Morning journal and courier., 1886-06-28

and cultured soul This ideal will never be
 perfectly understood and exemplifed until
 the results of science and culture shall have
 been applied to all the forms of individual
 morals and manners, and in all those agen-
 cles which Christian eshics and social science
 shall mature and put in force To such a
 consummation the Christian is as necessary
 as Christian preaching; the university as the
 Sunday school; the conscientious culture of
 science, literature and art as the prayer meet
 ing and the Bible reader. It will not be till
 every thought is subjected to the obedience
 of Christ that the tabernacle of God shall
 indeed be with men. The author of 1 the work entitled ssModern Christianity a
 Civilized Heathenism' betrays by it's title
 his own narrow and squalid conceptions of
 the kingdom of God. The book is as vulgar
 and narrow as it's title is un-C Christian, and
 never could have been conceived or respected
 except in low condition of Christian en- l lightenment.
 How sorely our practical Christianity needs
 to be elevated above such narrow and vulgar
 conceptions of many of it's advocates and
 representatives one hardly need suggest. We ! are forced to confess that with all that is mo-
 ble and Christian-like in it's spirit, ! much remains that is hateful in it's manners ! and in it's morals See the church forgetting
 that it should be militant only against it's
 foes, and behaving itself so often like ter
 magant in the houses of it's friendsl Think | of the sectarianism which is it's scandal and
 shame, of which almost every village from
 the oldest to the newest gives visible tokens
 in it's rival houses of worship, that also be-
 token the hateful jealousies of their adher- | ents Think also of it's hard and scholastic
 statements of doctrine; of it's narrow iudg- | ments of character; of it's scrimping parsi-
 mony in some directions and criminal luxury I in others; of the tenacity with which it ad- ! heres to old errors and the credulity with ! which it's runs after the last sensationalismI
 And ali this while how needless it is of the
 pure and spiritual example of the patient | Christ, who can only say, "Ye know not of ! what spirit ye are! Meanwhile the plain ! tive cry of distress now and then rises into | the shriek of alarm-"When the son of man | cometh shall he find faith on the earth!" ! And worst of all, in high places and low, in | the lanes and avenues of the cities, in the | streets and lurking places of the villages, | glaring frauds and bru1 al crime suggest the question, "Has conscience too, with faith in | God, left the soul of mani"
 1 Do you ask: What might Christian cul- ! ture do for our individual and public morals ! and economics were itrightly enforced in our
 colleges and spread from them through our
 social life? We reply first it should give us ! correct and worthy conceptions of Christian ! ity as an historic phenomenon. It should so efectually arouse the historic sense and | quicken the historic imagination that among all the heroes of the earth Christ should be visably transfgured high and lifted up; and | not only Moses and Elias should be there | with Peter, James and John, but Gautama l and Plato and Marcus Aurelius should also ! bow with wonder and worship and say s.It \ is good for us to be here." This historic | Christ, being seen in his true place and cor rect proportions, would be worshiped as the ! supernatural Christ for the reason that the philosophy to which Christian culture and l science would train would recognize a per ! sonal and living God as a speculative neces- | sity; and such theism would find no con- ! hatyUaan ! of those laws of nature which he conserves ! and those manifestations of his presence l which flash forth when he breaks the circuit | and makes himself felt in creation or mira | cle, or in the gentler methods of that provi- | dence which answers trust and prayer Such | a theory of history and of God would find it l easy to accept the historic Christ when seen | in the light of his finished work to be none ! other than God manifested in the flesh Such | & manifestation would necessarily suppose some need which it was designed to meet l and some import which it meets fully. Such
 a statement of import and need involves ! creed which will be more or less sharp ac cording to the capacity of men to distin- l tinguish and define; and more or less varied | and flexible according to the changes of phl- 1 losophy and language. In this way aa en- l frightened Christianity would be doetrinal, l because it is rational Christianity and must l connect it's Christian truths with those un- deriving principles with which human spec l ulation has always concerned itself, But it would not be rationalistic in the offensive sense of the term, because it is too enlight- ened not to recognize the limits of human | logic and the authority of testimony and faith, especially when personality and the supernatural are concerned It would not and could not be dogmatic, however, in the scholastic sense, for it could not fail to re- member that the chief value of doctrine is to reveal and emphasize the personal Christ, and that abstract formula takes feeble hold of the feelings and the life.
 But all the studies of the enIigbtened
 scholar would enforce the one truth that Christianity is great practical power, and that in this lies it's chief interest in the past
 and for the future. In the light of this ab- sorbing and overwhelming relation he finds
 little interest in it a subject of curious
 and critical detail, or of metaphysical hair
 splitting and fiery controversy. He cares for
 it most of all because it is destined for use.
 and inquires how it's energies may be largely
 increased and it's capacities may be most sue
 cessfully applied. Hence an intelligent and
 instructed Christianity must be evangelistic
 and missionary in its spirit. It cannot but
 go out into the highways and hedges: it
 must devise missiona of all sorts to the poor
 and neglected at home-to the idolatrous
 and superstitious across the seas There
 prevails at present strong tendency to be-
 lleve that success in eyangelistic work is re- served for men of limited reading and ordi- nary associations, because their hearts and minds gre supposed to be near to those of the people. Facts by 20 means justify this conclusion. Christian history testifes most abunaantly that evangelstic and missionary zeal have been kindled and renewed nowhere l so constantly in Christian colleges and that men trained in the universities have found most efficient preparation in classi- | cal and scientific study for using plain speech | and popular illustrations with the greatest and The annals of English and American col leges abound with the names of men, some of the brightest, who have been thus distin- | guished. Many thoughtful scholar while | studying the history of the church and med l itating on the naeds of men has heard the | question addressed to himself, tsWhom shall | Faend and who will SO for uss'' And has | responded with trembling yet confident | voice, "Here am I; send me-" An instruct ed Christianity cannot but be practical; and | practical Christianity must be evangelistio | and missionary in it's spirit. |
 An instructed Christianity must also be l catholic and unsaetariap. The Christian | college almost of necessity trains it's pupils | to enlarged and liberal views of things non- | essential and to a catholic appreciation of | things that are common, Narrowness of | views tends to the exaggeration of things | that are less impo1 tant and the overvalua- 1 tton of limited interests. As the student l follows the great movements of the hosts of | Gods chosen in the past their minor sub divisions are lost sight of in the movements of the mass; their vaIiously colored banners l seem to blend into one cloud of prismatio | light; while the separate wa+chword of each division swells into one harmonious war-cry 1 of courage and victory. Under the enlight- | ened judgment which liberal training fos- | ters an uncatholic spirit is impossible It does not suffice to assert that some colleges which have called themselves Christian have | been the last hiding places of bigotry and the inveterate nurseries of sectarianism. Such institutions are not usually eminently Christian or eminent for liberal science or culture.
 For the future application of Chris stianity to public and private economics-that de- partment which must soon be occupied and ought to be directed by the Christian church we must look to the higher schools of learning for the improvement of the aims and quality of our Christian activity. These | schools should be the first to call the atten- | tion of the community to it's duties and op- | portunities in every sphere of political and |