The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-11-14
Tho Religious Movements of the limo
Presbyterian Union.

Tho Religious Movements of the limo
Presbyterian Union.
We have more than once of late had occa-
sion to say to our readers that in matters reli-
gious the times were singuarly lively. This
is true not of one nation, but of all nations
The religious even more than the political
questions now command attention. 1t is not,
in our opinion, an unhealthful sign. Our age
is practical beyond any other which the world
has known Reason is imperious and exact
ing. 1t ignores what the world calls faith.
Time was when faith was imperious and intol-
Grant To exercise the highest God-given
faculty-to think for ones self-was a sin
which merited death, but which death could
not expiate. We have advanced since then.
Reason now rules. Faith has become the
little sister; but reason is magnanimous. It
does not need the help of the stake, the block
and the halter. Yet, in spite of the ascend
ancy of reason, the age is not irreligious. We
have rationalism, but we have little or no inf
deity. Never were the churches, externally,
more prosperous; nor, although religious
questions have more deeply and more seriously
agitated the minds of men, have they ever
commanded an interest so general.
We have seen how the Ecumenical Council
has filed the world with hope and fear. 1t
has threatened the Catholic Church with
division. 1t has made the Eastern Church
indignant, but it has aroused it from its leth-
argy. 1t has shaken the Protestant world as
nothing has shaken 1t in its whole history.
Within the fold of the Catholic Church the
action of Father Hyacinthe, the protest of the
Fulda Convention, the attitude assumed by
Bavaria, by Austria, by Spain, by Italy, and
alarming. In North Germany anti-State
Church sentiments have become 80 powerful
that disruption and the establishment of
vigorous Free Church would not be a sur
prise. In the English Establishment recent
movements have more than ever alienated the
High Church from the Broad Church party,
and the Evangelical or Low Church party
looks upon the other two with greater dislike,
If not with greater horror. By the appoint
ment Of DR.. Temple, Head Master of Rugby
School, a notorious Broad Church divine, and
one Of the authors of Essays and
Reviews" to the vacant See of Exeter,
Mr.. Gladstone, while he has shown much
wisdom and not little nerve, and while he
has gladdened the hearts of the Broad church.
men, has lost many votes both among the
Puseytes and the Evangelicals. Scotland is
busy with grand union movements and Ire
land is religiously, even more than politically,
active.
On this Continent and in these United
States, so far as religion is concerned, we
have the world in miniature. We have the
Chinaman with his Joss house, and we have
Buddhists from Japan; we have the Mormon
and the Free Lover, and the Shaker and others
Of that genus we have Jews in numbers,
large and ever-increasing; then we have
Christians Of every name and of all denomina-
tons. Nor can it be said that any of those
are inactive. Our Catholic fellow citizens are
now looking eagerly towards Rome; our
Episcopal friends are divided between the
merits Of Puseysm and Evangelicism our
Methodist brethren are in much trouble about
the lay element; the Congregationalists 60 on
in their own quiet, noble way. All of these,
however, are prospecting in numbers and in
wealth. The esbyterians-numerous, power
full, intelligent, active, but much given to
division courses-seem to have turned a new
leaf; for all over they are influenced powerfully
by union sentiments. On Friday last, at Pitts
burg, there was presented spectacle which
has more than once happened already in the
history of Presbyterlanism, but which, 1t must
be admitted, has been too rarely witnessed in
the history of Christianity. The Old and New
Schools, divided since 1888, have now merged
their differences, and become one. The first
fruit Of this union will be the union in Scotland
Of all the Presbyterian churches not dependent
on the State for support. The second result
will be the union In this country of all the
Presbyterian bodies, New and Old, Reformed,
United and the rest. Once this second and
larger union has taken place, there can be no
good reason why the Reformed Dutch Church
should not come in and swell the ranks Of
Presbyteransm. No good man but desires to
see a broader union still. What is wanted in
all the churches il simplifcation of creeds.
We are asked to believe too much. Let reason
be more respected, let Faith take her proper
place, and a united Chrlstendom will cease to
be an impossibllity.
The Mormon TroubIe-A Case for Com