Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1885-05-01
HARD TINES IN THE CHURCH.



wall street slang.
watered Crccds sh rtrhing, and
Ch hrtstinriey in Liquidation After
an Ovcrpreductton of ,Doctrtne--
The Hishop will Certify 20 tho
sewnsncss OF Dr. Ncwten's Rank.
Rev. r. Heber Newton, recently preach.
Ell sermon in All Souls Church, New
York. OF which one OF the New York pa.
pers publishes the following synopsis. Al.
ter referring to the controversy between
himself and Bishop Potter, he said:
"IiHrd times come to the Church o.
we'll m the world. These Rre times when
an excessive expansion OF belief has TO un.
dergo n proporii ionate contraction, when
wstered creeds'have TO shrink, when Chris.
tianity has TO undergo n process OF liquid
alton. II IL u period Of reaction from an
overproduction Of doctrine. The issue OF
sncb times ought to be, not bankruptcy,
but spiritual soundn ness, bringing confess
slons Of faith representing no inAation OF
the Imagination, but n solid substance Of
reaeon, a coinage Of creeds having n gold
basis.
1--WE are fast learning how much we can
do without which our fathers counted e.
sential. We are learning, a. by suffering,
that there are some faiths which we cannot
dc without. There are absolute necessi.
ties of the sonl-of society. Such absolute
necessities Of our religion are the faith in
God, faith in life to come, and faith IN
Jesus Christ az the full revelation Of these
two cssen,ial faiths. Having considered
anne Of the beliefs OF Christianity, which +,
IN their undue development, have led to a
temporary loss OF our creeds' credit-a loss
which will naturally repair itself by the
proce-s OF theological readjustment-I
press on now to speak OF the fundamental
faiths whose integrity cannot be assaile
or even questioned withou, inperilling the
very bases of society.
ITO follow the most noted Of our living
| sssaIlnnts of religion through his Illogical
reasonings, and his shallow notions which
so well illustrate the old proverb about
the fool and the sage this would be an
endless and tlanklea task. He il In his
work. simply the blatant mouthpiece Of
the crude thought OF our day. Such skep.
ticism Ms he represents is largely the gas
which rises from mental dyspepsia--the
failure OF the intellect to digest the masses
OF knowledge which 1t has bolted without
chewing. The correction Of such a dis.
ease lies in inducing youag men to chew
| the cud oil thought little more carefully.
| We are expected by these crude thinkers
to sit In our temples Ms though hearing
below us the slealtliy tread Of the sappers
and miners, seeing every now and then
some ancient Bit OF belief disappear, some
new cavity yawn darky below us, wait.
ing in vague dread the day when the ven
| cradle siructure OF our faith shall topple
in above us, ard our religion either dis
appear or wander forth homeless upon the
reconstructed earth a relic Of the past
civilization, still perhaps to visit men in
the dreary light Of night, but to appear
no more among the realities of the light
Of day. Truly, my friends, no worship
can be hearty that Is accompanied with
rumbiings Of such subterranean orchestra
tion. We can pull down and rebuild our
temple where it Is proven defective, we
| rejuvenate its interior, can change and
nudity ii TO any extent that is proven
needfnl while the foundations are unds-
,ui bed and the new faith remains In the
old and hallowed form. But ii We are TO
he insecure IN the foundation beliefs, II
our bssis faiths are to be honeycombe,
with doubt, then religion cannot renew her
lease OF authority over men. We might
as we'll close our temple, declare the de
chence OF religion, and anticipate the
revolution. All snch talk seems TO me to
he utter folly, displaying objectionable
ignorance of the grounds on which re-
ligion rests. Since it is heard all around
us, however, we may need now and ther
to investigale our foundations, TO sink ouI
own counter shafts, and find out whether
the approaches of inquiry have endan
gered our position.
"The faith in God has never been .
demonstration OF pnre mathematics. L
has always been possible to doubt It o
even TO deny 1t. II has never been intelli
gently held without perception of th,
J difficultie. involved in il. II has bee,
} held in spite OF the difficulties, however
by the deepest minds OF the noblest race
in the greatest ages Ne the only solution o
the problem oil life. He who really seem
10 believe in God to-day IL very apt I,
meet sneer. There is quiet assumption,
that modern knowledge has somehow ex-
ploded the idea OF God and labelled 1t i,
the museum of knowledge as IAN ancien
superstiiion.' Our age fancies that il ha
exhausted the mystery of life, that it ha
accounted for everything ut which earle
ages used to marvel, and has left Rothin
: before which man hss need to take hi
. shoes from off his feet and bow his hea
in awe and worship. Our new version G
the Palms reads: The heavens declar
the glory Of man, The hymnal for tn
, children IN the Sunday school OF scienc
will give them such modern rendering I
| old hymns as this:
, twinkle, twinkle. little star,
. don't wonder what you are,
= You're the cooling down OF gases
Hardened into solid masses.
' "Of course the true science il no sue
. charlstan. 1t is profoundly humble, an
works with new and deeper awe, who,
only worship is-silence.
= "Sciehce il far enough on now 10 saiisf
! us a. to the limits Of truth she II likely I
!, !, reach. Ia the story which the aciei,c,
tell US all intelis sible? Have we not, a
', the contrary, opened up further and dee,
70 or mysteries Does not every step In III
u story OF the earth or of the heavens raj
questions which completely bzffl. us d?
there a single theory viii, b we accept M
so-called Interpretation oil any factor
T. the Development Of our world or Of Il
worlds around Us whicl, is not in itself
" greater mystery than the facts which
seems to eIplsfn7 We arc in constal
y danger Of fooling ourselves into an accep
= ance Oi Sciences notes for gold, or mi.ta
!, ing u label for an explanation. Noihl,
is more common ~ popular speech, a,
even in that which passes for scentif
writing than this inistaking Of a label I,
an explanation. We can make fetisl,
D. an idea a. we'll Ms OF fact Of word
well as Of a stone. We say that all thin
are developed and ordered by Law, th
'r there 10 a reign Of Law, and we think tn