Mexico weekly ledger., 1885-10-29
sold Orthodoxy and Modern Thought

1lEAiCO, NlO., VII SO.-4e WAC Jul
pleasure last Sunday to listen to a
sermon, or rather talk, as he called
it, of the Rev. Higbee. of the Chris
tan church, of this place, and again
yesterday. We made some observa-
tions upon the discourse then in the
Daily InteUigencer. and Il only ex-
cuse for again obtruding upon the
attention of the reading public on the
same subject is the high character of
the reverend gentleman's sermons.
They are worth hearing. They are
expressive of the advanced theology
cal thought of the age. They are
such that the most skeptical a sub
scribe to and will be benefited by
them. Not that ttey advance any
skeptical sentiments but that they
proclaim a spiritual state which man
kind, with its finite understanding
and natural infrmlties, can appreciate
and attain to. No doubt the error
izing influence of the theological
school in which we were brought up,
and the woefully bigoted character
of the few sermons We have in the
last decade heard account somewhat
for the strong impression these SER
mons have made upon US. 1t seems
different for the churches of the Ref
ormation, although they had their
birth amid the throes of a religious
and intellectual revolution, whose in
fuence will be felt to remotest ages
to throw off the tyranny and fanat-
icism of those times. Their preach
ing is even yet, after a lapse OF nearly
four centuries, charged with fire and
birthstone, which, they tell US, awaits
us beyond the grave. OF curse
every transgression of the law, wheth-
er of the moral or the physical, will
be followed sooner or later by its ac-
cordant punishment, but what en-
couragement is there to attend church
and what good can come from it if
we are TO be preached into hell every
Sunday? If heaven is as difficult to
reach as they would make US believe
it is, then hell is our inevitable des-
tiny, and why should we be tortured
with its prospects here? The cate
chism of the church in which we were
reared has this question: And art
thou, by birth, so uery sinful that in
myself thou canst do nothing towards
thy salvation? etc. We had to an
swer in the affirmative although in
our inward conscience we never be-
lieved 1t. If a being, with the &C
cumulated sins of three score and
ten, has better chances of heaven
than a newborn, ~sinless babe then
God is not a Just God and as such
we would
Dare look the Omnipetent tyrant in
His everlasting face and tell Him that
His evil is not good"
But it is not thus. Such doctrine is
contrary to every principle of reason,
of justice and of mercy. 1t is a libel
upon Gods own attributes. How
much more in accordance with these
attributes is the doctrine p~ropounded
in the sermon in question that ''chil-
dren are born as pure as angels
In the beginning of his sermon the
preacher touched upon the relative
validity of reason and faith in reach
ing a true religious status. But
whether he holds the position that
to believe a thing we must have the
proof thereof we could not, with our
defective hearing, determine. How
ever, we prefer to believe that such
is his position. We are even i'm
PEELED to this by the scientific charac-
ter of his discourses. They stamp
him as a philosophic scientist and a
scientific philosopher. Can it be that
a finite being is held accountable for
his honest belief Or disbelief? Is the
thinking world responsible for its
thoughts? We cannot so believe.
Because we cannot comprehend the
incomprehensible il does not detract
from nor add to a hidden, though
actual, truth. But is our honest
doubt thereof-is our utter inability
to receive it as truth-after having
exhausted all our reason and faith
upon the subject to consign US to an
endless punishment? 1t was the in
tolerance of old orthodoxy that drove
US away from the church, and if we
remain away it will be that same Or
thodoxy that will cause US to do so.
Some of its doctrines we do not be-
lieve, and concerning others we adj
nit ourself an agnostic. We can
only answer, we do not know. We
do not deny it; We cannot affirm it.
"Canst thou by searching find out
God?" Higher than heaven, what
canst thou do? Deeper than hell,
what canst thou know Beyond
the grave, in a distant arden, will we
live again? We do not know. Per-
haps in the rising process of evolu-
ton, in times eternal rounds, in the
far off future, the human race may
arrive at such a height of develop
ment that it can penetrate the present
mysteries of the universe and walk in
the cloudless MONDAY of knowledge.
The saddest thought that can rise in
our mind is that we must go down to
the dark, cold grave in ignorance of
ourselves. our Oripin and our destiny