His aim must still be our aim—the Christianization of Christendom. Then atheism and lust defiled the Church. To-day selfinterest in more refined forms of materialism has enervated it. Now, as then, great changes are impending. It was the wide upwelling of the mystic religious spirit, which has left its greatest memorial in "The Imitation of Christ," that produced a reformed Church, and so "made modern Europe possible." The same antagonistic principles, now as then, confront each other; the spirit of à Kempis has still further victories to win, and his book is a book for all time, until "The City of God," the dream alike of the Stoic philosopher and the Christian theologian, is realized on earth. The mooted question of its authorship is here critically discussed, and its authenticity fairly demonstrated; its structure is analyzed, and the various sources shown from which its author drew; lists and accounts of its manuscripts and printed editions are given; many fine illustrations, including some facsimile pages, are added; full recognition is shown to the work of Thomas's fellow-mystics. In short, it is a timely and helpful commentary upon a great recreative and reconstructive movement, the soul of which, in Thomas's little book, is still "marching on." (Thomas à Kempis. By J. E. G. De Montmorency, B.A., LL.B. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.25, net.) An unpretentious but valuable Joyous little book is this, born out of an Religion experience of hard trials. It invites to the way out of darkness and storm into light and peace. Its fundamental positions are true psychologically and ethically, as well as in the mystical religious life. It may be heartily commended to all who would reach the high levels of "the life that is life indeed," where no cloud or storm is that the sun does not quickly dissipate. (Rejoice Always. By Frank S. Van Eps and Marion B. Van Eps. Published by the Authors, New York.)

Lord Acton's Lectures

Hitherto the general public has had scant opportunity to avail itself of the erudition of the late Lord Acton, celebrated as the most learned man in Europe; but now, it seems, some rich gleanings from his scholarship are at last to be given to the world. Of these the first installment is just to hand in a volume of lectures edited by Mr. John Neville Figgis and Mr. Reginald Vere Laurence. The lectures are those on modern history delivered by Lord Acton as Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, and are doubly interesting as revealing the spirit in which he approached the study of history

and the idea underlying the monumental "Cambridge Modern History" which he planned, but in the execution of which he was able to take small part. To Lord Acton, it is very evident, history is the study of studies, and it is equally evident that he regarded as of most moment the history of the centuries intervening since the Renais sance and the Reformation. To him, too, the great thing was historical thinking rather than historical learning, "solidity of criticism" rather than "plenitude of erudition." For this he found all-sufficient reason in his view of history as the interpreter of the present. In this view, too, may perhaps be found the secret of the caution that so long kept him a student instead of a teacher of history. But, as these lectures amply demonstrate, once he began to teach he did not hesitate to formulate conclusions and pass verdicts. Modern history, as he presents it to us, is a vindication of general ideas, and for him, in his maturity at least, general ideas held no terrors. Take this pregnant sentence, expressing in a few words his conception of the salient feature, the central fact, of the historic cycles since the Ref ormation: "Beginning with the strongest religious movement and the most refined despotism ever known, it [the subversion of established forms of political life by the development of religious thought] has led to the superiority of politics over divinity in the life of nations, and terminates in the equal claim of every man to be unhindered by man in the fulfillment of duty to God—a doctrine laden with storm and havoc, which is the secret essence of the Rights of Man

and the indestructible soul of Revolution." Sometimes, indeed, his generalizations must be held suspect, even in positive error. Thus, in the lecture on the American Revocolonists "were not roused by the sense of lution we must query his assertion that the intolerable wrong," and that the Declaration of Independence "was too rhetorical to

be scientific." But in the main there can be little question of the soundness of his views, the correctness of his attitude. And, what is not unimportant, the lectures show that, "scientific" historian though he was, he was keenly alive to the human element in history. Whether he is speaking of the discovery and exploration of the New World, of the Reformation, of the counter-Reformation, or of the Thirty Years' War, his thoughts center about some commanding figure, and through this figure reveal alike movements and forces and principles. (Lectures on Modern History. By the late Right Hon. John Edward Emerich, First Baron Acton. Edited by John Neville Figgis,

