The record-union., 1897-06-06
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed i'm the Sec
tartan Press.

tartan Press.
1.-THE real danger to the church at this
time" says The Living Church" P.
Ed of Chicago, lis not from supposed
Romanizing conspiracies, but from the
tendency to regard this church as a
free arena in which anything and
everything may be held and raught-a
verification of the satire Of the COMEDY
Of ConvocatiOn,' wherein the very being
of God was represented as an open
question. Though we may deplore the
impotence and shortsightedness OF
men who cannot understand that such
troubles have beset the church in 9TH
er days, nor realize that they are only
called to be themselves the more stead
fast and to labor the harder for the
vindication of the truth nevertheless,
We cannot be much surprised IL, under
such circumstances, one here and there
falls away, overcome by hearts1ckness
and dependency, and sometimes, ii
may be, one whom we can i'll spare. In
stead of wasting words in condemna-
ton, we may better address ourselves
to the work which presses upon us, or
indicating the church from the as
saultS of enemies within her walls, OF
meeting and opposing, without COM
promise or temporiZing, the progress
of heresy, rationalism, and inf1dellty.
When this has been done, we shall be
in a better position to judge and con-
denim the course of those who forsake
the mother church for a foreigner"
1.-THE trouble with the early theolog-
izing, as we'll as with much modern
theology which family survives it,
says the christian Register" Unit)
of Boston, 'is that it proceeded on a
misconception as to what all thought
is for, what thought can do, and what
it cannot do. Thought is simply the
relating of acts together into their
unity. The ideal philosophy, if we pos
sessed it, would see all facts in their
relation to each other. But the eff
forts of thought move on from the
facts which we already have grasped
and grouped together, to seize and ar
range and unity new matters of knowl-
edge. So far as the new matter fits
into a place with the rest, so as to make
sense, we say we understand it, Now
the old theology, proceeding from arbi-
trary authority, had supposed facts to
deal with which would not match or
relate themselves to other well-knoWn
facts It's cardinal assumption was a
series Of unique facts marvels, and
surprises, foisted upon the world, and
without analogy or likeness wherewith
to classify or comprehend them. The
Trinity, the incarnation, the atonement,
the Bible itself, the stories which the
Bible related, the miracles, and the
prophecies-all belonged in a supernat-
ural realm. They could be asserted,
words could be cast about them; but
they were confessedly out of relation to
the world which man lives in
= =
''Under the illuminating influence of
Harnack's admission, tradition appears
in an attractive light" says the New
York "Churchman' P. Ed. 1T is
seen more clearly than ever to be a
harmonious and Ineligible system,
controlled by that Spirit of God, who
leaves the mark of order on whatsoever
He touches, be it chaos or what not.
Tradition has always been just this,
but man with his love for the marvel
Gus and the unintelligible had more or
less buried the thought out of sight
until constructive criticism arose to re-
veal it. This is the state of the case
as we understand it. Tradition main
tanned a certain position. Criticism
ignoring the conclusions to which ira
dition chung, started to work out the
problem independently, and ultimately
arrived at the same goal. 1t follows
that the processes of tradition were
much more scientific than perhaps was
recognized during its development. But
this discovery in our day does not rob
tradition of it's true character. That
abides unchanged. The knowledge of
processes merely discloses the laws ac
cording to which the workman effects
his work. The relation of the workman
to the work is unaltered. So whether
it be in a study of evolution or of the
orderly growth of tradition, the re-
search is not made at the cost of df-
vorce between God and His handiwork,
either in nature or in revelation. Moth
ing can bring that about. The devout
scientist and the devout critic both see
the same sight-God's method of Gre
alton and providence-and exclaim
Marvellous are Thy works. and that my
soul knoweth right well!'"
Speaking of 1.-The arrogance of the
Protestant Episcopal Church" the New
York Christian Advocate" (Meth)
says: Nothing pleased US better
when in the pastorate than to have
some high churchman, who had been
privately circulating them, state pub
lcly his views. For it was only nee
essary to quote from some of the most
distinguished scholars in the Protestant
Episcopal Church and the Church of
England arguments utterly overthrow
ing their claims, and even holding them
up to contempt. Only a minority of
the converts by that body from other
denominations make the change upon
principle. We could give the names of
nine ministers, some of our own de-
nomination and some of others, who
have stated to us that they had not
changed their views, but had simply
agreed for the sake of order not TO ex-
change with ministers of other denomi-
nations, or to allow them to perform
priestly functions in the Protestant
Episcopal Church. The greatest foe to
the progress of that body in making
converts from other religious commun-
ions would be an aggressive public at
titude in the realm of controversy. For
of all the ecclesiastical dogmas that
have been fastened upon the world in
the name of Christianity, there is none
more readily refuted than the High
Church view of the priesthood. The
Scriptures must be both distorted and
supplemented to find a shadow of sup
port for it; and both reason and au
thentic history are against it,"