The record-union., 1894-11-24
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.

the recent session Of the House of BiSh-
ops the Bishops in council took decisive
action in regard to the rationalistic devei-
opments in high quarters which have
scandalized and astonished the church
during the last few months. The letter
of Bishop Gillespie, urging action of this
Kind, was not in vain; in fact, there is
fortunately no doubt that he gave ex-
preston TO feeling which was shared by
the other Bishops with practical unanim-
1ty. In certain circles the assertion was
made that to regard the gospel of the in
fancy as legendary and the Virgin
birth as doubtful, were admissible views;
and the dismay with which this position
was received was greeted with contempt
and scorn as merely an example of her
esy hunting an evidence of narrow big
otry unworthy of the nineteenth cent
nry. When such view of the fund
amental facts of Christianity not only
affects candidates for orders trained in a
church seminary but also invades the
episcopal order itself, it is surely time, as
the Bishop OF Western Michigan has
said, for the Bishops as a body, recog-
nlZed as the guardians of the faith, to
speak, and with no uncertain sound.
Too long has this church been tainted
with depending for its lie and prosperity
upon policy OF ambiguity and vague
ness, and of treating with Indifference
outbreaks of rationalism and unbellet.
Good service was done of late by the out
spoken, though unofficial, utterances of a
great NUM- Der of the Bishops on the apos-
tolic order of the church. intellectually
greater good will be done by distinct
pf1lclal declaration now touching the Vi
tai principles of the Christian faith itself
We are confident that this time the state
ment or declarations will be clothed in no
uncertain or ambiguous phrase, but that
1t will place the stability OF the American
episcopate in the faith once delivered to
the saints, beyond doubt or question.
We understand that the declaration viii be
published as soon as it has received the
signatures of the Bishops who were alb
sent from the meeting"
1.-THE syllogism which leads the high
church man logically to Rome is very
simple, anu from its conclusion there is
no escape" declares the New York out
took. at may be stated thus: The church
is the final autharlty in matters of faith
and practice. The church has declared
that authority to be vested III the Pope.
Therefore the Pope is the final authority
in matters of faith and practice. One
must deny either the major or the minor
premise, or accept the conclusion. II he
denies the major premise, he is a Protest
ant. Ii he uSnl6S Luo IllluOT ne Uo-
MES the final authority of the historic
episcopate, since, beyond all question, the
Roman episcopate is in the line of the
historic episcopate. The Episcopal
Church has come to the parting of the
ways. 1t is where John Henry Newman
was half century ago. 1t cannot perma-
nently remain in that self-contradictory
attitude. The problem before it is fairly
presented by the constantly repeated sug-
gestion that it abandon the cognomen
Protestant. 1t must eithergo forward, to
Iecogni re the individual conscience as
the final judge, the real Vicegerent of
God, whose voice is always to be heard
and obeyed, guided, indeed, but not con-
trolled or set aside, by the experience of
other souls, whether of elect prophets in
an elect nation preserved in the Book of
books, or of the common consciousness
of Christ's disciples expressed in the
faith Of the church, or ii must turn back,
reunite itself to the Roman and Greek
communions, and recognize in this one
great historical hierarchy the supreme
authority, to which all loyal sons of the
church must bow"
SIN the October mum Der of the AnleTi-
can CdthoLic Quarterly ReOiea0, Cardinal
Gibbons has an interesting article on
Christian Unity, which he discusses from
the point of view of the Worlds Fair
Congress and the Pope's Encyclical on
unity. We are not surprised" says the
New York Independent, that he adopts
the position of that encyclical, according
to which the supremacy of Roman pom
tiff, the supreme Jurisdiction of ST. Peter
and his successors, eau alone unite us in
the fellowship of our Redeemer.' That
is, of course, the only invitation for union
which the Roman Catholic Church can
make. 1t only asks that others shall ac-
cept its claim of supremacy and come I'M
a. & w IG
exercised by one man in the city OF
Rome. But we are surprised that Cardi-
nal Gibbons can expect that "a ready re-
Spouse will be forthcoming from many
quarters Where those quarters are we
may find out soon, for the invitation
seems especially directed to the Orient,
and the churches in the Orient are in a
very bad condition just now. owing TO
the oppression of the Turks and it may
be that some of them will be persuad ed
to acknowledge the supremacy of the
Pope; but we see no likelihood of any ap-
proach of that sort in the West. We
Protestants do not accept and we cannot
be forced or persuaded to admit the post
ulate for such an appeal and invitation
as is found in the following paragraph
from Cardinal Gibbons's article 'One
cannot be with Christ unless he be with
His true church. and in His church be
set up in Peter and his successors an au-
thority which should be at once the rule
of faith and the bond of union. All in
opposition to that divine ordinance, all
who separate themselves from it, cannot
expect Is have part with Christ; they will
be against Christ We give the Cardinal
credit for having more charity than these
words indicate. We also are inclined
to raise the question what he means by
his statement that for the sake of union
the Lutheran will not add to his two sac
raments, nor the Episcopalian to his
three We are not aware that Episcopa-
lians recognize three sacraments."
"Our confession is too prolix and phil
osophical for popular creed" remarks
the independent (Pres.) of Chicago, "but
it will never be excelIed for clearness oil
theological perception and expression.
1t is refreshing TO go back to it from these
days of amateur and spontaneous dogma
thing. The Scriptures are given by in
SEPARATION of God TO be the rule of faith
and Iife.' That is perfectly clear and
simple. The infallible rule of interpre-
tation of Scripture is Scripture ITSELF
Here is a great and luminous principle
most simply stated. They were by His
singular care and providence kept pure
in ali ages This last is a statement OF
fact which was open to proof or to dis
nroof Nearly 250 years later that state
1nent was to be brought to the seyerest
fest. Important material had been dis
covered in the way OF ancient manu-
scripts. a selection of the ablest schol-
ars in Europe and in America undertook
the task of revising by the use of these,
the accepted English translation. They
corrected many errors in the Hebrew and
Greek texts, ana great number in the
Fnplish text Was the confessional prop
osition sustained? Certainly not, ii that
proposition meant that all translators,