The record-union., 1895-09-28
In RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From the Various Re.
liglOus Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Secsarian Press
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.

haHy OuTIsLlau peOpies says IAt
New York Observer (Pres.). mako it I
boast that they have no regard for citizeI
duties and no interest in public affairs
They think that the one way to keep re-
ligion undefiled is to keep it at distance
from secular and civil life. An old prov
erb about touching pitch is often on thell
lips when political reform is talked
about They excuse their apathy by
quoting Christ's saying, My kingdom ls
not of this world but, surely. by this
time they ought to know that this saying
does not mean that Christ's kingdom was
not designed to rule over this world
What it does really mean is the widely
different truth that the authority in vir-
tue of which Christ reigns was not de-
rived from this world. Followers Of
Jesus Christ have no warrant from theiI
Master which justifles any such attitude
They are the light of the world to give
moral illumination on all questions
touching the community. They are the
salt of society to preserve it from cor
ruption by infusing into 1t the spirit ano
teaching of Jesus Christ. For mer
banded together in a spiritual organiza
ton, one aim of which is to puffy anC
uplift the life of the land, to hold aloo
from the political interests of the country
is nothing short of betrayal Of the Mas
ter they ought TO serve in the State al
well as in the church"
"The measure of the possession of the
religious spirit" observes the New York
Outlook, "is the breadth and depth of q
mans consciousness of Gods presence
and power in the world; and the meas
ure of a mans faith is his ability to real
ize God in the world about him; in the
forces and forms Of nature. in the rela.
tiOnshipS and occupations of man in the
great and small movements of history.
The mystic evades the tremendous diff
culties which confront faith in the pres
ence of the apparent contradictions and
confusions of the world by withdrawing
into himself and becoming absorbed III
sweet meditation, forgetting that he who
fees from the world cOn1esses that the
world is too strong for him. The ritual
ist limits the divine grace 10 few chan
nels. and gives up the other great courses
through which the divine inspiration
and strength flow into human lives.
Both methods are partial and dlvislve:
and SO far as they are partial and divi-
sive they are tainted with atheism. They
confess the presence of God III a lew
things, they deny it in many things.
The root of all evil in theology, in wor-
like tiny lantern held by a traveller in g
dark night, which illumines little path
at the feet; 1t is not like sun which lifts
whole world into light. The logic ol
the situation is inexorable; if there is q
God, all things must reveal Him, and all
right activities and forms Of life must
flow from Him and disclose His pres
ence. To seize this great truth is TO gain
the fundamental religious conception Of
the universe, and Of the life of man
in it."
''In the realm Of religion" observes
the Christian Register (UniL) of Boston,
''we find also those who trade in the
mysterious, and good many of theiI
wares are altogether artificial. When a
man looks out towards the universe,
there are mysteries which challenge his
reason or his faith. They grow out ol
the limitations of his knowledge and his
faculties. But there are mysteries which
are man-made, ana priests have thriyed
on these artificial mysteries just as the
juggler thriYes on his art. Simon, the
magician who amazed the people of Sa-
maria with his sorceries, was not the
first or last TO manufacture mysteries for
the sake OF beguiling creduious people by
has art; and he supposed the apostles
were engaged In the same sort OF buSl-
ness. one who can delude the senses Is
often able TO delude the reason. The
supposition that there is some mysteri-
Gus power in prIestly incarnation, in q
piece of wood supposed to be taken from
the cross, in the bone of a saint, the coal
of martyr, has secured and still holds
the reverence of thousands of people
But all this has not the slightest relation
whatever TO religion as such, is in nc
way necessary TO its existence, but rather
a hindrance TO it,"
"a modern writer speaking of the rise
OF katlonallsm says that sometimes it de-
scribed itself as common sense, some
times as science, sometimes as eniighten-
ment, with Infinite varieties of applica-
tion and greet diversity OF doctrine. But
essentially" says the New Ork Chris
tan I3ttetHgeHce1 Ref, lit consisted in
the application. consciously or uncousci-
Gus, OF one great method 10 the decision
OF every controversy, 10 the molding o.
every creed. Did belief square with 9
view OF the universe based exclusively y
upon the prevalent mode OF interpreting
sense perception? If so, it might sur
vive, Did ii clash with such mode or lie
beyond it? 1t was superstitlous; it was
unscientifc; 1t was Incredible; it was
ridiculous. Was it neither in harmony
with nor antagOnistic TO such a view, bul
simply beside 1t? 1t might live on until
it became atrophied from lack of use, q
mere survival Of dead past. Hence re-
suited naturalism, or TIE naturalistiC
theory of the world, that is, that nothing
deserves to be called knowledge whict
does not come within the circle of the
natural sciences. All Rationaiists do no
at once admit this, but they must come t
1t, IL they are consistent and logical
Soul, conscience morality, immortality
freedom. beauty TO them are mere names
once held with significance but now OF NJ
real Importance"
Continuing its discussion of the historic
episcopate, the New York Churchfad7
(P. E. says: THE extension OF the epis
copate al the close of the second Christian
century is. indeed, an obvious fact o
church history. and. unless we altogether
discredit records tnat survive, a presby-
terial form Of church polity or an inde-
pendent congregationalism were things
unknown ct that period of the church,
annals. The unity OF the eplscopste, a,
She basis OF unity n the universal church
IS Witnessed TO by the circulation OF en-
cyclical and other letters, the gathering;
oI synods, and the consensus OF churcI
writer's. The historic episcopate of the
second and third century was. indeed
vital element in the constitution OF the
Christian Church, and along with the ex-
lStence Of this eplscopate we are forced
To take as equally its remarkable infiu'
ence as firm and stable principle in tht
ever changing and huctuating sea of re
Iglous opinion. 1t was the bulwarB
against pagan opposition; it refuted tht
dreams of mystics, it checked the insur-
rections OF the disorderly, it firmly over
fode ana exploded the sopnistical anc
revolutionary system which rose on,
alter another TO supplant the true method
ana principle of Christianity. In worc
IL Is no exaggeration 10 say that episco
pacy In the iirst three centuries was thu
means by which the Church of Chris