The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-10
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD
THE UNEASY CHAIR

NEWS Of TIE BOOK WORLD
THE UNEASY CHAIR
is the Church NeelectIng Its Source Of
PoWer7 Writer Who Thinks II is.-Ed-
ward mortimer Chapman. author Of The
Dynamic OF christianity, seeks in his book
to remind a generation very busy with
the States Of religion-its organizations
and Its machinery, its @creeds and its
char1tfes-of the principle of life and pow
err Which gives them their Significance
Ihls means, OF courses that the genera
ton Is forgetting, as the author views the
situation, religions principle Of life.
The fact that at frequent meetings Of
those who have the churchs interests
most at heart, the subject most earnestly
discussed Is the need of "a ''reawakening,"
does not refute the charge that the
church is neelectful; it rather goes to sup
port it; it Is evidence of the church's fail
ure to turn first to the natural source Of
power from which the revivifying currents
may be turned into their proper channels
and the reawakening which would better
be called a reJuvenating, be made fact.
The vital principle of which Mr. Chap
man reminds the generation. lis to be-
| found In Christ's doctrine - sometimes
neglected almost to the point of oblivion,
and sometimes maltreated into shapes of
wild superstition-of, the Spirit as the
lmmanent or resident Force in the uni
verse the Ground of phenomena, physical
and spiritual, the Revealer Of truth in
every department Of experience, a vital
and co-ordinating principle, which puts
the phenomena Of the religious life and
of physical science into natural and har-
monious relation - r.,
Lest some Cry "Pantheism!' Mr.. Chap
: man says: To- -.,s> q
SIT will of course be objected that this
! is pantheism. TO which the instant an
swer must be made that it is as far as
possible from being pantheism which
makes personality. a late perhaps last
product of a world process Personality
is primary and fundamental The Soul
of the universe must be thought Of as d
! Person, II He is to be nationally regarded
at all. To say that this confession of
faith In a resident executive Spirit is to
make a god Of the ma terial universe is
like saying that because I rejoice to hear
my friends football and to recognize his
face, therefore the face and the feet with
their fellow members comprise my friend.
They are but signs Of his presence and
agents of his will
Mr. Chapman's views as to the Spirit,
the Helper or Comforter for whom Christ
prepared his disciples, extend to this:
| "1hat all goodness is of one fundamen-
tai sort; it springs from one source; it Is
Instinct with one life; and looks forward
to one goal. The Spirit to whom Christ
introduced his disciples was to lead men
into all kinds Of truth and right living
lie was to prove Himself the great Dyn-
annie OF Goodness in the world, despising
no instruments because of their imperfec-
d lions, and being baked by no conventions
OF men. He was to be as ready as Jesus
Himself to sit at meat with publicans anG
sinners. The ultimate question which
was to decide a MANS fate was whethe,
or no he accepted the Spirit of Goodness
IN such degree as to make it the really
efficient force in his life. The momen,
that this came to pass he was a save(
man. A long and arduous journey nigh
We'll remain before this new force in hir
should gain the upper hand over the evi
self in such degree as to give him tn,
JOY of conscious and full discipleship. Blu
the Journey was begun; and it was non,
: the less IN the right direction and sure O
: us goal because 1t sometimes missed tn,
conventional hating places by the way,
some may refuse to go as far as this
others will stop short of still other view
OF Mr.. Chapman's. for example, 'tha
, the source and GROUND of all knowledg,
IS .One, and that every increase in knowl
edge is a revelation, discovery and reve
lation being but different terms for off
I R,t aspects iS OF ths same experience.
:. Chapman is pleading Tor, at heart, vii
recognize the force Of the position tina
in any effort toward a. feea1Walakening' of tn
church the Spirits influence must be re
, lied upon. The difficulty will be in apply
, ing that vital principle.
IT. may be seen from Mr.. Chapman'
: words, quoted above,a that he writes witt
, clearness and force tho with how muc1
= a 1Sy fof 70 fiI,1~
prlef extracts given. Some inflow O
strength can hardly fail to result from
, reading of the book. 1t suggests 'muc]
along lines of thought that cannot mis-
being beneficial.
Houghton, Miffln & Co., Boston; $125 net.
g - TIE BELL.
died ""N' = oDi's
With him-what youth. what eloquence, the
t They who had left him lonely days to live
a Withholding then what now they fain would give
. But his'rich grave, that to the living seemed
: 30 dadk k,, nag brlmmed;. with starlight as h
And far away a muted bell set free
Rang in immortal choirs his ecstacy.
k Louise Morgan Sill, in The Outlook.
Stories Of Storms and ShIpwreck fror
Extraordinary Government Reports.-Gov
t eminent reports are. not all dry as dus
If proof Of this is needed, reference ca
be made to reports of the life-savin
a service, particularly those prepared by tn
late William D. O'Conner, for years as
: sistant general superintendent Of the life
It saving SERVICE; or in lieu of direct in
I. spection of the reports a perusal of Heroe
OF the Storm will be convincing. Th1
book fs made up of extracts from MI
OConnors reports, and they compel re
: greet that Mr.. O'Connor did not devot
: more time to literature and less to tn
n government service. He did devote som
time to literature, for it was he who wrot
harrington, THE Good Gray Poet,
1 and other things; and then these report
) are literary in a high. degree.
! One, at least, of the stories Of hero]
S rescue recounted by Mr.. O'Connor an
!. included in the book in hand is Of spect*
Z interest in the northwest. It relates t
s the great storm of Nov. 1918, 1887, on tn
lakes, and the race Of the life-saving ere,
= OF the Ship Canal Station, Michigan,
- Marquette, 10 miles, to save the crews {
/ steam barge and a schooner which we1
7: ashore off the mouth Of the Chocolay ri,