The record-union., 1892-11-19
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.


Ministers and Laymen.
Speaking of the formal adoption by the
Protestant Episcopal Convention of the
/ 18th Psalm as one of the Proper Psalms
for Good Friday the LiUjng CHecrcb p.
! E.) of Chicago says: f'In view of all this,
I the result, which was an overwhelming
vote in favor of Psalm lxxix., immedi-
ately concurred in by the House OF
Bishops, was most reassuring. Nothing
that has happened, probably nothing that
can happen during the present session of
the convention, could be more encourag-
/ ing to those who have at heart the preser-
walton of the religion of our fathers. 1t
showed that in spite of the aggressive
spirit of rationalism as ventilated at So
called Church" Congresses, and in the
sermons of certain popular pulpit orators,
and the pages Of reviews, the great heart
of the church is thoroughly sound, and
that where her true representatives, have
| the opportunity of dealing with such
/ questions squarely upon their merits, the
result will be unhesitating condemnation
| of the destructive views which have been
so boldly advocated i'll various quarters.
! Well-instructed churchmen do not need
to be told that the sO-called imprecatory'
| verses of this psalm are not personal and
! vIndictive denunciahOns Of malicious
wrath. The Christian church has never
taken them in such q sense. They are
| no: the prayers of those who utter them
against their personal enemies. They are
declarations of the decree of Almighty
God against those for whom the great
| atoning sacrifice shall prove to have been
! offered in vain, against those who in
| every generation cast their lot with Judas
and the chief priests who brought the
Savior to the cross, against those who IN
their own time and place cruelty the
Lord afresh and go to meet their doom
without repentance. 1t is necessary and
wholesome in these days that this terri
BILE reverse side of the great transaction of
Good Friday should be kept before the
minds of men,
In an article on the same convention the
! New \ Ork Christian Union remarks:
Much has been said about the trivial
| character of many of the changes and
alterations incorporated in the prayer
! book; and doubtless some of them are
| trivial, When considered by themselves.
| Doubtless, also, the result of the revision
| movement, as a whole, Will be dlsap-
| pointing to the more radical churchmen,
who believe that certain doctrinal changes,
| or at least notifications, would bring the
| prayer-book into more perfect harmony
| with essential Christianity, and also into
| closer touch with modern life. Under
/ the circumstances, the leaders of the re-
| vision movement were probably wise i'll
! deciding to make no change that would
! touch doctrines, or that would violently
/ shock the conservative instincts of the
church. In the present state of opinion
in the church any such radical revision,
even if it We're possible, would paralyze
hor NxHyth Of ph M n al Ii
lihood disrupt it. In the Episcopal
| Church, as in all other Christian bodles
| there are to-day a great many questions
relating to doctrine, discipline and wor-
ship that are in a state of tluX; they are
in process of solution in the great crucible
of modern life and thought. They are
receiving deep impress from the move
ments and tendencies that are now doing
| so much to change the face of the world
| in every department of human activity.
/ This modincatlOn, or renaissance, to use
! a more ambitious word in favor with ad-
| vanced thinkers, has as yet hardly begun
to reveal its true character. The wisest
observer is baffied when he tries to ex-
plain it, and there is no man living who
can forecast its future development. Such
being the state of the case, it would have
| been unwise, nay, most calamltous, for
the Episcopal Church to have taken any
partial stage OF this continuous mOdlflca-
ton as a finality, and to have put upon
such partial stage the imprimatur of its
authority.'
Speaking of the Triennial Protestant
| Episcopal Convention, the New York
/ Observer (Pres.) remarks: The cOnSid-
Grafton, liberal, conservative and enthusi-
astic, which the convention has given to
the subject of Christian unity. must win
for it the consideration and respect, if not
the complete sympathy, Of all Christian
people who long to see the forces of mod
/ ern Christianity conserved, and a solid
| front of united Christian endeavor set on
ward towards the final conquest of sin
! and intidelity to win the kingdom of this
! world for Christ. The world cannot fail
| to note the manner in which this church,
| once thought to be narrow and exclusive,
| has in these discussions shown so warm
desire to subordinate matters very dear to
| her people, to make way for the essential
| truths, which must, she thinks, in Gods
good time and according to the will of
| His Son, make all his people one, in a
unity to be seen and known by all the
| world. The discussion on Christian unity
has educated the most of the people of the
church which has advocated it to a point
of liberal Christian love and thought
which twenty years ago must have seemed
| impossible to the most enthusiastic
dreamer among them. The Rev. DR..
| Huntington of New York claims that it
/ W III COHllHtiC ~ b6 lOT uliy 6dIS 10 come.
| in some form or other as it has been for
many years past, the burning question
| for all Christians to consider"
1.-THE truth is" says the Chicago Stand
ard (Bapt.), that anything nearly ap-
preaching to organic union even among
Protestant Christians is neither in the
nature of man nor in the nature Of things
The peace of the world whether in things
religious or things political, is never in
I any pre-milIennial age to be brought
about by all men coming to think alike
| upon all subjects, or to live contentedly
under one and the same system of ad-
ministration whether in Church or in
State. The differences that exist are radi-
cal and fundamental. They are created
by conditions over which no conference
| and no agreed proposals can exercise
\ any control. SO far as Christians are con-
cerned the only way in which they can
agree in church matters is to have no
| church matters at all; to make over the
church into conventicle, make the pull
pit lecturers platform, stop all conten-
ton about ordinances and ministries by
| agreeing to have neither ministries nor
| ordinances, reading out of the New Testa-
ment all save its moral precepts, and be-
coming all things to all men by being
nothing to any man. That is what some
people appear to think the desirable
thing. Ii IS what can never be, because