been well nigh around the world in their service, and is as consecrated in his religious service as he is uncompromising in his political duties. It was once said that with the Pilgrim Fathers "the finest of the wheat" of Puritanism came to this country. The mention of these men, of the positions which they occupy, and of the work which they have achieved, shows that much fine wheat was left on the other side, and that Binney and Raffles, Baldwin Brown, James Parsons, Rowan Hamilton, John Angell James, and Robert W. Dale have able and worthy successors. The true Apostolic Succession in England rests upon a firmer foundation than the hands of the Anglican bishops. Australia will be represented on the programme by the Rev. L. L. D. Bevan, D.D., formerly of New York and now of Melbourne, and by its bestknown theological teacher, Professor A. Grosman; and Scotland will have for its speaker the Rev. James Stark, D.D. Woman's Work is to be presented by women. Mrs. Armitage is well known in England, and the name of Dr. Grace Kimball has become a synonym for all that is sublime and unconquerable in heroism. She enjoys, perhaps, the unique honor of being the most hated woman in the world-by the Sultan of Turkey. I have space for only a word concerning American members of the Council. The name of the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs does not appear on the programme. Dr. Storrs was the first choice for President, and accepted the office. Later, how ever, in obedience to the positive orders of his physician, he withdrew his acceptance. Among the Americans who will read papers are: the Rev. F. A. Noble, D.D., of Chicago, Moderator of the National Council of Congregational Churches; that splendid trinity of College Presidents, Tucker, Hyde, and George Harris; Professor George P. Fisher, who divides with Dr. Storrs the honor of being known as the Nestor of American Congregationalism: the Rev. Harry Hopkins, D.D., of Kansas City, and son of the great President of Williams College; the Rev. Alvah J. Lyman, D.D., of Brooklyn. Among the younger ministers it is enough to mention THE HON. ALBERT SPICER Patton, of St. Louis, Jefferson, of New York, and Brown, of Oakland. English Congregationalists in politics are nearly all Liberals. The strength of the Liberal party is among Nonconformists. The distinction between LiberalUnionists and Gladstonians has nearly disappeared. It is therefore enough now to say that they are chiefly Liberals. All Nonconformists in England are of necessity politicians, since they are made Dissenters by the existence of a State Church. If the question of disestablishment could be eliminated, lines would no doubt be differently drawn, but for the present they cannot be. Disestablishment must always be a part of the programme of the party which expects the votes of the Nonconformist Churches of all denominations. Leaving politics and coming to theology, a few general facts may be stated. Few English Congregationalists are Calvinists, but all are strongly Trinitarian ; few are willing to dogmatize concerning eschatology, but all are loyal to the person of Christ and proclaim his deity enthusiastically and constantly. Most Christian thinkers in England of all denominations incline either to the doctrine of conditional immortality or of ultimate restoration; but, on the other hand, very few have any sympathy with the older Universalism. They believe in the doctrine of retribution, that it holds in this world and all worlds; and that while there is sin there must be suffering. The Andover controversy would have been impossible there. Edward White and Robert W. Dale accepted the doctrine of conditional immortality; others believe in final restoration, and all teach the universality and eternity of retribution for sin. They are divided on this subject about as the other denominations. The following seems to me to be a fair statement of the theological attitude of most English Christians: They are loyal to the Bible, but not afraid of criticism; they hold firmly to the Trinitarian doctrine of God, the essential deity of Jesus Christ, the objective value of the work of Christ, and sure retribution for sin; but a large proportion accept either the doctrine of conditional immortality or ultimate restoration, and this is true even of the most conservative thinkers among all denominations. I once heard Dr. Bevan, formerly pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, say that theologically the English Churches were thirty years in advance of the American. The opinion is quoted for what it is worth. More generally than the American churches, the English have an intelligent and strong faith in the continuous ministry of the Holy Spirit, and what I delight to call the growing revelation. the Council will never be formulated. There will be no attempt to settle anything by a show of hands. Some of the greatest subjects of human thought will be discussed in a reverent and prayerful spirit; then the Council will be dissolved, and its proceedings will be published, and that will be all-when looked at from one point of view. But American, English, Australian, Canadian, Norwegian, and many other churches will be brought nearer together by these meetings; there will be an enlargement of horizon, a clarification of the intellectual and spiritual atmosphere, and after a while it will be evident that the Council has helped the cause of Anglo-Saxon unity, consequently of worldwide unity, and that it has helped the churches to put their emphasis on essertial rather than non-essential teachings. It will gladden the hearts of many in America as they see that their English brethren, without losing their hold on that which is vital, have laid aside many theories which have hindered faith; and, most of all, in many ways and in many lands it will help toward such an appreciation of the Sanctity of Man and the State as will make all missionary, philanthropic, and political service easier and more efficient. To those who have a passion for statistics, and who believe in votes, this Council, no doubt, will be a disappointment; but to those who have faith in principles, in influence, in the conscience, and in the ability of the Christian revelation to justify itself at the bar of reason, it will In the nature of things, the results of be a great and abiding inspiration. The Publican By William J. Long I would be strong, O Lord! Strong-souled to trust Thee in the midst of foes, Strong-armed to strike at every wrong and sin— Yet gentle, Lord! For all injustice give me fire and sword; For wrong that touches me, the grace to wait; I would be brave, O Lord! To speak Thy word 'gainst every lying creed; When for Thy truth I stand, though all alone--.