Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-30

lieved lies, and even seemed to have pref
erence for lies. They feared and hated and
prosecuted everybody who tried to tell
them any truth. That is an illustration of
! down upon the world were it not for the
saIutary blowing of the fresh breezes Of
doubt.
I would not do anything to hinder any
body's honest doubt. We cannot get along
without doubt. 1t is good thing both for
the truth that is questioned, and for the man
| who questions it.
1t is a good thing for the truth. 1t is a
misfortune to have even the truth taken too
much for granted. Truth, when there is no
| opposition to it, is in danger of being for
gotten, CT, at least, of being under-estA
mated. Truth needs light. IF it is set
away in the dark it grows encrVsted with
the rust of error. And there are always
/ people who cannot tell the difference be-
tween rust and iron, between the error and
the trnth. 1t is doubt whic h brings truth
forth, and scours off all the rust, and
| and brlghtens 1t until 1t shlnea
! Doubts Bring Out the Truth.
| 1t is good thing that there are so many
honest doubters who want to ask their ques-
tions and to get them answered. We know
more about the truths of religion to-day
than has been known since the days when
| Ol. IeEer anu Ot L dul HciC tedCuIuS mcu
| by word Of mouth, at first hand, what the
| Master had taught them. And we owe q
great deal of this knowledge to the investi-
cations of the doubters. Doubt is always
on the side of truth. 1t must be on the side
of truth. No kind of doubt eau ever UNDER
mine or overthrow the truth. Whatever
doubt can conquer is not true. We need
not be afraid tor truth. Truth is long-liYed;
it viii live on forever.
Al =. -
right kind, is a good thing for the doubter.
1t means that q man has begun to think.
And that is the most useful occupation
with which anybody can busy himself.
UnmanIy to Be in the Church.
Let the young men arise as in the days Of
Ananias, and wind up these old lies and car
ry them out and bury them; that it is good
thing for young man to have little ac-
quaintance with sin, and that it is q fine
thing for young man to have his doubts
about religion. And with them this third
invention OF the adversary, that it is y
manly thing for young man TO keep him.
self outside the Christian Church
am afraid that we must bear some of the
blame of this. We cannot lay tt NIL on the
devil. Tile Christian Church-we may as
well confess it-has not always taught re-
ligion i'll n manly way. Christianity has
beer identified with metaphysical theology,
and that, to most men, is the most blank and
barren OF all topics of discussion. Or, Chris
tianity has been identified with eccleSiaS-
t1cal organization, or With the ritual OF Al
service or a sacrament, with mere externalss
OF religion. And whether the church has
debated one or the other of these matters,
rowest lines. The questions considered
have again ard a.ain been pitifully petty,
and the spirit which has prevailed in the
debate has been the spirit of dogmatiSm, Of
bitterness, OF prejudice, of persecution, of
all that is meanest in the mind of man. The
controversies of Christians have more than
tianity. Religion has been made synono-
nous with bigotry, with ignorance, with
littleness, with superstition. Christian
ministers have contended for whas they
conceived to be tine cause OF Christ in the
very temper which Christ came to Danish
ous of the hearts of men. The Christian
Church has broken all the commandments.
The Shortcomings of the Church.
And manly men, looking on ut all this mis-
erable wrangling, noting our unhappy di-
visions. observing the endeavors of the Or
thodox to punish their brethren for the
crime of thinking, marking with keen sight
the difference between the Christian Sun
day and the Christian Monday, between the
shop and the sanctuary, between the creed
and the deed, nave held themselves apart,
and stayed outside. We may as well con-
fesS it. 1t is true. And it is better that we
should say 1t frankly than leave the accusa-
tion to our adversaries. We are ourselves
to blame.
have been said, it remains true, and is en-
phatically true to-day, that the Christian
Church Is the most hopeful and the most
help. ul institution in the world Think of
the relation which the Churcn holds to the
present and to the future, to the individual
and to society.
good that the church has done, is doing, and
will do, cannot be measured. THE chnroh-
has saved society u hundred times. re
we are in the season of great annivery-ry.
We look back over 400 crowded years. What
wonders hath God wrought since first that
adventurous mariner set the sign of the
cross upon this Western landi And then we
look ahead into another century. And VINO
WILL prophesy? The future is black with
thunder-clouds. Great storms seem sweep
ing down upon US. In the State and in
society. in the field OF politics ana In the
field of industry, who dares predict what
the new age has i'll store?
The Part of Life That Lasts.
Certain it is that if events march on In
the near future, keeping step with the near
past. will be hurried into fearful dangers,
and our path is to the pit. Where shall we
look for help and hope? Shall we make
new laws? Shall we enlist new armies7
Shall we build new walls? No; we must
have new hearts. We must set u differen5
estimate upon the value of money, and q
different estimate upon the value of men.
We must exalt the worth of character. We
must teach by our example thar there is
something more in life than wages and pro-
fits, something better than lands and housc3
We must set duty above dollars, and broth
erhood above gain. We must emphasize
the side of life that will last on into the lie
to come We must learn the Christian lesson
of the supreme pre-eminence OF love.
And who snail be the teacher2 Who but
the Christian Church? Who else is qualified
to teach? Where is there any other candi-
date Tor the hard post of master in this
turbulent school? 4 he future OF the repuD-
lic the future of society," depends upon this
which the plans and plots of hell never have
prevailed, and never will prevail. A wise
and good man will do his best by voice and
by example, by his heartiest service, to
strengthen this one bulwark of all that is
worthiest in life. The manifest thing that a
church.
And the church, in return, will help the
man. He who comes into the church, comes,
alter all, into the best company OF good peo-
pie that can be found upon this planet, and
brings himself into range with the most up
church is Christ. With all her failures, this
has Ill ways been at the center OF the church'5
purpose-so persuade men into the service
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For this. and this
alone, the church exists. To be a Christian
is to follow Christ, to learn the truth He
taught, and to live as close rs a man Can live
to thai ideal life He lived, TO be q man as He
WAS. The church is the company OF Christ.
Here men come into the presence OF Christ,
who is the Light OF men, the ideal of tho
manifest manhood. The right place for the
young man who eesires to be a man IS IN the
Christian Church GEORGE HODGES.