M.A., and Reginald Vere Laurence, M.A. The Macmillan Company, New York. $3.25.) "This book," says its author, The Master the Dean of Faribault, "attempts to interpret Jesus Christ in the light of modern scholarship." It does this in the form of characterization, as Dr. Bushnell did long ago, rather than of narrative. The record of the Master's deeds may be called in question by critics; but after scholarship has given all the light it can, and all documents and institutions have borne their testimony, the personal traits that are beyond controversy shine forth. The net result is that in Jesus Christ humanity is seen divinized and God humanized. Written from a conservative standpoint, the volume is free from dogmatism, while leading up to the teaching of the Nicene Creed. Its framers, as we know, did not believe with Dean Slattery that God and man are essentially of the same nature. But this view opens the question, In what sense was Christ "more than man"? as the Dean concludes. He is content to accept it as a fact, and to leave it as a mystery. (The Master of the World. By Charles Lewis Slattery. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50, net.)

A Modern Knight

The effect of municipal righteousness is demonstrated by Mr. George in this most modern of romances. The Knight rides forth to overthrow the giant called Graft, and he wears his lady's favor on his helmet. But the mystery and the misery appear in the train of the harmless double life of the ladyat home the devoted daughter of a railway king, and in the working world a young artist in stained-glass window designing. The Knight knows her only in the second character, until the forces of evil in a misgoverned city combine against him, and he almost loses both prize of honor and love of lady. While there are parts of the story that too thinly for artistic effect disguise the especial message that Mr. George feels himself commissioned to utter, the tale is well told and worth telling. The mixture of Scotch and Irish used by the district boss could be improved, and some unnecessary bad spelling might be eliminated to the advantage of the tale. (The Romance of John Bainbridge. By Henry George, Jr. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50.) This is a new volume in the LangOxford ham Series of Art Monographs. Any one who expects to visit Oxford could do no better than to slip into his pocket this neat and handsome small volume. In many ways it would be vastly superior to the ordinary guide-book, and has also the advantage

of presenting the beautiful university town and its colleges through photographs and drawings that are truly admirable. (Oxford.

By H. J. L. J. Masse, M.A. The Langham Series. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1, net.)

Pardner of Blossom Range

A Western novel of average merit. (Pardner of Blossom Range. By Frances Charles. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $1.50.) Sermons by a widely popular

Paths to the

come.

City of God preacher meet a wide welIn the present volume the Chicago pastor impresses one with a sense of asymmetry. He seems to give disproportionate attention to the "fall" of Adam with its alleged consequences, and the fall of Chicago, with its palpable consequences, from the moral ideals of all good citizens. He is at his best in "The Lessons of the Rainbow," ""The Treasures of the Snow," 'Religion and Art," "The Angel in the Sun." But in "Action and the Religious Life" he gives an essay in general terms, instead of a drum-beat to specific and neglected duties. Dr. Gunsaulus is gifted with a rhetorical power such as a successor of the Biblical prophets needs, and it is not exempt from the need of a chastening curb. The conditions which in our great cities call for prophets of the Biblical type present a field for the exercise of such a power in opening

paths to the city of God" which these sermons, except in a half-page, do not seem to recognize. (Paths to the City of God. By Frank W. Gunsaulus. The Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. $1.25, net.)

