St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-25
OLD THEOLOGICAL IDEAS.
Rev. William Wilkinson Says The
Have No Placo in tho prosant

Rev. William Wilkinson Says They
Have No Place in the Present.
Last night in st. Andrews church,
Rev. William Wilkinson. the rector,
took for his text: Prove all things,
hold fast that which is good" He said:
"In no day in all time has religion
stood before men in such noble view as
now. Never has it called forth such
widespread, earnest. educated and hon-
est investigation from its phllosophic,
historic and utillitarian sides as it every
where receives in our own time.
"On some, Mayo many questions, the
honest man who loves his Bible has had
to change his views; to set his facts in
new lights and relationships. But he
has lost nothing of value. He can. with
perfect candOr and the severest truth.
tell that no improvement in view of
what the scriptures teach, is as radical,
revolutionary or surprising as are the
alterations in the teaching of the chem
list or astronomer or natural philcSo-
pher. 1t will be said: Very well, there
is, sir, this vast difference; you say you
have to do with a complete religion;
perfect revelation Be it so. [. for
one now and for all, reply, l do not.
and L do not know man who does.
Affirm that his knowledge of relevatiOn
IS perfect. To know more of it, to I'M
derstand it better, is to take wider
views of it, to see more Its adaptability
to all the needs of men. Because astrOn-
omers have had to change their notions
respecting light, that fact has not OBJ
scured, much less bIotted out. the sun,
or the moon. or the stars. In long and
wonderful order they shine on men who
tell us they know much about them, and
upon us who know little.
Zone thing is very we'll attested-
man is demanding reason for all his
beliefs. And another thing is just as
sure-no faith will control men long
which is rot prepared to give that rea-
son. Every man in the church of God
may just as well face this truth now as
at any other time. This Is Gods new
day of free inquiry. 1t need not be
lawless: it will not be irreligious. 1t
will lead to faith such as has not had
ali equal in the lives of men. The man
who is of opinion that with the old
times in places obscure and remote was
the best energy the church ever had.
or can have, does no honor TO his
God; he dishonors Him every day. 1t
has been too much the fashion to sheer
at truth, when those who love it have
seen it in forms which had not pre-
sented themselves to authorities, in
church or in science, till those same
truths have, by their own force, made
themselves apparent; and at the last
men have had to say yes, to what before
they said no.
"Our own time has seen the bishop of
London. and one of the clearest think
erS Oh the American bench of bishops,
publish books to show that design did
not preclude evolution, but that evola-
ton intensified the design argument.
So it does, but this was as true in 1850
as it is today.
''In detail oneness of vision in many
minor matters has forever vanished
from the Christian world. We may
some of us regret it. l do not. But in
the main principles of all things which
have to do with the church of God men
are coming nearer; and, if it were not
for the advocacy of men, who appear to
think that division is strength and
sometimes abuse argument, Christen-
dom might again be united. We have
had more than enough of the men who
want to put us back to the old world
views; of the men who would have
US understand that the freebooter
of the desert had for us bind
to justify his outrages; of tine
man who is of opinion that the
psalms reflect the mind OF God; of the
those who say it is our duty to tell men
we can justify all the wars of the Jews,
and so on. Let us have done with all
this. Let us look at the Bible and the
church in other lights, and see in them
different things, and that which before
looked like root out of the dry ground
will become a beautiful tree of the
Lords right-hand planting. And SO
will its foliage, flower and fruit be
pleasant to our eyes and use
full in our lives. Experience has
taught the world much, is teaching
it more. The inguisitlon today could
have no place two months in any land.
The old, harsh views of God and deity
are gone. He now shines upon the
world in new lights; the fatherly in His
nature is set forth. Men see that love
is much mightier than the sword; that
the attractions of recttude and the re-
wards of true devotion, Il greater power
than hell, as set forth by theology
which is rapidly passing away. The
strange thing about all this old truth
set in new lights is that it was left
TO our time for men to understand
it. AS it is now seen, God must
have had unwearied patience or it could
not have been. Let us each be glad we
live now. Let us see that truth is I'M
perial and as we see it manifested in
Christ. Let us cOnsecrate our lives to
that service. So shall we make the
world our debtor. The man who sets
iron bounds to what God may or what
He may not do, who is sure that mortals
know all the movable is foe of pro-
preSS and An enemy of the race. He is