The record-union., 1893-06-30

light from heaven before he can shut his
eyes to the difference between the Greek
and the Hebrew and care no more about
it. That there could be varieties OF faith
and practice in the same church was
thing which, to a good many people in
that old day, was as incredible,
as undesirable, as dangerous, and
as pernlcious as it is to good
many people still. The very first
thing which the Christian religion did
was to turn its back upon exclusion and
absolute uniformity. Alone among all
the religious teachers of his time, Christ
recognized the divine right of human diff
ferences. Christ saw that one man differs
from another. One would think that
anybody must see so plain fact as that.
But every division into which the church
of Christ is so shamefully divided to-day
is a testimony to somebody's blindness.
Every single sect means that somebody
some time failed to recognize this in
evitable fact of human difference, and
quarreled with it. Nou might as well
quarrel with the law of grayiJation. One
after another the Christian Church has
turned her children out of doors by try
ing to make them all alike, and disOwn-
ing all who failed to tit the standard.
| Those party names of "high" and
''broad'' and ''low'' church, which we
hear far more often than we like to, rep
| resent absolutely Interchangeable and eter-
Hal ulll6E6ltGS III utlIlldll udbuIU. 4H6S
| symbolic different ways OF emphasizing
religious truth. There always have
been, and there always will be,
people with whom the most important
part of religion is that side of it which
looks toward God and finds expression
in worship. There always have been and
there always will be people with whom
the most important part of religion is
that side Of it which looks toward the
soul and finds expression in emotion.
| There always have been and there always
will be people with whom the most i'm
pOrtant part OF religion is that side Of it
which looks toward the world about them
and finds expression partly in the extern
sion OF Christian charity and i'll the up
lifting of the bodies minds and souls of
men, and partly in an endeavOr to state re-
hgious truth so that it may commend it
self TO everybody's reason and get hold Of
everybody's Will. That is, there have
always been high" Churchmen, and
low" ChurChmen, and 'broad" Church
men; and there always ought to be, and
there always will be.
But somehow we have now these many
centuries been behaving as ii all men
were made alike. We have somehow
persuaded ourselves that everybody who
is not exactly OF our way OF king and
OF our kind, is wrong and ought to he
put out. W hen the Christian missionaries
from France and the Christian mission
aries from Wales met in pagan England
they agreed that there WAS great work
| for them to dO-a work which needed all
| the energy they had. But the French
said to the Welch, First, before we can
work together, you must cut your hair
exactly as we cut ours.'
| When the "low" churchmen, who
were then called "PuritanS," met the
orthodox Of their day in Hampton Court,
the orthodox sale It's, indeed, blessed
thing that brethren shall dwell together
in unity; but, dearly beloved, il YOU
would say your prayers with US you
must, above all else, wear the same kind
OF prayer-gOwn which we wear; not one
Of you must be without a surplice" The
| result was Presbyterian communion.
What we all need to recognize is tha5
uniformity is impossible, and that variety
IS the law OF nature and of God. There
are differences of administration; yes
! but the same Lord. They really have no
! more to do with the heart of religion than
the paint on the outside Of an engine has
to do with the running of the wheels
| Questions as to clerical dress, the most
trivial, one would think, ,Lof all things
which might interest the heart of man;
questions AS to ritual, as to much or little
water in baptism, standing or kneeling
in prayer, singing hymns or singing
psalms-how is it that Christians can
make these things Synonymous with
| Christianity?
People are diflerent let them think
differently of these things. Whatever
helps is right. Whatever hinders is
wrong. And what hinders one may help
another. Ii the church Of Christ is q seci
If 1t is little, petty, religious contra
ternity, then set PrOcrustes' bed at the
| door of it, and measure every conner. and
cut oH all the :alI peoples feet, and
stretch out all the short people. But, if
| the church of Christ is "A great. broad.
| catholic church, such as Christ meant il
! to be, let everybody in, and keen everv-
| body in who loves Him and wants to
| serve Him, there is a place in the wide
church catholic for every honest man
! that breathes.
| We 90 back behind the difficulties Of
! theology and the differences of tempera-
ment, and we find the same spirit,
and the same Lord" and the same
/ God which worketh all in ALL"
And 1t IS as clear and simple
| as the universal sunlight. When
| the minister stands by the bed OF death
to tell the Christian message over again,
! it does not much matter who he is, it is
one simple story.
/ Christ is Christianity. Religion is part
| faith and part love. And the love part Of
| it is simply a following in the steps of
! Jesus Christ, trying TO be as like Him as
| we can-going about doing good, as He
did. All the ethical precepts of our re-
| ligion are summed up in the example of
| Christ. And the faith part Of it is simply
| a trusting of the words Of Jesus Christ.
! He said that He knew. And He told ms
/ plainly that God is our Father, and that
4 there is a life beyond the grave, and that
| He is the way to that life And we be-
/ lieve Him. We take His word of teach
/ ing as a child takes the word of his
father. To try to live as Jesus Christ
lived, to be content to take as true what
Jesus Christ said. How simple that isl
Y ct that is Christianity. That is the be-
ginning and the middle and the end of