think that more than half a million persons were added to communicant rolls during that period, it is somewhat perplexing to find how far the increase for 1905 falls behind that for 1904, and indeed behind any year of the new century, though there were more ministers added to the churches than in 1902 or 1903, and more buildings than in 1902. According to his calculations the gain in communicants in 1901 was 924,675; in the next year it suddenly fell to 555,414. It then rose almost as rapidly as it had fallen, to 889,734, and slightly bettered this rate of increase in 1904, when the gain recorded was 898,857, from which the fall to 519,155 in 1905 is really startling, though we are disposed to attribute it less to any decline of efficiency or of zeal than to the pruning of membership lists and more accurate counting. The increase in the ministry during these years has been subject also to violent fluctuations. The largest gain for any year, 3,136, was in 1904; the smallest for any year, 1,339, was in 1902. Each year with a large gain is apt to be followed by one with a relatively small increase. It is not remarkable, therefore, to find that in 1905 the gain was little more than half that for the preceding year, 1,815. The increase in churches shows no constant relation to the gain in communicants or in the ministry. The largest increase in buildings, 3,276, was in 1903; the smallest for any of the five years, 1,217 in 1902. The gain in 1905 was 1,636, a decline from the preceding year of nearly 1,000.

Presbyterian Extension

Remarkable enthusiasm was developed at a crowded meeting in Carin New York. negie Hall, on Feb. 26, to raise money for supporting and extending the work of the Presbyterian Church in New York City. For this purpose there has been collected since April, 1903, $127,370. On that night there were collected in cash and pledges, $61,280. Mr. John E. Parsons presided, and in an opening speech recalled to his hearers the splendid traditions of the Presbyterian Church in New York, and the fact that in the last fifteen years that Church had gone backward. Of New York's 4,000,000 inhabitants, 2,600,000 were of foreign birth. They had their own ideas; we must put on them the impress of American Christianity. He feared his hearers knew little or nothing of their great city, but only of their own little circle in it. Were they free from responsibility for their neigh bors, because those neighbors lived east of the Bowery? The Rev. Dr. Laidlaw, the Secretary of Federation, illustrated the situation by chart; others enforced the lesson, and Dr. Wilton Merle Smith made the final appeal for money to save the city. As the pledge cards were handed back, the name of the Church to which the donor belonged was read from the platform, and the generous rivalry between congregations reached its height when Madison Square Church gave $12,000. But perhaps the climax of all was when, after the large pledges had been announced, Dr. Smith, coming to the centre of the stage, held up two quarter dollars so that all could see, and told how he had met a poor blind man as he was coming to the hall, who, when he heard where Dr. Smith was going, had placed the coins in his hand with the words: "Take these for me." Where the giving is in such a spirit the result is sure.

own wilfulness, or that of their parents, has brought them to study in State Universities. As far as primary and secondary education is concerned, he thinks public opinion is veering to the Roman side, "and in all probability the day will come, if we hold together, when the religious problem in our common schools will be a thing of the past." The lamb will be inside the lion. But forewarned is forearmed. The "evil" of students in higher institutions is, however, a growing one. He gives a list of the State Universities with the number of Roman Catholic students known to be in each. The largest numbers are found in the universities of California, Michigan and Minnesota, which have about 250 each. If it were possible, he says, to induce these students to leave such institutions "it would probably have been done long ago. No doubt something may still be done in this direction." General courses could be had "just as well if not better" in Roman Catholic institutions and these students usually have money. "Such could and should attend Catholic institutions, but they will not." One wonders why. Of course he recognizes that those who are pursuing special studies will naturally seek special opportunities, and though "it should be our constant aim to reduce the number to a minimum," he thinks the numbers are likely to increase. This he finds unfortunate, for "a large proportion of such students drift away from the practice of their religion if they do not give it up altogether." Surely this is a strange comment on Loyola's observation that if he could have the first seven years of a child's life whoever would might have the rest. Apparently neither seven nor fourteen years will suffice the Jesuits of to-day for a lasting "imprint." The American mind does not lend itself naturally to inoculation. Even minds shrivelled by parochial schools unfold in a freer air. He suggests as a way to counteract the evils of free education the establishment of Roman chapels with resident priests adjacent to university grounds. These priests, he thinks, could make themselves centres of socially segregating as well as of religious influences. Girl students might be gathered in dormitories under the management of nuns. Thus an insulating atmosphere would be provided, but the political and social harmonizing of the various races and confessions which State education seeks to foster would be hindered. So hard is it for the Roman hierarchy to feel at home or to trust their laity in a free State. It is interesting, however, to have this frank recognition that co-education of Roman Catholics with other Christians is "one great source of leakage in the Church of to-day."

