The record-union., 1891-11-07
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From the Various Re-
Iigious Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian Press
Matters of Interest.

say. When the MethOdiStS at Washing
ton enlarge upon Christian union, 1t is
certainly pertinent to remind them that
II the seventeen separate camps into
which Methodism is divided could come
together organlcally, something practical
would be accomplished for Christian
union. When one considers that the
question of the functions of Bishops
Wesley did not believe in Bishops at all
occasions several of these divisions, it
looks as if Methodists could close up
their ranks without making any great
sacrifices. To do this would be an Illus
tration TO the rest of the world of their
estimate of the importance of Christian
union.n
The Christian Secretary (Bapt.) says:
I'VE regard it as a great misfortune to
Christianity that the trial of Professor
Briggs is to occur. We say this without
having any sympathy for the heretical
views alleged to have been expressed by
him. After his answer to the questions
propounded by the Trustees of Union
Seminary, it would have been charity to
have dropped the whole matter until
some new expression of his views was
made. The trials for heresy that have
thus far been held in the history of the
church, have tended to confusion and bit
terpess. 1t may be that these trials are
sometimes necessary, but it is our private
opinion that the remedy is worse than
the disease
The Christian Union says: "The office
of Bishop has great and sacred associa-
tons, high and large opportunities; but
when the Office has been potential and
iuustrious, it is significant that the Bishop
has been great and commanding With
the bishoprlc, as with kingship, the office
is the opportunity; the man who uses the
opportunity is the real power. 1t is per-
haps the finest tribute to DR.. Brooks
work as minister that his conservation
sends us searching into the significance
OF the office to which he has been called
1t is the noble quality Of great men that
they hold themselves as servants and
recognize how small is the largest service
compared with the fathomless needs of
human Gfe-how small the largest mea-
sured by the stretch and reach of truth
No one knows so well as he who does
great things how partial and limited is
his work, and how divine refuge from
the representatives of his life is absorp-
tlon in the vastness of Gods work, and
opllvlousness in the vastneSs of God's S
life. The church in all its branches, with
all its limitations and imperfections,
stands for the unbroken historic continu-
ity of objective spiritual life and work in
the world, and the greatest Of its children
are great as its servants rather than by
virtue of their own peculiar gifts. 1t was
the combination of these two elements,
greatness of the individual nature and
greatness of the organic, historic service
and fellowship with with which it is
allied, which gave the conservation at
Trinity Church, on Wednesday of last
week, its deep and beautiful meaning"
The CongregationaliSt says: "The Epis-
copal churches have already in their
| membership good many persons who
were bred Congregationalists. Among
their younger clergy are not a few who
were educated in Congregational institu-
tionS. Certainly the attractiveness of the
| Episcopal Church and its ministry will
not be lessened now that man of Phillips
! Brooks temper is Bishop. Not that we
anticipate any landslide to the Episcopal
! Church, but it is well to recognize the
| fact that it has taken deep root in our soil
| and was never in so prosperous a condi-
| tion as to-day. Congregationalism has
no disposition to dispute with any de-
nomination the right to any field. Its
business Is not to Congregationalize, but
! to help ChristianiZe the world. At the
same time we ought not to forget that we
have had a prestige in Massachusetts, and
| we ought TO be desirous to retain it. Our
! future influence and usefulness in the
! State and in the land depend upon the en-
| thusiasm with which we adopt and ad-
| here to the same policy which, we have
no doubt, will characterize Bishop
! Brooks administration. The policy
| which will win in this country is one Of
comprehensiveness. of catholicity, of ag-
| gressiveness.'
| But the Boston correspondent of the
Examiner (Bapt.) says: 1T is only
natural that the general interest in the
| conservation should have been by some
misinterpreted. Certain ample and en-
| thusiastic 'churchmen' have been con-
/ founding the interested admiration for a
man with a sort of tidal-wave enthusi-
asm for q church and Bishop, and seem
| to think that we are all on the eve of a gem
! eral rush into the true church, This has
| been the humorous feature in the Bishop
| Brooks incident. One clerical space
| filler upon a certain great Boston daily
| has been unable to subside for long. He
has been like an intermittent volcano in
| the eruptive period. To-day he mutters
his profound and column-fun prophesies
| of great upheavals tomorrow. And to-
morrow, his soul all affiliated, he gives US
no upheavals but his own, and column
and half of imaginative light of every
color. The morning after the consecra-
| ton he was in great form, of course,
breathing the moderated triumph of one
who had at last gathered all the scattered
| in one, and comfortably tucked them
under his Bishop. The fact is, Phillips
! Brooks will not change materially as
Bishop Brooks, but the Episcopal Church
will be to him much as it has been-that
| is, what the woodman's tent is to him.
| He is out all day doing stalwart work in
| the great forest, and only comes back
under its shelter at night to sIeepW
| BEEcHAM's Pills cures sick headache.