The record-union., 1899-01-01
IN RELI6ION'S REALM.
IMPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEwsPAPERs.
The Religious Thought Of the Day
- Expressed In tho Sec-
TARTAN Press.

s'Why is it, asked jealous layman
recently, that earnest people never
think Of seeking spiritual advice? This
Is an exaggeration. OF course" says the
New York "Churchman" P. Ed, but
1t Is certain that through a false re-
serve large numbers of Christians
practically forbid the clergy the exer-
else of this healthfu and stimulating
prerogative, excepting. perhaps, when
sickness and grief brush away the con-
ventionalisms Of society, petty in
themselves, but chilling in their ag-
gregate influence. A young clergy
man may be too timid. too Fabian In
his methods, too easily discouraged,
but that does not Justify the laity In
excessive reserve. The very congrega-
ton, doubtless, that to-day complains
of its pastor is responsible in large
measure for his being what he is. At
the outset of his pastorate, when he
was all zeal to minister generously to
spiritual needs, he was chilled to the
marrow. by the tone of those commit
ted to his care. The prevailing dan
ger is not that of cant or spiritual
falsetto. but the opposite Of these quail
tiles, failure to acknowledge, in a
tangible way, the spiritual kinship
which Christians bear to one another.
Every layman ought to recognize the
right that his clergyman possesses to
speak to him Of the sours concerns.
and should be ready to respond natu-
rally and gladly. Every clergyman,
on the other hand, ought to deem it
his privilege and responsibility so to
work that he will have no one person
under his care with whom he has not
spoken upon spiritual topics, and by
whose side he has not knelt in prayer"
"A physician of reputation in the
treatment of the insane has recently
published his belief that one of the
most frequent causes Of mental disor-
der is an awful dread of the world to
come. inspired. SIS he intimates, by in
1udicious popular preaching. There
was time" says the Church Stand
ard" (P. Ed Of Philadelphia. when
such an opinion would have been much
more credible than now. The revival
system too often degenerated into q
deliberate cultivation of artificial hys-
terra, in which the victim or subject
was brought under the control and
guided by the suggestions of the
preacher and others till he could be
carried through a sDasmodic crisis
which was called conversion In this
dreadful system, the horrors of perdi-
ton were described with fearful vivid
ness, and an awful realization Of the
terror OF the Lord was generally be-
lieved to be the first step toward saliva
ton. The belief was by no means Pc
culiar to revivalists. Many years ago
ivxro hoo y-1 f-l.
solemnly assert that no man could be-
come Christian until he had seen the
! very heavens as molten brass above
his head threatening him with ever
lasting torment There can be no
doubt that the whole revival system
| and the preaching of those fearful
doctrines must have been a common
| cause of mental disorder, but revival
ism of that sort has passed away, at
least from that part of the country in
which DR.. Talcott's observations APP
pear to have been made; and among
the religious changes of the last fifty
years nothing is more observable than
the steady dropping Of the more awful
topics Of pulpit discourse and the SUBJ
stitution for them of the milder and
more comforting side Of Christianity.
We do not believe, then, that the
preaching of future punishment can
now be numbered among the principal
!. causes of insanity, at least in the more
populous regions of this country"
I'VE have no Intention" saws the
Living Church" P. Ed of Chicago,
of entering upon the merits of the
readings and renderings of this edition
(the American Revised Bible). Some
| are doubtless better than those of the
English Revised Edition: others are,
we think. unquestionably worse. But
the point to which we wish to direct
attention is this, that we have here a
second Revised Version. And there is
apparently still another to come. This
book does not yet satisfy the aspira-
lions Of those who consider that con-
siderable advances have been made in
Biblical philology within the last twen-
ty or thirty years, and that there ought
to be version which shall be fully
up to date 1t is, in fact. scarcely to
be considered as constituting even
step in that direction, since it contains
nothing which was not settled upon
before 1883. - We have not
spoken of the Polychrome Bible. be-
cause that interesting production Is
chiefly addressed to the eye, and is not
likely to intrude itself into the services
OF the church. But aside from tf.at.
we have now three English versions,
all OF which are, or will be, read in
the public worship of various denom-
nations OF Christians. In our own