Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-26

Love God, thy Maker; love thy fellow.men:
Love without stint; thou shalt not love in
Rouse thee. o Heart! and do thy work in
Love is the c%onqueror over sin and death,
And when thou' free to seek thy native
Thou shalt find Love the light of Paradise.
Youths Companion.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE CHUR CHI.
The following extracts are from a re-
cent discourse by Prof. David Swing,
of Chicago, based on the passage in
John XIV, Is: .Henceforth I call you
not servants, but I have called you
friends"
The passage read as a text asks us to admit
at least among competitive plans the religion
i long i servants m1e G but fr say; eS Mhssn 9a tho he
word servant occurs it means friend, and
parsonage came three Influences religion, a
system of morals and an active brotherhood.
combining PM ,lid,9, they constitute a trinity which
the Christian field. Look at these potentates.
Religion, the belief in a good and just and
infinite God. and in an endless existence, a
system OF morals pointing out every path of
duty and happiness, a brotherhood or church
| attending to the spread of these ideas through
education and persuasion and all love-relig-
ion, morals, church-these agencies combine
for the general welfare of mankind. The
philosophy OF II God and of a second life
wo%la ALONE T%e seem ans an tha nneiaua sasiof friend Of p1 the
mnch though they lie only upon the pages of
books. Silently they work outward, M at
last appear in the lives and characters Of
men. Thus the theory of a God and of mans
immortality if separated from any priest or
pew would seem full Of the spreading, con-
we add the force or a brotherhood whose aim
Is the actual persuasion OF the millions, we
have q combination which ought to bca friend
mind such an array of idea and mediation
ought to offer some charm as a scheme for
helping the people.
Independently of religion seems admitted to
be more true than ever before. 1t is seeking
some new solution OF the enigma about the
public veal. 1t will not admit for a moment
that it has become reckless. 1t will maintain
to the last Ms that it is seeking its highest happi-
ness n The conclusion must be that it is look
with the footsteps of the saints, not that the
plurality IS thus gazing right and left, but that
times is thus wandering seems not to be de-
MED.
The recent sermons of DIR. Dix may have been
co!ored too darkly, spoken as they were in the
spirit of the Lenten season, but his words are
Germany is fast dying out among the people;
oANS SSHSHSCg pOllllCS, DOCUry, JHu.
sic, popular ..amusements attempt to tIi the
void. = = The houses of God are empty,
In Russia the outlook is one which battles con
lecture. = = = In France we watch with
painful interest the unrolling of aprogramme
of atheism In England and in our own
painful evidences that the public is departing
from the old beaten and f1owery paths of piety.
Unable to say how much too dark the distin-
condition of our times, we need not hesitate
70 admit that the theory of Jesus and His or
ganized brotherhood is not to even any small
following false friends and are crucifying as
OF old the truest and be st.
OFTEN blunders are made by the millions of
minds just as by one mine. Greece put to
death her best men. Thus afterward did
Rome. France has beheaded her best pa.
diers into the SHOWS and famine and death
around Moscow. Thus great errors are made
by nations and by multitudes as well as by
fail to see in Christianity its benefactor, that
will be only one more sad fact in a long and
fuctuating history. To many of us the pres
only q mistake. 1t comes not from an inn.
proved logic nor from the discovery of better
Pat tba't o %bi oy way way OF OF an da. frre Sod as tthoughtless
ned Christ or beheaded the patriots of France
or burned the Bishops in England. From
e1taer error or w~ickedness our age is making
q DAD estimate of all the forms OF religion. It
Is allured by false leaders, and will terminate
it's steps in the ditch along with its blind
guides.
1t would seem that a moments reflection
would convince any open and free mind that
the church is philosophically and historically
Even intidels and atheists all agree in declar-
ing that Christ never was surpassed or equaled
as 9 friend of all mankind. Rousseau and
great names in the roll of unbelief, have paid
willing tribute to this sympathy of Jesus.
Mone can n ever deny it, for it was not a little
where human foot never trod, but was an
ocean with nations on its shores and the sun
on it ~ vast expanse. Issuing from such an orr
gln, the church must not be q hater of the
poor-an arch enemy of the people-for it is
not easy to empty an institution of all its
early teaching and spirit.
II 1s a common accusation made nv the
SOCIALISTS that the houses of worship are built
along the fashionable streets, and that the
church bells are to call the rich to worship.
poison int the popular soul have not the re-
G zee s!a TO- .. perceive that the philosophy Of
ways created a taste and an industry which
nave transformed the beggar into q happy
catlzen. When the modern rational and kind
Christianity u lays the foundation of a town or
city, that town reveals All the taste of an art.
r io1t there is an everlasting utilization between
iiiafee a1d c ana SsaS% eirs c II tn b spriFitht,nsss e,n Of
out OF the marsh or the forest or the prairie.
the church has a right to stand upon the
f ideais OF Of its a,'c own t, triumph: If out Of the high
village street with its white cottages and with
ITS long lines Of naples or clms the spire of
God,s house should rise up and its bells ring
in the midst of its own work of enchantnent:
in the large city the same poetic Justice is re.
peated and the church stands among the
estimate and direct lessons of life.
Most of the members Of all ~religious soc,e.
des are IN the middle class, and from these
come the pecuniary resources of the church.
and in these repose is rower and hone. Any
one surveying the whole continent or the en-
tire Christian world will perceive that that vast
| UOOV OF men WCa rlnp tho nnn1n ~ Ib,j,A So.