, 1875-08-01

miner d1ayman, stevedorc, OF sailor from the
punishment @ Of hs sins, u ipso tacto saiiicient
land here's your policy. Nov, believe that you
are insured and that belief win be accepted at
this branch Office Of the Redeemc1:s Kingdom
as tho payment OF your premium, and your
RBoa Ro!ls5 wau ISSUE lmmediste1y and accordingly,
Other branch Offices OF the Redeeuer NAY re-
qoue that you subdue your heshy luats, th.r
you e1hsbis in your daily walk an improved and
purez and more loving Life. I have no tino for
that. Az l ask you to do is to believe in tho
blood OF Jesus, cling to the cross ct Christ look
to Calvary"
The question whether such e1hortations con.
vert the mateciallst and sinner into = Christian,
or whether they On the contrary tend rather 70
pe.vert Christianity into materialisn, in order
to bring it down to the level OF the vulgar, de-
pepds solely On whether tho mass Of men and
women who are Affected BY such preaching take
the words literally, or whether, notwithstanding
the litoralness Of the words, and the Ignorance
Of the auditors, they still have common sense
enough to grasp at the spiritual thing sign,fcd
instead OF 1t the physical symbol to which alona
thay are 30 hoty and l1o!atrously commended :
The tendency to ma:eEialize all forms Of fAish.
and the ever-recurrlng need to revive tho slno-
plicity OF tho primary form Of faith are facts to
which the whole history OF the Christian Church
bears Witness. Peter the Hermit Was physical
theoogian OF the Moody pattern, and stirred up
the entire scum Of Europe to q bloody struggle
for the Holy sepa1chre. attrlbutiny hke super
the material body OF Jesus was laid as Mr. Moody
attributes to the body ITSELF The sale OF indul-
gences BY tue Church Of Rome WAS bus the le-
gitimate out5rowth Of the Physical or mercantile
staple Of the Moody theology: $50 much
money for much s,n. said the
Pope, "for the blood OF Christ has a!rsady
bought your redemption, and you only need thas !
the prayers Of the Church make this 1ed1 mption t
applicable in your several csses. These prayars
must be paid fer, for the laborer is worthy Of bis
hire" $50 much blood for so much sin, - says
Moody; "bolieye that aud you are bought and
paid for Then enter the Church, and, when the
contr.bution-box comes around. cast in your
mite" The ultimate result is no! very different
in the two cases. Neither OF them conveys
much Of idea OF the kind OF Christianlty that
Jesus taught IN the Mount or that is beloved in
by intelligent Christians.
Educated Christian thcolosians generally By
lie1e that salvation from sin '5 n interior spirit
| ual change, beginning in the affections. whereby
| men and women come to love purity, to practice
humanity. to live kindly, to speak truly, to walk
| reverence God and love man, to render to every
| mau whom they xuov his duo End to look re1e1-
| entia1ly and meeklv upward in the study OF tho
things they cannot know, but concerning which
| they are compelled to believe. The cross and
blood OF Christ, Calvary and the Sepu1chre. azo
| all to them types. more or less near or remote,
| OF voluntary suffering for others, or selt-sac!'-
flee, as the distinguishing divine attribute In
Christ. subordinase!y found in Ill men
in tho degree in which they aro Chris
tian. OF course the Bibie is bound together
bv a scarlet thread ~ il also the human body.
But the early phJsioloeiats who thought they skw
the soul or life principle IN these scarlet Veina
aud arteries wete materalists. Il merely courses
through them- 1t is equally present where they
arc not and it survives, We may bellows. when
they dissolve into earth. Their error is trivial
however. compared with that Of the theologiana
who protesting to preach : reeane1stcd Life