The record-union., 1896-09-27
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
Inc Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian

Discussing the ever r-present subject of
Iehglous instruction in schools, the In
dependent" (Cong) says: I'm the ma
ture OF things the Bible teaching of
nome and Sabbath-school must be al
most exclusively devotional; but there
As another phase to this teaching, one
winch penetrated the whole social fab
TIC IN the days when all colleges We're
renglous foundations and all teachers
were formed in the college mold. This
may be called the historical and doc
trinal side. How to impart to children
the conception of the world as a mani
Iestation of divine purpose and the
conception of the Bible ideal of the
olvlne is the real problem that leads
TO perpetual suggestions for giving
clerical teachers a part insthe schools
or for bringing the schools into affllia-
ton with the church. To the PROPOSE
ton that the church can do this in her
own province the query is Immediately
raised, but what of the unchurched
masses? Perhaps the true solution is
yet to be found in Christ-a life instead
Of a creed. There are not wanting
signs that this country is to lead in
applying this solution. What else is
implied in the conciliatory attitude of
eminent Catholic prelates, like Arch
bishop Ireland and Bishop Keane, to-
ward the public schools, and in the con-
fiGence with which earnest Protestants
accept their attitude?"
The Evangelist Pres) calls for
peace from the controversies within the
ic ba
nifty of the church. it says, ito get
out her guns of discipline on every
occasion of personal difference, and her
power is being cheapened thereby. 1t
is drying UP the sources of her charity,
because SO sensitive is the heart of our
piety that a false touch becomes worse
than false teching, and if love is
wounded, the wreckage becomes uni
versal. Our finances, it is to be feared,
reflect not only the hard times, but
somewhat the hard feelings which
these controversies have evoked and
keep alive And the spiritual life of
the church is suffering, no matter who
talks to the contrary
THE materialistic psychologists and
moralists of the day, especially such
writers as Lombroso. Nordau and Metz
sche, have no hesitation in dividing
mankind into two classes, the fit and the
unfit, the capable and the incapable the
good and the bad" says the Church
man" P. Ed. "Calvinism never uttered
more irrevocable sentence of predesti-
nation than this school of sO-called
science has uttered. While science.
falsely so called, refuses to condemn,
and processes its inability to reform
those whom it classifies as degenerates.
Christianity regards them in a very diff
ferent manner. This science declares
them to be lost; they have fallen below
the level of the moral man; they stand
outside the pale of those who can be
controlled by the rules Of conventional
morality. These lost are therefore in
capable Of goodness. Now Christ tells
men that it was precisely for the pur-
pose of saving these lost that he came
on earth. Christian teachers and phil
anthropists in general will certainly be
led to despair if. instead of listening to
Christ, they listen to the materialistic
psychologist with his hopeless doctrine
of degeneration. The Christian religion
meets this doctrine with that of re-
generation"
1--WE must be even more loyal to Christ
than we are to America, if we ever ex-
pect Christ's kingdom to be greater and
stronger than the United States.' writes
James Buckham in the Observer
Gres) and the same is true of Eng
land, Germany, France-of every Christ
ian nation. The little geographical
slice must not outweigh the globe. The
President or the Emperor must not
seem to us more worthy of our highest
enthusiasm and our most devoted fdel-
ity than our Lord and Savior. If we
could go six miles in the rain to vote for
a President. we ought to go seven To
lend the weight of our moral suffrage
to the cause of Christ, whether to wor-
ship Him in His house or to serve Him in
the hand-to-hand conflict with human
vice and wretchedness. 1t is. perhaps.
as much a question Of comparative pat
riotism as of patriotism versus Christ
ian fidelity; and in this time of great
political anxiety and absorption we may
well ask ourselves, as Christians.
whether we ever got, or expect to get.
TO such pitch of enthusiasm for Christ
as we are alive with all the time for our
adopted political party and our favorite
Presidential candidate"
There are not wanting many evil
dences of a. decadence of the Decalogue. -
remarks the observer Pres.). What
ever limitations and failures may have
characterized the religious teaching of
half a hundred years ago. it certainly
cannot be asserted that the old theol-
ocy' failed in faithfulness to the cardi-
nal doctrines of morality. Youth was
grounded in the fear of God. and in
grained with the words and temper of
the moral law. But that contempor-
aneosuly with the coming Of more gen
iar and congenial styles of teaching Gn
and out Of the pulpiD, there has lapsed
in many quarters the habit of insistence
upon the fundamental moralities of life
rs these are tersely expressed in the
ten commandments, cannot, we fear, be
successfully disproved."
Religion is a sufficient reason for it
self. says the Christian Leader"
Oniv) of Boston. Yet, 1t asks, are
not many churches justifying the sup
port of religion by saying, See how we
are encouraging our young people to
study literature and civil government
ard parliamentary rules and social
standards See how we are becoming
o center for social life and enjoyment.
See how we gather in the crowds to
our Illustrated lectures and our anna
teur dramas We dc not intrude re-
1igion upon them; We 90 not try TO in
fuence their spiritual life We are an
ideal church because we are doing.
not the conventional work of church,