Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud; Turn thy wild wheel through sunshine, storm, and cloud: Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate. Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown; With that wild wheel we go not up or down: Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd: Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud; Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate. Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands; Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands: For man is man and master of his fate. Prayer. SATURDAY. More things are wrought by prayer For what are men better than sheep or goats Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. With the New Year comes another edition of our denominational Year Book. Two additional pages are required for new matter. The list of societies adds up to 439, and of these 91 are given as without settled pastors. Most of these pastorless societies are very new or very small. We notice 32 new names in the list of ministers: most of these have recently settled over societies in growing Western towns. And we regret to record eleven names removed by death. These are S. A. Devens, F. Frothingham, T. L. Gorman, T. Hill, F. Hinckley, H. D. Maxson, S. Robinson, D. W. Stevens, L. G. Ware, J. Wills, and H. Wood. The list of life members of the American Unitarian Association shows a gain of 100 names. There seem to be few changes in the lists of allied societies, conferences, associations, etc. One new organization appears under ministerial associations; namely, "The Younger Ministers' Association," organized 1889. Its purpose is to promote sociability among the younger ministers and more efficient co-operation in denominational interests. Meetings are held the last Monday in each month, Rev. Frederick B. Mott, president, and Rev. Albert Walkley, secretary. The list of periodicals published in the denomination has one name less,-that of the Unitarian Review, -the publication of which was discontinued with the December number. A foot-note announces, however, that a new Quarterly Review may be expected early in the year. We are glad to lay on the grave of our honored Dr. Hill a tribute from the pen of one who has known him so long and inti "The helping of man is the best serving of mately, and is otherwise so well qualified God." to speak of his great abilities and worth, as Dr. Livermore. We are scarcely less glad to have one who knew our beloved brother Maxson so well as did Miss Tupper tell our readers of his noble character, and give expression to the admiration and sorrow that are in many hearts. Taken as a whole, things are going well in the theological world. In spite of all opposition, the Higher Criticism of the Bible steadily gains ground. This means that the doctrine of Bible infallibility is giving way. This, again, means a gradual but irresistible drifting of the seat of authority in religion from an ancient book to the reason and conscience of man; from the inspiration of a distant past to the living inspiration of to-day. And this in its turn means the slow but sure passing away of much that is most outworn and objectionable in the current Christianity and the coming in of more reasonable religious doctrines, higher standards of ethics, more active philanthropies and purer worship. Steadily Andover and Cambridge approach each other. If the so-called "Trinitarian" Congregationalist body in this country stood generally with its more advanced men, -the faculty of the Andover Theological School, Dr. Lyman Abbott of the Christian Union, Dr. Munger, and many others, there would be little reason for longer separation between it and Unitarian Congregationalists. This has seldom been so clearly made manifest as at the meeting of the Boston Unitarian Club held at Hotel Vendome, on the evening of December 9, when the club was addressed on the subject of "The New Orthodoxy," by Dr. Abbott, Prof. Tucker of Andover, Rev. George A. Gordon, pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, and Dr. Andrew P. Peabody of Cambridge. The addresses were as frank, sincere, and candid as they were able. When they were over, the Unitarians very generally said, "They contained very few words which we could not subscribe to heartily." We wish it were possible to give the addresses to our readers entire. Any persous wishing to read them can find them reported in full in the Christian Register of December 17. As a single illustration of their broad and progressive spirit, we quote a few sentences from Dr. Abbott on the subject of endless punishment: "I have long since abandoned," he said, "the horrible travesty of Divine Justice involved in the doctrine of endless sin and endless punishment. I have abandoned it, not because I dare not look eternal suffering in the face, but because I cannot conceive of eternal sin, because I cannot believe that anywhere in God's great universe there will be at the last some little corner, large