The record-union., 1894-10-20
Tn 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.

Some Matters OF Interest to Both |
Ministers and Laymen.
Speaking Of Bishop Potter's recent !
warning to his clergy against communis-
tic teaching, the New York Evangelist
pres remarks: "This vice against which
the Bishop warns preachers threatens to
become the vice also of the philanthropic
work of the church. Just nowIwhen unu-
suaI poverty and distress have brought the
INSTITUTIONAL aspect Of the church very
much to the front, when the philanthropic
duties Of Christians and Christ's Church
are being urged and studied and prac-
ticed as never perhaps before, IN tins
country at least, it is important that no
one shall lose sight of the real heart OF the
problem. This, the Bishop reminds his
hearers, is the family, of all human instl-
tutions that which to-day has the feeblest
hold upon the popular imagination And
he quotes the remarks of parish visitor
that if we would lift the poor we must
begin by getting hold OF the mothers IN
their homes Here IS the very heart OF
the whole matter. Our girls clubs and
boys clubs, our kindergartens and nur-
series, our sewing and cooking schools
and libraries and freSh-air work are all
well and all needed, but to be funda-
mentally useful they must rest on the
foundation OF a work for the mothers.
Most of us have got so far along in our
lesson of helptulneSS as to be aware that
formation is better than reformation, that
it is better TO begin right with the chill
dren than to reform them by and by, put
we forget that wise saying, that to make
the children right we must begin with
their grandTnothers. The grandmothers
are, for the most part, beyond our reach,
but the mothers are here, ana we must
take them into account more than we
do.'
Nobody knows better than the Bishop
Of New York" says the New York
ChaTchDtdn (P. E.), ''that the ministers
of religion are justly held responsible
tor very large amount OF the social dis
content and disorder which is the most
dangerous characteristic OF modern lie,
not only III Europe but even in the
United States. 1t is true that the clergy
oil the Protestant Episcopal Church have
been tar more cautious and conservative
than their denomlnatiOnaI brethren, and
for reasons which are too obvious 10 need
stating. But the Bishops address indi-
Gates that, in his judgment, the caution
and conservatism of the church are far
from excessive; and we entirely agree
with him. 1t is painfully evident that
IlIulSI6IS Vi I6lISlOtl. III pun plI anu Oh
platform, have again and again pro-
claimed the barest socialism or even an
archism. They have declared that the
existing order of society is unrighteous,
tyrannical, contrary to the law OF God
and the rights of man. Such q state Of
society evidently ought to be put down;
and such teaching Is the public justitica-
tion OF conhscatiOn and revolution"
The WatchneaR (Bapst.) of Boston says:
bishop Potter OF New York in giving
his annual charge to the clergy of his
diocese, took occasion to admonlsh them
against letting their sympathIes run away
With their Judgments III the consideration
OF economic questions. The so-caIled
Christian socialists of an extreme sort
have been largely recruited by Episcopal
clergymen, and there IS matter for their
profitable meditation in the reproof de-
livered by one of their own Bishops TO
the clergyman who, passing on from his
own province of rebuking things that are
evil, becomes the advocate and defender
Of a new social philosophy which peril
Ously mlsconceives the problem OF which
ii proposes the solution.""
''In the present day it is often urged
that the committal Of crime be looked
upon as the result of disease rather than
Williul intraction of law, as matter for
the doctor OF ethics to attend to rather
than Tor the judge and the jailer," says
the New York Observer (Pres.). ITO en-
force such views the teachings of Christ
are again and again referred TO, but with
out reason or warrant. Christ does urge
his followers TO cultivate the spirit of
forgiveness rather than that which would
seek to enforce the uttermOst penalty or
TO extract the uttermost tarthing from
. any who wrong them. The machinery of
the law had been used too freely for the
purposes of personal revenge. The prin-
a. TalA al q II in N nd q F,S-
tooth is calculated to make people sell
hsh, cruel, eXacting, because human ma
ture is warped. The person wronged is
not likely to seek the punishment of the
one who wronged him simply and solely
1or the sake OF honorlng the law or pro-
moting the establishment of Justice in the
earth. Henceiorth the law was TO be
lifted above the platform of an agency for
personal vindictiveness. The followers
OF Christ were not only 10 preach divine
forgiveness for human transgression
but they were to show how real and
practical that forgiveness was by them
selves foregoing voluntarily their rights
at law and freely forgiying those who in
enmity had wronged them. But no
where in all the broad and deep teachings
OF Christ IS there a word that suggests
that an outraged community should qui-
etly see murder committed or any crime
perpetrated and take no steps TO bring
the offender to the bar of JUSTICE"
''The paper which Cardinal Vaughan
recently read as the inaugural address in
conference OF the Catholic Truth So
ciety at Preston, England, was very
clear and very adroit communication"
observes the New York ChUreRnadg iP
E.. Roman divines sometimes seem
TO forget nothing In history and learn
nothing. Any one reading this address
of the Cardinal will lay it down with the
remark that II has all been said before
The Cardinals scheme of reunion virtu-
ally amounts merely TO this: Rome will
make almost any concessions so long as
the supremacy OF the Pope is admitted
The laity may receive the cup, the mass
may be said in English, clerical cell bac Y
may be dispensed Without the Pope
must be supreme. According to Cardinal
Vaughan there is no valid basis OF re-
union to be found IN formularies and
creeds, even upon the possession OF
priestly orders, an episcopate and the sac
raments. The supremacy OF the Pope is
the sole proper ground of reunion. We
repeat that this has all been said before.
II was said in very pointed way 10
Oueen Elizabeth, and it was answered
in a way just as pointed and unmistaka-
ble.''
Cardinal Vaughan of England has de-
Gyered an address on the reunion oi
Christendom which Is very significant as
coming from a prominent Roman Catho-
lie ecciesiastic 1t does not indeed, in
our Judgment, afford any hopeful basis
for such q reunion" says the New York
Outlook, "but it proves the existence of d
desire therefor in the Roman Catholic