The record-union., 1895-05-18
IN RELIGIONS REALM
Expressions From the Various Re-
ligious Newspapers
The Religious Thought of tho Day as
Expressed In the Sectarian Press
Ministers and Laymeu.

"There is nothing new in the view Of
the resurrection of Christ taken by DR..
Heber Newton in recent sermon." says
the New York Outlook. 1T Is simply
the revival of a view which has always
found some advocates in the church,
and always seemed to the vast majority
of Bible students irrational and untena-
ble. 1t seems SO to us. The essential
lesson of the first Easter is that death is
not extinction; that life is continuous and
unbroken; that every death is also res
direction. This faith received a sensible
and ocular demonstration in the resur-
rection of Jesus Christ. Whether the
spirit released by death from its impris-
onment in the body, returned for little
time to reanimate the body and SO give
to the disciples evidence of its continued
existence, or whether there is a spiritual
body which rose invisible from the
cross IN the hour in which the Christ
cried, eXultantly, Father, into thy hands
/ commit my spirit and the disciples
eyes were opened that they might see the
invisible presence is not vital question.
The difficulties in the theory which DR..
Newton attempts to revive appear 10
US, as they have appeared to the great
majority OF students in all ages, lnsuper-
able. The theory leaves unanswered
the question, w hat became of the body?
1t is inconsistent with the explicit decla-
ration, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones
as ye see me have 1t is difficult to rec
Onclle with the eating of bread and fish
by the Sea of Galilee. 1t does not harmO-
niZe with the command, Touch me not. )
1t is incongruous with the experience of
Thomas. And it is frankly admitted by
To ha Jrra q q Ui a
opinions and testimony of the apostles,
who he thinks were mistaken, but who.
If we can Judge from current opinions at
that time, would have been far more
likely to believe in the appearance OF
Christ's ghost than in the temperance
of his body"
"While the Pope's hope of winning
back the Anglican Church as whole to
his fold seems visionary" says the New
York Observer (Pres.), ''were he forty
years younger, he might, with his untir-
ing pursuit Of unity, hope to see part of
it drawn TO Rome. The sixteen years Of
his pontiticate have witnessed changes
deemed far more impossible of accom-
plishment, notably the peace effected
with France and the Russian Gar. And
it is admitted that the ritualistic and high
church party in the Anglican commu-
Mon, which Is not only tolerated, but
quite within the limits Of that communion
and which has Bishops and eminent
clergy in its ranks, has in recent years
made rapid strides towards Rome. All
the essentials of the Roman system, eX
cept its conception of church authority,
is practically accepted, not alone by that
party, but by the ritualistic wing of the
Episcopal Church. If proof of the close
approach between the two were wanting,
1t might be found IN recent utteranceS of
Lord Halifax, President of the English
Church Union. There is nothing what
ever he declared, in the authoritative
documents of the English Church which,
apart from the traditional CLOSES of a
practical Professionalism, contains any
thing essentially irreconciiable with the
doctrines of the Church of Rome. Priests
in Roman orders, members of the Ro-
man communion, may communicate at
our altars.' And he concludes: We de-
sire from the bottom of our hearts to be
allowed to make our own confessions TO
and receive our communions from the
hands of Roman clergy abroad AS
there is no doubt that such sentiments
are spreading in both the Anglican and
Episcopal Churches, there is only too
much reason to believe that means may
yet be found to reconcile the advanced
wings of these systems with that OF
Rome"
the Turkish soldiers who were concerned
in the Sassun massacre asked wonder
ingly who was that Jesus of Nazareth to
whom the poor victims prayed, causes q
smile of pity" says the New York Inde-
pendent, "but prominent evangelical
minister OF this city stated publicly some
time ago that ne found mem bers in his
Sabbath-school who could not answer
the question. The article by "A College
President published by us last year,
giving instances of ignorance among col
lege students of the characters and incl
dents of the Bible, has attracted wide at
tention, and Charles Dudley Warner, in
commenting upon 1t. has said that any
college student who has no adequate
knowledge of the Book of Books is an ig-
noramus and is placed at great disad-
vantage in the world. That young man
or young woman should graduate from
college knowing all about Caesar and
Cicero and Homer and Aenophon, and
knowing nothing about Moses and David
aud little or nothing about Jesus Christ
and Paul, is the hight of absurdity.
Neither can get into a college without
knowing something of those Latin and
Greek masters, but either can come out
of it without knowing much, if any
thing, about the great Bible characters.
We say this is reproach TO US, and SO 1t
is. The college graduate who begins his
active career without thorough knowl-
edge of the Book of Books enters the
race of life deficient and lame. The vet
eran editor of one of our most prominent
daily newspapers has said that the most
useful book TO the secular editor is the
Bible; that the more he knows of that the
better equipped he is for his work. So it
is in many other callings; and certainly
when we come to think of mans moral
and spiritual nature, it is an absurdity to
suppose that he is properly furnished