The record-union., 1892-02-06
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 Laymen.

The Living Church (P. E.) of Chicago
thinks that the course recommended
and apparently acted upon by some OF
our distinguished bishops toward the
propagators of false teaching in the church
must have reminded more than one of our
readers of the constable scene in Much
Ado About Nothing 1t seems that the
offenders are TO be told that their pro-
ceedings are clearly wrong and indefen-
sible, and that they ought to see that they
have no right to teach doctrine contrary
TO that which they have sworn to defend.
If this is not enough, they are to be rec
commended to exercises of humility and
a course of fasting and prayer. If these
measures fail TO produce the desired
effect, 1t is unfortunate for the church, of
course, but to attempt anything further is
out of the question. To undertake to dis
miss a man from an office simply be-
cause he refuses to fulfill the duties of it
would be intolerant and out of accord
with the spirit of the age.' Shakespeare's
magistrate understood this mastery pol
icy perfectly:
'Dogberry-You shall comprehend all
vagrom men: you are to bid any man
stand in the Princes name.
"W atch-But if he Will not stand?
"Dogberry-Why then take no note of
him, but let him go and thank
God you are rid of knave."
In referring to the eulogistic references
to James Martineau in Professor Briggs
inaugural, the New York Observer Pres
says: This kind of bigotry, based on
the notion that Christianity involves at
least loyalty to Christ as the only Son of
God and divine Redeemer, is no longer
tolerable in the Presbyterian Church, if
Professor Briggs is right about the spirit
ual attainments of Martineau as repre-
sentative Christian. In the published
edition of the inaugural address, the
author quotes from Martineau's latest
and most important work, The Seat of
Authority in Religion As a philoso-
pher, contending for those great intuitive
principles which the Apostle Paul men
tlons as the grounds on which the heather
are without excuse. Martineau has a
Worldwide reputation. He is a power
ful thinker, brilliant writer, an accom-
pIished scholar. But this volume quoted
by professor Briggs is the greatest effort
of this generation to bring into contempt
all ana everything that is precious and
vital IN the faith of all believers in Chris
tanity, Protestant, Roman Catholic and
Greek. Compared with Martineau, Rob
ert Elsmere and Robert Ingersoll are
mere moral invalids, souls at sea nauseat-
Ing others by the outpourings of their
own illness. Martineau is the thoroughly
equipped and wonderfully gifted antago-
mist OF the Christ of Christianity and the
Christianity of Christ If the new the
ology' is true that makes him a repre-
sentative Christian, who finds God
through the reason, then the entire
church and all outside of the church who
have any love or respect for revealed re-
nglon, should unite in prayer that God
would lead no more men to divine GER
tainty' in that way"
"There seems to be no very clear under
standing even among Presbyterians as to
what is meant by Calvinism,'' says the
Cumberland Presbyterian of Nashville,
Tenn. "The MID Continent criticises the
Chicago Presbytery for declaring in favor
OF an evangelical rather than a Calvin
lstlc creed. We wish our contemporary
would tell us exactly what is meant by
CaIvlnlstlc doctrine. What relation does
1t bear to Johns doctrinal sentiment.
For God so loved the world that He gave
bis only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish. but
nave everlasting life? Does the 'whoso-
ever In good faith. mbrace every man
and woman of the entire race, or is there
a certain or definite number irretrieya-
bly, shut out by some secret counsel or
everlasting decree? Is the purpose of re-
vision to expunge the doctrine that some
souls are hopelessly and from all eternity
1oredoomed to perdition, or merely to
state this doctrine in phrases smoother
than the Westminster fathers used &? Will
not some one tell US exactly what Calvin
ism is? ?"
'The theory that God and the universe
are one is destructive of all real the
ology," says the Religious Herald (Cong.)
OF Hartford, Conn. ''If expressed in its
evasive form, that God is imminent in all
things, material and mental. it insures
no more favorable result. There are only
two ways in which God may be imagined
as dwelling in the universe. The first is
theory implies that he dwells in it as the
soul of man dwells in his body, and
varies little from the idea of the iden-
tity of God with the universe, for we are
able to have notion of body without a
soul and also of soul without body.
But in case of identity we could not con-
celYe or any separation. Nobody has
ever described in words any other method
OF Gods dwelling in the universe. The
unchanged and Interchangeable limit to hu-
man thought forbids any other notion of
an indwelling divine being, in connection
with the material or spiritual world.
The matter of Gods dwelling in
us is still more improbable. 1t is in fact
utterly and forever inconceivabIe. There
can be no dualism in the human soul. It
IS one and indivisible. Everything be-
longing to 1t must proceed from one CEN
tral source. 1t dwells in a citadel whose
walls are impregnable whose iron gates
other beings dwelling in us is utterly re-
pudiated by the first principles of human
consciousness. The knowledge of our
own existence is the knowledge of our
own distinct individual existence. We
are ourselves and not another, as sepa-
rate, essentially and forever as it is pos
sible to imagine. Any representation in
the Scripture as to the divine indwelling
must be, in its nature, figurative for in
TINS way alone can we attach any sense TO
the words"
In discussing the subject of absentee
lsm from church the Christian Re0tsteg
lUnit.) of Boston asks: "What shall be
done to draw in these casual or irregular
Church-goers2 Make the church service
to be sure, as strong, as rich, as earnest as
possible. Let the preaching be animated
and stimulating, but let not the church
Swerve in any degree from its true office
as an institution of religion designed for
the worship of God and the service of
man. Mere sensationalism is not cure.
1t has probably made as many home
stayers as church-goers. A taste for high
spiced fare once created, and plain, nutri-
tious diet seems unpalatable enough. A
better remedy is TO bring people by sober
reelection TO see the utter lameness of
their paltry excuses. This can be done
only by developing profound sense of
the value OF worship to the individual,
and the value of the church as a moral
and religious institution to the commu-
nifty. One must either feel that he needs
the church or that the church needs him.
When such conviction takes possession
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