Telegram-herald., 1890-10-06


Esesisx Di>esazss.
nearly every seat Ia the LADIES' 1t
egary e.a0 house sas ceeop.ed l4st
syenng pbea the Rev. Caroline J.
EaFtiesl oE Kalamazoo, took heE place
upon TIE Fostrum. The young aiviae
3 blonde lady q me physgue aud she
Is Intellectually beautiful She read
the evening lesson from the fourteenth
chapter 0f Romans, aud Al tie close Of
the reading she repeated that beautiful
poem. beginning.
whatever way tae staas ~ bley.
eone Seaiie heart s8lia have t So
lhea oios g east. Or blow h sest
TIE " ~ that Flows ghAt aiEd IS best.
Attae beginning OK the sermon she
took no text bat said that 4 noted dl-
VINE once preached a sermon from
these words. ''If you are right, Why
does not everyone agree with your
and sad that she had taken Tor her
subject, 'lhe Unity IN the Variety OF
Religious Opinions" said she. "All
who have arrived at some settled relig-
ious faith. have passed through
period of darkness. Orthodoxy lays
dOwa a specific plan Of salvation re-
qulring certain faith while the liberal
church says i give you no law en-
graved upon tables OF stone, bat IN
stead 81 that / point out 10 you the
law that Is engraved upon your hearts.
The course that you are 10 follow hes
between YOU and God and II YOU
will carefully examine the picture
OF God tnat Is imprinted IN
your own heart you will
learn 10 love il more and more, and
follow It's details. When you have done
this, the fact that everyone does not
agree With youin the matter OF faith,
does not disturb YOU. The light within
you teaches YOU that each one must 90
according 20 his own light"
Religion is natural 10 man, and
every one must have ms spiritual food
according TO his own nature. Within
the bosom of the first man lay the germ
OF religion, else the nigh state of spirit
uSi development that man enjoys to-
day could not have been.
what we see and feel with our natural
preceptlve organs, and 1t IS very hard
for anyone to make us dsbelIeve our
own eyes. Why should we believe that
our spiritual organization IS constructed
on an entirely different plan from ouA
physical organization? What to one
person seems but confused war OF
sounds Is a sweet and subtle harmony
. D, 81 Oh 10
my touch seems but bit of roughened
paper becomes the Lords prayer, under
the touch of blind person. Why can
we not MAINTAIN the same principle IN
regard to our spiritual perceptions"
You say, there are periIS III free
dom, and 10 Is true. Sometimes men
study and strive after a faith that is
unnatural 20 their natures, and become
stranded upon the rocks of Atheism.
Boys are doomed sometimes in learning
TO SWIM; vessels are lost iu crossing the
sea, but all must brave perils who
would accomplish great ends"
The discourse then turned upon evo-
luton, citing the development of ami
mails; how, when one is advanced to u
higher plane, certain members and or
gans become rudlmentsry and, IN after
advanced development, they disappear.
These rudimentary organs are historl-
Cal and serve as mIlestones along the
path OF progress.
So il IS in religious development. The
ancient Israehtes, through the infu-
ence of their old natures, fell away
from God time after time. The later
barbarisms, such as the crucifixion of
Christ, and the burning, hanging and
torturing of men in the name of Jesus,
were relics of the baser nature in man
that has IN "a measure disappeared.
These are eras in the history of religion,
Just as the loss of certain members are
eras in the life of animal development.
The non-essential parts fall away. The
various forms of religious belief, such
as Buddhism, Mohsmmedanlsm, or later
still, Luthcrism and Calyinlsm, are
caused by the personality of the mnds
/ upon which the Divine Spirit has
worked. When a man undertakes TO
gain great spiritual knowledge by any
short cut, rather than following the
revelation experienced in ms own heart,
he always falls away from 1t.