The record-union., 1895-01-19
Tn RELIGIONS REALM
Expressions From the Various Re
ligious Newspapers
The Religious Thought of tho Day as
Expressed In the Sectarlan Press
Some Matters OF Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.

Ministers and Laymen.
'Recent information from Rome max es
it clear" observes the LiUi71g Church (P.
e. of Chicago, that the conference
lately held was concerned solely with the
relations of the Uniate communities
that is, those bodies of Christians in the
East which have acknowledged the Ro-
man supremacy and have broken off
from the orthodox or other communions.
IL mad nothing to do with the Orthodox
Eastern Church and did not advance the
interests Of true unity by single step.
rather, by its endeayors to improve upon
the old proselytizing of the Church of
Rome, it has interposed new obstacles
IN the way of an understanding with the
true representative of Catholic Chris
tianity in the Orient. 1t adopted meas
ures calculated to allay the jealOusies of
the heterogeneous bodies which the ennis
sarles OF Rome have formed in the East,
particularly as connected with educa-
tlon and lntermarrlage. Nevertheless,
kilograms and newspaper articles con-
tluue to be so framed to give the I'M
preston that great results have been
achieved in the direction of union with
The Holy Eastern Church. 1t is now
announced that the Pope wishes to do
IN the West what he mas succeeded in
doing Ill the East, and that with the
OBJECT OF et1ecting union OF the churches,
he intends drawing together at the Natl-
can number of Catholic prelates Of Eu-
rope and America to confer with them as
TO the best means of realizing the plan.
Cardinals Gibbon and Iaschereau are
said to be among those included in the
invitation. The outcome OF this Will
no doubt be interesting, but 1t IS not
likely to have any real bearing upon the
union of the churches"
Speaking of the case of the Rev. DIR.
McGlynn, the New York FTeen1u7rS
JOu77ldt (R. O. remarks: fsuCh things
can be and continue, it is not surprising
that those outside the church should look
upon US as aDject and miserable slaves.
" e are constantly saying, and truly, that
the church is the friend OF liberty; that
within her pale we are Tree; that she
alone possesses that truth our Divine
Lord declared would make US free. Nom
Catholics listen to our words, then look
about them and see what they have seen,
then look IN our faces and smile and pity
US. They tell Us that the facts give the
lie to the theoly, that one ounce Of prac-
tICe Is worth q pound of theory. Their rea-
sOnIng is plausible enough, and the only
reply we can make is that church govern
menJ in this country is, aud has been
In an abnormal condition; that her spirit
her laws and her constitution have been
disregarded, and that, owing to the dis
tance 1rom the central authority, spe-
cies of lynch law has grown up, And
just as lynchIngs in the Far West are 10
sound argument against the national
Constitution, spirit and laws, so in like
manner the abnormal conditions in
church government are no argument
against the spirit and constitution of the
church. The establishment of q Derma-
nent delegation affords the strongest pos
siDle evidence that the supreme head Of
the church deemed a change necessary.
and that there is a God III Israel. Give
Us the laws OF the church fairly and
justly administered by the processes
known 10 canon law, that protects all her
children, the high and lowly alike, and
We will be tree-as free as we desire to
be. IS there anything revolutionary
about that?'
Consistency" says the New York
outlook, mas been characterized as the
weakness OF small minds. This sounds
laradoXical-and in way it is paradoxi-
cal; bat there Is great truth in lt-a truth
which small minds are slow Ito learn,
and the failure to learn which constantly
leads such minds 10 misunderstood and
mlsreDresent the larger minds. Consist
term, means to remain standing on the
spot where you first took your place, SO
1lat the consistent man Is one who never
breaks the external harmony OF his ca
TGer, but who, at the end Oi fifteen wears
stands, to all intents and purposes, on
the spot where he stood at the beginning
OF the half century. This kind OF con-
sIslency IS possible to only people who
90 not grow. No man can move and be
consistent IN this sense, 1t is with this
idea Of consistency in their minds that
tie reactionaries are always barking
back to the retormers, and testing the
orthodoxy OF to-day by the standpoint of
the great man of three centuries ago, for
getting that what distinguished the great
man was his step forward, and that, rela-
lively 10 his own age, he stood precisely
where his successor, the reformer OF to-
day, stands in relation to this age. 1t is
very certain that II John Calvin. for in
stance, were alive to-day, he would be as
far as possible removed from the posi-
ton OF many men who call themselves
his followers"
Among Us it is often affirmed" says
the ~ UtcttHtdH (BapL) of Boston, that
there is and can be no ordination except
20 the ministry and that for life. Yet
we OrdaIn men who have been set apart
1Or the ministry for life, in other reiiui-
Gus DOuIes; some Baptist churches Ordaiu
GedCoHs, whose once Is clearly local, and
some baptist ministers have been re-
ordained as 'eVaugelists.' Why is it
more IncongruOus 10 OrGaIn a man as an
evangelist, a foreign missionary, a theo-
logical teacher, specifically, then it was
10 separate saul and Barnabas for the
individual work To which they had been
dlvinely called? and why not, as in that
case, by the laying on of hands? What
is the precise logical or Scriptural oblipa-
ton that compeis us to examine man
as to hls call TO the ministry meaning
thereby especially the pastoral oliiceI'
and having satisfactorily ascertained that
he has none, solemnly 10 set him apart to
an Office 10 which he is not called and
which he does not intend to fill? There
was diversity OF gifts and 'callings'
In the early church, and so there is now.
Ordination was not the origin, but the
recognition of such Calling Having
given evidence that he is called of God
and man to be au educator, it seems an
odd kind of recognition to refuse to or
dain the applicant as an educator and in
sist on making him minister"
1--WE have been asked by the Tnterna-
tional Religious Liberty Association.
which is an organization of the Seventh
@a.