The record-union., 1896-04-26
IN RELIGIONS REALM
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian
Press.

Expressed IN the Sectarlan
Press.
1--WE are glad to see that the subject
of the exchange of pulpits has fairly
come UP for discussion among the Epls-
copalianso remarks the New York
Independent" such was found to be
the fact after the Presbyterians broke
off negotiations with the Protestant
Episcopal Church on union on account
of the refusal to recognize the parity
of orders. A number of clergymen have
written to the "Churchman" in favor of
such an exchange of pulpits; but 1t is
evident that they do not represent the
majority of the church, and no more
would a majority Of the Bishops favor
such a proposition. The letters which
we published two years ago from the
Episcopal Bishops were almost a unit
against it, and had great influence with
the Presbyterian General Assembly in
Indicating the position Of the Episcopal
Church The Rev. William J. Wilkie
thus speaks of the proposition to open
the pulpit of the Episcopal Church to
'our UNCONVENTIONAL brethren: I sup
them from speaking in the same way
that laymen speak, but that is a differ
ent thing from recognizing them as
commissioned ministers of Gods Word.
That, in any branch of the Catholic
Church, would be revolutionary If so
it is time for a revolution. Certainly
John Hall is as much "a commissioned
minister of Gods Word as is Mr..
Wilkie''
Evidences multiply" observes the
"Congregationalist" of Boston, "of
what may be called Puritan recovery of
the observances of the Christian year.
Easter has long had a growing recogni-
ton among us, with something, often,
merely of the natural joy in the turn
of the season and the temperance of
leaf and flower; but the remembrance of
Good Friday, the sacrifice that precedes
the restoration, has come more slowly
back into our church life and thought.
1t is .urely WELL however, if we are to
devote any special day of the year to
the remembrance of the resurrection,
that we should as publicly and stately
commemorate the sacrifice of which it
was the crown; and this conviction,
slowly growing up among US, has evil
IDENTIFY begun to bear its fruit. In Bos-
ton this year all the Back Bay churches
united in a Good Friday service with
the Old South Church, and in several
other churches of the city there were
special services running throughout the
week and eliminating in the meetings
of Friday night. In Springfield SINH
lar service was held in the South
Church, and we hear of many like OBJ
servances elsewhere. Even the news
papers of the great cities, which are too
much inclined to seize by preference
upon the secular and frivolous mani
festations of popular observance of
church festivals, this year bring
abundant testimony to the deep religi-
Gus impression of the time"
Divine fatherhood," says the New
York observer Pres), implies moral
likeness, a reduplication of the spiritual
powers and sympathies of the Creator.
1t is not the generation of any kind of
life, since then the Creator would be
father to the brutes. or even the flowers
and the forests, a view to which none
but sentimentalists would hold. 1t is
the origination of the life that is like
God. This being so, a conditional ele-
ment is at once introduced into the idea
of divine fatherhood. If the moral like
ness to the Creator can be lost, divine
fatherhood may be lost. If this likeness
has been marred, it is not necessarily
restorable, although the Bible encour-
ages the belief that it will be restored
where certain clearly specified condi-
Of 10, I'D ros+ II
served. In other words, now that the
tremendous moral dislocation of the fall
has transpired, divine fatherhood is not
IN every case actual, though promise of
its restoration through Christ exists and
is urgent with a most tender solicitude.
Divine fatherhood is potential 1t is a
mere abuse of speech as well as of theol-
Ggy to say that God is the father of un-
Tegenerate and spiritually neglectful
souls. He is their creator, their origin
ator, to be sure, but not on that account
their father, any more than a manufac-
turer is the parent of the products Of his
looms or his lathes. Fatherhood in its
divine definition must carry with it the
notion of moral likeness in some degree.
in order to fulfill its own conception.
This confused andvague talk about God
as the father of all His creatures is
most misleading and dangerous, in view
OF the immense moral distance that now
inteTvenes between the Creator and the
creature"
Christ can really appear to no one"
says the New York f'Outlook," without
imparting the desire and the necessity
OF sharing the vision with others. To
really believe in the resurrection of the
dead is to feel the impulsion of making
others share in that faith. The impulse
to divide an experience does not neces-
sarily involve recounting the experience
Itself in all it's details. Experiences are
sometimes sacred; but the more sacred
the experience the deeper the impulsion
TO share with others that spiritual rich
less which 1t brings with 1t. IT may not
always be necessary to put into any
form of words the declaration of ones
faith in risen Christ; it ought not to
De necessary for the man who holds that
faith TO put it in any form of words II
ought to shine through his life, in his
motives, his spirit, his attitude toward
others, his general dealings with the
things of time and sense. An immortal
spirit does not look at life with the eyes
of one who thinks he is to perish with
the thing upon which he looks. Faith
Ia Immortality ought to make its wav