Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-05-29

three to one.
'If any man will do His win he shall know of the
doctrine, whether It he of God whether speak Of
myself" John - II.
Christ uttered these words Just after He
had unfolded what seemed to Him great
doctrines in religion; and fearing lest the
multitude might suppose he was only utter
ing sudden human conceptions, after the
fashion of the walking philosophers, or raw
ing sibys, he informed them that if they
would practice His teachings they would dis
cover them to be great laws of God. have
read this declaration of Christ, not so much
because it suggests how mankind may deter
mine which doctrines are true, but also what
truths are worthy of being honored with the
name Of doctrine of God. The truth Of
an idea, and the value Of an idea, are two
different things, and this text is announced
before you this morning because it submits
to US a method Of learning not only the
truth OF propositions but the relative value
of propositions. If mankind can Learn by
experience what doctrines come from God,
then the lawful inference is, that the great
doctrines Of Christianity are open to the test
Of this human experience, aud further, that
those propositions which are beyond the
reach of mans daily life were not in Christ's
mind when He discoursed to men upon the
way of salvation.
That there is vast amount of opposition
to the whsle of Christianity and religion is
painfully true, but there is also vast
amount of ill-wil developed by, and ex-
hausted upon, ideas that have come from
men rather than from God or at least have
been expanded by sectarian force into sig
niicance far beyond the warrant of Infinite
wisdom. When We remember that there was
time, and perhaps that time includes the
present prNctice, when some branches Of the
Scotch Church had run the number Of their
DEGREES up into the thousands, and when we
remember what attitudes our home denomi-
nations have taken regarding amusements, or
music, or street-cars on Sunday, or dress, or
psalmody, or communion. or immersion, we
ought to feel that wicked world may often
speak disrespectfuly OF dogma without be-
ing either deficient as to common sense or
hopeless as to religion. II our Protestant
world does not furnish us with adequate it,
lustraton Of what the world generally means
by dogma, we can look across at the Roman
Catholic spectacle and see III their Immacu.
late Conception, and lnfallibility, and Real
Presence, specimens of the kind OF doctrine
which the much deceived world has at last
come so greatly to fear. Not only for the
wicked worlds sake, but for the Church
own sake, for its growth in greatness oil
mind and in happiness, it should make suct
distinction between the fundamental laws Of
religion which may be tried by experience
and the notions which are wholly beyonC
such u test, US to free itself from the necess
ty of expelling man who sings a human
composition, as IN the case of Mr.. Stuart, OF
of Withholding fellowship from those VIII,
may not have been immersed, or who may
not have enjoyed the hand of Bishop upoI
their forehead. While such things are con
stanty transporting, we need not wonder if a
wise age, looking on, says, not ave are wea
ry of religion" but ave are weary OF dog
ma" Unless by dogma the complaining
world means the acCretion which has bee
east upon the shores of the Church by thu
turbulent sea of debate and sectarian inter
est, its fault. fnding has no logical basis. Al
ter a man. or handful of men, have con
, ceived the idea OF rallying around some no
ton, such AZ Immersion, or DEGREES, or Abil
ity, or Inability, that notion soon COMES +
represent capital and pastorates, aud schools
, and seminaries, and publications. and hold
them all with the power of an empire de tactt
1t must be against these Church government
founded in the coup de e'tat Of individuals
that the outside multitude is aiming its chic
assault, for that men Of intelligence shout
decaim against doctrine in Christianity,
! beyond belief As none of these cultivate
$ skeptics come TO nature aud ask her 10 pre-
i duce floral world without any laws of raj
s and soil aud sunshine, so they certainly
$ not come in their rational moments I
e Christianity, aud require that the vast wOrl
J of its morals and spirituality shall grow u
+ without possessing any laws Of cause and g
feet Does the hoastng rationalism becom
a supernatural at last and expect the realm
& virtue aud piety to come from nothing, an
, depend upon nothing, and possess no possb
d order Of sequence? We conclude otherwis
u aud submit the proposition that no man ca
o preach Christianity without being doctrll
/, al preacher, aud no man can acquire
IA Christian OF a religious heart except by I'll
e obedience of doctrine. Doctri1e sustain
n the same relation to Christian character al
/. hope that mechanical law sustains to the O.
thedral Of st. Paul. or that the law OF sour
:, sustains to the church chimes or the mus
Il Of the many-voced organ. The attempt
" separate Christianity in any way from /