The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-03-19
RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS
Expressed by Celebrated Preachers.
THE FUNCTIoN or pAIN.

uffer, II needs be, for whole race.
The aspect OF the animal world which v
most troubles us finds, think, it's in b
in this principle. Nature v
s busted pbshing on an organic ascent d
1f life. This involves the displace- t
ment of the lower forms of life to \
make room for higher forms Of life.
The successive sets are told to clear s
their own places at their own earth S
table. 1t seems rough, hard system,
but what vastly greater hardships
would be involved in any other syS- /
tent Were there no violent deaths,
the wild animals would linger on into
an old age Of utter helplessness and
distress and misery. AS many savages
kill the aged out of kindness, so ma
ture mercifully cuts short e1istance
before the wretchednesS Of hopeless
old age. The weak and the injured
creatures fall prey to the tyrants of
the woods, and the waters, and the
air, but they are the ones who would
most suffer in old age. Even the
wholesale murderer of lower lives is
not without an air of positive benevo-
lence.
The power in nature crowds the |
tiniest life with pleasure, however |
VI iC1, anu NAC1 OAdGS'lCS IL q " pJ 1lOLh
lingering suffering.
In such ways as this we see how
natures ordination Of pain Is not
without purpose of good for the in
dividual, the kind and the lifeat large'
Its function is conservation. We can
not make out such a purpose in ali the
| pain which nature inflicts upoa her
children; but we can make out this
| MEANING in nnnnoh fn
US to wait patiently for further light.
| When all is said we must still bow in
the awe Of silence and trust that
which, though no man can diSproye,
no man can fully prove.
ABOUT SYMBOLS OF WORSHIP.
Mr.. Beecher made reference to
President Cleveland kissing his
mothers Bib'e, aud then said:
Ceremonies are very pretty, pleas
ant thiugs-priests in their robes,
crosiers, vestments, white, black and
scarlet-au very well in their way.
Nobody ought to find any fault with
them unless they are substitutes. If
there is any education in them, If
they help the imagination, all very
good. But the one thing that must
control everything else is the fruit;
all the rest are leaves.
"The one great danger in trying to
help men, to educate them In church
economy, where capitalization IS
used, is that the outward and visible
sign will become by use the final
end"
There be multitudes of people to
whom prayer has become form that
must be observed. They have said
their prayers in the morning, and
their conscience is at rest. Did the
reading of your prayers lift you up
into higher atmosphere of sympathy
with mankind"
4 SIS it your duty to read the Bible
No. L. is grand thing to read 1t if
1t helLs you; it is superstition and
idolatry to read it if it doesn't help
you. You might as well read Virgil
or Horace; you might just as well
read any other book in the world if it
leaves you just where it found you"
"GeDuflections before the cross,
Lent, holydays, all these things may
be useful, ought to be useful. All
synagogue services ought to help
a man to bs better, ought to
lift him into that state where he
willhav with God the spark of beneti-
cence. That which is true of doc
trine is true of those ceremonies and
usages. You are at liberty to have
them all. The silence of the Quaker
does for him, if he is fitted for IL, what
the magnificent choir and the lovely
orchestral music of the cathedral does
for those that are fitted for that. One
man finds thunder helps him; the
other finds silence helps MIN, and
everything between silence and thun-
der i, permissible; but they are all
the leaves, not the figs, the fruit"
THE RELIGIOUS INSTINCT.
in the University of the City of New
| 7 ork, in preaching on reverence and
the need Of observing reverential
spirit in places set apart for the wor-
ship of God, deprecated men like
Voltaire, who, he said, had attempted
| to destroy and pull down what was
considered by that historical French
man as the superstitious acts of hon.
age and worship of the Supreme Be
ing, but who had tailed to put any
thing in their place. The religious
instinct was in his (Dr. MacCracken's)
Judgment, an indestructible element
of mans nature, and was not to be
profanely and ruthlessly put aside.
Our duty was TO recognize 1t as fact
of human nature, and, though it de
veloped superstition, yet that was bet
ter than living without God in the
world and ignoring the mission of the
Savior, which was to develop the
divine life in man.
DO THE WICKED Suffer FOREVER
A celebrated Methodist minister
says: The Bible does not teach ami
hilation as the penalty Of broken law.
Eternal punishment means eternal
suffering or it means nothing. He'll
was never prepared for men recreated
on this earth. 1t was made for the
devil, but the sins of men will drive
them there. 1t is fearful thought.
But if it be not so, the divine veracity
falls 10 the ground. Sin is no joke, no
piece of fun to be trifled with, as shall
be found out hereafter. What would
be the legitimate results of dogma
that sin was lot Investigated in the
next world? We are reaping even
now some of The results Of such a
teaching. We read them il our Mon
day mornings paper. But let people
believe fully in this docirine-perjury
would stalk abrodd, truth would be
| throttled; there would lie more de-
faulting bank presidents ami cashiers,
and the brutal priZe-fghter who killed
his opponent would say he had only
| prematuiely pounded hira into the
Kingdom OF God.
TILE ROSIISH CORNERSTONE.
Rev. Mr.. Gallagher, Unitarian, says:
The idea of infailibility is no new
thing 1t Is simply II chaDge from a
constitutional monarchy 10 an abso-
lutte despotism, maue - increase the
power OF the Jes its. Tradition is
| the only authority for tbs statement
that Peter as ever in RoIns. Igna-
this and Eusebius say he Vas mar
tyIed there, but ITan@us states that
Linus, the first Bishop of Rome, was
ordained by Peter and Paul,and Glenn
emf, The second Bishop, by Peter. If
The walton of man depea led on a