Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-10-26

West | believe the railroads themselves
say that they issue these permits on the
ground that the ministry is sort of
police force. The sermons aud the obsery-
ance OF the Ten Commandments, which
the ministry represents and inculcates.
tend to protect their property. The ex,
lstence of the ministry helms Ia nrotect
every railroad from the robbery OF station
houses and the wrecking Of trains of
course, there is some truth in this view
and If the railroad assent 10 il and act
upon 1t, am glad to have ministers take
advantage of the belief and practice of the
railroads"
The Curchmaa lEpis says: @The pages
of our periodical literature give proof
from week to week. and from month to
month, that religion in It's broad meaning
occupies very large share Of the publie
attention. The great magazines, DESIGNED
for the entertainment and instruction of
all sorts and conditions of men. have dis
covered that, In spite Of currant cant to
the contrary, religious problems are Of the
deepest interest 10 the mass of readers.
The secular magazine and reviews 10 not
pretend to the propagation of any set Of
religious opinions or ecclesiastical, polity
but offer themselves merely rs the pur-
yeyors Of such wares as thinking men have
to offer, and for which there is real de-
mand. Christian and Deist, spiritualist
and agnoStic, churchmau and Puritan.
jostle each other in the market-plsce and
find exposed for the general consumption
food for their several tastes. Ii viii he
noticed, however, that the prevailing tone
OF the greater part of these articles is
what some theologians call broad
others liberal still Others dangerous and
rationalistic. Now and then old-fashioned
Calvinism finds champion, or the doc
trine of verbal inspiration, end perhaps
that of the endless physical torment O the
damned, receives an impetus. But in the
main the religious discussions in our peri
odical literature receive their inspiration
from what is called the school of the
higher criticism. The idol breakers pre-
dominate, and eursory glance at their
work would lead the casual reader to sup
pose that the Church and Christianity
were in sad need of reform throughout all
their members. No thoughtful Christian
is sorry TO recognize even this seemingly
destructive drift Of secular literature how
ever some OF Us may regret in it certain
prevailing tone of contemptuous pity for
those who still believe in the supernatural.
"The truth of Christianity is open to all
fair and honest investigation. We take
hostile and friendly criticism alike as
signs that men will be satisfied only with
the best in religion as in all things else.
A man may deny the supernatural and yet
be seeking the truth. While in this tran
sitive state he should be helped, not him
dered by the disciples of the Son Of Man.
But there Is current cant of shallow
criticism, an unwarrauted assumption,
which is intolerable. 1t can only be in
dulged in out of either ignorance or
malevolence. For instance, favorite inn
plication is that the Christian Church has
so degenerated from the ideal of the
Founder of Christianity that he would
lind himself stranger within its walls
The critic goes further, and asks with a
sneer whether Jesus would be a welcome
guest, and, were he to find entrance, would
he understand the worship addressed to
himself. The easy charge is preferred
that he would probably be asked to move
on from the doors Of his temple, and that
| he would not be respectable enough to sit
in the elegantly upholstered pews in the
dim religious light of windows that repre-
sent him and his apostles. All this is very
cheap writing indeed. 1t is the easiest
sort of composition, and popular also be-
| cause of the daring contrasts it suggests.
But it is so miserably and pitiably false
and misleading. 1t implies that beauti-
ful church editice is contrary to the spirit
of Christianity. 1t declares, in so many
words, that stained glass brass lecterns,
marble fonts, rich altar cloths, and cush-
| Toned pews are waste Of money. 1t as
serts that modern forms of worship are so
alien to the simple tastes of Jesus that he
would be confused and indignant at them.
But if these critics would read the New
Testament carefully they would surely, if
they are honest, be nonplussed over the
fact that Jesus was at home in the hand
somely furnished synagogues and richly
adorned temple OF his own day. Surely
there was never ceremonial more gor-
geous or display more lavish than that to
which he was accustomed as a Jew, and in
the midst of which he grew up increasing
in wisdom and stature and in favor with
God and man. True he found his fathers
house desecrated by the introduction of
foreign customs, yet he did not forsake the
temple, but drove out those who would
make it den of thieves. The doom he
pronounced upon the temple of Jerusalem
was not because it was adorned with
goodly stones and gifts but because its
usefulness as an instrument was over"