Rev. Washington Gladden, D.D., gave the last of the series of William Belden Noble Lectures upon the general topic, "Witnesses of the Light," in Phillips Brooks House last night. His subject was "John Ruskin, the Preacher."

Ruskin, he said, though not a clergyman, was one of the greatest preachers of his century. His theology, like his political philosophy, was a curious mixture of radicalism and medievalism. He preached the essential truths of Christianity with a might energy springing from deep conviction.

The first half of Ruskin's life was devoted to the study of art. His calling as an art critic was a sacred one. The beauty with which he dealt was, he believed, a revelation of the divine light, and he himself was a witness of that light. Art, according to his standard, must express life: truth is essential to art, but it must be presented in such a way as to win the admiration of men for that which is highest.

Ruskin's central contentions in his theory of political economy are the theses that economic questions cannot be understood apart from ethical and social considerations; and that moral facts having immediate relation to human character are inextricably involved in all production of economic goods. The gist of his idea is in the words, "There is no wealth but life." That his social ideas have never been realized is due to the fact that they involve a reversion to social forms which can never again be permanently established.