differences and comparisons. Froebel would have the child self-active. Seeking to arouse force within-he gave ample means for self-expression. He realized that back of all things is God. But the child learns through limitations. We are dealing with the religious experience in its ideal form, "the visible institution whose mission is to hold up the Divine Ideal as the object of adoration and worship." Consider the chaos in the child's mind. From actual experience the answer of a child is quoted:

"What did you do in Sunday School today?"

"I colored birds."

We must realize the real significance of self-activity. Self-activity is not bodily action to counteract physical restlessness." On the contrary, Froebel seized upon the impulsive movements of the baby and gave them educational import. The little child's physical restlessness, Froebel seized upon and gave gave it physical aimfulness with a spiritual import. In this light we will not give the child objects because he "has a passion for touching what he sees." Rather we shall realize that if we wish the spiritual grasp to succeed the material grasp, we must do as Froebel suggests, teach the child that he cannot grasp everything he sees. When the real significance of self-activity has awakened the ideal in our hearts, we shall not have been "unmindful of the heavenly vision."

Fellowship in Thought and Prayer. By Basil Mathews and Harry Bisseker. With an Introduction by Bishop Brent. 111 pages. New York, Edwin S. Gorham, 1920.

The authors of this little volume have produced a vital book on a vital topic. The subject of fellowship is in the air. Everywhere we meet with the demand for co-operation, for association, for unity,-all of which terms denote, or at any rate connote this same idea. It is well to have the idea of religious fellowship clarified and defined. The authors lay great stress on the need of fellowship in all matters of interest to mankind. Yet for fellowship in prayer one other thing is needed, namely that this fellowship be a communion with one another that is based on our common communion with God in Christ. Here lies the ultimate principle of the unity of mankind,—of all peoples, races, and tongues, in the Kingdom of God. The authors point out that here lies the only hope of solving the vexed problems of the interrelations of the various antagonistic races and the warring nations of men.

From these facts they proceed to the religious fellowship as such. They instance fellowships, the highest of which was that of Jesus Christ and His apostles, the Church of Antioch, St. Francis of Assisi and his companions, and others, which were-first of all-fellowships in thought and prayer, and which eventuated in practical activities that have brought blessings unnumbered to all the world. They insist that absolute similarity in habits of thought, in social standing, or in character is neither possible nor desirable. The only principle of unity must be communion with God in Christ. That given, the fellowship, whether large or small, whether national or local, whether national or international, whether denominational or interdenominational, will be success, provided the members wait on God in the prayer of faith, actually seeking His guidance. The only limit set to the answer to such united prayer is the receptivity of the members of the group. Generally unanimity of thought results from such prayers; but this is not always the case. Several interesting experiences are cited, showing the practical working of the method.

The result of these fellowship meetings for prayer and prayerful discussion usually is some concerted action, whether in the church or in the

community, either for increased efficiency in any one of the various functions of the local church, or of the diocese, the province, or the national church, or for the reform of some evil in the local community or the state. Many practically helpful suggestions of objects for such united intercession are given; and the methods are fully explained.

The book is very well written, easily and delightfully read at one sitting, and is equally well adapted to use in a class or a circle. Bishop Brent has written an excellent and appreciative introduction, in which he adds what was lacking in the text, the suggestion that the larger fellowship, the communion of the saints should always be kept in view.

F. C. H. W.

The Christian Doctrine of Faith. Edited by James Hastings, D.D., New York. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1919.

This is the second volume of the series entitled "The Great Christian Doctrines" and is a work of the same general character as its predecessor, "The Christian Doctrine of Prayer," published five years ago. It is not a theological treatise, nor would it be fair to describe it as a mere compilation of sermon stuff, though it belongs in the department of homiletics. In eighteen chapters it deals systematically with various aspects of faith, bringing together under each heading appropriate excerpts from the writings of theologians, preachers, poets, novelists, philosophers, and scientists. With all this there are numerous anecdotes, judiciously chosen to illustrate the points under discussion, and the appearance of the whole is that of a carefully wrought mosaic rather than indiscriminate patchwork. The parts are complete in themselves and are arranged in logical order. Thus, the Introduction discusses the importance, the necessity, and the heroism of faith; the next three chapters are concerned with faith in one's self, faith in men, and the range of faith (in daily life, in science, in society, and in the religious life) and all this prepares the reader for the theme of Chapter V-"Faith in God."

