Smyrna times., 1880-04-14
Emotional Religion.
BY REY. j. I. I,MsTFn

paganism. Tie Christian religion embodies
both thought, and feeling, and is the product
OF dOctrnal truth, 10y which the mind or
intellect is enlightened, and the affection :
warmed, amd moved by the influences of
the spirit of God. 1t has been well re.
marked by Rauch in his work on Psvchol.
ogy, that, " Feeling without knowledge is
blind, mystical, dark inexpressble, and
unlntelllglble; its contents may by the
highest or lowest, right or injustice, ioy or
griet, wrath, hatred, hope or fear, the royal
Hover or the most nOxious weed" There
Is nothing more deceptive than the winds,
or the sea. They have, psychologically
considered, their seat in the &" heart " which
Inspiration declares, " is deceitful above all
things All feeling is changeable, now it.
raises our Zeal, and interest, and now again
1t leaves us cold, and Indifferent, now il
elevates US to heaven, and now again it
suffers us to sink down in despair.
There can be no proper development of
religious character, no true spiritual growth
without knowledge, a knowledge of the
truth. Hence our Lord In his great earth
prayer to the Father, says " "Sanctify
them through thy truth thy word is
truth. Hence the absolute necessity Of
ministers Of the gospel preaching the truth,
may grow in grace and not live upon their
feelings, have nothing more than an emo.
tloRal religion, which, rightly considered,
Is not true religion at all unfortunate
Tor the church that theIe is "a class of such
rellRlonlsts, and partlke more of the animal
than the intellectual, and are never satisfied
unless their emotional nature Is stirred and
excited, unless they can weep or tie ioyous.
such CHRISTIANS never grow. They NAV
live until they get old, tut they are bates
IN Christ. Their spiritual stomachs have
never heen able or trained TO inwardly
digest " the sincere milk of the word, that
they may grow thereby much les tAe
strong meat Of the word which 'helonr
eth to them that are of full age" They
have been fed upon pap with spoon
vIctualS," nursed and dandled in their feel
lngs as little children and therefore have
never been developed INTO the stature OF
perfect maRhooa. They cannot endul Q
doctrnal preaching winch is the life ana
food OF the soul, they must have something
to make then feel, to draw forth the tear
or th" manifestations oi JOY. they dOat on
the preacher wno j. unto them as d vprv
lovely song oi Que that Iath Il pleasant
voice, and can play well on an instruments"
who can " lead thtNI as with the voice uf
doves tahrrlng upon their breasts" ANY.
thing beYuni this that would set them to
thinking would give "a pam in the head, or
tend 10 the adding Of tAtir brains, or might
produce angina pectortS or neuralgia of the
heart. They are fond of the "survad
eagl" style OF preaching. the sensational,
dramatic. They are too l,ious To- go to the
regular theatre, but have no objection to
have the play enacted in the church. They
will hang on the lips OF the preacher OF this
stamp. and drink in his words as starved
calves under the lac;elal appendage Of the
bovine tribe, and who can beat Moses in
describing the food and St. John in the
description OF heaven. They care nothing
about the truth, only that their emotional
nature is kept over the fire, and raised up to
blood or even boiling heat. They want
to feel. that is enough. They don't want
to he Instructed. They are never made
dlvlnely wise; know nothing as they ought
to know about true religion and Christian
doctrine, and hence are selfconceited, self
important, and think of themselves more
highly than they ought to think. When
you converse with them on the subject Of
religion, they cannot tell you anything
about the being of God, his divine perfec.
tlons and government, anything about the
OF redemption in the harmonizing of the
divine attributes. They can only tell you
how they feel on the up or down scale Of
religious emotion, and this often times with
the sys1phOny Of grean and in the tone of
pious whine, which is as disgusting as it
Often is hypocritcal.
They are flaming Christians in times Of
religious excitement, but when things settle
down, from a natural law, to dead level or
state OF repose, their ardor cools, their
religion Is down TO zero, and preserved, as
some people do meat, in ice. They go with
heads bowed down like bulrush, take
little or no interest in spiritual things or in
the affairs of the church, unless it is to
complain, and oftentmes to fad fault with
the preacher, who is in heavinesS of heart
concerning them. and would fain bring
them back to their first love. SO emotional
are they, that they may be classed among
the noisy Christians, and frequently the
turbulent ones. and who when they cannot
make noise or create o disturbance, are
generally struck dumb.
There is more good sense in what the old
colored woman said to her noisy sister in
meeting, than in the expressions of many Of
these emotional Christians, and which they
should profit by "Taint the rale grace.
honey, taint the sure glory, you hollers too
loud, caise when you get the Lamb in your
heart and the Dove in your bosom, you'll
feel as if you were in that marger at Beth
lshem, and the blessed Virgin had given
you the sleeping baby to hold" How much
better 1t is, not to subsist upon feeling,
mers emotion in religious life, which is
all for nothing, and what is worse to the in
calculahle injury done to the soul by those
who thus live, but to have knowledge in the
head and grace with its twin sister in the
heart, and without which, the heart cannot
be right or intelligent in any of its religious
exercises. We want in these days stalwart
Christians, with fixed and settled princi.
Piles, with steadfastness of faith in Christ,
rooted and built up in him. not wavering
like the wave OF the sea, driven with the
winds, and tossed, not as :" wells without
water, clouds that are carried with a tenn.
pest-trses without fruit" The age de.
mands an intelligent, manly, upright, stable
Christianity, not = puerile, vaoillating, sniff.
ling, emotional Christianity, ligion that
is steadfast unmoveable, always abeundins
In the work of the Lord" Such a Christi.
anity only is worth anything. Such rslig.
ion only has power.--Bdltimore PRESBYTERIAN.
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CONFEDERATE MoNUMENTs-Ths South
which has shown a wonderful liberality in
raising money to erect monuments to com.
memmorate the :" lost cause" have tried
the same in the city of Baltimore in Eutaw
Place, in State that did not secede, and
the measure passed. the city council despite
the remembrance of several wise Southrans.
On coming before Major Tatrobs for his sig
nature it was vetoed, returning it with the
reason that while the political issues in.
velved in the war have been settled by
its result. the sympathies Of those who were
actors in it on either side continue to exist,
and while these feelings continue no such
monument as is proposed can be erected
without wounding the sentiments of a