best performed without alcoholic drinks. The set or any of the twelve will be loaned to Sunday-schools or temperance societies as requested; and experience proves them helpful. They are extensively used in England by the Essex Hall Temperance Association (Unitarian) and other societies. They are well executed, in good taste, and appeal to one's practical, common sense. The best work our society has done, however, for Sunday-schools, is that illustrated by the temperance service which we have presented for use this evening, and offer to our schools for use on some Sunday in March. The first attempt in this direction was the preparation of four services upon "Self-control," "Self-sacrifice," "Temperance," and "A Festival Service: The City of God," which, with a collection of hymns, were published for our society by the Unitarian Sunday School Society. After a year or two the present plan of preparing a special service once a year for some Sunday in the early spring was adopted, and in pursuance thereof six services have been printed. Each had been made to centre about some Unitarian or national leader. The first, designed for Washington's Birthday, 1891, combined temperance and patriotism, and commemorated our national hero, Washington. The second was prepared in memory of Channing, the third John Pierpont, the fourth Dr. Edward Everett Hale, the fifth Mary A. Livermore, and the last, now in your hands, calling to mind our loyal and faithful friend, Dr. Reynolds. We feel that these services have been appreciated. As many as ten thousand have been called for in a single year. It would seem that this method of bringing the temperance cause into the Sunday school approves itself to our Unitarian sense. Yet even at the best record only half as many services have been used as we might have reasonably expected. The services have been characterized by cheapness (one cent per copy), familiar music, so that rehearsals were not required, the absence of dogmatism, easy adaptability to special needs. The temperance lesson to be taught has been left in each case to the superintendent's or minister's decision, except as the Scripture readings and quotations may have. suggested the fundamental principles, and pointed the way to the wisdom and duty of exercising self-control and self-sacrifice for one's own sake and for others. We are glad to feel that the general impression conveyed has been that of the wisdom and duty of total abstinence. We ask for a more hearty and general use of these services. In closing, I would say that the Unitarian Temperance Society stands ready to cooperate in any and every way with our Sunday-schools. It will gladly furnish speakers for special occasions, so far as this is possible. It will freely give its leaflets and cards of membership, and in special cases its temperance services. It will gladly try to meet any and all demands made upon its moderate resources, and it will welcome every suggestion and helpful word. NOTES FROM THE KHASI HILLS UNITARIAN MISSION, INDIA. The first conference of the Khasi Unitarians was held at Jowai on the 13th and 14th of April, 1895, and was a very successful one. A devotional service, the first meeting of the conference, was held on Saturday evening. After the close of the service the members from the interior were welcomed by the Unitarians of Jowai. The small meeting-house (now a new and larger one has been erected) at Jowai was full even at this preliminary meeting; and a tent had to be pitched outside the chapel early on Sunday morning, for want of accommodation inside the house. There was a prayer meeting at 7 A.M. on Sunday morning. After this there were three meetings during the day, in which sermons were preached. In the evening there was a business meeting of the members of the Unitarian Union, in which the following places were represented: Jowai, Raliang, Nartiang, Pádu, Dáráng, Nongtáláng, Nonglámin. On Monday morning there was a devotional service and a farewell meeting to the brethren who were to return to their respective villages. On the 27th of August, 1895, was celebrated the second anniversary of the Jowai Unitarian free school. As on previous occa sions, the school-house was decorated with flowers, ferns, moss, and also with pictures sent by Miss A. E. Howard and Mrs. K. G. Wells of Boston, U.S.A., and also with several large colored pictures presented to the school by Mrs. Rita of Jowai. After introductory exercises, which included physical drill, prizes (small pictures, money, etc.) were distributed by Mrs. Rita, who kindly presided. Mr. S. E. Rita, the local magistrate, and Miss Rita also honored our little school with their presence. The children were very much pleased with the prizes; and their copies of the Every Other Sunday, kindly sent to us by Mrs. K. G. Wells of Boston, were distributed to all children and friends present. During the Dunjá Pijá holidays in September and October, 1895, I was laid down with influenza, and could not visit the various mission stations as I would. I, however, managed to get down to Nongtáláng to celebrate the anniversary of the Khasi Hills Unitarian Union, where I arrived on the 4th of October, 1895. On the night of October 5 we held a special meeting at Nonglámin, in which were present members from Syndái, Nongtáláng, Dáráng, Pádu, Jowai, Nonglámin. October 6, Sunday, in the morning, after baptizing a new-born child, we returned to Nongtáláng to be present at the