to be overcome, exerting an influence as constant as the law of gravitation, and giving the greatest advantage to reactionists, and discouragement to the progressive pastor. Yet it takes no more repetitions to establish a good habit than a bad one, and if a habit of reaching every member with an appeal for each benevolence were fixed, with the habit of expecting a proper response, and withal a habit of emulation, such as Paul tried to inculcate among the Greeks, the work could be done easily by all, and would be done constantly by nine tenths of those who now fail. But why have our people not formed better habits? Largely because they have been told what to do, and then have not been called to account for the way of doing their work, or whether it was done at all. Missionary collectors are appointed; nobody asks whether every member has been appealed to, nobody looks after the standard of the contributions, and only a general report of the aggregate is made, which may look well enough to the unthinking. Each board now acts alone, seeking to make its own impression on the Church. The result is that seven different presentations, each on the theory of its being the one of greatest importance, and made in a way tending to dissipate and confuse the attention, and by mutual neutralization diminish the general impression. They should act as a unit, and so make a cumulative impression. A good way would be for the different secretaries to prepare in concert a circular stating concisely and forcibly the nature and extent of the common obligation, and the vow of each member on joining the Church to contribute thereto according to ability-stating the nature and extent of the work of each, and consequently the extent of the claim to go with a subscription-card, having a place for cach cause, and send this to every charge to be presented to every member of the Church. Then a system of reporting should be devised; this could readily be done by putting it in the order of exercises at the monthly concert for missions. Let the report give the whole number of members, and a fair estimate of the number of friends in the congregation in sympathy with these things. After saying that cards and circulars have been sent to every one, report the number of responses, with the grade of each contribution, classed by amounts: and finally the amount resulting to each benevolence, and how much it averages per member for the Church. This wi.. bring out speeches from the best friends of the benevolences, and suggest the way for securing responses from others before the next meeting. Each coming report will waken curiosity and interest, and tend to the formation of systematic and generous habits of giving. The number of contributors should be reported to the Annual Conference, classed under different standards. The Newark Conference adopted a system of standards as shown in the following form of the report required: DISTRICT.. CHARGE. Amount $...... $...... Pastor. These reports to the Conferences should be tabulated so as to show the degree of progress toward a proper contribution from every member in every part of the Church, and where efforts at improvement is most needed. It is surprising what an effect reiterated reports will have on the habits when systematically made and brought home to those concerned. It is as important to establish a system of minima as to get a contribution from every one. Every pastor who so presents the benevolences as to produce conviction has many a one coming to him and asking, "How much do you think I ought to give to this cause?" The average pastor would reply, "Give all you can," which adds nothing to the inquirer's information, and is interpreted, on the one hand, by a poor laborer to mean five dollars, and on the other, by a man ten times as able, to mean twenty-five cents. If, instead of saying, "Give all you can," the pastor should say, "Take 65 cents for your minimum if you are very poor, $1 30 if you have the ability of a common laborer of ordinary prosperity, $2 60 if you have the ability of the average mechanic, or if you are better off give such sums as will proportionately correspond to your means, provided you mean to give the lowest admissible sum; but I want my people to give liberally, and not the lowest admissible sum, and if you want to give liberally do not give less than one per cent. of your income." A pastor who will thus instruct his people, and show his sympathy with them and with his subject by adding to their offerings two per cent. of his own income, can soon have them doing full justice to all these benevolences and keep certainly within the bounds of moderation. The missionary cause, which has about a two thirds interest. in the claim of the seven collections combined, would be much the gainer by admitting a report on the other six at every monthly concert, and the meeting itself would be made more interesting and effective. A season of special prayer for God's blessing on the offerings and on the work contributed to, should always constitute a prominent part of the exercises. Thus a little change in our system, introduced and improved by experience, would not be many years in adding another million to present receipts, and calling out the prayers of the Church for the work with tenfold the present power. Then could we enter and occupy, more nearly as we should, the mighty and opening West, the needy but rising South, and the whitening harvest of the world. ART. VIII. SYNOPSIS OF THE QUARTERLIES AND OTHERS OF THE HIGHER PERIODICALS. American Reviews. AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN AND ORIENTAL JOURNAL, January, 1883. (Chicago, Ill.) 1. On the Interpretation of the Early Mythologies of Greece and India; by F. G. Fleay, A.M. 2. Indian Migrations, as Evidenced by Language; by Horatio Hale. 3. Native Races of Colombia, S. A.; by E. G. Barney. 