to man, climbing from ignorance and barbarism until man has discovered fire, until he has invented the alphabet, until the printing-press comes, until steam and electricity have transformed the whole face of the planet; and when I trace the religious growth of man from fetichism or no worship up through the teaching of Jesus to that God who is spirit and truth and perfect love; when I trace the creations of man in the realm of beauty, all the statues, all the pictures, all the marvellous embodiments of his dreams of those things which are fair; when I see him as a builder, rising from a cave through the first rude hut to the Parthenon and the great cathedrals of the world; when I see him in literature from the animal stumbling in speech till Homer sings and Virgil and Dante and Goethe and Shakspere give us the marvels of the world's literature; when I see what man has created, and when I see the resources of this one earth out of which all these have come; and when I look abroad into the heavens, and see suns shining, stretching on and on beyond the power of thought to follow,- then I appeal to you whether any dream of wonder to come is not sober reason! It is no more wonderful to me not so wonderful — that, being alive, I should continue to live and leap over the gulf of death than that I should have begun to live. If you think that you are reading the universe aright when you say in a flippant way that it is hollow, poor, and not worth while, then you are reading it as one might pronounce upon color when he is blind, or upon music when he cannot hear. The resources of this universe and the resources of the inventive and discovering power of man are such that, instead of saying with the old preacher, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," I would rather say, Wonder of wonders, all is wonderful and divine! Our Father, we thank Thee for this marvellous world in which we find ourselves, for the magnificent heritage of the past, for our power to feel and think and hope and serve; and we ask that we may live worthily of those who are sons and daughters of God. Amen. THE PASTORAL LETTER OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL HOUSE OF BISHOPS I. BOSTON GEORGE H. ELLIS, 141 FRANKLIN STREET 1895 Entered at the Post-office, Boston, Mass., as second-class mail matter MR. SAVAGE'S BOOKS. SERMONS AND ESSAYS. 1880 150 Christianity the Science of Manhood. 187 pages. 1873 $1.00 1 00 I 00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 Religious Reconstruction. 246 pages. 1888 Signs of the Times. 187 pages. 1889 1890 Helps for Daily Living. 150 pages. 1889 Life. 237 pages. Four Great Questions concerning God. 86 pp. 1891. The Evolution of Christianity. 178 pages. 1892 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.50 .50 -75 1.00 Mr. Savage's weekly sermons are regularly printed in pamphlet form in Unity Pulpit." Subscription price, for the season, $1 50; single copy, 5 cents. GEO. H. ELLIS, Publisher, 141 Franklin St., Boston, Mass. THE PASTORAL LETTER OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL HOUSE OF BISHOPS. "But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak."— 2 COR. iv. 13. It is not at all my purpose to attack the Protestant Episcopal Church. I have many dear friends who are regular attendants of that church; and I would not willingly wound the tenderest sensibility of any member of it, whether my friend or not. The question, however, that is raised by this Pastoral Letter is a very broad and a very important question, one that seems to me to demand patient and earnest consideration on the part of all those who care for the religious life of the age. There are two or three reasons which are worth mentioning as to why it seems to me important to treat this question this morning. You have only to remember impressions which you have received during the past several years, to know that the claim has been put forth from many different quarters that the Protestant Episcopal Church was growing very broad, very liberal, very progressive, very inclusive. This claim has gone so far as to say that there was really no need any longer for the existence of Unitarian or Universalist or even any other Protestant churches in this country. We have been told that the creeds, though they remain in the Prayer Book, are only to be regarded as records of past history; that they were not vital except in certain parts; that those doctrines, at any rate, which are offensive to the spirit of the age, and which people have come to believe are outgrown, might freely be disregarded. I know, for example, persons in the Episcopal Church who have gone there through the invitation and with the consent of the bishop, although they have frankly said they were Unitarian and Universalist in their theology; and they were told that this made no practical difference. I know that at Harvard the claim has been put forth constantly, as appealing to the undergraduates, that there was room in the Episcopal Church for any earnest and devout young man. It has been claimed that it had not only order, the flavor of antiquity and the odor of sanctity, but also in its wide range limitless room for all modern thought, for all scientific truth, and to be abreast of the best progress of the time. A great many Unitarians have been impressed by these claims. The social position of the Episcopal Church has seemed attractive to them. Those especially who have travelled abroad, and have come under the influence of the cathedrals, the beauty, the artistic side, of the English Church, have been impressed by these things to such an extent that they have questioned whether there was need any longer of their getting along with the bare modern churches. So there have been a great many liberal people who have gone to the Episcopal churches, saying, The minister preaches practically Unitarianism; and we get the advantage that comes. from an old established and fashionable institution. Then this has been emphasized by the known fact that a great many Episcopal clergymen, as well as laymen, have held scientific truths that have been discovered, have been in sympathy with modern thought, have cast off the old and what seemed to be the untenable and the unhuman beliefs inherited from a barbaric past. I have conversed with a great many Episcopal clergymen during the last few years; and they have frankly told me that they did not believe this article of the creed or that article of the creed. Some of them have carried the matter so far as to leave it entirely an open question as to whether they were expected to hold to the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus. They have considered it a matter of indifference as to whether they accepted the literal physical resurrection of |