The record-union., 1899-08-20
IN RELIGIONS REALM.
EXPRESSIONS FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.

|
tartan Press.
THE Importance of the post-confirm-
alton period, there are MANY reasons
for believing, is too seldom realized, .
says the New York "Churchman' (P.
E). Bishop Whitaker insists that the
priests responsibility in the premises,
SO far from being removed by conflrma-
ton, is vastly increased. No greater
mistake can be made by pastor or peo-
pie than to regard the laying-on of
hands as the end of special instruction
and interest AT this time the priest
can do his most effective work in as
sisting the newly confirmed in the
practical questions and difficulties of
the Christian life. On the other hand,
numbers have fallen away from their
religious duties, simply because their
freshly implanted desires ,llnd resolu-
tions were dependent, for the time, on
the stay and stimulus of the rector S
counsels. The spiritual life died be-
cause it was left dependent premature
ly on the individuals own rudmentary
moral force. This disaster has come
to more of our people than is realized,
efforts to forestall it have proved use
less. But there is one method our
clergy do not utilize intelligently. We
refer to what are styled in England
/ communicates unions But a serious
criticism against them is made, with
| justice. AS frequently conducted they
! degenerate into schools of devotional
athletics, instead of schools of life. The
sacrament of the altar is held before
the communicate as an end in itself, to
be approached with elaborate and arti-
fetal acts which too often constitute
the net result of reception This in
siduous snare can be Stunned only in
one way: by recognizing that the holy
gifts are means to an end-life!"
"Can preaching be made interesting?
In other words, can the preacher of to-
day, who has Christs message to de-
liver, manage SO to deliver it in these
times of numberless distractions, and
in the midst of other absorbing mental
preoccupations, as to arrest public at
tention, and hold it to the realities Of
the souls inner life and the laws and
interests of the spiritual world? Ger
tainly, not easily can this be done, "
says the Interior" Pres) of Chicago.
Success in every instance will be a
victory. He will want to be utterly
honest, totally in earnest, and withal
be willing to pay the costs of success
in the assiduity of the all-round prep
aration of himself for it. It will not
be by scamping his work as student
1t will not be by throwing away his
notes, nor yet by using his notes. It
will not be by trying to initiate some
body else. There are no pulpit man
nerisms, no unnatural tones, no pulpit
drawl or awful explosive half whispered d
cadences of voice, that will help him in
the least. Some may succeed in spite
of these unrealities of manner and af-
fectations Of tone: but the odds are
heavy against them. For, in these
times, at any rate, manly men like the
preacher to use manly tones, and
speak straight out in pure, clear, fresh,
wholly vital, soulful, and so manly and
convincing, utterance; as if he meant
simply and exactly what he is saying
and all that he is trying to say. What
ever else may become outworn, the eS-
sential gospel of Christ can never be
out of date, it will forever be, from
the nature of the case, the latest thing
there is, and the right delivery of it
the most continuously sensational. Paul
understood the case when, in his let
ters he urges his dearest friends to pray
for him, that 'utterance' may be given
him, that he maypspeak the word bold
ly, so as 1 ought to speak it,"
"The pulpit everywhere almost is
presenting a part of the TRUTH says
the New York Christian Intelligencer'
(Ref). Witnesses in courts Of justice
are put under oath to declare the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. The preacher of the word of
God is under a most solemn obligation
to preach the whole truth. A large
and increasing proportion preach the
half of the truth or less and produce
impressions which are misleading, pos
itively injurious. and absolutely pre-
venting the attainment of a complete
Christian character. The ministry of
| to-day is in need Of a creed. A creed
| in the hands of the people which will
command their appreciation and conf
dence would soon lead to demand for
| a Well-orbed creed in the pulpit. The
pews rule many a pulpit, and the ma
l. l.
church is in need of the whole truth,
is suffering from instruction in dis
jointed, only generally related portions
of revealed doctrine, and because it is
absolutely uninstructed in portions of
revelation which are of supreme impor-
| tance. More professed believers of the
present day than it is pleasant to think
of suggest the condition of men phys
ically paralyzed on one side, or bodies
developed only on one side through the
power of deforming occupation. There
is such a condition as religious deform-
ity."
'1t would appear says the New
| York observer" (Pres.), that the pew
/ quite generally and thoroughly under
stands the duty of the pulpit to the
! people. 1t does not SO clearly appear
| that the pew appreciates it's own re-
sponsibility of the pulpit In the
Chritian Church obligations are mutual.
There is partnership in moral respon-
sibility, as well as in spiritual privilege.
1t is true that the attitude of the pew
/ appears more passive than that of the
| pulpit. The preachers are supposed to
give their wisdom and the people to re-
| ceive. This distinction, however, is
more apparent than real. The people
are less receptive than they should be,
| and the souls of sensitive preachers are
more receptive, more dependent for
sympathy and inspiration on their au-