function or constancy of nature will cease just at the point where they have at present arrived.

ous.

Stress has been laid upon the department of zoology in contending for the principle that analogy is properly determined by the function of the agent. For in this part of nature there is the clear action of life working by differentiation and integration to form similar structures which effect their purposes through similar functions. The mutual interaction between energy and material can be more closely traced in the animal kingdom than perhaps any other part of nature. The causes operating act in shorter periods, and are more direct in their work. While in every part of nature there is a plurality of causes at work, which renders their specific effects subtle and hard to trace, yet in animal life we can get a clearer view of their interaction, and the work of design is more conspicuBut the same principles obtain in every part of the universe which has come under man's control; and to the degree that he has gained the mastery he has done this by the same methods of investigation and corroborated by similar proofs gained through observation and experiment. The past has been fruitful in progress by adding to that which is already known through a priori conviction that what is yet to be discovered bears an exact resemblance to that which is already known. For all truth must harmonize because each element is a constituent of the same organized system. The facts of nature are spread out in a book writ both large and small. The large, the obvious, can be seen by him who has eyes. That which is writ small can be deciphered by him who uses the magnifying glasses of patience, perseverance, and sagacity. The facts are all patent to him who has eyes to see and ears to hear. The command of God to every inquirer into the secrets of nature is as direct, if not as imperative, as to him who wishes to know the truths of morals: "He that hath ears to hear let him hear." The pulsations of nature's voice constitute "the music of the spheres." These are the different members of the scientific system. Each revolves in its own

orbit, attracting without interfering with all its neighbors; having its individual functions but united with all others; suns, plants and asteroids to form the universe, the encyclopedia of knowledge. He who will open his eyes and keep his ears attuned will find everywhere the evidences of that common law so grandly sung by Cleanthes.* "The one common ordinance of Zeus, the Living One, which runs through all things, both great and small." He, though a heathen and destitute of the true revelation, yet by his reverential spirit may put to shame those atheists and agnostics who cannot, or, rather, will not see God in the universe so wondrously adorned with beauty and truth. They are self condemned in their efforts to expel the Maker from the house which he has so architecturally constituted and while professing themselves to be wise demonstrate their own folly.

* Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus, 11-12. κοινὸν λόγον, ὃς διὰ πάντων φοιτᾷ.

VI.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY ?*

"The Essence of Christianity," or "What is Christianity?" is the problem which commands the attention of theologians of all schools to-day. The literature on this subject on both continents is growing annually. The transition through which the Church is passing in its theological views necessarily raises the question, What is temporal and what is eternal in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? How much of the traditional Christian system may be given up without surrendering the Christ; how much must be kept intact to maintain Christianity? This question can only be answered in the light of the Christianity of the New Testament, which in some form or other is normative for all protestant theologians. Yet, even here, theological lines begin to diverge in determining what is the normative Christianity of the New Testament. Is it the Christianity of Jesus, or of Paul, or of all the New Testament writings which in essentials are said to agree? These differences of interpretation are the occasion for works like "The Essence of Christianity " by Harnack, the numerous replies to these popular lectures, and Wernle's "Beginnings of Christianity."

"A Reply to Harnack on the Essence of Christianity." Lectures delivered in the summer of 1901 before students of all Faculties in the University of Greifswald by Hermann Cremer, D.D., LL.D., Ordinary Professor of Theology. Translated from the Third German Edition by Bernhard Pick, Ph.D., D.D. Funk & Wagnalls Co., N. Y. 1903. Pages 268. Price $1.00, net.

"The Beginning of Christianity," by Paul Wernle, Professor Extraordinary of Modern Church History at the University of Basel. Translated by the Rev. G. A. Bienemann, M.A., and edited with an Introduction, by the Rev. W. D. Morrison, LL.D. Vol. 1. "The Rise of the Religion." G. P. Putnam's Sons, N. Y. 1903. Pages 389. Net $2.50.

Harnack's lectures have been a storm-center for theological controversy the last five years in Germany. Eleven books have been written in reply in the German language, and twenty-four books or articles in other languages. Articles have been written in opposition or in its defence in forty-nine German periodicals and fourteen German newspapers. Even four Roman Catholics and one Jew felt constrained to answer it. But this ephemeral literature is only a popular presentation of scholarly discussions and conclusions since the days of Baur. He turned the historian's attention to the apostolic and patristic periods. Though his conclusions have been largely rejected by the scholars of this generation, his method of research has generally prevailed. Monumental and epochmaking works on early Christianity since Baur's "Christianity of the First Three Centuries" have been Ritschl's "Origin of the Old Catholic Church," Weizsäcker's "Apostolic Age,' Pfleiderer's "Primitive Christianity," and Harnack's "History of Dogma." In the department of biblical theology we have Weiss' "New Testament Theology" and works by Beyschlag, Wendt, Holtzman and others. We need but mention the exhaustive studies in New Testament introduction and in the History of New Testament times to show how all theological interest centers in the Apostolic Age and how theologians are ultimately seeking an answer to the question, What is Christianity?

With Cremer's reply to Harnack and Wernle's "Beginnings of Christianity," both in English translation, before us, we shall try to define the different methods of treatment, viewpoints, and conclusions, which divide the representatives of the liberal and conservative theological schools of our day. Germany may still be called the theological school-house of the world, yet there are men of independent scholarship in Great Britain and the United States. These men are not simply echoes of German thought but are living voices which are heard with respect in German universities. The Essence of Christianity," by Professor Brown, of Union Theological

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Seminary, is a late product of American scholarship which will be universally recognized. It is a hopeful sign that every civilized land furnishes opportunities for independent research and that scholars of all lands are coöperating in the solution of the great questions concerning God and man.

We shall consider Harnack and Wernle as types of the liberal school, while Cremer is an inflexible representative of pietistic conservatism. The fact that Harnack recognized the latter's criticism of the Essence of Christianity by responding to it in an article, proves the high regard with which the Berlin professor held the late professor of Greifswald. Cremer's scholarship was profound and farreaching; his piety an influence for good in the Christian Church of Germany. The same words of appreciation may also be spoken concerning Harnack and Wernle. Yet in their intellectual comprehension of Christianity and in their treatment of the New Testament, Harnack and Cremer are almost diametrically opposed. To define the points of difference we shall consider first, the method of treatment; second, the essence of the Gospel.

1. The Method of Treatment.-Both Harnack and Wernle apply the historico-critical method to the New Testament writings for the discovery of the Gospel of Jesus, which they presuppose to be the essence of Christianity. This method Cremer unconditionally rejects. With this disagreement in the beginning of their respective studies, the lines of difference diverge until Cremer concludes that Harnack and he stand for two distinct religions. "It is a battle of one religion with another religion. Indeed we fight a battle in which no truce is possible. Victory for either side means destruction for the other."

To find the Christianity of Jesus, the historical school believes it necessary to separate kernel from shell in the gospels. The message of Jesus is set in the transient framework of his age and contains temporal limitations which must be separated from the eternal realities. It presupposes that Jesus and his disciples were bounded in their feelings, thoughts and judg