Three principal objections must be noticed: 1. It is said that this explanation does not harmonize with the moral prostration and the dejected state of the disciples the second day after the unexpected death of their Master. 2. It has also been objected that the apostles of Jesus were persons too simple-minded, too sedate, and even prosaic, thus to create entire scenes in which imagination, mental excitement, and a strong element of poetic creativeness are indispensable to those who objectify in this way their feelings and ideas. 3. It has been said that if we could strictly conceive the ecstatic vision projecting a determined object on the visual field of a single individual, it would be inadmissible that several persons should be at once subject to the same illusion and see the same thing.

If any feel depressed by the idea that the whole glorious edifice of historic Christianity rests, in the last resort, upon an illusion, we may say to them that they are mistaken. The history of the Christian Church does not set out from the material fact of the resurrection of Jesus, but from the faith of the disciples in the Resurrection-a faith which, in its turn, is only the form, due to their previous education, of the reawakening of their previous faith in Him who had conquered them morally. It is this faith, become immovable, which is the true foundation of Christian history; and here there is nothing to depress.

THE MINISTRY AND CURRENT SOCIAL PROBLEMS. By Rev. E. D. WEIGLE, D.D. (The Lutheran Quarterly).—The time is upon us when theological training should have much to do with an applied Christianity. The pulpit for these times must grapple with the questions which agitate society to its deepest depths. The sphere and work of the pulpit are the enunciation and maintenance of far-reaching principles, as these are designed to affect the individual, the family, the Church, society, and the State.

We are in the world and in the body; and, whilst we dare not be of the former, nor live only for the latter, the Christian character, which will give us a passport to the skies, must be achieved here. The question of paramount importance is not one of speculative philosophy, nor of revealed theology, nor yet of Christian cultus as expressed in worship, but of Christianity as applied to the various relations of lifeindividual, social, industrial, commercial, and economic. To the minds of a growing class the name of Christ stands for one thing and that of the Church for another. What God has joined together, man has, for some reason, put asunder. Ministerial leaders in right thought, proper sentiment, and equitable action, cannot afford to leave the problems of social science in the hands of agnostics, materialists, and communistic anarchists.

Anything which agitates, perplexes, or threatens the love, peace, good will, stability, and welfare of society, in its three basic institutions-the family, the Church, and the State-is a current social problem. Many of these are not modern, but they may be so termed because they have found a fruitful soil in the complex civilization of the latter half of the present century, and are producing a rich harvest of everything which disturbs and endangers individual, family, social, and national well-being.

What should be the attitude of the ministry toward these current social problems as leaders in the encouragement of right thought, the creation of better sentiment, and the agitation of benevolent action? 1. It should not be an attitude of mere denunciation. It requires neither brain, nor brawn, nor skill, to denounce an evil. Men who indulge much in mere denunciation become hobbyists, can only see one thing at a time, and jump at conclusions from an inaccurate judgment of men and

things. Extremists are never safe reformers. The honest poor are suffering much at the hands of the apostles of denunciation and despair. False leadership is the bane of modern civilization. The pessimism which is preached on all sides is calculated to produce the raven of despair in those who are suffering from present social conditions. One apostle of encouragement and hope will do more towards bringing about a correct understanding than a multitude of calamity-howlers. 2. It should be one of patient study and conscientious discrimination. The claims of God, the rights of men, and the needs of society should be much studied. The minister who knows nothing about the problems of life which are perplexing the minds and hearts of those to whom he ministers, is not qualified to apply the gospel to their varying needs. When the wild statements of pessimistic and socialistic agitators are brought to the test of study and conscientious discrimination, they are found wanting. They neither possess the sanction of history, nor can they be verified by facts. Patient study will reveal the truth that "man is not entirely the creature of his environment; that "labour is not the sole cause of value or wealth;" that it has the same right to organize and combine as capital; that strikes and lock-outs should never be encouraged, as they always inflict an unjust punishment upon a third and innocent party-the community; and that the final function of these combinations should be, not war, but arbitration. The law of Christ, which is the co-ordination of self-interest and good will, plus self-sacrifice in the interests of others, made dominant in our varied social and industrial relations, would make the many problems which now threaten social well-being, disappear, as the snow melts away under the power of incoming spring. We must, however, make this broad distinction between social science and Christianity, that, whilst of human nature and human history science can tell us much, of the grace of God, and salvation by grace, it can give us no satisfactory account. 3. It should be the attitude of Christlike helpful sympathy in the maintenance of a positive gospel as the only remedy for all the maladies which afflict society. The deepest needs of man are moral needs, and the strongest forces for his elevation are moral forces. Scientific socialism, struggling with these current social problems, renders Christianity valuable service, but it cannot furnish a remedy. This age is producing various plans for the reformation of society. All reformation which stops short of regeneration is as futile in society as in the individual. To accomplish this, the gospel of love, of life, and of peace is demanded. The reform needed is, not the destruction, but the Christianization, of society. Humanity's greatest defect is a defect of character; society's greatest defect is a want of obedience to the law of Christ. In the Christianization of society, the sentiments, theories, customs, institutions, laws, and governments of the people are to be penetrated with the Christian spirit, founded on Christian principles, and ruled by the Christian law. Christianity is more than a law; it is a spirit and a life. Not what man is, but what he may become, must be the standpoint from which we may study humanity aright, and apply the gospel to the needs of the race.

