New-York tribune., 1886-08-15
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.
WHAT is SAID AND DONE IN THE CHRISTIAN
WORLD AL HOME AND ABROAD.


Convention that is to meet in October. will not adopt
the Revised Prayer Book which is to come before 1t
for final action. great deal of opposition to it has
been developed IN the various doceses and those who
behind the scenes say that this opposition has
arisen largely from the extreme High Churchme1.
"The Living Church." which is an organ OF The
advanced High Churchmen. says editorially that the
revised book cannot be accepted as basis OF
future revision The only changes the present book
which it is willing to have made few very trivial
omissions and substtutons In the service And 1t
calls for the appointment Of liturgcal commission to
confer with similar commissions of the Provinces OF
Canterbury and York to discuss the whole subject Of
lturg1cal revision. This" said Episcopa clergy
man the other day. /" is polite way of demanding
that the whole question be shelved indefinitely. The
Rituasts want things to remain as they are until
they feel strong enough 10 oserturn entirely the work
of the Refof Then they will vote the
Protestant Episcopal Church out Of existence, and
vote in the American Catholic Church which will
have its masses and its confess'onas and all the poDP
and ceremonial of the medaeval church. And instead
OF having Revised Prayer Book with Offices adapted
to the needs of age. We shall then have full-
fedged missal This is the dream OF the kltna'sIs,
revision which tends to modernize the Prayer Book.
All, therefore, who vote against this revision are
voting into the hands of the Ritualists."
According to the Year Book Of the Young Mems
Christian Association. there ninety Association
|
net value Of the Association property aggregates
| $5.O4O.173. Three hundred and sixty-fve associa-
tions own Libraries of 272, ,624 Volumes worth
S293, l6S; 444 reading rooms. with total daily
average attendanoe of 225S7 are reported. One
hundred and thirty-one associations report gym
uasms and other means Of physical culture, such as
rowing baseball. and outing clubs, bowiing-aiieys,
etc. and o92 report 666 Bible classes with an aggre
gate average attendance OF 1910 -Four hundred
and eighty seven men are devoting their whole tune
to the work as general secretarles Librarians ano
gymnasium instructors. There are ,066 associations
10 this country including the college. railroad,
German, colored and Indian branches The annual
current expenses OF these thousano societies amount
to $500, 900. The book also contains list OF
associations In foreign countries. Six hundred and
fifty OF these are in Germany. 40 IN France, 5Io In
Great Britain, 491 in Holland, in Russia, in China,
in Japan, in India IL IN Africa, IA In Australia,
etc.
The new theology ha. neither terrors charms for
Mr. Moody, who breaches the old theology with
vigor and sincerity that command the respect Of
those who do not agree with him al would like" he
said the other day in address the Bible to ace
one of these new lights these men that have got
new Gospel that they say is matter of culture, OF
education who say it takes time to convert man, 90
into an inquiry-room. Here comes man. He takes
his ia the inquiry room and this modern worker
| takes seat by his eide and says:
Are you concerned about your soulP
Il am very much.
| DO want 70 become CHRISTIAN
Yes
DO yOn know I am one Of the men that don't
believe in sudden conv ersion, and ! think you Ought
take time consider this. Would you tell me your
! dincultyf The man coors up lie don't want TO tell
about his difficulty; but the man wins bis confidence
and he says TO tell you the truth, have been dis
| honest
You have been stealingi You have been taking
money from your employer
Yes.
How mnch money have you stolen this last vearr
| Il don't know have kept no account OF it.
well, if you stole thousand dollars, don't you
steal moro than $500 next year. and the next year
$780, and tho third year SlOO, and by the end Of the
fourth year yon will get converted II your en-
ployer catches you can tell him you are going 10
| be converted the new way"
When tho Rev. Dr. Bradford, of Montclair, N j..
was in Oxford short time ago, one of the ablest
thinkers In the English Church said to him one day
You Americans surprising as nowadays and
am afraid you will not find what you want in Oxford"
And taking up a copy Of Professor Briggs book on
Bible Study" be added Oxford gives us no such
books as that" And prominent, graduate Of Oxford
who Is Dssenter told him that no such book as
Ladd's The Doctrine of Holy Scripture could have
been written at Oxford. Commenting on these
statements in The Independents" Dr. Bradford says:
When had been at Oxford a mouth l realized the
truth OF what had been told There ia no such IN
tcllectual ierment there as here. The young men
| are interested politics and the classics, and the
elderly men in the lines and in the Church but
thought docs Lot. all hands, reach down so deep
AS i'll American colleges. and especially In our
| theological schools Theological study at Oxford
seemed like childs play when compared with the work
done at Andovor ana Yale and Union Seminaries. In
New Testament E1egesis and Ethics. the lectures
| were of high order but in Old Testament Exegesis,
| Philosophy and Theology. they were inferior, when
compared with similar work in this country This Is
because their best Efforts not in the line OF nstruc
ton . There will be revival of interest in theo;
logical study at Oxford with the founding Of Mansfield
College the Non Con formist Divinity Hall,
which is TO be opened soon under the very able dlrec
ton of Principal Fairbairn. Progressive men in the
Establishment, like Vice. Chancellor Jowett, and Dr.
| Hatch have long urged the estaboh of such a
| school at the University, because they have SAID
there is middle ground for moderate men between
| High Churchism and Agnosticism.
In "The Southern Prest yterian" tho Rev. Dr.
Woodrow says that the Southern Presby terian Church
has Dot done its iul duty to tho coorcd people; aud
he calls for white ministers TO labor among them
Can il be" he asks /" that any of people deny
the unity of the race and deliberately leave the
outside of brothery sympathy Or do people
donbt the capacity OF the negro to be Chrstianized
| II so. what argument can they show which proves
that the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands be
Christians 7 Facts are the test and We venture
tho assertion that the negro will compare weH with
any of the heather nations in theI capacity to be
| brought unGcr Gospel influences. We should make
allowance their previous condition. and get
our prejudices. God made this people. They are
| human"
In the judgment of Sir Rivers Thompson the present
Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Christian missionaries
| have done real and lasting good TO the peoples
of India than all other agencies combined Ncverthe
! less Christians here home must not imagine that
Christianity is carrying everything before it. The
Rev Dr. Rouse, who Is laboring among the educated
natives of India says For fifty British inst
tutons have been gradually transplAnted to Indian
soil. Western thought has broken the continuity of
thirty centuries OF hinduism and two civilizations at
very unequal stages Of development brought face
to face with each Other The destructive influence of
Western civilization is at present tar more manifest
| thsn tho renewing power OF Christianity. A critical
and scientific education, which trains the Intelligence
and not the WILL has succeeded in upsetuna alto
gether the religious faith Of multitudes an with it
| many moral and social restraints; o condition of
things which, if uncared for. must bring blight and
death upon the nation. Losing a supersttcus tailh
they reject deception the supernatural altogether