you can rise into a conception of yourself as a child of God, the Infinite Spirit, so that you need not cramp down and shut in your life. In other words, do not fit yourself into your place, and let that shape your manhood. Keep your place flexible, and compel it to adapt itself to your manhood. In order to do this, you do not need to have so very large a place, according to the ordinary standard of the world. Look over the history of the great, and see what they have accomplished. Let me give you one illustration. Take the case of the famous philosopher, Spinoza. Suppose he had said that the circumstances of his life made it impossible for him to live out the best in him. Suppose he had said, I must have money and time and power and fame; and, when I get these, I will do my work. What did he do? Outcast by his own people, persecuted, in danger of his life, he fled to a place where at that time a man could think, and still be free. He devoted himself to the manufacture of lenses for telescopes and microscopes enough hours a day to get himself something to eat and something to wear; and then he lived his magnificent life and wrote his magnificent works. He did not sacrifice himself to a place, but took the place where he could live, where he could root himself, where he could feed the necessities of his lower nature, and at the same time live a manly, intellectual, ethical, religious life; and so he made himself one of the great names of all time.

This is what I would have you do. Make your place subordinate. Remember that your manhood is worth more than your condition, more than the house you live in or the street on which it stands, worth more than the position you occupy. Remember that your manhood is the great thing. Put that first, make that dominant. Be somebody, do something, devote yourself to the highest thoughts in you, and you have made yourself a place where you can render service to your kind and where you can fulfil the highest possible destiny.

Father, we thank Thee that we may trust that, if we are true to ourselves in this life, we may be sure we shall find place to expand and grow. Let us at least do what we can where

And by

we are; and we know that Thou wilt ask no more. and by Thou shalt recognize us; and we shall find in loving and serving Thee our sufficient reward.

Amen.

The preface by Mr. Savage gives the reasons, clearly and concisely, why a book like this is needed. It answers a great demand, and it will supply a serious deficiency. Having had the privilege of reading the contents very thoroughly, I gladly record my satisfaction in the character of the work, my hope of its wide acceptance and use, my appreciation of the author's motives in preparing it. The questions and answers allow of supplementing, of individual handling, of personal direction. It is not a hard-andfast production. There is a large liberty of detail, explanation, and unfolding. The doctrinal positions are in accord with rational religion and liberal Christianity, the critical judgments are based on modern scholarship, and the great aim throughout is to assist an inquirer or pupil to a positive, permanent faith, If any one finds comments and criticisms which at first sight seem needless, let it be remembered that a Unitarian catechism must give reasons, point out errors, and trace causes: it cannot simply dogmatize. I am sure that in the true use of this book great gains will come to our Sundayschools, to searchers after truth, to our cause.

EDWARD A. HORTON.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

This little Catechism has grown out of the needs of my own work. Fathers and mothers have said to me, "Our children are constantly asking us questions that we cannot answer." Perfectly natural! Their reading and study have not been such as to make them familiar with the results of critical scholarship. The great modern revolution of thought is bewildering. This is an attempt to make the path of ascertained truth a little plainer.

This is the call for help in the home. Besides this, a similar call has come from the Sunday-school. Multitudes of teachers have little time to ransack libraries and study large works. This is an attempt, then, to help them, by putting in their hands, in brief compass, the principal things believed by Unitarians concerning the greatest subject.

The list of reference books that follows the questions and answers will enable those who wish to do so to go more deeply into the topics suggested.

It is believed that this Catechism will be found adapted to any grade of scholars above the infant class, provided the teacher has some skill in the matter of interpretation.

GEO. H. ELLIS, Publisher, 141 Franklin St., Boston, Mass.