The record-union., 1896-03-14
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian Press
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen.

afford to inquire. The faith of childhood
must not lightly be given up at the
prompting of another'S Sneer, or the
momentary intellectual cloud which has
dimmed the convictions which once ex-
listed, or obscured the problem so that
it appears insoluble. Every sensible
person, in a matter so tranScendently
important as his beliefs with regard to
God, immortality, Christ and his Church
will patiently study and investigate be-
fore he concludes to shut himself out
from the company of those who repeat
the Apostles Greed with genuine assent.
Unbelief in many cases springs from
ignorance, and ignorance can only be
dispelled by the acquisition Of knowl
edge. Some cases there are where the
wish is father to the thought of inf
deity, as that of the wit and libertine
of the Georgian era, who pointed to his
dog and said, I would rather be that
creature than myself If man will
not receive the witness of the church
and of the world for Christ, if no argu-
ment from authority can move him,
he should at least have the honesty and
the consideration for his own highest
interests which would make an inquiry
sanctions of Christian theology one of
the most earnest studies of his life"
The question of Lenten services
ought to be thoughtfuIly considered
and not disposed of by a prejudice" re-
marks the Christian Leader" OnivJ
of Boston. Certain it is, the six weeks
cover crucial events in the life of Christ
his outward humiliation, his rejection
by those who had welcomed him, his
crucifxion. No Christian church can
cherish other than deep, even painful
emotions, as the special events of the
periods are called to mind. Further,
at least something of Lent is needful
properly to set the glorious Easter.
How can we picture victory unless
we describe the battle? Can a due OBJ
servance of Easter be disassociated
from Lent? The whiteness of the pict-
ure needs the setting of the dark back
ground. We do not step into, we are
led up to, Easter, and the Lenten days
make the thorny path along which the
journey is taken. However, let no one
carry on or give sanction to Lenten
services because it is the fashion We
must not say: why, this church, that
ices; we must not be outdone!' En-
tered upon in that temper they will be
heartless indeed; will they not also be
sacrilegious? Have no lot or part in
them unless you have full faith in
them. They will have great Importance
or they will be very trivial; there is no
halfway between. AS for the abuses
it cannot be difficult to distinguish be-
tween what the evangelists record and
what monkish superstition and asceti-
cism have added"
There is nothing unreasonable" says
the New York observer (Pres.) 'in
spite of all the epithets of fntolerant,
'bigoted.' and the like, that are being
flung around-in the natural concern
felt by Christian people of ordinary in
telligence and common sense quality in
view of the insidious activity of many
popular teachers of the present day,
who, in pulpit and press, commend more
frequently than they do honestly worth
less counterfeits of the true gospel coin
which they are supposed to be handling
There is such thing, of course, as an
over-suspieiousnesS with respect to the
theological honesty of others, but
every sort of teaching which happens to
be labeled Christian is as far from the
true idea of duty as is a purely perse-
cutting temper of mind. We do not
greatly wonder at such an utterance as
this of the Christian Instructor: We
cannot but feel that the SapperS and
miners are busy at work under the
foundation of our Christian system.
They do rot proclaim their object, and
perhaps many of them are not aware of
what viii be the result of their present
operations They belong
to orthodox churches and are supposed
to be feeding the sheep of Christ with
pure doctrine. And yet by their learned
criticisms upon the Scriptures they are
doing more than open infidels to shake
the foundation of faith and bring the
Lord Jesus into contempt This may
seem severe language; but that there
some warrant for it is patent to multi
tudes of intelligent and reverent souls.
The multiform dog1natism of unbelief
or of disingenuous half-belief deserves
and can demand no courtesies from the
Ioval follower of the Master, who would
not know what this or that noisy school
asseverates about Jesus, but what
really constitutes the nature and re-
o1Iirements of Christ's Christianity"
LET none think" says the Watch
man. (Bapt) of Boston, that God is
Indifferent to form in life or worship.
He does care in what sort of place he is
adored. When men appoint a barn for
his service, while they might rear a
temple fair and solemn, then the blind
ness of ignorance, the inequality of
ayarice and the disease of selfishness ap-
pear in the offering of men content to
arrange Gods house on a meaner scale
than their own. 1t does make a differ
ence that the service of worship in
Gods house is without form and void
rambling, haphazard, disorderly me-
lange. There is every reason for being
sure that God is not well pleased with
an unprecedented, thoughtless prayer
crude in form, careless in expression to
the degree of familiarity. Even our
own best instincts should teach us that
to Him, also, a prayer restrained, direct
devout. uttering its humble desire and
defining its deep longing in words sim
ple noble, harmonious, strong. is pref
erable far 1t is inconceivable that
God should prefer in His worship the
thin and threadbare fabric of ditty
sung at a gallop, to the more substan-
sial and stately harmonies conceived
according to those subtle laws of con-
cord which secure beauty and grandeur
of expression. What David, the sweet
singer of Israel. said, as to another Of
fering, we may well say as to the sacri-
fee of praise in the house of the Lord :;
Neither will I offer unto the Lord my