But to include our foes in a national observance, which, if it means anything means grateful memory, is not to honor them and is to stultify ourselves. The most generous thing the nation can give to its would-be destroyers, living or dead, is the charity of its silence. Berthold Auerbach. We are glad to present our readers with a translation of Auerbach's new story, giving them its first American reprint. It is taken from the German Garten-Laube where it is now appearing as a short serial. We have taken it on trust, knowing neither the length nor style of the story, but relying on the author's great reputation and the tone of his previous writings that it will be all we shall desire. As an appropriate introduction to it, we copy 66 Among the writers of continental Europe, few, at the present day, have succeeded in impressing themselves so deeply upon the American mind as Berthold Auerbach. His essays and stories possess that naturalness and that facility of narration which can scarcely belong to pure fiction. Besides, the refined literary taste and high culture exhibited in their preparation, and the purity of their moral tone, to say nothing of many other instructive features with which they abound, warrant critics in awarding their author the high position assigned him among living writers. With his finished style as a writer there is associated a sturdy German sense of the real and the practical, which renders him so acceptable to the thoughtful, cultivated American mind. No author stands out in more conspicuous contrast with the prevalent gaudy, highly-seasoned, fictitious literature of the period, and no author more effectually confirms a distaste, once awakened in a reader, for sensational reading. The great influence exerted by his works in Germany is due to their truthful portrayal of every-day German life, whether at court or in the humble cot of the peasant. And further than this, he seems to have become so conversant with the ways and usages of the people of other nations, the French and English in particular, that he successfully weaves in any foreign element whenever the plan of a work necessitates such incorporation. Auerbach was born February 28th, 1812, at Nordstetten, on the Suabian side of the Black Forest. His parents were Jews, of very humble pecuniary circumstances. When quite young, Berthold evinced a remarkably quick intelligence, and so awakened the appreciation of his parents, that they resolved to afford him all the assistance within the scope of their ability toward obtaining a university training. They hoped to see him an active and progressive teacher of Hebrew theology, a leader in the synagogue. To Carlsruhe he was accordingly sent, where he studied Hebrew literature, the classics of Greece and Rome, and attended the Gym nasium. From Carlsruhe he went to the universities of Stuttgart, Tübingen, Munich, and Heidelberg. He appears to have become unsettled with reference to the profession his doting parents had marked out for him early in the course of his student life, so that we find him making philosophy, history, and literature the chief features while completing his studies at the universities. His education, especially the latter part of it, was obtained amid many difficulties arising out of his poverty. In 1835 he was arrested for some political reason, and confined for months in the fortress of Hohenasperg. In fact, he had some connection with a secret society organized for political purposes not in harmony, as may be safely inferred, with the Government. On being released, Auerbach determined to give his attention to literature, and in 1836 published an essay entitled "Judaism and Modern Literature." This was designed as introductory to a series of tales from the history of the Jewish race, but only two works were completed, "Spinoza " and " Poet and Merchant." In 1841, he published at Stuttgart a translation of the works of Spinoza, the celebrated Amsterdam philosopher. This performance drew the attention of scholars and authors to him, and gave to his name no little reputation. But he was destined to use his pen in a wider sphere than for the discussion of philosophical theories relating to the nature of thought and the existence of some great substantial source of being. In 1842, the death of his father, to whom he was warmly attached, drew him away for a time from the learned circle which he had become familiar with at Cologne. The scenes of his boyhood, freshened by a visit to his old home, after years of study and hardship in other climes, suggested new themes for reflection, and he conceived the purpose of depicting human nature as he saw it personified in the people around him. His "Educated Citizen" (1842), and then his ' Village Tales' (first series, 1843), appeared, and were received with general favor by all classes, and determined his future course. He concluded that ̧. in writing of the people as he found them in his excursions and travels, he should win the best measure of success for his pen. But his object was not so much to please as to instruct the lower classes of his countrymen. As early as 1845 he entertained the project of publishing an almanac adapted to the comprehension of the masses, containing, besides his attractive stories, simply written articles on policies, science, and art. This idea he carried out in the Gossip' (Der Gevattensmann), which was continued for seven or eight years, and then took a more extended form under the title of Auerbach's Volks . calendar,' which has been published annually down to the present time. His Little