St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-14
ACHIEVEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN
FAITH.
Sermon at Plymouth Church Last
Evening by the Pastor, Rev.
DR.. Dana.

At Plymouth church, last evening, Dr.
Dana uttered these timely words on this
great subject:
Long ago the great Apostle, to whom all
the world still renders its homage, said 81
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. -
Some there are, now, who are not only
ashamed of it, but are exceeding mad against
it. There is nothing so rouses their rancour
like the gospel and its continued spread.
DETRACToRs
have always been plenty, prophets of Chris
tianity's decline have always been abundant,
but they have never made any serious i'm
preston on their times. 1t is the easiest of
all things to criticise and find fault; where
one man can build up and improve an hun
dred can pull down and destroy. There
come periods when it is deemed smart to
avow "that you have no religious belief"
and to-day the most popular of all creeds is
to have no creed. SO these noisy regulators
of time sanctioned belief are asserting their
superiority to all others, because they have
given up the faith of their fathers and are
wiser than their ancestors. Doubling is said
to be sign Of smartness. and to declare you
don't believe is accepted by some as proof of
original thought.
THE ORTHODOXY,
now caricatured and ridiculed in certain
quarters, never had larger following than
at present, nor did it ever possess the vigor
it shows at this moment. The doctrines in
Guided under this sometimes sneering cpl
thet have Of late years received a better
statement and harmonization, but the
changes relate rather to surface forms, and
not to essential truths. Great advance
has been made in purifying and
simplifying the Christian system,
but the latter is being continually INDICATED
and more impregnably established in candid
minds, while this is true of Christianity,
modern scepticism and radical unbelief have
demonstrated their poverty and powerless-
ness for good.
MISREPRESENTATION
Has always been one of the methods Of as
sailing Christianity. Not every opponent of
the latter is able or willing to set it forth
fairly, and many is the laugh raised, not at
the religion of Christ, bat at some coarse
caricature of it. The first thing necessary in
any attempt to discuss its merits or dement's
is to fairly represent it, and Christ is the
sole exponent and embodiment of the reli-
gion that bears his name. The fruits of
Christianity are what it is to be judged by,
and these have been such as 10 gain for it the
credence of that part of the world most
thoughtful and enterprisihg, and instead of
showing signs of decadence, its supporters
are numerically greater than ever, while It's
increase fruitfulness for good is attested
in the achievements Of modern missions and
philanthropy.
GROWTH.
A faith that is spreading on every side can
allow the carieaturist and calmniator to pur-
sue his work; that remunerates him person
ally, it however pushes on with its grand
schemes for blessing mankind, and multi
plies the agencies with which it accomplshes
its goodly work. What prodigious power it
must have when its deadly foes and traducers
borrow its speech and trade on its capital.
Mr.. rockingham, once leader Of free re-
hgious thought; said:
''This last could not compete with the
Christian faith in what are commonly called,
benevolent enterprises Meanwhile this
is conceded to be the heroic period in the
history of Christian missions; it is the age Of
great churches; of an evangelism that rivals
in its success in city and country that of
apostolic DAYS. Never was there a more in
kiigent Christianity than now, while the
adberents of the orthodox faith are leading
every side in those humanities and mis-
SONS which are the glory Of the century. tits
easy to point out the weaknesses and failures
Of its representatives, but look at the portents
of the hour in
FACTs
Six hundred and eighty-fye millions Of
people are under Christian rule or nearly
one-half Of the globe In 1900 only 200
millions were thus circumstanced. Surely
the grip Of the gospel faith on mankind is