The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-09-18
EDITORIAL BRIEFS.
BY PRESIDENT I. NJ. ATWOOD. D. D.

The REV. CHARLES M. SHELDON, OF
Topeka, Kan, cannot be far from the
kingdom. We find him an oracle that
utters a certain attractive sound. and
cannot help wondering whether he
knows the purport and import OF what
he says The Christian Optimism and
the faith that God is in his world to save
it, are safety valves which every minister
should carry with him as he carries his
breath, until they become part OF him.
an involuntary. spontaneous part OF the
very fibers of his being, no more to be
separated from his joys and sorrows and
ambitions and gains and losses than the
light is to be separated from its ever
lasting source" II that man knows
what he says we know where he belongs;
if he does not know, he belongs with
the prophetic souls who speak wiser
than they know.
We should like to see a brief
biography of the late Rev. Franklin S.
Bliss, prepared with reference to the
most marked traits of his character. and
circulated as a Universalist tract. He
had in him the sanity strain which
appears in David Brainerd, in Edward
Payeon, in Madame Guyon, in Henry
Sclugal and in others of that fine lin
cage. His absolute daily dependence
on God and walk with Him, his utter
unselfshness. his spiritual mind. his
unshrinking heroism in protracted trial
and his triumph in death, mark him
out as type of man and minister with
whom, for lite own good, the world should
be acquainted. 1t would not be a theo-
logical but biological tract. The best
of the former are incomparably inferior
to the best of the latter.
Rarely have we read anything more
continuously interesting or with more
unalloyed satisfaction, than DIR. Dem
arest's sermon preached in commemora-
tion of his eightieth birthday. 1t is
comprehensive as review and survey;
but it is especially admirable for it's in
tellectual poise and its tranquil. cheer
full spirit Only life we'll spent and
powers faithfully used could provide
the foundation for such a retrospect.
DR.. Demarest has been one of the most
useful as he has been one of the busiest
men of his time. He has lived through
great excitements and been the subject
and center of many irritations, but he
has never failed to let his moderation
be known to all men.
DIR. Theo. Cuyler sounds a note of
warning to the Presbyterian churcheF.
He observes a marked difference in the
composition of congregations from what
was formerly to be seen. Children, as
rule. are not now seen in church. Where
formerly there were hundred of them
in the congregation, not more than
twenty can now be discerned. We judge
that DR.. Cuyler's observation in Presby-
terian churches would not be essentially
different if it took in all the denomina-
tions. The children do not attend
church; even the young people are less
generally present than formerly The
habit is not cultivated. The rule is that
We do not have in after life habits
which were not formed in early life. 1t
is subject easily mastered, but how
profound and far reaching its sequences!
james Bryce. NJ. P, is student of
practical politics 20 less than OF civil !
government and of economics. He is a
man of liberal and capscious mind,