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out another task which can be neglected only at the cost of spiritual atrophy. It must affirm the unity of human experience and provide the means for appreciating and the stimulus for maintaining all the values of human life. The Universities of the Middle Ages failed, not because the subjects they taught were 'practical' or 'cultural', but because their sole ends were professional-the church, the law, medicine. witness to truth and beauty is not less but the more required of Universities in a utilitarian age. Then it becomes their special and urgent charge to testify that man cannot live by bread alone. We may give a rough practical test. Wherever the tone is indifferent or hostile to those studies and those interests which are directed to the great works of the human spirit, wherever thought the leaven of civilization — is suspect as unpractical and 'highbrow', wherever the claims of the University are urged chiefly on the ground of its utility for this or that practical end, then it may be brisk and stirring, but the flame is burning low. This test of tone and spirit is not inconsistent with the fullest development of practical activities, which are also a fruit of the spirit. But just as a church which substitutes social activity or. literary sermons or simple morality for the spirit of religion is a living corpse, so a University which amid all its other legitimate ends neglects to proclaim the unity of the human spirit has made the great surrender to this world. We have not read a nobler vindication of humanism written with a more passionate hope for democracy than Ariel. It should be in the hands of every student, and of every teacher.

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Latin eloquence, however lofty, is definite and concrete. When we turn from the golden language of Rodó to that opalescent mist of beautiful words which 'A. E.' (Mr. George Russell) has cast over the theme of the relation of the politics of time to the politics of eternity, we agree with the belief of one of his characters in the uniqueness and variety of national cultures. I confess to being somewhat obtuse to the cobweb of Celtic metaphysic and mysticism which enwraps this book;

The Interpreters, by A. E.; The Macmillan Company; London and Toronto; 1922; $1.75.

does the preciosity of the form cover a certain thinness of content? But the book is an exquisite piece of prose, which rises without effort into poetry at the close. The setting is a prison cell, where some centuries hence the leaders of a national rebellion-indubitably Irish-spend their last night debating their reasons-naturally no two of them agree what these reasons are for revolting against the supreme world state. We imagine that this device has been adopted to gain the effect of tranquillity and remoteness from the late rebellion. It is not for us to complain if only the idealisms of revolt found expression that night on the thin edge between time and eternity, and it would be out of tune with the mood of the debate if one view claimed the victory except in so far as death for a cause is victory. The core of the book is perhaps expressed in these sentences:

'I count it the greatest of tragedies for a man that he should suddenly lose memory so that he could not recollect what songs were sung about his cradle, or the dreams of his youth, or for what ideal he had laboured. And your ideals [of the world state] have brought on many nations the greatest of spiritual tragedies, for they lose memory of their past and do not see the way they came and by what unnumbered dreams they were led. They lose the beauty of poetry, the ennobling influence of heroic story; and the cavalcades which set out thousands of years before miss their destiny and wander without spiritual guidance in a desert of vulgarity. We have rediscovered our ancient house or paradise of beautiful memories, and we resume the pilgrimage to our own goal. Other nations with us revolt against the domination your world state would impose upon them. The river of national life though submerged for a while rises up again. The momentum of a thousand ages, the character and the deep life created cannot be destroyed in a generation.'

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The red thread which binds the epic of The Long Journeys is the indomitable spirit of man, who wrests her secrets from nature and holds fast to them. It is not easy to cast into the form of art that toilsome ascent of Caliban to Ariel; but Johannes Jensen has written a masterpiece in this story, the first part of which, Fire and Ice, has now been translated into

The Long Journey: Fire and Ice, by Johannes V. Jensen; translated into English by A. G. Chater; Toronto, The Macmillan Company; 1922; $2.50 net.

