be attributed a keen instinct in endeavouring to cater to the public taste, are filled, the world over, with records of events which are, in the overwhelming majority of cases, essentially pertaining to worldly concerns. The telegraphic news of the world almost exclusively relates to movements of armies and navies, the utterances of monarchs and statesmen in regard to national affairs, parliamentary discussions on political topics, records of yacht races, prize fights and foot-ball matches, building of railways, discoveries in electricity, development in rapid transit, inventions of new machinery and more destructive methods of warfare, new and more refined types of architecture, new dishes in cookery, new styles of hats, new processes of weaving fabrics, reports of murder trials, judicial decisions involving large sums of money, details of divorce suits and actions for breach of promise, the discovery of mines, particulars of legislation touching health, tariffs and currency, the death of distinguished men, the size of their funerals, the height of their monuments, the resignation of a minister, and the results of a political election.

This category makes no attempt at completeness. It merely selects a sample of the things which engage, to an absorbing extent, the interests of all classes of people.

To

Turn to the higher walks of literature -the magazines, and the class of subjects dealt with are almost invariably on the same materialistic lines. illustrate, at random, I take from the index of the "Review of Reviews" a statement of the leading articles for the month which come under monthly review, and this is but a sample of what characterizes the leading magazine articles of every month :

The Rationale of the Boycott.
The A. R. U.

The Labour War in the United States.
Co-operative Working-class Settle-

ments.

The Padrone Question.

Value of Law and Order Leagues. An Australian's Impressions of America.

How to Nationalize the Railways.
Intra-Costal Canals.

Hints from Birmingham.

Future of the Tramcar in London.
London a Modern City.
Berlin's Great Milkman.

The Paris Municipal Laboratory.
The Subways of a Great City.
Our National Postal Service.
The Attack on the Senate.

The Upper Chambers of the World.
What is Income?

The "Gresham" Law.
Wanted A British Imperial Dollar.
Repudiation in the Southern States.
The A. P. A.

Religious Persecution in India.
The United Anglo-Saxon Will.
Athletic Sports as a Factor in Euro-
pean Life.

Lord Rosebery and the Turf.
Germany's Success in Alsace-Lor-

raine.

Some National Songs.

Cromwell, Creator of the first Cavalry Soldier.

The Building of a Battle Ship.
Clear Aims in Education.

Nikola Tesla and his Works.

In how many of these contributions to the knowledge and wisdom of the world is there found any token that human beings have a soul, that the spiritual part is the supremely important factor in human destiny and that love and self-sacrifice and heroism are the greatest attributes which pertain to human character.

Of course, there is another sidepoets still issue volumes of verse, preachers still proclaim the supremacy of religious truth from ten thousand pulpits, and newspapers exist whose chief aim is to gather news of religious progress and to proclaim the immeasurable importance of religious truth. Is it just or possible to say that these things engage more than a fractional part of the interests of civilized Christendom? To say truly, the appreciation of poetry has not grown at the same ratio as invention and material progress, and the poetry of to-day cannot justly be put in comparison with the poetry of three hundred years ago.

Let us with a spirit of frankness and reverence come to the churches themselves which exist in city, town and country. The majority of the Christian population gather together in suitable places of worship to indulge in religious exercises. Let us not charge these people with intentional hypocrisy or with conscious disregard of the essence of religious duty. But who, looking down upon an average congregation of worshippers, can fail to recognize that while most of them are sincerely giving vent on this first day of the week to their religious aspirations, viewed in the aggregate they really constitute a collection of worldlings whose thoughts and interests are linked inexorably to the world and all that pertains thereto.

This sounds like a sweeping and pessimistic accusation, although uttered in no carping spirit; but who doubts that most of the men who sit reverently in this place of worship are absorbed either in obtaining wealth, in striving for public position, in working out new problems of science, in watching the fluctuations of a stock market, in seeking profitable employment, in cherishing expectations of testamentary favours? Who doubts that to the good women who reverently bow their heads in prayer, questions of social position, of dress, of the circle of friends by whom they may be surrounded, of invitations to social events, ambitious marriages for daughters, yearning anxieties for the material advancement of sons, and other incidents pertaining purely to the world and the things of this world occupy a predominent place in their thoughts even on Sunday itself, and even, perchance, during the hours of worship?

The founder of the Christian religion, when a certain wealthy young man approached him and proclaimed in tones of humble pride that he had kept all the moral laws from his youth upward, commanded him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor. A similar command addressed to an average congregation of worshippers would probably disperse them in a condition as

exceeding sorrowful as that which characterized the virtuous young man.

But the apologist for modern tendencies will indicate that interest in the world's affairs is a part of man's duty; that, while recognizing that heaven is God's throne, the earth also is His footstool, and that it is essential to the existence of human society that, while connection should be had with the upper sphere, one foot at least should be solidly planted upon this firm earth. It must be recognized that if the whole of humanity became by some magical process completely imbued with spiritual aims human institutions would collapse. This is true, but the teaching of the Christian religion, which is the acknowledged guide to the inhabitants of the Christian world, embodies principles and maxims which seem seriously in conflict with the theories of material progress. "Blessed are the poor in spirit;" "blessed are the meek;" "lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;" "if any man shall sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also;" "take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed?" "love thy God with all thy might, with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself."

