The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-03-05
In RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From the Various Re.
ligiOus Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the sectarian Press
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.

APHSSSeu III Cile SecLafian PreSS-
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.
The New York C7,archDaan Up. E. says:
,-1hose who profess to be the followers of
AeDIe and Pusey must make good their
c1alIn, not by gaudy services, but by the
eiAhlpltlon of solid qualities, for when
nose restorers Of the church were con-
splcuous. 1t is not the setters-forth OF a
norld form of worship, or the wearers OF
archalc garments, however fair, it is not
nose who guide themselves by the
Iubflcs of the Roman lniSsal who succeed
the brilliant and devoted men who woke
the Church of England to new life. The
true successors to these great Oxford
ecclesiastics are to be looked for where
learning, and faith, and loyalty to the
past are united in a true and sincere
pIety, and above all where there IS the
spirit Of meekneSs, patience and love.
Ritualism stands in the same relation to
Iractarianism as the AleXandrian gram
marian or teacher of rhetoric stands to
the dramatist OF the age of Pericles
There is always great danger lest those
Who succeed, or try TO carry out the work
1naugurated by great, original and indie
pendent minds, should fall into a Chi
nese imitation or eXaggeration of unim-
portant features IN an intellectual or re-
nglouS scheme; should fail 20 grasp the
Welght1er matters while they elaborate
and emphasize details which it requires
less power to handle and understand.
And this truth contains warning which
IS most salutary TO all who inherit the
writings and traditions of a great relig-
lous revival"
The NeW York Evangelist (Pres), in an
article on "High Church Presbyteripn-
ISM declares: 1.-THE Presbyteries have
reason to be on the alert lest these ultra
PreSbyterians, who are pushing them
selves forward and assuming place and
power in the General Assembly, rob
them Of their constitutional rights, and
introduce that Popish element into the
government of our church which the late
Ur. Junkin so wisely deplored and so
earnestly resisted. For our part we are
satisfied with Presbyterianism as it is,
and want none of these modern improve
1nentS. The presbyterieS cannot guard
their own rights too jealously Every
man IS his own order Is the Scripture
rule; and so every ecclesiastical body in
It's proper place. The presbyteries would
soon be reduced to insigniticance if they
allowed themselves to be swallowed up
by the General Assembly. To such an
assumption of a power which does not
belong to it we would not give place-no,
not for an hour. 1t would be the degra-
datlon of the church which we love and
honor. We are jealous for the grand old
Presbyterian Commonwealth"
Eve are assured, with solemn shakes
of the head and lugubrious voice, that
dreadful times are coming to the Baptist
churches" says the New York Examiner
{Bapt.). 1T seems that there is wide
spread unrest among our most promising
young men, many of whom are in dan
ger Of leaving the denomination unless
its conservatism is promptly liberalized.
The New Theology and the Higher Criti-
cism have set the young men a-thinking,
and they can no longer honestly preach
the doctrines thatfare popularity identified
with Baptist orthodoxy. The very vague
ness of these statements adds to their inn
pressiveness with some, and timid per-
son with lively imagination might fbe
really scared by them. The EcCtHlGTleT'
doesn't scare. 1t has heard prophesies OF
this kind too often to have any other feel
ing than one OF indulgent pity for those
who either make them or listen TO Them
{ has lived to see the denomination dis
Iupted many times, in the wild forebod-
ings Of some, and the denomination
throve under the process in every case.
Volcanic eruptions have been promised
many times, but they never came. The
present case Is much less alarming than
some previous 'eruptions.' There was
the open-communlOn volcano in 1870, for
example, with its secret circulars and
other preparations for an eruption that
was TO shake the denomination into frag-
lnents. 1t shook two or three men ont OF
the denomination, and then all was 81
ience once more. Don't be nervous about
those UNCONVENTIONAL cataclysms, good
people, for all experience shows them to
be dangerous only to those who prepare
them"
zone of the safeguards that Baptist
churches have against 'hereSies' of Vari-
Gus kinds that are convulsing other COM
munions." says the Boston WdtchHd2,
Bap.), lis the insistent demand of the
rank and file of our churches that their
ministers shall justify their ministry by
spiritual fruitage. They believe in the
new birth, and in thorough-going evil
dences Of conversion. When a minister
who breaches on criticism or church
history, or on social questions wins men
TO Christian life and to Christian living
the laity are very apt to say, The pastor
= preaching the Gospel but when they
see no spiritual fruit they are apt to think
that something is wrong somewhere
The laity of Baptist churches believe in
their souls that, whatever else the Gospel
was designed to do, it was designed tc
convert men. and by rough-and-ready
rule they reason that what does not con-
vert men is not the Gospel.n
Among the things which hinder spir.
itual results" says the Nashville Chris
tiot AdUocdte tMeth.), fine preaching
must have place among the first. Fine
preaching is that kind of preaching
where the force OF the preacher is ex.
pended to make the sermon great il
thought. tasteful as work of ark, perfect
as a scholarly production, complete in
rhetorical finish, fine in its pleasing and
popular force. In true preaching the
sermon proceeds out of the man, it is part
of him, the outfowing of his life. Fine
preaching separates between the man
aud the sermon; he may be the architect
he may build it, but the preacher and the
sermon are two. More than this, it sep
arates between the Holy Ghost and the
sermon. Such sermons viii make an inn
preston, but it is not the impression that
the Holy Ghost makes. influence it NAV
have, but the influence is not distinctly
spiritual, if spiritual at all. They do MOI
reach the conscience, are not aimed at il