Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-08-14

address, excused himself, anu lne cNcTCl-
SEES were closed with singing by choir
and congregation.
THE SECOND DAYS PROCEEDINGS.
At Queen City Park-Increased Atten-
tendance Addresses by Noted CIer-
Educational Meeting in
the Afternoon.
The weather to-day at the Queen City
park was more perfect, if possible, than
yesterday, and the attendance was some
what better also not so large, however,
as was expected, owing to "A misunder-
standing with the railroad authorities
which prevented the running of the eX,
cursion train from the south, as adver-
tised. The opening prayer was made by
Rev. g. II. Shinn of Deerng, Me. Rev,
J. X. Applcbee preached the sermon on
Natural and Revealed Religion He
said In all ages of the world there
have been distinctions drawn between
natural and revealed religion. There are
some who fear that the world is becoming
atheistic, but | think there is no danger.
If we have Il God that can he lost, he
ought to be- Nature is with us always,
and nature is God. God inside of. not out
side of, nature. Somehow the moral law
came to our world Somehow Moses
came, the Old Testament came, and out
of it the New, and then the Son of Man.
somehow these came and does it make
any difference how? The speaker con
tinued to say that the great fact is that of
existence, of self-consciousness. 1t is the
life that we want, which in its highest
and best sense is revealed to us III our
Blessed Redeemer.
If we believe in deity, we believe this,
that he is the primal source of all things,
of all silence and all harmony, of all com
motion and all rest. There can be no alb
senteeism in deity. 1t is rather organism
with dsity in it rs souls. But the thought
of the world to-day conforms to the He
brew thought Of old. We hear Emerson
say 1.-THE divine circulations never rest and
never linger the universe is the eXternali-
cation of the divine soul ~ All religions
have beneath them ideas uniting them in
one. But each religion must be tested as to
its efficacy, not by the tradition of its origin,
but by its living power. The cOrruptiOns
and errors of religious systems are paral-
elled by that of others, but their truths
are also. Divinity we see at work any
where. "le who doeth the truth cometh
the light are the grandest words even
uttered. The great service the study of
natural religion does us, Is to instruct lis
what revealed religion ought to be, the
material thought running through all
! have said is, nature and man are two me
diums through which the divine
life of the universe is revealed. The alb
sOlutely true religion nowhere exists yet
each is extending toward perfection us time
progresses. The past should serve rs {
guide for the future, so taking advantage
of the past, with courage for the future
let us each perform well our individual
tasks. At the close of the sermon tn,
congregation joined Mr.. Mitchell in sing
ing Jesus, Lover of My Soul, fOlloWin!
which was the address by Rev. DR.
Thomas of Chicago.
DR.. Thomass \ ddrcss.
1t is always II pleasure to extend my ac
Quaintance with fellow man, and es
pecially up, here in Vermont. 1t is no
my place, however, TO follow DR.. Apple
bee. He has said about all that can b.
said But the theme of nature is 81
broad that we may study ii together in
restful way / can think of nothing tina
suggests SO much to us as the natural
We have learned great deal about life
EvOlutiOnistS have taught us how ont
beyond all that is the question of tn
solid material ont of which come thes
trees, out of which come life, But an
terror to everything comes the question q
the phenomena of life. The pivotal quer
is whether we shall say these things ar
lldluIul VI lllttlSldllNllu
by natural and revealed religion, natur
and God. These merely, however, do ne
make SO much difference We mus
have and know the things whc
the names stand for. Now whoever assent
to the proposition, God exists, must ais
assent to the further one that he exists i
nature, that nature is the revelation {
. God himself Revealed religions are con
3 stantly being modified by mans growtl
growing more and more perfect. Its pa
ticular form depends ON how far man
+ natural religious faculties are developed
p impossible utterly is it to tell when revel
ton begin, and to determine to what e!
tent it has been changed by mans Occupi
ton, character and associations. Nature
p religion is evidence of the existence an
+ attributes of God observable in the cOnst
t. ton of nature. Revealed religion is rel
gion whose communication is frol
, heaven. Now, the speaker continued, Il
first is Just as truly revealed religion as II
e second.
e The afternoon was devoted to edv
= cational talks by |. VI. Atwood, d, L
t Prof. W. r. Shipman, ID. d., of Tufts &C
. lege, w. 5, Grow, ID. D., and +. c. Bolle
t ID, d. The first speaker, Rev Dr. a
; wood discussed The subject of VIII
f schools and UNCONVENTIONAL schools hay
5 done for the people. He said that schoo
e in general did two things First they d
f velOped the possibilities of the intelleCtu
n powers. Their second use is to equip mi
J. for the pursuits of life. The speaker tn,
: proceeded to discuss the relation of educ
n ton to religion, to his own denomination
e religion and showed the necessity of mai
e tanning sectarian schools for the propag
{, ton and preservation of their peculi
If doctrines. Apart from the teaching
J. books, there is a silent, forceful atmC
l. phere emanating from every sc
o tartan school which is of gre
). value 10 the denomination.
e advocated strongly maintaining strict
h Universalist schools Prof. Shipman
e his remarks, paid Vermont IA glowing tri
l. ute for the strong procivities of her so
II for higher education, comparing