The record-union., 1891-04-12

Beaedtclte teaches us as great resurrec-
ton psalm is this: That nothing in death
can be stranger and more wonderful than
the forces and powers we find in life; and
that if nature dies and comes to life again,
and if the historic Christ dies and comes
back to life again, even SO by the power
of that God who is back of nature, and of
man, and of human history, that God to
whom this BeHedicite is the ever-loving
tribute of all things created by Him.
shall we live again, according to the
Apostles words: IF we have been
planted together in the likeness of His
death we shall be also in the likeness of
His resurrection
The CharchDaon notices the drift of the
liturgical tendency in the proposed Book
of Common Prayer for use in the Uni
tartan churches. 1t says: 'The move
ment has apparently very little signifi-
canoe at present, but it is mainly an affair
of convenience and taste, particularly of
taste. Circumstances have pointed for
long time to revival of taste among Uni
tarians or, otherwise, to virtual eXtinc-
ton. The elder Unitarians were strong
in point of taste and made great profit
out Of it, rightly and properly. But the
moderns on this point are weak, and have
been losing. We speak generally, but
certainly in their representative publica-
tiOnS the note Of proYinciaHty has grown
loud, the air of them is that of remote
ness from the center; they are not only
trivial but 6d7edI. In these conditions litur-
gical approach to the center is an excellent
way, since liturgy cannot be made, but
must be taken as it has grown, becoming
in its growth the best recorded thought of
mankind on the subject. What religious
use Unitarians can make of any liturgy
ever developed las all have been) by
Catholic faith and practice we do not
undertake to say"
In recent letter to the London Church
Times on the subject of fnon-communicat
ing attendance, Bishop Smythies, of the
Universities Mission to Central Africa,
writes as follows: 81 should shrink very
much from urging every one who was
being prepared for confirmation to make
a rule of communicating every Sunday,
but it is only too easy for those who
make rule of communicating at stated
intervals, say once a month, to slip away
from their rule, and nothing is more
likely to keep it before them than attend
ance at the Holy Eucharist as the great
Sunday service every Sunday. l believe
this from experience and what seems to me
common sense, but I should contend that
it was right on the higher ground that it
is the divinely ordered service for Chris
tians, and, consequently, that it is the in
tention of our Lord that He should be
honored on His day by all His faithful
servants joining in this great act of
worship.
81 should say that after our Lord went
UP to Heaven the Holy Eucharist was the
only great Sunday service to which all
Christians came for, perhaps, 900 to 400
years, and if so, the worship in our
churches in England presents q very
great contrast to the worship of the
primitive church, and to me very sad
one."
In a review of Canon Luckoclx's recent
book entitled The Intermediate State
Between Death and the Judgment the
Church Eclectic says: He advances the
idea with great force and clearness, that a
powerful factor in the development of the
soul hereafter may be the ministering OF
spiritual service to other souls, who per-
haps have had few advantages here. This
the writer affirms is no idle speculation
of private judgment, if the ideal and pat
tern man is a model for US to follow in
death as well as life. His descent into
Hades was a necessity of His perfect
humanity. st. Peter tells us He preached
to the spirits in prison'-He carried on
His work in the land of disembodied
souls, and being the type of our life on
earth, may we not believe that He is also
the type of our life in the unseen world ?
1.-The author fully believes that in the
intermediate state there will be possibil-
tiles of salvation for those who have had
no fitting opportunities in this life of
kowing Gods will; that a revelation of
the truth will be made to them there, and
in such manner that they will be made
capable of all the blessings of the incar-
nation-and this not for the heathen alone,
but for those in Christian lands who had
not had the truth adequately presented to
them. The threats in holy Scripture are
leveled against those who have rejected
the truth, not against those who have had
no chance Of rejecting it, and justice de-
mands that if they have not had a fair
trial in this life they should in the next
have at least a free choice for the accept
ance or rejection of what is the highest
good. There is not the slightest support
given, however, to the idea that there can
be a second probation for those who have
failed in the first, this being entirely in
consistent with the teaching of Scripture
and the Church.
Prayers for the departed and Com
munion Of Saints follow legitimately from
all that has preceded, and the writer car
ries you with him in the conviction that
his thoughts are not speculation but re-
ligious~erity the purest and highest; and
IN proportion as we are able to grasp this
conception of the intermediate state shall
we find hope and consolation in time of
sorrow and strength and encouragement
to strive after greater holiness and purity
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