The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-10-25

w uO lOT Ills SAKE wv lilly Dt counted III IL
servants, and speaking the truth as His
spirit gives us the means.
II it he true, beloved, that we, rs MEM
bers OF one body, coming here can find our
selves benefited and helped, and caparisoned
for the work that is set before us immedi-
ately TO do, is there not in this fact n sug-
gestion as to the methods by which all truth
is to' bc sought OF men? Oh we live in
days when there come, even from the high
est seats Of the world-hOnored learning Of
our time, voices that give us despair Of the
truth which the very nature i'm US cOmpels
us to seek; for we live in days when men
come to remind us with an eagerness that
must be invincble in regard to the presence
OF the infinite mysteries which surround us
everywhere; and when we endeavor 10
peer into the darkness we are driven back
and compelled to remember that we are
dust, and that our gaze shall not penetrate
beyond the narrow limits which our hui
manity has set for us.
What - truth? The answer TO the ques-
ton is upon many lip to-day, and the
world, listening to these voices, has come
il would seem, TO the very depths Of a wise
humiliation. and has turned away every
suggestion for truth except such rs can be
gathered in minutest detail by long gene
ratiOns Of patient laboring men- patient
creatures who will here and there gather
up a mass Of material which shall at least
serve the purpose OF or little life that is
Grounded with a sleep" We are standing
i'm the midst Of this spirit Of agnOstcism-
4 word that is most familiar to our ears
when the God OF our worship is mentioned
as the adjective that is employed to describe
! Him as unknOwablc by mortal man. This
seems TO be the outcome OF the philoso-
phizing Of our times. The spirit pervadcS
all our intellectual life. Yet. brethren. ac-
cepted rs this philosophy is in our time, |
myself, not yet an old man, can remember
! that within my days there have been in
/ Europe and America two systems Of phi-
losophy accepted by the intellect OF the
world, and that one has supplanted the
| other since can remember.
The point made here was that the C0Smic
/ philosophy Of Spencer Is the direct negative
Of every theory OF Positiyism. The
| speaker continued: We are Standing face
/ TO face, beloved, with Him who said long
centuries ago, d" He who hath seen me hath
seen the Father" Which shall we hear,
/ the Christ who called men TO eternal lIfc,
which He declared was TO know the f.
/ thcr, or the philosophy which declares it
/ impossible for men to know God at all be-
cause He i the Infinite, because He I, the
/ Absolute, because His infnity rcsiSts the
cramping bounds Of human knowledge.
| declare to you, in the name OF every
man o; this Church Congress al least, thai
/ | can see God, that / have seen God, and
| that know Him as my Father; and upon
| that statement | dare to 20 90 the humanity
| which is To- be preceded by His gospel and
proclaim the fact, and I snail wait with Che
utmost patience and ,,ith the utmost con-
! fdencc FOR the raising Of a new philo>o-
| ply, which shall at east know something
OF the God that made us.
| We come as members Oi this Church
| Congress, dealing with these high themes
presented from the solid ground OF Christs
revelation OF truth. Shall we with con-
| fdcnce compare His religion in every 10
spoct with any philosophy that men have
/ made OF shall ever make! know in my
/ heart that the humanity TO which that rcli-
/ gion appeals shall still respond to it out Of
/ the depths OF it, nature; that il shall still
/ know the difference between revelation
OF God and a bare speculation OF men.
/ That humanity will always in the event
turn TO any human system and say to any
philosophy OF this kind with all the clO-
qucncc. though possibly without the ma
/ levolcnt ScoTn Of Mirabcau TO his defeated
rival. There is no divinity in thee
/ Yea, humanity will recognize in the Chris
/ tian philosophy not only that which has
placed in it spiritual life i'm its hopes of
another world, but has transformed this
earth since il has been troddcn by the foot
steps Of immortal love.
Ichim that the intellectual ylgor-yca, the
very characteristics OF the nhnd-o1 The
nineteenth century have been made by the
Christianity which ii cndeavors 10 trampIc
i'm the dust. From the time of Paul, the
scholarof Gamalcl. down yesterday, when
the last Christian scholar WAS buried amid
the fears Of solemn mcn-cVcr since that
time, from the beginning on to thi, hour
culture and Christianity have been united
indi-solully. IT was tabled that the statue
Of Ncmnon gave musical note when the
sun Of the morning east il light upon H..
Humanity has responded with the harmo-
nias Of intelligence since it has been smli-
ten bv the beams OF the sun OF human
itv. The whole horizon OF humanity
was wider when Christ the Lord came
from the bosom Of the Father and showed
men that they too were His children; that
they too shared in that humanity which he
had taken into the GOdhcad. From that
hour onward | can see human culture
travelling across Europe, across the seas,
a,ro>, new continents. Everywhere can
lind the Christian first, and the scholar al
forwards. Everywhere can | see the great
university Springng into life. because men
have learned from Jesus Christ that no
fragment Of truth in Gods world can be III
different 10 the man WHO believes IN linn
who is the Truth.
tbtp a. -
nation Of Christian woman-it was the
nroiound wisdom OF a Christian phlloNo-
pher-that taught one to say
=. PAGAN kissing for a step Of Pan
Thewild goats hoof-print on the ioaming down.
evcced. our modern thinker who turn.
hack the ,trata-thc gravel, limestone, coal,
and clav-concuding coldly with the
:. Here's law-wherc is Godf"
The Church Congrcs, makes it, protest
AGAINST such philosophy, and says to men
Nc begin with the revelation OF God IN
Jr.u> Christ we begin with the confession
that God is the Father OF men and tha'
Chri.t has revealed if, and henceforth We
.tond in the light OF the sun OF Righteous
noss not only that We may look into the
, a,.on heavens. but that we may see th'
, I'll q. il i at our feet and see II truly
700 II with ewes that are not blinded
ond tbc questions that are proposed
70 us for our thinking or iol
, onr action we expect to have Hooded
. with light which comes, from Heaven
Therefore. we take our place here by The
, cro.s ~ Jcsus Christ, feeling our onenes
with al who have gone before in such en-
I; tornr;"c feeling our kindred and on
! irdthorbood in the one Fathers house
. owning and acknowledging the o6hgatiGn
Of a tender, higher charity, ana ieelin:
q olso that we are standing IN the posltiol
. where God has set men in the order una Una
g thew may discern truth at the centre ,i,,l wner
= GNi 81 hi,,,.oM i reyealed. The footsteps o