UNIVERSITY TOPICS.

YALE UNIVERSITY BULLETIN.

No. 63.-WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 20, 1888.

Sunday, October 14.-Public Worship-Battell Chapel, 10.30 A. M. Rev. T. T. Munger, D.D., of the United Church. General Religious Meeting, to be addressed by Professor Hadley-Dwight Hall, 6.30 P. M. Sermon before the Berkeley Association-Trinity Church, 7.30 P. M. Rev. Professor William Lawrence, of Cambridge, Mass.

Monday, October 15.—Preservation of Health (Lecture to the Divinity School)-Leonard J. Sanford, M.D. Room B, East Divinity Hall, 2 P. M. Tuesday, October 16.-Mathematical Club-Mr. E. H. Moore, on Cremona's treatment of Pascal's Hexagon. Sloan Laboratory, 7.30 P. M. Wednesday, October, 17.-Psychology (University Lecture)-Professor Ladd. 194 Old Chapel, 4 P. M. History of Old Testament Prophecy (University Lecture)-Professor Harper. Room B, Cabinet, 5 P. M.

Friday, October 19.-Berkeley Association (Evening Prayer)—Room 89, Dwight Hall, 6.45 P. M.

College Compositions.-No extension of time beyond Oct. 31st will be granted for the first Junior composition. Juniors are asked to leave their compositions at No. 2 Treasury Building as soon as possible.

No. 64.-WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 27, 1888.

Sunday, October 21.-Public Worship-Battell Chapel, 10.30 a. M. Rev. President Dwight. General Religious Meeting, to be addressed by the President-Dwight Hall, 6.30 P. M.

Monday, October 22.-Preservation of Health (Lecture to the Divinity School)-Leonard J. Sanford. M.D. Room B, East Divinity Hall, 2 P. M. Tuesday, October 23. - Philosophical Club-Paper by Mr. R. Nakashima on Science and Theism. Room D, East Divinity Hall, 8 P. M.

Wednesday, October 24.-Psychology (University Lecture)—Professor Ladd. 194 Old Chapel, 4 P. M. History of Old Testament Prophecy (University Lecture)-Professor Harper. Room B, Cabinet, 5 P. M. Semitic Club-Synopsis of Recent Articles. Room B, East Divinity Hall, 7 P. M.

Thursday, October 25.-College Faculty Meeting-7 Treasury Building, 4 P. M.

Friday, October 26.-Berkeley Association (Evening Prayer)-Room 89, Dwight Hall, 6.45 P. M.

No. 65.-WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 1888.

Sunday, October 28.—Public Worship-Battell Chapel, 10.30 a. M. Rev. Professor Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., of New York City. General Religious Meeting, to be addressed by the Rev. Dr. Vincent-Dwight Hall, 6.30 P. M.

Monday, October 29.-Preservation of Health (Lecture to the Divinity School)-Leonard J. Sanford, M.D. Room B, East Divinity Hall, 2 P. M. Wednesday, October 31.-Last Day of applications for remission of College Tuition-7 Treasury Building, 10.30 A. M. to 12 M. Junior Compositions due at No. 2 Treasury Building, before 4 P. M. Psychology (University Lecture)-Professor Ladd. 194 Old Chapel, 4 P. M. Yale Assembly-Linonia Hall, 7.30 P. M.

Friday, November 2.-Berkeley Association (Evening Prayer)—Room 89, Dwight Hall, 6.45 P. M. Lecture Preparatory to Communion Service -Dwight Hall, 7.30 P. M.

No. 66.-WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 10, 1888.

Sunday, November 4.-Public Worship followed by Communion Service-Battell Chapel, 10.30 A. M.-Rev. President Dwight.

Yale Young Men's Christain Association Monthly Meeting-Dwight Hall, 6.30 P. M.

Monday, November 5.-Preservation of Health (Lecture to the Divinity School)-Leonard J. Sanford, M.D. Room B, East Divinity Hall, 2 P. M.

Tuesday, November 6.-Greek Readings (The Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles)-Professor Reynolds. 194 Old Chapel, 6.45 P. M.

Classical and Philological Society.-Paper by Professor Reynolds, on the Classical and Modern Drama. Room B, East Divinity Hall, 8 P. M. Philosophical Club-Paper by Mr. J. H. Tufts, on Nature and the Universal in English Poetry. Room D, East Divinity Hall, 8 P. M.

Wednesday, November 7.-College Faculty Meeting-7 Treasury Build. ing, 4 P.M.

Psychology (University Lecture)-Professor Ladd. 194 Old Chapel, 4 P. M.

History of Old Testament Prophecy (University Lecture)-Professor Harper. Room B, Cabinet, 5 P. M.

Friday, November 9.-Berkeley Association (Evening Prayer)-Room 89, Dwight Hall, 6.45 P. M.

Political Science Club-Paper by Mr. F. D. Pavey on Growth of Western Cities. 195 Old Chapel, 7.30 P. M.

CURRENT LITERATURE.

