The record-union., 1897-11-21
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.

EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
| tartan Press.
''One of the speakers at a recent re-
! ligious meeting Or conference in Eng
land says the New York Church
man (P Ed gave it as his opinion that
churchmen were becoming little tired
of the general essay, full of literary and
scientific references, and enllvened With
/ bright anecdotes, which had lately been
sc often made to pass muster as ser
mon, and We're hungering for plain splr-
itual and scriptuTal utterances from the
pulpit In other words, a clever sermon
was not what the people wanted so
much as a devout sermon. This state
ment of course opens a very wide ques-
! ton, and suggests many trains of
thought. The province of the pulpit is
| manifold, and its utterances must be
| fitted to their occasion. 1t is, however,
undeniable that the gospel of Christ
was never promoted by mere cleverness
/ and learning. Culture and devoutness
may run on different planes. Culture
may be merely pagan and anti Chris
tan. What is meant by devoutness
/ is something which implies humble
recognition of the work and character
of Christ. To view that work and char
acter from merely intellectual stand
point does not necessarily require
| faith
| There is no use i'll trying to over
look the fact that the past four or
five years have been dry time among
| the New England churches of all de-
| nominations, says the "Watchman"
| (Bapt) of Boston. The things TO
| which we have referred have their
ground in this fact: Numbers may have
| been maintained, but statistics are
| frightfully misleading. There has been
no general awakening of the public
consciousness to the things of the spir-
| it. The current standards of morality
perhaps have not been lowered but the
spiritual impulse has been too largely
wanting This journal is not wont to
take depressing views of any situation.
but We believe in looking in things as
they are, and we do not see how any one
who surveys all the facts can doubt
that we have come to a time when our
| communities are thirSting for revival
| blessings. We are now at season
that is most favorabl to religious work
We appeal to the members of our
churches to rally about their own work
to pastors who have written out their
designations to put them in the fire, and
to churches and ministers everywhere
to wait upon God for the spiritual bless
ing that is so greatly needed. "
"The truth is" says the Christian
Register (Unit) of Boston, that the
church has never existed which men
supported purely for the sake of re-
lligion or the worship of God. Imagine
if you please, that the channels of
sight and hearing through which we
get at our fellows were cut off when
we go to church, or make your pews so
high and solitary that we could not
see each other or hear any one but the
voices OF the choir and the preacher
or suppose that we had to see only
strangers who never spoke to us, DO
you think we would attend church for
the worship? Cut out the humanity
and how long would there be any wor-
ship? Let us not be afraid to own
that the church has to meet social
need. There are churches which are
dying because they will not recognize
this. There are those who think, if
you provide good preaching and mu-
sic, and especially If you station ushers
at the door of the church, that such
provision for mems pure, spiritual as
pirations ought to satisfy the world
and make the church thrive. These
highly mystical Christians rather de-
spise the church around theI corner
where the people have 'sociables.' We
observe however that this genial con-
tempt for the .sociableS' is not because
those who sit in the seat of the scorn-
ful are more religious than Others or
because they do not like 'sociables' of
their own kind They are likely to be
people who have a great many clubs.
They also enjoy seeing their own set
at church."
"Scriptural preaching" says the In
terror fPres) of Chicago, lis not to
be known by the bitterness and coarse
ness with which sin is mathematical,
but by the gnity self-ccntrol and reti-
cence with which these dreadful themes
are handled. Scriptural preaching must
at times awaken our profoundest in
dignation and at times touch our
tenderest sympathies, but it never Will
offend the most refined taste or most
cultured sensibilities. Sciptural
preaching is marked by the better
hope rather than by that severity of
the law which made nothing perfect
according to the author of the Epistle
to the Hebrews. There was a feeling
among our older divines that he was
most faithful TO his ministry who most
crucified himself in it; but an unpreju
diced study of the Holy Word ought
to convince any one that what the
inspired writer's sought to do was rath-
er to exalt Christ than to exhibit sim
full man even to himself. The former
is work of delight: the latter, a, bur-
don and co,~yoyxr Iapri1V the f1aSt0r-'S =