The record-union., 1891-06-06
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 Iaymen.


OF THIS pronouncement of the Flaming
Sa0ord of Chicago: 1.-The Church to-day
IS an abomination. Its stencil ascendS
and Is offensive in the nostrils of Jeho-
yah, till his threatened visitation of wrath
hangs portentous over the doomed Baby
ION, holding in vassalage the kingdom
struggling for deliverance."
Of heresy trials the Sacred Heart Re-
Oieao Or. c. says: Upon the whole the
sects are in a difficult position. They are
bound to fight against heresy and unbe-
lief; but towards these is precisely the
tendency of Professionalism. The tendency
is natural, irresistible, inevitable. The
various denominations may struggle as
they can, but ultimately there is either
Catholicism or infidelity.''
The Congregdtioasalist says: ''The pre-
vailing sentiment of Christians, in view
OF the present agitation, must be one of
satisfaction and thanksgiving. There are
multitudes in Presbyterian churches who
have known almost nothing of its stand
ards, while the proportion is perhaps as
great in other denominations who have
given little attention to the system of be-
lief which they are supposed TO represent.
They are beginning to study with new
interest the grounds of their faith. Creeds
are printed and discussed in the secular
newspapers, and scattered by the million.
a new era in the history of theology has
begun. A degree of attention greater
than this country has yet known is being
centered on what God has revealed, and
what He calls on men to be and to do. It
is time for Christians to study earnestly
the Word Of God; to consider thought
fully and with open mind the results pre-
sented to them by accredited students of
the Bible; and, above all, to pray for the
gift of the Holy Spirit that the whole
Church may rightly interpret His will,
and may devote itself with greater power
than ever before to His work.
Of the General Assembly now in ses-
sion the Interior (Pres.) says: 1.-THE con-
tending brethren agree upon the Scrip
lures as the only and the infallible rule of
faith and practice.
''They agree upon the Confession of
Faith as containing the system of doc
trine taught in the Holy Scriptures
Both parties in the terms of warmest
affirmation declare their loyalty to the
Scriptures as the supreme, and tC the
Confession as the subordinate, standards
of our faith. Neither the one party nor
the other can with any Christian pro-
priety challenge the sincerity OF the other
in these affirmationS.
Now it seems plain to the plain and
unlearned Christian that here is plat
form of agreement upon which we may
stand with sufficient harmony to calmly
I IL,
just within limits of liberation and for
bearance, ali existing real differences.
| Or falling in this, that, having reduced
those differences to the minimum we
can as calmly and charitably consider
whether any of them are beyond the
limits of safe toleration."
DR., Wayland says, in the National Bap-
tiSt: "The Rambler had occasion to OBJ
serve some time ago that it is not so much
what it is that is said as how it is said and
who it is that says it. Some years ago
the Rev. John Miller, a well-known cler-
| gyman in the Presbyterian Church, pub
| lished a volume upon theology, in which,
of course, he went astray-no one ever
writes upon metaphysical theology that
he doesn't go astray. AS the result of his
heaven-daring attempt to state his views,
he was tried by the Presbytery, and then
| by the Synod, and then by the General
! Assembly, and was deposed from the
ministry. Another clergyman of recog-
nized orthodoxy, bearing name that is
a synonym for theological hygiene, said
| to him, L could have said everything that
| you said in your book, and nobody would
have taken any otfense at it, because I
| should not have said it in a way to create
opposition
"A similar remark might be made in
| reference to the recent deliverances of
| Professor Briggs.
''Then it makes a great deal Of odds
| acbO says it. Fifty years ago Charles Sum-
ner, who was just entering on life, was
| regarded as an idealist, lacking in prac-
| teal wisdom. The Rambler once heard
the late Francis Wayland say, IF there
| were public meeting in Boston, and if
| Charles Sumner would move resolu-
| ton that two and two make four, and
Samuel G.. Howe should second it, the
| meeting would refer it to committee,
and tbpI1 IUplIld a6iO11rY1
The Rev. DIR. G. A. Briggs says in the
| June Forum: "Dogmatic theology is in
state of dissolution and reconstruction.
| The dogmatic theologians have elabor-
ated Protestant dogma far beyond the
| later symbolical books of Professionalism.
| Thinking men are going back to the
| symbols of the Reformation, and then
| back OF these to the ecumenical creeds,
| and then still further back to the theology
of the Bible itself The theology of the
| Bible was sadly neglected by the
scholastic divines, and it has found no
adequate expression in the symbolical
books of any of the great churches of
Christendom. They, for the most part,
pursued false methods of exegesis. They
| knew little or nothing of Biblical criti-
| cism. The lower or textual criticism,
the higher or literary criticism, and his
| torical criticism are sections of modern
1
! has made the Bible new book. And the
! discipline of Biblical theology which
| builds on the results Of criticism finds in
the Bible new theology-new not in the
| sense that it destroys anything that is
valuable in the old theology; but that on
| the other hand it is simpler, fresher, full
of life and energy, quickening and fasci-
mating people as well as preacher, and. on
| the other hand, more comprehensive,
more profound, moro symmetrical and
| harmonious. 1t is sublime, and indeed
! divine, because it brings US face to face
with holy prophets and with God Him
self.''
OF DR.. Phillips Brooks as Bishop, the
| LiUiag Church (P. E.) says: ''It is as
sumed that he will have nothing more to do
with Unitarian festivals and church con-
| gresses'; that q seat in the House of Bish-
| ops will work wonderful transforma-
ton; that those who have hitherto fol-
lowed his leadership will not expect him
to lead them in the same paths any more.
It is to be observed, first, that this way
oflooking at things is purely political,
| and leaves principle completely out of
view; second that. while there is no
doubt that such progress has been seen
in certain cases, both in England and
| among ourselves, it would not be easy to
point TO an instance in which, on the one
hand, the position of the candidate has
/ been so pronounced and explicit, and in
| which, on the other hand, he has been a
| man of such strength and independence.
In schools and other societies the expert
ment has sometimes been tried of pro-
noting troublesome subject to po-
sition of responsibility with the hope of
producing q SOLDERING effect. But we con-
fess that we are not very confident of the
success of a method in the case of the fa-