Pauline Studies

A welcome greets this volume by the distinguished geographer and historian who published, a dozen years ago, the widely known work, "St. Paul, Traveller and Roman Citizen." Of the fifteen essays it contains nearly half are new or substantially new. The remainder, originally appearing in various magazines, have been thoroughly revised and improved. The critical study of early Christian history is not yet, as Professor Ramsay holds, duly influenced by the new learning of Roman Imperial history-a remark especially pertinent to critics of the Acts of the Apostles. Among the most interesting of these essays are two upon the Acts, whose Lucan authorship is vigorously maintained against Professor McGiffert. Another, the "Statesmanship of Paul," develops a view favored by many scholars, that Paul cherished the design of making the Roman Empire Christian: "Had it not been for Paul-if one may guess at what might have been-no man would now remember Roman and Greek

A

civilization." That Paul fills so much of the New Testament is "because or his personal qualities and historical importance." striking paper shows that the worship of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus took place at "a critical, epoch-making date in the develop ment of Byzantine government and religion," as a substitute for the pagan cult of the virgin goddess Diana. Other important articles might be mentioned did space permit. Not only does Professor Ramsay bring fresh and valuable instruction from the field of his special study, but he renders good service as a judicious moderator of the schools of critics. (Pauline and Other Studies in Early Christian History. By W. M. Ramsay, Hon. D.C.L. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. $3, net.)

"A Romance of Old Wars"

A Romance of has something of the quality Old Wars of a fine old tapestry. The action takes place in the fourteenth century in France, during the reign of Charles VI. The story is well written-in the self-conscious, elaborate manner which is supposed to give historical perspective-and the plot is brought to an artistic close. But the writer, in common with all narrators but the very greatest, sees the past pictorially, romantically, showing the superficial pageant and leaving unexpressed that absolute humanity which makes it as real and living as the present. (A Romance of Old Wars. By Valentina Hawtrey. Henry Holt & Co., New York. $1.50.)

Romola

This is an elaborately "historically illustrated" edition in two volumes. The effort has been, in the words of the Introduction, " to apply the Röntgen rays of criticism to the fair form of 'Romola' in order to behold the historical skeleton divested of all clothing of romance." So we have facsimiles of the library slips by which George Eliot and Mr. Lewes drew books relating to Florence, every conceivable view of the historical monuments and architecture of Florence, and much else collected arduously, not to say painfully. And still Romola remains, a noble and beautiful romance. (Romola. By George Eliot. In 2 vols. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. $3, net.)

Scotch Sermons

characters are well conceived and ingeniously related. (Salvage. By J. Aquila Kempster. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50.) The author of these discourses, the Principal of the United Free better known among American scholars and Church College at Aberdeen, is however, this volume of sermons on the theologians than in our churches. In these, Christian life will find a deserved welcome. Thoroughly evangelical, they are concerned with inward culture rather than with outward activities. They are not of the sort that in of the kind that touch thoughtful hearers our country attract popular audiences, but or readers in the meditative moments when, to understand ourselves, we must be by ourselves. (The Other Side of Greatness, and D.D. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. Other Sermons. By James Iverach, M.A., $1.50, net.)

Some Irish Yesterdays

A series of wordy and fragmentary attempts to depict Irish life and character. The book is seldom interesting, often dull, and sometimes almost unintelligible-and therefore not to be compared with the genuinely entertaining books of Irish sketches by these writers which have had great popularity. (Some Irish Yesterdays. By E. O. E. Somerville and Martin Ross. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50.)

In noting a fresh issue of Dr. Soteriology Du Bose's well-known work it suffices to recall The Outlook's comment upon its appearance in a new edition in 1899: "It has been recognized as one of the strongest contributions that recent years have brought to the Catholic-orthodox teaching on the Scriptural doctrine of salvation." (The Soteriology of the New Testament. By William Porcher Du Bose, M.A., S.T.D. Reissue. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50, net.)

Twenty Years of nals and something less Something more than anthe Republic than history-such is Professor Harry Thurston Peck's "Twenty Years of the Republic," which perhaps may be best described as an entertaining and in some respects illuminating account of the most significant events in the recent political, economic, and intellectual life of the United States. In these pages Professor Peck shows himself an acute observer and intelligent student of conditions obtaining in the world of affairs. A trained journalist, he appreciates the necessity of sustaining the interest and appealing to the imagination of his readers, and not once does the action lag in

of the old-fashioned Virginia gentleman, tall, straight, upright in stature and bearing, with a strong, kindly face having in it a curious suggestion both of President Lincoln and of General Lee. Seated on the porch of his century-old mansion, he told this story with the charm of the accomplished raconteur and the simplicity and modesty of the old soldier who has fought on the losing side.

