The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10


Christianity is being recognized more
and more. Points of difference are van
ishing into the background, points of
agreement are being pushed boldly for
ward.
For myself, rejoice. lam weary of
the confusion of tongues. am sick Of
strife and faction. The soldiers who
| gambled under the cross of Jesus for
his seamless vesture, that it might be
preserved whole, were saints of the cal
endar compared with partizan fanatics
who to-day would rend that garment
into party battle-fags, and split the
cross into war-clubs. There is story
in Stanley, of an old Scottish Methodist,
who, in his early life, has chung to one
or the other of two small sects on either
side of the street. In his last hours,
he said ''The street Pm now travel
ing in, lads, has nae sides and if power
were given me, l would preach purity
of life mair, and purity of doctrine less
than 1 did," "Are you not getting a
little heretical at your journeys end %
said his interlocutor. kenna /;
names have not the same terror on me
that they once had; and since was laid
by here alone, I've had whisperings of
the still, small voice, telling me that the
footballs of faiths and their wranglings
will meier be heard in the Lords king
dom, whereunto I'm nearing. And as
love cements all differences, I'll per-
haps find the place roomier than 1
thought in times bye-past."
A. This age and nation are endeavor-
ing to secure the education of the peo-
pie. We are more intelligent, as rule,
than we were two or three generations
ago. Men are reading and thinking,
We do not go to church now to find out
the news from the minister's prayer.
1t is not uncommon to find more light
in the pews than in the pulpit. The
preacher is often the last one to per-
ceive that there is new idea in the
world. Compulsory education is doing
much where tried. Thus, as q result of
our practice in regard to education,
there is spirit of inquiry abroad.
Religion as well as everything else is
questioned. Nothing is exempted from
investigation on account of age or sa-
credness. Before the tribunal of our
enlightened era, all things. the Bible
included, are brought to judgment. To
deprecate this spirit, to declaim against
it, to pray against it, is vain. 1t must
be fairly met To take refuge in mere
authority, is futile. To denounce as
infdels and blasphemers all who ques-
tion is for one to write himself Sim
becile." Under the influence Of general
intelligence, religion is being freed from
much of its old superstition and fanati-
cism, and is commencing itself to the
sober judgment and conscience of men.
Ill. These are some of the features
of our age, and of our religion, as af-
fected by the age We must note the
times and tendencies. We cannot ig-
more them and succeed. To these con-
ditions muse odr presentation of relig-
ion, ard our religious work conform
The methods Of the past will not answer
These conditions exist, perhaps en-
phatically, in the West. Home mis-
SIGN boards of the various denomina-
tions will do we'll to take them into
account. In seeking to evangelize this
vast territory, it will not do to overlook
or underestimate any of these things.
l. We need here, men who are, first
Of all, MEN, men before they are min
listers, men of training and affairs,
who shall present to our practical age,
practical religion, who can show
that it is daily help, real means OF
growth to the soul. Weneed men who
stand, not upon their calling, but upon
their characters, who are open to new
truth from whatever source, who dc
not quote the stale propositions they
learned at the seminary as eternal truth
and final authority, men who can think
for themselves, and who dare to speak
what they honestly think. This age
has no patience with towards. 1t de-
mands intellectual honesty. 1t de-
mands courage as well, that dares to
smite sin in high places as well as low,
sin, whether it rolls in the chariot OF
wallows in the gutter. Preachers of
righteousness must stand in our pulpits
to-day, and bring men face to face with
the tables of Sinai and the laws of their
own moral nature. / submit that all
this requires something more than a
smattering of divinity and white era
vat. Our churches also must be linked
to all the great moral movements of the
day, benevolence, temperance, all that
seeks the uplifting of the race. We do
not want To be left stranded and inef-
fectual upon the shores, while the
mighty stream of progress rushes by
2. On the other hand, over against
the intense practically of this age,
delving in material things, and seeking
material results, must be presented a
genuine and healthy spirituality. There
is something more than the eve cap