The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-11
WEST VERSUS EAST.
Rev. Mr.. Nutting on Tempta-
tions of Western Cities.
PRACTICAL ATHEISM AsouNps.
Rev. Il. r. Keevsr Replies TO Mr.. Car
rett's sermon on Eternal Punish
ment-News Of Churches.

D large congregation, VIII CHI completely
filed the lecture-room of the church, upon
the subject Western Cities and Their
Temptations" The discourse was able
and instructive and was listened to with
the closest interest throughout. He took
his text from:
Psalms exxxix .17--whlther shall / 60 from
Thy sprit7 Or whittier shall fee from Thy
presence7
Mr.. Nutting said:
The city, am particularly the Western city. is
the grave of many hope. and the birthplace of
many another. In its undistinguished throng
are lost the traces of crime, or disappointment,
or former wealth and present pcnury What a
tale could the walls of tensments tell of the
heart-breaking sorrows and the feverish long
i3gs Of the procession Of their occupantsi
These temporary homes In the Western cities
harbor young men or women who within their
walls somstimes have their frst week of undis-
turbed thinking There come suggestions that
aformer steady life and humdrum duties have
not allowed before. To move is usually to begin
anew spiritai experience. The old life IL cut
%. and new aud unknown life lies ahead Old
friends are far away; old books, old scenes. old
churches. and ever the cid father and mother
ere almost beyond help or hin6raace There
sse now motives for action; new experiences to
undergo, and the fscination OF the unknown
possesses one IL your acquaintance II not
very limited you have met more than one per-
son who has come here TO escape the past,
whether II be good or evil. The other day
young man presented me with letter OF intro
dncton from the remote East He frankly gave
me the history OF his fast life OF his disgust at
its bitter pleasures, and OF his plan to come
70 this point, m remote as possible from
the scene, that he might begin anew. II all
Of US who have similar confessions to make
should make them this experience would not
perhaps stand alone. To the same destination
come all sorts and conditions of men and wo-
men, eager to end or begin some line OF con-
duct, each according to purpose, fancy or temp
tasion.
Our city IL peculiar in this respect Il is the
very last city, OF considerable size, in all the
land. 1t must always parlake in some degree
the nature, before II attains the proportions, of
metropolis. Men can hardly 60 west from here
and remain in the habitabie portions of our
domain Within the past week have met two
responsible, respectable Christians who, for
reasons not necessary to state, have come to
make their home in this city because It is the
most remote point from their former homes
In such seaport town, destined TO be Q central
trading point, the ends Of the earth will meet
and every sort OF virtue and vice will find a
home. Stronger motives for pure living and
greater inducements to evil will be felt here
than elsewhere.
Character, therefore, win be more distinctly
marked than in quiet Eastern home All that
Ii In man will be called out, and the tendency
viii bc 20 rapid development of character.
People anxious to begin a better life will find
encouragement There is spirit here ready to
OVERLOOK the past, provided the present is be-
You'd rcproach. sentiment OF frontier equality
demsnda that every one be given another
chance. This spirit, nc doubt, has been the sal
vasion of not a few. They have found the SYM
pathy needed. and they have established q
reputation which they mean to deserve.
But some OF the temptations that attach to a
new Western city deserve closer attention.
There is the tendency to practical atheism. You
will agree with me In the opinion that this is a
church going city. Yet there is o tendency in
many 10 cut loose from the religious. as we'll as
the local past There is a sort of religion that
will not bear the fatigue OF travel, nor win 1t
survive trapsplanting to q strange soil 1t Is
called Christian, but 1t Ia merely form of wor-
ship. The rainy season discourages Ii, and the
dry season chokss IT. The stimulants and sup-
ports that kept IL from falling to pieces In the
East are now lost, and it dies because there was
no heart in IL. A farmer on Orcas Island told
me o. receiving in enc box 10000 little scons
for bis fruit trees, and with very lew exceptions
ihey lived. When they come to bearing we
shall look for the same kind of fruit
from them that the parent stock bore in
the East. But religion of some kinds
dies In transit, and finds hidden grave, or II
u. j
danger in moving some people. When the
French Jesuits carried their religion to the
Indians on the Great Lakes, those priests were
obliged, painfully, to transport On their backs
their affairs and the pictures of saints and
devils. The modern Protestant has sometimes
found simpler and easier wayne has left his
religion behind. since he had too much regard
10. 10 TO bring IL TO 30 new and crude a country.
There are intelligent people In This city who
have been here year and who have not
learned the names of the four principal
Churches on this street-yss, there are those
who know not the nama of single one OF
them II questioned those persons would say
that they do not feel the necessity of attending
church to maintain religion. But that sort of q
person seldom has enough TO do him much
good and the worship OF God in nature by a
man without church and without Bible is
cuIihned 10 the sailing excursions OF few
sundays III the Cry season. The man who
worships God In nature is not enthusiastic in
this country. except when he sees the
mountains His soul obtains such spasmodic
Inspiration THAI il is at the last gasp, chroni-
tagiy. IL is good deal pieAsanter To worship
God here tonight than out of doors, and so the
modern pagan ngds, Tor God drops out of his
account before the summer solstice.
have said that the tendency is strong to
practical atheism. for theoretically very few are
atheists. But God has 20 do with peoples prac-
good church connection IL the remote East and
avieRrious worship in the old home viii do for
smsn who has no Christianity inside OF him?
Inc Romans when they moved, were careful
10 take with them their household gods. Jesus
came into this world to make the trsnsporta-
Non OF rel gioa an easier thing, for, said he, the
Aagdom OF heaven is within you. But alas
Tor the who, IN ais Eastern home, has
worn bis religion like his great coat. to be cast
aslce Ia this milder climate. The truth Is that
We have any Christianity. we cannot leave IL
nan carries character with him, aud the
pare 10 learn his character is away from home.
here. ii we are CT first unknown, every man
goes TO his own place. We drop into our natural
moods. The Old restraint is cast OF, aud the
real man sppeses
There are WitAout doubt \ thousand people
III this city who, though members OF Eastern
Churches. have never made that fact known in
The churches Of Seattle. They have not de-
Eoerately cut loose from religious associates,
bat they have decided 20 pay OF :her mort
saees snd build tAsir houses, and get settled ia
business before they so into the churches.
meantime, what Gre :hey? They are responsible
70 nobody, and nobody can find them cut with
OUT polEtblsnk question. IL they attend
church they circulate. and give their address 10
NOBODY. They skip the passage, seek We frat
We Kingdom of God and His righteousness, II.
indeed. they have not forgotten family prayers.
IL you ask them TO take their places in the
orgahlEed Christian work of the country, they
VEL you that they are not certain OF remaining
heIe One family has been uncertain for seven
years While thsy are becoming certain many
o. Them die. Then they escape ali uncertainties.
~ shere 10 anything that men hate. il Is making
soeeision. asked one person 10 bring letter
into ths church, and Was told that she intended
move asked where? and learned that the