National Republican., 1882-12-11
LIFE AS A SCHOOL.

LII ~ tlS n sSIAOoLs
REV. DIR. sHIPPENs PLEA FOR A DIRECT
GIFT TO TIE SCHOOLS FROM THE MA
TIoNAL TREASURY.
At All Souls church the pastor, Rev. Rush
r. Shippcn, spoke from the text, John, vi, 45:
"They shall be all taught of God" Liberal
christianity presents life as a school. The
first part of the discourse was resume of
facts from the educational bureau showing
the wonderful advance throughout the civil
lied world in popular education. On this
basis he offered plea for the reinforcement
of the sch ools of America bya direct gift from
the national treasury, and, in conclusion,
spoke as follows:
In this swift advance of popular culture
what is to be the fate of religion? There are
those who foolishly imagine that science is to
superscde faith that ignorance is the mother
of devotion that religion can flourish only in
the twilight. In one of his essays Lord Ma
cauay argues that poetry flourishes best in the
shadows of the worlds infancy, as in the age
of Homer and must dwindle and decay in the
advancing sunlight. But is it so? Let
science push her discoveries far into the blue
cmpyrean; there is still surrounding realm of
the unknown an infinite deep ofmystery which
battles our skill and research, where imagination
may revel in poetic dreams, and where re-
ligion must bow down and adore. We never
can explore the infinite. To-day, as in the
early dawn when the morning stars sang to-
gether, God is known not by scientific re-
search, not found by crucible or telescope,
but only by faith and purity of heart. In
this the scientist has no advantage. The
accomplished scientist needs faith even as the
humbest saint, who in devout worship still
gropcs in intellectual darkness. The ultimate
secret of life is a mystery that battles Darwin
and Spencer, as it baffied the first investigator
of nature. The knowledge of nature does not
guarantee spiritual experience or intuition.
Science can never resolve the problems of the
heart. They belong to " different domain.
The great facts of sin and sorrow, of life,
death, and eternity, confront us still, and
only call upon us anew to rally the spiritual
forces of brotherly love and faith in God.
Intellectual culture does not of itself and
necessarily bring a spiritual awakening; but
it needs and demands it, and we hope and be-
lieve that the good God will so answer it that
it will surely come. Superstition may vanish
with the bats and owls, while true religion
can only rejoice in becoming more enlight-
ened and pure. The old mythologies of
local hell and heaven as prison or paradise
will only give place to a deeper reading of
those eternal laws of destiny that for
ever bring retribution or reward as
the harvests of our failure or fidelity, of
the wrath of God and the world wrecked
and cursed, and man, crude notions
totally depraved, can no longer withstand the
daylight of advancing intelligence; but who
can doubt that the creed of the dark ages
will only give place to n rational piety that
shall see God as universal father nature
benefcent, the universe good world to live
in to those who learn to obey her laws and
life better worth living here and here
after to every educated SOUL Unless
they can conform themselves to the new
regime the pope and his hierarchy may well
combat with the energy of despair this new
birth of humanity. Before it the thrones of
spiritual tyranny must,totter and crumble and
fall. The fresh vitality of thought will surely
bring n larger freedom of conscience and of
worship. Better acquainted with nature and
her benefcient laws with the soul, its true
interests and welfare its faculties and possi-
bilities, humanity will rise from the low
levels of bestial life and of materialism and
atheism and come up to the higher levels of
rational existence as children of the most
high.
Chinese gongs and pagodas may perish and
pass away, but who can doubt that music and
architecture will survive in finer forms.
Deep and permanent ms the instinct of music
and beauty is the instinct Of religion in the
human SOUL Creeds may perish, but religion
will mount to finer forms with the growing
intelligence of man. OF the ultimate result
we cannot doubt who believe in the
divine promise of human nature. Mean
while it behooves us to remember
that the call of the hour is for a
reinforcement of conscience and practical
religion Quickening of the wits is not of
| itself and necessarily conservation of the
| soul. Education may stop half way.
Cultivating the cunning of the fingers
and the brain may leave the heart still cold
and false. Teach villain to read and write
and you only give him increased power of
villainy. You offer him the larger oppor-
| tunity and temptation of crime The expert
machinist is the more effective burglar |;
| the skilled accountant is the more
accomplished forger. If nations enter
upon war their scientific arts only rem
der their mighty armamcnts the more de-
structive and their warfare the more deadly.
The intellectual advance, therefore, calls for
the keenor scrutiny of conscience. rude
guess at time by glance at the sun or the
clumsy time-pieces of earlier days were all
| sufficient when men travelled by stage
coach or Canal-boat five miles an
hour But at fifty miles an hour we
need watches true to the second or
we get left or encounter collision and crash,
So in the old days of village enterprise, neigh
! bOrly companonship, and small dealings an
ordinary conscience might suffice; but with
| railways across the continent, and telegraphs
around the globe, when millions are
| handled, and great trusts and transactions
vOlved, we need more conscience than was re-
quired a hundred years ago, More religion is
needed to WELD the mighty materialism Of to-
day, have plead to-day for reinforcement of
popular education by the state. Alas for us if
this shall in anywise supersede the heart cul-
ture that can rightly come only by best fdel-
ity in the church and home. No endowment
by gold or lands from the public treasury can
rightiully replace the loss of that heart cul-
ture whose proper province is the church and
home. The intellectual advance only summons
the church to increased activity Let it
leave in the shadows of the past its outwOrn
metaphysics of dogmatic controversy and its
superstitious of barbarous mythology, and
even as our schools are becoming practical
with thenew science, let the church become
practical with brotherly love and righteous
ness. Let it emphasize Jesus own preaching
of the good Samaritan and the sermon ON the
mount, that judges religion by its fruits and
builds the edifce of salvation on the eternal
rock of right.
The new culture also is a fresh demand
upon the home. The schOOlmaster surely is
not to supersede the mother or the father. On
the contrary, his work only renders theirs the
the more needful. As our homes are growing
more beautiful with costly bric-a-brac and ar
tistic adornment, let not the hearthstone grow