English. At this stage one cannot grasp the full sweep of the work, which carries the epic of man from tropical forests that withered before the ice age to the discovery of the new world. A story so vast has its own difficulties in the unavoidable changes of dramatis personae. But the piety of the ancients gave a name and a legend to the unknown benefactors who struck out fire from flint, and tamed the horse, and launched ships on the water. This is the mould in which Genesis is cast, and Jenson, in using the legends of the North, has availed himself of that poetic concentration which myth and legend achieve. Not that he disregards the results of science, blending Wahrheit with Dichtung. This is a merit, but a secondary merit, of his work. But it has the higher truth of art, and we know Fyr and Carl and Firegrim as we cannot know the Crô-Magnon man and the Aurignacian. The whole work turns on a symbol, the forest, of which man makes the ship and the cathedral. But he never forgets the legendary forest land that perished under the ice, and the dream of that happy country led Columbus across the sea to end where man has started, facing primitive man and primaeval forest. It is a fine conception finely wrought; how can we despair of the future of man, who met the heaviest odds when he was least equipped to master them?

XANTHIAS.

CURRENT EVENTS.

The Church Union Situation.

The intention is, in this brief article, to avoid, as far as possible, the controversial tone and attempt simply to sketch the present situation. At the Winnipeg Assembly of 1916 it was decided to go forward at once; a committee was appointed to carry out this decision consisting entirely of Unionists. This was followed by the formation of an association for the purpose of 'preserving the Presbyterian Church in Canada.' At the following Assembly at Montreal, 1917, the movement was arrested and an agreement reached that no further action, except such co-operation as was approved by the Committee, should be taken until two years after the close of the war. It was hoped that by that time new light might be thrown on the subject or at least a new temper called forth that would make a real agreement possible. There was no meeting of this Committee, which had been again made representative in its character, until just before the Toronto Assembly of 1921. The representatives of the majority dia not promise that a new vote of the people would be taken after the war, and, when that time came the minority did not press for it vigorously. It was decided to present the whole matter to Assembly so that a vote could be taken on the principle of Union. In the resolution that was carried the Assembly expressed its desire to proceed to union with the Methodist and Congregational Churches, as expeditiously as possible, but some of those who supported this resolution gave the impression that they meant 'as slowly as possible.' It was stated that the issue was between co-operation as an end in itself and co-operation as a means to early union. The union resolution was carried by about four to one. Since then the labours of the Union Committee have been devoted to drawing up, in conjunction with the representatives of the negotiating churches, 'an enabling bill,' which will have to be submitted to Parliament and the various Legislatures. During the past year the Unionists have, following the example of 'the antis,' formed a committee and employed agents for the pur

pose of explaining their programme and counter-acting the propaganda and their opponents. This is the barest outline of the movement for the past seven years.

It must be a matter for deep regret to all who are interested in the religious life of the country and the prosperity of the Presbyterian Church that, through all these years, so little progress has been made towards real agreement within the Church and that the immediate prospect for such agreement is not bright. It was unfortunate that in 1921 the leaders of the two sections could not come more closely together, for it is evident that whether there has been any increase in the opposition to union or not, there has been an increase in bitterness in the style of debate, and charges of 'coercion,' 'misrepresentation,' and even 'packing the Assembly,' have been heard. These cries must not be taken too seriously, but they are evidences of a temper unfavourable to cool deliberation. The opinion of Unionists that the opposition makes a noise out of all proportion to its real strength and influence may be correct; on this view it will collapse, to a large extent, in the face of an overwhelming and determined movement. Be that as it may, it has had its varied effects: at the beginning of this ecclesiastical year the opinion was freely expressed that the matter must now be settled once for all; recently men about whose 'Unionism' there can be no doubt have expressed their fear of hasty action, have criticized the proposed legislation or suggested another vote. To these the reply is made. that what is required is faith, not fear; that action after twenty years' discussion is not 'hasty,' that in view of the condition of the churches in the west a new vote is very difficult, if not impossible, and that details of the bill can be considered in conciliatory spirit. But that these questions can now arise among those who have been advocates of Union shows the complexity of the situation. Is it possible, the leaders may ask, that the great movement is to be put in peril by the timidity of its own supporters?

Many well-known names might be mentioned, but one will suffice, that of Dr. E. D. McLaren. First, note carefully his own view of the Union Movement! "The harmonious consolidation of the two largest and one of the smaller Protestant Churches: the gathering into one united Church, for the

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