Just before the close of the war the Confederacy was in sore straits for transport animals. Sherman had struck into the vitals of the South, and they could not be obtained from Georgia or Alabama. The chief of transportation decided to send to Mexico to buy horses and mules. To get these it was necessary to send gold, not the depreciated Confederate currency. Trusted agents were each supplied with money belts containing five thousand dollars in gold, and ordered to proceed to Mexico for the purpose stated. Then came the break-up and the surrender. One of the transportation agents who had not started on his journey came to his superior, the chief of transportation, and returned the gold to him, though the former officer was of course now but a private citizen. Though without means for restoring his demoralized plantation to a profitable basis, this conscientious citizen had no thought of applying the windfall to his own necessities. He took counsel of various of his former associates as to what should be done with the money. One Confederate general said, "I am stranded. I can use some of that gold as a loan. So can So-and-so, and Sucha-one." Another said, “Divide it among the widows and orphans around you. Devote it to charity for the suffering survivors." He finally appealed to General Lee, who lived at some distance from his home. General Lee promptly said, "That money must be treated as captured property of the Confederacy, and surrendered as such to the Federal authorities." My friend took the money to Richmond, presented it to the astonished Provost-Marshal, took a receipt for it, and the incident was closed. I think this transaction reflects the highest credit on the conscientiousness and devotion to their sense of duty of both General Lee and the man who sought his advice. We do well to honor the memory of such men.

H. H. M.

A PLEA FOR THE RIIS HOUSE As we look about at the wonderful transformation in our shabby old houses at the Riís Settlement, and see their beauty and their fine equipment, and the new Theodore Roosevelt Gymnasium, the pride and joy of

all our young people, and realize that they are all ours, without a penny of debt upon them, we can hardly believe it, and our hearts are so full of gratitude that a wonderful Christmas spirit pervades the building and inspires the groups of busy workers, all absorbed in preparations for the week of festivities that Christmas brings us.

First, there are those wonderful bundles to do up that go into the one hundred and thirtyfive homes, with some remembrance marked for each member of the family, young and old; and then the stately tree that must bear beautiful fruit once, and often twice, each day, for the successive groups of the various clubs and classes-some fourteen hundred gifts in all to be provided. It is delightful work, and we wish those who have so generously given to make all this possible could share the joy with us.

The festivities will be over by the time these words pass through the press, but the Christmas spirit will remain to cheer many a humble home and overburdened heart. Only some of us will be reminded, with the opening of the new year, that enlarged buildings and fine equipment bring enlarged responsibilities and added expenses, for it takes a good deal of coal, gas, and electricity to keep our beautiful building warm and light, and up to the standard of higher living that it represents in this dreary neighborhood.

The regular demands of the kindergarten and all the club and educational work are already piling up bills faster than we can meet them, and we know that this bitter weather will bring sickness and suffering in the crowded, unsanitary homes, with many calls for relief. Our treasury is quite exhausted by the many little extras in finishing and furnishing the various rooms. is all done now, and well done, but we need funds for the daily necessities of the work itself.

This

It will cost nearly six thousand dollars to carry us through to the first of May, when Fresh Air and summer contributions begin to come in. This is exclusive of the gymnasium support which is so generously provided by the boys and girls of eleven private schools, through the personal efforts of Mr. Riis. About two thousand dollars is due in pledges for the general work. Will not our kind friends among The Outlook readers, who have so often and so generously proved their interest in the Settlement, help us to raise the four thousand dollars necessary to make the winter's work a success, and to lift this last burden of anxiety from our grateful hearts? CLARA FIELD, Treasurer. Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, 48 Henry Street, New York.