The record-union., 1895-08-31

aid to the life of the spirit. In the great
crises of life one kneels in profound lone
illness; but II is the loneliness OF Indlyld-'
uaI experience, not OF Individual destiny.
We are all travelling the same road,
though we are often so widely separated
that we seem to be entirely Isolated; we
are all drinking of the same cup OF sor-
row, though it is often held to our lips
when the wine of joy seems to be at the
lips of others. Every man has his own
hidden and Incommunicable lie with
God, but this secret fellowship is rill
which flows into and SWells the universal
fellowship. We need to feel, not only
the community of our needs and SORROWS,
but the community OF our hopes and
worship. We need not only our own
silent hours and quiet places; we need
also the vast quiet of Sunday morn
ing, the repose of universal rest and Of
lmmemorial worship. The calm OF those
fresh and fragrant hours Is no figment OF
the imagination: il is kind of splrituali-
Zation of Nature; it is a symbol OF that
peace Of God which passes understand
ing"
ITO very large extent our present
problem of religious education arises
from the failure of the family 10 fulfill its
functions" says the Waterman (Baptlst)
Of Boston. I'VE are casting about for
something which shall DO what the fam
lily ought TO do aud does not do. We
throw upon the Sunday-school the
Young Peoples Society, the Boys Brig
ade, the public school, the work which
should be done by parents. These or
CARNATIONS serve good purposes; but the
child Of a Christian father ana mother who
has TO get his religious training from
them is through the failure of the family,
robbed of his Christian birthplace. The
air Is thick with reforms, but we doubt
whether any reform that can be named
is worthy of being compared with the
necessity of holding family life up to the
Bible ideals. The loose doctrines of mar
riage and divorce, the treatment of mar
rlage as purely civil contract. the oDllt-
Grafton from the popular consciousness
of the idea that there is peculiar sane
tity in the relationship of husband and
wife, and OF parent and child, lie at the
root of many grave evils. And among
the worst of these evils is the notion that
the church or the State can take the place
of the family as the principal factor in
the religious education OF children, or
that religion can hold its place IN the ma
tlonal consciousness if the family shlrks
its duties. and hands them over to be
performed by other agencies"
Acknowledging some likeness between
rians, Rabbi Hirsch of Chicago finds
what he regards as vital distinction in
the ethics thatikeeps them apart Moses
is the true type OF Judaism. he thinks;
and that great name stands for an active,
aggressive righteousness, Tor virtue
that is capable of scorn and Indignation
in its hostility to evil. ON the other
hand, while he reverences Jesus as one
who sometimes rises to the hight OF the
Judaic ideal, il appears to him that \ nj
tarians slight this aggressive note IN the
character of their chosen leader, ana fol-
low him mainly because of his doctrines
OF non-resistance to evil. sweetness and
light as he understands 1t, are the great
words of the Unitarian gospel; and sweet
ness and light are terms that indicate to
him very sad degeneracy of spirit. This
distinction,o says the Christian Register
Until of Boston, 'strlkes US as being too
much in the air-a kind of theoretical
discrimination which does not reckon
very accurately with the facts in the case.
Any one IL the least familiar with nita-
rian biography must know that in active
hostility TO injustice and wrong, aud in
passionate resistance to their encroach-
ments, the men and women who have
most given character to the name were
by no means deficient. Again. Shakes
peare had good reason to make ShylOck
say, For sutferance is the badge of
all our tribe In other words, there
have been enough meek Jews and
enough fiery Unitarians to upset this
classification entirely, so far as existing
types OF character are concerned"