Article June 20, 1901 Issue

Religious Items

The (Baptist) Standard quotes the following on "Envy:" "Among the sins that very frequently allure into perilous paths prominently stands envy. Out of selfish, unholy pride grows resentment which too often bears this poisonous fruit. Yet it seems to change from fruit into a cruel tiend. How it soured the life and marred the character of Voltaire, who displayed it so offensively in his continued effort to detract from the sublimity of Corneille and the charm of Racine. The strength and ugliness of envy were manifest in severing the beautiful friendship once existing between those two fathers of Anglo-Saxon poetry, Chaucer and Gower. Controlled by this demon, it is said that Dryden could never speak of Otway, his rival, with kindness; and even the giantminded Leibnitz on all occasions would refer slightingly to Locke's Essay, and flercely strove to overthrow Newton's system. What wonder, then, that lesser minds should be assailed by it? Even Christians indulge it without realizing what it is and how base it may make them. Let us be large enough and sufficiently Christ-like to rejoice with those more highly favored than ourselves. There is not a particle of envy in our Lord. If we would walk with Christ we must give it no place within."

Rev. T. Harwood Pattison of the Rochester Theological Seminary, in an address on "The Bible in the Twentieth Century," reported in the (Baptist) Standard says: "The form in which this message from God reaches us is of the first moment. Here you see a printed book. It does not change with the passing years. It is not at the mercy of speech as is the homily of the preacher. It does not shift its ground as does public opinion. Every advance, therefore, in recovering a pure Bible is a return to rock truth; to the clearer understanding of the mind of God himself. As a printed book the Bible has always led the field. Even up to 1490 it exceeded in the amount of printing all other books put together. A thousand editions of the Bible in whole or in part were issued in the first half century of the history of printing. From that time onward the Bible has continued to be the best-known book in the world. That which is best known is also best guarded. The printed page has taken the place of the manuscript parchment. Errors which were formerly inevitable in transmission are now practically impossible. The Book is fitter than it has ever been to submit itself to the examination of the age to which it comes."

"The Relation of the Church of England to the Wealthy Classes" is just at present a topic of discussion in the English religious journals. The Church Times is quoted by the (Episcopalian) Church Standard as follows: "The English Church not merely fails to fulfil its mission to the wealthy and educated portion of the community, but scarcely recognizes that it has a mission to fulfil. Large sums of money, and a complex machinery, and strenuous labor are employed to bring the Gospel to the poor. We scheme and toil for the educational, social, physical, and spiritual welfare. Yet, even the man with £10,000 a year has, after all, a soul to be saved, and the responsibility of the Church on his behalf will not be discharged when he has been induced to give an East window, or to buy a new heating apparatus.... The personal claims of Christ cannot be compounded for by a money payment."

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