SHAPING THE FUTURE Mr. Basil Mathews makes so effective' an
appeal to a wide circle of readers, and has so much that is sound and con- structive to put before them, that it is a pity his latest book (Student Christian Movement Press, 3s. 6d.) is notjust a little better. The fact that his chapters have been worked up from lectures has to be taken into account, but even so his addiction to adjectives of appreciation (" Dr. Chang Ching-yi, the great Moderator of the Church of Christ in China ; David Yui, one of the fmest organiiers of Christian youth movements in the world ; Professor T. C. Chao, whose work in integrating the metaphysical and ethical background of Chinese cultural life to Christ's teaching is one of the finest contributions to the central need-of the hour," and so on), and to a certain excess of anecdote and illustration, imparts to his writing too many of -the characteristics of the popular preacher. Mr. Mathews can well afford to dispense with such adventitious aids; for he is:incapable in any case of writing a dull page, and the thesis hp develops establishes its own hold on the attention. What he has to say, in a sentence, is that events are shaped by men, not men by events, and that this generation has it in its power to make the world what it will. It has often been said before, but not often said better ; and that in any case is only half Mr. Mathews' gospel. " To be valid our standards of value must be based on eternal reality, moral and spiritual," and that reality the writer finds embodied hi its supreme fqrm in the teaching of Christ. That, again, has often been argued before, but, again, not often argued better. Mr. Mathews' book is a temperate, persuasive. and inspiring appeal kir Christian leaderanp and the application • of • Christian principles as the cure for the'ivorld'4 ills.
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