The record-union., 1897-05-30

that kind of hopefulness which grows
out of faith in the divine word. The
present disposition of an increasing
portion of the public mind is to turn
from dark unbelief to positive things
The great aggressive movements of the
Protestant churches. the mighty forces
which are pushing into the citadels Of
pagan denominations, and the vast out
pouring of treasure for educational, hui
name, and religious purposes, give am
pie proof that skepticism is more an
amusement to its champions than an
injury to its enemies. Let us not, then
be disturbed by the missiles from the
hostile line They are only blank
cartridges"
The following is from the New York
Independent" In his anxiety TO
bring all religion under law. DIR. Alb
bott belittles miracles. He says Qn
the American Journal of Theology:
We are coming TO see that there is
no distinction between the supernatural
and the natural: that the natural is all
supernatural, and that the supernat-
III al Is All fHOSl NH
acles are therefore no longer regarded
by intelligent scholars as violations of
the laws of nature. In
word, the immauence of God is coming
to be recognized as the fundamental
fact in the new theology-God in every
thing: all power belonging unto Him;
all phenomena, save only those of hu-
man sinfulness, manifestations of him
Nov we venture to say that all this
is moonshine. Men have not made a
huge mistake in generally supposing
that there is distinction between the
natural and the supernatural. Many,
if not most, intelligent scholars do re-
gard miracles as violations of the laws
of nature. The notion of the imma-
nence of God in everything. in any such
sense that he by constant and multi
tudiously repeated acts of will performs
each of the infinite processes of nature.
and that all phenomena are manifesto
tionS of him, is not held by most sane
thinkers. Most intelligent scholars
would think it almost unthinkabie that
all human actions are phenomena of
Gods will except human sinfulness;
that is, that man does the SHINING and
God does the repen,ing. These trans
cendentalisms are not accepted, we de
clare, nor do we believe they are COM
ing to be accepted, by sound, logical
thinkers. They are the language of poe
try, not of theology"
1T is, in our view, one of the silly
things of the Lords silly people to be
afraid of church endowments," says the
New York Evangelist" Pres). The
wealth of churches in this city is fiuc-
tuating, fleeting. and is being frittered
away. Half of what has been expend-
ed on buildings and services in the last
thirty years by Independent and often
sporadic congregations, if put into safe
endowments, would have been work
ing with increasing power and enhanc-
ing income a century from now But
to-day where is it? What have we
to show for it? How shall we answer
to God and history for the treasure that
has slipped through our hands? And
IT seems strange to watch the vicissi-
tudes OF societies, the precarious condi-
ton OF parishes, the frequent depend
ence OF churches on the personal popu-
larlty OF man whose breath is in his
nostrils, ard whose value, like a stage
singer, is in his voice. and yet hear
men insist that money or estate put
into trust for a church is sunk like "a
milestone with thong round the body
to which it is given. Alas. for the
rarity of hard business sense in our
church charity! Dear brethren, en-
dowments of churches at certain piv-
otal points is the single condition of
permanency and ultimate power over
the city. by the neglect of which all
our experiments at church extension
will end in memories and vanished
shrines With few and strange success
Ors'