The record-union., 1899-10-22
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.

| Commenting upon the action of the
| New York diocesan, convention on the
subject of the Lords Day and holy
matrimony the New York Church
man" P. Ed says: mo nation and no
society, says the voice of New York S
convention, has ever stood secure that
left God without one day in seven to
call His own. And the committee add
with telling force that the privileged
FclasS, as the world counts privilege, are
easily leaders in the melancholy work
of corrupting the morals of the COM
munlty and the manners of the age.
Inc same is true when the committee
and the convention take their stand for
the sanctity of Christian marriage and
the home. Even if for the wronged in
dlV1dual remarriage were right, for So
clety 1t is a danger and a wrong. The
whole IS greater than any part, and the
right OF one must bend to the good of
all. Let those who will take refuge i'll
lax civil statutes. In the mind of the
diocese of New York there shall be no
remarriage of divorced persons with the
church's sanction or her blessing. That
| sanction and blessing are coveted by
| Offenders in what are known as the
higher classes, and action such as the
committee suggests would do much to
avert the gravest Of our public scan
dals. We trust the wishes of the con-
Vention may find canonical expression,
but only as such a canon may voice the
conscience and heart of our people, for,
as the committee says, the evil lies in
the unruly wills and affections of sinful
men and sinful women The reform
must begin there. To arouse the So
cial conscience of the faithful through
out the church is the pressing duty OF
the hour
"If the Primitive Church is the
| church of the first 800 years, and if it
is to it that the Reformed Church of
England appeals for the sanction of her
present practices, she would lose her
cause before any tribunal of wel-in-
structed people," says the Catholic
Champion" P. Ed, of the Guild of St.
Ignatius. But suppose we had an
ample literature and really knew just
what the state of the church was doing
the first three centuries, would that be
a desirable period to pick out for any
part of the church to copy to-day?
| Manifestly not. In fact a more absurd
| ~ incOngruous period could hardly be
hit upon. To charge the English Re
! formers with so ridiculous and ignorant
an intention, in the face Of their express
declarations to the contrary, is cruel
indeed. We have no great opinion of
fthe English Reforners, but we never
laid to their charge so stupendous an
Iimbecility. To choose a period during
which the church was struggling with
poverty and ignorance within, and
with persecution to the death
from without, as one for the
rich, highly educated and state
fuddled church of England to
initiate either in the sixteenth or in the
nineteenth century is monstrous indeed
The church then was no picture of what
Christ or His Church deserved, but a
temporary condition of ecclesiastical
childhood only to endure until the king
doms of this world had become the
kingdoms of the Lord and of His
Christ; when in the schools of the
Ecumencial Councils the infant church
would be taught to to speak plain, and
the swaddling clothes would be laid
aside
The New York observer (Pres), re-
ferring to the Congregational Council,
says: "A very significant fact is this,
! that Notwithstanding the liberalism,
which has perhaps more than it's share
of notice, no liberal declaration has
been received with anything like the
sustained and most vigorous applause
which has greeted the two distinctively
and thrillingly redemptive utterances
of the COuncil-the ever memorable
paper OF DR.. Forsyth emphasizing the
Cross Of Christ, and Mr.. Jones' address,
pointing to the unique Jesus as only
Lord and Savior The inference seems
sure that the heart of Congregational
ism is evangelical, and that despite the
vagaries of individuals, no other than
essentially GCxpel thought and teaching
satisfies the rank and file. The positive
note was required and has been sound
ed. As DR.. Plumb aptly observed in
cidentally to a brief speech, while the
paper of President Harris was a noble
utterance, and was in many respects
worthy of preservation, the element
lacking in it was supplied by the ad-
dress Of DR.. Forsyth 1t is certainly a
fact that American Congregationalism
as a whole cannot be interpreted by one
teacher or one school alone and while
it is of its very genus to afford stand-
ing room for the liberals, it is equally
the duty of the latter to supply room
for the conservatives. And if the lat
ter are not heard in one way they will
be in another. The discussion will go
on, though ii should go on only in love,
since, as Joseph Parker of London has
finely expressed it, what is needed is
the advocacy of evangelicism in the
evangelical spirit -
THE fact must be conceded" says
the New York Christian Intelligencer'
| Ref), that there are not a few infiu-
! ences to-day to cause indecision The
new theology and the new criticism
| Of the Scriptures are alone sufficient to
produce doubt and hesitation. Many
men may be halting between two opin-
! ions. 1t is enough to awaken serious
! doubt when a man hears on the one
side the declaration that Jesus Christ
| 30 Ma RH CO sS