Hence, in the maintenance of a positive gospel as the only remedy for the ills which perplex society, the attitude of the ministry must be one of pronounced leadership in the Christianization of the prevailing sentiment of society. The end of Christianity is a perfect man in a perfect society.

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CURRENT CANADIAN THOUGHT.

HAS THE CHURCH LOST FAITH IN CHRIST? By S. P. ROSE, Montreal (Canadian Methodist Review).—That the Church has lost faith in Christ is one of the cries of the times, and it is important to inquire whether, and in what senses, the charge is true. The term, "the Church," is not to be understood as representing any particular organization of believers, but the aggregate of all denominations, regarded as one great organization, and united by the confession of the Headship of Christ. By "faith in Christ" is meant much more than profession. Vital faith is that which expresses itself in obedience. Obedience is the fruitage by which the character and genuineness of our faith are tested. "True faith has hands and feet, and moves forward to duty under the impulse and inspiration of love. The problem may therefore be stated in this way-Judged by her works, has the Church lost faith in Christ?

History testifies to eclipses of the faith of the Church in the past. This is evident to every student of ecclesiastical history. The epistles to the seven Churches of Asia, Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians, and Peter's warnings, recognize the possibility and the fact. A prolonged and almost total eclipse of faith occurred in pre-Reformation times; and in England, before the Wesleyan revival, the Church's faith was ready to die. We are therefore prepared for the possibility of an eclipse of faith in our own days. And candour will compel us to admit the existence of damaging and lamentable evidences of the absence of a strong, vigorous faith in Jesus Christ on the part of His Church. Take as an illustration the attitude of the Church, in many quarters, toward moral and social reform, temperance movements, the labour problem, political corruption, oppression of the poor, unrighteous legislation, etc. Let a minister speak out his whole mind, in the spirit of an old prophet, and he is often remonstrated with, and piously urged to preach the gospel, and let politics alone.

What is the cause of the half-hearted attitude of the Church on many of these problems which are dividing false men from true? Is it not lack of faith in Jesus? Is it not a practical unbelief either in His right to exercise dominion in the affairs of earth, or in His power to conquer His foes? To surrender politics, business, and a large portion of the social life of the nation to mammon; to say piously and contentedly, "This world lieth in the arms of the wicked one," as though that were a Divine decree against which it were vain to fight, is to give clear proof of absence of faith in Jesus.

But when we have admitted the sad truth that the Church's faith in Christ is weak in this direction, are we justified in concluding that the Church has lost her faith? Ecclesiastical history teaches us that the inspiration of the early Church, in the power of which she won such splendid victories, and endured such severe persecutions, was the confident expectation that Jesus Christ would speedily return to earth. That Jesus should triumph and reign in the universal spread of righteousness, through the ministry of the Church, was not, so far as we can interpret the sacred writings, the belief of the apostolic Church. As the years went by, faith in the speedy return of the Lord, in bodily presence, became weaker, and in that sense the Church may be said to have lost her faith, nor has she ever wholly recovered it. Gradually, another conviction seems to have arisen in men's hearts-a conviction that Jesus was to establish His kingdom upon earth in the triumph of righteousness, and that the instrument for the accomplishment of this great purpose was the Church. This truth, however, soon assumed a corrupt form. The Headship of Christ was interpreted to mean the headship of the Church, and the evils of papal interference

with national, civil, social, and personal liberties became so intolerable that, in the good providence of God, the Reformation occurred. But, in throwing off the perverted form of the Kingship of Jesus on earth, Protestantism, in large measure, threw overboard the truth which Romanism had corrupted. And so for centuries the doctrine that Jesus is King of earth, that it is His right to rule in all the affairs of this life, has been driven into the background, in part because that section of the Church which held it has abused it, and in part because the Protestant Church has buried it deep down under the doctrine of "other-worldliness."

It is hard to lose what one does not possess, and ecclesiastical history does not show a period when this faith in Christ was held in a purer form or by a larger section of the Church than to-day. Much of the talk about the Church's lost faith is an illustration of the almost universal tendency to idealize the past. There is no evidence of a stronger faith in some bygone golden age. Each age has had its own doubts; but that the Church of to-day occupies a less advantageous position than the Church of the past, that her faith is less vigorous, or her piety less practical, is more than the testimony of history warrants us in believing. The truth is, that the Church never so intelligently believed in Christ as she does to-day. That there is a weakening of faith in dogmatic forms; that interrogation marks are arising in men's minds regarding the value of a good deal of the ecclesiastical machinery in which we hitherto have been disposed to trust; that with the growth of intelligence there is a distinct abandonment of beliefs and practices which bygone days regarded as notes of godliness, is patent to all observers. But if there is any fact more plain than another, it is that Christ is a greater and brighter reality to this age than to the ages immediately preceding it. Those who are familiar with the religious literature of our time are impressed with the number of books dealing with the life and teachings of Jesus, that are now issuing from the press. They all indicate a desire to get into proper relations of knowledge with the real Christ. No theology will survive the critical spirit of this age which does not assign to Christ the place which belongs to Him as the ultimate Authority, as the supreme Teacher, as the Saviour of the world.