Barefoot' is well known as one of the most vivid and pathetic tales of humble life in any language, and greatly helped to advance him to the front rank of popular writers. This was soon followed by Joseph in the Snow,' and Edelweiss,' which were as eagerly welcomed. The work which probably contributed most to awaken American interest in Auerbach is his On the Heights,' which takes a higher social range than his previous works, but shows its author to be as much a master in the treatment of aristocratic life in Germany as of rural scenes and incidents among the lowly. The latest work translated and published in this country is his Country House on the Rhine,' which has fully met the expectations of the better class of American readers for high-toned sentiment, delicate humor, and faithful delineation of character. Bayard Taylor, whose acquaintance with German literature is considerable, says: Auerbach belongs, indisputably, not only to the class of self-made men, but to the class of authors who possess independent creative power. His continued success has never beguiled him to careless over-confidence in himself; his studies for each new work are as thoroughly and conscientiously made as if it were the first, and should determine his place in literature. His sense of the literary art has matured with his years, and a careful reader of his works can easily detect his progress toward an ideal of proportion, of balanced strength, such as only presents itself to genuine and unfaltering intellectual effort.' He resides at Berlin, where he may be said to enjoy the freedom of the city, being welcome to come and go as he wills in all ranks of society, from the court to the working classes." "The Open Way." We have often enough had occasion to lament the lack, in our denominational literature, of those hand-books of devotion which may be picked up in such numbers and of such excellence on the counters of other denominational bookstores. While our literature is not yet rich-in quantity at leastin ny department, it seems to us especially meagre in the domain of spiritual culture; a department where we would gladly have it, and where we trust it will some day be most rich and full. We are therefore glad to hail a contribution partly, at least, in this direction, in the little book bearing the above title, from the pen of Rev. G. S. Weaver, just published by Williamson & Cantwell. A popular exposition of our faith which makes it include, as we fully believe it does, what is best and most vital in all Christian belief, written in the fervor of that faith, hope and love which gives it the true "unction of the spirit," it cannot fail to be a minister of good to many waiting hearts. As a light to young seekers after the religious life, who scarcely know what and how much Universalism signifies; and as a guide to the right understanding of our faith and its spirit by those who accept not yet its inspiring truths, it is especially valuable. The book contains six chapters,each in three divisions, each division illustrating some phase of Universalism as applied to life. Our readers have already enjoyed a foretaste of the book in two of these subdivisions, the articles on "Universalism as a Sentiment," and 66 The Heaven of our Faith," which appeared in the last year's volumes of the REPOSITORY. For our part we like the contents of the chapters much better than their headings, as they stand in the book. Universalism as a Doctrine, an Idea, a Sentiment," is unobjectionable, but in preserving the formula to the extent of calling, "Universalism a Head, a Hand, a Heart," or "An Altar, a Home, a Heaven," it seems to us the author has hardly said what he means or has carried out in the chapters. But this, although a noticeable b'emish, if such, is a slight one in the general excellence of the work. The "Open Way" should be put at once on the shelves of all our Sunday School li braries. It is arranged in tasteful and attractive style, with Scripture mottoes and poetical selections as headings and interludes, and is handsomely printed and bound. It contains two hundred and sixty-six pages, | important enough, it seemed, to call for and retails at $1.25 a copy. Adams and Chapin's Hymn Book. A new edition of this Hymn Book so extensively used in our order has just been made by the Publishing House. It is considerable larger than the earlier ones, with the hymns in new and much larger type. It is printed on fine, smooth paper with wide margins, is bound in leather, and is in every way a handsome and durable volume. Our Book Table. A bright and intelligent girl from Philadelphia, enjoying her first visit to Boston, remarked, the other day, "Do they ever read, write or talk anything but theology here? I have heard nothing else all winter, have read it in every book I take up, and find a new treatise in every house." And whether or not the phenomenon is especially Bostonian, we may accept it as a fair statement of our case. The religious issues of the day have reached more definite ground and have elicited more general attention and interest than for many years heretofore. This last fact is indeed the natural outcome of the preceding. The seed sowing, the germination, the slow unfolding of a plant attract but little notice. It is to the flower and the fruit that all eyes turn, and determine once for all its claims to usefulness and beauty. The wheat and tares grow on until the harvest; then there comes a winnowing, when the truth is garnered and the chaff cleared away with destroying fire. Such eras come repeatedly in all movements, religious