National recognition of the heroic dead since the

Prayers for the Dead close of the Russo-Japin Japan. anese War has forced the question of prayers for the departed on the attention of the Christian journals there. Our own Nichiyososhi notes, according to the summary of its article in the Japan Mail, that Japanese superficially acquainted with Christianity are apt to say that it is kind to the living but unkind to the dead. This statement, it is said, needs qualifying. The teaching of Protestants generally, it says, is that such prayers cannot alter anything connected with the state of departed spirits. Though Protestants may not pray to the dead nor for the dead, they may pray with the dead, may join them in worship, just as they join absent friends who are still living. The dead are not lost or destroyed, they have only passed into a new state of existence. Their identity is known in the

other world as well as it was known here when they died. We may still keep up our connection with them by prayer. The Nichiyososhi hesitates to affirm that prayers for the dead which have for their object the amelioration of their condition are entirely unefficacious. It prefers to leave this an open question.

The Bible in Italy.

The evangelizing work of the Society of St. Jerome, to which we have from time to time referred, has been brought vividly home to Americans by the visit to this country of a young priest, Father Preziosi, who has come in the interest of an Italian religious journal. He is one of a little band of some twenty clergymen and scholars who have translated the Gospels, the Acts and some other parts of the Bible into the Italian vernacular, making thus a new "Vulgate," and so earning the right to name themselves after St. Jerome. The work having the sanction of the Pope and the little books that they issue being very cheap, they have been sold by hundreds of thousands, especially in Northern and Central Italy. Brief notes assist the unpractised reader and there are good indexes. Especially worthy of note is the Preface. Here the translators enumerate and accept many critical positions, which, though generally received among Protestant scholars, have not yet found popular acceptance among the masses of church-going people. The attitude of the translators toward the Bible is strikingly indicated by Father Preziosi's answer to the question whether the Society meant to translate the whole Bible. He said he could not see of what possible use Genesis and Exodus would be to the Italian peasant, and that even translation could not make the Pauline Epistles always intelligible. For the present he thought the Gospels and Acts would meet popular needs. But these young priests are not content with leaving the Bible among the people. They go about showing the villagers how to read it, and so make themselves new Lollards of the country-side, seeking to replace superstition by a truer Christian devotion, while remaining loyal sons of the Church of their baptism and working, as Father Preziosi is confident, with the hearty sanction and approval of the Pope. The Society, though independent in its action, certainly has affiliations with those other movements toward Christian democracy in Italy, of some of which we spoke last week. Consciously or unconsciously, they are working for a free Church in a free

State, building up a people worthy of selfgovernment.

Christian Citizenship.

Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, speaking to the Presbyterian Social Union, of Philadelphia, on Feb. 26, said those who accepted in the Christian principles, whatever they might believe or disbelieve in the domain of theology, could not but believe that bad citizenship was non-Christian, and he who actively or acquiescingly took the part of bad citizenship should be regarded as fundamentally no Christian at all. But civic virtue has been a matter of slow evolution. Wilberforce, so conscientious in regard to negro slavery abroad, had a very dull and undeveloped conscience in regard to what we should call ballot reform. He did not hesitate to buy votes in order that he might get into Parliament, where he could exercise the awakened portion of his civic conscience in doing good according to his lights. Should we then consider Wilberforce unchristian in his citizenship? No, because the question of ballot reform was, apparently, not pressed upon

his conscience; he did not sin against light in his day and generation, as did the "church-going ringsters" of our day. But there was no excuse-in our day of intense attention to the moral side of civics -for any citizen to think himself Chris tian or even worthy of respect if he either actively or passively assisted in the corruption of government.

English Church News.

The Bishop of Carlisle's

Letter.

