The record-union., 1893-06-24
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From the Various Re-
ligiOuS Newspapers
The Religious Thought OF the Dav as
Expressed In the Sectarian Press
Ministers and Laymen.


at is becoming more and more plain"
says the New York CAawchmdn Up. E.,
that the demand for the closing of the
| Worlds Fair, and even the grounds,
every Sunday is not supported by any
thing like general public opinion. Ger
tain religious bodies-through their rep
resentatives-have sent petitions or dep
utations on the Sunday business. The
Secretary of the Society of Christian En-
deavor has busted himself in the same
| direction. But that is a very different
! thlng from unanimous decision on the
part OF all the Methodists and Presbyte-
rlans and Christian Endeavorers in the
United States that opening the fair on
| Sundays would be wrong, or that if it is
wrong, and the fair should nevertheless
| be opened, they would deprive them
selves OF its pleasures and advantages
every day of the week. Nobody could
| live week on the principles which such
| dlclslon implies. Nobody can find single
! Dutcner or dry goods man whose life in
| every particular, attains the ideal Of
| christian perfection. Moreover the boy
| coIli as method OF securing piouS re-
| Baru lOr the means of grace, is very far
from having divine authority. 1t is as
! certain as anything can be that the laws
| making Sunday legal holiday have the
hearty approval and support of the i'm
mense majority of the citizens of the
| United States. The law can make only
! legal holidays and not holy days; and a
legal holiday is a very different thing
| rom a day of religious obligation. 4
holluay IS day when man Is so far eX-
! cused from work that he may do what he
! likes, so long as he does not interfere
| with the equal and similar liberty of his
nelghbors. A day of religious obligation
| might involve spending every waking
! hour at church. 1t is the former of these
institutions which has the hearty ap-
! proval and support of the immense ma
| JorIty of American citizens: and most
emphatically it is not the latter"
In closing its remarks on the Briggs
case the New York I7ldependeRt saws
| There are no signs of schism as a result
! OF the action OF the General Assembly.
! for this the Christian world cannot ba
! too thankful. The controversy itself is
| bad enough, but division would be ten
| lolG worse. The ardent supporters of
| Or. Briggs have announced their inten-
ton to remain in the church unless they
are driven out. Until they challenge the
church in some such positive way as Or.
|
/ dress, there is no fear that they will
| be driven out. The church has not taken
a step ackward, as some writers init
/ mate. 1t allows just as much liberty To
! It's ministers as it ever did. 1t does not
| mean to put the ban on scholarship. as
certain excited newspapers have declared.
| Amy scholar will find himself perfectly
| free to exercise in the church any reason
! able liberty. We do not think the church
! IS at all enamoured Of heresy trials. and
| 1t VIII not seek to lind heretics in minis
| ters and theological professors who do
/ not step forth into the arena and invite its
ecclesiastical processes. If there are
! those, however, who want to enlarge
upon the alleged errors of the Bible, and
to put its most earnest defenders in the
same category with the unbelievers who
have attacked its divine authority. thev
had better not do so as ministers or mem
| bers OF the Presbyterian Church."
"As the case now stands" remarks the
| New ork. E'UaRgeLtSt pres. the onus
OF warfare rests upon our opponents
! They have taken the burden upon their
shoulders; let them carry it. The AS
sembly has solemnly declared the views
Of DR.. Briggs to be rank heresy and de-
serving of discipline. Very well! Then
let those who feel bound to obey the de-
cree proceed to carry it out. To be sure.
| they may find that they have rather a
large contract on their hands. But thew
are men of sanguine temperament and
seem to have boundless condolences that
they are equal to the task, even lift be
| necessary TO run ploughshare across the
continent, from ocean to ocean. AS il is
| always conclusive to economy of time to
employ experts, we would suggest that
the officials of the Assembly could not do
better than to retain the PROSECUTING
Committee, who could give them the
n a Y
the task of purging the church from
heresy. 1t ought to be an Office for life
as to complete it would probably take
them.the rest OF their natural lives. Rnt
even if they should die before the end.
they would die III good cause. If we
may offer suggestion, it would be that
the purlhcation OF the church should
begin right here in New York, where the
otfense began. Al the time of the trial i'm
the Presbytery, there were a dozen or
twenty who made themselves CON
spicuous in the defense, and who ought
now to be made to feel the heavy hand
of justice. True, they are among the
most eminent of our city pastors and
preachers, but few conspicuous exam
pies would serve as a salutary warning
to Others"
''Dr. Briggs is a genius of the elliptical-
orbit variety" says the Interior IPres.l
of Chicago. He has the genuine solar
stuff in him-transparent candor and
truthfulness, unhinching courage of his
conviction, piety, spirituality. and sin
cerity. We are always disposed TO take
philosophical look at genius to dis
cover ii possible what the Lords idea
was in making him. Why was the Pro
tessor's orbit so inclined TO the ecliptic as
to collide with Jupiter at the precise and
seemingly most lnOpportune time-iust
as we had set about revising our creed?
He blew q revision sky-high. There
was nothing left of it. Princeton ought
to canonize the Professor for that. he
did what Princeton never could have
done with its heavy smooth bore artil-
lery. Why was Professor Briggs provi-
dentlally touched off at the precise mo-
ment necessary to bring anti-revision.
Princeton to the lead2 The event looks
too much like apt design to be coincid-
ence-and yet it was not of any mans
designing. Princeton will construe it
that Providence is opposed to revision.
and came to their help, in the person Of
Professor Briggs, when the waves had
already gone over them. And it looks
uncomfortably like it might be true. But
there is an unanswered question which
remains. Why did Providence not ap-
prove of revision? We think it likely
that providential development will show
that it was because it is not fitting to put
new wine into old bottles, nor to mend
an old garment with new cloth. Certain
it is that the attempt Will not again be
made-and equally certain that the
church will look forward to something
better, and in the confidence of it's COM
ing patiently wait for it,
~ +Io II