them when pressed by painful difficulties, and to contribute to their moral and material welfare as he may have opportunity. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" is the peerlessly sublime, beautiful, merciful, and far-reaching ethic of the New Testament.

These basal principles of the ethics of Christianity reach their development in the individual through the operation of the life which is spiritually begotten in him who gives himself to the Christ. When one ceases to live to himself, the will of Christ, to whom he surrenders himself, becomes the law of his life. He lives no longer to do what his lower nature craves, but what Christ has commanded. He shows his new-born love for Christ not so much by rapturous professions of affection as by "keeping his commandments." He submits his spirit and conduct to the test given by his Lord in these significant words: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." Hence his acts, not his words-the uniform completeness of his obedience, not his occasional and exceptional services-determine his character. For if he be a true disciple he does "whatsoever" his Lord requires.

Thus the data of Christian ethics are found not alone in the intuitions of the reason and the voices of the conscience, but also and chiefly in the moral precepts of Christ. These proceed in the soul not alone from its original sense of moral obligation, but also from the love of Christ, dominant over its affections and constantly impelling it into action pleasing to the object of its love. This affection does not aim at one particular ethical act while disregarding another, but it grasps eagerly and at once at every known duty, seeking to bring the whole life into perfect agreement with the mind of its adored Lord. Having crucified the selfism which once held a tyrannical scepter over its volitions and actions, it "minds the things of the Spirit." The will of Christ is the law of its spiritual and ethical life.

Taking this view of the spiritual life as the fountain of the ethical life in a believer, one distinctly sees their interdependence. The latter cannot exist with any thing like completeness without the former. Neither can the former be retained without the latter, because its principle is antagonistic to the selfism of the unethical man. Love and selfism are essentially and eternally hostile forces. Where one lives the other dies. He who is living to Christ cannot be living to himself. Neither can he whose heart is governed by selfism be at the same time a servant of Christ. On this ground Jesus said of the covetousness which breeds devotion to the inordinate pursuits of wealth, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon;” and John, speaking of that love of the world which seeks its gratification in amusements, pursuits, and practices which tend to feed the growth of selfish appetites, desires, and ambitions, said, "If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him." These, and the kindred say. ing of Christ, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple," are only varied statements of the eternal antagonism, the mutually expulsive qualities, of selfism and love. A man's choice, therefore, lies between that selfism which is rebellion against

God and that self-crucifixion which surrenders the soul to Christ as his living temple. Between these two God and the nature of things have placed an everlasting bridge of inhibition.

Yet, despite the evident impossibility of uniting selfism with loyalty to God, men have always been found foolishly striving to accomplish this impossible task. Even among the twelve whom Jesus chose to be his companions and pupils one was found who, while wearing the robes of discipleship and affecting friendship for his Master, was cherishing selfish dreams of possible gains from the secular kingdom he supposed the Saviour was about to set up. Openly professing friendship to Christ, he was at heart a traitor and a thief. And in the pentecostal period, when thousands were sacrificing their selfism at the shrine of heavenly love, two pretended disciples sought to share the benefits of faith while retaining a measure of selfism which led them into hypocrisy, covetousness, and lying. The apostolical epistles furnish abundant evidence of this shrinking from entire self-renunciation in all the primitive Churches. Ecclesiastical history proves that through all subsequent ages this deadly conflict between "the faith which works by love" and the self-will which is at enmity with God and human purity have been constantly maintained by a minority in the Church. And to-day, notwithstanding the triumphs and rapid progress of Christian principles, those ancient antinomians have many successors who are vainly striving to harmonize much love of the world with a profession of love for Christ, and very toilsome service in the ⚫courts of mammon with more or less of apparent zeal for the diffusion of the Gospel. The unprecedented opportunities for the rapid accumulation of great fortunes which are afforded by the abounding resources of our country and by the business conditions which the modern inventions of steam and electricity have created, tend to swell the number of those who, while wearing the livery of Christ, are governed by the selfism which is the chief obstacle to the triumph of his kingdom. An old saying, cited by Wesley, affirms the simple fact that 'as money increases so does the love of it," and that unethical love, as the inspired penman teaches, is "the root of all evil." Men who "will be rich" are sure to fall into the manifold temptations and into the immoral practices of those who walk not by the law of the Holy Spirit but by the unholy spirit of selfishness. That spirit moves them to become oppressors of other men, to deliberately study how they may enrich themselves even though they may thereby prevent their fellow-men earning a livelihood. It is the inspiration of those unprincipled combinations which acquire gains by inflicting losses upon others. It is also the parent of those methods of bribery by which legislatures, political managers, and electors are shockingly corrupted. Further, this same selfish spirit begets social habits and sympathy with those popular amusements which are hostile to the spirit and practice of piety. Thus by these and other modes of action selfism, especially when working in men professing Christianity, lowers the ethical tone of society and chills the spiritual aspirations of the churches which recognize them.

