Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-02-01

that beatiio state, we are obliged to ask
which one of the hundred odd scots We are
to recognize as perfect. No two of them
agree, and if one is right on all points, all
the others must be wrong. Where there is
room for SO much diversity of opinion
among professedly religious men, how can
they in reason expect those who think for
themselves to steer clear of the domain of
doubt and accept this or that theory or creed
as the one originated by Christ and having
his sanction.
The founder of the Christian church did
not lay down any absolute creed save this !:
'Thou shalt love The Lord thy God with all
thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy
strength and thy neighbor as thyself.'' He
offered suggestions as to the proper methods
of life to be followed by people under the
then-existiDg state of affairs. Many of
these suggestions are as appropriate to-day
as they were nineteen hundred years ago if
We but properly apply them. But there is
no arbitrary rule by which his mystic say
ings can be interpreted. One in
depreciation may serve for one age and an
other for subsequent one. To assert that
the principles enunciated by him as inter-
preted ten centuries ago are applicable to
the present time is to assert that there is
no such thing as progress in religious
thought. 1t is the old dogmatism that de-
clared that the bible having referred to the
four corners of the earth. this planet must
therefore be square and not round. The
clergy assume that hyperbole is truth and
parable q command-an assumption ut
terly without reason and fatal to pro-
gress.
The church will never regain the hold
upon the people it once had until it places
itself abreast of the enlightened thought of
tho world. The time when a minister's
word was regarded as law has happily gone
by. Men are reading the bible for them
selves and drawing their own conclusions as
to its teachings. Though they may
have less i regard for the wisdom
Of the councils of Nice and Geneva,
and less veneration for the profeesed
teachers of the word, yet they have lost none
of their reverence for the character of deity.
They find that be has been nnaligned by
those who profess to worship him. They
find that the principles enunciated in the
new testament are capable of being recon-
ciled with reason; that much that has been
Numbered from the pulpit as law is purely
parabolical; that the translators adapted the
language of the scriptures more to suit their
own preconceived ideas than in accordance
with the ideas of the inspired writer's. I'm
less the clergy consent to incline their ears
unto wisdom and apply their hearts unto
knowledge, they must be content to lose
what little influence they possess over the
intelligent portion of the community, and to
WELD their power only over the ignorant and
unthinking. This is an age of progress.
Christianity is innately progressive, capable
of keep pace with the most advanced thought
of the age and directing it in the proper
channels so as to avoid extremes. The
blame of its backwardness rests upon the
shoulders of those who profess to interpret
and teach its doctrines. Let US, for the good
of the cause, have reform in this direction.
Though much time has been lost it is not
too late to make amends.