The record-union., 1894-04-07
In RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From the Various Re-
IigiOus 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.
while the great mass of mankind ac-
cepts without question or cavil the rela-
tions, duties and privileges of the family
and the State" says the LiUing Church
Up. E. of Chicago, "they seem not to rec
ognize the obligations and accept the
blessings of that other institution or
dained of God, coordinate and coeval
with family and State, related 10 both,
but not subordinate, namely, the church.
They are brought up in the family.
never have any idea of life except as
lived in communities under social order
and law. In the interests of his physical,
mental and social being, man recognizes
his corporal and racial relations and
obligations. How unreasonable it is, then,
to assume that the moral and spiritual
elements Of his being can be perfected IN
isolation, in subjective individualism;
that the law Of mans corporate life holds
good only as applied to his temporal
affairs; that with reference to his nOblest
endowments, his rational spirit, his free
will, his capacity to know God. and 10
find the end of his being in doing the
will of God, no organic relation or pro-
vision has been made or is to De ex-
pected; that the supernatural in man has
no need Of association, or means, or
methods for its edification! For the per-
tection of his intellectual and social ca
pacities he must be mem Der OF q body,
an organism, but for the highest develop
ment OF that which is his highest endow-
ment. his rational spirit, no divine insti-
tuition or order is requiredW
Discussing the subject of church unity,
the WatchmuR (Bapt.) cf Boston re-
marks: ALLOW, for the moment, that the
orders of the ministry, as bishops, priests
and deacons, were prescribed by Christ,
and that episcopal ordination is essential
to the validity of all ministerial acts, what
is to hinder councils or cOnyocations
from revising their canOns and ordl-
nails on these points as we'll as on others?
The highest authorities in the English
Church concede that Christ prescribed
the form of baptism and emphasized it
by His own example. His will in this
respect was as clearly expressed as in re-
Spect TO the episcopate, ordination, or
any other thing connected with the
offices of the church. The Bishops know
that the Western Church retained the
form of immersion till the thirteenth
century, and that the Eastern Church
practises it still, and charges the Romish
Church with heresy for its substitution
ofatfusion for immersion; that Augustine,
the Apostle of England, immersed the
converts from King to beggar; that the
rubrics OF the English Church prescribe
dipping as the form OF baptism, except in
cases OF special dispensatiou; and they
also know that the RomiSh and Anglican
Churches claimed authority, in virtue OF
their divine constitution, TO make this
change. Now the question is a fair one:
Why may not the historic church, in
vested by the Lord with the power tO
bind and loose, to change her canons
and ordinals with respect to ministerial
reciprocity, or even to episcopal ordIna-
ton, as she has changed it respecting the
law OF bapIism?"
With reference to what the Examiner
calls the irreducible minimum which
BaptistS could accept as basis for church
I'VE would like to ask whether this Bap-
tist ultimatum would stand III the way OF
church federation as well as OF organic
union. Would it be required that other
churches uniting in a federal union
should accept this formula? or could
there be such federal union as would
leave the baptist denomination free To
continue in its own ways and maintain
with all emphasis its own ideas within
its own body, without imposing INNER
sion upon other denominations as pre-
cedent condition? We presume that all
other evangelical churches, ii confedera-
tion were proposed, would gladly allow
to their Baptist brethren all the liberty OF
believers Immersion for which Bap-
lists stand. They all desire Tor them
selves nothing else than church COM
posed only OF those who give credible
evidence OF having been regenerated by
the Holy Spirit; and they all claim to
practice the baptism Of such believers
into the name of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit. The Baptists cannot
ask, or at least cannot expect, other de-
nominations to become Baptlsts, which
is what the acceptance OF believers inn
mersion would require; but may they
not hope at least for some kind OF led
eral union in which BaptistS shall take
part? The federal union of Protestant
Christendom is a noble ideal. Would
Baptists stand. out against everything
except surrender? Could not the EIaDt-
aneY approve a federation on some such
basis OF common evangelical faith and
liberty as is outlined by DR.. Ward in his
minimum formula for tederation?' "
Here then we discover the weakness
of the church of our day in The presence
of problems she ought to be able to
solve" eXclaims the New y ork Observer
(Pres.). Prayers, numerous and earn
est enough, are offered up. Multitudin-
Gus efforts are put forth for the welfare
of society and the eyangeliZation OF the
heather. Ecclesiastical organizations OF
all kinds are being worked with zeal and
efficiency. Yet, in spite of all, the de-
mons that VeX and narass men are not
cast out, and q mOcking crowd of critics
laughs the church to scorn. What is the
reason of the failure? Not the unwiIl-
ingness OF God to answer prayer not his
disregard OF the toll of his disciple, and
certainly not his lack of interest in the
advancement of his kingdom. The one
reason is the feebIeness of the faith OF the
church. The claimant necessity Of our
time is not so much more prayer or more
work as more faith-mOre trust in the
ability and Willingness of God to grant
what we ask, and more reliance on the
spiritual dynamic by which alone spirit
ual results can be accomplished. More
power in life and service would come
to us with more faith. Lives are now
shadowed by the clouds OF defeated yes
terdays and doubtful to-morrows which
ought to be full Of the confidence and tri-
umph of faith"
'The true Christian ideal is service and
not ecstacy," says the New York CHRIS
tan Enquirer (bapt.l. "The extremes of
animaiism and asceticism are TO be
avoided. We neither want pampered
race of gluttons nor a group of skeletons
hung with uncushioned-nerve lines of
sensitiveness. given to visions and vigiIs.
The flesh which is disparaged IN the
Scriptures is not that which the tailor
measures for a coat. or which we weigh
on the scales. 1t is rather that carnality
,.hioh no hand aver tnnchad and no eve