The record-union., 1896-11-08
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian
Press.

All Christians are bound to work as
well as pray, we are told, for unity; it
Is wrong simply to devote ourselves to
the work which lies before us in the
church, leaving the achievement of
Christian unity to God in His own good
time. Something like the position thus
ndemned has been that which we
have advocated observes the Living
Church P. Ed of Chicago. But it is
mistake to suppose that this is to
abandon the idea of working in behalf
OF unity; on the contrary, we hold that
such course is the surest way to real
and enduring unity. When the tenden-
cles of the Christian world about US are
carefully Observation-Disclosures in
which are involved the diSintegration
of everything that has stood for cohe-
s.on and fXity, the dissolution of all
creeds, of all definite faith-it becomes
a matter of plain common sense that a
church which shows the greatest power
to resist. these tendencies, which con-
tinues to assert the ancient, unchanging
faith with unquestioning conviction and
er thusiasm, will appear to men of sin
cere mind as a rock of safety. Thus
from the church may shine forth a bea-
con light, assuring men that within her
pl ecincts may still be found something
strong and assured, the kingdom that
cannot be moved This is the true ideal
of church unity, to provide a nucleus OF
such magnetic force that it shall draw
from all quarters all earnest souls who
seek Interchangeable truth of God"
christian unity" says the Chris
tian Leader Univ.) of Boston, con
tinues to be a prolific theme. AS if there
could be a greater calamity to the
Christian world than unity, in the
meaning almost uniformly implied. No,
we want diversity with the legitimate
divisions and contentious which it in
wolves, conducted, of course, not by
Doors but gentlemen. The hundred sects
that divide Christendom may in some
instances have their mission of evil;
but in the average result they are the
salvation of the Christian cause. Get
a hundred people together, in conven-
-;.2n assembled every one saying, yes,
yes to what every other person says
no division, no friction of conflicting
judgments, nor shock of honest con-
tention-why, such an estate would
rIake earth worse than pandemonlum
Error abounds, and so does truth-let
them meet and fight it out; yes, even
if 1t takes ALI ones lifetime. Chris
tan unity is a contradiction in terms,
fer Christianity came indeed from
Prince of peace, but who, in exact ac-
cord with his pacific mission, brought a
sword Malaria has its haunts in the
urruffled waters Better the tempest
that keeps the waters sweet than the
calm that breeds pestilence. Do not say
ic cir
the spirit. All this preaching of unity
cannot have reference to a truth which
nobody can dispute or doubt"
ssThe rather obvious fact" says the
christian Register Unit.) of Boston,
lis that the religious activities of our
time are a mixture of heavenliness and
worldliness, sincerity and pretense,
wisdom and folly The arrogant swagger
and political cunning of the Roman
Church go far to counteract its piety
and charity: the obscurantism and cant
Of the so-calIed evangelical sects great
ly weaken the earnest testimony they
bear in the name of Christ; the self
complacent emphasis which the small
liberal party places upon the intellect
ual and critical elements of religion
lowers the temperature of their chap
els, and makes them more like a school
of thought than church of the Spirit.
And God must know-for even man
knows-that the moral power of nearly
all existing churches is sadly impaired
by their low ethical standard, their
machine methods their resort to SEN
sationalism, their zeal for mere num-
bers. their senseless divisions and sub
divisions, their petty rivalries, the
small caliber of the average preacher,
the timid reluctance to accept the new
light, and the persistent use of forms
and phrases once redolent of faith and
life, but now grown dry and rafting, or
smelling of the sepulcher."
On the subject OF retreats" the New
York "Churchman" P. Ed observes:
Everyone may not feel inclined for
what in Scripture is styled q condition
of ecstacy. The word ecstacy means a
standing outside of ones self-being, in
fact, in some way beside ones self 1t
certainly seems to suggest the posi-
bility of the spiritual nature of man
being at times so brought out and de-
veloped by prayer and mediation that
common life and the usual impressions
CT ordinary experience appear as if
they were left behind and the world of
faith and religious hope lived in for
time to the forgetting of everything
else But TO speak more simply and
practically of retreats, 1t may safely be
said that it IS a good thing at times to
retire for deep and silent meditation on
the things that belong to the peace and
safety of the soul. An impression of
religion transcendent in its effect on
the after life may quite possibly be re-
ceived in one such retreat. Even for
those who dislike the term retreat, and
think the silence and solitude unneces-
sarily irksome, some means of deep and
earnest devotion Of a special kind and
at a special season should be adopted a
least once a year. To pray in public and
enjoy free religious intercourse with
others is good. but it is useful at times
for the soul to be alone with God, which
seeth in secret"
commander BoothTucker an
nounces that the Lord wants him to
provide a. room and BATH and cheap
meal thrown in, for the homeless. There
are philanthropic workers among the