The Bishop of Carlisle, in a letter of which we spoke last week, seems to have made a more general appeal to the common sense of Englishmen than anyone who has yet spoken on religion in secondary schools. He favored, it will be remembered, non-denominational education as part of the school curriculum, supplemented, on one or more mornings in the week, by facilities for denominational instruction. The Spectator considers his letter "by far the wisest and best thing yet said from the point of view of the Church," for, it continues, "in the last resort the Establishment will only be tolerated, nay, be tolerable, if the Church is ready to claim, and to make good her claim, to be not a sect or a denomination, concentrated on sectarian or denominational aims, but the Church of the whole nation, tolerant and comprehensive and willing to accept the difficult duties and obligations of that national position, and to sacrifice to it any narrower aims and aspirations." To follow Lord Hugh Cecil and Lord Halifax, it thinks, would be to adopt a sectarian standpoint and invite disestablishment. To adopt the Bishop of Carlisle's view would greatly further the true interests of establishment and save England from what The Spectator regards as "the great peril of secular education." Of the bogey of religious teaching by irreligious men, so strenuously evoked by The Church Times, The Spectator finds it "very difficult to write with patience."

The Church Times is "quite certain that, if once an undenomina tional religion gets an official status, it will be used as a lever for hoisting the Catholic religion out of every school in the country. And we hope that a large body of Churchmen will support us, even at the risk of being called pedantic."

The Daily News' Symposium.

America for support out of local taxation of purely sectarian schools. Dr. Macnamara, who is supposed to represent the teachers, favors acquisition by the State of voluntary schools, which he thinks would eliminate the difficulty. He would, however, permit local authorities to "make terms with special schools intended solely for the children of one denomination," thus setting the gate ajar for Mr. Russell.

Canon Scott Holland's Idea.

In the journal of the Christian Social Union, The Commonwealth, Canon Scott Holland says the two fundamental principles of Liberalism in education are: Full public control over the schools that come upon the rates and a free career without religious tests for all engaged as civil servants in the national education. The State must take no side in religious controversy and to give official support to the idea that religion can be taught without any connection with a Creed or with a Fellowship is to take sides. For there is, he says, "a very large and united body of believers, who are passionately convinced that religion is essentially social; and that it never exists except in and through a Fellowship; and that this Fellowship, in which religion consists and realizes itself, can alone declare what its belief means, and authorize its teaching." And there is another difficulty for him about undenominational teaching, for if there are to be no religious tests for civil servants, how can the State learn the qualifications of its servants to teach religion? The conclusion is that the religious bodies must themselves undertake the duty and pay for it. A committee might be formed, he thinks, of representatives of the religious bodies who might agree on certain general Biblical teaching for all, and provide special teaching on fixed days. Thus would be avoided all intervention by the State in the religious sphere. "The religious instruction of a child," he says in concluding, "does not arrive at its true and normal issue, unless it ends in attaching the child to a spiritual society, within which its religious citizenship can find fit play. The instruction that leaves the child unat tached to a denomination, leaves its soul unhomed and exiled."

Awakening to Social Reform.

The inner significance of the election, writes P. D. (the Rev. Percy Dearmer, as we suppose) in The Commonwealth, is that the nation will no longer tolerate indifference to soThe Daily News has had cial reform. We have all discovered, he a sort of symposium on says, that the people are alive to the this letter. Mr. Wake- shame and horror of our social state. field reiterates his opin- "The Times thought (and we thought) ion that "the State should instruct a that they did not care-that the electorchild in a set of common Christian prin- ate supported the politicians in saying ciples." Mr. Snowden, speaking for the that the degradation and oppression of Labor Party, thinks that "to talk of the masses 'did not come within the 'simple religious teaching,' or of the sphere of practical politics.' And now 'foundation principles of Christianity' as every politician knows that they do care, something about which everybody would every party or Government that hopes for agree is to talk nonsense." Parents who success will have to grapple with the sowant religious teaching at all, he says, cial problem. For the party lines have want above all the teaching of their pe- been obliterated and party ties forgotten culiar opinions. The Labor Party, there- in the rush to the polls of thousands who fore, is, he says, in favor of the secular- went to vote for social reform and naization of day schools. Dr. Clifford would tional regeneration. Vague and confused allow local option in the use of "exclu- as the issues were, that one cry has sively ethical, historical and literary" ex- emerged-'Something must be done for tracts from the Bible, but these must the people.' It seemed the other day as if never be "dogmatic or denominational.” nothing would save England from her He does not think it would be possible to apathy, as if she acquiesced in the misunite on the Apostles' Creed as a basis of ery which is disgracing Christendom. "fundamental Christianity." The Hon. The new Government may or may not Charles Russell, speaking for the Roman justify England's choice. But at least Catholics, makes the plea familiar in this is certain-England is awake."