anniversary meetings. The first meeting was held at 11 A.M., and a sermon was delivered by me. Second meeting, sermon by U Kiton Roy, mission worker of Jowai. Third meeting, sermon by U Shngái Pohtluni and U Khyllau Pádu. Monday, October 7, there was a business meeting in the morning. The total number of Unitarians on the 30th of September, 1895, was 130. The same day we left for Pádu. Tuesday, October 8, I preached in the morning in the meeting-house of the Unitarians of Pádu, and then left for Jarain. We got back to Jowai on the 9th. The following extract from my diary will show the kind of work we are quietly doing in this obscure corner of the globe. October 12th, Saturday. Before going to office at 11 A.M., I was called to see a child dangerously ill in the Jowai village, in the house of a family who decided to join our society (and has since joined our commun ion) and renounce demon worship, gave some advice to the family about the child, and hastily returned to office. I requested the native doctor to go and see the child; and he kindly did so, while brother Már Singh, lay worker, remained the whole day to nurse the child. After office, at 6 P.M., I was informed that the child was dead. I then went to the house to console the mother of the child and her relatives, and passed the night there. October 13, Sunday. After prayer meeting in the morning I arranged for making a coffin for the dead child, and went with the workers and friends to dig a grave. Then I returned about 11 AM, to conduct the Sunday-school. A strange sight, only women and children in the chapel, the men still working at the grave, and only came in toward the close of the service. After the school was over, I went to the village with almost all that were in the school. After singing, reading, and prayer in the house where the child lay dead, we accompanied the coffin to the grave, where funeral service was read. As it was very late, no sermon meeting was held in that afternoon. Our new meeting-house at Jowai was formally opened and dedicated on Monday, the 5th of January, 1896. The dedicatory service consisted also of readings with responses set to music, conducted by Babu David Edwards of Raliang, and a sermon by Babu Kissor Singh. The house is made of ekra (reeds) walls, having a gable roof of Gothic style thatched with grass. There are eleven windows and three doors. It is 31 feet by 16 feet, and a wing of 13 feet by 13 feet, and is capable of seating 200 people. As the house is used also as a school-house, we have made a movable pulpit, having four wheels hidden inside. On week-days the pulpit is rolled to a corner of the house. On the 10th of January I was at Shillong, whither I went, travelling day and night, to bury the remains of my beloved mother, who breathed her last on the 9th. On arrival at Shillong I at once went to the Dak Bungalow (hotel) to greet Rev. J. T. Sunderland, who came to the Khasi Hills to see us. He was just starting for Jowai. HAJOM KISSOR SINGH. Khasi Hills, Jowai, India. ORTHODOX OR UNITARIAN. I. It is sometimes said that it takes the whole Church to preach the whole gospel of God, including Roman Catholics and all the Protestant denominations; and, qualifiedly, this is, no doubt, true. And we should take in also all the pagan religious sects, with the mystics and other independent thinkers and teachers, who have any knowledge, especially spiritual knowledge, of God and divine realities. But, to narrow the subject down to the so-called Christian denominations, it is probably true that each one of them has some specially good and important truth which each other one has left out of its faith and use. And the same also may be said of methods and applications of some commonly received truths; and I first suggest that the so-called orthodox or evangelical denominations have a great advantage over Unitarians in the emphasis and importance they give to personal religion and in some of their methods of awakening and promoting it as an "experience," though particularly in its beginnings, much more than in its higher attainment as the life of God in the soul, or as a Christian and spiritual experience, which, as Dr. Martineau not long since said, "Reached its acme, so far as we know it, in Christ." But there must be a beginning, conscious beginning, to most of us, and, the more earnest and determined it is, the better,-and much progress, before the "acme," or any near approach to it, can be attained. Not long since a liberal Congregationalist minister, whom I have long known, asked me-and in no sectarian spirit or animuswhy a rich neighboring church, with a high social position and influence, and with always able and excellent ministers, gradually, if slowly, declined, while his church, much less favored in worldly respects, of which, however, he had been the minister but a short time, had grown and prospered, -a question that may be still more appropriately asked respecting declining and prospering churches in some other places. In answering this question for myself, I should say the orthodox-if we must still use that obnoxious term-emphasize religion, personal, experimental religion, much more than Unitarians generally do, and put it in the foreground as the "one thing needful" and absolutely essential. It is true that they often most unreasonably magnify it, with some superstition, into the "all in all,” beginning, middle, and end, hardly recognizing the important doctrine of growth