The record-union., 1898-04-17
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.

The Religious Thought Of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.
lone does not have to be very old,
says the Living Church" P. Ed of Chi
caSo, Ito recall the time when com
| plants against the Prayer-book were
very familiar, and when tracts and other
works written in defense of the church
were largely occupied in refuting them
| But now all this is changed. First, 1t
! appeared that the younger generation,
! ignoring the objections of their pro-
| Senitors, were being attracted IN ever
| increasing numbers to the old Church
| of English-speaking people, and that
| the center of this attraction, in the ma
jority of cases, was nothing else than
| the decorum and beauty of the pubhc
services. Next, it appears that the
! gift of prayer which used to be so
strongly urged as having rightfully the
| leading place in public worship, must,
| to a great extent, have died out. People
of cultivated taste and reYerent feeling
| have grown more and more restless
under the infliction of crude and some
times positively offensive utterances
from the lips of those who are set to
lead their public devotions. From this
has followed increated attention, in
the divinity schools of the leading de-
nominations, to the subject of the
method and composition of prayers for
public services, and a steady and in
creased sale of prayer books to the
! nf
younger ministers. The idea that pub
lie prayers must be spontaneous, I'M
premeditated. proceeding directly from
the inspired emotions of the heart. in
accordance with the injunction. Take no
thought how or what We shall speak,
for it shall be given you in that same
hour what ye shall speak, seems to
have been quite given up. 1t was long
ago given up as applied to sermons"
"a few years ago." says the New York
| Christian Intelligencer' Ref), the
ldemand was for liturgical service on
the Lords day in order that the con-
gregations might have large partici-
patton in the worship of the sanctuary.
With the exception Of the responsive
reading of the Psalms, the result is a
musical programme in which the con-
sregations have no part whatsoever. In
| fact, in very many of the churches, the
congregations have very little part even
in the singing of the hymns, the music
| Astounding to such an extent in fats
| and sharpS and half harmOnieS that
only accomplished singers are equal to
| it. AS a legitimate consequence not
few who wish to be worshipers are be-
ginning to ask whether it is not best to
return to the old form of worship and
start anew. 1t is also becoming ques-
| ton among earnest Christians whether
musical programmes tend to the con-
version of souls and the upbulding of
believers in the faith. There is proper
and wise use of so-called emotional
agencies, and it is easily possible to
make too large a use of them
For our own part" says the Church
Standard" P. Ed of Philadelphia, I'VE
profess to share the indifference of the
Jesuits for matters of mere ceremonial;
and for much the same reason. The
| Jesuits regard ceremonial as a matter of
| indifference in comparison with the one
| object to which their society is devoted,
| that is, to secure submission to the
Roman See. We, on the other hand, re-
gard it as of equal unimportance in
comparison with the maintenance of the
! Christian faith. In justification of our
own view, we have a better authority
than that of the followers of Loyola
In the preface of the Book of Common
Prayer, the Church of England laid it
down as a rule which the American
church has adopted in the preface to
our own book, that the particular forms
of divine worship, and the rites and
ceremonies appointed to be used therein,
being things in their own nature in
different and alterable, and so ack-
nowledged, it is but reasonable that
upon weighty and important consider
ations, according to the various eXigen-
cies of times and occasions, such
changes and alterations should be made
therein as to those who are in place of
authority should, from time to time,
seem either necessary or eXpedient.
What we stand upon, however, is that
such changes and alterations, when
they appear to be eXpedient, should be
made by those who are in place of
authority"
'It appears to u.s. says the "Stan-
dard" CBapt) of Boston, that, deSira-
bic as is some sort of unity of Christen-
dom, reformers are on the wrong tack
when they propose compromise of creed
or ritual or ordinance. To speak as
BaptiStS we find it impossible to see
how we could advance the coming of
the kingdom of God by surrendering
our fundamental principle of regener-
ate church membership, on which so
much depends In all fairness it should
be said that the devout adherent of a
state church finds it equally difficult to
see how he could help the cause of uni
ty by giving UP what seems to him
grandly catholic conception of the
church as coextensive with the nation.
Not within centuries, at any rate, Will
two types of thought so essentially OPP
posed be really reconciled. In other
words, what we term organic church
unity, based on a complete statement
of doctrine is out of the question. Not
even in public worship can outward
uniformity be secured; for Protestants
genuine Protestants-will never con-
sent to regard the minister as q priest
delegated by God to offer sacrifice for
the people. What, then. is the prac-
teal outcome of the inquiry? 1t is
that Observation-Disclosures is wrong wher-
ever it interferes with the salvation of
men and the spread of the kingdom of
God; as it undoubtedly often does. 1t
is not wrong in so far as it allows and
encourages the more intimate co-opera-