The "Atheism" of the

Labor Party.

To quiet the alarm of some Adullamites who have seen in the triumphs of the Labor Party at the polls signs that England was drifting toward atheism, the Rev. James Adderley reminds The Church Times that Mr. Kier-Hardie asked to be sent to Parliament "for the sake of those for whom Christ died"; that one of the party whips, Mr. Macdonald, writing before the election, said: "Socialism is essentially a moral theory of society, and can be supported only by a system of economics and politics in which ethics has a part. Its antagonism to those hopes and ideals grouped under the general term of 'relig ion' is only apparent and not real." And that Mr. Henderson, another whip, said that he found "no evidence of a general desire among the workers to repudiate the principles of Christianity. The people," he said, "are longing, as never before, to be delivered from oppressive social anomalies, and if only the Churches would bring their vast and varied machinery to operate against these evils, much might be accomplished and the gratitude and co-operation of the multitude secured." Perhaps as a result of this election the Christian Social Union will at last begin to attract the attention it merits from the clergy of England.

An East End Mission.

A remarkable scene, says The London Times was witnessed in Whitechapel on Feb. 17, when the mission in the East end of London, on the same lines as that recently conducted in the West end by the Bishop of London, was inaugurated by a great procession through the main thoroughfares of the district, in which some 1,200 Church workers, over fifty surpliced

robes, took part. clergy, and the Bishop of Stepney, in his A large music hall in Whitechapel road, called "Wonderland”— hitherto chiefly devoted to boxing competitions, was the headquarters of the mission. The bishop compared the vast congregation to an army on the eve of battle. The charge to the missioners had been delivered by Bishop Lang in Whitechapel parish church. They did not want, he said, to create excitement, but they wanted to make disciples. The important part of the mission was not the beginning, but the practical results at its close, and whatever the world might think of this procession and their efforts, they went forth in the love, knowledge, and power of the great Commander. The procession was then marshalled, headed by a crossbearer and the band of the parish of St. Dunstan, and passed in fours through the streets. Interspersed were the banners of most of the parishes taking part in the mission, and halts were made at the corner of Jubilee street, in the Commercial road, outside "Wonderland," and at other points, where addresses were delivered by the missioner, the clergy and laymen. The novel sight attracted great crowds. "Wonderland," which holds 3,000 people, was crowded from the first night, and the mission seems certain to do permanent good.

The Student Volunteer
Convention.

The great convention of student volunteers at Nashville surpassed expectation, not indeed in the number of delegates that were gathered there, for it was known that as many would come as could be pro

vided for, but in the enthusiasm that was developed and the moral forces that were awakened to activity. Homes were provided for 3,600 delegates, 700 more than ever before attended a Student Volunteer. Convention, and the proverbial elasticity of Southern hospitality extended the accommodations still further, so that there can hardly have been less than 4,000 delegates present.

The convention opened in the afternoon of Feb. 28, when an audience that crowded the great Ryman Auditorium to the doors sang "Coronation" with a volume of sound that was itself an inspiration. Local journals tell us that perhaps there was never assembled in the South a more truly cosmopolitan congress or a more really ecumenical council. On the platform were leaders in the missionary work of almost every Church in Christendom; almost every nationality was represented, and almost every Christian land. It was most appropriate then, that behind the platform, facing the audience, should be a map of the world on which was graphically depicted the progress of evangelization, while across the wall was the motto of the Movement: "The evangelization of the world in this generation."

After the opening hymn and a brief prayer the chairman of the executive committee. Mr. John R. Mott, in a forcible half hour address, outlined the work of the convention; told of its purposes and its vast possibilities. Disraeli had said that it was a glorious thing to see a nation saved by its young people, and he bade them think of the energy wrapped up in powers like those represented therepowers of great ideas which were to create life and transform the purposes of men. We must realize, he said, more fully the great mission of Christ to us individually and through us to others. Christ's mission included emancipation, as well as guidance, and there were among us those who needed His powers of emancipation that we might get away from narrow things, contracted ideas and evil things. He liked to think of the convention as a great dynamo impelled by the energy of Christ. The whole world was its parish, and it ought to mean more than its predecessors had meant, for the world was smaller and more intelligently known than four years ago. Only sin could defeat the realization of its vision.

