Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-25
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO MINIS
TIERS AND LAYMEN.
Expressions of Opinion by Newspapers
Representing the Various Denom-
nations, on Many Subjects.

ter from the ParlSh OF Christ Church, Lit
tie Rock, to the Eighteenth Annual Coun-
oil of the Diocese of Arkansas, explaining
the absence from the Council of delegates
from that parish, summary OF which is
contained in its last paragraph, in these
words; "We feel it would be useless and
degrading for us to enter the Council until
a constitutional amendment is enacted
that shall contne representation in Coun-
ell to the white race
The Ljring Church (P. E.) saws: 1--WE
hear good deal about the lack of reli-
gious teaching in the schools. How about
the lack of it in the homes of protesting
Christians? The parents who complain
most loudly that the Bible is not read in
school, do they resd il at home? Is the
household gathered, morning and evening,
at the family altar, to hear the words of
Holy Scripture, and to Join in prayer and
praise? In how many cases is the entire
religious training of the child turned over
to the Sunday school, with its one hour
week, in which variety of interests and
exercises claim attention? In how few
instances do parents and godparents neg
lect their bounden duty and privilege,
while they complain that the State does
not attend to it? By all means let us have
the Bible in the school, but whether it is
found there or not, let us have it in our
homes, not closed upon the shelf, but open
and read daily by the assembled house
hold"
The Rev. Charles Caverno, writing in
the Andorer Repie,c on "Theistic Agnosti-
cism Irrational" says: "To take the low
est ground with an agnostic, suppose re-
ligion to subsist in belief and hope alone.
That would not warrant an agnostic in ig-
noring religion. Not all beliefs are in
valid, and not all hopes are vain. If man
denuded himself of all the spurs to action
which come from beliefs and hopes, his
would be sapless being Nine-tenths, if
not nine hundred and ninety-nine thou
sandths, of our activity springs from belief
and hope. There is rebellion, partly
justifable, against making belief the foun-
dation of the distribution of awards in re-
ligion. But there is one thing certain, the
prizes in practical life are drawn from it,
and if we are not saved in religion by
hope, as Paul declares We are, We are so
saved in the struggle for existence, and
even in the conquest OF the certainties of
science. Principles so fruitful elsewhere
might not possibly be worthy of contempt
in religion"
The Rev. Edward w. Gilman, DID,
Secretary of the American Bible Society,
says in the Independent: "The traditional
reluctance of many churches to observe the
festivals and fasts of the Christian year
has so far yielded to the influences of the
present day that Christmas and Easter are
sure of well-nigh universal recognition.
The event of our Lords death on the cross
is no less worthy of commemoration; but,
partly because it is not festive and partly
because it falls upon a week day, it occu-
pies far less of Christian thought, although
Good Friday observance is growing in
favor, and may easily be turned to edifca-
tion by the devout. But there are two
other days which are entitled to be re-
garded as cardinal points in the Christian
year, against the observance of which no
good argument can be urged. These are
Ascension Day and Whitsunday, the one
recalling to mind our Lords departure
from his disciples, and the other the full
filment of his promise in the advent of the
Comforter"
The Ghristian Adrocate says: 'Theolog-
ical schools are of comparatively recent
origin in our denomination, and only a
small proportion of our ministers are grad
uates either from these institutions or
classical colleges; but the proportion in
creases every year, and great care must be
exercised by the young men who have en-
joyed the advantages of higher education
lest they drift away from the poor If our
ministers lose sympathy with the unedu-
Gated, the laborers and the so-called lower
classes, they will lose influence over them,
and infidels, seeing their opportunity, will
rush in and become leaders of the people.
The shepherdless flock will find pretenders
to follow. Ministers ought to be leaders
of the people. They should control and
guide in all great moral and religious
movements whereby the world is made
better. They cannot do this by climbing
to the top of society and spending their
strength among the rich and refined
classes. History bears witness to the fact
that great leaders of reformations have
achieved their noble purpose by working
among the masses"
On the constitution ofreligious orders in
the Church of England, the London Church
Times says: at remains to be seen whether
the upper house will water down the resp
lutions by altering the disputed phrase as
to 'dispensable VOWS or in any other way
In any case, the principal of community
life, and community life under strict rule
according to Catholic precedent, has now
received the formal sanction of the repre-
sentative house of Canterbury, with the
approval and support of men of all schools.
Like choral services, like missions, like
many another of the points once de-
quietly accepted. There are, it is said,
three stages through which every new
idea, Or unfamiliar method, must pass in
England: the first, when everybody
laughs at it and says; 1T is impossible;'
the second when everybody frowns and
says: 1T is against the Bible;' the third,
when everybody smiles and says: we
knew that long ago. One after another
the reforms of the Catholic revival reach
the third stage and become the common
places of church life and thought"
The Ch,rchn,dn publishes letter from
Father Van Santen, the Old Catholic
priest of Dordrecht, Holland, to the Bishop
of Western New York CDR. Coxe), in
review of the Bishops letter "To Divine
Of Utrecht" On the point of the Articles
Father Van Santen says: "You write:
The Thirty-nine Articles are mere
catechism pro elero, and are not terms of
communion of any Christian SOUL But
think that if they are catechism pro
ctero, they are, just on that account, the
obstacle for reunion. For if they can be
interpreted in Catholic sense, some of
them have yet Calvinistic sense. More
over, the Lord Bishop of Winchester has
stamped the Calvinistic Interpretation as
an official one. And by the case against
the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. King, it
appears that in the Anglican Church the
Calvinistic element has no little force. 1t
is known also that the Catholic tendency
in the Anglican Church is net vet much
older than forty or fifty years; all of which
makes us fear that, in the first place, we
cannot yet think of unity with the Angli-
can Church. Certainly we live in trust
that in the Anglican Church the true
Catholicity will surmount the un- Catholic
tendency which is yet found there. Toler-
alton and love are duty towards every
one, but we cannot speak of any unity
where there exists not the unitas neces-
sarits"
The I7adenen1syf oof,,o IL