrow way meet one squarely at once. The trails of the broad way come on one like the explosion of a volcano.—The Examiner.

Principal William Caven, D.D., LL.D., Knox College, Toronto, says in The Homiletic Review:—

"That the aid of the Holy Spirit is necessary to the right apprehension of Scripture we can readily believe when we remember that the Spirit is the author of Scripture. In a qualified sense the human penman is the author; and every part of the Bible reveals the characteristics, in thought and diction of its writer. The writer is more than the Spirit's amanuensis. But in a deeper—if not more real—sense, all Scripture is a divine product. God speaks through men, but it is He who speaks. ... Interpretation guided by the Holy Spirit, will necessarily be intelligent, for in the things of God we must not divorce the intellect from the affections; but interpretation may be thoroughly intelligent and able and learned and yet show no evidence of spiritual insight.

"All true increase of knowledge of divine things attainable in the present life must come from or be intimately associated with the more perfect understanding of Scripture; and we do not doubt that even in this twentieth century new light shall break forth from the Word of God."

Under the query "Is Christianity Declining?" a late writer in The Boston Transcript, after noting many affirmative indications, says: "Granting all the facts, there is as yet no sign of decay of the influence of Jesus, nor of any real lessening of the inexhaustible fertility of Christianity. What we see is merely the transit of activities, a change of emphasis. Our age makes its appeal to life. It is none the less, therefore, religious. Faith is not credulity. It is vision of the eternal reality. Never was the Power of the Founder more manifest than in our age. ... Our true advance has been not in mechanical inventions, or in methods of communication and transit, but in the leavening of a larger mass by the forces inherent in Christianity. Ours is the era of spiritual expansion. ... Many who least profess to be actuated by the commandments of Jesus are really doing his work. It is not for the Master's disciples to rebuke those who imitate the Christ, though they are not in the civile of the twelve, or even in the corporation."

Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, D.D., says in The Homiletic Review: "It is impossible to deny the fact that we are in the midst of a transitory period in all departments of life. It is a transition period in the statements of theological belief. It is a transition period in the activities of the Church. It is a transition period in the definitions of men's religious life. The very word Christian is being defined anew in this age, and the terms of our faith are being re-analyzed and restated. But all this is along the line of the general progress of the race. And why not? If there are new things in the physical world newly discovered, new forces which in themselves are as old as creation, which, however, man has just discovered; if there are new forms of life possible for man owing to the changed physical conditions, why should there not be a corresponding progress and power in the religious life of man? Surely religion is not a thing to stand still while everything else moves forward."

The early Church appears to have had methods of identifying the leadership of the Spirit which are unknown to us. Yet we may be sure that this leadership was not whimsical, but in accordance always with the deep, underlying laws of the Christian life. What the Church at Antioch did, under the immediate direction of the Spirit, Christian Churches everywhere will be constrained to do, just in the proportion in which the genius of Christianity finds expression in their life. There is profound truth in the statement that a Christian church which does not believe in missions will not be able to endure. This is true, not because a Church will be saved by its missionary work, but because a Church which lacks the missionary spirit lacks one of the essential marks of a true Church. It has been so little touched by the essential spirit of Christianity that it can barely be called Christian.—The Watchman.

There is no sympathy between what is spoken of generally as "the world" and the spiritual possibilities and realities that are typified by the life of Jesus Christ. The two forces are alien to each other, and in incessant antagonism. The higher makes greater demands upon the individual, but it yields richer and more permanent rewards. The lower, on the other hand, is subtle, insidious, and persistent in its efforts to draw the individual away from his fealty to the higher, and, alas! too often these efforts are successful. Blessed is the man who keeps his ears closed against the enticements of his soul's arch enemy, and keeps his heart and mind open to the sweet suggestions of the Holy Spirit, for only so can he grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

New York Christian Advocate.

Perhaps no missionary ever preached in more parts of the world than the late Bishop William Taylor, of the Methodist Church, says The Youth's Companion. He went to California as a missionary along with the "forty-niners;" then he preached in Canada. Thence he went to England and the Continent, visiting Egypt and the Holy Land, holding evangelistic services wherever it was possible. Later he worked in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, India, South Africa, the Congo region, the West Indies, and the various countries in South and Central America, thus covering every continent and the islands of the sea. He literally went into all the world preaching the Gospel.

Dr. Ward says in The Independent: "Christianity must be a spiritual and not a formal, ceremonial religion. As it is not national, but individual, so it is not priestly, but spiritual. It accepts God as a spirit, who must therefore be worshiped in spirit and in truth. Christianity may use days, places, and rites, but they are no part of essential Christianity. Christianity finds use for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is not a part of Christianity. Christianity honors the Church, but can exist without the Church. Christianity has two or more sacraments, but can dispense with all of them and still be good Christianity, for Christianity is not a body, but a spirit, and that spirit is love."

Dr. A. H. Bradford, in a baccalaureate sermon at Johns Hopkins, said: "I beg you all to remember that you were not created for darkness and death, but for continuous growth toward God and immortality. Live for truth, for righteousness, for love, for the brotherhood of man and the kingdom of God, and all that is best for you in this world will be given to you; and sometime, somehow, you will see the Perfect Man as lie is and be like him."

The Seminary Magazine, of Louisville, says: "The Atlanta Constitution, perhaps the greatest and most widely read of all Southern newspapers, has introduced a new and important feature on its editorial page. In its great Sunday edition it gives each week as its "leader" what may be termed an editorial sermon. A regular text is selected and carefully and ably expounded and applied to the needs of men to-day."

Maeterlinck, with his masterly grasp of human weaknesses and social wrongs, has proclaimed: "It is well to believe that there needs but a little more thought, a little more courage, more love, more devotion to life, a little more eagerness, one day to fling open wide the portals of joy and truth."

The Examiner says: "Following Christ is practical business, not speculative philosophy, or dogmatizing, or creed-making. Between hearts that are following him partition walls grow thinner and thinner, and spiritual oneness grows more and more complete."

All that is divine in man comes from God. All that tends toward God in man is God's voice in the human heart.—Maclaren.