convulsively shaken Peer Gynt's body and soul, he felt. What soul-stirring agony poor Beaus Brummel suffered in his miserable end, he went through. What deep spiritual suffering affected Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, he endured. What despair and remorse Richard III. had undergone, he passed through. Then, having gripped the central theme of a character, he studied the rôle. And then, on the stage, he presented to us a picture of the part-which we saw. But more, he invested that picture with all the warmth of his own life-which we felt. In short, not only the power of his mind, the result of his study, was discernible in his acting: we felt also the power of his soul-full, mighty, inspiring. Mansfield in his article on "Man and The Actor," in the Atlantic Monthly, about a year and a half ago, said if an actor is to satisfy everyone, that is, if he is to be an ideal actor, "he should possess the commanding power of Cæsar, the wisdom of Solomon, the eloquence of Demosthenes, the patience of Job, the face and form of Antinous, and the strength and endurance of Hercules." Of these requisites it is certainly true he himself did not possess the wisdom of Solomon nor the patience of Job. But he did have some of the commanding power of Cæsar and some of the eloquence of Demosthenes. Hamlet, in his advice to the players, says: "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had. as lief the town-crier spoke my lines." That Mansfield did not speak many lines trippingly on the tongue but mouthed them, is too sadly true. Hamlet Hamlet says further, however: "In the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.' That Mansfield in the whirlwind of passion of his strong scenes did speak smoothly, did make everybody hear, did stir and inspire every mind and soul, is undeniable. And therein he showed his genius. We must come to the conclusion, therefore, that even if Mansfield's mannerisms marred many of his quieter scenes and even if his limitations were apparent, still, because of the power evinced by him in his big scenes, he was a genius. And in the pure dynamics of genius he was without a peer. Some of the plays "Beau Brummel," "The Scarlet Letter," "Don Carlos," and "Peer Gynt," for instance-could be criticized for various faults. Albeit, the thrilling scenes in those plays as well as in all those above-mentioned, as acted by Mansfield, constitute some of the greatest examples of passionate expression, of nervous, electrical power, in the annals of the stage. That certainly attests the opinion it was the great vitalizing power of Mansfield's genius that made them moments of great inspiration. In all of them no feebleness was apparent. No hollow insincerity! No shallow affectation! No sluggish inactivity! No easygoing indifference! No languid delivery! All he did, in those massive scenes, was with sustained zeal, with transcendant force, with the full, impelling power of his towering genius! Brooklyn, N. Y. HARRY WANDMACHER. THE EBB OF ECCLESIASTICISM. I. BY GEORGE ALLAN ENGLAND A.M. O SINGLE fact impresses the more forcibly than the failure of the modern Church as a whole to maintain its power in the social fabric of to-day. In almost every country of both hemispheres into which enlightenment and the spirit of progress have penetrated, a situation exists regarding organized religion which although differing locally as to degree and form, yet partakes of one general character-that of a more or less marked drift away from Church authority and influence. Here we find the movement just beginning; there it has assumed tangible proportions; elsewhere again it has become so marked that none but those who will not can fail to see it. This movement in its totality presents, phenomena of singular interest to the student, portending as it does the eventual grave modification if not indeed the entire overthrow of a religious system which for nearly two thousand years has exercised incalculable influence up orthodox Russia, the peasants are very largely becoming either indifferent to the Greek Church or are absolutely hostile to it. Mr. William English Walling's recent articles in the New York Independent make that abundantly clear. In Austria the "Fort von Rom" agitation partakes of the same character of revolt against ecclesiastical authority. In Germany the fight is on between reaction and a higher criticism of the weighty Teutonic type; while even in Italy and Spain-O, most' Christian kingdoms!-anti-clerical riots, some of great severity, have recently taken place.* England is contributing her quota through *In one of these last winter 15,000 persons participated at Rome. Thirty wreaths were laid philosopher, burned at the stake, February 17, on the monument of Giordano Bruno, the Italian 1600, by order of the Inquisition. Violent anticlerical speeches were delivered. Similar manifestations took place in all the leading Italian towns. Recent anti-clerical political victories are significant. II. the Education Bill discussion,* while In so far as any partial study can hope France has not even yet quite regained to do-a study which must for reasons of her tranquility after the throes of Separa- space avoid explanatory causes and contion. Of France we are told by no less fine itself to plain statements of fact— an authority than the Catholic Quarterly this paper aims to answer these questions Review itself that in many large towns in some detail. The conclusions may hundreds of thousands of persons are be safely left to another pen than mine. little better than heathen. Country churches are becoming more and more empty; there is one parish in France containing 161,000 people in which only two chapels and one church can be maintained. The masculine intellect of the nation has almost wholly escaped the influence of the Church.† Even Australia sends its mournful echo round the world in the selfsame key: "Much complaint is heard that churches are forsaken and that the young do not take the places of their fathers and mothers." And in the United States of America, what is the situation of the Church as regards membership, attendance, influence, condition of the clergy? Are we at home immune from decadence of organized religion, or is the same story but repeating itself within our borders? *Note: Since rceceiving this masterly paper we have read the Rev. R. J. Campbell's new and thought-arresting volume entitled Christianity and the Social Order which has just been issued by the Macmillan Company. In the first chapter is a vivid pen-picture of the decline of the church in England and Europe that is in such complete accord with Mr. England's presentation that we quote a few paragraphs: "We are to-day confronted by the startling fact that in practically every part of Christendom the overwhelming majority of the population is alienated from Christianity as represented by the churches. In our own country nearly seventy-five per cent. of the adult population remains permanently out of touch with organized religion... On the Continent this falling away of the people from the churches is more marked than in this country. Educated Germans frequently express their astonishment on coming to England at the fact that so many people go to church. Mr. Campbell further points out that "spiritual religion" is "being choked to-day by ecclesiasticism in its various forms."