The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-01-23

frequent and surprising changes OF
pastorates have their explanation here.
And we can think of few things more
cold -blooded than for the prudential
committee" to sit back in their chairs and
say, LET him go somewhere else. We
wish him we'll but we can't pay so large
salary" when they have not. as a
matter of fact. exerted themselves a
grain to see whether they can pay 30
much or not. The. climax is capped
when one of them says to his son who is
thinking of the ministry, mo, my boy,
that business is too risky"
In reading DIR. Lyman Abbott's
Theology of an Evolutionist," it has
again and again occurred to us that
every theologian is an evolutionist. He
may not take the name, he may even
refuse it, But he believes in and teaches
evolution necessarily. Read st. Paul,
read Augustine, read Erigena, read Cal
vim, read Edwards. You do not find
the carpenter theory" 80 much ridi-
'culed. The word evolution is not used
but the idea is there. When we read.
"God who made the world and all things
therein" it is gratuitious on our part to
suppose the meaning to be. that he
made the sole and rocks and trees and
animals as carpenter makes houses.
No such notion was ever entertained
by any respectable thinker. All that
is conveyed is. that the forces and
processes, and so the products. are his.
This also is what the evolutionist, who is
not an atheist. teaches. In the effort to
produce something brand new some of
our very modern theologians invent out
their own heads the ideas and systems
which they propose to retire.
1t is agreed on all hands that God
has his own way of working and making.
The conceptions Of it in the old theolo-
giaps were often crude and inadequate,
and their accounts of it faulty enough.
But so were those of Plato and Pliny.
The accumulation of knowledge has
made al former notions of natural pro-
cesses more or less obsolete. Nor are
we at the summit now. The moment
any man, however acute or practiced in
his specially, undertakes to tell, except
in very general terms. how anything
came to be-atom, element, life, species,
-he forgets facts at once and goes on hy-
potheses. The most that can be claimed
for the modern, in these arcana of ma
ture, is that his hypothesis are better
supported than were the hypotheses of
the ancients. But the numerous and
obstinate difficulties with which many,
if not most, of the theories are beset-
so far as they touch fundamental ques-
tions-assure us that they must submit
to important modification.
BREvITIEs.
The sermons printed in the Every
Day Church are the same that are
preached in the Everyday Church.
They are samples of clear thought put
into simple and sinewy speech.
The young parish in Dolgeville, N.
Y, issues an annual exhibit of it's work
and affairs which is a model in sub
stance. arrangement and style.
The new church edifice in Canton,
N. Y, approaches completion. 1t is speak
ing the words of truth and soberness to
say that it promises to be one of the
most substantial. churchly and comely
houses of worship in the State.
1t is not altogether stimulating to
the religious interest to observe how
many people there are frequently able
to pay for their religious privileges and
perfectly willing that somebody else
should do it.
The newly elected governor of the
great State of New York, Frank S.
Black. is college graduate. We should
expect, therefore, that he would be an
intelligent and earnest advocate of the
civil service reform; but he is not. We
should expect that he would know how
to write English; but he does not.
The way the professional wind
blows is strikingly indicated in the fact
that 1T students entered Tufts College
last fall to prepare for the profession of
medicine and 10 entered to prepare for
the ministry. What has become of the
great and omnipotent law of demand
and supply?
CANTON THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL.