The record-union., 1897-09-12
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS
The Religious Thought OF the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.

The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.
"One of the most puzzling of the So
called Sayings of Jesus unearthed re-
Gently at OXyrrhynchus," says the New
York "Churchman" (P. Ed, lis that
which runs, Lift the stone and there
you will find me; cleave the wood and
l am there A critic of the highest
rank and discernment explains this as
referring to Jesus Christ as the Logos,
and to the Therapeutic, to whom, with
some reason, the preservation or com
pilation Gf these words are not too
definite) of the Logia may be attributed
and who are known to have held the
Stole doctrine that the Logos perVaded
| all nature This saying has the vague
ness and mystery of deep ana some
what elusive truth in whichever way
We regard it. 1t piques curiosity ana
rouses the imagination. The lnterpre-
tation of the critic alluded to may in
deed be too scholastic and literal. A
more elastic and extensive application
may be perceived in it. 1t may even
| be taken as a somewhat faint echo or
reminiscence of that great Psalm, IN
which the poet exclaims. in his VlVld
realization of the omnipresence OF COO,
! Whittier shall I go then from thy
| Spirit? But the use Of the expressions
stone and wood, seems to imply that
the presence of Christ the divine Word,
may even be discerned in those ma
terial objects and works of men s
hands, which are scattered throughout
the world
THE Lambeth Conference could
agree on no definite plan for sol1dih-
cation of the Anglican communion un-
der a common patriarch or head other
wise designated; but it must not be
supposed" says the New York "1nde-
pendent" that no steps were taken
in that direction AS the first step there
will be a central consultative body
to be constituted by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, which will probably be
chosen from the American and Co
lonial as well as the English Episco-
pate, and the authority of whose ad-
vice will gradually grow Next, there
is a pronouncement in favor of the or
communion into provinces. each with
its Archbishop, every Bishop taking
the oath of canonicaI obedience to his
own metropolitan With such advice
coming from the Lambeth Conference,
approved by the American Bishops, we
fairly presume that the next General
Convention of the Protestant Episco-
pal Church will adopt the suggestion
~, ft,+A iToGe
The Roman Catholic Church in this
country, with perhaps S,O0O,t44 COM
municants, has some eighty dioceses,
one to a hundred thousand members.
OF these fourteen are archdiocese. The
| Episcopal Church has tifty-tive dio-
ceses, with $4,000 communicates, one
to about II, 900 members; and it will
hardly do with less than eight or ten
Archibishops The development in ma
tional, consonant with the genius of
a highly developed ecclesiastical or
ganization, is required by it's sense of
dignity, and we cannot but anticipate
with approval its accomplishment"
1--WE ought to be able" says the In
terror" (Pres.) of Chicago, ito discrim-
mate between tyranny and necessary
| and benevolent authority in the church.
ManifeStly there are both. BY no pos
! sibility can the system which leVieS
tribute upon a man before he is begOt-
ten, upon his birth, upon his infancy,
manhood and old age, and levies trib-
ute upon his dead body-and upon his
soul as long after he is dead as any
of the living are found who are willing
to pay it for hin-be other than eccle-
siastical tyranny in it's most ingenious
and extreme possibility 1t is justified,
as all tyranny is justified under the
plea that it is for the benefit of the
victim But where is the line in the
! evangelical churches? That is, those
who carry the evangel of Jesus Christ
to men for their salvation. Where is
the limit of the just exercise of control,
against individual will, in those &c
clesiastical bodies? It would appear
to be very plain. Those who are dep
utized by the authority of such a
| church must preach the gospel. They
must carry the evangel. They must
communicate those truths obedience to
which is the term of salvation. Dis
cipline for the denial of the validity
of those truths by one who is depu-
tiZed to teach them is Self-evidentiy
necessary and just. 1t comes within
the purvieW of the first of all organic
laws, that of self-preservatiOn and con-
| tinued existence Thus far the right
of the ecclesiastical authority to con-
troll the individual against his will is
unquestionable. But can an evangel-
ical church go beyond this, and right
eously attempt to exercise control of
an individual against his will in doc
trinal matters which are no necessary
and essential part of the evangel? If
so. they must show from whence they
derive that authority over the liberties
of Individuals
1--WE have no hesitation,'' observes
the Living Church" P. Ed of Chi
cago, "in denying that there is any
such thing as a priesthood of the laity
as distinguished from the official
priesthood The words priest and
layman' are antithetical. The very
significance of the word layman in it's
ecclesiastical use is one who is not a
priest To speak of lay priesthood
is a contradiction in terms. 1t is equiv
alent to speaking of the priesthood of
him who is not a priest. Nothing is
clearer than the fact that when we
speak of the priesthood and the laity
we are indicating a contrast between
those who have an office and those
who have it not The word layman or
laity belongs only to a sphere of
thought in which this contrast ex-
lists, in which there is an official priest
hood which belongs to some one not