Smyrna times., 1890-03-26
A Bishops Surprising Express
sions.

Bishop Paret, of Maryland, a Bishop
OF the Episcopal Church, gave express
sion to these remarkable sentiment at
q business mems prayer meeting in
Baltimore
why is it that the field of religion
IS left to women? TO my mind there
is one reason patent among others, and
that is that mOnstrOus perversion of
| Gods Gospel known as the revival
| system. 1t teaches the idea that
| before men can worship God thew
must be worked up to some intense
emOuonalism or go through certain
convulsions of feeling, &c. On ac-
count of this pernicious idea have
seen some of the saddest fruits.
Il remember a certain member of
the Supreme bench of the United
States, now dead. He was a learned
man, but had gotten this idea of emo
tional religion into his head and died
without being baptized or confirmed.
pray God he will be forgiven for the
error into which he had fallen.
''Then there are books of PRAYER
crammed full of sentimental stuff that
men cannot accept. This idea of SEN
tment Is false one. | cannot feel
like woman. Nor is it required to
aim to I'LL your prayers with fictitious
feelings that have no response in the
| heart"
Yet is not emotion the very essence
| of religion? Is not emotion that
which distinguishes religion from a
mere system of ethics? To be reilly
ious is not merely to obey the moral
law, but to obey it from the love of
God, not because the intellect assents
and commands, but because the heart.
the emotions, are inaamed with the
love of Christ. Love for Christ as the
master, the leader, the exemplar.
was the whole burden of the remark
able Lenten lectures of the Rev. Phil
lips Brooks in Trinity. The great
purpose of the preacher was to awaken
the enthusiasm of his hearers so that
they might forget the world and its
ambitions in the sublime elevation of
their affections. Personal love for
Christ as the only means of purifying
character and conduct, was his unva.
rying theme.
Next to the Bible alone the religious
book which had the largest number OF
readers in all times is the Limitation
OF Christ" by Thomas A. Kempis, a
book 'crammed full" of what Bishop
Paret calls sentimental stuff that men
cannot accept" 1t was translated
into English by Wesley, and has had
a profound influence on Methodism
the most purely emotional of religious
systems. No book could express a
more passionate love and yearing for
the personality of Jesus; and both
Protestant and Roman Catholic lit
erature generally is full of the very
sentiment that Bishop Part calls false
and feminine rather than true and
masculine.
Except ye be converted, and be
come as little children" says Jesu.
himself, 'ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven" When Mary
annointed his head with precious oint.
ment, and His disciples had indigna-
ton" at the waste, He rebuked them,
saying, that wheresOeVer this GOspe
shall be preached in the whole world
there shall also this, that this woman
hath done, be told for memorial OF
her" The expression of Mary's sim
pie love and honor was pleasing tC
Him.
why is it that the field of religion
is left to women ?" asks Bishop Paret
and he answers the question by saying
because religion is made emotional
Il cannot feel like a woman" Blu
the teaching of religion and of its mos
revered expounders is that he shOulC
so feel and pray, that he should
become as little child, feeling rather
: than thinking. Hence it is tha
: women, being more completely thar
men under the sway of their emo
tions, are more apt than they to find
satisfaction in the field of re
ligion. They obey because they love
and, as Jonathan Edwards says, that i.
the essence of religion.
3 Wherever the Christian religion ha
I spread, and at all times when it ha
gained most hold on men, it has been
Q preached, not as a system of moral.
J but as n supreme affection. The ap
/ peal has not been to mems heads, bu
!. to their hearts, to the feminine rathe
Q than the masculine side of man
: nature. What is a revival of religion
d except the stirring up anew of human
p emotions so that earthly love shall b
. replaced by the love of Jesus?
0 Bishop Paret's remarks at Baltimor
a on Thursday strike us, therefore, will
. great surprise. They are not ami
e mated by the religious spirit. The,
: might have been uttered by an inidel
" Y Sun.