The record-union., 1896-06-28
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian
Press.

AT the recent Presbyterian General
Assembly at Saratoga, the Committee
on Church Unity was first relieved from
further correspondence with other Pres
byterian bodies, and then discharged
from further conference with the Com
mission of the Episcopal Church. This
latter action" says the Living Church"
P. Ed of Chicago, was accompanied
with hope that correspondence might
be renewed when the Episcopal church
was prepared to begin by taking the
ground of reciprocity and mutual recog-
milton. The ultimatum of the principal
Presbyterian Church then comes to this,
that the church must first acknowledge
that there is nothing in Episcopal orders
which distinguishes them in point of
validity from other Christian ministries.
What is demanded is free exchange of
pulpits.' At the bottom this means that
the church shall cease to be Episcopal
in any other sense than that in which
the Methodists are Episcopal In fact,
it involves even more than that. But
setting aside tie decentralization re-
quired of the church, let US ask, what is
the probability that even such sacrifice
would constitute a step toward any KIND
OF organic union? All the so-cailed
evangelical churches have pursued this
plan of reciprocity and mutual recogn1-
tion for many years, yet we fa1i to see
that it has advanced the cause of real
unity one iota. The only result plainly
perceptible has been to add force to the
popular depreciation of creeds. There
are twelve kinds of Presbyterians."
=
1.-The extent of the inroad of ritual
ism into the Protestant Episcopal
Church is indicated" says the New
York Independent" 'by the complaint
made to Bishop Starkey of the diocese
of Newark, n. j., against a certain
rector who assumes the title OF 'Fath-
err He is accused of teaching transub-
sanitation, Of hearing confessions, or
frequently signing himself with the
cross. of commencing holy water and
incense. of blessing and kissing palms
to be placed where prayer is made at
home, of commencing ashes for Ash
Wednesday, of praying for the repose
of souls, of using beads and crucifix, of
maintaining that inasmuch as the
church was founded before the Bible
to obey the priests than the Bible, and
of declaring other churches goddess, and
that it is a sin to attend them. Certain
ly the last of these charges implies the
sin of uncharitableness, although most
of the others are concerned with the
mere forms of religion. Bishpo Starkey's
decision not to interfere is based upon
reason which will commend itself to
those who believe that popularity is the
test of truth. He says: Inasmuch as
the congregation at large which wor-
ships in this church is satisfied with
the rninistrationS of the rector, as clear
ly shown by the almost undiminished
number attending the services, more
especially that of the holy communion,
and moreover, as the case is not one
which can be brought under the test
of canonical procedure, 1 cannot allow
myself to interfere where interference
would be unjustifiable' We suspect
that If Father Jenner had been guilty
of preaching in a Presbyterian or Meth
odist pulpit, the Bishop would have
been able to find justification for
'canonical procedure
I'm reviewing the reports of the re-
ent General Assembly, and recalling
those Of the last few years. we share,
says the New York Outlook, 1.-THE gen.
eral satisfaction which is felt that the
time and energy which have been spent
in contentious that all regret are hence
forth to be laid out for more rewarding
results Among the better things that
have long been waiting for attention
are the social problems of what we
have learned to call applied Christian
ity' These, with the exception of the
temperance question and the Sabbath
question, we think, have never been
recognized, except perhaps allusively
in the General Assembly of the Presby
terian Church. Other denominations
notably the Congregationalists and the
Episcopalians, each of them much
smaller bodies, have set good example
in this respect. No faithful church Of
Christ can permit it to be said that it
is less concerned with questions of So
cial morality than with those of the
ology and ritual. In the Civil War
patriotism and religion had a common
altar in the house of God. None the less
so should it be now, when no longer
an external foe, but an enemy within
the gates must be meS. What more
urgent duty now than to resist the
spread of the venal spirit of self-seek>
ing greed, both among the people and
the elected servants Of the people, by
ting earnestly and constantly
the principles of Christian citizenship
that the ballot and the public office
are each sacred trust for the COM
mon welfare?"
There are two ways of looking upon
says the New York observer" (Pres.
first as a system of belief which has
been deliberately espoused by some of
the ablest minds, such as st. Paul, ST
Augustine, and many old fathers who
were men of high intellectual grade and
not likely TO wander offsinto mysticism.
The other is the taking up of Christian
ity as a personal cause, one in which
loyalty rather than intellectual indorse-
rnent is the prime consideration The
trouble has been with evidential theol-
ogy that too much time has been taken
up with the historical evidences or
probabilities in favor of the Christian
religion, and not enough in the vindica-
tion of faith by results In the adver-
tisement of bodily cure. men do not
care to know the materials of which 1t
is composed so much as to be assured of
ITS efficiency and reliability We have