Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-01-23

here, the larger proportion OF "hom II Is
fair to assume. | think receive but very mea-
gre, If any religious training. Now what we
propose is to join hands and hearts with
those already engaged in the work of max
ing this christian city. If we had to elbow
cur way, displacing others in order to find
standing room for ourselves, we should
make no attempt here. We come not 10
weaken other churches that We may
strengthen our own; not to steal the sheep
away that are gathered into other folds, but
to provide shelter for our own, and
search for and gather those OTtsid all folds;
not assuming that we have monopoly OF
christian truth and goodness. We wish as
one of the ambassadors of Christ to unite
with you, enforcing His claims and asserting
His right to rule over the conscience and
hearts ofmen:
Within the church there is more toler-
ance of question and doubt, but what We
must guard against is tolerance growing
INTO indifference, liberty into latitudinarian-
ism. If the church is to retain her power
and accomplish the purpose for which Christ
organized her she must hold with death-like
grasp those doctrines of Christianity which
constitute her vitality and power. Men call
for practical truth, and often with reason,
but let me ask, are those truths which relate
to your practical, every DAY life Of greater
importance than those which reveal the
L Il.
mand, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self" higher and Of greater Importance than
the command Thou shalt love- the Lord
with all thine hearth As the carnal mind
becomes learned it discovers new ground Of
opposition. Intideity now admits nearly
all that the divines of century ago thought
it necessary to prove. The basis of attack
has been changed and it found the church
fora time unprepared to meet it. The re-
suit has been widespread though unex-
pressed doubt among timid Christians that
the verities Of our holy religion could not
bear the test OF modern criticism.
! am not disposed to chant mournful
law over the rationalism and infidelity of to-
day. | am deeply and truly sorry that in
fidelity exists. | am tenfold more sorry for
the causes which have been in existence for
the past 500 years that have produced il;
When consider the character Of the rep
resentativcs of so called christian Rome and
the manner in which they caricaturcd the
religion they prcfcssed; their dogmas, their
traditions, their intolerance, their hypocricy,
their scandalouS lives, their abominsble ad-
ditions TO the word of God, ! am not sur
prised that it should have produced infideli-
ty of the most revolving type. In is passage
down through the ages, christianity has been
iespoi!ed OF its grandeur and beauty. and
there have gathered around it excresences
which obscure its glory.
All doubters are not sceptics-some doubt
in order to believe; there are others to whom
doubt is the conclusion of the whole mat
ter There are some, it is true, who have
but little if any claim 10 our sympathy and
forbearance. | have little regard for those
who are forever riding Balaam's ass, and
feel inclined to remind them of what an old
divine once said: The ass did not be-
come prophet until the prophet
became an ass" If We could have
at our command an argumentive donkey,
we should be disposed to refer such doubt
ers 10 him. But as have said, there are
Others who deserve different kind of treat
ment at the hands or Christian people. The
church has been harsh, unsympathetic and
impatient toward some who have doubted,
while they have longed for light and agon-
ized to believe as we do. There are many
who express sincere desire that they
could believe as We believe, and hope as We
hope. Never will we treat such doubters
with harshncss or GOODNESS, but rather with
brotherly sympathy. Let our aim be to
treat them in such a II amer that they may
lee! that we possess treasure they have not
found, a joy they have not known.
| wish now to speak Of that which is the
distrustive feature Of Congregationalism
viz, its form of church government. We
meet as Congregationalists with the distinc,
object in view of uniting ourselves into
corporate body. We meet in no exclusive
spirit. and certain | am that we are prompted
by no unworthy antagonism. We are. We
trust, Christians first, churchmen second and
Congregational churchmen thirdly. Our
faith in and love for Christianity lies at the
very basis of this church relationship which
we have in view. We have reason 10
believe that As body of Christian Congre-
gationalists We can best secure the ends of
church communion. Our outward organi-
cation and certain characteristics of church
life diferentsie US from Others but notwi;h-
standing this we have common interests, and
the main purpose of our meetings viii be to
advance the great object "A: which all
churches are aiming by securing an efficient
discharge of our own department Of service
and by wise and earnest cooperation with
Christians of other denominations. We
meet, apart from the necessities Of the case
and not of separateneSS of spirit or purpose
We shall heartily welcome the representa-
tives Of other churches into our assemblies
and thankfully accept their sympathy and
help. Our separateness i the RICH; and
reasonable separateness which arises from
the specially Of our work and our methods.