Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1883-11-17

of the sutficiency of the holy scriptures fo
salvation next after the articles of the trini
ty; and they did not mean that the rule where
by all doctrines are to be "infallibly proved
| is itself fallible, or is yet to be proved. Me
| misunderstood and then discredit scriptur
because they never understood the witness
the keeper, the church, and the church
| teachableness to her Lord. He opens tn
heavens: the bible holds them open to GU
| eyes; the church keeps the channels ope
whereby gifts and messages come and &C
Over the pastures Of the putriarchs and be
fore the Seer at Patmos alike theophanie
break through the sky; angels of all the GOV
enants ascend and descend upon the son 0
man, seen of those angels, justified in tn
spirit, believed on in the world, preached un
to the Gentiles, received up into glory.
To take men and things as they are, in OF
der to make them what they ought to be, il
the craftsmanship of common sense. II
ignore facts or be dainty in accommodation
in order to revel in II theory, is the insanit,
of the doctrinaire. The head of the churcl
permits us the comfort of observing cheerin:
signs, AS that, all over the country whel
thoughtful minds now pass out of their owl
religious belongings, on Il revision Of the
claims, they pass far less frequently from on
to another of these voluntary societies thar
from all of them to our households; as tha
lately, more than ever before, one feature at
ter another in the Apostolic system, with tht
logical coherency of them all, is found accep
table to our lately jealous neighbors. Will i
not be reasonable also for aus candidly to ac
knowledge that there is among them a yea
for God, a afervor of piety, quick sagacity tt
discern religious opportunities, 4 cOusecratiOI
of property, ut once estimable and imtable
We had better confess, for instance, that OF
the score of theological education, in ample
libraries, in strong endOwments, in multiply
ing branches of research in an even pace
with the best students abroad, we have NJ
boasts whatever to make before one, if moi
two or three, of the Christian bodies working
and worshipping at our side; in fact, nothing
at all worthy of our superior heritage anC
traditions.
Under the same double law, of permanence
and movement, the church finds the motive
and the Joy of her missionary action. "As
the father hath sent me. SO send l you.'
Foreign missions. home missions, missions to
men of any tongue or color, are but the un-
folding and spreading of the power of the
one incarnate life. That is uni, ersal, and SO
must our missions be. That is endless, and
SO must the travels of our missionaries be.
There is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek. Humanity dead or dying in sin il
always the foreign" land. All souls COW
enanted and nourished in the church are at
''home" with the elder brother. At the con-
vention now closing, unprecedented reports
of evangellZing toll have stirred our hearts.
Strong voices have told us of bold enterprises.
OpShihSS, so SdSI tuuC OuT Wcith ldIlu IldIul
knows whether they must arouse or dis
courage us, have been exposed all over the
earth. If results are out of proportion to the
Lords commission, and our sacrifices to the
glory set before US, may 1t not be partly be-
cause we let the charity of Christ be covered
up under secondary reasons c'Oser to our
own interests! May it not be partly because
we regard numbers and dimensions, social
trophies Of our own "net and drag, p
more than the Saviour's honor; put forward
our cause as being ours, and forget to weigh
the incalculable difference between q soul
saved and a soul lost! Must there not be
some such illusion to account for the shame:
full seltishness and the wicked dlsobedience,
which in hundreds Of whole parishes
tens of thousands of baptized persons hold
back offerings from Christ, for the conversion
of those for whom He died? The reproach
of 1t is guilty enough to make men wonder
that God does not remove the fiameless eau
dlestick out of its place. Animate the en-
thuslasm of our assemblies as you please, by
large figures or jubilant bulletins, there have
been no great aggressive movements, no
sanity leaders of them, east or west, north
or south, save as the patient, pathetic love of
Christ constrained them.
In every class the springs of all morality are
tainted by the desecration of marriage-vows.