-Editor of THE ARENA. †Cf. Editorial in Lewiston Evening Journal, December 28, 1906. Dr. Charles Strong: A Review of Australia, 1905; in Social Progress for 1906, p. 1. Bishop Warren A. Candler of the M. E. Church states that 95 per cent. of the Cubans do not habitually attend Church. First as to church membership in the United States. And here we never shall do better than to take Dr. Josiah Strong's admirable little hand-book, Social Progress, from our shelf, open it at page 250 and read on for a few minutes. The rather elaborate tables may confuse us a little by their very completeness; but once we have studied them a trifle we shall begin to see our way to certain definite comprehensions of the problem. It will be made clear that in every denomination in the United States, out of the seven whose year-books afford the necessary data, the average church made smaller numerical gains in 1905 than in 1895. As regards benevolences, in only one church-the United Presbyterianhave these kept pace with the general increase of wealth. The rate of increase, too, in church membership is steadily diminishing. "If the gain of the churches on the population during the first half of the century is represented by 80," says Dr. Strong, "during the last half it is represented by 20, during the last twenty years it is represented by 4, and during the last ten years it is represented by 1."§ Alone among the churches, the Roman Catholic reports a really progressive growth; and yet it is doubtful, says our "guide, philosopher and friend," whether this church is gaining ground or even holding its own except by immigration. The transference of Catholics from Europe to America is not, of course, an absolute gain but merely an apparent one. In this connection Dr. H. K. Carroll, late Special Agent of the United States Census Office, says: Sociagl Proress, 1906, p. 256. "The figures standing for Catholic communicants are not the result of an actual count, as in most Protestant denominations. They are obtained in this way-first, there is an estimate of 'population' based on . . . the vital statistics, that is, the returns . . . for infant baptisms and deaths. These estimates are not made annually, at least in many cases. Catholic 'population' includes all baptised persons. . . . "The number of communicants is estimated at 85 per cent. of the 'population.' It is not necessary to say that this method. . . is not in accordance with statistical science. "If the Catholic population is increasing at the rate indicated, the problem of providing the people with priests and churches would seem to be a pressing one; and yet the actual increase in priests in 1905 was only 99, and in houses of worship but 226, or scarcely two per cent." Again, Ernest Untermann in his Religion and Politics, p. 6, is authority for the statement that: "There were 10,976,757 bon fide Catholics in the United States in 1902. In 1890 there were 8,301,367. This is an increase of 2,675,390 in twelve years. But this increase is neither due to new converts nor to the increase of the population by birth. For the Roman Catholic immigration during those twelve years amounted to 2,705,134. "In other words, despite the enormous increase of the general population during those twelve years, the Catholic Church has not increased by births; and although over two million new members immigrated, there was still a net loss of 29,794 members. "That means either that more Catholics died than were born or immigrated, or that so many thousands left the Church. According to the testimony of the clergy themselves, the latter reason is mainly to blame for this decrease.. Church membership of all denomina tions as compiled by Dr. Carroll (quoted above) for the Christian Advocate, shows for 1905 a total of only 31,148,445 out of a population of some 83,609,000,* or less than three church members for every eight persons. And again, the average annual increase between 1901 and 1904 of all sects was 2,185 ministers, 2,769 churches and 817,170 communicants; while for 1905 the corresponding numbers were but 1,815, 1,636 and 519,155. Even more significant is the diminution in the annual percentage of increase of total church membership. This increase in 1901 was 3.41 per cent.; in 1905 it had sunk to 1.69 per cent.-the "lowest rate on record." Inasmuch as the estimated annual increase of our population is 2.18 per cent., the church membership instead of (as formerly) creeping up in comparison with the population, is now falling behind. ... "The most striking fact revealed by the study of the denominational year-books,' says Dr. Strong (p. 255), “is the large and increasing number of barren churches; that is, those which do not report a single addition on confession of faith. The number of barren Congregational churches last year was 2,390, against 2,306 the year before, and 1,632 in 1895. The number of barren Presbyterian churches was 2,270, against 2,024 the previous year and 1,699 in 1895. . . . The number of Methodist-Episcopal 'charges' which reported no admissions on confession of faith last year was 2,276, against 2,046 the year before and 1,134 ten years earlier. Both the absolute number and the percentage of barren churches is increasing, having risen in the Congregational denomination from 30.5 per cent. in 1895 to 41.0 per cent. in 1905. . . . This increase in barren churches in recent years and the decided falling off in communicants is the more significant in view of the widespread effort to revive the old evangelical methods." *Estimated for 1905 by the U. S. Comptroller of the Currency. It will be remembered that the total population increase was 2.18 per cent. The churches to-day in America, therefore, are not holding their own. One curious and noteworthy fact is this: that those denominations which lay especial stress on "revivals" and "hell-fire" methods fare no better than those which do not. One excellent clergyman at their closing session of the "Institute of Evangelism" in Philadelphia very recently made an impassioned plea for brimstone, winding up with: "The preaching of to-day is made up too much of ethics! You are filling the minds of the people with other things than eternal retribution. Preach the Horrors of Hell with all the enthusiasm of your soul! . . .” Who knows but the lesson of statistics might exert a salutary effect upon the wellmeant zeal of such exponents of divine mercy? By manner of summing up the general loss of interest in the church, as shown by membership, Dr. Strong concludes: "From 1800 to 1850 there was a flowing tide of individualistic religion which swept over an increasing proportion of the population; but from the middle of the century on, the tide ran more slowly, and by 1900 it was practically stationary. “We must not, therefore, be surprised to learn that the tide has now turned, and the statistics of the past year show that it has already begun to ebb." III. Still more marked than the decline in membership is the falling off in church |