The record-union., 1899-09-03
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.

tartan Press
Ihey are not good friends of religion
who announce magisterially that re-
Hglon is something apart from the rea-
son, and must be accepted by another
faculty which they call faith" says the
independent" What they call faith
is utter credulity, and some of them
know it, and it is their purpose, appar-
emily, to discredit and not to help re-
Hgion. They say, with all the assur-
ance of one who must be believed on
faith and not on reason, because what
he says is So that religion differs
from other affairs of life in that its
facts cannot be proved by reason, but
must be accepted ON faith, improved
Now this may sound very religious,
but it is a part of the doctrine of
devils, whose end, purposed or unpur-
posed by those who proclaim it, is to
undermine faith by removing it's foun.
dation. There is no faith worth any
thing, in religion or in politics, that
does not rest on reason. If we believe
in God, there must be a reason for it,
or we should be agnostics. If we be-
lieve in the Christian religion, there
must be good reason for it in history
and ethics, or we should remain deists.
This is good Scripture and good sense
People will not accept religious faith
without reason, and they ought not
! to; for sensible faith can have only
good reason to rest on
''What G tO ha eriIvaY tho obilJva,, 10
read is still an important question to
all to whom the care.of children is con-
fided." The "Universalist Leader" Bos-
ton, says: There has been a marked
change in the character of books de-
signed for young readers. The modern
book is more life like, the characters
are taken from the towns and cities.
the streets and highways of this old
world of ours. The boys and girls Of
heavenly birth, of celestial character.
with angels wings, have been banished
from the literature of to-day. There is
danger, possibly, of too radical a re-
action. We may go too far from the
heavenly, too far towards the earthly.
This seems to be the opinion, at least,
of a number of guardians of Sunday
school libraries In several instances,
one of them in our own denomination,
certain books by Kipling have been
placed under the ban. If any one draws
from life, it is Kipling, and some OF
his characters would not be chosen by
careful parents as associates for their
children. A high name in literary cir
cles cannot always serve as a passport
to the Libraries of our Sunday-schools. 3"
Z
The London Church Times" consid-
ers the recent opinion of the Archbish-
ops simply astounding" and it be-
lieves more firmly than ever in the
lawfulness of increase the opinion be-
ing based upon such a poor foundation
as the ill-considered act of 1859, and
the disorderly and indecent usages OF
| perhaps the worst period in the his
tory of the English Church. It regards
the matter of professional lights as one
of slender Importance, but asks wheth-
er banners of holly, to which the Arch
bishops compare them, may not be car
ried about The use of incense is a
very different matter. 1t enters into
the very marrow of public worship, and
has become symbolical of a certain
principle of worship the principle of
continuity Of organic connection with
the worship of the rest of the Catholic
Church. The Archbshops, however, it
says, do not think incense an improper
adjunct of public worship, but say that
the English Church did we'll to abon-
, don it because of certain circumstances
/ Though not to be abandoned on anti
Catholic grounds, the reasons alleged
are disquieting, and the E. G. u law
yerS and experts must share the gem
eral blame, as they argued as if the
crown and Parliament had a right to
regulate ceremonies. Disestablishment
j may have to be faced, for the sake of
recovering a true basis of divine wor-
ship. 1--WE do not question the con-
scientiousness of the decision it adds;
eve bow to the sacred claim so fear
lessly expressed but we must give
voice to the fear that the Archbishops
have once more mistaken their calling
and misread their commission They
have chosen to interpret a statute.
when the business in hand was to ex-
pound a sacred law"
"The perversion and degradation OF
the social life of the church, by bring.
ing people together with the exclusive
view Of getting money from them by
every sort of worldly expedient, is a
capital blunder-Or worse-WhOse ill
effects it would be impossible to eati-
mate,' declares the Examiner" (Bapt)
New York 1--WE preach, and rightly,
the duty of unselfishness as a supreme
requirement of the Lord. The evening,
perhaps, we devote to the education of
the selfish spirit, teaching people that
for the money they give to the church
and it's work they are to expect and re-.
quire a mercenary equivalent. We ask
for their quarters and half-dollars, not
as contributions freely made out of