The record-union., 1895-05-03
IN RELIGIONS REALM
Expressions From the Various Re-
ligious Newspapers
The Religious Thought OF the Day as
Expressed In the Sectariau Press
Some Matters Of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.

ion," observes the LiUing Church (P. Ed
of Chicago. "It is made an objection to
creeds, the ancient Catholic creeds among
the rest. that they restrict free thought
Thought. it is said, ought to be left just
rs unrestricted in the sphere of religion
as in secular science. How far then is
thought really free in science? Just as
far as facts will permit and no further.
Every time new facts come to light, to that
extent thought ceases to be free. When
ships sailing westward came back at
length to the country from which they
set out, the fact was established that the
earth was sphere, and 1t became impos-
sible any longer for intelligent people to
regard it as plane surface. Likewise
the relation Of the earth to the heavenly
bodies being ascertsined, it is no longer
open to US to hold that the earth is the
center OF the planetary system, and that
the sun, moon and stars revolve around
1t. No claim to freedom of thought can
warrant us in asserting with the ancients
that earth, air, fire and water are ulti-
mate elements in nature, since it has been
discovered that each of these is cOmpo-
site. Thus at every point in the world
of nature the right of tree thought is de-
MED to Us. The truth is that any sci
ence is nothing else but collection of
facts put into a systematic form, and is in
its very essence method OF placing re-
strictions upon thought. Yet no one
THINKS of rebelling against us; no one as
serts his right to hold that the moon is
made of green cheese, or attacks the sci
entlfic investigator because his discov-
cries and the conclusions which result
from them restrict the right of. free
thought. In the realm of supernatural
or revealed religion the case is strictly
parallel"
Among the signals of distress dis
played by the defenders of the Assem-
bly's late acts of intolerance which have
put the Presbyterian Church in bad po-
siIion," says the New York EUa1lget&St
(Pres.), ''is the revival of old and doubt
ful propositions which seem to Justify, or
at least to excuse, the new departure. The
latest is a flag run up to the masthead of
the old Reunion man-of-war inscribed,
'Fixedness of interpretation Here we
are again, after an almost lifetime of
concession, confronted by denial of the
fundamental basis of the reunion of the
old and new school branches of the
Presbyterian Church. Anybody who
will take the trouble to turn over the
files of our church papers, will have
proof that the new doctrine is dug up like
a mummy from the pit to which 1t was
then consigned, and is once more set in
Pharaoh's seat as if it were alive and had
some power. We think it right to re-
mind our new cham pioDs of this defunct
and discarded thing, that there are still
living some who saw to its burial, that if
it is possible to impose on some OF the
younger people to-day, the deception
will be brief, and that no matter how
sincere the present writer's of such alb
surd articles may now be, their argu-
to ruil and 6icbnnnr
ere long. Whoever denies that Presby-
terians have always used large liberty in
interpreting the Confession misrepre-
sents the whole history of the denomina-
ton, and those who would now, after these
years of reunion, forbid a Pres yterian to
interpret the Confession or constitution of
his church by the last true light OF knowl-
edge and the latest circumstance Of his
tory, are not defenders of the faith; they
are rather men devislng extreme meas
ures to maintain the church in a false po-
sition.'
1.-THE question is much discussed"
says the New York CYtatrchnlan (P. e.,
whether the fact that the greatest con-
gregations to-day are found outside the
walls OF the churches may not legit-
imately be laid at the door of the pulpit
The opinion seems to be growing, in the
secular press at least, that the pulpit is
OSCOUuluR lnclICi0ubs dhQ sudG Gulo 10 bA0
reason why men are so largely absent
from church on the Lords Day. Apart
from the asserted decadence of the pulpit
many theories are advanced to account
for this state of things. Men are not op-
posed. it is said, to church-going, but are
too busy to 60. The demands of busi-
ness, the wear and tear of mercantile life,
the large space business fills in the life
of the average man Of affairs-these things
push all active thought about personal
religion out of immediate range, and men
60 on building, building, building. build
ing because the spirit OF the time de-
mands 1t. This seems an easy solution of
the problem, but 1t scarcely fits the facts.
Our busiest business men are more apt
to be church-gOers than men whose busi-
ness interests never crowd or Cypress
them. A President of a railroad is much
more likely to be seen in his place in
church than a grocer in small way.
The force of habit has really more to do
with this condition of things than much
popular thinking and writing is disposed
to see or admit. Men do not go to church
because they do not. They have no rea-
son for not going except that they do not
GO. 1t is simply an exhibition OF Sab
batic UiS inertiB. Not excess of business
crowding upon Sunday. not exhaustion
from the weeks toll, not opposition to
church-going, not pulpit inefficiency.
but simply and solely the habit formed
of not going, would be found to account
for q very large proportion OF the absen-
teeism so much discussed in the press of
the day."
'It is occasionally the case," says the
New York Christian 4dUocate tMeth.),
s'that the peoples wanting minister 10
remain is a positive proof that he should
not. He may have honeycombed the
church with false doctrines; he may have
turned the pulpit into rostrum for the
irreverent STUN speaker; he may have
SO grieved the truly religious that they
have retreated into silence and seclusion;
he may have filled up the building with
those who go to church to laugh or get
new sensation; he may have made it an
injury to the denomination with which
he is connected or filled it with a crowd
incapable of being incorporated with the
spiritual organization. Under such cir
cumstances he will be desired by the
worldly. the loud-voiced and the indis-
eliminating. In church where The
pastors are settled, sooner or later the
nucleus of the institution dislntegrateS;
the cords that have bound it together.
being personal aud ephemeral. depend
ent for their strength upon the capacity
of the preacher to crafty the thirst Tor
the unusual, the surprising. the grotesque
or the vulgar, become attenuated and
brittle. AT this point dissenslons Will
arise, the incumbent's health is likely to
fail, actually or apparently. and for years
the havoc wrought by his ministry, con-
cealed under crowd instead OF church.
is now apparent. Under a system where
the Limitation of time removes him his
successor may yield to the temptation to
initiate or even emulate him: or, If he ad-
here's to the church and discharges his
duty, he will be compelled to endure a
painful contrast as TO numbers, and
spend much time in pruning dead