Then after a hymn had been sung, Mr. Robert E. Speer, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, made an appeal to students to share in missionary endeavor. They did not need to wait another hour, he said, to receive that for which God had brought them together. If it did not come to them it must be that there was something behind in their lives which kept the Christian spirit from entering in their hearts. He appealed to them to feel the divine presence of their Saviour, to realize that He needed them now. The congregation was evidently deeply affected by this appeal, and after the singing of a hymn Bishop Hendrix, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, dismissed them with his benediction.

At the evening session the principal addresses were by Dr. Robson, of Edinburgh, and Mr. J. Campbell White, ex-moderator

of the United Free Church of Scotland,. Dr. Robson said it had taken the Churches of the Reformation nearly three centuries to learn that the Church was the appointed organ of missionary enterprise,

which was the apostolic conception of the Church. Of this missionary enterprise the essence was the presentation of Christ. The immediate object was not to overthrow the beliefs and worship of heathendom, nor to make foreign extensions of home Churches, nor to expand commerce and culture and civilization, but simply to make Christ known to all mankind. The distinction between home and foreign mis

sions was administrative; it had no spiritual basis. Christ's last command required that the life of every individual should be adjusted to this supreme business of the Church, that the congregational life should be adapted to it, that all Churches should co-operate in accomplishing it.

Mr. White's theme was "The Ownership and Lordship of Christ," which, he said, extended to all our lives and all our possessions. There were four great cardinal obligations which he summarized in the words: "Know, Go, Pray, Pay." Until Christ could get enough soldiers to obey He could never complete the conquest of the world. Three results always followed surrender and obedience-personal victory, guidance as to personal service and power for work beyond human strength. Two things must be done if Christ was to be in any real sense owner and Lord of our lives; we must give Him absolute right of way and determine to make our lives count for the utmost by tying ourselves closely to the great missionary enterprise. This session was brought to a close with a benediction by Dr. J. R. Willingham, of the Southern Baptist Board.

A special meeting was held at the same time, at the First Presbyterian Church, where the Rev. Dr. Zwemer spoke of missions to Mohammedans, and Mr. Speer of the Movement in general.

It

On Thursday morning the convention listened to a report of the executive committee, which made a strong appeal for increased activity while giving due place to the remarkable achievements of the past. The Student Volunteer Movement, on Jan. 1, 1906, had on its records the names of 2,953 volunteers, from 50 denominations, who had sailed for the mission field. A third of them were women. had promoted missionary study in 668 different institutions, and had an enrolment last year of 12,629 students in 1,049 mission classes-almost three times the enrolment, and more than three times the number of classes, that were reported at Toronto. Signs of progress and grounds for encouragement were to be found everywhere, and it was eloquently urged that evangelization of the world in this generation need not be a chimera if they would but "lay siege to the Port Arthurs of the non-Christian world with the undiscouraged purpose to capture them." After the report had been read the Rev. J. Ross Stevenson read the resolution of the joint conference of mission boards, calling for a thousand student volunteers a year, and commended it in a forceful address, after which Mr. Wilhelm Gundert, of Tübingen, spoke for the German Volunteers, and also for other student Christian organizations in that country. Then Mr. G. T. Manley, of the Church Missionary Society, of Great Britain, told of what was being

done there. Miss Una M. Saunders, of London, made a brief address on behalf of the women, and William V. Helm spoke for Japan.

On Thursday afternoon there were several sectional conferences. "The Missionary Outlook in Latin America" was discussed by the Rev. Dr. James B. Rodgers, for many years missionary in Brazil and in the Philippines; by the Rev. John H. Meem, the Rev. A. W. Greenman, Miss Layonna Glenn, the Rev. Jesse L. Mc

Laughlin, the Rev. Robert F. Lenning

ton, the Rev. Archibald B. Reeker, and the Rev. Sylvester Jones. Cuba and Brazil were the countries chiefly mentioned, and there were frequent references to the Philippines. There was also a pastors' conference at Christ church chapel, at which the leading thought was that ministers owed it to their vocations to study missions and to teach about them. Inci

dentally it was pointed out that missionary activity in a parish always strengthened it; the more it gave the more it had to give. "Africa and the Negro" was the subject of another sectional conference, at

which the chief address was by the Methodist Bishop Hartzell. The other speakers were the Rev. W. H. Sheppard, who told of a daring journey to the forbidden land of Bakuba; the Rev. W. L. Hood and the Rev. Donald Fraser. A conference on India was addressed by the Rev. W. B.

