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

OpHys llupoIldiloul, Wudb VI I6puDtICdu-
ismp Unless 1 am utterly at fault, we
shall find in this country, under our
form of government and its attendant
civilization, development of Chris
tianity different from any other.
What are some of the salient points
of our American civilization +? may
mention our practically, our freedom
and equality before the law, our ideas
of political union, our tenet Of general
education. do not now inquire what
Christianity had to do with bringing all
this to pass; take the conditions as 1
find them, and seek their influence upon
Christianity. Here are circumstances
that had no existence at Jerusalem, at
Antioch, or at Rome. Soil and climate
are different; what of the plant ?
/. This is an age and nation of
great practical activity and industry
an age of giant mills and factories
age of great machine shops-an age of
inventions in implements for all indus
trial purposes age of railroads and
telegraphs-a whirling, business age.
Its resistless tendency is to draw Chris
tianity out in practical activities, to
make a religion of deeds rather than
words. The texts that we emphasize
to-day are such as, "Let us not love in
word, neither in tongue, but in deed
and in truth" The epistle of James
is at the fore front: 81 will show thee
my faith by my works." The judg-
ment scene in Matthew impresses us
with its decisions based upon the law
of love.
We do not deal much in speculations.
We have slipped away from the age of
the Greek, and the school-men. Here
is some of the hight and weight of
questions in which the school-men used
to disport themselves withal: Did the
angel Gabriel appear to the Virgin Mary
in the shape of a serpent, a dove, man,
or woman ? Was his garment white
or of two colors ? Does an angel in
going from one place to another pass
over the intervening space? How many
angels can stand upon the point of a
needle =? What else could be expected
from a cloister in stagnant age? But
if they had been set down in one of. our
Western cities, the subtle Aristoteli-
ans would have had the nonsense jolted
out of them by our great racketing
mills, and our rumbling wood carts.
Aquinas and Scotus, instead of being
supreme evangels or angelical doctors,
might have been city missionaries
Well, we leave the school-men to ad-
just as best they may, their angels upon
needle-points, and, eschewing their end
less logomachies and vapory specula-
tions, we build missions, asylums,
hospitals, ragged schools, homes for the
aged, the erring, and all the needy. In
these practical ways, in these religious
enterprises, does the Christianity of our
country manifest itself. The spirit of
the age sweeps over it, as a storm sweeps
over the ocean, and the idle waves are
lashed into action. When all the world
is astir, the Church may not slumber.
2. Our age is also one of individual
freedom. We are going upon the as
sumption, whether correct or not, that
men may be trusted, that they can take
care of themselves. Our government
is what the people made it. No arbi-
trary power is over us. This brings
out those features of Christianity which
teach the freedom and responsibility of
men. An age of political liberty is I'M
favorable to doctrine of religious fatal
ism. The Calvinistic tenet Of predes-
tination does not flourish here. The
preaching of Edwards would to-day
find but few sympathetic listeners.
The doctrine may survive in catechisms
and bodies Of divinity, but has died out
of the pulpit. AS a working doctrine,
it is for our age and nation failure.
Freedom in the State fosters freedom
in religion; sovereignty in the State,
arbitrary rule i'll the sky. Permit me"
says Prof. Swing, ito assume that our
republic has tended toward the over
throw of the ideas of human insignifi-
canoe, and Of fatality, and of simple,
divine despotism and Transforming
God into Father, has made man CO.
laborer, without whose assistance the
moral world pauses, just as the plow
stands still when man deserts the field
for life of Incidence. Mans relations
to morals, and to agriculture, are the
same so far as human vision can scan
the landscape"
8. We are to remember also that this
is country of United States. That
was the idea of our fathers. 1t was
demonstrated on the fields of the late
war. Republicanism, in the sense 1
use it, has given US political oneness
This lesson we endeavor to impress
upon the minds of all who come here
from other shores. Out of our hetero-
geneous populations must be developed
a homogeneous people. The tendency,
therefore, in the State, is strongly to-
ward unity.
How does this affect Christianity !?