After what has been said above of the essential antagonism between this unethical conduct and the spirit of Christ it seems scarcely necessary to re-affirm the impossibility of harmonizing it with the Christian life. He who knows the human heart has settled this solemn question by such declarations, often repeated, as, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?" If, therefore, a man obey the dictates of selfism, whether by covetousness, by oppression, by love of the world, or by any other supremely selfish habit, he thereby demonstrates that he is the servant of selfism and not the servant of Christ. Instead of walking after the Spirit he walks after the flesh. Sin, not Christ, reigns in him, for he obeys selfism, which is the very essence of sin, "in the lusts thereof." If Christ reigned in him his soul would not lust after the things of the flesh, as he manifestly does, for "they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof." (R. V.)

That selfism is at all represented in the modern Christian Church is, yea, it must be, a cause of grief to every truly spiritual mind. He grieves because this vice sadly mars the character of its victim, who, despite his subjugation to selfism, is not unfrequently endowed with some, perhaps many, attractive qualities. He is grieved for the Church also, because the evil reputation of her members diminishes her influence over impenitent men, who are apt to say in response to her appeals, "If that man is a Christian we are safe, for his speculative transactions are so sharp, so piti-, less, and so unjust that we, though not professing personal piety, would not be guilty of them." If a selfish professor of Christ be given to worldly society and to attendance on popular sensational amusements, men of the world, knowing by the effect of such entertainments on themselves that they minister to tastes and feelings contrary to the require ments of the Gospel, question the sincerity of all religious professions, and make the inconsistency of such world-loving professors a ground for doubting whether there be such a thing as that spiritual life which Christianity teaches.

Of course, there are false conclusions deduced from premises which do not contain them. Spiritual and ethical truth is not proven false by being "held in unrighteousness," but its influence over men is seriously minified when the lives of those who profess and teach it openly contradict it. In the plan of Christ the ethical fruit of his Gospel is designed to be the means of convincing mankind of its divinity; when the " good works "the ethical purity-which are its necessary fruit and which are impossible in the natural man are visible to the ungodly, they are moved, says its Author, to "glorify your Father which is in heaven." But when belief in this Gospel is associated with an evidently selfish life men despise its professors and are encouraged to doubt its divinity. And if such unethical living is tolerated in her members by the Christian Church what less can she expect than to be shorn of her power to win the world to righteousness? Is it not undeniable that the measure of the Church's

power over mankind is limited by the visible moral qualities of her members' lives? Let the world see that her teaching generally, if not uniformly, produces men who are models of honesty, uprightness, benevolence, purity, self-control, mental serenity, and contempt for every social habit and amusement that makes for unrighteousness, and they will recognize in her a mighty principle which is the source of exalted character. They will then be attracted to her; but if they see in her treatment of unethical members that she approves men who are greedy of gain, oppressors of the poor, unjust, wrathful, restless, lovers of questionable pleasures, despisers of their inferiors, or spotted with other unethical habits, they will not be attracted to her fellowship, but repelled from it. Beyond all successful contradiction, therefore, if the Church is to complete that conquest of mankind for Christ to which she is called by her supreme Head, she must keep her garments free from the stains of every practice which is not the normal growth of her spiritual life. As with the individual so with the Church, her life cannot flourish unless she keep herself free from ethical corruption.

