The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-05-12
EDITORIAL BRIEFS.
BY REV. 1, M. ATWOOD, D, D.
Canton, N. Y.

The Publishing World draws atten-
ton TO an old disorder under new name
--"biblioclepsy." This is Greek for book
stealing. The tribe of book thieves, so
far from being extinct, Hourishes in all its
ancient vigor. There are more books to
steal, more libraries, public and private,
more bookstores: more opportunities,
therefore. 1t is said that there are all
grades Of bibliocleps. Some are gentle
men of exquisite literary taste; they know
a superb work by instinct and abstract
none but the rarest works. Others are
mere common thieves who take indis-
criminately whatever they can lay hands
on.
The spectacle of Senators Ingalls, and
voorhees, calling each other names and
bringing in other parties, living and
dead, for a share in the abuse meant for
each other, is not edifying. Senators add
nothing to their renown by such displays
of personal spite and vanity, while they
| subtract immensely from whatever infu-
ence they might otherwise have. The
talent" for saying uncandid things about
opponents is not so rare that United
States Senator need expect to add to his
reputation by the free use of billinRsgate.
1t is great blunder, to say nothing OF
the misuse of his time and position as a
member of the National Legislature.
The frank and thoughtful article bv
DR.. Cushman in the April Quorterly
engages our interest as much bv its 80.
rene temper as on account of the old
pastures to which the amiable Univer-
salist Catholic invites our weary feet
He writes of "Catholic Universalisn" in
a tine and confident strain, as seeing
things that are invisible. We are not
able to catch the writer's enthusiasm
fully, nor to believe that there is as much
hope in the direction he looks as in some
others from which his eye is resolutelv
turned. But we linger with a certain
satisfaction over his pages and think
better OF our church that it is catholic
enough to include men of DR.. Cushman's
way of thinking.
Another journal of Independent
modern thought" has been started with
! the aim, now at least, "to establish ethics
and religion on a scientific basis" Welike
these spring violets, tender, fragrant and
shott-lived, which appear each year as
the SHOWS vanish and win our instant at-
lection because we know that they are
not mercensry. There is no money in
them. They are innocent of worldly
wisdom. They are the product of hearts
and brains not yet hardened. Their pro-
Jeetors will be wiser and sRdder men by
autumn; but it is like balm in this bleak
age to feel the warmth of enthusiasm and
witness the childlike confidence OF men
who establish" journals in April and
wrap them in their winding sheet in Oc-
tober.
After having been much bewildered
by the different accounts given of "the
religion OF the future" it assures and
soothes the perturbed spirit to learn that
''manklnd's new religion ehall be a re-
ligion founded on the real facts of the
world, working with universal forces,
looking ever to general human better
ment; believing in the Eternal Now"
That Is something like 1t never before
struck us SO forcibly what a mighty in
! splratlon there is in believing in the
External Now" The eternal yesterday
or tomorrow, without capitals, is tame.
But the Eternal Now, with capitals, fires
the imagination and converts shallow
rant into heavenly wisdom. And we can
have the whole of it for thirty cents a
year.
The Rev. DIR. Manley, one of our ear
| lest and most industrious scholars. has
prepared commentary on the New Tes-
lament on the same general plan as his
biblical Review OF the Old Testament.
He desires to bring that out, and so com
plete his hfe-wOrk; and he is, we under.
stand, about to issue the prospectus of
the n. I. part. We trust DR.. Msnley
will receive such encouragement as to
warrant him in going forward with the
| publication. No one among our older
! school of exegetes is better equipped or
has a fsirer mind. He has put the pur-
pose and the labor OF busy lifetime into
his Bible work, and he desires to have it
recognized and appreciated by the de-
nomination he has served so long and so
Loyalty.
Prof Schurman, in his ethical I'm
port Of Darwinism," contends that the
association of utilitarian morals and spec
ulative mateFialism with the doctrine
Of Evolution is not legitimate copart-
nership, but au arbitrary combination"
of things that have no logical affinity. He
| is right, perhaps, a to DRrwinism. But
the evolution Of an ethical, or a philo-
| sophical, or a theological system rarely
takes the line OF logical deduction from
verified premises. 1t more often rushes
to conclusions that are seen to be i'm
piled in the scope OF the doctrine. This
is what is going on in respect of EvOlu-
ton. The ethics Of the Evolution are
already formulated. They are the ethics
of utilitarisnism, and of the bOldest sort.
| -Carlyle's Dirt Philosophy"