To defile the homes of a nation is to bar
barrie it. The purity of family life and
thence of social life subsisting only IN the
sanctity of wedlock, the true obligations of
that covenant are found only in the teaching
which presents the rule of its nature in the
mystical union between Christ and His
church. Whatever may be accomplished by
secular alarm or policy in checking divorce,
there must be more searching remedy. 1t
must be profounder force that regulates the
passions and Judgment in forming and pro-
'ecting the marital tie itself, Christening not
only its form but its spirit. Wretched house,
holds and broken matrimonial pledges come
'f Tightly engagements, an absence of all
seriousness from the most solemn of all hu-
nan steps, immodest publicity in the lives of
loys and girls in streets and public houses,
he abneSation of parental control, or the re-
ection of it by juvenile insubordnation. In
learly all our cities and large towns the side
walks after nightfali are alive with gay but
presages of social degeneration.
There can hardly fail to be before long gem
'ral effort to supplant with pure but enter
aiming reading the ruinous publications that
ire poisoning readers of all ranks-a litera-
moral death. The pulpit has its responsible
ty; special combinations may do something;
'ut far more is to be done by breeding pure
manners and guarded thoughts in young
hildren through the instructions of mothers
md fathers i'll dwellings where daily domes-
lc prayers quicken the conscience and cleanse
he heart.
Frighttul statistics have lately shown how
arefuly the public school system needs to
'e watched, how utterly inefficient a mere
'oOk knowledge is to forestall vice or crime.
-oose notions of doctrine and duty may Green
nto the air as well by untaught teachers in q
sunday school, where the rector has aban-
oned the trust of his ordination to we'll
meaning incompetence, as by the sophistries
f some audacious author or preacher who
ublishes his destructive fancies in romance
+ sermon. In these primary seminaries of
he church there Is room not only for more
ehnite tuition and Il stricter attention from
nc clergy, but for personal participation |
n them on the part Of learned laymen. of |
landing however high, of business however
rSent, men of affairs and professions, Chris |
ian gentlemen without Shamefacedncss or |
such rs may be seen now |
nd then in some parish in old England |
there the minister of religion has for
Is lay reader and catechiSt a minister of |
tate. Service for Christ to the young, rike |
nat, lends robustness 20 the manhood of li,e |
lanliest OF men. AT best, however, one hour
I the seven days can never suffice for The |
iucatlon OF Christian child. Parish school, |
cademy, college, university-our whole ed |
cational system, cry out for invigoration. If |
&c mean to keep our children in church |
;n0OlS ana colleges, the direct Wav is To |
uild schools and colleges of such incompar-
bic intellectual resources that our most as
irlng students cannot afford to turn away
oAAA ehS " Z auNiSc luut pubic anu secret |
rayers be statedly offered for their officers |
no pupils. Great respect is due to men and
'omen OF wealth who found or eudOW such
.ats OF superior learning in any grade.
with Americans, foremost among all pas
"ns, not sensual, is the passion for know
'use, knowledge OF CERTAIN kinds. If we
re wise hearted AS well as wise-mindcd, we
iall seize on that ambition and convert it to
hrlstianitv, to Christ. Already time hn,
fouSht reasonable end to that tacttiou.
uarrel between science and faith, which on
u little while ago disturbed so many minds,
lie reconciliation OF these foolishly alienated /,
FEATURES of God consisting in so simple a
emcdy as the discrimination of their spheres.
Thinking and studying men who are also
ellevers are everywhere looking for grounds
Christian unity. 1t is glorious hope OF
VI tiihe. Against these
overs OF light we are obliged to see rising
n every side two terrible adversaries. One
Il fashion of skepticism, not disbelief per-
APPS, not formulated indeliiy or coarse pro-
nifty, fashion of humuniZing things Di-
Inc instead of taking them IN their supcrhu-
IAN title and splendOr, and using them lust
revelation presents them; a disposition to
gard religion rs human husbandry. not :,
.scending gift from God; the soul Us ger
mating plant, self-planted; the church us a
tner loosely formed sodality, having only
,tlOhal ana voluntary exercises: worship AS
fine art; faith rs what is left in man after
e brain, mammon and luxury have taken
hat they want; Christian theology as a
renee OF nine or ten comparative religions,
oupinS Christianity in species with the
st; and our Lord Is the most remarkable
ritual genius hitherto, wondrous child of
e ages. You are all confronted by dazed
'osties OF belated "GOspel of to-day u
spel without an angelic hymn, without
essiah from Heaven, without miracles of
ace, without Gethsemane, a cross, preci-
IS blood or the resurrection; and by empty
ophets of Church of the future'' which
heavenly wisdom shapes, into which mo