The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-03-20

persons like no noise III prayer NV d
whisper, not word; others, just as good,
prefer by gesticulation and exclamation,
ioutterth their devotional aspirations Now
let there be no dispute on this subject.
You like one way best and another. l
have no quarrel with my neighbors.
They have quiet in their house; have
quiet in mine. They do not think the
prosperity Of their hou depends on up
setting the peace of mine; nor do | think
the prosperity Of my house depends on
destroying theirs, 30 it ought to be in the
kingdom of Chris-diflerent religious
homes, but good neighborhood. Peace
on earth aud good will TO men" That
is the way il was when the Quaker talk.
ed with George White6eld. they had
some hot words on unimportant subjects
and the Quaker turned to Whiteheld and
said: George, am as thou art; | am
for bringing all men to the hope OF the
Gospel. Therefore if thou wilt not guar,
rel with me about my broad brim, ! will
not quarrel with thee about thy black
gown. Give me thine hand"
In the first place, sectarianism often
starts in wrong education in the home
circle, There are very good people who
educate their children in the wrong di-
rection in this respect, saying thing about
other denominations of Christians, and
caricaturing them, and throwing slure
upon them, which always have baleful
influence in the household. Sometimes
children comeupand go out in the world,
and look into these churches against
which they have been specially warned,
and find that in these churches the peo'
ple love God and keep His command
ments. and by natural reaction they 20
there. | could mention the names OF
prominent ministers Of the Gospel who
once spent much time in bombarding
certain denominations of Christians,
who lived to see their own sons preach
the Gospel in those very churches. But
we must admit the instruction in the
wrong direction in this matter is bad,
and that those are little bigots, ten years
old.
Then the superior power of any one
denomination in a community often
makes bigots. People think that other
churches are wrong, and that theirs is
right, because it happens to be more
fashionable, or wealthy or influential;
and they talk about "our choir" "'our
minister" "our church." and they toss
their heads, and have a patronizing air,
wanting other denominations to know
their places. Now, think it is far bet
ter that in every community the great
denominations have about equal infu-
ence, marching side by side for the con-
Quest of the world. Let us remember
that mere outside prosperity and worldly
power are no evidence that a church is
acceptable to God. Better barn with
Christ in the manger, than Cathedral
with arches like those of st. Michaels, in
Lucca, and traceries like those OF Bay
eux-magnifCent harmonies rolling
through long drawn aisles, and an angel
from heaven proClaiming from the pull.
pit, if there be no Christ in the Chancel
and no Christ in the robes. That relg'
ion is a poor, mean, starveling thing that
ia made ND of book. binders and uphols-
terers. The religion of Christ oftener
sits ON the curbstones with Lazarus than
in the palace with Dives, and helps Ma
both cultivate his vineyard oftener than
Ahab rule his kingdom. Men do the
opposite to what people suppose. They
sometimes 60 up to hell and down to
heaven. Dives went up and Lazarus
went down. Do you know where they
came out2 Transpose the positions.
Further, ignorance is the mother OF
seGtarianism. knowledge enlarges the
mind. You seldom find an intelligent
man who is a thorough bigot; it is the
man who thinks he knows a great deal,
but does not. In the far East there is an
obelisk, have been told, one side of it is
white, another side of it is blue and an
other side is green. The story says that
once some travellers went to look at that
obelisk. They did not take the trouble
to walk around it, but each looked at one
side and came back. The travellers met,
and they got into a fierce contest, one
saying that the obelisk was white, anoth.
er that it was blue, and another that it
was green, "Stop this ContestP said
some one coming in, "I walked allaround
that obelisk and find you are all right
and all wrong" Look out for man who
sees but one side of question and takes
but one view OF anything, Better a man
who, by his intelligence and Christian
faith, can walk all around the religious
subject and know all sides.
If there is any man to be pitied it is
the man who has just one idea in his
head; no, more, no less. Better an en-
tire blank, as we sometimes find it, over
throwing the philosopnic theory that an
entire vacuum is impossible; better vaCu-
ity than Just one idea in the head. 1t
wandeTs up and down, seeking rest, but
finding none, in perpetual loneliness and
bachelorhood, wailing through the des-
ert of mans intellect. Let man give his
life to the discussion of the doctrine of
or the doctrine of free agency,
or the subject Of baptism, or the perse-
verance Of the saints, and he will be i'm
beetle in body and N mind. Bigotry
puts its hand upon mans head and
hattens his skull and makes him lean
and cada 7erous and exhausts him. Run
up your colleges and your schools and
Bigotry cannot live under
these influences, You may kill it with
sunshine.
Look now at the evils of Sectarianism.
In the first place investigation. The diff
'erent denominations were intended for
loly rivalry and honest competition to
keep each other wide awake. If one
denomination of Christians should gar
ole the word OF God there would be hun
1reds to cry out against the sacrifice
While each denomination Of Christians
ought to preach all the doctrines Of the
Bible. 1 really think that it is the mis-
ZION of each denomination more emphst-
Cally to preach some one doctrine. For
Instance, l think it is the mission of the
Church to preach the com.
,lete sovereignty of God; Of the AL
mighty Church to present mans full
lgency; of the Episcopal Church to
Jhow the importance of order and
solemn ceremony; of the Baptist Church
10 show the necessity of ordinances; Of
the Congregational Church to show the
individual responsibility ofits members; ;