St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-16

of mans mind, but the immediate and
direct creation of the mind of God.
Plainly, Jesus Christ, who is God, as
sumo we all agree on that point, has
embodied his religion in an organized
form, in government. The grand out
lines of the church; hearers and teach
ers aud within the body of teachers
the pope, the bishop, the priest; these
grand outlines were laid down by Christ
himself in the charter and constitution
of the church. Without any difficulty
we admit that many incidental and sec
ondary details in the practical working
of that organization IN various
ages and countries and civiliZa-
tons, details that fill up and
round out and fit into this surround
ings the grand outlines, are the out
come of human ingenuity. development
and self-evolutOn under the influence
of envirOning conditions. we admit
that such details have changed and
varied, ana will continue to change and
vary with the conditions and environ
ment that brought them forth; and
moreover it is precisely in virtue of this
yariablpneSs in details, this elasticity in
practical working, that the constitution
of the church can accommodate itself to
all times and peoples, and harmonic
with all civilizations, and make its
home and flourish equally in the au-
tOcracy of Russia and the democracy OF
America. What we assert then is that
the main outlines, the fundamental
points-sueh points as the constitution
and charter of nation deal with, leav-
ing minor points to current legislation
and the special needs of states or SINH
lar partitions of peOple-the tunda-
RkanV fnlu of In mic n
the church are of divine Institution, and
therefore Interchangeable and
LADEN WITH FINAL SUCCESS.
Before l proceed To show this let me
state that there is need TO do So Many
thinking men suppose that the organic
alton of the church. like that of other
corporations, is cOntrivance OF man, or
natural growth, development, self-evo-
luton and embodiment in the course OF
time of the religious ideal. Henry
Ward Beecher, who was the best repre-
sentative of nOn-CathOlie thought in his
day, likened religion tn education, the
church to tile school, ami said that as
education naturally, from the necessity
of the case, in time evolved itself into
school systems, so also religion neceS-
sarily and naturally evolved itself into
church systems, all of which are equally
true, equally good as long as they
tended TO the lettering of man; that no
one is justified in calling Itself eXrlu-
siveiy the church of God, as having been
instituted directly TO him.
The speaker then considers the prob
ability of this theory. Revealed reIig-
ion, he states. is beyond the power of
man abandoned to himself to discover
and preserve, but it is a check and con-
troll on his passions. The evidence OF
Gods religion Is found in certain his
turical records, known as the Gospels.
Christ taught set of doctrines to be
believed and put into practice. but he
EN- lOdied those doctrines in a society
fully constituted.
The speak T after speaking further
on this subject, concluded with the
prayer that the day would soon come
when all nations, united under one
Shepherd, would take up their tri-
umphant march and proceed to the gates
of eternity to the feet of the King of
Ages.