Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-05-14
AN ADDRESS.

The following address was delivered at
the anniversary of the Young Mems Chris
tian Association of Knoxville, in the Second
Presbyterian Church, Sunday night, April
30th, by Rev. Il. j. Cooke, pastor Of the
NJ. Z. Church in Atlanta, Ca, and pub
lished by request:
MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION: I cannot
be otherwise than sensible TO the honor
which you have conferred upon me in in
viting me to address you upon this occasion.
But as in almost everything else, side by
side with the honor hes the responsibility,
and that | keenly feel, as every one must
who addresses his fellow-men, if he be
honest and sincere, and not charlatan nor
luekless victim of lawless enthusiasm.
Yet with this sense of responsibility
there is mingled an element of Joy. 1t is
indeed, friends, It right noble sight to be-
hold young men who are supposed to be
very susceptible to the seductive infut noes
of the world; young men who are already
engaged in life's stern duties, united with
the strong cords OF the Gospel of Christ
and striving with unfagging zeal to assist
His holy church 10 establishing His king
dom over all other municipalities and pow
ers. Down through the long ages of the
past, ages of conflict and glory, sharp and
clear juts out the Fact that young men Ell
dowed with supernatural power have evel
been Gods reserve forces in the work of
human redemption. In our own times col
lege students first conceived the great idea
of the missionary society, and from the
sacred halls of Princeton went forth tne
immortal pioneers, Mills, Newell and judi
son, herald: O. that c. o5s whose glory shall
yet food those distant chimes, the scenes of
their tir4t missionary l-bor5 This Chris
tlan ASSOCIATION is iIe outcome Of youn.
mems devo 10 TO The Lord Jesus of en-
irrepreSslble desire 10 aid in baving the
thousands OF the worlds children from the
dangers of tbislfe and from those in the lie
to come. 1t is blessed institution, a
mighty auxiliary power for the church, Ca
pablo of achievements vaster far than | be-
ieye it has yet imagined. Therefore, its with
some hesitation that [ approach the subject
a-5iSred Inc by yorr secretary: The rela-
ton 10 the church of the Young Mems
Christian Association, since it is OF the
widest extent and the greatest importance.
In treating this subject [ wish 10 make
clear 10 our mind the relation which this
association should bear to the church of
Ch,ist-first, il general or Universal sense,
aod second in particular or local sense.
First-lu a general or universal SENSE.
Undec this head | wish TO present a mo-
menlous Fact in the history of Chris ianity,
to VIII CHI the condition of evangelical Protest
anti5m OF to-day and the existence of this
association bears a peculiar resemblance. At
the close of the fifteenth century The first
s,relks of the dawn which has since bright
eled inc day that shall kno no night.
penetra, ed the darkness OF the middle ages.
Men studied geography and the art OF navi-
CATION; the merchant princes of Venice
Pisa and Genoa secured the leas; rumors of
other lands, rich in uninagined wealth, dis
turbed mems dreams, and virgin continent,
surprising Plato's famed Ats lantis, was re-
vealed. In the East, Constantinople, the
capital of the Byzantine Empire, had fallen
and Instead of The Cross, on st. Sophia
gI.tersd the cIe.cent of Mohammed. In
tnis city had been gathered under the munif-
cence of the Emperor's vast treasures of
a. {, vases, statues, scultured antiques, relics
of departed glory. Here were also treas
ure6i immense collections OF ancient MSS,
aud here were read in The language of
Homer, the travels of Herodotus, the sub
imi es of Plato, and the dark tragedies of
Hschilus. But the cannon of the merciless
Turk shattered the marble palaces and jas
per domes of this magnificent city, expelled
the opulent and the learned and dispersed
them over Europe, thousands of them
wandered 10 Italy and carried with them their
Oriental luxury, their science, art and
ancient literature. Then came the re-
vival of the Roman literature; noughG
was heard in this city of the Popes
but the silvery rythm of the Ciceronian
Latin. With the aid of the newly invented
printing press the original works of the
a,toia,1tS 1Uara coafEarad Yb .o11cbo11t T1uraDa
in numberless copies. In Italy, in Rome it
was the delivery of art. Men heard in the
palaces of the Supreme Pon.iffi more of the
gods and nymphs of classic days than of
God and His angels, more of the exploits of
the diyinities of Olympus than OF Christ
and His sufierinSs 1t was the age of
Pophlan worship, of intense enthrallment
of the imaginative powers in the admiration
of the delicatefy beautiful in sensrous art.
The lofty gothic cathedral, with its flying
buttresses van ted roofs and branch
ing pillars was dc emed barbarous COMPARED
with the architectures of Corithinan
or Roman temples. In painting, Venuses
and Minervas and other my biological subjects
| became the fayorites OF the mobiles of the
| church and the public beauties OF Florence
and Rome became the models of Catholic
saints. 1t was the age of luxury, of gor-
/ geOus pomp of initiative art of Godlessnes;.
| of all unrighteousness No bleeding Christ.
| expiring for human gull was held up to the
multitudes. No, the people forgot that there
/ ever was Christ, they were blinded with
| the magnifcence of an ornamented church,
RECALLED with frankincense and soothed with
| strains of artistic music. This was what
| the Rennai- sance, the revival of ancient lit
erature and art did for religion in the
| Church of Rome
But the intellectual wave that swept over
! Europe from the Orient, that was to the
! luxuriant Italians like the incense breathing
zephyrs in the wales of Arcadia, delightful
promoter of intensest pleasure, but which
afterward became a death impregnated
plague-ridden simon, like that which sits
| in grim silence over populous cities, and
from their teeming multitudes breeds cor
ruption; passed beyond the SHOWS of the
| Alps, covered and purified in its upward
fight, swept down like the energizing blasts
of the north, through the valleys and cities
and villages of Germany, quickened the
circulation of thought and thrilled the intel
lectual life of the people with new, strange
power, which made them at once the vi
kings of thought.
The study of ancient literature prepared
the way for critical study of theology, not
the school men, but from the very word of
God itself. Hebrew grammars and Greek
grammars were speedily produced, and ar
IDENTITY studied by enthusiastic thousands at
the great universities; the ancient Scriptures,
the existence of which had almost
been forgotten by the masses, were
translated, and what was formerly the
possession of learned doctors and ancient
universities, became the prize and common
treasure of the great German people. In
the Scriptures they searched in vain TO,
the lofty pretensions of italian eoclesiasti
cism; in vain they searched for the pro-
totype of that mighty system of religion
proud of her antiquity, proud of her IN
comparable grandeur, of her magniicen
ceremonial and of her all embracing, all
subduing power, spiritual and secular
The intellectual breeze became storm
which rose and swept away in triumphan
destructiyeness the phantasmagorlc OF cen
| t,,r;oo. man ,,Ioppa6 ayplOred and studied