4. Ancient Village Architecture in America-Indian and Mound Builders' Villages; by S. D. Peet, editor. 5. Description of an Ancient Aztec Town in New Mexico: by W. H. A. Reed. 6. Specimen of the Chumeto Language; by Albert S. Gatschet. 7. Mound Joliet; by O. H. Marshall. BIBLIOTHECA SACRA, January, 1883. (Andover.)-1. Proposed Reconstruction of the Pentateuch; by Rev. Edwin C. Bissell, D.D. 2. The Conception EKKλŋola in the New Testament; by Prof. E. Benj. Andrews. 3. Positivism as a Working System; by Rev. F. H. Johnson. 4. The Argument from Christian Experience for the Inspiration of the Bible; by Rev. Frank H. Foster, Ph.D. 5. On some Textual Questions in the Gospel of John; by Henry Hayman, D.D. School-Life of Walafried Strabo; translated by Prof. J. D. Butler, Ph.D. 7. Some Notes on recent Catacomb Research and its Literature; by Rev. Prof. Scott. 6. The CHRISTIAN QUARTERLY REVIEW, January, 1883. (Columbia, Mo.)-1. Worldliness in the Church; by J. T. Toof. 2. The Distinctive Peculiarities of the Disciples; by J. Z. Tyler. 3. The Foreknowledge of God; by John Tomline Walsh. 4. God Every-where; by G. R. Hand. 5. A Duty of Christian Parents; by J. W. Ellis. 6. The Philosophy of Pain-Hell; by Thomas Munnell. 7. Creation and Evolution; by G. T. Carpenter. 8. Will Morality Secure Eternal Life? by George E. Dew. 9. A Kingdom That Cannot be Moved; by H. Christopher. JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY, January, 1883. (New York.)-1. The Arguments for the Being of God; by Prof. George P. Fisher, D.D., LL.D. 2. Christianity and Social Science; by Washington Gladden, D.D. 3. Revelation; by Prof. George T. Ladd, D.D. 4. The Incarnation and Modern Thought; by A. J. F. Behrends, D.D. 5. Mind and Matter, their Immediate 6. The Spiritual Life, a Relation; by President John Bascom, D.D., LL.D. LUTHERAN QUARTERLY, January, 1883. (Gettysburg.)-1. The Rise of the Epis- PRINCETON REVIEW, March, 1883. (New York.)-1. The Utah Problem; by Henry Randall Waite. 2. A New Experiment in Education; by Prof. Felix Adler. 3. St. Paul; by Rev. Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. 4. The Hidden Heart; by the late Prof. Tayler Lewis, L.H.D. 5. Convict Labor and the Labor Reformers; by Hon. A. S. Meyrick. 6. American Manufactures: by Francis A. Walker, LL.D. 7. The Antagonisms Between Hinduism and Christianity; by Samuel H. Kellogg, D.D. UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY, January, 1883. (Boston.)-1. Scripture Exposition: by O. D. Miller, D.D. 2. Drifts in Religious Thought; by Rev. H. I. Cushman. 3. The Necessity of a Change in the Language of Our Creed; by Rev. E. C. Sweetser, D.D. 4. The Attractive and Triumphant Cross; by A. J. Patterson, D.D. 5. A New System of Philosophy; by Rev. S. S. Hebberd. 6. The Catacombs of Rome: Their Teachings of Doctrine, Ritual, etc., (Part Third:) by Rev. A. B. Grosh. 7. True and False Ideas of Holiness; by Rev. A. G. Rogers. English Reviews. LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW, January, 1883. (London.)—1. The Social Science Association. 2. The Relation of Kant to Speculative Philosophy. 3. Charity in the Early Church. 4. William Law. 5. Recent French Historical Literature. 6. Egypt. 7. Evolutionary Ethics. 8. The Doctrine of the Spirit in the Corinthian Epistles. LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW, January, 1883. (New York.)-1. Archbishop Tait and the Primacy. 2. Progress and Poverty. 3. Private Life of Cardinal Mazarin. 4. Pawnbroking. 5. Sir Archibald Alison's Autobiography. 6. Corea. 7. American Novels. 8. Was the Egyptian War Necessary? 9. The True Position of Parties. INDIAN EVANGELICAL REVIEW, January, 1883. (Calcutta.)-1. The Education of the Aborigines; by Rev. A. Campbell. 2. The Bengali Mussulmans and Christian Effort among them; by Rev. H. Williams, C.M.S. 3. Mussulman-Bengali. 4. The State of Hinduism at the Rise of Buddhism; by the Editor. 5. A Lady's Testimony to the Fiji Mission; by Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E. 6. The Education of the Aborigines.-II; by Rev. A. Campbell. 7. Muhammad Missari on Sufism, with Introductory Note; by Rev. E. M. Wherry. 8. Missionary Reminiscences of 1882; by the Editor. 9. The Mission Work: Principles and Methods; by Rev. W. W. Howland. German Reviews. THEOLOGISCHE STUDIEN UND KRITIKEN, (Theological Essays and Reviews.) 1883. Second Number.-Essays: 1. PROF. A. DORNER, of Wittenberg, The Nature of Religion. 2. RYSSEL, A Letter of George, Bishop of the Arabians, to the Presbyter, Jesus. Thoughts and Remarks: 1. GRIMM, Luther's Translation of the Old Testament Apocryphas. 2. USTERI. The Original of the Marburg Articles in Fac-simile, rediscovered in the State Archives at Zurich. Reviews: 1. LECHLER, Analecta ad Fratrum Minorum Historiam. 2. FELICE, Lambert Daneau, His Life, Works, and Unpublished Letters; reviewed by EBRARD. 3. STADE, Journal for Old Testament Science; reviewed by SMEND. Miscellanea: 1. Programme for the Society of the Hague for the Defense of the Christian Religion for the year 1882. 2. Programme of the Tyler Theological Society in Harlem for the year 1883. ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR KIRCHENGESCHICHTE. (Journal for Church History.) Edited by THEODORE BRIEGER. Vol. 5. Fourth Number. 1883. Investigations and Essays. 1. HEIDENHEIMER, Correspondence of Sultan Bajazet II. with Pope Alexander VI. 2. BRIEGER, Complement to the History of the Reformation from Italian Archives and Libraries. Analecta: 1. LOOFS, The Surname of the Apostle of the Germans, together with a Communication concerning Boniface. 2. Miscellanea, by ROHRICHT, KOCH, and KARL MÜLLER. The first article in the "Theological Essays," by Prof. A. Dorner, of Wittenberg, on the "Nature of Religion," is in two divisions a critical one, treating of the various views entertained at the present time, and a second one, which presents the leading traits of the "Nature of Religion" as the results |