The record-union., 1891-10-31
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.

:. The Ch91stian Inquirer (Bapt.) says:
"A feeling of shame must come when
Christian courtesy is so outraged as ii
was at the last meeting of the New York
| Pfesbytery. Language which would be
| fepfehenSlble In a political caucus should
not so unrebuked when used in a Chris
t!an assembly. It is not a recommends
tlon OF the Gospel that men should show
Such lack of self-restraint and self-re-
| spect. Explanations. which do not ex-
pIaln, has been made, but it is not right
nor possible to SO easily dispose of the
matter. Is Christian fraternity but a
name? Is courtesy TO be forgotten when
followers OF Christ meet together to
consider the interests of His cause? Is a
discussion of the gravest matters OF
! christian doctrine 10 be an excuse for
lntemperate language toward brethren in
! Christ JesuS?"
The Presbyterian Banner says: "That
DR.. Briggs has committed q grave mis-
take in taking the chair in Union Theo-
! logical Seminary, which the late General
! Assembly, asserting right confided to ii
| by that institution itself, decided he
should not occupy, and while his trial for
utteranceS IN his inaugural address was
pending before his Presbytery, viii be
admitted by all right-thinking people.
In the course he has elected to pursue he
has shown spirit far from commenda-
| bic, and has violated the solemn promise
| made at his ordination when he answered
In the attirmatively the question: DO
you promise subjection to your brethren
in the Lord?'
''His defiant attitude has excited the
admiration Of his mistaken friends. the
! commendation Of writers glad for some
opportunity to belabor an orthodox
church, the cheers Of intidels and the APP
! pIause OF those who know nothing of the
! great issues involved. But intelligent,
thinking, and deVout people will agree
with the Independent that Or. Briggs has
/ made great mistake, as did the Direct
ors Of Union Theological Seminary when
! they voted TO disregard the General As
Sembly."
The Examiner (Bapt.) says: "If a
church has standards and church courts,
! and recognizes heresy as all offense
! worthy Of judicial process, it would be q
body unworthy of respect if it failed to
use this machinery on fitting occasions.
| Ii DR.. Briggs has so strong a body of
| adherents that he cannot be tried, and
condemned if found guilty, without dis
rupting the Presbyterian Church, that
church is already disrupted. Under de-
! ceptlve and meaningless show of unity it
| contains two bodies of nearly equal
| strength = one of which holds to the
| standards and the Scriptures, while the
other rejects both in their hitherto-re-
ceIvcd interpretations. Such is the fact,
we say, if this trial is likely to cause dis
ruption. But that it will have any such
issue we do not for minue believe. The
! threats Of the Briggs party are not q
mark Of its strength, but OF its weakness.
! Strong men do not threaten; when the
! time comes they act.''
! Apropos of the Briggs case the EUan-
! gejiSt (PreS.) says: John Calvin was one
! of the great men of the Reformation who
devoted his whole life to the study of the
! Word of God, beside which he counted
| all ancient philosophy, the wisdom of
| Socrates and Plato, as nothing With
such reverence for its divine authorship
/ and its sacred character, ne studied it
! from beginning to end-every book,
| every chapter and verse-with the most
| ardent zeal and profoundest veneration.
| To these studies he applied his vast learn
| ing and all his powers of reasoning that
! he might fathom to the bottom, so far as
! the human intellect was capable of it, the
| true meaning of that Word which he rec
| ognized as, not OF man, but OF God. And
! what gave chief value to these studies
was that in them all he kept his balance
! of mind, that saving common sense
which is the true corrective of the errors
! and mistakes into which the most learned
Of men may fall. If he came to a passage
which was a palpable errOr-a statement
of facts which was disproved by authen-
tic history, a misquotation from the Old
Testament-or two passages which con-
tradicted each other, he did not think
that his reverence for the Bible required
him to impute the mistake to the Holy
| Ghost. He ascribed it TO its true cause.
the limitations Of knowledge of those who
were the instruments in the hand of God
Of communicating His revelations to the
world"