The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-07-25
Dr. SLICER'S SERMON.
a Very interesting Discourse at the
First Congregational Church.
OF RELIGION.
me Subject Treated I'm m Exhaustive
Manner by One Of the Abisst Ministers
In enc Denomination-The Relation BE-
tween science and Faith.


The Rev DIR. slicer of Buffalo, preached
at the First Congregational church yes
tsrday on THE Inspiration Of Religion"
81 being q continuation Of the sermon OF
the preceding Sunday. The text was:
ssFor the invisible things OF Him since
the creatian Of the world are clarly seen.
being perceived through the things that
do appear, even His eternal power and
Divinity "-Romans xii, 90
The claim Of inspiration for religion Is
based In nece ssity. Religion may not be
necesssry TO man under some circum-
stances he may be so glad and well
pleasod as to feel no need OF anything
except such things as the senses can sup
p1ys he may be so dulla to have the hori-
xon Of his life too narrow to require
wide view of Heaven. or he may be SO un-
developed in imagination as to miss the
poetry OF life and feel no morning OF
5slove. admiration and awe" which accom-
many religion. There may be conditions
which do not cry out for the unseen and
Ant. reiiQion once realized the absence
OF Inspiration from it is not its loss sim
ply it Is its end. and IL disappears.
The claim for the Christian religion and
Sts mother--the Jewish religion has been
tenSciously and justly fixed upon the idea
Of its inspiration. It has been called an an
inspired religion. Its proof has been in
/. inspired men and in inspired writings.
That is a reasonable demand which insists
upon the answer To the claim of truth for
any religion--has it produced prophets
and has it produced scripturesi
But it is not enough TO simply say OF a
form Of religion that has been inspired; a
remote inspiration cannot be trusted for
present necessities OF daily life. 1t be-
comes necessary to inquire whether, what
was true for one time, Is universal
truth, and whether the spiritual dynamic
Of the past is powerful enough TO produce
prophets and scriptures when 1t must be
adjusted to the new time. To this end IL
becomes practical inquiry how was this
old Inspiration constitutedf In what did
it consistf
The answer is not far to seek. 1t con-
reality so present that the inspiration OF
It gave the power to deal with things out
OF sight as still within experience. The
axperience was not limited by the senses
The reality of the spiritual sphere seemed
near and demonstrable. Its definition OF
stance Of things hoped for the evidence
OF things not seem" It's confidence In the
reality Of spiritual experience was thus
expressed: 1.-THE crisis of life work out
Tor u6 FAR more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory, while we look not On the
that are not seen"
But not only was there this conviction
Of reality, which made the unseen real
and the spiritual the present atmosphere
of daily life. But the conviction was so
profound and the impact of spiritual
developed to establish real reiatienships
with the ultimate realities. God was not
. theory of being; but "a very present
help in trouble" That highest express
sion of Hebrew poetry the cxxxix psalm
reaches At once the suhlimest statement
connection of the power of the human
soul to establish relations with its God.
1t is at once the confession of its depend
ence and it's hope In the nearness OF God.
It Is this very reality becoming expert
ence, which causes the prophet to ap-
pear--the inspired teaching of the Seer
who forstslls and the ethereal teacher who
foretells the laws Of life. This is the
prophet according to that fine definition
OF Martineau; the prophet has learned
ito what heights of divinity he must
look up and upon what adamantine man.
hood he must take bis stand" :.
Down the ages come tho messages OF
these inspired souls; their words are pro-
jected into the future by their moral
force; they continue, because in them
men find the eternal verities which cor
respond to the deepest experiences of
human llI6. l0cy arc uOb ItOly OCr1p-
ture because they are so intended human
history cannot intend the eternal that
which survives, holy scripture or holy
character, survives, persists, because il is
eternal, And the present proof of IN
spiration lies not in some remote writer,
the. conditions OF whose messages we
with difficulty recover. but In the reader
to-day, here and now What finds him
Is be reads il for him. though thousands
OF years may separate the speaker from
hearer this is the affinity of souls, ac-
cerding to that fine word of Paul's.
that which Is written, we believed there
fore have we spoken we also believe and
therefbre speak" The writer may be
utterly forgotten, the real relationships
Of dne souls remain.
A sense Of moral values, the conviction
Of the supreme Importance Of the moral
nfe. The ground Of our being is in God,
q tho phrase Of Phillips Brooks has be-
come familiar to us Our priority In God"
This Is the meaning Of the statement:
I'VE love. because he first loved usp' not
- in the old version. I'VE love Him be-
cause. etc."
ing only Is of Him who is its source, but
that every man affecting which Is holy.
every divine affection, every holy aspira-
tion, every upward movement OF Our
moral nature has its ground in God; this
the SeerS Oh religion nave known aud on
this their emphasis has ever been laid.
This is "the oversoul" of which Emerson
speaks; the sharing Of AL moral natures
IA one life which causes gravitation and
every law OF nature ito be one with love
and purity of heart"
But It was not enough to put moral val
ues at the front, and start all life pro-
cesses from their ground in God. but in
these prophet souls, to whom we owe re-
ligion as q passionate devotion to the will
Of God, there was a complete abandon
to the will OF God, and unreserve and
prodigality OF resource, which puts all
caution, selfpreservation, and timid self
seeking out Of mind. The life has a for
ward look; IL has a strong propulsion; IL
confers not with flesh and blood, its own
flesh least of all; it abandons all conside-
rations which impede the soul, and moves
straight upon it~r ~rcourse, with no company
but God This entire conservation, this
p0,ccr 20 let the soul 90, Is the distinguish.
Ing mark Of inspiration.
Religion is passionate devotion to the
will Of God.
Revelation Is the apprehension by the
human soul Of the relation OF that will TO
the necessities Of the life of man, aud in
apiration is that aboDdon and perfect CON