These are some of the burning watchwords of the Christian religion, and Christian teachers for nineteen hundred years have been endeavouring to din them into the ears of the world. And if their efforts had been successful no one pretends that we should have a world to-day whose thoughts were overshadowingly absorbed in railroads, telegraphs, steamships, electric lights, houses, yachts, dinners, banks and material comforts.

To illustrate the tendencies of the age, what magazine would accept a well-written article on spiritual life as against one equally well written containing latest information from the Klondyke? How many men from choice would prefer a prayer meeting

to an important political gathering, who would attend a Vesper service in preference to the reading of a will at which many thousands of dollars were to be obtained by bequest? How many men, I mean Christian men, would attend a little gathering of people met to discuss spiritual topics in preference to a great celebration in honour of a statesman, or to celebrate a military victory? What would be the fate of a daily paper which confined its telegraphic news to matters solely concerning the religious world and the purely spiritual side of that, not the erection of cathedrals, the salaries which various divines were receiving or the polemics indulged in over isms or the belligerant utterances of opposing sects. These constitute essentially worldly news because they appeal to the warlike instincts of earthbound mortals. It is necessary to enlarge the overwhelming tokens which beset us in every direction that this modern world, and especially modern Christendom, is to-day enormously materialistic, and gives few evidences of any immediate probability of a deeper and wider appreciation of spiritual things.

One of the boasts of the most enlightened parts of Christendom is that civilization has enormously developed, and one hears grave claims put forth by the apostles of the Christian religion that Christianity is the forerunner of civilization, and that to Christianity the world is indebted for the triumphs of civilization. A strange boast! Civilization, as it is understood, implies for the most part larger houses, a better system of drainage, steam and its varied agencies, electricity and its various functions, highly delevoped manufactures, perfections of commercial intercourse, rapid and comfortable travel, labour saving appliances, dainty delicacies in cookery, tickling of the ear by melodious sounds and the enravishment of the eye by the spectacular. These are the regnant and essential features of civilization. Of course it includes the daily newspaper, not at all spiritual and not always intellectual in

its character, the magazine, art, fiction and poetry; but most of these preceded the higher advances of civilization. The Greeks equalled the achievements of the nineteenth century in both art and poetry. Civilization, as the world understands it, is not only not a legitimate product of Christianity, but is its antithesis. Christianity, if it means anything, means self-sacrifice, spiritual life and a regard for immortal things. Civilization means the worship of comfort, wealth, invention and the survival of the fittest. Of course there is another side to this. Devout materialists will tell us that everything which exists in nature is immortal, that matter itself is indestructable and is part of the great scheme of the founder of the universe, that spirit lurks in matter, sits enthroned in the rock, the mountain, the engine and the iron-ribbed monster that plows the seas.

This is poetic and is comforting, but it is not the Sermon on the Mount. It does not prefigure a supreme finality when this firmament shall be rolled up as a scroll.

Differences of opinion may, and of course will, exist as to the conclusions to be drawn from the essentially materialistic character of this age, but the fact no one surely can dispute. The only overshadowing question is what is to be the ultimate destiny of the human race? What is to be the final complexion of humanity?

Several alternatives are presented by different classes of thinkers. A small, but perhaps respectable, number say that they see no grounds for what Tennyson would call the "larger hope," and, driven to believe that this life ends all, look forward to a world with higher ideals and better processes of living, but with no essential change in the aims and essential characteristics of the race. Another, a much larger class, believing in the total depravity of man, in the fall and in regeneration, are inclined to regard this world as a gloomy place of trial where the virtuous have a chance to inherit eternal glory and happiness, and the

remainder are doomed to a fate too awful to contemplate. To these people no great expectation exists that this world will ever be very much better than it is, or anything else than the abode of sin and suffering.

There still remains the optimistic remainder, how large their number cannot be precisely estimated, who cherish the conviction that not only does this life not end all, but that the influence of love, which constitutes the vital essence of the Christian religion, slowly but surely working in the hearts of men, will gradually lead humanity up through the cycles to a due recognition and appreciation of spiritual things; that as this divine leaven works its way, regard for purely material things will diminish and a regard for spiritual things expand, and when the work is achieved we shall have a beautiful spiritual world where love, selfsacrifice, altruism, or whatever name that which is highest and best may be called, shall have full sway over the hearts of men and supersede entirely the influence of sordid aims and the ignoble principle of the survival of the fittest.

To those who hold this elevated view of human destiny the world needs a different class of reformers from those it now worships. Our present objects of worship are the inventor of the telephone, the discoverer of anæsthetics, the Foreign Minister who can add hundreds of thousands of square miles to the territory of his nation by diplomacy, or the military chieftain who can achieve the same thing by bullets and blood. It would be unjust to the spirit of the age if no passing mention were made to the sprinter and the prize-fighter.

The hero the world really needs at this particular stage is a man, not content to be the perfunctory pastor of a fashionable church, with a comfortable salary, proclaiming conventional truths in a scrupulously orthodox manner, but a man who, ignoring everything but a sense of the spiritual needs of the hour, proclaims trumpet-tongued from the house-tops the claims of spiritual life and the essential paltriness of the aims which now absorb the overwhelming portion of human energy.

J. W. Longley.