and progress in the divine life, which is still more essential than the simple beginning of it. But it is their religion, nevertheless, if only so rudimental and imperfect; and they show their wisdom in emphasizing it, for it is most evident that the basis of a church or any religious institution should be religion, and especially as aspiring and earnest people go to church to learn what they can about God, the soul, responsibility, and the ultimate human destiny, whether it is to be in the dust with the worms or in some glorious heaven with God and good spirits. Of course, they like to hear cultivated, learned, accomplished ministers; but in this day they are not particularly dependent on the pulpits for literature, philosophy, science, art, and kindred topics; for these are all abroad now, and can be readily obtained from the lecturer and the magazines. But religion, especially religion in its highest and best, most Christian form, for head, heart, and hand, is not so popular or common; and many, especially men both in Unitarian and all other parishes, are perishing for the lack of it in the cold regions of atheism or agnosticism,-agnosticism a very prevalent, advancing ism, which it especially needs prophets of the soul to dispel, and to change into consciousness of God, and eternal life in him,-the only way out of darkness into light,-the light of heaven. And, if Unitarianism has no such prophets, then it has no antidote to scepticism and irreligion. But it has many. Now, all of the orthodox churches-that is, the communicants-are made up of men and women who profess to have passed through a process of conviction and conversion to an "experience of religion"; and at some of the communion tables hundreds sit together, from month to month, and occasionally a thousand or more, and as "the elect and precious" of God, by virtue of a new birth in him and a regeneration by his spirit, and thus made sure heirs to a heavenly inheritance. And this "experience" that they profess to have is over and above all the gen eral "evidences of Christianity," historic and other, that they read in books and receive from their theological teachers; and, if one may thus find in one's self a sure and satisfactory witness for God and all that is implied in his fatherly and saving relation to his devoted and faithful children, this must certainly be an acquisition to be very grateful for. And we should all candidly and faithfully inquire if this be so. But, instead of doing this, many unbelievers, and sometimes even "liberal Christians" by profession, say it is all superstition, and turn from the subject with indifference, if not scorn, sometimes, indeed, from the repelling influence of the narrowness, bigotry, and unworthy characters of its professors; and often it is little else than superstition, and sometimes hypocrisy. But by repudiating it wholly, as having nothing in it of any germinal value even, those who know better from their own first aspirations and endeavors, and subsequently by a calmer, closer walk with God, and peace and joy in him, turn from such repudiators, as giving sufficient evidence that they certainly have no religion,-nothing, at best, but "mere morality"; and I have known, especially in revival times, some very excellent young persons, and persons not young, to be attracted from us by that superficial misjudging of Unitarianism, their own peculiar signs of religion not manifest in it, and so the essential substance also lacking, equal misunderstanding and misjudgment on each side, these beginnings of a personal, earnest, and consecrated religious life not over-estimated, but wrongly estimated, by one class, and progressive religion-sometimes without any earnest beginning by the other class: whereas the two united would produce far higher and better results, and in co-operation perhaps. And when recently Prof. Harris of the Andover Theological Seminary, in a broadly liberal and noble address in Channing Hall, Unitarian Building, Boston, frankly and gratefully acknowledged for himself and his advancing orthodox brotherhood great indebtedness for much truth and light and helpful influence to Unitarianism, and particularly to Dr. Channing, Rev. William R. Alger followed him in an equally liberal and noble way, and said, in substance, that now it is time for us also to reciprocate this candor, and acknowledge our indebtedness to the school that is bringing out and enforcing some important things that we have neglected,—as in the address of Prof. Harris that morning. Now, after more than sixty years of close observation, I am quite sure that I am right in saying that we may learn much, to our profit, of the orthodox in reference to an earnest beginning of the Christian life, and they as much from Unitarians as to the ever-progressive nature of that life, when really begun; and, as it has long been said that religion is everything or nothing, if it really has a solid and permanent basis in the human soul which may be conscious of the witnessing, inspiring spirit of God within it, really the chief way to know God,—as there are even in churches multitudes of dormant, un aspiring souls, and not a few "dead in trespasses and sins," I am quite sure we may learn something of the orthodox, as to a method of awaking and saving some of these, even by revivals-simultaneous awakenings-of religion, and without the least superstition, narrowness, gloom, or unreasonableness, and on a plane of