cannot see, God and the human soul. When Herbert Spencer allows himself to see nothing but animal man, his conclusions will apply to man and society, but not necessarily to God and the invisible. Now, if these eminent scientists would add to their present accumulation of facts the facts gleaned by other observers and experimenters, the facts, for instance, of religious experience and Christian consciousness, they would modify their conclusion and become princes of science and philosophy.

From this introduction we may truly say that Dr. Townsend evolved an address of singular beauty and thrilling power. It was a splendid defense of Bible truth, and with a master hand. laid bare the limping fallacies and gaping arguments of those who would hound on science to question, sneer at, and attack Bible truths. It certainly gave unbounded satisfaction to many that were groping for light in the confusing labyrinth that skeptical scientists had prepared for them, and raised many an ardent Christian's soul from a state of fear and anxiety to a condition of perfect confidence that all is right and safe in the hands of God, whose works and words are destined to outlive and overwhelm the sneers and doubts of those who, knowing but little of this great scheme of creation, assume to know all, and put limits to God's own power. We would gladly quote more of the lecturer's own words were there time and space, but yield to the warning that we must now sum up the general results of this unique conference, and give an epitome of some of the most patent convictions that it seemed to make on the mind of those who took part in or listened to the proceedings.

In the first place we utter the convictions of all, perhaps, and certainly the loudly uttered assertions of many, that the programme was too full and the matter overdone. It was simply impossible for any one to listen to all the exercises with profit; the physical and the mental powers break down under such a continuous strain; it was like cramming for college examinations, and the moment one exercise was over it was not so much digested as crowded out to make room for a new occupant. And it is not a valid reply to this complaint that one need only take what he wants and leave the rest. Most of the visitors desired to have the whole, but found the strain. too great for their capacities. One of the most efficient workers in the conference gives it as his opinion that it would have

been much better every way had the scientific lectures been distributed through the whole time of the assembly rather than crammed into three days. And we coincide in his views, for these reasons, among others: the attendance on these lectures was very excellent when we consider that they occurred during the opening days. But they were, or ought to have been, mainly for the great body of Sunday-school workers, many of whom could not be present so long before the assembly proper commenced, and who, therefore, missed much that would have been new, interesting, and valuable to them. Had the scientific and the religious features of the assembly been blended there would have been more logical harmony in the effort to unite and harmonize the two.

It is quite certain, we think, that the idea of a scientific course of investigation in connection with Sunday-school study worked its way into popularity, and that its influence will be widely felt and not forgotten by Christian workers. The time has come when the liberty of thought and investigation granted to men in religious matters leaves them free to find their pleasures and their profit in studying the higher and more abstruse sciences, if abstruse is a proper term in these days of "vulgarization" of science, by means of practical experiments and plain talks quite comprehensible to the uninitiated. These need some one to point out the way and describe to them the regions yet unexplored. The bold attacks of a few leading scientists of the world on the prominent positions of the Christian religion have led too many to believe that this feeling is quite general among scientific men. Now it is well to have some very effective means of curing this error, for it is not true. All through the course of history nearly all the leaders in scientific investigation have been Christian men. Now and then only some noted scientist has gained an unenviable reputation by boldness rather than by a display of scientific acumen, and the opposition that he has thus evolved has induced him. to go still farther in his dangerous path, because it is so gratifying to his vanity to see his name in every journal and hear it pronounced by many lips.

But there is a host of noble names in the fore front of scientific investigation for ages whose voices all spoke praise to the Deity. If there are now Tyndalls and Huxleys, and Spencers

and Darwins, have there not been Newtons, and Galileos, and Davys, and hosts of others of firm religious faith? And were there not on the grounds of Chautauqua some of the most noted scientific men of our land, all using their knowledge and their power to show their belief in God and illustrate the beauty and harmony of his works? The very presence of these men, and the confidence with which they grappled with the augury, filled many a Christian breast with courage and secret satisfaction that God's works and words are still defended by the wisest and noblest of his children. And the crowds that gathered around the scientists and with thoughtful face and eager eye watched their every movement and listened to every word, emphatically answered the question as to the desirability and success of such teachings, and repaid the anxious heart that was to bear all the contingencies of failure.