Anderson, Mrs. McLure, the Rev. A. S.

Wilson and others. Mohammedanism was

the subject of yet another sectional conference, at which great interest

was

aroused at the address of Miss Ellen M. Stone, for some time a captive of Macedonian bandits. Dr. Zwemer and Dr. Barton spoke also at this meeting. Missionary work in Japan was discussed by Dr. Henry B. Price, the Rev. Henry Tappy, Mrs. Harriet E. Clark and the Rev. R. S.

Miller, an attaché of the American Embassy at Tokyo, who said that to Christianize Japan would be to carry the bond of Christianity into the Orient and unite the world. A considerable part of the time at this meeting was given to Korea, and special meetings discussed the situation in China and in Eastern India,

Burma, Siam and the Malayan archipelago.

The features of the evening session were addresses by Bishop Gailor and Mr. Speer, and a remarkable response to a call for subscriptions. Bishop Gailor took for his theme, "The Only Absolute Religion."

ligion but a revelation. That God so loved

Christianity, he said, was not a mere re

the world that He gave His only Son for us, all the science in the world could not explain; it constituted a climacteric epoch in the history of mankind. "Morality, liberty, love of honesty, constitute Christianity," he said, "not scientific research and investigation. The seven great fundamental principles of civilization are all the fundamentals of Christianity. The virtues that relate to manhood, to justice, to law, to purity, the regard for the sanctity of the home-these, my friends, are Christian facts. . . . The only religion is the acceptance of the Christ life and the Christ redemption." This address made a profound impression.

The main current of Mr. Speer's thought can alone be indicated here. The nonChristian religions, he said, did not and could not meet the needs of men, not as though they were retrogressions or altogether evil, but because the truth in them was unbalanced by its proper corrective, and because of their moral inferiority. They did not present a perfect ideal; they offered no power from without to enable men to realize their ideal; they had no adequate conception of sin; they were morally chaotic and failed

cession, but do not recall a single sermon prior to my ordination presenting the call to the ministry, and if there are any books on the subject I do not know them and have never seen them in a clergyman's library.

The real trouble is that the clergy seem to forget that the Church will be here after they are gone, and that the need for priests goes on in an ever increasing ratio. Young men will hear the call if properly presented to them, but God means us to present it.

There is another failure on our part. Christ commanded us to pray that laborers be sent forth into the harvest. Are we doing it? Certainly not in the daily offices. Who can tell what effect the constant offering of a prayer to this effect might have on parents and possible candidates? But until the Church provides for such prayer, an organization seems to be needed to get such a prayer offered in common. We have such a guild here, and every time Morning Prayer is said the prayer for the increase of the ministry is offered. This in itself keeps the subject before the people, and the guild with its monthly meeting for prayer and quarterly Communion (specially for members of the guild) keeps the matter alive all the time. The guild is known as "The Ember Guild of Prayer for the Increase of the Ministry," and has the hearty approval of the Diocesan. I will be more than glad to furnish copies of the constitution and by-laws to anyone interested. C. H. JORDAN. Pinopolis, S. C.

Living versus Dead Faith.

To the Editor of THE CHURCHMAN:

Some time since in a study upon "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," the difference between faith and a statement of it as in a creed was impressed upon me, and as a clergyman it seemed to me that a living faith alone was important.

Anent the Dr. Crapsey affair, with whom I have every sympathy, for he seems a most spiritually aspiring minis

ter, and with whom in views I have little in common, it seems to me that what we want in the ministry is not creed confession and so-called orthodoxy but a living faith. Creeds are man-made as a statement for a confession, and come after the living faith. No man was ever converted to faith in our Lord by the creed. He is converted first and afterwards finds that that faith put into expression may accord with the Apostles' Creed.

Should we ask of persons brought to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ what was their faith, no two would doubtless state it the same; the statement indeed would be most unimportant, the faith which is heart conviction is important. If from that heart flows the "living water," it shows the living spring within.

The apostle St. Paul says, "with the heart man believeth." Mental conviction, giving assent to the statements in a creed, does not constitute faith; it is a revelation to the heart of man by the Father, it is conviction of the heart, baptism of the spirit. "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee."

What is the simplest statement a believer can make? Is it not the statement of St. Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God?" This describes the feeling or conviction of every soul that believes; and if a man stopped there I should accord him the right to claim he had the faith. That was all the apostle had then, for our Lord had not died, He

had not risen again, and yet our Lord testifies, "Upon that faith I will build my Church."

