The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-07-28
CHRISTIANITY IN LIFE.

The real truths of Christianity can
be lived; hence those which cannot be
lived are not the real, vital truths.
Doctrines which are simply statements
of truth there may be, but such are
not essential to the saving power of
Christianity.
For example: The idea of three per-
sons in one may be, when taken in an
accommodated sense; true, but is not
an essential truth in religion because it
is in no wise one which can be lived.
So of baptism. 1t may be fact that
immersion, instead of sprinkling, was a
custom in the Apostolic times; but i'm
mersion ought not to be made vital
issue in Christian life because in the
great empire of experience it is not the
form but the spirit which makes the
rite efficient unto goodness of life. So
of endless punishment and infant dam
nation, and such like monstrosities of
| theological notions. God has so con-
stituted the human heart that it cannot
live in fellowship with these thoughts;
no human being can incorporate them
into his own action. They do not ap-
peal to the better inspiration, the high
er sentiments of our nature. For this
reason the age has practically repudi-
ated them. They exist to-day only as
the affirmations of more unchristian
age than this.
We have, therefore, in the teachings
of Christ, a measuring line, divining
rod, by which to discover which are the
great forces and truths of religion and
which are only the rites; which are the
vital truths and which are the dogmas.
We are to try the doctrines and to take
| out the essential ones from those which
are not essential. Our needs, as spirit
ual beings, become the magnets which,
being brought in contact with theologi-
cal ideas, gather to themselves those
which are vital and eternal. Much of
theological teaching, when tried by ex-
perience, falls away from any necessary
part in religion, and purges her from
much that has kept her under the ban
of the best thought Of the age. Relig-
ion is seen by this test to be something
different from the formulated PROPOSE
lions of creed, or from the doctrines
of any church. Religion consists in a
life passed in harmony with those per-
manent truths which in all ages and
among all peoples make the joy and
comfort of the soul. Religion rests
upon quite other foundation than the
opinions Of men. 1t rests upon the
nature of man. There is spirit in
man, and religion is one form of its ex-
panding. Moral growth is one form of
life, it is one way in which God giveth
the spirit in man understanding.
Strictly speaking there is no such
thing as new truth. Truth is the re-.
atty of things and can neither be Gre
ated nor destroyed. There is such a
thing as the reception, the knowledge
of truth not before realized; such a
thing as the disclosure, or revelati on of
truth. But religion is not this view of
truth, this knowledge of truth; it is the
wrought into experience. Religion ap-
peals to the moral nature of man and
relies upon the permanence of moral
forces for its Justification and final ac-
ceptance, because truth must win its
way at last. Let the tendency Of the
times, or of thought, be what it will it
can never be away from true religion;
because the soul Of man loves the truth
and must live by it.
Some truths are, of course, vital.
One of these is the existence and
attributes of God. The characteristic
thought of God at present is that he is
immanent in all things, the life of all
living beings, the soul of the universe.
If God be this then the soul, in so far
as it is separated from him, has broken
the chain of perpetual being. Religion
is the union of the soul with God the
same as the union of the branch to the
vine. 1t is vital that the soul abide in
God. With such conception of God
it is easy to see how there should be a
Son of God who is also the man, Christ
Jesus, and how there should be Holy
Spirit proceeding from God, acting
everywhere and filling the measure OF
perfect humanity.
The necessity of righteous life is
seen also because no other life lays hold
i upon, is sustained by, the Holy Spirit
of truth and love proceeding from the
Father through the Son. Let us not
hesitate to say then; Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, meaning the great Father
Heart at the center, a sonship that
stands for ideal humanity and spirit
ual energy which prepares the soul for
its complete reception of truth and love.
nm cmroAT OuDTcmT 1Trmu