The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-24

1on. II stands for tyranny In the state, for
for reaction In religion. This OF the oficial,
state churches OF the old word.
ana In our own country, where freedom and
slavery, barbarism and civilization were en-
gagged in their death-struggie, we learned how
sef-styed church OF God, blinded by prejudice,
by Tradition, by worldliness, might take the side
OF His enemies AMI become the oppressor OF His
little ones" And, in general, ii must be con-
fessed that the churches rarely make themselves
the leaders OF thought or the companions OF the
ton and infailibiiity leads them to regard with
such reverence what they have come to look
upon as ancient truth that they have but cold
welcome for the voice and leadership of the
living God of today. But this is only human
nature, and nature that manifests itself, not in
religion only, but in other departments Of thought
Neither is this anything against the church a.
an organization. The organized law Of the
world tts statute books and precedents) does
not represent the highest ideals of justice. That
which is already made into law is always last
years or last centurys conception of right or Of
expectancy, while mans sense OF equity il
always In the air, and when they have
come down and been hardened into in
situations, by that time finer thing still is
hoyerfng, as an ideal, above the human brain
and heart. so the world goes on; and religious
progress, in this is not unlike all other progress
Let us, then, not commit the folly Of identifying
religion with theology, or the church of the liv-
Ing God with any special church that 10 only an
organization of fallble and prejudiced men.
II. will now ask you TO turn from the past
and consider for little the junction and place
OF the church in modern life.
!. And first, what is its basis? On what does
II rests Is its foundation secure?
usprlngs out OF and rests upon the eternal fact
OF the religious nature and aspiration of man.
Man Is religious just as naturally and necessar-
lily as he is artistic, or scien i1c, or social He
seeks and cares for religion just as he seeks and
cares for the school or the state. The church at
first was purely voluntary association OF men
and women who desired to worship God and
uaQFh Of hr frtno 81, hat
as natural and legitimate as that of any semitic
society or art as Sociation. And until man loses
aspiration and worship and all belief In an ideal
NE we need not lear but that the Foundation of
the church will prove 10 be one OF things that
whatevvr else be shaken" and pass away, will
remain. one utterance OF that "wo;d of God
that liveth and abideth forever"
1t In little curious, and sometimes il ia anus
ing, 10 note the methods of those who proclaim
the speedy decease OF the church They
straightway proceed to organize what 10
to all intents and purposes q church of
their own in the interests of anti-church agita-
ton. They have their ekslesia, their meeting,
their organization. They gather, they preach or
proclaim their gospel, their tidings, that they
believe 70 be good, as zealously as any church,
man OF us all They think they are opposing
the church, while it is only particular ideal Of
the church they oppose; and all the while they
do 10 by tact admission of the very principle on
which our religious organ nations rest And as
Tor bigotry and conservatism, ] know some
secular organizations and propagandists who
are as prejudieed and bat blind as any ignorant
monk OF The middle ages. Alas, these qualities
are so humon that you cannot shut them up in
any one organization. Perhaps no gathering
ever met and was able to shut the door in the
face OF all bias, ell prejudice, all conceit all
self-rghteous preteuse oil infallibilty. Some or
all OF these attend all meetings-political, scien-
tific, social, as well as re thousand generally
they are not too bashful to both speak and vote.
The church, then,is grounded In the essentially
and eternaly religious nature of man.
2 1t islands, as nothing else does or can, for
the ideal side Of life, for that which is dis
va ND m hfoha hrpo
Whether or not Ii be true that we are de-
scended from an animal ancestry, it undoubt-
eddy is true that we share with the ami
but most of our mental, and some OF
our moral characteristics If we seek, then,
for that which crowns US with kingship over
the lower world, sets us apart as being only
ga little lower than the angels" where shall
we find IL? We excel the animals in brain
power; our morals are generally, though not
always. superior; but that which sets us quite
apart and on high is our upward and forward
looking. The Greeks called man anthropos, the
upward.looker; 1t is written, "Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that pro-
ceedeth out OF the mouth of God" 1t is this
ideal quality, then, this insight and foresight,
this vision Of things as yet invisible and the at;
condition of things-itis this, the up-iooking.
that is the most peculiar and characteristic
quality OF man.
And there is no other institution on earth that
embodies and stands for this in the special
and exclusive way that Is true OF the church.
All the week men are fighting battle on the
outcome OF which depends the answer to the
question as to what they shall eat and drink
and wherewithal they shall be clothed On
Sunday, II he make the true use of the church,
he climbs up nto the higher ranges of his life
and remembers that he ID n m an and that being
man means more than dinners or sleep or place
OF residence; that It means love and hope, as
plration and worship, charity and help. Cutting
of this connection with the higher life would
be like seyering the air-tube of a man who had
gone down in diving bell. The real life of the
m IA nod Al
8. true church stands also for the noblest,
the only universal hopes touching the possibili-
ties and destiny OF man. Schools are for schol-
club is for those whose artistic tastes are more
or less developed; but not all men can read the
secret of art The scientific as ISOLATION is for
those with brain and time for study and
thought but only the few Ire called here. So
ciety 10 for men and women with some degree of
leisure and wealth, but her threshold is impas-
sable to the many. 1t is only, then, in a
true church that all men are taught that they
are the children OF the common Father, and that
human brotherhood 10 likely ever to become
something more than political catchword or q
sentiment.
And where else can the masses of men
be thrilled by. the hope of an eternal
time and opportunity to become the highest?
Nowhere else are there words SO humbling to
pride, so assuring to humility, SO. radiant with
the promise of universal hope. If one may be-
lieve that he is Gods child. and has before him
the possibility of an eternally upward destiny,
the petty distinctions of the present fade, the
fainting heart grows strong, the palsied will
feels thrill of the divine vigor, life becomes
worth while, and death is no longer terror.
4. A true church, again, stands for mutual
help In all that is highest and best.
Other associations may stand for help in some
lower, though still important. department of
life. But even our charity is beginning to
learn that We do not help men permanently, or
In the truest way. by merely giving bread or
clothes. And political leaders and reformers
are beginning to learn that even freedom and
the ballot may leave man but little better than
he was before. man is really and permanently
helped only as we help him to be man. And
true church is the only organization among men
that stands peculiarly and exclusive for this
The spirit of competition rules everywhere
else, and am not sure but, in the present stage
OF development, il is we'll. II may be along this
very road of competition that perfect brother
hood Is coming. But in a true church the
brotherhood has already come. 1t stands as the
embodiment OF the deal toward which all other
departments of human life are striving
5. The church also stands Tor worship, for
communion with the infinite life, for comfort
ana for trust.
link these all together thus because they are
only different phases Of the one supremest atli-
tude Tor exercise OF the human soul-worship.
The man who does not worship is only half a
man, and the lower half at that. He may not
call IL by that name; his finest instincts may
have reyolted against certain perfunctory SER
vices that he has been taught to regard az iden-
ticai with worship; he may be wholly unable to
worship certain Ideals and conceptions of the
Divine that theology has held up for his adora-
ton; he may have misconceyed the plan and
the beauty OF prayer, aud so imagine that he
never does pray; he may be at times over
whelmed by the problems OF human life, SO suf-
fering now and then an eclipse OF faith and
palsy of trust; but II he be true, man the spirit
of true worship will sometimes thrill his soul.
In the presence OF mountains or ocean, or under
the wide say OF stars, or SIS he reads of or wit
nesSes some act OF noble human heroism. or
when looking into the eyes OF some loved one,