Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1871-01-04

A Christmas Sermon by the Rev. DR..
Bellows, (''Liberal.'')--POpery and
Paganism.

Bellows, (''LIberal.''J --POpery and
PagaHism.
The theme of his interesting dis
I course was based on Luke is, viii
I Nevertheless, when the Son Of Man
eometh shall be find faith on earth" "
I He began thus 1t seems probable
/ that the Apostles and their immediate
successors really expected that Jesus
/ Christ would soon return to the earth
to Judge the world and to establish a
| visible kingdom. But learned and
thoughtful men, as a rule, have long
ago abandoned this fantastic expecta-
ton as not in accordance with the
I general plan Of Gods providence.
I More and more has il appeared that
the Gospel was designed by God, its
/ author, 70 work slowly and by various
methOds-nOt in the erection Of q tri-
umphant establishment called nthe
/ Church; :" not in the magnificatiun
/ and dedication " the name Of Christ.
/ but in the interest and service Of hu-
manity and the Improvement OF the
race in intelligence, virtue and happi-
ness lt is by putting everything in
q new light continued the speaker,
adding new motives and new mean
ings to all the permanent offices and
necessities OF human life that Christi
| anity slowly and surely elevates, en-
larges and transforms the earth and
I its people. Bring an average heather
and an average Christian together at
I the gates Of the Hellespont, where
Christianity and hesthenism still
stand opposed, and place before them
a Circassian slave What is it that
each sees as he looks upon the human
/ creature exposed in the slave market?
Thank God that we cannot to-day
find an instance nearer home. The
heathen sees nothing shocking in
putting this image Of God up for sale.
I She is no image OF God to him. She
Z IS fair to see, and will not some tur-
baned merchant take her to an indO-
lent home Of luxury and pleasure and
make her his plaything? But what
I IS the Christian thinking OF as he
stands close by her side? Here, be-
meath AL that this brutal. blinded
heathen sees, beneath this blushing
face, these exposed limbs, is a human
soul, q moral and spiritual being, a
child Of God, a possible disciple Of
| Christ. What can exhibit the trans
/ formation Of humanity under Chris
I tian influence more than the revolu-
I ton OF sentiment in respect to the
true worth Of every human being, in
dependent Of sex, age, color and
clime2 Surprising the dream Of the
I Second Adventists realized in the ae-
tual personal appearance Of Jesus
Z Christ, on this His eighteen hundred
and SEVENTEEN birthday, here upou
theearth to answer HisoEn QUESTIONS
when the Son Of Man con1eth shall
he find faith on earth ?i What would
be his verdict? Imagine him calling
in person to-day at st. Peters, in
Rome, upon the Holy Father, He
would find him who claims to be His
official representative and Vicar on
earth borne high on the shoulders Of
men In his sacred chair, amid a pro-
! eession Of priests clad in purple, with
a grand and gorgeous array Of ecelesi-
astical pOmp, with incense smoking
and thousands of people prostrate as
before a coming God and as he puts
on his triple crown, sparkling with
diamonds, let the Nazarene in his
Jewish gabarJline, with naked feet
and bare head, walk up to the grand
altar where His real blood and body
are about 10 be eaten and drunk, and
hold q public conference with his
alleged Vicar on the condition and
prospects of his religion in the world.
What will the Pope say about ''the
faith on earth" which his Divine
Master is in quest Of? He must needs
complain that his estates, his mower
and influence had dWindled since the
triumphant day for the Church when
the POntitf7s foot was on the neck of
kings, until one of the second rate
mOnarehs, the King Of Italy, was
strong enough to drive him out of the
small remnant Of his temporal do
miniOn and shut him up in a little
square in the Leonine City. Some
hOw-he must needs say under the
inspiration Of the deVil-men had got
it into their wicked heads thai Church
and State were very much in each 9TH
er's way and must be divorced. Some
how the world had come to the in
famous conclusion that the Church
was simply a Church Roman and not
universal, and 50 had plofanely re-
fused to entertain the exclusive right
Of his infallibility, and that in conse- I
quenee Professionalism had sprung up:
that this wretched anti-Christ had
orders Of nobility and rights of pri-
mogeniture in America, and was fast
spreading its social and political her
estes over Europe sndNAsia. His ex-
communications, before which em-
perors once trembled, without power
to frighten a well taught child; his
declaration Of infallibility, the laugh
ter Of Christendom. Is not the Vicar
Of Christ bound to say to his great
Original that his influence is failing
in the world; that ''the faithp is in
decay and ''the Church, in ruins
Would Jesus Christ believe him i? Let
the Son Of Man turn from this great
representative of church millinery to
the people for whom He died. Let
Him call the nations to His sacred
feet-a hundred million sOuls-with
the open Bible in their hands and
hearts nay, let the common schools Z
Of America gather around His radiant
person, the intelligent, cheerful en-
lightened faces OF the myTiads who
could repeat the main facts of His own
history, the Lords Prayer, the table
OF commandments, and who know the
geography Of the Holy Land and the
history of priestridden countries! ! Let /
all this be presented to the Son OF Man /.
as an offset, a yindicatiOn OF His
cause against the official doubts and I.
alarms Of the papaey. Would not
Jesus Christ say, Now is the Son OF
Man glorified He has found faith on
the Earth on His coming? America Z
is among Christian nations what the
Jews were among the pre-Christian /.
nations. American Christianity may
have been narrow, needing more .
light, but it was pure from the start, .
aud it had a virgin hemisphere to .
start in. What religion we have in z
America we mean shall be practical. 4
We want our Christianity in our
hearts and lives, in our trade and
commerce, in our politics and pleas
1res. The English Church, so free
and noble at one end, so superstitious
and heather at the other: the Roman
Church, so pagan in what it deems
Its most Christian part, but Christian
Only in its good works and its love OF
the pOOr-these are striving to resist
Dr. supplant the native Christianity Of
the land but their efforts will not
avail.
The reverend gentleman concluded
With this blessing :-"GOd bless the
life that communicates itself to all
from Him who this day, eighteen
hundred and seventy years ago, WIS j
BORN q babe in Bethlehem" /