What is it that makes the preacher a power but this faith in our Lord as the Christ, the Son of the Living God? It is heart knowledge of Him-"I know Him whom I have believed."

There seems to be no question as to the devotion of Dr. Crapsey to His Master. He seems a spiritual power among men, full of the life which cometh from above, which marks the believers-who surely has faith. It is a mistake to lay too much stress upon the assent of the mind to the statements of the creed, which is not faith at all. Faith cometh from above, not from below; it is of the spirit, not of the mind. It is lamentably true that so many of the orthodox absolutely lack the power-which shows lack of the faith. What the minister needs is the heart conviction which stirs man out of the lethargy of mental turpitude.

Who made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit; for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life. It is this life that the world needs, and only he that hath the Son hath the life. Having Him is enough. With this let us be satisfied, and have "charity in all things."

The Dalles, Ore.

H. CLINTON COLLINS.

Standards of Morality, Clerical and Lay.

To the Editor of THE CHURCHMAN:

If a man who occupies a position of trust in secular affairs should use money or other property committed to his charge in a manner contrary to the terms of his appointment, he is said to be guilty of a breach of trust, and is a subject of condemnation both in law and in morals. A fiduciary is bound to use the trust property only for certain specified purposes, and in a certain specified manner, and his failure to do so is not excused on the

plea that he thought his way was better than the prescribed way; and such a man is none the less guilty of a breach of trust because his default may not have been committed for the purpose of personal profit.

When a man is ordained to the priesthood in our Church, a trust is committed to his charge, not of money or property, but of teaching the doctrine of the Church, and his undertaking in the matter is not left to inference, but is a subject of express engagement on his part.

Is not a man who undertakes such a

charge, and then "instead of keeping his

Vow"

subverts "the doctrine and polity of the Church, by claiming the right to teach in place of the doctrine as received by the Church whatever may appear to him individually to be true," is not a man who does this as much guilty of a breach of trust as the cashier who "borrows" the money of the bank for speculative purposes?

THE CHURCHMAN and some of its correspondents appear to think otherwise, so I ask, Should the standard of morality be lower for the clergy than for the laity? This is not a question of "heresy," but of good faith.

The same rule applies to anyone who engages to teach or promulgate the principles of any cult, to the professor of Christian Science as well as to the priest of the Church.

Haverford P. O.

ROWLAND EVANS.

How to Help Prisoners.

To the Editor of THE CHURCHMAN:

I think, undoubtedly, that your readers will, many of them, be familiar with my work for our country's prisoners. When I have been asked by those interested, How can we most practically help the exprisoner? my answer has been: "Begin in time. Reach him with hope and encouragement and with the touch of human sympathy, while he is yet within prison walls."

Our Volunteer Prison League has been very successful in this work, in cheering and inspiring them with hope. Many of those within prison walls, on their discharge from prison, we have already been able to welcome home to the homes we have for them, and then, of course, comes the time when others can help us, and that very practically, in starting these men in the new life.

We do not appeal to the employer of labor to take men who are absolutely untried quantities. We have known many of these men many years in prison, and the very fact of their coming to our Hope Halls, and placing themselves entirely in our hands, and under our guidance, is a further assurance of their desire to leave the old life and start out in new fields. I am very anxious to find work for these men, many of whom are thoroughly worthy and will prove faithful to those who will give them a chance. We have now, waiting for positions, a number of men; some of them capable to fill positions in skilled labor, but the larger number unskilled labor. We have men suitable for domestic service, others who would welcome a chance in factories, others anxious for farm work; and knowing that, at this time of the year, farmers are on the lookout for those capable of working their farms, I am specially anxious to appeal through your paper to any who would be willing to take these men and give them a chance.

I should be very grateful if those who read this plea would correspond with me at 38 Cooper Square, New York City. Of course the fact that the man has been in

prison is a confidence, which must go no further than his employer; and in every case we urge our men not to speak of the past, so that they may step out into the new life without being handicapped by any prejudice among their fellow work people.

There are many who cannot visit the prisons, and numbers who have not the means to do much for a cause financially, but by giving such a man a chance and watching over his spiritual welfare, and cheering him in his efforts to do right, they could help them very materially, and can share with us the dear Christ's special commendation, to those who do not forget MAUD B. BOOTH. the prisoner.