, 1874-10-19
PURE RELIGION.

mo, for you don't Sol0ng TO tho dogs but to
| tho sous of Goa."
PURE RELIGION.
| Scrnsou by the Rev. Prof. Swing Mt tho Fourth
Church.
| Prof. Swing preached yesterday morning at his
church, corner Of Rueh and Superior hsreetn,
taking as his text:
p,.s rolleiou and undecided brforo God md the
Father IL tlsa: To vist tbs fahcrleas anil Widows III
their aAicton aud kesp snsasi *ntpotted fro'n ths
| wur;d.-James, l., ri.
TAs definition of religion given heEa by ST.
Jsmes differs from tAoae definitions found in
| tho moro phlosopMc, formal OF ruro nletaphy-
| siciauy or tleologiaus. The variation docs not
prove that other party, tho inapirel or tho ul,in
splrei, hss crrod, bnt only shows hon impossible
it is to elno exhaustivey any OF tho great terms
which men Use iu any OF thelr departments Of
thought. No ono las ever yet bean able to FASH
Ion some statement TINT should tell the word
| forovor what faith ia. what tho word literature
| means, what philosophy includes, or ro-
| jcctp. 1t has beca the long effort
| OF the dsepeat thinkers to furnish
| their fellow-mon with tho definition Of things,
| but the effort las met with only imperfect auo-
ceBs. 1t should not b. expected, therefore, that
mankind should be able perfectly to define re-
lsion, Tho difficulty docs not artaa wholly from
the venuencss Of tersnn. but from the largeness
Of tho meauing,-a bulk too great to ho gasleied
| up into aaentonco or paragraph. Such words az
God, and faith, nul philosophy. aud country
ko the groat planets In tlier orbitH not only too
poorly Aoen, nut Too 'ass FOR our powers OF con-
coptiou.
Al! the encyclopaedia and theo1osisns dcfno
religion to he tho senaa lnau experiences OF O
Hulre,ue Being. Some Of tho Latin writer's
thought the term dchconded from "religo." to
hind, aud henoa pointed to tue fact
that man, feels bound o. with ohalnu
to Spirit above himself. Ccoro
,h,nks the word comes from !rclego,' and
n,ouua the cancst or deepest study Of man. or
rercadinE. one that goes away from The amface
OF things. Max Muller snys TINT AZ aoon ,s man
las become conscious Of self ho becomes
coMscious OF something above self, and that
this IN religion: 1t srtms almost i ducord to tue
harmony Or thoss yoicea from ancient and
modern lips .ahen St. James comes into the
group with bis announcement that puro and
indebted re1ignn bsforo God is thls 10 visit the
fathor!ess aud the bcraayed, aud to keop onesc't
unspotted from tho world. Dut thors ,e no
4.scosl hero Iasnea ia looking ut tho same
thing which Cicero, aud Max Mullor, and all the
thoolosians. have looked at, only he is lool ing
further aloug 1T the outbreak ct the religious
conEciousneas. Tho former class nre aeokIn9
the mos: fundamental e1rrcaaion. Ask cLonl,
st what wiutcr is, aud lie Will toll you it is the
result Of tho obstruction OF heat by nights that
ara longer than Tho day. and by tho quartet
declh.ailon OF the eartAs axis; but aBk the
child, tie common citizen, aud he will point se
loat,osa trees, to snow.coyored hills, to frozer
streame, to poor, shtVering, homeless chtldron
and say. "Tkat il wintor." lhia last class takt
. up tho definition further along from tho atart
ing-pel"t.
: Titus st. James really comen into conflict will
nobody, but begins where other minds coazc, ant
in 10 doiug he has rudeI ad tho world higual
vica. Very closely, too, has DO followed hls
tiona Of tarnr, but placcd His Statements
far away from .mataphyacs. out in th'
region Of daily activity. Tho sormou OIL till
. Mount eau bu nothing more than a de'inition O
y religion. taLcu not where tho sentln.sut riseH
, | but whcrc It widena out into lifa. James, fol,
lowing bis Master, examines shower OF ruin
@ not up In the cold whore it forms, but down il
tho valley whore 1t falls upon the wheat aud til
A lily, the oak md tho daisy,
Definitions may bo too fundamental for th!
I great public, anu may thus conceal y trtlt
iilasoad Of unfolding It and it il hardly to b
D doubted TINT, When tho world wus undor the in
. huenoo Of the philosophers, an it was frona
o Plato to Luther, aud when tho truth waH al
Q fad .out 70 the multitude through tue worda 0
;, ouly profound inquiry. religion lay conceaie
> among the very terms that wore meant to rovea
It it. Acting upon the profound instruction Of til
Sroatest nsn, nillionB Of souls felt thai to stun
r out in ths burning sand or upon ths summit Of
. pillar, or to pass life IN chyorn, or to ignor
j. aud solitude, religiun, because raligio
:. is consciousness Of God. 10 keep up this pcl
l. petna! nelae Of the Deity MAS the motive thu
+ inade Lbs IIindoo stand cut On th desert sand
l. day aud night and gaze upward; that mad
}, Simeon Htylites pass bis forty yoars upon plla
: and led = multitude to dock after the sacrcdnet
n OF Aia example; this was the proposition tha
o founded mouuatorios and oonyents. end Induce
Ii men and women to isolate themselves from
i | world that only stood batwoan them aud God,
9 Tic daauttion OF religion was too narrow.
10 waH not only imperfect because fnlBe, bus it ":
II too narrow Tor human life that was to draw 81
. ucatiou aud happiness fran tha variety OF ta fec
ir inva utu1nn aud n,rslliH The human mind Gal