St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-09

bring to any of us, | can put whatever
force Cod shall give me, unreServedly
into this work, and | have learned
enough of the secret of the Most High
to be sure that in whatever outward
circumstances may be placed l shall
have inward peace.
A CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
But, first of all, the Peoples church Is
to be Christian church. We glory in
the Bible. the sacramentS and the Sab
bath, the common heritage of believers.
We are to be n Christian churcl as dis
tinguiShed from social club or an
ethical society. We shall teach the
ruin and penalty of sin, redemption in
Jesus Christ and the reality OF Christian
experience or communion with God.
We believe in the helpfulneSS of prayer
and the reality of the Divine provi-
dence. But, above all these things. we
teach that love Is the measure of God
and the core of religion. We believe
also with John that ''lf Il man say Il
love God and hateth his brother, he is a
liar" We believe that ChrlSt-like
faith will lead to a ChriSt-li6e life, and
that we can only truly serve Him 10y
initiating Him in going about and do
ing good"
We claim partnership, therefore, with
all the noble souls. and in all the great
dCulcNtHttlS Ol our lutlll. w u
are brethren of Matthew Simpson, the
Methodist; Phillips Brooks, the EpiSco-
palian, and John Newman, the Roman
Catholic. These men, and those like
them, who are too great of genius and
too large of heart TO be priSoned by any
form OF worship or fashion of creed, be-
long to all Christian people. We trace
our pedigree and acknoW ledge our debt
to the paSt-to Wesley ana to Jonathan
Edwards, 10 Luther and Loyola, to
James and 10 Paul; for each of these, as
it was given him. sought to bring the
world near To God. We Will not glory
in particular men or achievements, re-
Numbering that even the Corinthians
were taught to give up their schisms-
"FOr all are yours, whether Paul, or
ApOliOS, or CephaS."
Is IT NOT IRREGULAR?
But" some one says, ''are you not
irregular and dangerous in your meth
odS?" We are irregular, but not dan
gerouS. Irregular? When has that
epithet not been rightly hurled against
every movement OF faith and zeal? So
they said To John Wesley when lie left
his pulpit and commenced to speak 10
the people in the fields or the streets, or
wherever he could find them. bringing
to their hungry hearts the words of life.
Irregular? So was SaVonarola, when i'll
the ears of the men OF Florence, out in
their public square. he reasoned OF
righteousness. of Temperance, ana of q
Judgment TO come. Irregular? Did
not James and all the orthodox
church of Jerusalem think the
same of ST. Paul, as he famed about the
Mediterranean sea, preaching that "All
things are become News" In Christ
Jesus neither circumcision nor unclrcum
ciSiOn aYaileth; nothing but new crea-
ture.' And what thought and said the
piOus ScribeS and PhariSeeS of him who
spoke as never man spoke when they
saw him tramping through cOrnlieldS
on their Sabbath. eating with unSacti-
fed hands. cOnSorting with publicanS
and sinners. in all things deSpiSing the
traditions of men and evermOTe open
ing to men visions of the kingdom of
God? In world out OF joint by reason
of wickedneSS and pain. all that is of
God must make a place for itself. May
our Master give us wisdom enough and
religion enough to do His work aud
make us willing to bear his reprOach.
A CREED FOR ITS BASIS.
We have chosen the apostles creed
as our basis of doctrine. We have done
this because it is the universal creed of
ChriStendOm. and is the common plat
form of the Christian faith. We can't
take the Athanasium creed because it
says, whoever believes in this shall
be saved, and whatsoever believes not
shall be damned" We do not adopt the
Nicene creed. because the man who
made it is dead, and since he died there
has never been a man who could under
stand it. Ii We go into the Catholic
church we shall hear them with all fer
vOr recite, Il believe in God, the
Father" In these days of question AMI
restatement of opinion it seems TO us
folly that we should divide on non-eS-
sentials. We shall leave to every mem
Der the right of private Judgment in
all matters where there is not a conSen-
suS of ChriStendom.
The government of the church will be
in the hands of the congregation. under
the guidance Of officers and guardians,
chosen by the people as in the early
church. In this we shall follow the
New Testament indications and print
tive precedentS.
NO CLASS DISTINCTION.
Yet it shall be essentially a Peoples
church. When Jesus Christ came into
the world He built no splendid cathe-
drals: He established no gorgeous
ritual; He made no alliance with art, OF
learning. or social distinction. When
He took the mountain side for His audi
forum, there were no fine pewS for
ariStOcratic members into which
to pour the words, BLESSED
are those that mourn" There
shall be no class distinction
in this church. We will meet together,
the rich and poor alike. We will not
pretend to follow the Gospel of the
NaZarene and be practically infidel to
his doctrine of human brotherhood. We
shall have communion of saints every
where, under the canopy wheresoever
there has been true church of the liv-
ing God. We shall be church of the
present. We shall take hold of the liv.
ing questions of the living present
This will be church of the reforma-
ton. We shall dare to speak out against
all commercial, social and political sins
We believe so intensely in
man and his perfectibility that
our platform will dare tC
rich as well as the envy and diSsolute-
ness of the poor. Since Christ made
A COMMON SACRIFICE
for all men we believe all men have
equal rights. We believe that the
poor should shave the gospel
preached unto them" Sins against
society, whether commercial, political
or social, shall have no power TO make
Crook the pregnant hinges of the knees
That thrift may follow fawning''
Intemperance, dishonesty, impurity
will find here gospel rebuke. But
finally. our highest ideal is to realize in
our society the communion of saints -
not saints in any sense of narrow phari-
seeism, but men and women called out
of the world to associate together fol
mutual helpfulness against temptation
sin and sorrow. We are brothers. We
believe in God, we believe in Jesus
Christ, we believe in the kingdom of
God. We live in the faith that the King
will come to earth again. We believe
that out of the pains of earth, He will