or small I ask not, where God will be defeated, and where passion and hate and wrath and wickedness will go on with increasing flame and fire forever and ever. I believe that at the last God's grace will triumph in every soul, that all men will be brought to righteousness and God.” ment. The question of the growth of Roman Catholicism in the United States is one that is much discussed, and that gives uneasiness to many who see danger to our religious liberties in the dominance of a church which places allegiance to a foreign pope above allegiance to our own civil governThe official statistics issued by the Propaganda at Rome a few months ago claim that there are in the United States 8,025,000 Catholics. Our own national census recently completed reduces this number somewhat, giving the number of Catholic communicants as 6,250,000, which is thought to indicate a Catholic population of about 7,350,000. This, though smaller than is claimed by Rome, is large. Two or three facts may well be borne in mind, however, by those who think it alarming. One is that a single one of the Protestant denominations, the Methodist, is nearly as large; while all the Protestant bodies together form an aggregate between three and four times as large. Another is, the great growth of Catholicism here has come almost wholly from immigration. Indeed, that growth seems to have fallen considerably below what it naturally should be, counting the enormous number of immigrants we have received from Catholic lands. Still, again, loyalty to our government seems to grow and servility to the Romish hierarchy seems to decrease with time, so that the second and third generations of these Catholic immigrants are likely to be found pretty stanch friends to our institutions and to our freedom. The one real danger seems to be that which threatens our public school system. If we can preserve our free public schools, we can defy priestly hierarchies. This is what the Romish church itself sees: hence its tremendous and determined effort to break up our school system. It is here that we must stand guard with sleepless vigilance. In this connection it is interesting to notice that, by official statistics coming to us from Prussia during the past thirteen years, there have been in that country 22, 792 conversions from Catholicism to Protestantism, and only 2,441 from Protestantism to Catholicism. A similar state of things exists in Switzerland. Quite as suggestive are some facts which the London Christian Life states as to the reaction away from Catholicism which has been going on in England in recent years. Following the conversion of Newman there was a marked revival of Romanism in England. Many persons of considerable distinction and influ ence went over. In recent years, however, not only has such ecclesiastical migration largely passed away; but not a few who went have returned. Among the latter are to be mentioned such eminent names as Lord Robert Montagu, Canon Foulkes, F. A. Paley, the distinguished scholar, Thomas Arnold (Mrs. Humphry Ward's father), Father Roberts, the nephew of Cardinal Manning, Father Law, chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, the eminent Father Addis, Father Whitehead, who had not only embraced Catholicism, but had become a Dominican monk. Everything indicates that, with the growth of knowledge which the future is sure to see, those churches will not grow most in favor which hold the human mind most in bondage. In the article of Rev. E. P. Powell on "Recent Evolution in Theology," printed in this number of the Unitarian, the author makes the rather startling prediction that "inside of ten years the pope will place himself in the van of the New Theology." We may not be able to believe that so great a revolution as this can come in a decade; but one thing seems certain, and that is that, if Catholicism is to make any very great gains in the future, it must be by coming more into line with progressive thought. But for it to do this will be to lay aside those characteristics which have made it a danger to our free institutions. The Dawn of Boston gives the platform of the Christian Socialists in a nutshell, as follows: "We are often asked what definitely we would have men do. We say: Let the Church stop its heresy trials and ritual debates, and vote against Mammon. For what measures? "The employment by municipalities of the unemployed. "The eight-hour day. "The issue of money to the people direct on good security. "The nationalization of the telegraph, railroads, and coal mines. "The municipalization of local natural monopolies. "The taxation to full rental value of land held on speculation. "The prohibition of the liquor traffic. "The extension of suffrage to women. It is plain that demands with so much sobriety and justice in them as are contained in some of these are not to be lightly put aside. The church, as well as the State, must face these most pressing concerns of our time. We can but think that one of the great benefits to come