The record-union., 1899-03-12
IN RELIGIONS REALM.

III tkLIUIUH y ltlH6tIss
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought Of the Day
a. Expressed in the Sec-
tartan Press.
1--WE do not disguise from ourselves"
says the New York "Churchman'' P.
Ed, that very much in the external
observance of Lent is conventional con-
formity to customs that our developing
social life finds readymade to it's needs.
| Many welcome Lent as an escape from
an exhausting round of pleasures, and
as an excuse not to be questioned for
| taking much needed rest. Yet even
this has a sort of religious value, for
it implies a belief that the church has
known how best to provide for the
physical, as well as the spiritual wants
of man. But beyond this is the grow
! brothers of the value of times and sea-
sons of repose and refreshment, of rec
| objection, self-examination and spirit
ual aspiration. Week of prayer and
many similar devices spontaneously
originated are demanded by the spirit
ual consciousness of Professionalism,
which feels that Lent is no religious
fad, but an observance based on a law
| ~ GU pif mol lo,, 1o1 l,n-
| lieve, to the body of the faithful by
Him who is with us, always guiding
| His church to meet at every point the
demands of every factor in our com
pick civilization as wonderfully as it
did that of the simple fishermen of Cali
| lee''
- J alA.
I'VE have no violent prejudice, no
prejudice, in fact, at ALL" says the
Church Standard" P. Ed of Philadel-
phia, against anything that has yet
been established to the satisfaction of
the great majority of competent critics
of the Old Testament. About the names
/ of the sacred writer's we care very little
and we are little more concerned about
| the method in which the sacred library
| of Israel was composed or compiled.
The documentary theory does not alarm
US, that if it creates some difficulties,
| 1T removes others which seem to be
greater. We care not whether the book
| which bears the name Of Isaiah was
written by one man or by two; nor
whether Deuteronomy was written in
| the time of Moses or centuries after the
death of Moses; nor whether the Book
| of Daniel was written in the sixth or
the second century before our era. So
| far as any or all of these things may
appear to competent men to have been
| settled, We are content to accept the
settlement, at least Professionally, and
always subject to revision. What we
| do most seriously object to is the I'M
scientific and misleading assertion of
unverified hypothesis, on which COM
| petent critics are not agreed, as if they
were established and admitted facts,
and we welcome sound and judicial
| criticism as the only possible corrective
| of the utterly unscientific criticism
which we condemn. Time, to which DR..
Briggs looks forward with serene as
surance of the triumph of his views, is
likelier to scatter some of them than
to confirm them The ultimate jude-
| ment does not, after all, lie with the
critics, but with the world the orbis
| terrarum, whose final Judgment is al
ways sure. So far as the Old Tesla
| nent is concerned, we can await the
worlds Judgment with composure. 1t
is the present treatment of the New
Testament that causes most concern,
and there the rash and utterly unscien-
tific dogmatism Of DR.. Briggs seems to
us to be all the more astonishing be-
cause of his uhdoubted Christian faith
and character"
! The truth must be presented with
new applications, in freshly construct
ed forms, in a style adapted to the
ever modifying characteristics of sue
cessive generations. But all authority"
says the New York Christian Advo-
cate" (Meth), 'all true moral distinc-
tons, all real divine revelations, all
satisfying foundations of a hope of life
and immortality, all criticisms, and
most Characterization illustrating the
effects of these things in the lives IF
men who have passed beyond the pos
sibility of change in their regulations,
must be found in the Word of God, the
aspirants to present popularity to the
contrary Notwithstanding. Compare
1 livery Lew Il1nlSteTS LOl pfe-e1nlneEllV
Biblical preachers have filled a second
term more successfully than they did
the first; and no man, so far as we
know, was ever generally desired back
for a third term, or for a succession of
| important churches in the same town
or city, whose preaching, did not an
swer this description. There is reason
enough for this; for that alone can
permanently build up churches as dis
tinguished from crowds drawn by the
personality of the preacher; that alone
can give permanent variety in subjects.
Even the many-sided Henry Ward
Beecher had to say, I should have been
swamped for subjects in less than ten
years if had not had the Bible TO fail
back on. When everything was dry, that
was the spring of topics that never
failed me- The truly wise know these
things, but sometimes forget them.
Those who never learn them, whatever
else they acquire, whether laymen or
ministers, will earn only this epitaph:
Ever learning. and never coming to
knowledge of the truth .
1.-The great struggle in theology" says
the New York observer" (Pres.), lis
over the position that Jesus Christ is
| the only Savior of the world. Many
are willing to admit that He is a
Savior, one of several spiritual helpers
of mankind But we must be strenu-
Gus for more than this. Jesus is alb
solutely unique, and wholly divine. or
He is nothing at all. No defense OF
! Christianity is really possible unless it