Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-11-27
How Much Has Been Gained

'S HoW hucn has Been Gained :
= Among the various important tonic
y y discussed by the Evangelical Alliance
= which lately met in this city, there
: was none that awoke more interest on
. more genuine feeling than "Christiar
!. unity" 1t was topic which, under
= tne circumstances, naturally came first
y TO hand, and which accompanied the
! other topics all through the pro
gramme, it was recognized, indeed,
as the root of the whole enterprise, and
. flt gave occasion for the expression and
] demonstration Of great deal of true
: Christian feeling. More than that, the
: vast numbers of people who listened to
, these expressions, and the still larger
, numbers who read the report of them
, In the newspapers, gave hearty
, 'amen" to them all.
Now, there ought to come out of all
tins some high practical result; but we
lear that it Will bel long time coming.
Ihe first conclusion that the outside
world arrives at, is, that the recogni-
ton OF all the Sects by each, AS Chris
tian, and rs possessing read unity of
spirit and life, Is an open confession
that nothing but non-essentiai o,Ies-
lions and opinions keep the sects from
actual unity. 1t is a declaration. en-
llIasized In many notable ways, that
all the sectarian guarrels of the pas:.
and all the sectarian differences of the
present, relate to matters that do moi
touch the essentials of Christian saliva
ton and Christian character. Ifit does
not mean exactly this, then all the
words that were uttered with show
of earnestness, and endorsed with such
rounds o. .applaGse, were a cheat. Sol
much has been gained; and, this gain
ed, we have right to ask that the nat
ural consequences of the step shall not
be numbered or set aside. The first natl
ural consequence is that no sect can
Claim the right to make a creed that
shuts out Christian from its fellow
snip, and that every sect is bound tot
give the same latitude of opinion with
IN Its communion, on all non. essential
questions, that it yields TO other sects. |
Now let us see how much real sincerity |
! there has been in the declarations so ell |
| oquentlym and reiterated and pop
ularly responded to in the meetings of
the Alliance?
Another natural consequence is the1
consolidation of all the sects in those
| localities where, by naturalization ofl
sectarian churches, Christian work Is 1
feeble, and Christian enterprise is bur-
dened with poverty and poisoned by
jeaiOnsies and competitions. We spent
the last summer in Il country town con-
tanning many families of lnteliigencef
and culture, supported by an interest
ing and thrifty husbandry 1t had two
Presbyterian churches, two meetings.
OF Friends.-the progressive and the
orthodox, ,-one Methodist church, and
one Episcopal. With all this machine
ry, it could hardly be claimed that
there gas ain active interest in reiig-
iou5 affairs ip the town, and the fact
was patent that not one of those
churches was either well attended or
well supported. They were feeble
struggling churches, every one of them;
and at least one of them went outside
for funds to keep itself alive. There
are ten thousand just such towns in
America-sect-ridden, with feeble
churches, usually feeble and discour-
aged ministry, and Il population grown
dead for lack OF unity in the church. {
and brains and culture and feryor in Is
the pulpit. TO build a large church in
such q town as we have described, tol
fill its pulpit with first-rate man. to1
bring all those churches together in a |
union that is actual and not sentimeut-1
al, would be Ike bringing life to the
dead. II so simple thing as this can
not be done, for reasOB thaL NO sanej
inah can dispute, then let the talk !
about Christian unity cease until wei [
get little further along. II
1t Is claimed by those who represent
the various sectarian organizations that 3
the people are not ready for changes sol !
radical as this would be. We know a
something of the views and feelings of G
the people ON this subject. and we de- q
Clare our conviction that they are half 7
century in advance of the clergy. ItIs
is not the people who are against actual I
Christian unity, where such unity is 5
absolutely essential TO Christian sue
cess. The sectarian organizations op- I
pose it. The sectarian newspapers op- I
pose it. The sectarian colleges and $
theological institutions oppose it. Thei $
sectarian clergy oppose it. It is from ]
the church leaders that the opposi ion I
comes. The entire sectarian machinery .
and policy { { the various churches are
against it. Can an instance be given
where the governing sectarian infiu- l
ences have combined to reduce to har-
mOny the denominatiOnal differences P
in a town, and bring all into one fold,
under one shepherd? We shall be glad I
to hear of such an instance; we cef tain e
ly never heard of one.
The question may legitimately be y
asked of those who declare that the Il
people are not ready for this change, ?
whether they are doing anything 10 !.
prepare them for it. Do they propose Q
to do anything in the future? If not, i
then we can arrivo at a just estimate of v
4 ho m fo xuhiol, q
unity and sectarian success relatively {
obtain in their judgments and hearts.
But it is claimed that there can be q
true unity of spirit among various de- I
We do not deny q
it. We believe that there has
been this among those who have i
constituted the membership of the Al
lance, to a very great extent. We do
not expect the destruction of denomi-
for many years. With its +
present machinery, it can do much for q
in many places, particu-
larly in large towns and cities; but ri
there ID multitude of places where it h
is constant cure. Is denominational- C,
ism willing to sink itself there? If Il
not, then there is no use i'm talking il
about Christian unity, or about the Isl
love of it, or about devotion to it. The p
people desire to see a practical embodi- 81
ment of all this pieasantness between 81
the sects, in our own home affairs, as Il
well as on foreign ground; and they d
have right to expect 1t. If they do 5,
not get it, we trust they viii undertake fl
the matter for themselves. They have g
done this thing more than once, and el
they can do it again.--[ DR.. j. g. Hol- Il
land, Scri6Rer's for December. ft
Proctor the Astronomer. iii