no less than others. They begin quietly and in silence; there seems at most but a shadow, a disturbance in the air, then slowly, seemingly without method and in vagueness and confusion the agitation works itself to the crisis which seems abrupt only because it for the first time commands attention. Such an era we seem to have reached in the new discussions concerning the foundations of our Christian belief. The present issues between Christianity and scepticism are no new ones, but under different names and in new forms the old errors have taken new root and have slowly unfolded, scarcely notice even in exterminating them, until they present themselves in full flower as the consummation of modern thought. And the importance they have to-day in the public mind seems to us more factitious than real. The modern protest against a supernatural religion finds its strength in a few leading men of letters, who represent only themselves, not any general conviction of the people. We have rightly called it the flower of thought, not of life. Nevertheless by this outspoken protest the church is placed on the defensive, and has to fight again the old battle, so often fought and won. No matter if the logic of the nineteenth century be poorer than that of the second or third, no matter if the deism of Voltaire be preferable to the theism of Frothingham, since the less forgets that the greater has been met, it, too, must not be unanswered. And surely an occasion that brings forth such riches of testimony for the Christian faith is not to be regretted. Next, if not equal in importance to the lectures on Christianity and Scepticism given in this city contemporaneous with the Free Religious lectures, was the course presented at the same time in the Church of the Disciples and now published as recast in book form, by the pastor, Rev. James Freeman Clarke. Under the head of Steps in Belief, it deals in part with the same themes, albeit in somewhat different form; and we lay down the book with the feeling that to the literature of the Christian evidences there have been few contributions more valuable than this. It deals with something more, however, than the questions at issue between pure Theism and Christianity; rather it begins back of these at the very foundations of all belief. It first step is from Atheism to Theism, then from Theism to Christianity, from Romanism to Protestantism, and from the Letter to the Spirit. Giving at first the rationale of our own spiritual nature, it looks through that and through outward nature alike up to the great source of all, the God of life and light. We can hardly imagine the argument against materialism, with its logical result, atheism, put in finer form than we find it in the two opening chapters of Mr. Clarke's book; an argument elucidated still more clearly in the third chapter, on "the Atheist's theory of the Universe," and more accurately defined still farther on, in the essay on imperfect and perfect Theism. But the part most pertinent to the present controversy is naturally the second step, from Theism to Christianity. Here the author confessedly meets a new class of opponents, who, believing firmly in spirit and in God, deny that Christianity is any advance beyond pure Theism; the class who have latterly given the name of "Free Religion" to the system of belief, or unbelief, they have adopted. Preparatory to considering the question thus raised, Mr. Clarke naturally takes up the life and character of Christ as it appears in history. Here he takes in all points of dispute among Christians, what we suppose to be the common Unitarian ground. Refraining, with the characteristic shyness of that body, from saying in square words just what he thinks on the subject, he makes his argument simply from the pure humanity of Jesus, but so construes this as to reconcile in some degree the war between the naturalists and supernaturalists. "Perhaps," he says, "the greatness of Jesus may have been just here, that he was the man of men, the truest man, fulfilling the type of humanity. Perhaps the great lesson of his life is that human nature is not essentially evil, but good. Perhaps his mission was to show us one perfect pattern of the human race; one ideal pattern; one such as all are hereafter to become." Thus, in giving Christ a pure human nature he seeks to exalt rather than belittle his work. He accepts the miracles, not as supernatural signs of his divine mission, but as the spontaneous outcome of a perfect spiritual nature; the manifestation in an eminent degree of that "power by which the soul demonstrates its inherent supremacy above the lower forces which govern in the material sphere." This is ground radically distinct from that taken by Parker and bis school, who believing in the humanity of Jesus, believe that therefore he must have been imperfect, liable to error, and incapable of miracles. And we conceive the former to be the true Unitarian idea, - an exaltation of the possibilities of human nature, a belief that "there is place and room in it for all the great qualities, powers and gifts ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels." But whatever views Mr. Clarke holds in regard to the nature and rank of Jesus,, these are secondary to the position he takes with all Christians in acknowledging him as the Lord and Master of all, the Mediator of God's love to men, and the Saviour of the world. His loyalty to Christ every true Christian must accept and honor. And no truer service could be rendered for him, in the eyes of all Christians, we think, than he has rendered