The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-09-06
RELIGIONS cIyILIzING INFLUENCES.
Hon, Will Cumbacks Lecture at Roberts Park
Church Last Evening.


Hon. Will Cumback lectured at Roberts Park
NJ. E. Church last night his subject being 1.-THE
Christian Religion as a Civizing Influence"
He had an immense audience, which list
ened with deep interest to his address
| He said the assaults that have been made on
Christianity by the polished skeptical historians
who claim to have solved the mysterious prob
lem of human progress have not been aimed at
Its code of morals but rather at the church as
An organization. The church claiming civil
authority and allied with it as the main sup
porter of despotism is not the church of Christ
The church claiming the right to compel man
kind to accept her doctrines-the church owning
no liberation and whose hands are red with the
blood of persecution-is no more representa-
tive of Christianity than car of Juggernaut or
the gulotine of the French Revolution. In the
dark ages, when education was confined to the
few and ignorance for the many was regarded as
the mother of devotion, these things were done,
and the wrongs and outrages we're charged up
| to the account of religion. But Christianity is
| one thing and religion is another A religion
| that is not permeated with the spirit of Christ,
and is not under its supreme control is not the
Christian religion. Yet with all the evils
| growing out of union of church and state, and
of the bloody history of such an unholy alliance,
| GuiZot felt compelled to make this concession:
| Notwithstanding all the evil OF the abuses
| which may have crept into the church, notwith-
| standing all the acts of tyranny of which she
| has been guilty we must still acknowledge her
influence on the progress and culture of the hu-
| ma into TO have hang hat
| has assisted in its development rather than its
compression, in its extension rather than In its
| confinement"
| IT, as Buckle argues, intellectual activity must
have preceded religious conviction, then the fact
| that the improved man grasps at Christianity as
| round in ladder to raise him higher In his
| piratons to attain the noblest and the best is
concession that Christianity is at last, If not at
| first, an elevating force Impress upon the be-
nighted mind of the barbarian the feeble in
tellect of the child that God is the father Of all
| and has stamped His own divine image on every
soul, and that the infinite and boundless love of
the Godfather goes out to all his children, that
| all alike equal with Him. and that this life
| is but preparatory life for the better one be.
| yond-then you have the starting-poiut the
| highway Of human progress
Let the great truth be accepted that ON
| niscient God created the universe and made laws
| for it's government. desire to know the op-
erations of those evidences of His wisdom and
| goodness energies the human mind and stirs
| the human soul as nothing else has ever done
Science is the child of Christianity, and not the
parent and knowledge is not the forerunner but
| the follower. With an ingratitude strange AS
it is senseess some of these scientists, in their
later life ambitious to be called advanced think
ers, have attempted to reason God ont of His
own universe and to ascrbe all the majesty,
power goodness and harmony of His works to
the accident of chance or the effect of an indie
Unable evolution. AS the generations come and
go the dialplate of human progress records that
| aAwvnvn hnO VNn60 hn ant nyrnN
and the elevating force that IS thus
surely elevatng the human to a
higher plane is the Christian religion.
What, then. is the secret of this power,
what is the essential quality, the of this
reforming and elevatns forcel To these ques-
| tions would come great variety OF answers
| The sectarian would declare that il was the con-
| struction put upon the teachings of the Script
| ures by his Church and the adherence to the
venerable forms and ceremonies adopted long
| since by her ecclesiastical courts and councils
| Another rejecting the idea of reign of law and
having the fullest faith in the constant and con-
| tinual intervent ton of special providence, would
answer that the Almighty directed every
ment and that man was the mere passive agent
| responding only to the supernatural influences
| thus brought to bear upon him. Some would
ply with long statistical tables showing the
number of ministers and churches the Sabbath
| schools, colleges and universities, the millions
| who have their names the church rolls and
| the great wealth they possess to carry forward
the work of evangelizing the world Some
| would claim that the strength of religion con-
| sisted in an abiding work for the of Christ
| The replies would be too numerous to repeat
! It might be safely asserted that all of them
| would contain some truth, ana perhaps none of
them would be free from error. In order to solve
the difficult problem, reduce the question to the
very narrowest bounds. Taking an individual
church of any denomination, try TO discover the
| measure of its power and influence on those who
| live within the sound of its church bells. It
| would costly ndiilcA for
ship, the height of the church steeple, the width
of its richly carpeted aisles, its expensive pews,
| lts gorgeous frescoes or its grand organ. 1t is
| not that the members are the wealth and fashion
| of the town city, or that the great and intu-
| entail fill the pews. 1t is not that the minister
may have worldwide reputation for eloquence.
| A church may have all these and many other ap-
parent advantages. yet if the Spirit of the Mas
| ter is not there. they are none of His. If they
| are not in the battle with sin and wrong it is a
| mere dress parade.
| The power of Christianity ia not visible The
visible and material that attach themselves to
religious observances may add to their force,
| and they may detract from it. If religious wor-
| ship is the mere observance of church require
ment, if the tone and manner of it is but the
compliance with the fashion and style of re-
| liglous ceremony, then nothing is accomplished
by It, 1t is mere travesty upon it. The
strength of the church is not her wealth, or an
Gent creed, or the pomp of her ceremony The
| Pharlsee had all these at the time of the Savior;
yet ne denounced MIN as nypocr1te and roo
Der. The power and force of any church organ
| ization consist in the number of it's members
VINO are SO imbued with the spirit of Christ that
the chief ambition of their lives is to be as near
like Him as it is possible for poor, weak human
nature to be-
This invisible power is the force that has ele-
waited man, revolutionized the world and is con-
stantly widening the area of civilization. It
drives ont the dark brood of evil sprits-hate,
malice, envy, jealousy, avarice and pride-and
calls In love, charity, beneVOlonce and humility
These godlike spirits take control of human
life and action, and as the new man comes in
contact with his fellowmen they see the great
| change and new conversion. And thus the
divine leaven of humanity silently, yet surely,
| works reformation