The Church never believed in Christ so sincerely, so heartily, so unreservedly, as to-day. She is believing in Christ with a growing confidence which will, when the occasion demands it, express itself in deeds of sacrifice and service more heroic and unselfish than the world has hitherto witnessed.

ANTHROPOLOGY UNDERLYING REDEMPTION. By A. C. COURTICE, M.A., B.D. (Canadian Methodist Review).—Psychology is the science of mind; anthropology is the science of man. Man is a more comprehensive and more scriptural basis for studying the theme of redemption than mind. There is an anthropology underlying sin. Is the nature of sin psychological (mental) exclusively, or ethical (moral) exclusively, or both, or wider than both, being physical as well? Did the first sin seriously affect the essential elements of manhood, or did it leave them perfectly intact, and simply weakened in their action or deteriorated in their condition? Is the work of Divine grace in the man psychological (mental) exclusively, or ethical (moral) exclusively, or both, or wider than both, being physical as well? The answer is, that both the work of sin and the work of grace are anthropological, i.e. they concern the entire man in all his parts.

The anthropology underlying redemption is partly racial and partly individual. What is racial is not only universal, but also absolute or unconditioned; while, on the contrary, that which is individual is conditioned, is founded in true probational conditions, and therefore necessitates personal responsibility. The racial sin would

have materially interfered with probational conditions; but racial redemption intervenes from the first, and restores probational conditions. The racial redemption is antagonistic to narrow views as to operations of grace here, or its results hereafter. It is opposed to the teaching that only some are effectively visited by Divine grace, and opposed to the view that only a few will be saved. In view of the racial redemption, "total depravity" is beyond human apprehension. It is not a scriptural term or idea. The race is not totally depraved, for it has been a redeemed race from the time that it sinned in Adam; and the individual is not totally depraved, for the racial redemption holds him in a probation of grace. The term, "total depravity," cannot be used without being half explained away and apologized for. All the total depravity that exists is man's insufficiency for his own salvation.

The

Do spirit (pneuma), soul (psuche), and body (soma) represent three natures? Delitzsch stands for trichotomy, and Weiss for dichotomy. Delitzsch, however, makes too much of the trichotomy implying three natures in man. Weiss, on the other hand, makes too little of the trichotomy, for there is a trichotomy of function and life in man. Scripture language favours dichotomy of nature, but trichotomy of function, the latter necessitating the three terms-pneuma, psuche, and soma. soma, the body, is easily determined. Human life is threefold in its manifestation, viz. apprehending, regulating, and acting. The apprehending life is in the senses; the regulating life is in the nerves, especially the nerve-centres; the acting life is in a mechanical combination of muscles, bones, joints, and vital organs. Psuche, or soul, is used in the New Testament in two senses, a lower and a higher. In the lower meaning it designates merely the life which animates the body, and distinguishes man and the animals from lifeless nature. In the higher meaning it is the personal life; it is identified with the inner man, the ego, and partakes of its indestructibility. Perception answers to the power of sensation; judgment answers to the regulating power of nerves; and emotion answers to the appetites and instincts. Fneuma designates the immortal man in a higher life still, in Divine origin and nature, function and action. Here intuition answers to perception, conscience to judgment, and will to emotion. It is intuition that grasps the revelation of God as truth. It is conscience that grasps the revelation as duty. It is the will that puts into execution the truth that has been translated into duty.

The Pneuma Hagios, or Holy Spirit, works through the human pneuma. The pneuma elements-intuition, conscience, and will-receive directly the things of the Spirit of God. Psuche elements and soma elements are not able to do so. Sin began in the pneuma, the spirit. It began when the spirit was disturbed in its relation to God, its true Life-centre and Source. Suspicion of God's love and wisdom were the beginning of sin. The intuition in man failed to hold the truth of God's love; the conscience failed to interpret the truth into duty; and the will willed the man out of God. Evil, therefore, may be defined as the product of the will that wills itself out of God. Then the pneuma elements fail to be life-determining. The psuche and soma now determine themselves, which they were never intended to do; and the result is the sarkikos anthropos-the carnal man. The sarx, or flesh, is not an entity or essence in the human nature to be eradicated, but a condition of the whole human nature to be changed. This carnal condition of man constitutes human depravity.

The general view of sin, from the standpoint of anthropology, may be stated thus. Sin is psychological in its radical nature; it is spiritual (i.e. it is in the pneuma); it is the failure of the pneuma to be life-determining; it is death to the pneuma, because it is out of relation to God, the Source of its life. It is, therefore, a fundamental disturbance of the human constitution. Then sin is ethical in its results. Without