The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-30
THE TRUE AND THE FALSE
DIR. TUCKER breaches A SERMON
WITHOUT A TEXT.


Do to Get the BENEFIT of It-Something
for Christians to Think About
Rev. H. II. Tucker, d. D., Of Atlanta,
preached at the Independent Presbyterian
church yesterday. At the morning service
the subject was the analysiso of true religion.
He began without the formality Of a text.
True religion, he said, is expressed in the
words. reverence, fear, love and obligation
to higher spiritual being There are both
true and false religions. Religion is gen
eral term and includes many creeds and
! beliefs IL may be false or it may he true.
! True religion is the religion Of Jesus Christ,
which came from above, the acceptance OF
which is life for evermore, and the reJec-
tion Of which is death eternally. 1t is the
most important concern Of rational beings.
Ii is and should be their chief JOY as it is
the foundation Of all their hopes
To analyze and reduce it to its constituent
! elements and component parts, true religion
! consists Of five parts, -four of which are hui
! man and one superhuman or spiritual. IL
| any OF these five parts are wanting, religion
is defective II complete in all its parts it
is true. The first is an affair of the head,
| the second is an affair of the heart, the third
| is an affair OF the hand, the fourth is on af-
| fair of the will, and the fifth an affair of
| divine grace. True religion is an affair Of
the head Therefore it is Intellectual 1t
! is addressed TO rational creatures, not to
beasts and creatures incapable Of un&er-
standing. There must be some knowledge
and appreciation of divine truth and where
there is no such intelligence there is no re-
| ligion.
1t is also an affair of the heart The
emotion must be stirred. The fear of the
/ gNaI 1 a
| joy. II one had the intelligence Of Gabriel
and understood all knowledge and tongues
and mad not an emotional nature he could
not have true religion. Unless there is
some 'gush' there is no reality in religion.
| The religion that has never cost a tear is
not above suspicion.
A DOUBTFUL RELIGION.
| If you were never profoundly impressed
| never thrilled with the glories Of religion
| never alternated between joy and sorrow,
| and never uplifted and never depressed by
| it, the genuineness Of your religion he
said is to be doubted. No saint was ever
so very intellectual that he became heart
! less
As the head represents intelligence and
| the heart affection, so the hand represents
! achievement Something is not only to be
| thought and felt in true religion, but some
! thing is also to be done. Action is neceS-
sary, and action, too, that can be seen. If a
mans religion is not eXenplifled by certain
! deeds, there is no religion there to be seen
| or exemplified True religion always makes
itself visible. When God kindles the flame
in the heart it burns brighter and brighter,
until all the world can see It,
Mary, of blessed memory, gave God ad-
vice to the attendants at the marriage
Of Cana, of Galilee, when she sad
to them; Whatsoever he saith unto
you do it," A religion which does nothing
is nothing. 1t is based on the principle that
out of nothing nothing comes Head
heart and hand are not enough, however.
The will is also necessary In true religion
the will is given up to Gods will. All ideas
of self are subordinated so far as they do
not harmonic with the divine Will Paul
frequently spoke of himself as the slave of
Jesus Christ, and he gloried in it, Total
| conservation is essential. There must be
complete surrender of the human will,
otherwise our religion is in vain. All or
nothing is the grand stipulation.
WHAT is LACKING.
All of these qualities. however, are not
even operative unless the one which gives
them impetus and direction is also present
1t comes from above, and God himself must
implant this new principle in nature. The
spirit Of grace and the divine energy are in
dispensable. No one has a proper conscious
ness of sin unless the spirit of God has
wrought on his moral nature. The human
will is weak unless God gives man adj
! ditional strength. If left to himself man
will inevitably become irreligious. Human
nature is fallen; God only can renew it, The
principle of all true religion is from God
! The root and trunk of the tree is found as
! human nature, but the flower and fruit are
| the work of grace.
1t may be asked said the preacher, how
| much of the intellect is necessary to religion
| and how much of knowledge. Very little,
he answered will suffice. The kingdom of
! heaven is like "A piece Of leaven, which,
when given time, Will leaven the whole
world, and very little intelligence is enough
! to lead man to eternal life. knowledge
| enriches mans nature, and the more he
! knows the deeper are his emotions, as a rule,
! and the greater his activities, but much
! knowledge is not essential to taking hold of
eternal life, else many of us would have a
| poor chance.
The qualities that make up the component
| parts OF true religion may exist in different
proportions in different persons. Some are
! intellectual but phlegmatic, while others are
| emotional but uumtellectuaI. The iutelh-
| gent man will never be raised as high nor
| sink as low as an emotional nature Some
are neither worry Intelligent nor warm
hearted, but full Of activity, and some are
not very Intelligent nor very afrectionate
nor very active and yet they have strong
| will
MEN WHO MAKE MARTYRS.
| These latter make the MAJ tyrs of all ages
| They are made for emergencies, and the one
must learn not to despise the other. because
some men have moro intelligence or emotion
! ar Nts ttJtll ~,