The record-union., 1892-03-12
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.

Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.
In relation to the proposed religious
conference during the Chicago Worlds
Fair the New York Ch5trchntdqa Up. e.,
says: There seems to be an approach
IN the programme of the Chicago eX
hlbltlon TO the time spoken of by Tenny
son. when a parliament of men, of man
klho, Is 10 meet for the discussion OF SUBJ
.Jects most momentoas to the human race.
LVen demonstration of such a character
IS eloquent and suggestive. 1t may give
20 Christianity the opportunity OF show
Ing that the teachers of Christianity ap
proach the non-Christian world as ST.
raul approached the world at Athens,
with the sole and single idea of giving
more light to those whom the Gospel con-
slders to sit in darkness. Whatever form
OF worship, whatever objects OF alteration
other religions may have found for them
selves, Christian Chicago says to all: i
perceive that you are very religious
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship,
Him we declare unto you.' This is at
least the spirit in which the gathering of
representatives of all religions should be
held. Whether this spirit is understood
and appreciated is another matter;
whether the end proposed is practicable
is beside the question. The cry Of the re-
igious world, of the Christian world in
particular, is for union and unity, and
the meeting Of so many religions, in
their representatives, at Chicago, will at
least emphasize the necessity, the para
mount obligation which is laid upon
Christians, TO unite themselves, lest they
prove a warning instead OF a pattern to
The alien mahatmas, pundits, rabbis and
teachers whom they are inviting to con-
terence with so magnificent and spiritual
ar,ff Il
The LiCiag Church (P. E.) of Chicago,
speaking of the Biblical text and the
lower criticism, remarks: "1he truth is,
that among all the hundreds of divergen-
cieS of which we sometimes hear so much
there are none which affect a single teach
ing of the Catholic Church. The exact
reading may be one thing or another, but
no doctrine is touched. This may ex-
plain why the church is comparatively
indifferent about this particular kind of
criticism, and why new versions are not
taken up with any great enthusiasm. The
church herself is the pillar and ground
of the TRUTH and she is satisfied If the
form in which she uses the Scriptures
sutfices to convey the true teachings and
thoughts Of the inspired writer, without
being too anxious about the matter OF
verbal precision, which after all can never
be attained with absolute certainty. Take
even what may be considered an extreme
case, the three witnesses in the fifth chap
ter of the First Epistle Of St. John. The
actual words may or may not have been
penned by st. John himself, but they con-
vey no false idea of his teaching; on the
contrary, they are entirely in accord with
that teaching. Therefore it becomes a
matter OF comparatively little import
ance, for the purposes for which the Bible
IS read in the church, whether this per-
fectly legitimate expansion of his
hi III
church may, IN her own time, take adj
vantage of the results of modern critical
scholarship so far as she finds it of use to
do so for her own proper ends. Mean
while she is well assured that her Scrip
lures contain no error which affects either
The truth of the narrative or the truth of
doctrine. Until, by her own authority
she sets forth a new version, no officer of
hers has any right by virtue of his SUI
perior learning, to introduce corrections
or make omissions"
sit is popular argument" says the
New York EUaRgelGSt (Pres.), '.that is
sometimes used to explain differences of
religious belief and of worship, that it is
not wholly a matter of conviction founded
ON reasoning, but, in part at least, of
race, of temperament and even of climate
Thus historians of the Reformation give,
as an explanation of the fact that it swept
over the north of Europe, but never con-
Guered the south; that the people them
selves Were different; that the French,
the Spaniards and the Italians were of a
more ardent temperament than the Ger
mans and ScandinavianS and hence re-
quired faith and ritual that appealed
more TO their senses and their imagina-
ton; that, while the colder and more inn
passive races of the north were content
TO worship God in churches that were
plain and bare, the people of the south
must be awed by imposing architecture
and be raised to their utmost ardor of de-
votion by paintings and music and in
cense, and all the attendants of a splen-
did ceremonial.
Without undertaking to set up a par
allel to this in the Protestant world, vet
we must recognize, among the influences
that have made us what we are, those of
race, of history and of education, facts of
common observation, which give force
10 the remark of country minister, now
we'll stricken in years, who has been a
keen observer all his life, and who few
weeks since wrote to US: i do not know
of "a New England-born minister who is
not with the Presbytery of New York.
and do not know of a Scotch Irish-born
minister who does not wish the confess
sion to remain in its old entirety. 1t is
blood that tells rather than brains.' Bv
this he did not mean that one side had
more brains than the other, but that it
was BLOOD or race temperament, rather
than mere cold logic, which decided the
position of both, in which they stood over
against each other.'
''What degree of diversions and
thought is consistent with religious feI-
lowship? This is the question" saws the
CIiTiStidl Register (Unit) of Boston.
(which is practically before various re-
ligious bodies. Creeds and standards are
supposed to be lines and fences which de-
ferlnine the latitude and lOnUitDda of
thought allowed in any given denomina-
ional area. Creeds have been constructed
gor double purpose-to keep the sheen
from getting out of the fold and to keen
the goats from getting in. The Calvinistic
walls were high and thick enough, and
their doors hung on heavy hinges which
creaked like the walls of the damned.
Methodism enlarged the boundaries. and
put up less forbiddlng fence line. The
Baptists have been content with a kind
of Scriptural hedge, with ditch inside
we'll filled with water, so wide and deep
that no one could cross it without sub
lnersion. But there is scarcely denom-
lnation that Is not now having its origi-
nal theological lot surveyed, and the
question where the line shall be drawn is
very perpleXing to the authorities Uni
tarlans, on the other hand, have done
away with all fence lines. They neither
use walls to keep men from getting out
or to keep them from getting in. They
belleVe that natural and spiritual affini-
lies will lead people to choose the loca-
ton they want, and TO work with those
with whom they are in sympathy. And
their faith in spiritual affinities has been
Jusuned by their practice and expert
ence.n
At the close of long article on Bishop
MerriiPs book on The Organic Union Of