The record-union., 1891-03-22

that it cannot lie confronted with two
facts without forming some theorys of
their relation. Theology results from the
structure of the human mind. A Bible
reader who puts two texts together has
philosophy, and if the texts relate to God,
a theology, as well as DR.. Hovey has one.
Colonel Ingersoll has theology. the
Ruddhists, the Mohamedans, the Shinto-
lists have theology. A man cannot think
about the profile ms of life without having
theology. Dou btless what these Christ
ian workerst to w hom we refer intend in
their reflections lapon theology, is to dep
recate an excess of the speculative above
the practical in religious thought Their
phraseoiogy, however, is singularly i'll
chosen. Few things have done more for
the cause of religion than sound Script
ural theology. We want more of it, not
less of it''
The Christian Leader Universalist)
says: Faith in God, in prayer. in inn
mortality, IN the supernatural is rarely
gained, and rarely maintained, by in
telligent means. 1t is acquired by the
spiritual mind. with the heart man be-
ieveth,.' Hence the very great importance
of early religious culture. He whose
inner, spiritual sense has been awakened
and who has laid hold thereby of the
great spiritual realities, is not likely to
be moved from fns anchorage by subse-
quent tossings of intellectual speculation.
He holds by a finer and stronger tie than
the brain weaveS..
1.-THE religious culture must be genuine,
not counterfeit. One may be taught
to believe in things that have no
reality, either to Che understanding or the
spirit. By and by he discovers that what
he supposed to be faith is superstition,
what he took to be religion is mythology.
Nln,, l. 10fr, II /.
able to take hold Of anything better. But
many, we fear most, have had no early
religious culture-have come up in an
atmosphere so worldly that the soul could
not grow in it. When such persons adj
dress themselves to religion they usually
attack its intellectual problems; whereas
they should seek TO enter into its spirit
or better, seek to get its spirit into them.
1t is most true, spiritual things are spirit
ually discerned.'''
The Outlook GA Sabbath Quarterly'')
says: SIT has always been easy to make
the Sunday paper attractive to the ire
hglous, on-church-going masses. 1t has
been left for the Sunday Press of New
York to mark the complete triumph OF
the Sunday paper, by calling to its aid
the best religious talent in the CITY in
which it is published. This has been ac-
complished by arranging fora series of
religious articles. appearing on successive
Sundays, from the pens Of representative
men IN the various denominations. On
Sunday morning, December Il, 1890. the
writer heard prominent Baptist ask
newSdealer: Have you Press? want
to see why DR.. Macarthur is Baptist 1t
needs but short Line of logic to show that
1t was right for that man TO buy the Press
on his way to ch'lrch, if it was right for
DR.. Macarthur to tempt him thus by writ
Ia fS fT-r,n 90 4,
OF each denomination in turn, and of re-
ligious people in general. If it is wrong
to publish q Sunday paper, these clergy
men are party to the crime. IF they are
not, the Sunday paper is right and all
outcry against it should be stopped.
From this time forward, Baptists must
not pass condennnatory resolutions nor
indulge in strong rhetoric against that
which their most truly representative
man participates in. When DIR. Robin
sons article appears, it must be taken us
flag OF truce by the PreSbyterians, and
cessation of hostiiities on their part
against what used to be the supreme
Sunday wickedi1ess.'
1.-The bottom truth in the matter is this,
there can be no standard for Sunday OBJ
Servance, because there is no authority
for it outside of church custom and indi-
vidual choice. If there be nothing more
than this on which to found Sabbath
hOCpiiSs ONCl y Idll lIllO lnG
chaos of contradiction and ruin. And
since the Bible knows nothing about the
keeping of Sunday, it is quite right for
the Press and its compeers to be pub
lished on Sunday, and for these reverend
gentlemen to aid in that work. But when
they consented to write the whole case
was given away and when the Sunday
paper is thus vouched for by the men of
highest character and influence in these
various denominations, all opposition to
it, as such, must forever cease.
Even the saintly Nail and Express,
with its horse-Tacing tips on one page its
Sabbath Reform matter on another, and
Its Scripture quotations at masthead,
must be routed in the fight, when its de-
generate rivals gain such allies as Abbott,
Macarthur, Huntington and Robinson.
The settlement of the account with
Jehovah, the Lord of the Sabbath (which
these religious teachers, who claim to be
guided by the Word of God rather than
by the traditions of men, treat as though
it had no rights they are bound to respect).
is quite another and a more difficult
affair. Now that they have settled the
Sunday question as it ought to be settled,
we invite them, in the name of the Lord
of the Sabbath, to inquire after the truth
concerning that day"
Apropos of the centenary of Method
ism, the Rev. Andrew Gray says, in the
Church Eclectic:
80 Wesley, throughout his entire life,
asserted the apostolical succession as
running in the Episcopate, and during
short portion of his life he held that the
episcopal and priestly offices are one and
the same.
'(2.) Wesley never dreamed of the pos
sibility of any man becoming priest, or
having any authority to
administer the eucharist, otherwise than
by the laying on of the hands of bishops
(for short time, he said, or of priests).
Such thing he termed stupid sinful
and 'unscriptural.'
"(3.l Wesley sternly forbade any of his
preachers to administer the sacraments
unless they had been SO ordained
"(4 Two years after Wesley's death, |
the conference solemnly protested that
they had never at any time sanctioned
any sort of ordination in England.
90 Whence it follows that the Wes- |
leyan Society in England was without