The record-union., 1895-04-05
IN RELIGIONS REALM
Expressions From the Various Re-
ligious Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of tho Day as
Expressed In the Sectarlan Press
Soma Marters OF Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymeu.

Expressed LII UD0 SecUdEldh 1888
Some Matters OF Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymeu.
Commenting upon the letter of an
"Episcopal Clergyman" published re-
Gently in the Boston Herald and as
senting from the pastoral letter OF Inc
Protestant Episcopal Bishops, the LtOa@g
Church (P. E.) of Chicago remarks:
"The sad thing about all this is the fact that
the Episcopal Clergyman is evidently
very sincere. He has persuaded himself
that he has a right to be an Office bearer
In society in whose fundamental posi-
tion he does not believe, and that ne mas
perfect liberty to disown the doctrine he
has promised to teach. He holds that 1t
was immoral to take pledges as to what
his teaching should be, but that it is not
Immoral to cling to the office which he
obtained through such pledges. From
the creeds to the Bishops the church Is
wrong, the formularieS are wrong, IL IS
wrong to have any formularies. ct
1t is not wrong to retain an ohclal posi-
tion in a society which Is based upon
these very things. One whose ethical
view of things Is SO warped as TINS ought
to be dealt with as gently as possible.
AT the close of his letter he prays to be
set right if he is wrong. Every endeavor
ought TO be made to show him the error
of his position. But the church owes 1t
to her own life and mission in the world,
and to the souls committed TO her charge,
TO be firm as well as mercltul. 1t ls lntol-
cradle that any man representing and
propagating such views as those we have
quoted should be allowed to continue in
the office of an accredited teacher and
guide of souls"
Oriticising the attitude of Bishop Pot
ter towards the pastoral letter issued re-
Gently by the Protestant Episcopal BIsh-
OPS the New \ ork Observer (Pres.) says:
Equally unhappy is the suggestion of
the Bishop of New York that when the
pastoral claims that 'hxedness of inter-
probation is of the essence of the creeds,'
this language plainly cannot be intended
to carry more than the simple statement
that the church in the case, g. g.. of the
Virgin birth OF our Lord, does not any
longer regard that question as a debata-
bic one in her pulpits and by her author
lied teachers. 1t certainly does not mean
that il at any time in the future the whole
basis of fact on which that article in the
creed rests can be shown to be false or
fictitious, the church is TO go on indetin-
itely affirming it,. Why introduce such
q supposition? Is not the doctrine OF
Christs virginia. birth founded upon
Scripture? Is not Scripture inspired of
God? Is not the doctrine, therefore, a
yeritable revelation from Hin that ad
mits of no debate and no question? AS
suredly so! DR.. Potter's words are cal
culated to strengthen the bands of ration
alistic teachers IN the Episcopal Church,
and to lead weak minds to think that this
doctrine is to be taught as a fact only
Fs ,1N
to prove il fiction. The enemies of the
evangelical faith will rejoice in Bishop
Potter's hypothetical proposition and
will forget that be claims that when
man in Office in the church finds himself
requiring larger liberty than his official
Obligations concede to him, common hon
eSty would seem to req ulre that he should
seek that liberty outside, not inside of
fellowship to which his VOWS and prom
ises in the matter of what he shall teach
and hold are both definite and explicit
10 give such a document faint and
doubtful praise is worse than open op-
position"
''It is unfortunate" says the New York
Outlook, that The hottest debates in the
Christian Church take place on the most
unImportant topics. The Intensity of the
zeal appears to be in inverse ratio to the
practical significance of the theme. For
y
divided over the question whether man
should be refused a commission TO preach
the Gospel to the heathen If he believed
that those heathen who had not heard of
the Gospel in this world might hear of
it in another. Then the storm-cen
shifted to the Presbyterian Church, which
was threatened with division over the ques
tion whether, ,ifthe original manuscripts of
the Bible could be discovered, they would
be found free from all error. And now
it is shifting to the Episcopal Church,
which is threatened with a deluge of
wordy debate over the question whether
man can be Christian minister who is
uncertain whether Jesus of Nazareth was
born of virgin miraculously or in we'd
lock naturally. In some respects this
is a more hopelessly infelicitous subject
of debate than the other two. The mere
discussion of this theme tends to irrev-
ence. We hope, in the interest of the
Christian Church and of the general COM
munity, that the Episcopal Church will
not allow q few men, whose zeal is greater
than their comprehensiveness of vision
and their spiritual discrimination, to
turn its thoughts and energies aside to
this incidental question from the prob
lens of practical righteousness essential
Christian doctrine, and vital spiritual ex-
r perlence. OF purely abstract and ecclesi-
astical debates Christendom has already
had far too many"
"As matter of fact" says the Watch
man lBspt.) of Boston, truth needs to be
retranslated, not only from century to
century, but from decade to decade. from
year TO year, from month to month. This
principle applies to the Scriptures them
selves. One of the main duties of
Christian preacher is to translate the
Bible into the ,venacular of his age.
Whenever you find Moody or Park
hurst, Spurgeon or a Gordon, you find
man who succeeds in doing this, ON
their lips the truths of revelation address
us IN the tongue wherein we were BORN
Let the minister attempt TO preach a SER
mon written twenty-five years ago, and
he VIII confront an illustration of our
meaning. He may hold TO the same
truth he held then, but the old sermon
will not preach. The better sermon it
was quarter of a century ago the less
preachaole 1t IS now. There is no mys-
terry about this. The things he could
take for granted then he has 10 prove
now; what he had 10 prove then he can
take for granted now. He is speaking in
different atmosphere, he is address
ing minds swayed by different iufIu-
ences. And this is the reason why so
few volumes of apologetics maintain
their full cogency longer than the decade
IN when they appear. The issues change
Different points are attacked, and new
delenses are constantly developing"
'Whst shall be done for the health and
growth of the public conscience?" asks
The New ork EUdHgeifSt (Presl. This
surely: We must eliminate that which is
unreal, that part OF the public consci-
ence at which men privately sneer, and
which, while it helps us shame some
shifty consciences into a show of decency,
Is always in danger of collapse The