The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-20

~ -. the oewildering newspaper gossip
AI. 5iaines state OF health. his diplomatic
$3.50 $3.50 ano MS plans and ambitions touching his
future career. He represents the seereta-v ,rstn
saw ana saw-buck, surrounded BIZ . horde OF
newspaper critics, while on the ground lie
cnunks OF wood labeled sItalisn Dificultv.p
hog Question, Reciprocity MARITIME Con-
terence. "Seai Fisheries" aPan-American Con-
ference, etc. Mr.. Blaine's motto, sasaw wood
ana say nothing" might well be the motto OF
the church. Let ii 20 about its work. II Il
doing great work and cannot come down"
~ ~ 700 ousy TO spend much time in defending
llseiI- The character that has to be always
defended isn't worth very much The early
Metnodist ministers were not speculative or con-
.rosersial, but they went to work saving souls.
MI. Booth is hard at II in London and Mr. Hux.
icy reference TO "Carybsntic Christianity" will
not much hinder him
1nIisiianity. the speaker argued, may say to
fts Critics: go and build more schools save
more men, bring more gladness and consolation
10 the world, produce more seIf-sacrineing
heroes ana We viii pass the world over to you.
90 ana study the Good Samaritan's deed and
do likewise. Be neighbor 10 all who lie on
jericho roads. Until you do more than the
cnureh Is doing In this line about which you
tslK SO much 1t may be the most appropriate
thing 70 hold foolish, impairment tongue
were Christianity thrice So imperfect as il al
ieged, still 1t Is the grandest, most beautiful
agency among men for good. Were the Bible
nHed with errors, yet il has affected ciyiliza-
ton so grandly and has 30 much admitted truth
In II that the world will not toss il away The
misery OF the world is in the nature of q prob
lem 10 be solved. Christianity is not response
Ole Tor the misery. 1t is not incumbent upon
her to say how the evil got here nor
70 solve the existence of sin and the
ueNi. here they are, what are you
going to do about it? Here ara wrongs and
vicss-how are we going TO get rid OF them. She
nss ner soiuaon-tne regeneration of human
Character. Ii she is on the wrong tack, If in
error, If unphilosophical. unreasonable, let a
better method be shown. Her method has
much 70 show for itself-eyen nineteen CEN
turtles OF glorious history. To propose-not only
70 propose, but TO enact-some more efficient
way for the redemption of society would be
thoroughly sensible, aud the world would be
thankful, but the floods OF talk and essay writ
ing about .decaycd superstition" failure of
christianity, etc, is OF all mental exercises the
ldlest and most foolish. We welcome any prac-
ucai suggestfons-any wisdom, plan, any real
helpful criticism. IL any one is earnest let him
speak out and lend hand. But mere captious-
ness, querulousness, cyncism, idle fault-dading
or dainty diiietanteisn, offended ct everything,
ID mean and miserable. The ambitious scheme
OF Comte, the transcsndentalism OF New Eng
land and many other modern substitutes have
come and gone, but Christianity is still doing
field. 1t lie helping men st least little, instead
OF writing grandiloquently about Humanitari-
anism-with big Ii. Especially at the present,
when serious questions are affecting millions of
men--questions of right and justice-Christian-
ity IL trying TO answer, and should be accorded
patience and charity.
Lack of earnest, said the speaker. Is the crying
fault of infdeity. Il is fippant. Christianity
Is IN dead earnest. 1t offers 10 men great cause
70 which they may dedicate their lives Here
they may dedicate themselves on the altar of
humanity. There is no activity but what con-
verges in her; no philanthropy that has mans
body, mind or soul in view, no physical develop
ment. hygienic or sanitary reform, no mental
drill or character building, that she does nos
foster and incite.
In conclusion, the preacher claimed that we
were living in an earnest age where men must
be in earnest and not pursue dog in the manger
policy, neither eating the hay himself nor let
ting the OK eat il. There are plenty of people
who can critieise novel or poem, but could
never write it. The question comes, what 10 .
man doing? Mastery activity" viii not win
campaigns. Critics of Grant said he was no SOL
der: all he knew was 10 keep pounding
away, and he never knew when he was
beaten. But somehow the country 10 more
grateful to him than to the generals who were
studying the wars OF Hannibal, C@sar's COM
mentaries or Napoleon's campaigns. Nothing
euccdeds like success, and Christianity has that
highest evidence. What we want today 10 not
so much walking dictionaries as walking Bibles.
The translation OF the Bible into flesh aud blood
is the best revised version. Such lives are more
eloquent than Demosthenes or Cicero, Burke or
Pitt. Webster or Everett, Gladstone or Sumner,
a Peter the Hermit or Jeremy Taylor, a Spur
geon or Beechsr. holy life is better .Evi-
dences OF Christianity" than any ever written
by . Chalmers, Q Hopkins, Flint, a Fisher,
Watson, McCosh, or any of the apologists or
defenders OF the faith II is more than all the
combined arguments from prophecy, or miracle,
or authenticity of Scripture records And the
Christ, who is making men into his fair like
ness. will ultimately hold Q grateful world to
his throbbing heart