The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-01-04

CorIlS Oh SalV2ClOn. Chr1SGlanlty Will
grow great enough to accept man and
never ask question in the course Of
time. Jesus said, Other sheep | have
that are not of this fold He meant, as
believe, men like that"
Speaking of hell, have not many
men ceased to regard it as a bugbear?" 40
Undoubtedly Men who are very
good and sweet fellows laugh in their
sleeve and often openly when the thing
is propounded to them in the old fash
ion. They do not believe it, and they
do believe they can find no authority
for it in the Bible as it has been pro-
mulgated in some of the Christian sys
TENS, and if it could be proven today by
the Word that it is all truth, they are
ready to say, with Theodore Parker, so
much the worse, then, for the Bible
1--WE are slowly but surely coming to
accept tho grand central truth that God
is love and God is light, and in him is
no darkness at all; that men will be
weighed by their character and not by
their opinion. Why, even the light that
is beginning to CLEAN on us touching
the transmitted troubles and depravities
of our human nature is going to make
us more pitiful and tender toward those
who are their victims, as Jesus was to
the publicans and harlots.
Education is exerting most whole
some influence. never have any trou-
bic among men and women who are
educated in a broad and practical sense,
and ] think the whole tendency of what
one might call our religious education
takes that trend now. Education, how
ever, in the special dogma of church
and its system makes men narrower and
more bigoted. The bright and cheer
full aspect is this, that all the great pop
ular channels of education which reach
the people far and wide are Of the broad
er and finer sort. never saw great
magazine or sound public journal of any
kind that does not possess this charac-
teristic. The novel, which is so popu-
lar in our time, is also of that quality,
broad in its synpathies, calculated to
reach the hearts finest tissues and make
us feel the touch of humanity.
"A few years ago, being in Luzerne
in Switzerland, saw notice that there
was going to be Protestant service in
a Catholic church on Sunday. Iattend-
ed and found that the service was con-
Quoted by a Presbyterian minister from
Greenock, in Scotland. The sermon was
on the example of Christ and what it
was to follow, Christ. Touching mira
cles, he said the age of miracles has not
passed and gone, but is still in full
force. Miracles continue to heal the
sick, give sight to the blind, feet to the
lame and strength to the palsied in the
hospitals. These miracles are just as
great and divine in their way as any
the world ever saw.
when the discourse was finished l
went up to the minister and, taking his
hand, said, i have also miracle to re-
port-a Presbyterian service in Roman
Catholic church and a sermon fair and
true to confirmed hereto. That is the
way it is going. Our thinking is broad
er, our sympathy for each other is
broader and we all look forward to the
time when there shall be one Lord, one
faith and one baptism, and all the
churches and all the sects and all the
men and women within them, and vast
numbers outside them, will be branches
of the living vine
''One church now says, you must be-
heve in me as the true branch, because
| am the oldest; another, you must be-
lieye in me because am the newest; a
third, you must believe in me because |
am nearest the water; fourth, because
am farthest away. One says, you must
believe in me because | am most in the
shadow; another, believe in me because
am in the sun. One says, believe in
me because every twig on this branch
of mine is trained up on the ecclesias-
tical trelliswork, and another, because
every twigsis left to find its own twining
in its own fashion. There is only one
great truth to tell about them all-what
sort of fruit do you bear, and how does
that compare with the fruit borne by
the other branches? The fruits of the
spirit, the apostle says, are love, joy,
peace, long suffering, gentleness, pa
thence, goodness"
SIN general way, doctor, don't you
think the world is growing nobler and
better?'
Surely, surely was the reply, in
that earnest tone which men use when
they leave no doubt to be implied, ''al
though we are too close to the clash and
clang of things to realize the full sig
nifcance of the fact. 1t is well illus
trated, however, by old John Evelyn,
who said that when he was in Holland
lit was some time in the Seventeenth
century--he went up into the bell cham
Der Of q great cathedral and was sorely
hurt by the noise of the bells, but when
he went away mile or two and heard
ringing their soft, sweet notes, the very
air seemed rich in harmony. There was
no discord then-no
Sweet bells tangled, out of tune and harsh.
"And this is what we should all try to
do now and then.
'Some time ago received letter
from friend in England, whose mother
had just died at a very great age. All
her life she had lived in quiet nook
among the Yorkshire moors, and my