spiritual life and light in perfect harmony with all the higher faculties of the human mind, however highly cultivated and stored with all sorts of learning. And very wisely may the different denominations learn much of each other as to the diverse ways of the spirit in enlarging the Church or building up the kingdom of God on earth. And Unitarians may learn something even of Mr. Moody, some of whose views seem to be very crude and unchristian, but the fruits of whose revivalism are not certainly all superstition nor dogmatic theology, some of them being of the wisest and most philanthropic character, which will be perpetual memorials of him centuries after he has passed away,his Educational Institution, especially, at Northfield. How few wealthy men are building themselves such a noble and enduring monument! "Honor to whom honor is due," with however many human and religious limitations. The revivalism, the special religious meetings, the church organizing and enlargement of the orthodox, are certainly worthy of the serious consideration of Unitarians as Unitarianism is of the evangelicals, and is receiving it. even W. H. FISH. HOME. "May peace be in thy home." The vast multitude that we see pass in the evening are seeking some spot or place called home. Some are going to the mansions furnished with rich tapestry and gorgeous carpets, others are seeking the neat cottages, while others climb to the bare garret or descend to the damp cellar; but, in whatever place, it is home "which stands at the end of every day's labor and beckons us to its bosom." Into one class of these homes there is coming to the people a nobler idea of home life. They are learning the value of the influence existing there, and that true happiness is found only in the home. Fathers and mothers are becoming interested in home-making. Consequently, we may expect better people. The wife is striving to ameliorate the condition of her home. Her personal appearance is receiving more attention. She is trying to serve the food well cooked and in the best possible manner. Her table is kept clean and attractive. The house is made bright and cheerful with plants. There is no cross, fretful wife now. The hus band finds peace, and is allowed to live in its hallowed joys. The true wife is realiz ing that the husband bears heavy burdens. She puts her own trouble in the background, and is doing her duty toward making home as charming as the sunshine. The husband has awakened to the fact that the home needs more of his attention. He is learning to be patient with the children, to be interested in their studies and games. He is kinder to his wife and more considerate of her feelings. He treats her as he would want to be treated under the same circumstances. He has learned that house work gives no sort of stimulus to the spirits. So he is explaining his business to his wife, telling her of the outside world and reading the papers aloud. He is becoming unselfish. He respects the rights of other members of the home. He is becoming a more refined, a better man. So the wife is coming out of the household rut; and home is becoming the resort of love, of joy, of peace. These parents are learning that they can preach no more than they live, that the sermons from which the children draw their ideas are not delivered from the pulpit or by the Sunday-school teacher, but from those that take place in the home. And these sermons are being made to illustrate the spirit of love and kindness rather than that of selfishness and high temper. The rod is fast going out of fashion, as harshness and severity never yet cured any faults in the home. Children are now being dealt with as reasonable beings; and parents are cultivating their opportunities with these young heads and hearts, before the world's influence has hardened the nature beyond their moulding. The members of these homes are becoming each day nearer and dearer to one another, keeping back the hasty speech, and giving love, companionship, and sympathy; and from these homes will ascend pure aspirations that link the inmates to heaven. "Home is not merely four square walls, Though with pictures hung and gilded: CHURCH-GOING THEN AND NOW. Many changes have taken place in the church-going of the last seventy-five years. The increase of comfort with which it is attended and the decrease of demands made on one's strength and patience are both less remarkable, however, than the modification of the idea of individual responsibility regarding it. The fines and public admonitions that served to re-enforce the consciences of Sunday morning laggards in the early days of the colonies had been long given up; but the influence of public sentiment, at least outside the largest cities, was still so effective that he who braved its indignation by absenting himself unnecessarily from divine service would have been considered capable of almost any other recklessness or neglect of ordinary duty. Everybody went to church as naturally and as regularly as our children go to school. Only a Sunday or two ago an honored leader in a Unitarian church not many miles from Boston spoke to a minister of his absence from church, and said, not in the least by way of apology, but merely as explanation, that he had spent the morning taking a delightful ride out into the country on his bicycle. If a church official of 1821 had had the imagination and the daring to frame such a thought in his inmost heart, the lack of a |