, 1877-08-11
The liberal Faith.
A SERMON
BY REV. d. n. UTTER.
From the Unitarian Advocated

hold on entelnal life. TIM. 6-l2.
As liberal Christians, we would listen
to this exhortation from Paul, not SIM.
ply because of his authority as an apos-
,le but because OF his example as bold,
sincere, earnest, Christian man. What
Paul commanded Timothy might have
little meaning for us, but this eShorta'
,ion shows the spirit sfthe man, aman OF
faith, ready to contend for the faith that
was in him, and one who believed IN
this method, thought Timothy, or 'ny
other Christian, who had any faith
ought to make good eight for 1t.
And Paul was right, all great men
have believed SO and lived so. Luther
fought good fight for his faith, Agass'z
fought a good fight tor his faith, the
greatness OF man is measured by his
faith and bis readiness to fight for it.
Talk of the warfare Of science, its CON
hict its fight with religioul 1t is sim
uly conflict between men, on account
of varying faith. Men do not fight over
certainties. When thing is settled, is
made certain, the fight Is over, and what
was once theory held as the basis OF
faith, takes its place rs science. 1t is a
fight of faith the whole of it. One man
has faith in the theory of evolution,
another has none, because his faith rests
in a special creation theory, and these
two contend and fight. One of these
theories will be settled as science by and
by and there will be no more dispute
over it than there is over the law of
gravitation now; but till then we will
have fight of faith raging about this
point. Paul was right, this the true
course the manly method, the mission OF
every one who feels any strength as his
own, to fight the fight of faith. And SO
l take sthis exhortation to myself this
morning, and feel the nerve thrill the
soldier feels when the bugle calls to arms,
AZ hear the call of this old Christian
ringing down through the centuries; l
pass it on to you brethren, crying
"The day is at hand, let us awake and
fight the fight of faith"
And to US, this morning, this means
the Liberal Christian Fdith-the hith
that is in us. By necessity of our
thinking. we are bound to believe as we
do, and this means that we think our
faith the true faith, the best faith, We
believe that the way we interpret Chris
tianity, is better for us, and better for
the world, as fast as they can grow into
it, than the orthodox Interpretation. If
we have laid hold upon this faith as
healthy thinkers ought, we are bound to
think that we are right, to feel that
what we believe is true, though We may
hold as theory alsO the possibility Of
our being wrong on some points. This
thing of believing is strange phenome-
non. BY its very condition oil existence
a man is bound to think himself wiser
than all the world, right though every
one else be wrong. 1t seems sort Of
providential provision, for the working
out of the worlds great problems, that
each man should implicitly believe that
he has solved them and set about, bring
ing the rest of the world into line. It's
like the rule OF position in the old arith-
meties you guessed at the answer. and
then put it in all positions required in
the statement of the question, and by
the way it worked, found out how you
had misSe IN your guessing. So, we
are in this world as believers, working
out truths of science and philosophy by
believing that we have guessed them,
aud working as the phrase goes, "on
that lay out"
But these philosophical considerations
need not trouble us, for whether man
is absolutely right or not, it is best for
him to think he is; and, provided he is
not so bigoted as to refuse to investigate,
to hear and consider argument, he is in
the best possible attitude for acquiring
more truth, or marching on toward
Truth absolute And SO it happens to
be true, that we think, liberal Christi
anity, the best Christianity, we ever saw,
the best in the world, the lest for the