The record-union., 1896-08-09
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sec.arian
Press.

n-Catholic sects accepting the kind
of organic unity to which the Pope in
vites them," says the New York COB
server" Pres.), a unity which means
submission to a power whose claims
they deny, the effect of the encyclical
upon the extreme ritualiStS in the An
glican church need alone to be conSid-
cred. And even more emphatically
and peremptorily than the epistle to the
English people does it assert that at no
point, either Of doctrine or polity, will
concession be made to meet their hopes
for reunion with the Church of Rome.
The question of the validity of Anglican
orders is not directly touched upon, as
inquiry into it is now being made at the
order of the Pope But the whole tenor
of the encyclical is such as to deprive it
of serious Importance. For it is made
so clear that child could not be in
doubt that the sole condition of reunion
is absolute and unquestioning accept
ance of the primacy and supreme au-
thority of the Pope as the vicegerent OF
Christ upon earth, and unqualified obe-
dience to the Papal See as respects
matters of faith and discipline. Sub
mission is to be unconditional and COM
plete. The letter is in the language of
sovereignty, that of a lawful ruler to
whom the authority of the Anglican
church itself, as a church in any true
sense, is only as sounding brass. The
mission of Christ was to save the whole
human race without distinction of time
or place. therefore, it is necessary
that the church should be one in all
lands and at all times st. Peter was
given jurisdiction,' and thus the right
and obligation to interfere to remove
obstacles to the work of the one true
church. AS to Anglican orders, to ST. Pc
ter alone was given authority to feed
and in consequence his successors alone
can confer orders. From this it follows,
says the Pope, that Bishops are deprived
of the power and right of ruling when
they secede from Peter and his success
sors, because by their secession they are
separated from the foundation on which
the whole edifice rests
The most effective way of combating
what is erroneous in novel and popular
theories" says the ''Watchman' Bapt)
of Boston, ''is not by assailing either the
character or motives of the men who
tailed and captious reasonings, but it
is by taking, if possible, that elevated
view which brings into sight many re-
lations which have been overlooked.
Take, for instance, the class of ques
tions raised by the critical study of the
Scriptures. The higher critics have
brought forward problems that are not
solved by an a priori assumption or by
We do not see clearly what will be the
final answer to all the questions that
they raise. But, as rule, these critics
do not occupy an elevated point of view.
They are strong in their literary criti-
cism Of certain aspects of certain ancient
documents, but hardly one of them
takes large view of the Scriptures as
a progressive revelation, so dominated
from first to last by certain great ruling
ideas that the unity of the Bible-com-
posed as it was by many writers, sep
arated in a period of 1,500 years by
language, civilization, and types of
thoughts one of the greatest marvelS
in the universe, if it was not inspired by
a single and Divine intelligence. We
may not be able TO answer all the mi
mute and detailed arguments of the crit
les, perhaps they never Will be an
swered but the larger view of the ma
jestic unity of the Scriptures is suffi-
cient warrant for a recognition of their
supernatural authority against any
conceivable reasonings drawn from ver-
bal usages."
The following is taken from the ''Liv-
ing Church P. Ed of Chicago: THE
independent offsets the declarations
made in it's columns by the majority of
the Bishops of the Episcopal Church,
that exchange of pulpits could never be
conceded, by the case of Cleveland
rector and another who attempted the
same thing. 1t further says: The atti-
tude of these two rectors is worth all
the letters the Episcopal Commission
on Unity has written in all these years.
1t is at first sight somewhat difficult to
understand why one or two cases of de-
fiant disobedience to law and rule un-
der which men have voluntarily placed
themselves. should be regarded as car
rving more weight than the deliberately
EXPRESSED determination of the author
ities of the church. We can only infer
that the independent means to chal-
lenge the Bishops, that 1T would say, in
effect. 1T is all very well for you 10 up
hold the law of your church on paper,
hut here are practical instances where
voIr clergy have no fear Of ecclesiasti-
cal punishment before their eyes,
tbough they make free with that law.
The spirit of the age is too strong for
YOU. and it will soon appear that your
theories of the church and your at
tempts to assert its canons are nothing
better than vast paper Similar cpl
sodes of lawlessness have occurred be-
fore Thirty years ago some of the
clergy of New York undertook con-
certed movement to break down the
barriers by effecting an Interchange OF
nu1nits. The leaders were by no means
obscure or uninhuential men. But the
pishop of the diocese intervened, and
the undertaking came to nought. Per
hans the independent imagines that
the Rjshops have lost in strength OF
courage during the years that have
elapsed since that period. That, now
ever, remains to be seen.
another danger felt by some of the
best friends of the Christian Endeavorl
Society is the tendency to an intense
Standardization, observes the New
York "Churchman" (P. Ed. Perhaps
as human nature is. this is inevitable
When the remarkable growth of the
society is considered, il requires gooc
deal of solid sense, ard good deal ol
srace as well, for BODY OF youne
Ieople to avoid an oVerestimate OF
their position. But it is to be remem-
hered that an unnaturaily raple
--..-..-.n. :. ...or-,r. Iilcnlx to be q NerN