The Rev. William Short of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, preaching on the theme "The Religion of the Future," is thus reported in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat:—

"Time-honored opinions, hoary with the antiquity of centuries, have been cast aside, and old interpretations of truth, venerable with age, have been superseded. Our conceptions of God, of man, and of their relations to each other, have undergone a change."

Carlyle's definition of the old idea of the deity as "an absentee God, sitting idle since the first Sabbath at the outside of His universe and seeing it go," was to be replaced, Dr. Short said, by a future religion of divine immanence, which in itself is not new, but is a return to the teaching of the early Greek fathers. "We shall go back nearer to Christ and his apostles," the preacher said, "for many ideals and interpretations. At first the Christian religion was much simpler than now, and it was much more concerned about the way Christians lived than what they professed."

Touching inspiration, Dr. Short said; "As to the Holy Scriptures, they will continue to be the great guide to holy living. Yet they will be interpreted in a more rational way. The ancient fathers, to whom I have referred, regarded the revelation of the divine as a continuous process. All great poets and artists and helpful philosophers, as well as artisans and craftsmen who conceived beautiful designs and executed them, were thought to be inspired. But there were degrees of inspiration. So I imagine it will be in the future. All truth will be recognized as God's, and those writings most inspired, which help most, as the Bible has done to lift man up out of animalism and beastliness, out of vulgarism and ignorance and prejudice and selfishness, into a likeness of the manhood of Jesus, who lived the true son of God."

Rev. Charles H. Watson, D.D., who read a paper at a recent Baptist convention in Boston, is reported by The Standard to have spoken as follows:—

"In the broadest sense, revelation neither begins nor ends with the Scriptures. This is Scripture teaching and freely accepted. Nature is simply inexhaustible in her revelatory power. She is speaking in all languages to devout pupils and is speaking night and day....

"A second proposition takes up this thought and crystallizes it as follows: From the nature of the case, revelation must be progressive. There is more in the character and mind of God than has yet been apprehended by any of His pupils. So long as any of God's pupils are teachable and receptive, He will go on disclosing His mind and will to them, æons upon æons, world without end.

"My third proposition is this: The Scriptures undoubtedly present to the world for all time a larger and more perfect revelation of the character and will of God than ever has been, or ever can be fully apprehended by mortal man. Hence all revealings of God before or since the Scriptures are accounted for by the Scriptures. The human mind staggers under the task of compassing all that God has revealed in His written word."

Rev. Tileston F. Chambers writes as follows in The Examiner:—

"The enunciation of moral truths or spiritual verities at once parts men. No word in reply may be spoken by those who hear. No open declaration of allegiance or antagonism may be made. But subtle and unseen lines of distinction are surely drawn between those who sympathize and those who oppose. Men must be loyal to the good as they face it, or else disloyal. All the more they must be loyal to the best, or disloyal. And so, from the day of the advent into this world of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he has afforded a criterion of character. While he was here on this earth, his life was the touchstone of every man's life. According to the record of the Gospel's. all were sensitive to his influence. From the very beginning there was a division among the people because of him.

"The issue is still forced upon men. The living Christ is still in the world. He comes to every door. He knocks at every heart. He seeks an entrance to every soul. His spirit still strives with every human spirit. One person we cannot escape, Jesus of Nazareth. One question we must face, 'What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' There is no parrying it, there is no putting it aside as of slight significance. Jesus always commands attention. He always affects the souls of men. He is the most compelling and impelling person in human history. From the sphere of his influence none can wrest himself.

Rev. Willis A. Moore in an article in The Universalist Leader says: "Now Christ was in the highest sense a true Son of God because he fulfilled perfectly the spiritual conditions which his Father had imposed. You say you would believe if you could do some of these things? The law of uniformity of nature holds; are you able to meet the conditions as he met them? to do as he did? If you are, you can accomplish similar results. He himself said, 'and greater works than these shall he do.' But can you be ever about your father's business? Can you meet all temptation without sin? Can you think only of your duty to God and your brother? Can you suffer patiently when falsely accused? Can you sacrifice your hopes, your life, for the very ones who condemn you and plait the crown of thorns and crucify you? If you can, then expect to do things that other men cannot explain; miracles in their eyes."

If Jesus had left nothing but the Parables, his name would have been imperishable in literature; if he had bequeathed to posterity nothing but the simplicity of his speech and the irresistible logic of his argument, he would have had a permanent place among the orators of the world; if he had given to the world nothing but the commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," enforced as it was by his own example, this one gift would have been sufficient to outweigh all the wealth of all the world; if he had left no record but the Sermon on the Mount, it alone would have made his natal day worthy of perpetual celebration—but all these added to the matehless majesty of a perfect life and the inspiring influence of an all-pervading love, are turning the eyes of an ever-increasing number to the path that he trod from manger to the cross.
The Commoner.

The great creeds of Christendom, as they are called, were formed, for the most part, in times of bitter controversy and as the fruit of such controversy. They were partisan. statements, forced by the majority upon the minority with violence and the absence of everything that savored of Christian charity. The heat that ministered to their forging was mainly the heat of friction and strife, and not the heat from the "Central Sun" of righteousness and love. Hence it is that these creeds have been divisive, and not unitive, serving as battle-flags rather than as banners and bonds of peace. We are in the midst of searching inquiries into the very foundations of our faith, and the investigations will be more thorough, unsparing, and far-reaching than they have yet been. We need not regret this, for Christianity can stand every test, and be the brighter and stronger for every trial.
The Examiner.

The age of inspiration is succeeded by the age of reason and law, the age of reason and law by the age of ritual and observances. The effort to apply translates truths into dogmas, and principles into laws, and laws into rules. In the effort at completeness and minuteness the spirit evaporates. Then all things are ripe for change. The old bottles are no longer of use. The time of revolution or reformation is at hand. Dogmatism is truth crystallized; what it gains in definiteness it loses in power. Ritualism is worship crystallized, and what it gains in elaboration it loses in spirituality.
Bishop Ripon.

There is no reason for anxious thought because we live in troublous times. When life abounds and its energies are manifest, new needs appear and new wisdom is demanded of those who must control and co-ordinate the new forces which are coming into life and action. It is a sign of health when great energies are contending with one another in the fields of human action.—Christian Register.

Our business is not to build quickly, but to build upon a right foundation and in a right spirit. Life is more than a mere competition as between man and man; it is not who can be done first, but who can work best; not who can rise highest, but who is working most patiently and lovingly in accordance with the designs of God.
Joseph Parker.

Of one thing we may be sure,—if we have all that we want in any sphere of effort or influence, we have a lower standard than we ought to have. The best worker is always behind where he would like to be. His ideal is ever ahead of him.—Selected.