The record-union., 1895-06-01
the world may be on the threshold of the
best period of its life"

On the subject of religion In towns and
villages the New \ ork ChnrchDaan p. Z. J
says: 1.-The income of clergyman in the
country may be equal to that of the ma
jority of his flock, while in the city it falls
far below that oftwo-thirds of his parish
toner's. But he is sure of it, and sure,
too, that II will secure him the special
comforts upon which life largely de-
ponds, while in the country cure there
are expenses which weigh lar more heav-
lily, and press with far more unexpected
calls upon a precarious stipend. The
whole may be summed up in sentence:
The rural clergyman can seldom know
what he will be required to spend, nor
where he will get what he needs The
work, then, of reaching the town and viii
lage communities demands, we hold,
these two things-power to send men OF
the best order of ability and power to
keep them where they are sent. Ibis
means right OF appointment apart from
the choice of the parishes, and power
of continuance independent of the paro-
chial means of maintenance. How these
two ends are to be reached Is another
matter. In the case of the missionary
episcopate it is reached, and there Is no
difficulty in getting good men to go and
to stay in the mOstfor bidding fields. The
Missionary Presbyterate needs the same
sort of protection. Adequately endowed
collegiate churches at proper centers
would do the work-if that plan were
practicable. We do not propose to dis
cuss that now, but we insist upon the two
essentials. viz, that the choice and stay
of the missionary should not be depend
ent on the caprice Of the people to whom
he ministers, and that his support should
be sufficient and assured"
"Unquestionably," says the New York
Evangelist Pres }, "the churches Of our
cities stand for something more than sal
wage work; they exert an educating, edi-
flying, Illuminating influence almost IN
calcuable.. Though not convert were
made, the great cities could not afford to
be without the churches. And the ex-
pense of carrying on the great city
churches is largely increased by the vari-
Gus institutional works which are max
ing them, as they should be, the center
of the benevolent work of their own
members. Nevertheless the fact remains
that it costs a great deal to keep up these
churches, and the question will force
itself upon the thoughtful mind, Is the
money they cost being used TO the best
possible advantage? Granting what is
unquestionable, that the number of ac-
cessions in given year Is not proper
criterion of the usefulness OF church, 1t
still remains true that the frat and most
important function OF the church is to
evangelize the world, to save souls, and
that it is with this end in view that the
money of Christians is contributed to the
church. If the church is to be chiefly an
ambulance corps or hospital Tor the
nourishing and preserving in fair state
of health thousands of spiritual invalids,
it is certainly doing we'll as things are;
only let not those church members who
l.
they are doing anything for the cause of
Christ. But if the church is to be an army
of conquest. to make this world the king
dom of our Lord and of his Christ, it would
seem that better adaptation of cost to
result will have to be made before long.
1t will be interesting to watch what effect
this meeting will have upon religious
methods in Chicago"
''Two distinct tendencies are finding
expression in our current literature, espe-
cally in our recent felton," says the
Waterman (Bapt.) of Boston. ION the
one hand it is manifesting a super-sensi-
tive aversion TO pain and suffering;
on the other it is sensual pleasure.
The two tendencies are closely connected.
If physical suffering is the great evil, and
if nothing is more to be dreaded than pow
erty and sickness and hardship, then
physical pleasure is the great good. An
undue emphasis upon the evil of pain to
the body inevitably leads to an apprecia-
ton of sensual delight, which makes the
satisfaction OF the appetites of more worth
than moral considerations. We forget
that there may be as much sensuality in
the unmanly and immoral avoidance OF
suffering as in the indulgence of illicit
pleasure. The fiction which assumes
that physical discomfort is the chief mis-
fortune is only removed by a hand breadth
from the erotic literature which is calling
forth the just condemnation of our sanest
criticsD