The record-union., 1898-11-27
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought Of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.


1T is in many ways a subject of
thankfulness, says the New York
"Churchman" (P. E). that contro-
versy on questions of religious truth
has lost so much of it's former outrage
GUS narrownesS and uncharitableness
| The controversialist in some ages of
| the church was quite ready and often
anxious to- back up his arguments with
J main force, and to burn the antagon-
| ist he could not convince. Even among
members of the same religious body
| there have been differences of opin-
| ion, and indeed different schools of
| thought still are found in the several
| denominations. We can speak very
| definitely about the church in this
matter, and can confidently assert that
| controversy as a method of propa-
eating truth is decidedly on the wane.
The debates of general convention, like
those of the ordinary diocesan con-
vention show no such closely drawn
| partisan lines, no such distinct sep
aration between high and low church
| men, or between those who hold diff
| ferent views on minor points, as char
acteriZed some gatherings whose say
| ings and doings are within the MEM
ory of many living clergymen. People
are beginning to seek points or agree
ment rather than points of difference
| in the minds and views of different
thinkers, and the charitable allowance
of complete liberty in speculation to
all alike has resulted from this dis
position
''While we have just been celebrating
the two hundred and fiftieth ami
versary of the Westminster Assembly,
our Episcopalian friends anticipate,
next year, the three hundred and
fftieth anniversary of their Book of
Common Prayer 1t is a remarkable
fact" says the New York "Evangel
list" (Pres), that both the Catechism
and the Common Prayer came forth
in large part from the Jerusalem
chamber, which in this sense is the
mother of US all. It is well to be thus
reminded of the former house of both
Presbyterian and Prelatist, and what
ever have been our differences in the
past, there should to-day be nothing
but friendly rivalry in the Lords work.
While the prayer-book had q hundred
years the start of the confession, yet
that advantage has certainly been fully
made up The one church stands for
common prayer; the other for a com
mon faith The one begins with man,
his name and duty; the other with
God, His attributes and character. And
as faith and prayer are the Christians
duty, and God and man the two centers
of the universe, so preaching and
praying, confession and creed, Pres
terian and Prelatist, are but two forms
or phases of the one true Church of
Christ"
Referring to a recent charge of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the New
York observer (Pres) remarks:
1.-The ritual prescribed by the Book of
Common Prayer is, if the primate's
pronouncement of the law is to be ac-
cepted, the real bond of unity in the
Anglican Church, and it's observance
the only condition upon which its COM
prehensiveness is possible. That 1t
will prove a bond of sufficient strength
to bridge over the present crisis in the
church seems probable. For when all
is said the ritual of any great faith
exerts a powerful influence on the
habits of the spirit. The habits
formed by faith in the spiritual world
assert themselves long after the soul
seems to have thrown off that faith,
and tend to bring it back to loyalty to
God To millions of men ceremonial
seems essential to the revival and
maintenance of devotional attitudes of
mind. and in every great faith its ne
cessity must be recognized. The diff
Guilty is that by a strange contradic-
ton, the constant repetition of forms
of fealty does in the end tend to weak
en- that fealty, unless refreshed by a
new access Of feeling. With monoton-
Gus repetition, words and acts of wor-
ship do lose their meaning, and instead
of stimulating religious feeling, often
only paralyze it. 1t is between these
two dangers that the churches have to
find a middle course. Without forms
to express its loyalty, the spirit is
likely to lose itself in mere emotional
ism. With too strict adherence to
them, worship is apt to become d mere
routine out of which irving faith has
departed"
''It is not exactly a pretty contro-
versy,'' says the New York "Independ-
ent," which the English clergy, Prot
eSIdnL ana CdlHOilc, nave bCCA Gil
gagged in as to the evidence which the
growing predominance of the Prot
estant countries of Europe gives to the
superiority of the Protestant over the
Catholic faith. The patent answer
made by the Catholic disDutants is
that prosperity is a false criterion by |
which to judge of the ethical or re-
ligious character of the followers of
Him who said. Blessed are We when |
all men shall persecute you,' and whose
early disciples suffered martyrdom !
under Nero and Decius. This is true |
and yet it is no full answer. There is |
no blessing on the people of countries |
that do the prosecuting, as so many |
Catholic countries have done for the |
last century much more severely than |
anv Protestant countries; and it is |
lust these prosecuting countries that |
show decadence What is important |
to the matter is whether the course |
of a. people is upward or downward !
If it is downward the religion of the |
people is somehow to b anne, inasmuch |
as it is the ethics of a people on which |
their strength and character rest The |
early Christians were moving upward |
downward"
"Why should not Regular Baptists, |
as they are called to distinguish them |
from other bodies of that name, and |
Congregationalists unite?" asks the |
.Congregationalist" of Boston. "Bap- |
lists are Congregationalists. Both de-
nominations have substantially the |