Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-06-09
SECOND par
fconlinaed from Sd page. ]

19nlindt4 irofi 81 PAGE.
opposed aliolssion. The committee finally
xiftirew the suggestion. The rest Of the
report vas siopseti without opposition.
Adjourned I'LL afternoon.
Afierneea-
The platform meeting was Opened BY Key.
W ~ kimmei of Reeklan.l who spoke on
the subject The Religious outlook
/ eau oi.Iy give expression, be said TO MY
opirion but feel 70 say -.sIrs we'll.
speak with confidence. Religion can never
be suppressed and pass away. The eosidi-
tons 10 no. appear to me TO b. uufayorable-
The outlook neyer seemed brighter and
think never 50 bright.
I Not many years ago scientific thought
-..eu,s-l to b. IN favor of lea,erLllism but
they have now learned that il Is throbbiDg
with life.
Il We have now got almost out of the
cloud Aaterialisni il crude science and
an exploited theory Sprituahsm must
I have a higher origin The stream can
never rise higher than its source. This
wonderful being Of ours was never wholly
built from the clay We tread benears. our
feet The infinite spirit IS the soaree OF
ali things. source of all that Is truest.
| noblest and parest in oar nature.
I How favorable TO religion i, now the be
I lief tina; God Is not being remote from
/ this world We ROW believe in his infinite
( ministry. More AMI more people speak OF
| God 10 nature not God and nature. Through
out ali the world, in all the processes, it Is
undergoing God Is. in I everything and
eyeryw here, all in all. Think how helpfal
to religion such conception must be.
/ Iii. Providence is ever round about his
/ people This is the thought that conse-
crates this world into a sanctuary. For
/ thousands of years the world has stood In
wonder at all the nliseries Of death. Now
( the ,loctrine of evolution comes To show Us
I that this hard struggle for existence is moth
[ ing but the motive force for progress. The
very thing we call evil has been an agency
/ for making man more AMI more perfect.
Evolution is one of the grandest doctrines
l ever taught man. Ii brute has been
changed into man isn't ii an assurance that
I man is being transformed into an angel.
/ When think of the increasing belief in
1 spirituality of all things, | think that in the
/ future there is 10 be the grandest religious
awakening ever known. The tide of faith
! is coming into this world.
/ In the sprouting of every seed, in the
blossoming of every flower, God is seen as
much as in the most mysterious things.
/ Slowly the Bible of the race is written. |
/ see the great doctrine of the incarnation OF
! God in Christ not passing away, but only
more fully understood. The truest and
/ best souls are those in whom God is most
( incarnate.
/ see Il faith that exalts morality instead
! of debasing it, that believes in right think
I ing and right doing. | see that in all these
! ways faith is changing its form, indeed, but
is being filed with sweet reasonablcness
as never before.
! tniyeFsaism is that which most belongs
10 the future. 1t is faith in Il universal
/ Saviour. whose help is universally needed.
/ is universal brotherhood, that all are ca
pable of being exalted. That through the
ages the world is climbing upward.
The next speaker of the meeting was
Rev. L. l.. lloughton on the subject "llow
can the Church aid in the Solution of the
Social rroblem?" He took for his text
Hebrew & Il.
| Dur work as tnversalists in the first
stages of our existence was to lay down the
first principles of Christ. But now ''haying
the principles Of the doctrine of Christ let
US 90 on unto perfection.
Does not Paul give much space to
application of Christianity as to Il discussion
Of the first principles:
The church is too much inclined to think
of individuals. The larger conception is
essentially our social being. Society is
more and more an organic whole and not
an aggregation of individuals. Mankind is
u whole and Us il whole it must be saved.
The social problem is an exceedingly com
pick anil difficult one. But the church can
not shirk the work because it is difficult. 1t
must aid in the establishment of true
Christian social order.
We are too much inclined to lean on our
pastors our church can never do the
work she ought to do in ANYTHING, unless
the church be working union of pastor
and people.
The church should be careful to assume
the right attitude toward the community.
dislike to see the church in the attitude of a
1 beggar.
/ If the church does not return to the com
nunity the help it receives from it, then,
indeed, it is a pauper. Let every church
remember that it is here to do good.
! The church needs To hayr Il broader idea
of salvation: salvation not only 10 include
moral and spiritual uplifting but of the
finite things No man is saved as he ought
to he saved till he i, educated from igno-
rance and made good citizen
The work of the church in the world has
( come to be not so much the saving of men
as the saving of society. 1t is coming to BE-
that the church cannot save the Individual
I till it has in some respects saved the sopiat
order of thing.
The true distribution of worth is living
question. one of greatest and most pressing
importance. You ought To wish
your minister to know of
these things and to speak upon them.
We're afraid of the truths that will he
worked out of this problem; that they will
be of an unwelcome kind To some of US.
But they will be worked out. and if the
church does not work them out it must 20
TO the wall.
The speaker said he objected to the pew
renting SYSTEM. 1t is farce. Whatever
is given to the church is voluntary. Why
not then call things by their right names :
The chief objection is it draws IA line in the
church between the rich and the poor. |
will not say that this will keep the church
from working on the solution of the social
problem, but we ought TO lay aside every
weight and remembrance.
Lastly the church must have the spirit of
Christianity. The speaker exhorted the
pastors to change radically the distinctions
between the rich and the poor. Don't fiat
ter the rich and neglect the poor You can
not follow such course and keep your own
respect and usefulness. Look upon rich
and poor as equally needing your service.
. If ANYTHING be n little more careful to visit
the poor than the rich.
Nav say to YOU, the wcll-to-1o, do not
expect special consideration from your pas
tor.
See that the church is home circle.
| You must not think, brethren, that this
new work which is pressing upon us is the
! chiefcst work. It's higher work is the old
work We shall never send for the social
reformer when we stand by the side of our
dead ones and perform what cannot be per-
formed outside the church.
But it must also DO the lower and the
newer work because if it doesn't it will not
| have the chance 10 do the higher.
Following Mr.. -iIougltons remarks was
Il superbly rendered solo by Mrs. Leland.
| The discussion was then continued by Rev.
Mr.. Rhostles.
The genius of the Christian church is the
old adage that in union there is strength.
We readily appreciate the system of govern
ment, of organization. Upon the self same
principle vt have the church in the world
! The reason for the organization of the