but only slightly successful reforms, to offer to the saints,
the "little flock;" but we have nothing whatever to offer to
the proud, worldly-minded masses of Babylon now. Their
imitation churches will all fall, being "cages" of unclean birds.
(Compare Rev. 18:2 and Matt. 13:4, 19.) We can only
promise them something much better than their present
systems and Kingdoms,—after the "little flock," the true
Gospel Church, is glorified. Then they will be taught better
than the "many wolves," and the machinations of the devil
blinding them, will now permit. They will come to a knowledge of the Lord and can then worship him in spirit and in
truth, and not as now, draw nigh with their lips, while their
hearts are far from him.
"Love not the world, neither the things of the world" [the World’s churches, etc.] says the Master, and so we urge. As saints, seek not the favor of men, but of God only, and learn of him. Hear his voice and come out of Babylon into the sunlight of truth, into the green pastures where the good Shepherd leads. He declares, "My sheep hear my voice and they follow [obey] me!"
WHAT THE CZAR WANTS
A French traveler in the East has discovered, according to The Wiener Tageblatt, the ultimate aim of the Czar's policy. He would be glad enough to obtain Constantinople, but the real object of his ambition is to become "the Pope of Jerusalem." The war of 1054, the French observer remarks, had its germ in the quarrels over the Holy Places in Palestine, and was a continuation of the conflict between East and West which the crusades left still unsettled. "Every step of the Russians towards Constantinople," says he, "is a step toward Jerusalem. It is of great significance that the Emperor Alexander III. confides much more upon the power of religious enthusiasm than either of his predecessors did." He wishes to procure a more officious and ostentatious consecration of his religious authority, and to have his position emphasized as the supreme Protector of the Eastern Churches and the Orthodox Faith, and so rally all the Greek-Oriental Churches and peoples around the person and office of the Czar as the Constantine and Justinian of the modern world. This bold project has been long in preparation, is never lost sight of in any diplomatic movement, and no sacrifice of money is thought too great to secure this end. "Numbers of settlements of Eastern monks, of apparently harmless and unpretending character, have been and are being founded, and Russia finds the money for the purchase of the land. Aid and counsel are always to be had from the Russian authorities. The European powers restrict their attention too one-sidedly to the movements on the Bosphorus, and ignore the extraordinary but quiet movements in the Holy Land." Two of the Vienna papers—The Politsche Correspondenz and The Wiener Tageblatt—appear to put some faith in the Frenchman's observations and predictions. The latter has no doubt that the Czar would hold a coronation on the site of the Holy Sepulchre of the world's Redeemer, to be the highest possible consecration of his authority. "Many imagine that Alexander III. reckons much upon being crowned Emperor of Asia in Samarkand; but to have the crown of Asia set upon his head in the mother city of Christendom corresponds much more to his character and to the thoughts which he cherishes in the stillness of Gatschina."—Pall Mall Gazette.
SUGGESTIVE
A Presbyterian minister writes:—
"In all defences I have seen, of the old dogma of eternal, endless torment, I think there is not one, even of those that claim to prove the doctrine from the Scriptures, in which there is not at least ten times as much of argument to show that the inspired Word must be so understood, as there is of solid quotation from the Word itself. Where so much pounding with the hammer of human reason is required to shape God's Word into conformity to a traditional or preconceived theory, or to weld something upon that Word to supply a supposed deficiency, are we not justified in challenging the right of such a doctrine to demand our acceptance?
Let the explicit declaration of the Westminster Confession and Catechism be written on one side; on the other side place all the Scripture references or proof texts, with any other passages, that bear on this subject. Now is there any one in his right mind who will look carefully at the language on both sides, and then affirm that these form an equation? or that they can be made equal without adding, subtracting or transposing? And dare any Christian claim authority thus to tamper with God's Word?"
Another says:—"Until the Church realizes that there is something worse even than being 'agitated;' until it is forced into a position where crying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace, will be impossible, the real questions at issue will be held in the background, and as at Andover, the decision will be not upon the merits of the truth at stake, but upon the conformity of one's teaching to the artificial standards, conventionally interpreted."
PROFESSOR BRIGGS' VIEWS
ON CHURCH UNION
"Another great barrier to the reunion of Christendom is subscription to elaborate creeds. This is the great sin of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. Every one of these churches has separated subscribers from non-subscribers and occasioned the organization of dissenting churches. Lutherans, Calvinists and Arminians, and sections of the same, have been separated into different ecclesiastical organizations. These doctrinal divisions have done more than anything else to weaken Protestantism and stay its progress in Europe. . . . . These differences cannot be solved by conquest, but only by some higher knowledge and better adjustment of the problems involved through an advance in theological conception and definition. The question now forces itself upon earnest men whether these differences justify ecclesiastical separation, and whether they may not be left to battle their own way to success or defeat without the help of ecclesiastical fences and traditional prejudices. . . . .
"Progress is possible only by research, discussion, conflict. The more conflict the better. Battle for the truth is infinitely better than stagnation in error. Every error should be slain as soon as possible. If it be our error we should be most anxious to get rid of it. Error is our greatest foe. Truth is the most precious possession. There can be no unity save in the truth, and no perfect unity save in the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Let us unite in the truth already gained, and agree to contend in Christian love and chivalry for the truth that has not yet been sufficiently determined, having faith that in due time the Divine Spirit will make all things clear to us."
SCOTLAND'S THREE "PROTESTANT" EPISCOPAL CHURCHES
The "Evangelical Advocate" of Edinburgh states that there are now three separate Protestant Episcopal church bodies in Scotland.
The Scotch Episcopal Church, or as it is called The Episcopal Church in Scotland, is the Sacerdotal and Ritualistic portion of the Episcopal Churches in Scotland. Within its communion the most rampant Ritualism is in full practice, and it varies little from the practices and doctrines of the Church of Rome. It stands wholly on its own account, without any connection or affiliation with the other churches.
Another portion of Episcopal Churches which may be called the Church of England in Scotland, maintaining purity of Evangelical doctrine and church administration, are in connection with the Church of England, under Bishop E. H. Beckles, D.D. (the late Bishop of Sierra Leone), put into that position to keep the protestants from leaving the church's communion.
And another portion is known as the Reformed Episcopal Protestant Church of England in Scotland.
In the year 1873, ten thousand English Protestant church-
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