Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1890-03-29
SUNDAY READING.
Manksnd Cannot Do Without Chris
tianity.
a Sermon ON the Faith Cura-The Origin of
Ben hur-Interestins Letters OF
Dickens.s
No Substitute For chri.tIanIty.

Inc Christian religion is a necessity,
Inc human race can no more do with
out IL than 1T can do without the light
or heat of the sun. Man is immortal.
ne Is conscious of immortality. No
sophistical method of reasoning can
4 convince him to the contrary. His OBJ
Ject OF pursuit must meet, then. the i'm
mortality of his nature. Any object
that does not reach that height is I'M
worthy OF supremacy, and its suprem-
acy IS degradation to man. Man is a
moral being. The capacity for moral
action is the great distinctive boundary
between him apd the lower animals.
lie Is endowed with moral feeling, as
well as with qnickness of percention
as TO right and wrong. Man is religi-
Gus being, and be must not only have
rlght as the object of his pursuit, but
ne must DC able to worship Him from
Whom he derived his own wonderful
nature. Even when found STEPPED in
ignorance, human beings must have
some object of alteration, some one
upon whom to concentrate the feryor of
religious devotion. Most men seek
wealth and make it the supreme object.
is - worthy. Does it satisfy the wants
oil the soul3 1t is needless TO DENY the
Falue OF wealth. Ii has built and fur
nlsbed the palaces which are the orna-
ments OIL our land; has penetrated the
wilderness and converted il into smiling
fields and crowded villages; has sent the
whistle of the engine and the CHATTER Of
the train across the Continent: has built
colleges. promoted literature, and adj
vanced science; has sent out mission
aries and offered the Gospel OF peace to
the benighted heather, aud vet it is nm
satisfying. The material cannot satisfy
the spiritual. Go ask the Goulds. As
tors and Vanderbilts if wealth satisfies.
ana the universal response Is mo. +"
Inc soul is too ethereal and its aspira-
IONS TOO nigh to be satisfied with all
the treasures which enterprise ever
souSht or labor ever earned. So it is |
WIN honor. The breath of applause |
DIES away upon the heart sickened with |
adulation. Man wants a firm FONDA. |
ton on which TO build. He wants sone- |
thing stable on which to place his feet. |
But he that builds his happiness on hu-
man glory is as destitute of a resting
place as was Noah's dove when the /
world was waste of waters, and |
neither rock nor tree was above the sur
lace. Science. grand as il is. is not suf-
hcent TO meet the demands of the COM
pick man. IL may satisfy reason and |
may crafty the desire for Knowledge.
But IT is not capable of meeting the de-
mands OF mans moral nature. II has
ats mission, and it is a great one. 1t
adds to the sum of knowledge. It les
sens human suffering. 1t illustrates
the character of God. We would not
lessen the zeal of the devotees of sci
ence. And yet we would lead him
higher, From truth to the God of
trnth, from science to religion, from
the true to the good, the transition need
not be difficult, and vet it must be
made. No religion can he substituted
tor the religion of Christ. Pagan
lsln, IN the lowest forms, is too disgust
ing and absurd TO be mentioned III this
The loathsome rites of
voudooism and fetichism are at once
denounced by the intidels and by the
Christians. Let us try the philosophy
Ot the Greeks. Take Stoicism. 1t turns
.he heart to stone. Indifference to suC-
ering was the great central doctrines of
IL the Porch. 1t took its votaries intoa
iesert, where no flowers bIoomed and |
where all was death and gloom. While '
everything, even virtuous
emotion, Epicureanism denied nothing.
I took its votaries to the gardens Of
where the ears were saluted ]
With voluptuous strains of music. Eat 9
md drink, it said, for tomorrow Won {
nay die. While Zeno eradicated human {
PASSIONS and appetites, Epicurus en- I
hroned them. Such was paganism, I
was really the most refined c
orm OF pagan philosophy. IL was too 9
ugh for the multitude. Its distinc-
ions were so metaphysical and its
easonings so profound That the COM
non people could neithera appreciate nor !
omprehend IT. 1t lacked adaptation. 7
I wanted simplicity. The religion of g
he false prophet, Astounding as it does q
Inconsistencies, and with it's gross G
lcentious tendencies, could never he I
fered by any reasonable man as a sub {
titute for the pure, consistent and 5
truthful system of Christ. Then we II
re forced to take the religion of the v
'ible with its inspiring hopes, its spot. Q
ess purity, its incorruptlble morality L
nd its divine author, or we must EN- n
race iniidelity. This is the naked u
uestion that presents itself TO us. In
deity is rushing all of its votaries into
.theism. This day, deprive the world
{ all that is Christian in letters, in "
lorals, in civilization. and we return a
, the age of barbarism and fall again =
} worshiping the creatures of supersti- !,
on or depavity. As a system of in
elect, of thought, OF enlightened a
.rson, Christianity has nothing 10 fear
o philosophy so deep, no truth so 5,
rand. 1t goes deeper Than the founda.
ons and higher than the flights of +,
Ianets. or all truths this is the
randest OF all science this is the b
'uest God, the eternal, invisible, i'm.
Iaculate God. -ReG Dir. Rivers, ia
hriStian Thought. b