from the theological advance going on in our day is that men's minds, freed from the long bondage that they have been under to dogma and otherworldism, will gain new liberty and leisure for the new and urgent work of practical religion, the "doing of the will" of the Father by furthering the ends of justice on the earth, the "serving of Christ" by caring for and lifting up Christ's suffering and oppressed human brothers. "Then Christ sought out an artisan, O great Christian church, rise up in the might of the spirit of him whom thou dost so glibly call Master and Lord, to cast this dark reproach from this age, and from thyself! Mr. Potter took for his text the "Egg Island Crime," which for weeks had been occupying the county court, and with which the newspapers had been busy. He traces the crime to its source,-going behind the "guilty person" to the "guilty thing"; and he says: "I go behind the law and the trial and all the persons. I arraign rum-drinking, whiskey-drinking, alcoholic dramdrinking, as the murderer. This was the crime together. "" Mr. Potter is considered a radical in theological and denominational thought. He is regarded as a man of careful statement, and certainly not given to rashly formed opinions. It is therefore of more than ordinary interest to read the following: "I do not think that human society can attain to a high degree of public order or of peace, or of freedom from such acts of violence and carnage, until it has learned a way to arrest, try, convict, and put out of existence this giant criminal of all, the breeder of crime and father of criminals,intemperance. Nor do I think that our modern civilization deserves to be called a moral civilization until it has shown a great deal more of zeal and success in dealing with this evil than is now apparent. Nor, further, do I believe that we of this congregation, nor the members of any congregation of worshippers, are entitled to much quieting balm of religious contemplation nor to spend much time in rapt vision of the future felicity and peace of heaven, until we have exerted ourselves to the utmost to find a way for arresting and destroying this fruitful cause of so vast a part of the crime and carnage of earth." Mr. Potter goes on to advocate total abstinence "as one of the most important, if not an absolutely necessary means, of success, " and to urge nolicense as "one of the needed remedies," "until every liquor-saloon and bar-room in the land shall be closed, and their criminal traffic, if it exist at all, shall be driven like any other crime into obscure places of concealment, and hunted from the sight of men. The large no-license vote of Boston this year has created much interest. Last year's vote against licensing saloons was 13,910; this year's, 21,310. Last year the majority against no-license was 15,249; this year, only 4,327. What does this mean? Not, we fear, a sudden conversion to temperance or no-license principles; for the Democratic wards gave the strongest votes. The result has probably arisen from the fact, as the Boston Herald points it out, that large numbers of the Democrats have come to the opinion that the liquor interest is politically adverse to them, and has of late been handled by the Republicans. Formerly the Democratic party could count upon the solid liquor vote. To-day it is not so. The Republicans have always distrusted the saloon vote. The Democrats are coming to the same opinion. It is a political matter; and the vote in Boston is simply a rebuke to the saloon interest for its Republican proclivities. However, the sooner both parties learn to distrust the saloon, and see that it will always vote for itself, the sooner will they The cease to pander to its selfish interests. more clearly the true motive of saloon politics is revealed, the better. In a series of lectures upon "Heroes of Reform," to be given in Providence, R. I., Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer will speak upon "John Pierpont, the Preacher of Temperance, Dr. Day, the Healer of the Inebriate, and Josephine Butler, the Defender of the Outcast." C. R. ELIOT. GUILD DEPARTMENT. THE PILGRIM FATHERS. Read before the Guild at Medfield, Mass. The By many the names "Pilgrim" and "Puritan" have been generally applied to the early settlers of Massachusetts, regardless of whether they belonged to the Boston or Plymouth companies. This is wrong. Pilgrims, or Pilgrim Fathers, settled at Plymouth, and held different religious views, and were entirely separate from the Puritans. In reading of the Pilgrim Fathers, we are attracted by their courage, their steadfastness, their faith in their religion. in spite of the opposition and dangers to which they were exposed. What a strong faith they must have had in God and in their religion to be willing to leave native land, friends, and relations for an unknown and hostile shore! At the first they met with disaster, and were compelled to abandon one ship. But their courage was undaunted, and they took as many as possible in