The morning journal-courier., 1908-06-11

THE NEXT STEP IN EVOLUTION By pr, ]. K Funk, Published by Funk X
 Wagnalls New York; b0 cents.
 This is the new and fourth edition of Dr. Funks little book of faith and in reissuing this helpful work for the Christian Dr. Funk does a real service to the cause II Is helpful, 1t is in- spring, II points to the higher plane of Christian living attainable by the believer, to the higher religious plane that nations may gain, and 10 the beatifc times when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and all mankind shall live up to the golden rule. The simplicity, the terseness, the vgor which characterize this work make 1t a treasure which he who runs may read and understand and permanently profit by.
 This little volume has been pro- nounced great book by Edwin Markham, Tolstoi, Rev. Dr, Philip MoNom of Springfield, Mass, and many other noted persons
 From the new preface we take the following extracts which more fully explain the books keynote and object.
 After six years l find that now would only the more surely express belief in several essential points. Christs second coming should not he understood to be a literal, physical coming, but His reappearance in the spirit and characters of His followers and in the world at large"
 The reappearance of Christ in the characters of those who truly follow Him is becoming increasingly mani fest Never was the race of man SD unselflsh as now. Recent famines In Russia, in China. in India touched thousands of hearts, and relief start cd spontaneously from many sides. Every year the thought of war be- tween nations is more and still more unnatural, barbarous. brutal The Brotherhood of Man appears-dimly, but 1t appears-above the horizon.
 Selhshness is becoming more diff iicut; and that 1t is short-sightedness is clearly recognized by many--"there Is that withholdeth more than Is meet, but 1t tendeth to poverty" and natur- ally so After while-in thes. growths a thousand years are as one day-sefishness will be manifest fol- ly. By and by we will be, as a mat ter of course, our brothers keeper"
 Following are disconnected extracts from the body of the book:
 Evolution goes on, hereafter, in the
 inner and upper world outside ana beyond our vision, making many and many variations doubtless. as in tne lower realms, In the Fathers spirit nal house also are many mansions We are stepping from the pathological to the psychological. from body and mind to spirit
 This coming of Christ involves a new birth, n new creation, a new king dom ll means a new step in tho cyo- lution of man. As man has stepped from the mineral kingdom to the veg etabo kingdom. and from the vegeta- blc kingdom to the animal kingdom, and from tho animal kingd om to the kingdom of the natural man, go now he steps from the kingdom of the nat ural man to the kingdom of the spir- itual man, every portion of this step natural process subject to critical sci entifc analysis. if that analysis goes deep enough. wide enough. far enough It is the continuance of evolution without break, without a leap. lift ing the race by new birth through Christ, the type-lifc. up to the plans of spiritual being and knowing
 There is no more unfailIng sign of the earncstness of Christ than the growth of loving beyond the provinc- ialism of the family, the clan, the class, the nation. "Yc are brethren" All things in common was not an i'm practicable dream, but Fundamental law of the kingdom of the spiritual man We must organize sooner or later on that basis. We are speeding onward toward that sun We feel it's growing heat. If we do not love our brethren whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen? What do ye mean by tho con,- munion of saints, yo who pray it Sun day by Sunday? Spell II out Broth. erhood Is not fiction of the lmagIn- ation Communion is not a Pcntecos- tal fantasy. A living Christ is to day more than ever on earth an aggres- sively unifylng force.