The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-10
EDITORIAL BRIEFS.
BY REV, I, M. ATWOOD, D. D.
Canton, N. Y.

On their theory it is irrational to limit
Sunday teaching to Hebrew and Christ
ian Scriptures. They may esteem Moses
and Jesus, as on the whole the better in
structCrs and inspirers, but they could
scarcely deem them as so prominent as
to entitle them to exclusive study and
veneration. The Socrates class, the To-
roaster class, the Seneca class, should be
no anomaly in churches and Sunday
schools instituted on this idea.
But it often excites our wonder why
people who take this view should 30 un-
iformly slight the modern seers and sys-
tenn makers. Jesus has no claim on a
man who thinks he was ''7ery we'll for
his time, but is now outgrown i'll many
respects" No more have Socrates, Cor
fuciue, ZorOaster. They are quite as
thoroughly outgrOwn. Why give them
such disproportionate attention? On
the theory of evolution, religious and
moral as well as physical, better men
with better brains and hearts, have been
produced, and in our own era the best Of
all. Shakespeare Is sadly superannuated
"a thousand years superior to Buddha
but three hundred years short of Brown
ing. Give us the best. Let us emancipate
ourselves from the mouldy past. Let US
equip ourselves with Comte, Lotze, Nc
zamdoor, Spencer Tolstoi, Carlyle,
The report having gained wide eur.
rency that Dr.. John Hall is a millionaire
and enjoys an income greater than that
of the President Of the Republic. il Is
now said, on authority, that he has been
grossly misrepresented. He is not Sc
exceedingly rich, and his income is only
about One-ifth what it has been report
ed. 1t Is well enough, perhaps, to cor
rect a report that may work injury to q
man; but since it was never alleged that
DIR. Hall obtained his riches by extortion
or speculation, nor by taking brides or
selling indulgences, we do not clearly see
what concern the public has with the
size OF his fortune, nor how the report
that he is a millionaire should ipiure
him. A minister does not necessarily
lose his standing if the report gets out
that ne has never taken the VOW of pow
erty.
The Industrial Education Associa-
ton of New York hes issued, IN a mono
graph, the address delivered before that
body by President Gilman of Johns Hop
kins University. Aside from the many ad-
mirable suggestions offered, there is in.
struction and encouragement in the fact,
that man occupying the position of Pres
ident Gilman has vision and sympathies
wide enough to take an intelligent in
terest in subject with which his own
school is in no way concerned. 1t is ap-
parent from the address that he has Civ
en- careful study to the subject of man
ual training, and is quite as much OF an
enthusiast IN it as he is in the higher ed
ucation to which the Johus Hopkins Uni
yersity is devoted
The relation OF the training of the
hand to the culture Of the intellect and
not remotely to the culture Of the heart
is point in which these men SO emin-
ent and Of SO diverse habits of thought as
Gladstone, Spencer and Ruskin, are in
agreement. The latter, in particular
has often shown with effective illustra-
tion and fascinating eloquence, how q
man or woman who has learned how to
do something skillfully with the hand has
a resource against temptation as well as
against poverty. In the schools for the
blind and the idiotic it has been demon
strated that the intelligence is often most
effectually reached and reused through
the training of the hand. By SO many
experiments, in so many lines, the great
problem of the adequate culture of the
whole man will be more swiftly and
surely solved,
We observe with genuine satisfaction
the growth among our churches of socis-
ties of Christian Endeavor. These so.
cieties are, generally, composed of young
people who meet for strictly spiritual
culture. Social and literary matters are
left to other organizations; this society
keeps to its own purpose. We are not
surprised to learn that they are prompt
Iy successful. Our people, young and
old, are much like other people. They
have religious natures, religious wants
and religious yearnings. The prospect
Of fsuccessful religious meetings, conduct
ed by themselves, has always been as
good among Universelists as with any
people. Two things are required to
insure power and permanence for them.
l. To direct them especially to the cul-
ture OF the spiritual life and held them
firmly to that Ooiect ,. To keep them
simple and sane while serious. Suppress
crRnks and crankiness.
We continue to hear and read much
about the organic union" Of Christians.
Those who use the phrase appear to mean
the unity secured by a particular plan of
organization, which all who belong to
the "union" adopt But is this Organic"
union? The unity Of plant is organic;
the unity Of the British empire is or
ganic In the former there is vital and
structural unity, such that to dismem-
berit means death To- one or both the dis
severed parts; in the latter there is legal
aud political union, it may be good for
all the parts, or bad for some OF them