EDITOR'S TABLE. 



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EDITOR'S TABLE. 



PROGRESSIVE THEOLOGY. 

 TTTE note with great pleasure the 

 VV issue by Messrs. Houghton, Mif- 

 flin & Co., of Boston, under the title of 

 The New World, of a theological peri- 

 odical which seems to us to be designed 

 on truly progressive lines to be, that is 

 to say, rather an organ for the discov- 

 ery of truth on all matters connected 

 with theological belief than for the prop- 

 agation or defense of the views of any 

 particular theological school. The maga- 

 zine is under the editorial management 

 of Messrs. 0. C. Everett, 0. H. Toy, 

 Orello Cone, and N. P. Gilman, names 

 which of themselves vouch for the broad 

 and liberal spirit in which the new en- 

 terprise is conceived, and for the scholar- 

 ship which will be placed at its service. 

 These gentlemen, in an editorial note, 

 state that they " have no distrust of the 

 scientific temper which, in many spheres 

 of investigation, has accomplished such 

 great results, or of the critical spirit 

 which has led the way to a better un- 

 derstanding of every literature to which 

 it has been applied." The number be- 

 fore us contains articles by Lyman Ab- 

 bott, C. C. Everett, J. G. Schurman, W. 

 R. Alger, C. H. Toy, J. Estlin Carpenter, 

 Thomas R. Slicer, Edward H. Hall, and 

 Charles B. Upton, as well as book-re- 

 views by various hands. In all we note 

 a liberal spirit worthy of this new de- 

 parture in theological literature. Here 

 and there, perhaps, there is a little lack 

 of scientific exactness, as where Dr. Ly- 

 man Abbott professes to discover the 

 " evolution of Christianity " in the fact 

 that, while Jesus succeeded in feeding 

 " five thousand men, besides women and 

 children, seated in serried ranks on the 

 ground," in our own day, " an organized 

 benefaction, through the consecrated 

 channels of commerce, so distributes to 

 the needs of man that, in a truly Chris- 



tian community, a famine is well-nigh 

 impossible." Other articles, however, 

 furnish a guarantee that, within the new 

 review itself, such weak and, we must 

 say, delusive analogies will not pass un- 

 challenged. For example, in discussing 

 The New Orthodoxy, Mr. Edward H. 

 Hall deals in a very thorough-going 

 manner with the evasions of what may 

 be called the pseudo-liberal school 

 those who welcome criticism so long as 

 it is not " destructive " : as if the func- 

 tion of criticism were never to destroy 

 and who, in a general way, take back 

 with one hand what they seem to give 

 with the other. Mr. Hall might be fully 

 trusted to point out to Dr. Abbott that, 

 if the feeding of the multitude by Jesus 

 was a mere matter of commissariat, the 

 vaster distributions of to-day point to an 

 evolution in social organization, not to 

 an evolution of Christianity ; while if the 

 multitude were fed by a miracle, as the 

 Christian world has hitherto believed, 

 what we see to-day has no relation to 

 it whatever. Mr. Hall contends, and 

 rightly, that if the aid of criticism is to 

 be invoked at all, it is vain to attempt 

 to circumscribe its action. " Whoever," 

 he says, " invokes the name of Science, 

 invokes a great name. He calls to his 

 aid a master, not a servant. Science 

 has its own domain and, in that domain, 

 its own laws and its own rights. It can 

 not be dictated to ; it dictates. It suf- 

 fers no one to assign its limits, but goes 

 wherever there is work for it to do. 

 Wherever there is question of evidence, 

 argument, testimony, or proof, there the 

 scientific method belongs; and, once ad- 

 mitted, it must be given full play." 

 These are brave words, and, if The New 

 World shall present a selection of arti- 

 cles written in frank acceptance of these 

 principles, it will deserve well of all 

 lovers of the truth, even though some of 



