The record-union., 1899-12-24
IN RELI6ION'S REALM.

EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought Of the Day
~ Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.
1.-THE whole situation Gin EnglanO IS
curiously similar to that of twenty-five
years ago." says the Living Church"
P. Ed Of Chicago, land certain COM
ments of Dean Church, one of the
greatest men the Church of England
has produced in this century, upon the
events of that time, have g. striking
application to present affairs. He says,
for instance, that the mischief is that
while all sorts Of liberties are allowed
to parties in the church, which the pub
lie opinion. of the hour sanctions,
tight screw is put on one unpopular one,
and a grotesQuely one-sided and Still
conformity to minute legal interpreta-
lions of rubrics. is preached
and paraded as the crucial test of 10y
atty to the church and honest obedi-
ence to the law The great Dean char
acterized this as, in his opinion, unjust,
unconstitutional and oppressive ana
certainly exasperating and impolitic
He declares in one Of his letters that
while the church is threatened by many
things, not the least fatal michief will
be the continuance of this system OF
vexatious and worrying prosecutions
and appeals to law Dean Church was
accustomed to face facts as he saw
them, without flinching. He contem-
plated the possibility of the Church of
England having to go forth into the
wilderness and even that there might
be serious break up. Yet his faith
never wavered. Even while he was
discussing the dangers which were so
threatening in his day, he could still.
write: Nothing that has happened has
shaken, and I do not think that any
thing of the same sort could shake,
my belief in the present English
Church. It has defects and anomalies
in plenty, but so has every church that
1 know of or that I ever heard of. And
there is vigor in it, a power OF re-
covery, and an increasing value for
what is good and true which I see
nowhere else"
Zone must view with suspicion" says
the New York "Churchman' Up. Ed.
ANY further attempt to limit Christian
liberty in the direction of worship
Enough attempts to limit have already
been made, and their results certainly
do not encourage further efforts OF the
same kind. In fact, there should be III
the church no possibility of excluding
any well-tried ideal of worship. This
should be the principle. It's application
needs statesmanlike care both at home
and in the mission field. 1t would be
foolish to maintain among Buddhist or
Brahmin converts what might please
people at home, but would conflict
with native prejudices. So in work
among the Anglo-Saxon race it would
be foolish unnecessarily to adopt prac-
tees or a ritual known to be contrary
to it's needs or desires. The Bishop or
Rochester in his last visitation charge
has most excellently brought out this
point, too often overlooked. The mis-
sion of the church is to a people with
an individual history behind it, both
political and religious. The outgrowths
of this history are certain feelings and
traditional views on social life and on
religion. How far these are rational
the church is not called on for the mo-
ment to decide. Her present task is to
restore religious unity among peoples
so unhappily and needlessly divided
Let her do nothing, then, to ALLEVIATE
them from her by running counter to
the common practices and feelings OF
the race she safeguards. 1t is regard
for the accomplishment of this work,
rather than reverence for any ideal OF
uniformity in worship generally, which
should make the rulers of the church
careful in their dealings with the prin-
ciples of public Worship" :
"a heresy trial as now conducted will,
by comparison, be seen to lack scarcely
any of the features of the Latin model,
observes the Interior" (Pres.) of Chi
cago. Immediately the attempt is
made to forestall the judgment and ac-.
ton of the court-to prejudice and usu-
ally to terrify the juror what stands
for the jury-ecclesiastical law knows
nothing of the right of trial by jury.
The press is full Of arguments, appeals
to passion, and not infrequently OF
threats. AS we write we notice the
cry, Will the Presbyterian Church back
DOWN. Is the Presbyterian Church
cowardly? Circulars and pamphlets
and newspaper articles are sown broad
cast among those whose duty it is tc
try the case. When the case is set for
trial the court itself is showed with
them. The cleavage of the court on
party lines is at once apparent, and
one knows Immediately what the YER
dict will be. Witnesses are free to ex-
press opinions and hearsay, and even
to harangue the jury. Passion rises
high and the judicial spirit vanishes.
This is Latin and French, not Saxon
and English; and it is offensive to peo-
pie who are trained in the American
school of liberty and law. There is
another thing that fills the mind with
repugnance to heresy trials-the dread
full association in which they are in
extricably embedded. They began with
the crucifixion Of Our Lord, the mar
tyrdom Of His apostles, the scattering
of the early disciples-a long line of fire
and blood flowing down through the
ages, at times swelling into rivers.
Christianity has come to it's present
place through great tribulations = and