THE PURITAN AGE IN MASSACHUSETTS.*-If there is one thing which impresses itself on the mind of the historical student more than another it is the importance of viewing each fact in its relations to the entire life of the period of which it is a constituent element. Too often a man's character or the character of a party is looked at simply from the standpoint of these last decades of the nineteenth century. The men whom the world was wont to call its patriarchs and its heroes are thereby suddenly changed into monsters of cruelty, ignorance, and narrow mindedness. Thus it has come to pass that those who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony have been scolded at and berated as few men ever were before or since, and all because they, being to a certain extent the products of their own age and its peculiar influences, chose to do things which most of us, now that we cannot, are very sure that we would not do.

Happily Dr. Ellis has not spoiled his work by approaching it in any such superficial spirit. He has, however, a profound aversion for many of the doctrines which the Puritans clung to with all the tenacity of their emphatically tenacious characters. And here and there he lays aside for a moment the task in hand to wonder that some of these same doctrines are still defended, and even to expostulate mildly with the defenders. Speaking of the intenseness of Puritan conviction he comments on the modern way of holding a creed. He says, "As a matter of fact, we have become familiar with and must reconcile ourselves to the claim of the privilege by many around us to believe certain formulas and tenets which, as stated in words, mean something quite different to them and to ourselves. But we have need to make no such allowance for the Puritan's constancy to the Puritan creed. . . . They never apologized for their creed, or mollified, reduced, or toned down its strong affirmations." But while Dr. Ellis has little or no sympathy with the religious beliefs of the founders of

*The Puritan Age in Massachusetts. By GEORGE E. ELLIS. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. pp. 576. Price $3.50.

Massachusetts Bay Colony, and while he emphasizes his antagonism by his lectures to their spiritual descendants, he does not forget that they are to be judged not by their failure to anticipate and carry out his principles of living but by the way in which they sought to illustrate their own convictions in their lives.

And yet the very fact that he pauses to repudiate their system and to point out the inherent weaknesses of their position makes his book rather a series of critical essays than a history in the fullest sense of the word. Certain writers seem to lose themselves in their theme and, for the time, to become monk, or warrior, or statesman, or preacher, looking out upon the world from the eyes of the man whose life they are trying to reproduce. This the late James Cotter Morison did in his life of St. Bernard, for it would take an acute reader to find in that biography a trace of the writer's positivism. That Dr. Ellis has not done the same in his description of the Puritan age in Massachusetts, is not to be regretted, since his criticisms and suggestions are too valuable to be omitted.

There is much that is new and striking in his presentation of the motives which led the Puritans to undertake to plant a colony on the bleak shores of New England. It was no selfish enterprise to which these sincere minds turned. Winthrop himself wrote, "We have entered into covenant with Him for this work, We have taken out a commission. . . . Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it." In further elucidating their motive Dr. Ellis remarks, "It was the inspiration of duty, not a grasping for power. The scheme would require self-subjection and sacrifice for themselves, and restraint and very severe discipline to be exercised over others. But this was not all. Most certain it is that the leaders patiently and faithfully bore the burden which they had assumed for themselves. They were themselves subject to the stern and iron rule of their own principles. They were not restful, or, as we say, happy in themselves. They were perplexed and tormented by vexations of their own invention." Nor were the clergy any more responsible for this system than were the laity. The Bible, supremely valued and trusted, was the only infallible guide. That was in the hands of the people as well as of the minister. To its authority, interpreted by themselves, all alike

bowed submissive. The only advantage which the minister enjoyed was his greater skill in making apt quotations and in applying passages of Scripture to the exigencies of each particular case. It was in their estimate and use of the Bible that they made, thinks Dr. Ellis, their great mistake. This it was which led directly to much of their intolerance and cruelty, until at last their Biblical Commonwealth had run its allotted course and had fallen a victim to its own impracticable claims.

It would be unjust to close this review of Dr. Ellis' book without referring to the complete mastery of the literature of the subject which is everywhere shown in the use of facts and in the illustration of statements. That mastery is the result of the studies of an ordinary lifetime, for the author tells us in his preface it is a half century since he began to investigate the annals of Boston and of the neighboring towns. His work may worthily find a place beside Palfrey and many another chronicler of New England's early days.

HENRY E. BOURNE.

TUTTLE'S HISTORY OF PRUSSIA.*-Portions of the History of France, Spain, and the Netherlands have been brilliantly treated by American scholars while Germany hitherto, with the possible exception of the Reformation period has been comparatively neg lected. This is perhaps easily accounted for. While Germany was a "mere geographical expression" her history had far less attraction for ambitious young foreign scholars than the great episodes which fired the enthusiasm of Prescott and Motley. But with the rise of the new empire, a first-rate power, full of energy and character appears on the scene and almost dominates Europe. The Prussia of the Hohenzollerns is such a factor in modern Europe and is so full of significance for the future that her origin and growth are subjects which acquire more and more importance day by day.

To show how this great and regenerating power in Germany was built up is the task which Prof. Tuttle has undertaken and to which he proposes to devote five volumes. His first volume reviewed the ground down to the accession of Frederick the Great and was so thoroughly and carefully done that high expectations were raised of the volumes to follow. It is safe to say that these expectations *History of Prussia Under Frederick the Great, 1740-1756. By HERBERT TUTTLE, Professor in Cornell University. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.