St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-28
The. Sermon Of Rev. DR.. S. G.
Smith at the Peoples
Church.
Christianity, He Says, Is the
True Democracy on
This Earth.
Few Should Be the Laws and
Statutes Outside of the &
Essentials.
The Great Questions Cannot.
Be Settled by Eeelesias- j
p
tical Assemblies.

ReV. >. u. Smith, pastor Of the PEG!
PIES church, preached yesterday to a
large congregation in the Grand opera
house, Oh the subject of christian
Liberty" The text was from Gal, w.,
26: "But the Jerusaleum that is above
is free, which is our mother" DR..
Smith said:
The first Protestant of whom we have
any record was the Apostle Paul. His
protest was against the domination of
the church OF Jerusalem, chiefly in the
matter of ritual. He finally determined
at all hazards to set his churches free
from the shreds of Judaism which sur
YlVed IN certain formal observanceS, and
the eplStle to the Galatians is his eman-
cipation proclamation. He Iikens the
Journalism of the Mosaic law to
bondage. He asserts that its
yotaries are 1shmaelites and not
!sraeliteS: that the true church
Is essentially ideal. The Jerusalem that
Is above is free, and our mother. 1t is
the duty OF the Christian teacher to en-
deayor to apply abiding principles
to the perpleXities of present problems.
so L shall not detafn you with any
thing further in regard to this Pauline
controversy this morning; but will en-
deaYor to point out some useful con-
c!usionS which flow from this concep-
ton of free church. We are to con
sider liberty as fundamental charac-
terlstlc of the gospel. We need to see
hfSt OF all that the Christian conceptiOn
OF liberty is simply the opportunity for
the highest individual development un-
der the most favorable circumstances.
IL lends Itself to growth and character.
1t recognizes the individual as related
TO society, and whenever as many as
Two men come together in the relations
OF life they require that liberty which
is guaranteed by law. But human free
dom also demands that the precepts of
law shall be the fewest possible. The
freeSt political institutions are not
those under this or that particular form
OF constitution, having if you please
ANNUAL ELECTIONS,
popular suffrage and the like; but they
are precisely those which give the larg-
est opportunity for the exercise of indi-
Yldual Judgment and individual action.
Christianity proposes to be the true
democracy among religions. 1t proposes
sufficient law to guarantee peace and
character. but it proposes also the widest
possible theater for the free exercise of
the human faculties. The first direc-
ton in which Christian liberty may be
considered is in the realm of mind.
The gospel guarantees the legitimacy
of free thought. Now, there is a cer-'
tain body of thought which a man must
accept or he cannot be a Christian. He
must believe in God. For without faith
III God, as force, life, love, there can be
no worship. Without worship there can
properly be no religion. But when it
comes to philosophical accounts of the
mode OF the Divine existence, questions
about persons and substance and the like
stated in terms which are at best diffiI
cult and obscure, the gospel has no
proper authority to exert. To be a
Christian one must accept the authority
OF the Bible. But when it comes to
theories OF inspiration. methods of in
depreciation and teXtual criticism. one
must do the best he can with such sense
and brain as he has. To be a Christian
one must believe in the divine mission
and supernatural work of Jesus Christ.
But when it comes to precise state
mentS of the relations in Him of the
divine and human, or to the
theological putting of theories of
the atonement, the gospel has no
commands to offer. 1t will be seen
t1ac there IS such a thing as essential
Christian dogma, which NAV be defined
as the intellectual law of the Christian.
But there is at the same time a much
wider realm of what may be known as
minor dogma, III which we have neither
certitude nor authority, and which must
OF necessity be left to the solution of
the individual. A case in point occurred
among our Presbyterian brethren in
Georgia last week, where brother was
brought under the ban of the church
for final settlement of his ecclesiastical
standing. because he held to the doc
trine of evolution. DR.. Adams, of Au-
gusta, cried out: ''Let US settle this
matter of evolution, now and forever"
personally know that Dr.. Adams is a
MAN OF SOLID BRAIN,
and of very tender heart, but my friend
will have to learn that this world has
long since quit finally settling scientific
questions by the vote of church tribu-
mails. If problems might be settled in
that way. NOW and forever" there are
a great many other questions beside
evolution that we would like to send
down to the convention, and it is likely
that we could keep that body in contin-
ual session for the remainder of this
generation.
The gospel also guarantees individual
liberty in the domain of practical affairs.
The church, as such, can never right
fully have anything to do with politics.
The pulpit may rightly discuss moral
must preach to politicians, and not for
them. No minister, as such, therefore,
can become politician. But if st. Paul
thought it proper to assert his Roman
citizenship for his own defense, it seems
to me that a modern clergyman might
rightly be charged with cowardice # he
were not willing at proper times to as
Sert his American citizenship for the
defense of others. And since he has
the privilege of paying taxes and of
bearing arms in war, he may suitably
be flesh and blood man on other occa-
Sions. But the church usurps improper
functions when she assumes to dictate
party affiliations to any of her people!
For example, there is certain attitude
which every Christian is bound to take
upon the temperance question, for mo
drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of
God" But Christians may, with per-
feet propriety and without impugning7
each others motives, have widely di-
vergent views as to the best means of
banishing drunkenness from among
men; and when church attempts to
dictate in the decision of practical
measures. her conduct becomes an I'M
warrantable interference with the func-
tlollS VI lie StdIe anu 1ler IellOWSnlp an
unbearable tyranny. The gospel also
guarantees liberty in the details of con-
duct. In another epistle our author
flames out his indignation against i'm
pertinent interference, with the ques-
ton: "Why is my liberty judged by
another's Conscience" Now there is
realm of morality in which one must
live in order to be a Christian. Truth
fulness and purity and honesty are
ESSENTIAL CHRISTIAN VIRTUES,
but there is a large realm of what may
be known as minor morals, including
the bulk of human activities, which
Christianity leaves to the settlement of
the individual Judgment and CON