one ship and left the rest to come later. In reading of their voyage across the ocean, and of the dangers to which they were exposed, and of their landing on that bleak and unknown shore, in the midst of winter, one can but feel helped by their cheerfulness and faith. On board their frail craft off the coast of Cape Cod, they drew up a compact, or constitution, by which to govern themselves. In this compact was planted the germ of free institutions, a free country, and freedom of thought. The Pilgrim Fathers have been blamed many times for their persecution of Quakers, Baptists, and others who did not agree with them in their religion. But they can hardly be blamed when we consider the facts. They had given up a good deal, and endured hardship, that they might be able to worship in their own way, without molestation. Naturally, they felt bitter against other sects who tried to spread their doctrines and to oppose the Pilgrims' religion. But, as they said, all they wished was that they should leave the colony. They might start another colony, and worship as they pleased, as long as they did not spread their doctrines among the Pilgrims. They had not received the light of religious freedom which we have, and should not therefore be blamed. GEORGE L. L. ALLEN. A sort of encouraging need is met with in Greenfield, Mass., brought to our notice by the paper published by the guild of the Unitarian church. The editor speaks of a commendable zeal in charitable work manifested by certain members of his Sunday-school, and then adds, "The pastor is unable to produce poverty enough-deserving help-to meet the demand for it among these eager little Christian workers." The Guild of the Good Shepherd in the Second Unitarian Church of Athol, Mass., held a meeting, on November 15, in memory of James Russell Lowell. It was a public meeting, and a large attendance is reported. Surely, the organization of the guild, based as it is on the religious interest, must lend itself in many a way to the conduct of special meetings. It seems to be quite unlimited in the range of its adaptability. But let the religious purpose be held central and pivotal. The president of the National Guild Alliance, on exchange at Dedham, Mass., addressed a guild meeting to which had been invited various organizations of the parish, including Lend a Hand Clubs, King's Daughters, etc., in order to extend the interest in the guild on the part of the charitable organizations. It seemed as if much interest had been quickened by the meeting, which included a conversation about guilds of an informal character. A semi-annual mass meeting of the National Guild Alliance is to be held in Channing Hall Jan. 3, 1892, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Some account of the meeting will appear in the next Unitarian. B. R. BULKELEY. This year, more than ever before, a tendency is shown for the study of social and humanitarian problems. Many of the programmes take up the current questions of the day which bear in this direction, while others make a systematic study of social problems. Perhaps no line of study could be more profitable than this for those who believe in a religion whose chief object is the improvement of humanity. It is not safe to assume, as some good leaders in these fields do assume, that it is only necessary to help other people in order to fulfil the mission of philanthropy. A sentimental charity is quite as likely to do evil as good. To avoid a foolish interference with others, a careful study of social problems is necessary. It is the truest charity oftentimes which sets us to finding out why it is that there are poor and unfortunate people in the world. A Unity Club which earnestly grapples with these interests, with a really zealous wish to understand them, is doing about as good work as can be accomplished in any church. For want of such earnest and wise study, most of the charity work done, even in our most philanthropic churches, is little better than an evil. Such study I would commend to our clubs. It is a tendency of the times to give much attention to all these social questions. We cannot do better than to follow it, because it goes so closely along the line of our religious thought and convictions. Certainly, such study would be of much more value than most other which is carried on by the clubs. Indeed, too much cannot be said for the worth and the advantage of such study. In the Second Church, Boston, Rev. E. A. Horton has just organized what is called the "Study Table." It is a branch of the Young People's Fraternity of that church. Its object is mutual helpfulness in regard to current questions and books. The first part of the evening is spent in answering, by designated experts, such questions as any of the members may wish to ask about the problems; persons, and books of the day. The last half of the evening is devoted to a paper on some special topic of present interest by a specialist. For instance, Mr. Flower of the Arena is soon to tell how a |