in that noble chapter which treats of the advance of Christianity on Theism. Admirable in its definitions, just in its comparisons, logical in its deductions, clear and strong in the sweep of its conclusions, it seems to us to have said the final word as between these two ideas. -a Between the religion which is confessedly "the effort of man to perfect himself,” religion which has its foundation in selfishness, dissevering the soul alike from the help of men and of God, and leaving it to work out blindly its own salvation by personal struggle and solitary effort;--a process quite as likely to be successful as the efforts of a child to lift himself by his own bootstraps;— between this and that religion which without trenching on the freedom or dignity of the soul receives it into unity with all spiritual existence, into the communion of a common love and life working through all for the good of each, there can be, it seems, but one rational decision. Christianity is not only the true way but infinitely the best; "deeper in its life, higher in its aspiration, broader in its sweep, more far-reaching in its perpetual advance," than any other. Mr. Clarke quotes St. Paul as summing up the whole argument in one magnificent sentence, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." But passing from this question of the present to that of the future, the author next considers the advance of Romanism on Protestantism. He grapples here with the great dissension of the Christian Church, great in the past and destined to become greater in the future. Having conceded the authority of Christ, the question still remains between that authority as vested in the church and in the human soul. It is needless to follow Mr. Clarke's line of argument for the Protestant church. Eminently just to catholicism, conceding its many excellencies which Protestants well might borrow, admitting all the good done by its pious and devoted followers, he finds its cardinal error in the predominance of the letter above the spirit, of ceremony and sacrament above faith, hope and love. The difference between its fundamental law and that of Protestantism, Mr. Clarke happily expresses. "Both Catholics and Protestants believe in the church visible and the church invisible. But the one makes the visible church the root and the invisible church the fruit; the other makes the invisible church the root and the visible church the fruit." "The Roman-Catholic principle is, Do good and you will be good;' the Protestant, Be good and you will do good."" - And naturally enough, our author opposes with all his Protestant might the spirit of Catholicism, the extravagant assumption that arrogates to itself infallibility, exclusive holiness and supreme authority. It is this which makes it dangerous alike to Christian and civil liberty, and calls upon every friend of either to deny its pretensions and oppose its claims. the cry is raised against the Bible, against the Sabbath, against Christ or against Christianity as a whole, it is grand to feel the seemingly opposing ranks close up, shoulder to shoulder, to do united battle against the common foe. It is then that we feel the truth of our author's closing words. "All Christians, no matter how much they differ, are essentially one. They differ because they are narrow; when they go deeper and rise higher, they come together. For they all believe in one God, one Christ, one law of Duty, one Church Universal, one immortal Life and one Holy Spirit. Where they differ it is because they know in part and see in part; where they agree, it is because they supply the narrowness of their creed by the largeness of their love." While in this imperfect résumé we have kept to the subject-matter of the work before us, something of its style appears incidentally in the sentences quoted. Of its prevailing excellence and beauty we could not say too much, were it necessary to say anything. But so much is to be understood of anything from the author of the "Truths and Errors of Orthodoxy." Almost every page tempts the reviewer to quote paragraphs, not more for their thought than for their artistic beauty; while both thought and style assure him that the present volume, as well as the author's previous works, will find its permanent place among Unitarian classics. -The A. U. Association has just added another to the excellent series of Sunday mission, in the little volume of stories called School books approved by the Ladies' Com"Daily Bread." It is made up of two of the most delightful of Mr. Hale's delightful stories the two Christmas stories first Briefly, after having traversed this wide field of special controversy, Mr. Clarke considers the deeper and all pervading question of the letter and the spirit, which he believes is to become more and more the criterion of faith, leading at length to the perfect "unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." We printed in the supplement of the Daily Adhave taken most satisfaction in the last chap-vertiser, a pretty love-story in verse entitled ter of the book, which under the head of "The Creed of Christendom" presents the essential unities of belief in the Christian -- "Bessie Gray," by Mrs. M. P. Lowe, and three selected tales. Together they make a sold at the extremely low price of eighty neat volume of two hundred pages which is cents. It would be a good book for our own Sunday School Libraries. -"Life and Alone" is the absurd title of a still more absurd book. How it should have entered into the heart of man or woman to conceive, much less to carry out, a work |