The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-02-16

y
-. decade the membership OF our
churches has increased nsese than even
the progress Of population. That may
mot signify that the church rs to-day or
ranirei i going 10 be the church IN
nmnhan,, hut il does signify that Chris
t;anity win triumph in tho end. But
what sort IF Christianity The 1nris-
tianity of Tradition, OF history. or tne
Christianity Of Christ
believe that the fittest win survive;
that YOU cannot crush truth, and IL you
do IL will rise, Phwnixiike. from It's
ashes over and over again. FOR 'ha'
reason 1 am never uneasy about my
creed. about my faith being upset by
any Great infidel. or any discovery al
scienoe. or any heresy III tho church or
without. because ] know that II my
creed does perish il ought TO perish, oe'
canse II would not stand when worlds
begin to crash ON worlds. Why should
a man nurse his creed with tenderness
II Is n thing you want to live and die by,
and If il cannot stand this side OF the
grave IL will not live the other side. IL
an infidel like Ingersoll or n hereto like
Professor Briggs can destroy your faith,
let them, and you can get something
better. No. Gods truth il rs sure to
triumph rs that God lives.
lis nearly as Ue can see Gods yha fttre
pose defining Itself ia history. srsdt srin
be the religion Of the Jat,ire'
1t seems to me that there are going to
be four characteristics of it. 1t will be
ritdi: it will be spiritual; it will be rd-
tional: 1t will be humanitarian. Some
Of those words have to certain class OF
minds a bad odor in the world OF thee
logical thought. But it is no use TO mis-
name things-no use to call spade an
agricultural implement. 1t seems to me
that those four things are already shap-
ing themselves before our very eyes, and
that God is bringing them to pass and
showing us the way.
TRUE RELIGION ALWAYS PROGRESSIVE
First-The religion that survives will
be a vital religion, because dead re-
hgion cannot survive. Life Is the thing
that moves on and makes progress-the
dead go quickly. So 1t is in the realm OF
religion. The theology that survives
must be vital one. 1t must live. 1t
must not rattle. It must not be the rat
thing simply Of bones. 1t must have q
heart of flesh and nerves that feel. Only
the vital part of 1t Is worth preserving.
You may talk theory to a man as much
as you please. but If you want to get hold
of him you Lust get hold of him vitality.
We talk about the hes then away off, and
1t is hard to get money for them, but
when we talked about Johnstown &C.
0OO, 900 were poured into that valley Of
the Conemaugh. each dollar baptized
with tears.
It came so close that the people were
perishing within the scope of your own
life. We have been trying to save the
heather by telling people they were go
ing to be damned by and by. Hard work!
They were not much interested. The
heather world will not be saved until
you can get into peoples minds that they
are damned noD, and that they are in
need of salvation today. That is what
sent those millions into Johnstown, be-
cause the people were perishing no,o. It
was vital, and they responded. So in the
future we will receive responses when
religion is thus made vital, and our
methods necessarily be made vital too.
Napoleon Bonaparte went on the field
of Marengo just before the sun went
down and saw that the battle was lost,
but he looked at the western sky and
said, There is just time enough to save
the day." And then with consummate
genius he sent orders flying along the
lines, and in a short time from defeat
snatched victory and success In every
crisis of the history of the church Of
Christ there is time enough always for a
victory being snatched from defeat If
the church is alive and adapts itself thus
to the exigencies of the hour.
MUST ENTER THE OPEN FIELD.
The church of the future must neces-
sarily be a church that is in the open
warks and boInbproofs. OF all ideas
that have dissraced the church Of Christ,
the worst idea is that it is bomb con-
struction; that the church was made for
the purpose Of personal safety, for man
to get into away from the missiles Of
the enemy. A great part OF our religion
in the past has been to escape hell. Just
so as by fire, with hair singed, You got
there-slipped into the golden gates and
escaped eternal damnation! Jesus said:
"Come to me, and will give you life
and rest-rest for your souls. am the
way, the truth and the life." He warned
you against that second death, but he
never used It as motive Of appeal
If the church Is really to fave the
world, it must be alive and alert. read
the other day about four natives In
India who made up their mind to take
tiger that had killed one OF their
people of the village. They went out at
night and dug bombproofs near the dead
body, which had been deserted when the
tiger had taken fright. They put the
body in the middle, and each man got
into one OF those bombproofs and took
his musket and waited for the tiger to
come. The moon finally went down. and
the tiger did not appear, and then they
dozed and went to sleep In those places Of
supposed safety. Next morning but three
men got up from those holes. One of the
four was gone, and 1t was found that he
had been dragged away by the tiger while
he was asleep. So again and again in the
past the church has crawled into it's
bombproofs until finally the evil one has
come along and seized it. Tbs church
that survives will not go 10 sleep.
If 1t is vital, it viii be catholic, not
narrow or sectarian. The age has gone
by when men will lay their souls simply
on the altar Of a sect. do not believe
the hour is yet come when Catholics and
Presbyterians and Baptists and Meth
odists are to be pitchforked into one or
ganization, but believe the hour Is now
upon us when the spirit Of Jesus win
bind us together around himself as one.
II you try to emphasize the mere ques-
ton OF sect, neither the world nor the
church will respond with heart or money.
III Won want 70, roooI, fl,a ,,x<x-lI x-xz-