The record-union., 1892-02-13
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.

Expressed IN the SecCar1an 1reSS-
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.
'That a creed is formula is true,'
observes the Chicago Lining Church (P.
e., land it is also true that creed, in
the proper sense of the term, is an eX-
preston in human words of what we
know about God. tits true again that no
human words can adequately express the
whole truth of Gods being and nature.
But this is not TO say that so far as the
truth is expressed in a creed which has
had the ratification of the Holy Spirit, it
is IN any degree wrongly expressed. Not
to be complete is not the same thing with
being in error. 1t is possible that the
Catholic Church, under divine guidance,
may at some future age add to the creed,
developing still further in human Ian
guage the truth which is already implic-
lily contained there. But it is impossible
that the church can ever change what has
been expressed, so that what has been
hitherto acknowledged as necessary to
salvation shall be shown not to be neces-
sary and something different be put in its
place. The church cannot do this, be-
cause in doing it she would cease to be.
1t would be the abdication of all claim to
be a divine society with a message for
men which she has received from God, a
trust to be kept inviolate. She would
fIom that moment become an advocate of
shifting views society of ethical cul-
tqre,' or what not, anything but the
Kingdom OF God"
1.-THE essence of Calvinistic doctrine is
no doubt found in the third chapter of the
Westminster Confession says the Cum
6ertd'ld Presbyterian of Nashville, Tenn.
Eliminate the declarations about the
eternal DEGREES and the definite and un-
changeable number of the elect and the
reprobate, and make corresponding
changes in the chapter on effectual calling,
and in other chapters where the doctrine
OF 'preterition' is enunciated or implied,
and no distinctive Calvinistic statement
will remain in the book. This is exactly
what the fathers of the Cumberland Pres
byterian Church did in 1914; and this our
brethren in the Northern Church have
now begun to do. The real meaning of
the revision movement is growing dis
satisfaction with the doctrine of preteri-
ton, the one distinctive plank in the CAL
whistle platform. The only real ques-
ton to be decided is whether or not this
doctrine shall be retained, and, if re-
talned, in what phases it can be least Of
tensively stated. 1t is understood that
the Revision Committee found every
thing else easy to settle, while preterition
and the third Westminster chapter were
still swinging in mid-air.'''
Commenting on the work of the Com
mittee on Revision the New York EUon-
getist (Pres.) remarks: 1--WE lave said
that this movement was bound to sue
ceed. What if it should fail? Certain
tremendous facts confront us as we con-
contemplate such an alternative. Our
church has, during the past four years,
experience. The visible chasm between
the old confession and actual faith of the
church has been made apparent as never
before. The discussions of these years
have transformed every presbytery into
theological seminary, and have done
much toward bringing that faith into
clear statement. Suppose that the chasm
thus created should continue unbridged
that the church should move consciously
more and more away from the old creed
IN its forms of statement and shades of
doctrine. Suppose that an attempt should
be made to bridge the difficulty by the
formulation of some new creed, whose
pecul1arity should lie in ignoring these
doctrlnal questions and issues. Who
does not see that, within a single
generation, within decade, there
would arise around US ALL all
the conditions of a theological ex-
plosion that would probably rend the
church into fragments? And who does
not see that the only protection against
such possibilities lies in the line of a fair,
faithful revision, such as shall make the
creed and the faith of the church one?'
The New York Cturchman (P. E.). in
an article upon Cardinal Manning, saws
that he had in fact the spirit of st. Vim
cent de Paul, and his influence was deep
ly rooted in the affection of the poor and
miserable. 1t was the wide sympathy of
the man which abated for awhile the
stubborn repugnance with which Eng
llshmen have always viewed the aggres-
slve activities of the papacy. But Roman
lists will miss the whole lesson of Man
n1ng' S life and success if they think that
the admiration with which the most di-
verse of Christian bodies have contem-
plated the great Cardinal is to be inter
preted as admiration for the Church of
Rome. The traits and qualities which
gave Manning his fame and have made
his life great memory in nineteenth
century England are peculiar to no relig-
ious Sect to no division of the Church
Catholic. Manning was esteemed, be-
cause, III spite of the fact that he was an
ultramontane papist, he was great
Englishman working with other great
Englishmen of all political parties and all
shades OF religious belief, in facing the
moral, social and economic problems of
the hour; and Jew or a Mohammedan
who had done so as wisely, zealously.
and unseltiShly as the English Roman
Cardinal did, would have been extolled
just as highly and would have deserved
renown with just as fair claim.''
''Such men as the late Cardinals New
man and Manning never could have at
tanned their great fame had they not been
men of superior gifts and of great ex-
cellency of character" says the Boston
Christian Leader (Unit.). ''Yet not a
little of the glamour that enshrouds their
names is due to morbid curiosity in re-
gard to whatever is monstrous in human
history. That in the latter half of this
nineteenth century such men could drop
into AN organization which puts letters
upon the human mind, and which asks
us to believe that one man in Rome is. as
representative of that organism, infalli-
bic where all other men are liable to err /:
this is monstrosity. 1t argues an in
tellectual malformation. 1t is an express
sion of disturbed soul and a disordered
understanding. 1t might do for the dark
ages of superstition, but the printing
press ought to have made the Mannings
and Newmans impossibilities."
The New York Ch7lstian E,eoaiye,,
Bapt.) is indignant. apparently, because
several Protestant clergymen attended
the funeral ceremonies of Bishop Lough-
lin of Brooklyn and spoke kind words of
him. 1t says: But when we see
.Protestants acting like children over the
bier OF Romish Bishop, we cannot
help thinking of the attitude in