The record-union., 1898-05-29
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.

Ahe Rel1S1CuS AuouSnC OF the Lay
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.
TT would be no .exaggeration," says
the New York "Churchman" (P Ed
ito describe the history of the church.
since the first three decades of this
century, as a renascence of Christian
ity. We are inclined to attribute this
new life of religion to one especial
cause. That cause may be found in
the fact that there has been an at
tempt made in many quarters to dis
cover wide principles of truth by which
apparently discordant phenomena may
become reconciled. The spirit of lib
eralism, which at one time threatened
a deluge of latitudinarianism, has unit
ed itself with the spirit of historic con-
servatism. The essence of Christian
ity as something which unites instead
of Discovering has revealed itself in
many new developments. Men have
discovered that there is more safety
in tolerance than in narrow exclusive
ness. There has been a deep desire
after harmony in the field of science
and revelation. Within the church it
self the extreme wings of theological
belief and inquiry have beeA N"onght
together in the production of such pro-
found Illuminating and spiritual works
as Lux Mundi' The gospel has been
shown at last to have a potent influ-
ence in the practical affairs of life,
and those who profess the dreary doc
trines of political economy have been
compelled to see that in the problems
of trade and labor. Christ must be rec
ognized as the teacher of a higher So
cialism Thus we may be permitted
to call the nineteenth century an age
of reconciliations."
Speaking on the subject of the revis
ion of the constitutions and the canons,
the Church Standard" (P. Ed of
Philadelphia says: 1T is very clear
that the report on the canons, though
it comes from a joint commission of
both houses, does not and cannot have
the same weight as the harmonious
and all but unanimous report of the
committee of the House Of Deputies
on amendments to the constitution. For
all that, the members of the commits
sion have a right to expect that their
report shall receive the most respectful
consideration of both houses of the
convention. What they are not en-
titled to expect, and we trust will not
expect, is that the report as a whole
shall be dumped down upon the COM
mittee of the whole house in the House
of Deputies to the virtual exclusion Of
all other business, as the report of the
constitution was three years ago. 1t
is never safe to put any such constraint
on a parliamentary body. Tactics of
that kind defeat themselves by rous-
ing a feeling of resentment which is
sure, in the end to be disastrous to the
project. If a motion to refer the en-
tire report of the commission to a
committee of the whole house shall
again be made, it is to be hoped that
the house will either divide the ques-
tion SO as to allow the reference of only
so much at time as it can reasona bly,
expect to consider, or else to accept the
substitute of reference to the standing
committee on canons. which is. per-
| haps, the preferable mode Of proce-
dure."
IF we wish to know the fundamental
marks Of the church, we must have Ie-
course, not to the constitution, but to
the prayer book" says the Living
Church" (P. E.) Of Chicago 1T IS
there that we find the explanation Of
the provisions of the constitution. 1t
is in the prayer book that we have all
those traditions and principles which
make the church what it is, and by
which it is organically connected with
the Catholic Church of the past and of
the present. From these considerations
it ought to be clear that the prayer book
is our most precious possession, as en-
bodying in faith, worship, ministry and
sacramental rights, our Catholic feri-
tage. 1t is an anomaly that the less
important and derivative document
should be more carefully guarded
against alteration than the book upon
which it everywhere leans as more fun
damental than itself. We are confident
that in the coming General Conven-
ton, as in those of 1889 and 1892, these
considerations will be recognized and
that the proposed amendment by which
this long-standing anomaly is redressed
will pass without opposition"
Amy proposition tending toward 20
litical or social censorship in an official
way in this free and unlimited repub-
lie Of ours would at once rouse the Wild
est outcry," says the New York "Ob-
server (Pres), "but in religious matters
we have a much clearer duty. 1t is not
that we have any more right to die
tation in the matter of what people
shall believe, or, indeed, as to whether
they shall believe at all. But speaking
to a religious constituency, and with
earnest convictions as to what truth is
and where error lies, the religious press
would be false to it's duty if 1t did not
sound the alarm on the watch towers in
an age when so much passes under the
name of Christian teaching, even, it
may be- in Sunday-schools, those nur-
series of religious thought, which can
not be supported by Gods Word, and is
in some instances plainly renugnant
thereto It is for this that we would
uphold the idea of a censorship of reli-
gious literature-not an official or de-
nominational bureau SO much as tenn
per and attitude of constant vigilance
and circumspection. What do Chris
tan people read nowadays-and espe-
cially what do the children read that
processes to be evangelical and prova-
BILE by Holy Writ"
.eThere can be no doubt that Paul was
entertaining as a preacher" says the
New York Examiner (Bapt.). THE
whole history of his ministry proves
the masteruflness of his grapple
with the minds of his audiences.
Put II is absolutely beyond ques-