gospel; the Christian conception of the death and resurrection of Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins and the conquest of the power of death he does not take to be in any connection with the gospel preached by Jesus." Thesis 4. In the view of Harnack, Christ comes to be "only a human reformer of the independently developing human knowledge of God and his gospel, to be a correction and purification of religious thoughts and moral demands already extant." Concerning the relation of this rationalistically abridged and abortive gospel of Jesus to an ecclesiastical dogma, according to Harnack, Thesis 5 declares, "The church historical dogma-framing development is, according to Harnack, a sin against the plainness and simplicity of the gospel"; and, as to the question concerning the power of realization of Harnack's reduced Christianity for the evangelical doctrinal testimony of the pulpit or in ecclesiastical instruction, Thesis 7 says, "The question, whether the Christianity proclaimed by Harnack can and ought to give our people what it needs is decided in general by the consideration, that-without detriment to the pastoral regard for the weak and without detriment to his duty to adapt the manner of preaching to the wants of the time-no servant of the church is justified in shortening the objective contents of the truth of the gospel as the church understands it."

This examination of witnesses from German theological circles, if continued, would give many more notes of similar contents. We prefer, however, to close our review for the present by referring to the judgment of a celebrated French Catholic scholar, the Abbé M. J. Lagrange, an exegetical and archæological investigator of renown, and chief colaborer on the Revue biblique internationale. In the quarterly number of this Review (on pages 110-123), he reviewed the contents of the sixteen lectures of Harnack with thoroughness, strictly keeping to the matter un

der discussion; towards the close of his review he then gives his judgment. For Harnack's demand of an uninterrupted scientific investigation in behalf of a most precise setting-forth of the doctrine of the gospel in its purity, this critic manifests a certain sympathy, but he will not consent to a union of the different modern views on the basis of a broader, general, enlarged religiosity. He thinks, that, with the sacrificing of all positive content of the faith of the church and the reduction of Christian religiosity to a minimum, such a union générale is purchased much too dearly; yes, such a doctrinal union, according to the idea of Harnack, would for the true Christian be equivalent to a capitulation (l'union doctrinale sur un minimum pareil ne peut-être qu'une capitulation). At the same time he calls attention to the inconsistency which shows itself in Harnack's endeavors that his religious reform should indeed serve the lowly and humble, yet only by blindly yielding to the results of the learned investigator. La reduction critique de Mr. H., très vague et très floue malgré sous indigence, ne peut-être accessible aux humbles que par l'intermédiaire des savants, parlant comme savants d'après leurs recherches scientifiques!

We doubt very much that the tactics of making the greatest possible deductions from the positive doctrinal contents of Christianity, to influence the public which has been estranged from the church, so as to draw and conciliate them, will be able to bring real, true gain to the religious cause. Many who will subject the proposition to an examination beside other modern reform proposals, will prefer Häckel's monism or Spencer's pure agnosticism as still more consequent in thought and better adapted to the world-consciousness of to-day. The few, however, who, with full conviction, will join the severely pruned "Christianity" of Harnack, signify for the religio-ethical total interest of our time an acquisition of pretty doubtful value.

In so far as they may learn "to dig deeper," and, according to the wish of one of the critics quoted, penetrate to the pearl of great price, to the true apostolic and reformatory Christianity, this vestibule Christianity of which the Berlin scholar preaches, may prove a useful stage of transition to them. But, according to the probable few that may be so happy, the phenomenon here considered cannot be measured. Its real signification may consist in this, that, to those who stand on a positive foundation of faith, this latest attack will give an impetus to a gladly testifying and powerful confirmation of their inner life of faith, so that once again, as with the polemic about the Apostolicum in the years 1892-93, the cause of Christ may come out of this conflict both strengthened and advanced.

THE CHRISTIAN

ARTICLE V.

CHARITY OF THE TWENTI

ETH CENTURY CHURCH.

BY THE REVEREND H. FRANCIS PERRY, PH.D.

THE marvelous growth of the modern city makes it at the same time a storm-center and a light-center. Worldwide problems are now confronting us in the modern American city. A century ago about one-thirtieth of the population of the United States lived in cities. To-day one-third of our people are urban residents. This is only a part of the great world-movement of the present day from the country to the city. This migration, known and feared by other centuries, is strangely accelerated and intensified in our own times. No insignificant problem is constituted by this gravitation toward the city. If democ racy is to fail anywhere it will be in the great city, the headquarters of discontent, of the saloon, of the social evil, of hunger, of overcrowding. Forth from the social cellar may come the assassins of free institutions.

We must not forget that while the city is the stormcenter, it is also the light-center of our civilization. Here are the men of large enterprise and faith who are planning and executing great things for the Kingdom of God.

When Christianity was established, its leaders, under divine guidance, went at once to strategic centers of the world's life; and here, where men were massed together, its mighty work began. It was in the cities that Christianity first conquered, and it is in the cities where its greatest battles are now being fought. To Christianize the city of the twentieth century is the task before the Christian

church. The centers of civilization were taken for Christ in the first centuries of the Christian era. They must be taken by the same divine power in the last centuries of the world's life. Here dangers threaten. Here Christian service multiplies. It is well to know what is actually being done in Christian work by the church of our great American cities. It would be manifestly burdensome to take the entire city of Chicago and the work of the church in all departments for such a research. I have therefore chosen the South Side of the city of Chicago, and limited the inquiry to the work of relieving the poor. I sent out the following letter to the pastors of all the evangelical, Protestant churches on the South Side of the city of Chicago:

"MY DEAR BROTHER:

"I am anxious to make an investigation on a subject which will be vital, I think, to the interests of the Church of Jesus Christ on the South Side of the city of Chicago. More attention is given at present than at any time during recent years, to the thought of relief for the poor. I want to study the subject by a research on the relief for the poor which the Church is giving on the South Side of the city of Chicago. I know you are a busy man, but will you kindly take the time to send me answers to the following questions:—

"I. What is your plan of relief for the poor?

"2. Would you advise your church to contribute to the administrative work of the Bureau of Associated Charities for its common service of investigation, registration, information, and coördination?

"3. What classes of cases, if any, helped by you, should be registered in the Bureau of Associated Charities?

"4. Do you limit your relief to the members of your own church? Do you think there ought to be a place in the relief work of the church for individuals not members of the church and for relief societies and institutions?

"5. Do you know of cases where those helped have sought the relief of several churches, or relief institutions, at the same time?

"6. What is the duty of the church to the legal pauper?

"7. Will you state, approximately, the sums contributed by your church for relief in the city?