But the Conference of Science was a success, and was voted so by the hearty thanks of the closing assembly to the man and men who made it so, and by the devoutly-sung doxology, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," to Him who gave the incense from the planting of the germ. And no sooner had the benediction of the great Teacher been invoked on the work of the past than the word went forth, "What of the future?" And the reply came, "It shall be an improvement of the past." The groves of Chautauqua shall be like those of ancient Greece, rich in the teachings of the wisest men of the land. The leaders in scientific thought shall again come here, when the year rolls around and brings to us a return of this pleasant season, to mingle their scientific knowledge and love of God with the accents of those who proclaim and teach his word as revealed through his prophets to his children. And then the very rocks and stones shall continue to testify of his marvelous works in making this earth a habitation for the children of men, and a probationary school to prepare them for the better land.

ART. IV.-CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM AS PATRONS OF CHRISTIAN ART.

THE pernicious effects of the Reformation of the sixteenth century have been a favorite subject for comment by the Catholic historians, and been deeply deplored even by some of the Church of England. The assertion is reiterated that this great intellectual and religious convulsion was the fruitful cause of the spirit of modern rationalism, which sets aside a traditional faith and boldly challenges every thing which is urged upon its acceptance. Romanism holds Protestantism directly responsible for destroying the unity of the Church, and for shivering it into a multitude of unseemly fragments. It also charges that Protestantism was greatly wanting in æsthetic susceptibility-indeed, that it was essentially iconoclastic in spirit; that it caused a fearful destruction of works of art in the times immediately following the great schisin, and that it ushered in a period of fearful art decadence. To examine the truth of these charges in so far as they concern art susceptibility and art inspiration, it will be necessary first to glance at the history of sacred art from the thirteenth century, that the condition of the public taste and the tendencies of art at the beginning of the sixteenth century may be understood.

The dawn of the revival is usually traced from the thirteenth century. The influences that had been powerful in developing that marvel of Christian art-gothic architecturewere multiplying in numbers and intensity. Before the close of this century chivalry and tournaments had been introduced even into Sweden. In Spain literature and science had awakened to a new life. The English Parliament had already been instituted. The Latins had conquered and sacked Constantinople. The weary despotism of ten centuries was yielding. Men were beginning to think and act as individuals. The occupation of Constantinople had re-established the intercourse between the East and West, and several Byzantine painters had emigrated to Germany and Italy. These were employed in the decoration of churches, chapels, and convents, and they naturally continued that traditional style that had ruled in the Orient for more than seven centuries. Few who have not

made these art-works a special study are aware how meager in treatment, how rigid in form, how repulsive in expression, and how limited in range, are the works of this period. At Pisa and Sienna these Byzantine artists had established schools, but none of their pupils yet ventured further than to copy and reproduce what was already at hand.

Nicholas Pisano (1231) first broke away from this bondage, marked out new paths, and attempted a new treatment. Feeling this inspiration, and touched with a measure of that warmth that had begun to thaw the frigidity of the centuries, Cimabue threw over his celebrated Madonna the radiance of hope, and gave to the divine Infant an expression of benignant invitation. The terrible severity that had caused the worshiper to tremble in the presence of Christ and the saints was now relaxed. "It was Cimabue's greatest glory, however, that he was the master of Giotto." The pupil carried the study of form and coloring far beyond his master's teachings. Nature had been the first instructor of this great genius while as a shepherd-boy he tended his father's flocks in the quiet valley of Vespignano. His poetical nature had, doubtless, been greatly stimulated by the companionship and writings of those immortal men-Coryphæi of their own, and towering in every age, Petrarch and Dante. His characteristic independence of thought, his exceptional freedom from the superstitions of his day, and his broad common sense, led him to adopt the best means to realize his ideals. Thus he not only greatly modified and improved the old, but did that characteristic work of true genius-gave to the world new art creations. Cimabue and Giotto were the fair dawn of that mid-day splendor of art that burst upon the world three centuries later in the matchless works of Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michael Angelo.

From the extant works of these artists it is evident that the hard, tyrannical dogmatism of the Byzantine school was then broken. In sacred art the thought had passed from a theological to a religious type. During the following century the imitators of Giotto, while yet restrained by the prevailing opinions in theology, reveal in their mode of treating religious subjects an increasing freedom. While Mariolatry is wellnigh supreme, and the Virgin is the central figure, yet the treatment now is more chaste and spiritual. The aim of the