The imagination of man has not lost its power or forgotten its function since it performed the prodigious task of enthroning its hope by the side of the godhead. It is adequate to new and healthier performance. A world of fresh materials lies before it; new heavens display their glories; a new earth offers opportunity and prospect; a new humanity presents its varieties of good and evil. New beauties gladden the open vision; new glories fascinate the kindling hope. The regions of possibility, so far from being exhausted, have but begun to disclose their treasures. The realities of to-day surpass the ideals of yesterday. Art has a new birth. Poetry has a new birth. Philosophy teems with new births. These all look forward with confident expectation. Why should religion, which has built up more grandeurs than any of them, turn her back to the new day, confess her creative power exhausted, and creep back to the images of her own idolatry? The Christ-idea, become human, will surpass its old triumphs. AUTHORITIES. To meet the wishes of such as may desire to know on what grounds his opinions are founded, or to pursue them further, the author gives the titles of a few books that may be profitably consulted. It were easy to make a long list of erudite works; much easier than to make a short list of accessible and suggestive volumes. In an essay prepared for the intelligent and thoughtful, not for the learned or scholarly class, reference to stores of erudition would be out of place. For this reason, the pages are left unencumbered with notes, and the books cited are purposely such as come within easy reach of general readers. The better known book is preferred before the less known, the conservative when it will answer the purpose, before the destructive. If the whole case were presentable in English, none but English authorities would be mentioned. Unfortunately for the general reader, the best literature is in German or French, much of which is still untranslated. To indicate these is a necessity for those who are acquainted with those languages, while those who are not, will, it is believed, find enough in English writings reasonably to satisfy their need. The titles of the books indicate sufficiently the points on which they throw light. The classical references, which are numerous, are most copious in Denis and Huidekoper, though Lecky, Renan, Johnson and others cite all the most important. Allen, J. H. Hebrew Men and Times. Baur, F. C. Kanonische Evangelien. Paulus,--(Translated.) Drei Ersten Jahrhunderte. Socrates und Christus. Die Tübinger Schule. Ursprung des Episcopäts. Baring-Gould, S. Lost and Hostile Gospels. Buddha. Romantic History of. Cohen. Les Deicides, (Translated.)