CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Contemporary Review: August. (Strahan.)—It seems unfair to- find fault with a review which has shown such marked excellence as has the Contemporary daring the last few months. But it certainly is somewhat defective on the literary side. We can get abundance to read of the belles lettres, it is true, elsewhere; but we like to see them in their proper- place, as we take it to be, side by side with the dismission of social and theological questions. On these latter, the Contemporary may be counted on to give us some light. The Dean of Westminster's paper, for instance, in the present number, on " The Athanasian Creed," is a contri- bution to theology of permanent value. Whether those who admire this document are within the reach of persuasion it is not easy to say, but they can hardly fail to be shaken by this argument. Let them read with special attention the section on tho theology of the Creed.
We have always said that, malleus hoereticorum as the creed professes to be, it is really itself heretical. Mr. Freemantle on the "Brehm Somaj " and Mr. Llewellyn Davies on "Professor Grote on Utilitarianism " give us noteworthy papers. Professor Rawlinson is dealing with a speciality of his own when he discusses the various questions connected with "The Moabite Stone." Mr. George Potter writes a paper on "Strikes and Lock-outs from the Workman's Point of View," one of a class of contributions which promises to become a valuable feature in the review. An "open council " is an admirable way of getting at truth as long as the speakers are really representative men, such as is Mr. Potter, for instance, to whom no one will deny, at least, this quali- fication. Of course, we are not going to enter on the subject which he handles ; but is a "lock-out" essentially more immoral than a strike ? Practically, the more powerful side is generally the more immoral ; the master to-day, the workman, perhaps, to-morrow. The theory of the "lock-out" surely is to prevent the masters being beaten in detail by local strikes.
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