The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-21

"One of the most significant develop
ments of modern thought" says the
New York Outlook SIS the steady ap-
preach of adj kinds of truth-physiolog
ic, psychologist, philosophical religious
truth. 1t begins to be apparent that
the religious view of life, it's occupa-
tions, duties spirit aim, is after all the
Inevitable view-the view to which men
must come when they gain a wide and
clear knowledge of their surroundings.
The religious conception of mans place
and work in the world was long held
by many religious people as something
which did not become clear through
noble living and the worshipful spirit
but was arbitrarily superimposed from
heaven, and by unreligious men as a
fine but wholly fictitious idea which
found no warrant or basis in a study
of actual conditions 1t now becomes
clear that the religious nature is part
of the human endowment; that when
ever men rise to a certain elevation
they inevitably see life from the relig
ious point of view; that Christ did not
create the religious faculty, but brought
into clear light the reality of the unseen
world to which it addresses itself A
striking Illustration of this reinforce
ment of religious truth by the sciences
which rest on observation is furnished
by the Importance which psychology at
taches to that quality of repose which
finds its root in faith, and which, al
though the inspiration of many of tho
ncblest careers in history, has so often
been regarded as a noble kind of illu-
sion''
1T is clear" says the New York
christian Intelligencer'' (Ref), that
a marked change has taken place in the
type of religion Less emphasis is
placed on the soundness of doctrine and
ecclesiastical ordinances than in the
past This affects the style of preach
ing and attendance on church, and very
properly gives concern and anxiety to
those who recognize that in this there
is a grave promise of evil, insomuch as
the fruit of neglect of doctrine and of
church ordinances makes itself felt on
the succeeding generation, rather than
on the one which has been inCoctrinat-
ed in orthodoxy and habituated to Sab
bath observance and attendance on the
sanctuary. There is undbubted danger
to religion in this tendency. But is this,
after ALL more than a temporary reac-
ton from what was often a dead ortho-
doxy and a. form Of goodness without
its power? Time will have to decide
this, and We desire to believe that there
are already indications of a return to a
proper emphasis on truth and worship
as the only sure foundations of vital
religion Religion to-day betokens its
O,,1xr in no in
creased number of professed Christians,
but in an aggressive activity Of organ
lied endeavor to bring forth the fruits
thereof, in Christian living and doing.
Life rather than doctrine is emphasized,
doing rather than believing is made par
amount. 1t is true that these should
not be separated, and cannot perlna
nently be kept apart without injury to
goodness, but it remains to be seen
whether, as in the past, the reaction
will not soon spend itself, and the just
middle be reached to the abiding ad-
vantage of the church and religion"
Almost without exception it will be
found says the "Watchman" tBapt.)
of Boston, that those Protestant de-
nominations and preachers that are
really making an impression upon the
life of our time are those that are rot
eliminating the supernatural from the
Gospel. The phase of Christianity that
probably to-day is making the most
rapid advance in England and the
United States is that type of Episco-
pacy known as High Church. The High
Churchnlan magnifies unduly, as it
seems to us, the supernatural elements
in Christianity. But his very insistence
upon these features gives to his claims
an authority which is utterly wanting