The record-union., 1891-09-05
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions from the Various
Religious Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the SectarIan Press
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.


can he consistently take pay for the
same?
To which the Advocate answers: Ser
taInly. Do you not pay your sexton for
taking care of the church, or organist for
playing, II he is a professional, and your
servants for working on Sunday in your
house? Such is human nature that, If
the physician took no pay for Sunday
services, his congregations would ne'er
break up and his Sabbaths would have
no end.'
The CORgreqdti0ndLiSt says: "The GUS
tomary motive urged for sustaining re-
lglous services in places where one may
be soiourning for the summer is the help
which can thus be brought to many
feeble church. That is not the only rea-
son which should make the Christian who
is on his vacation mindful of his duty.
His own spiritual life must be kept up,
and he has hardly less need than when at
home Of those institutions and ordinances
Which feed piety. Indeed, new surround
lngs may develop new temptations. We
remember a college mate who used often
to say that he found it harder work to
keep the faith amid the diversions and
delights of vacation than when he was
steadily engaged in the routine Of study.
Your presence in the schOolhouse meet
ing or in the country church will doubt
less be an encouragement to the regular
attendants there, but 90 not thither with
self-cOmplacent air as though you were
comforting instead of receiving a benefit"
The Cb0tTchHdR says 1.-THE oneness of
ChriSts Church is an article of the Cath
olic faith; its preservation where it exists
and its restoration where it has been lost
or injured are Christian duties; yet for
ages both have been forgotten and ne
elected. Now, and in the most different
quarters, that article of ChriSt'S truth is
Il,
been isolated for fifteen centuries, as in
sects and denominations which have
been Wranglng for generations, the man
Itest wrong and misery Of separation are
rousing men to a sense OF the imperative
Christian duty of unity. The various
views which are taken of the means and
mode Of restoring unity are often incOn-
Slstent and even contradictory, and then
again views of the most strangely similar
kind are set forth by persons Of the most
widely different positions. But what is
Strangest Of all is this, that hardly is a
diSpairing word spoken on any side but
some strong utterance OF faith and hope
is sounded from some other side. Thus,
in the American church there has been
deep diScOuragement because the Lam
beth Declaration has not been immedi-
ately adopted by the Christian denom-
nations to which it was addressed; and it
is precisely at this time that Lord Nelson
and the whole school of High Anglicans
are most deeply hopeful Of discovering
some feasible plan of home reunion
which, if it should be found, would surely
set a pattern to be safely followed in this
SChiSm-rent country"
Church Bells Up. E.) says: 1.-THE tri-
umph Of DR.. Brooks means, to some, that
the church has passed through reVolu-
ton. She has abandoned what is called
her old and narrow ground, and, by the
voice of majority of the Bishops, taken
a new departure. Henceforth for the
Episcopal Church to enter town for
mission work where a Christian minister
Is already preaching, may be regarded as
an impertinence. The basis once promul-
gated for unity, contains no longer the
historic Episcopate. The Episcopal
Church as a distinctive body in the midst
Of the rival sects is no more. 1t is held
that we have nothing to offer which the
others have not The brilliant Boston
pulpit orator, backed by the power of the
press and public popular opinion, has led
the whole church, by the final voice of
the House of Bishops, into the unbOunded
field of broad churchism, into what a
Unitarian calls radically inconsistent
position. Consistency now seems to de-
mand that our chancels and affairs should
witness to officiating ministers of all de-
nominations. Those of other COM
muniants expect that Bishop Brooks will
burn all barriers away and make this
branch Of the church, so far as the apos-
toliC fellowship is concerned, like the
Methodist Episcopal Church, leaving the
Roman branch the only witness to apos-
tolic succession. Now the practical thing
TO do IS TO merge The 2. l.. Church into
the NJ. +. Church-Iet the mother go
home to her daughter"
The Church Eclectic quotes the LiUing
Church (P. E.) as follows: I'm the de-
al of of
tthe Bishops unanimously concurring in
the statement that both the Catholic
creeds and the Episcopacy are funda-
mental to the existence of the church,
and part of the divine depositum. 1t is
absurd 10 suppose that there has been any
such change of conviction in that vener-
able body as would lead even a small
small minority to challenge or deny that
solemn statement. And it is to be OBJ
served that it is an exclusive statement
1t implies that there is no room in the
church for those who will not accept it -
The Eclectic says: "Well, il is some
comfort 10 know that if that declaration
Is TO be cOntrOyerted, its chief opponent
will not have the lower house for its
arena of battle. The Bishops cannot
much longer be a sort of close corpora
ton or esOteric society, depending on
their personal influence with each other.
IL may not be very long time before we
hear the cry of bad faith from one side or
the other; for the rationalistic Propaganda
in 'our church has become a fixed fact
and most aggressive one, as will soon
be found
The Independent says; "The PROPOSE
ton TO change Trinity Church. Boston,
from a parish church into a cathedral is
attracting attention, not merely because
of the interest that must attach to the
place where Phillips Brooks has done
such noble work, but because it indicates
the hold which the cathedral idea has
gained upon the people of the United
States Of every denomination. When the
first suggestions were made for the Cathe-
oral of st. John the Divine in New York ,
there was not a few who looked upon the
project with somewhat of dread, as indi-
eating a strengthening of the bands of
ecclesiasticism. AS, however, the plan
has been kept before the people, it has
disarmed much of the opposition which
arose chiefly from ignorance as to what it
really involved. People are learning that
it is in truth very elastic and by no means
bound TO the forms that have distin-
guished it in Europe.
call them cathedrals, tabernacles.
what we will, officered by bishops, pres
byters, pastors, deacons, elders, or priests,
what we want and what we must have
are peoples churches, fully equipped,
and permanently provided with all the
necessary means for Christian work; and
the first TO satisfactorily solve the prob
lem viii confer a lasting favor on every
branch Of the Christian church. All sue
cess TO Bishop Brooks and Trinity Ca
thedral."
The Interior (Pres.) says: "In a late
number OF the Independent DR.. Ives Cur
tiss gives very full and candid account
of the higher criticism in its relation TO