There is much in the spirit and practices of the present age that calls on the Christian Church to gird herself anew for a stern conflict with the spirit of selfism, which was never more aggressively active than it is today. Is not the ethical corruption of the times appalling? In our political life is not bribery struggling to become universally dominant? In the financial world are not gigantic speculative methods, which are utterly regardless of ethical considerations, struggling to exclude the laws of justice, the spirit of human brotherhood, and the principles of honor from commercial and business transactions? In society are we not confronted with the intrusion into Christian circles of practices once generally rejected by the Churches as hurtful to spirituality? Is not the popular respect for law diminishing, and a spirit of lawlessness tending toward anarchy increasing? And within the Churches themselves do we not discern the activity of a disposition to doubt the truth which is the rock on which Christianity is founded? To these inquiries even a candid optimist must give an affirmative response. These evils do abound. What then? Discouragement? Nay! not discouragement, but a renewal of vigorous work for Christ, a stronger assault on the unethical spirit which if not checked must sap the spiritual life of the Christian Church. Her mission is not to be silenced by the satire of her inconsistency, but to overcome this deadly assault upon her spiritual life which the world is now making, not with skeptical weapons only, but also by stealthily sapping her ethical convictions. She can accomplish this grand mission if she will be true to God and to herself. But to do it she must be alert. She must return to her first principles. She must lift anew her standard of deep spirituality, to be demonstrated by pure ethics in the life, thereby discrediting all professions of spirituality not productive of unimpeachable cthic fruit.

PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION.

LEADERSHIP is a quality for whose exercise there is always room in the busy centuries. Every great movement of human history, from the critical stand-point, has centered around some towering personality whose genius for command the age has recognized and obeyed. Whether in government, letters, ecclesiastics, or other department of activity, these dominant spirits have walked in the van, and have given direction to the march of the generations. In recognition of such a feature of human life Milton called Scipio "the height of Rome." Emerson has also declared that "an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man, as monachism, of the hermit Anthony; the Reformation, of Luther; Quakerism, of Fox; Methodism, of Wesley; abolition, of Clarkson." The study of history as a consequence becomes for the broader minded a scrutiny of individual living, an inquiry into the springs of personal action, and a susceptibility to the magnetic influence which many of the shadowy leaders of the past still exert from the printed page. So to study individuals and to feel the sway of their commanding personalities is rightly to study history. Nor is it always difficult to discover the meritorious qualities or their fortunate combination found in the persons of the world's great chieftains. It is true that the requirements for leadership have varied with circumstances and times. Different departments of human thought and industry will always call for diverse elements of strength-as the senate, the battlefield, the academy, the mart, the pulpit-and each will have its own estimate of sufficiency. The varying ages have also demanded different requirements for leadership, whether the days of Homeric legend, the Jewish dispensation, the times of knight-errantry, or the modern epoch. Yet, in general, positive marks of strength are traceable in the Hellenic warrior, the priest of Israel, the Crusader, or the English king, who dominated men. Some qualities inhere in universal leadership. The world's master-spirit is always so self-centered as to fear no dislodg ment, is a stranger to alarm, knows how to bend men and circumstances, is resourceful in the barren desert, and ever sees the bow of hope spanning the sky. If nature has been chary in the distribution of these traits, yet on a few she has bestowed such qualities with bountiful hand. Whoever has received them as nature's dower has been rich in the prime qualities for command, and unless held in check by overmastering circumstances, as "some mute inglorious Milton" of history, has found his scepter. Moses and Paul thus helped to shape human thought and destiny; Hannibal and Peter the Hermit, Gregory the Great, Richelieu and Cromwell, Copernicus and Pascal, Patrick Henry and Alexander Hamilton; and among women such regnant spirits as Zenobia, Joan of Arc, and Susannah Wesley. A few in every land and age have there been; and wherever we look we see their stately forms like mountain peaks outlined against the sky.