- And not unmindful of that yesterday When 'mongst Thy foes I stood, and truth opposed. I would be true, O Lord! Would seek to find, would find to do Thy will; "Nehushtan!" cry; nor ever think of rest Till Thy light floods the world, and all men see- What's truth to me another soul may ver O Master mine! that found me in the way T Peasant Life on the Riviera By Elbert F. Baldwin HE French Riviera is supposed to be a winter place, and so it is. In truth, however, it is an all-yearround place. Its summer climate is hardly so hot as New York's has become, and its favored shore has always a sea breeze to cool the air. The peasants who live here (and who say they would not live anywhere else) enjoy life summer as well as winter, and, instead of laying by "half the year, have labor for every season. They are in general an industrious rather than a lazy folk. Their summer habits are more humane than one might think. Mornings and evenings are, of course, the proper times for work, noon and night for rest and sleep. The peasants are considerate, too, of their beasts: horses, mules, and donkeys are fitted out with hats, much like those the women wear, as a protection against In the villages, oven-fires to die down so as to give s to the houses, and the L 10 sun. nearest bakeshop does duty for an entire community. Provence, of which the Riviera is the world-renowned shore-part, is a country by itself. It looks askance at the rest of France. While these peasants are often as garrulous and loud-voiced as Tartarin of Tarascon himself, they are also at bottom saving, shrewd, conservative, independent. They are a people apart. They remind one of the clannish thrift of the Scotch. The various mountain tribes, for instance (and Provence is largely mountainous), live preferably by themselves. They have their own customs, inherited from their Moorish ancestors, or perhaps from the original Ligurians themselves. and they do not look with favor on alliances, matrimonial or other, with the degenerate people of the plain. In getting acquainted with the Provençals it is a good plan for the stranger to take third-class tickets when journeying by rail hereabouts. At daybreak or even earlier the women will be coming to the markets of Nice and Cannes and returning by the morning trains. Tourists are taking the same trains, too, but will miss much local color by not herding with the peasants. How the latter bundle into the narrow compartments, their great market baskets hardly wider than their comfortable selves, and both just able to squeeze in at the door! They all seem to know each other, no matter how far apart their stations. A common use of the railway makes many friendships, and the chattering and laughing and showing of white teeth are equaled only in Italy. The compartment is soon as full as it can be of men, women, babies, and baskets, and when smoking begins and garlic rises the good air gets towards the vanishing point. However, one forgets even such patent discomforts in the general delightful expansiveness of the people. They are a strange combination of the wary and the impulsive. The first trait has infallibly been brought out by several hours at the morning market; the second is now in evidence. If the stranger speaks Provençal, he may possibly be the recipient of some naïve confidence before his journey's end is reached; but if he does not speak the language of this country, he may live on the Riviera, as some French folk have done, for two decades and more, only always to be regarded as a foreigner, of whom a sly advantage can be taken from time to time. The women of the Riviera, if not of all Provence, are more noteworthy than the men. With the agility of young girls, great-grandmothers will alight at crossroad stations and march off with the uncrowned-queen air of the Jules Breton peasant in the Luxembourg. In solid physique and staying qualities these yield to no women. Their short petticoats, white aprons and caps, a gay handkerchief about the neck and an enormous bundle balanced on the head-you may see them anywhere, brawny, broad-chested, bearing down on you like a ship under full sail. As a rule, they work harder than the men, yet they age without breaking down. There are many about here ninety and a hundred years old, still strong, hardy, and tenacious of life. Such women are the physical if not the moral saviors of France. You may travel about with the traveling peasantry, but it is only on their farms, and in the little towns one, two, three hours away from the fashionable seaside places, that one learns to know the stay-at-homers. Here one finds the real Riviera folk, and in this climate-kind to them always, not too cold in winter or too warm in summer-they live a free, independent life. Who would not, liberated from the fear of blizzards at one season or hot waves at the other? Ordinary indoor avocations are performed out-of-doors, whenever poss ing of indoo houses are there is a general turn- MONACO Seen through the aloes |