New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-24
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.


RIsHop COKE ON THE bishop
Coke. of the PIotes slant Episcopal Diocese OF
Western New York, has written a vigorous
letter to the Rev. DIR. L. A. hoffman, Dean ol
the General Theological Seminary III this ca'y,
in condemnation of the final decision OF
small number of the seminary trustees not 10
remove to a better location. The beginning Oh
work on the new Sherred Hall he regards as an
attempt to keep the seminary on It's ola ste.
He says: THUS it is decided Tor us Inse sno
former deliberate action of the whole Board Is
reversed, and that the present unwholesome
and unseemly position must, Tor many years 10
come, dictate and restrict the character OF tue
seminary and deprive Its corporation Oh any
real power to develop its resources anu enlarge
its usefulness / fOrbear to dwell upon the vast
sacrifice Of funds, at which this policy ls kept
up. would engage to obtain for the seminary
a far better site, as free gift IL only tnls our
densome property can be turned into tunus lor
the better endowment of our professorshlps;
For purposes of commerce. manufacturers anu
business il is admirably suited, and 1t could 10
sold most advantageOusy. Even now the en-
croschment of noisy and unsightly II not pes
tilential industries, are crowding upon our
prOperty and the elevated railway has dc.
priyed it of the only frontage that makes IL
suitable for costly buildings and their arcnltecs-
ural effect. .s
ring the momentous questions involved TO a
full meeting of those who have the legal right
and every moral obligation TO be the arDiteis .,
such questions, but who are absolutely deprlVcu
of an opportunity to meet and consider thehi.
Long since my vene rable predecessor, Bishop
De Lancey, felt that the responsibility OIL tno
Church at large for a seminary over when ~
cannot exercise any control ought 10 come 10
an end, The steps you now tahlug VIII III
tensjfy that conviction, and will recall the reso-
lutions which he dTaughted for the dissolution
of the seminary and the equitable Distribution
of its funds AS q son of the seminary l should
deplore this result, yet write TINS ietter 10
nut on record my solemn belief that at LEAST
some important change in our constitution Is
rendered imperatively necessary by the course
which the local trustees are pursuing"
MODERN CHRISTIAN LIFE.-In his recent
address on modern Christianity Oliver Wen
dell Holmes said that the churches OF Protes-
tantism are like so many canal locks thelr
contents of doctrine and practice at dlnereDt
levels We need not stop to dispute when
is at the highest level. They are quietly emp
tying one into another, through the slulces-
the gates will open easily at the proper time.
No doubt liberal Christianity has had to attack
many doctrines which it held to be or human
origin, and in fiat contradiction to the facts OF
history and the highest spiritual Instincts. All
this is quite consistent with the largest char-
ity toward those who held these doctrines IN
less enlightened ages. We can pardon alinoss
everything to the periods OF barbarlsm ana
semi barbarism. Only the weapons OF those
times must not bs used against us In our mod
| ern conflicts When the names of Calvin or
| Edwards are borrow ed for aggression or de,
| fence, then we must try them by the standard
| of to-day. "The Christian life" he SAID,
| may be compared to system OF railroads.
| Some are brOad-gauge and some are narrow
| gauge. Some run parallel and near 10 each
other, some diverge and follow what seem to
| Others needless, roundabout ways. But all ieau
| to the Celestial City. The churches are SO
| many stations. These have walls which IN
| close a certain number who want their protec-
fipy "
great many more who wish to be near the
| track, but must have plenty OF air at any rate.
| Two churches have the brOadest caves oil all:
! | will not name them, but this VIII say, that
| they spread their caves so Tar out toward each
| other that a poor sinner can slip from one
| station to that of the neighboring track with
out getting very wet In the worst theological
| weather.
| NORTHWESTERN MIssIoNs.-The Rev. DR..
| Dana, of st. Panl, Mimi, III few suggestive
| remarks which he made before the National
| Home Missionary Society at its iifty-seyenth
| anniversary meeting week before last at sara,
! toga thus represented the magnitude OF tue neiu
| for Christian labor in the Northwest: II you
| plant one foot of the dividers at st. Paul, and
| the other at Jacksonville, Fla, and then
move the latter northeast till abreast OF New
| York it will be 800 miles out ut sea. Move it
southwest and it will strike the City of Mexico.
| Move it northwest aud then il will fall 800
miles short of the limit of fertile and produc-
| tive country, the best wheat belt OF the con-
| tinent. filling up with an enterprlsing popu-
lation representing all nationalltlcs, and need
| ing the institutions of Christianity with an ur-
gepcy that only those who know what 1t Is TO DO
| bereft of them can appreciate. Ine 1aSt popuiat-
| ing valleys of the Asslnlboln and Saskatche-
wan are only forty-eight hours distant from
St Paul, and the question of the hour before
| the churches is to supply these new territories
with the Influences, moral and religious, needed
| to regulate and inspire their opening lie. Inc
| hal Form m III
| Now this society has organized as its latest one
| along the Northern Pacific Railroad church at
Livingston, l,043 miles west of ST. Paul, and
| between these limits a line of churches may DO
| found to-day giving promise or usefulness IN
| the early stages of the history of the young
| communities wherein planted none too soon"
The Rev. Henry f. Jacobs, ID. D., has been
| elected Professor in the Lutheran Theological
| Seminary at Philadelphia In the place of DR.. e.
| F. Krauth deceased Fifty.twO students were
| in attendance last year, and II is proposed pow
| to move the Seminary from Franklin Square
| and build elsewhere.
writer in The English NoncOnfOrmiSt says
that of the total of 5000 students at CAM
bridge there are 800 NOncOnformsts, and of
the 400 at Oxford there are 12O-or, 10 and
per cent respectively.
The coming SEASON. at Chautauqua Lake
promises to be exceedingly successful. Tho
Teachers Retreat will begin on July IA, and
the National Sunday-School Assembly Will
begin ON August z.
The Reformed Epis copal Church Council
which recently met at Baltimore raised nearly
SIC, 900 of the $40, 900 required for the Martin
School of Theology near Chicago.
The Rev. Victor G.. Smith, of Norwood, n. j.,
has Just entered upon his duties ~ rector of ST.
Marks Church, ilaledon, attractive suburb
Of Paterson. n. j.