There is a great deal of applied theology in the book, and a minimum of strict theological discussion, what there is of it being decidedly on Protestant lines and of a moderate and conservative character. A case in point is its treatment of justification, where it avoids the extremes of Protestant polemic and seeks to do justice to the place which the Church

and the sacraments have in the scheme. Liberal use is made of the works of Anglican writers including those of the Catholic school.

One feature worthy of mention is the carefully selected bibliography prefixed to each section-following the plan adopted in the earlier volume of the series-amounting in the aggregate to nearly six hundred titles of books and articles, including duplicates. Dr. Hastings thinks that the great question for all preachers, young and old alike, is materials, and this compilation and classification of the sources, apart from facilitating the reader in his study, is significant of the quality of the editor's work. He uses in the majority of cases the works of contemporary writers, noticing some that have appeared in the last few months, and thus keeps abreast of the thought of our time. He has solved the problem of materials for sermons on faith and its related subjects, and in a manner that is a vast improvement on the stereotyped lines of ordinary homiletical "helps." For this reason we commend it to the attention of our own clergy as something suggestive and helpful.

THEODORE B. FOSTER.

The Ministry of Women. A Report by a Committee appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Macmillan Co. New York. 1920.

This pamphlet is reprinted from the volume entitled "The Ministry of Women," issued in August, 1919, by S. P. C. K. Those interested in the matter and subject of its contents will find still more interest in the articles contained in theological journals, either prior to, or after this report. We are told that it represents only such investigations as are historical in character.

The attention given to the order of deaconesses prevails over any consideration of religious orders for women such as one might expect in a work of this kind. The impression consequently derived is, that historically, deaconesses antedate "nuns." Yet it is extremely doubtful whether, noting conditions and institutional developments in the early Church, sisterhoods do not bear a stronger resemblance both historically and practically to the institution of "deaconesses" here described by early writers, than to any modern order of deaconesses, so called. It would seem that by historical comparisons, modern sisterhoods and religious orders already present in the field, are the rightful heirs of such high privileges and

responsibilities as the Church has ever conceded to women, and that in attempting to define the position, rights, forms of consecration to office, and duty of women in the days of Nicarete of Bithynia, by research, we are only discovering the identical traditional position, rights, vows, and consecration to office, (call it ordination if you like) of any modern novice.

C. W. B.

The Spirit. The Relation of God and Man, considered from the Standpoint of Recent Philosophy and Science. By A. Seth Pringle-Pattison, LL.D., D.C.L., J. A. Hadfield, M.A., M.B., C. A. Anderson Scott, M.A., C. W. Emmet, B.D., A. Clutton-Brock, and Others. Edited by B. H. Streeter, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, Canon Residentiary of Hereford. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1919.

The purpose of the school of "Modern Churchmen" in their numerous efforts to reconstruct theology has been so frequently avowed that it hardly needs reassertion: but every fresh exemplification of it besides. being so much added emphasis is a progressive disclosure of the results to which it leads. This is notably true of the book now before us. The editor and his fellow contributors are deeply concerned about what they hold to be a needless impasse between the Church and the living thought of the day, and their method of ending this is to discard what they are agreed in regarding as the non-essential elements of Christianity. The Church is styled by one of them "the greatest spiritual tradition in the world's history"; but how it can be so regarded by those who would reduce its faith to a strictly naturalistic basis is not at first sight clear. The one thing which has given this spiritual tradition any vitality, the sole factor which accounts for its survival through all vicissitudes, is its stubborn adherence to the supernatural. The supreme manifestation of the supernatural is Jesus Christ. This has been consistently the Church's message. The present group of essayists have their own view of the supernatural, being willing to use the word if they may strip it of its time honored associations, but they would much prefer to abolish its use altogether. And this would seem to us the sensible thing to do. They believe that "God works only naturally" (p. 32) and the point we make just here is that if the Church had only received their enlightenment at the very beginning "the greatest spiritual tradition" aforesaid would not be a datum for either admiration or adverse criticism today, any more than