The record-union., 1896-02-15

choose open secession rather than ap-
pear to acquiesce in what they disbe-
heve, while those who know the exceed
ing slowness with which any great re-
form makes way will remain in the
fold, trusting that in time their quiet
influence may leaven the whole lump"
THAT the church has often been ST.
lent when it ought to have spoken, that
persons have been reckoned among her
members whose lives bore no resem-
blance to the character and life of its
founder. that methods to secure popu-
larity have been made use of which be-
long more properly to the theater than
to religious organization, must be
sadly admitted" remarks the Boston
ongregationalist." "It ought TO be
borne in mind that it is not the size of
the audiences which gather to hear
what the pulpit may say which attests
its usefulness, but the clear, honest, en-
phatic presentation Of the principles
which Christ taught, principles which,
having been manifested in His person
and life, are to be realized in the per-
sons and lives of all who bear his name.
When the church awakes to a sense of
its real position in a community as the
conscience of that community, when it's
members seek earnestly and faithfully
to be right on all questions which oc-
cupy thought, or about which opinions
are more or less confused, there will be
less justification than some think now
exists for the employment of other
agencies than that which Christ has
chosen through which to reach and
bless men. But the public conscience
must be kept pure and be enlightened
or it will become worthless. The church
must not forget that spiritual power,
even if unseen, is far greater than that
which is visible and material, and that
failure to employ the methods by which
alone this spiritual power is obtained
is, and forever must be, without ex-
euse."
"a lamentable tendency" says the
STANDARD" (Bapt.) of Chicago, sis seen
in the tone Of small criticism and un-
thinking ridicule that some men and
journals think is necessary to adopt in
dealing with those who differ with
them. We do not expect all men to
agree, but it is discouraging to find that
men who seem in many particulars to be
eminently God-fearing, apparently rec
ognize no other principle in theological
debate than that which is said to rule
in love and war. And this becomes
doubly unfortunate when the offender
is religious newspaper. 1t is too often
the case that ridicule takes the place of
argument, and insinuations as to an
opponents moral character the place of
investigation. It is true we have out
grown persecution of a certain sort
Theological debates used to lead to
murder. Nowadays we do better than
that; they lead to nothing. But their
way is strewn with so many sarcasms
and personalities as to suggest the
doubt as to whether they greatly ad-
vance the cause of spiritual progress.
Denunciation Of opponents on merely
dcctrinal grounds is hardly to be found
in Christ and Paul. 1t is not quite
justifable because of ones less inspira-
ton. May not man be in earnest and
at the same time fair in argument" ?"
1T has become the fashion," says the
christian Register CUnit) of Boston,
''to talk about arbitration. 1t is a
fashion which we like to encourage. We
hope it will not be supplanted by any
discoura ging folly. And now our Bap-
tist contemporary, the 'Watchman,'
suggests arbitration in church quarrels.
A better plan for churches is to avoid
quarFels altogether. Baptist churches
are not the only ones which OCCASION
ally get into hot water; and no quarrels
are more fierce and no feuds more per-
sistent and irreconcilable than those in
which the members of a church become
arrayed against each other. Some
times the law has to settle disputes
which, humiIiating as it may seem, the
gospel has no power to adjust. Not
that the gospel was incapable of set
tling them, but because it is the last
thing that the quarreling members wish
to apply to the case. To invoke
friendly council of churches and settle
the matter by arbitration and hush the
noise of discords is a. good example to
set If the gospel of peace is not illus
trated in the church itself, how can we
expect it to make progress in the
world?"