The record-union., 1894-03-10
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From the Various Re-
ligiOus Newspapers
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed In the Sectarlan Press
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.

We need to be continually carried
back to the simplicity of religion as it is
presented by the prophets of the Old
Testament and the New Testament"
says the New York Christian Outlook
Their simple ceremonies have been de-
veloped into an elaborate ritual; their
simple laws into an elaborate code; their
simple teachings into an elaborate theol-
ogy. There would be no harm in this if
these elaborate human structures had not
been substituted for the earlier and sim
pier teachings and acceptance of them
treated as essential to moral and religi-
Gus life, to acceptance with the Heavenly
Father here, and to life with Him here
after. Butts there not some doc
trine that is essential to salvation; some
creed that must be accepted: some Cos
pei teaching in the New Testament, added
to these teachings of the Old Testament?
les. there is a creed; here it is: 'The grace
OF God that bringeth salvation appeared
to all men, teaching us that, denying un-
godliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously and godly in
this present world, looking for that
blessed life and the glorious appearing
OF the great God and our Savior Jesus
Christ Holiness the law Of
life and character; Gods goodness the
ground Of salvation for the unholy; and
Christ come to show what holiness is and
where Gods goodness may be found;
how simple it all is!'
40 we labor under misapprehen-
slon," asks the Christian Leader (Univl
OF Boston. when we express the belief
that we are living in an epoch in which
the things that are seen greatly domi-
nate, at least with no small proportion
OF the educated community? True the
sympathy and the sorrow evoked when
Whittier and Tennyson bade us an
earthly adieu, was gracious assurance
that the things of faith and the spiritual
life were not so fully in the shadow as we
had feared. \ ct Enthusiastically the eriti-
cism that makes the vacuum and moth
ing but a vacuum, the philosophy that
ministers to doubt rather than to trust and
hope, are making of the present an Au-
GUSTAV age. We should bravely look
at the situation and know the worst.
Y ct the lesson OF the past, OF many crises
in the past, comes with assurance. II
faith is in an eclipse, it must be that ere
long the observation shall pass away.
We give an affirmative answer to the
question, Will the history repeat itself"
Talk about the decadence of Chris
tlanIty is common IN some quarters"
says the COagregutl0t0tiSt of Boston.
I'VE are told that the Gospel has lost its
hold upon men, that the churches are not
attended, that the press has assumed the
place of the pulpit and fills it better, and
That, whatever the religion OF the future
may be, it will not be Christianity.
Some say these things regretfully, others
boastfully. Both alike are mistaken.
There never was period in human his
tory when so many persons absolutely
into sN1( Il,
Probably there never was q time when
the proportion of Christians to population
throughout what is called Christendom
was so large as now. The earnest, prac-
teal preaching of the Gospel never drew
more people to listen than at present.
The churches never before have appre-
ciated their responsibilities as in our