Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-30
THE NEW FAITH.
A sermon Preached In MeCiuress Hall,
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longer regard christianity as embracing all
truth, or as marking the confines of revela-
ticn, God, Who has been shown to be i'm
manent In nature, is immanent, also, in
the mind of man. We can no longer make
the distinction between what God teaches
and what we learn by means of our facul-
ties, for all u knowledge must, in some
sense, be co-ordinated under revelation.
God gave US ourfaculties, and what we learn
by them we learn from Him. 1t is not with
ont a struggle that WI relinquish u old
beliefs. We feel as the poet did when he
sings:
"I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;
used 10 think their slender tops
Did reach into the sky.
1t wasa childish ignorance,
But now tits little joy
To know Pm farther OF from Heaven
Than when l was a boy
"Yet the new faith may be deeper than
the old, and not to put aside the beliefs of
childhood may be the greatest uDbelief.
Whatever belief we may have, we are
thrown finally on our faith. We may have
faith in a church. or in a Bible, infallibly
teaching us;or in an all-pervading Spirit slow
ly rearing the fabric of creation, bringing it
into perfection in the roll of ages, develop
ing Himself in a mysterious way in
nature and in the human SOUL"
hold that what he calls the "new faith"
is deeper than the old, and that it vastly
better enables us to realize and rejoice in
the presence of God, and hat as surely as
the sun will climb the Eastern hills to-
morrow, is the light of this revelation of
the gospel of Christ now rising to gladden.
the hearts of the children of men.
Long after the Reformation-until the
close of the seventeenth century-every-
body, learned divines, infallible popes and
profound scientists, thought and were sure
that this earth was the only really great
and really important. There were eight
or ten spheres wheeling around this centre
of the universe on which we live. When
they looked at this earth and lifted up their
eyes to the sun, moon and stars, they be-
held the all of created things. The in
finite was beyond, the heaven of heavens,
where God dwelt, whence he sent his
angels on ministries to this earth, which
was the chiefest creation of his wisdom,
and which he circled with spheres thick
gemmed with brilliants to light up and to
beautify the abode of man. All our the
ology is formed in harmony with this no
tion-our creeds, confessions of faith, sys-
tens of divinity, sermons and prayers.
Not only are our prayers formed in har-
mony with this notion, butOurconceptionof
prayer itself is the result of this notion. The
language, the expression of emotion in the
voice, the eye, the gestures of the body, all
suppose God to be a being far above us.
The terms used in prayers suppose God
not only to be outside the circle of created
things, just like a man is outside of his
environments, circumscribed in his indi-
viduality like a man, but that he is influ-
enced, acted IN in his feelings, changed in
his purposes, just as a man is.
Smiths Bible Dictionary says "all true
and prevailing prayer is to be offered in the
name of Christ, that is, not only for the
sake of his atonement, but also in depend
ence IN his intercession." Hooks Chris
tian Dictionary says, "Prayer is the offer
ing up of our desires to God for things
| agreeable to his will in the name of Christ,
and that it implies faith in his special
providence; that his general providence
acts through what are called the laws of
nature, that by his special providence
God interferes with those laws and
he has promised to do so in behalf
Of those who ask in the name Of Christ"
1t is essential to keep in mind this
definition of prayer when we think OF
what Carpenter and Tyndal said. They
have both written a great deal. I~ntellec-
tually, they are among the first of the
world; reverential and christian feelings
pervade their writings and l do not believe
there are n two divines in the world
more exemplary in their lives and more
christian in their feelings than they are.
Whent they said that "all the Litanies, col
| lectS and prayers ever uttered had never
influenced the course of the universe nor
mankind, nor a single individual, in the
slightest degree" they meant what the An.
| glicans had defined to be prayer, petitions
to God in the name of Christ, causing God
to interfere with the laws of nature, and
they simply said that those petitions
had not caused God TO interfere with the
laws Of nature.
Often ''the hopes of the multitude create
the great historic changes for which they
cry and they attribute the changes to a
change in an arbitrary supernatural will.
| CromYelr's soldiers would not have fought
so well if they had been less devout,
but the same may be said of very many
heather soldiers, and if their success is due
to the mere petitions, then the petition o.
the heathen is Just as eilectual as the prayer
of the christian, when, in fact, their petit
ton, not being .'in the name of Christ" i:
no prayer at all. And the same may be said
Of petitions for rain, which are quite a;
common in heather countries, and the eff
cacy Of which can be Just Is well verified a
the efficacy of prayers for rain. And so
also, petitions for the sick are Just as COM
mon in heather countries, perhaps, as ar
prayers for them with us, and they, quit
as firmly as we do, believe that their peti
tiOns are prayers, and that they are eff
caciouS.
1 believe, and 1 suppose that Carpente
and Tyndall also believe, that all things
the minutest and the greatest, shall wOrl
together for good to them that love God
that if we seek, first of all, the kingdom O
God and its righteOusneSs-if we make j
our great aim to be and to do right-thel
pleasures and pains, properties and ad
versitieS, shall all aid in building up
right character; that the cry Of the soul il
hours of anguish and need is not sent int
the void but avails with the Infinite Ono
There is a deep want of the soul which onl
true prayer can satisfy. But the peculia
wishes and expressions which prayer
often embody are the result Of conception
of phenomena now entirely obsolete. TIL
times of that ignorance God winked at, bu
now many cannot honestly use the prayer
in all their intended meanings, and prayer
ought to be for all sorts and conditions {
men. Those assertions they have as to th
mode of Divine agency ought to be elm.
mated, and they, recognizing Gods prov
dence in all things, ought in all things {
say, "Thy will, not mine, be DONE" an
they should aid in bringing us in all thing
into harmony with the Divine will, int
communion with Him and in growing u
unto Him.
But why not suppose that God interfere
with the laws of nature? Carpenter say
that God is not only a spirit, but that II
is a conscious, rational agent. Now as I'll
chemist can manufacture water by his col
interferences with the laws of nature, an
as | in the same wa
can make heat, so there is no absurdity j
: suppOsing God to rain down mauna frOl
/ heaven on a furnishing city, or in sendiu
rain anywhere at any time he chooses. BU
it cannot be proved that he does so; u.
{ would his interference with. his laws brir
him any nearer to u or highten our col
ceptiOn of his wiSdom,-and if it wei
proven that he did, it would only increas
he difficulty of faith. seeing there are {