Democratic messenger., 1894-09-15

child Is presented at the altar and
sprinkled of the waters of holy bene-
/ diction lin the name of the Father, and
, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"
and others are more impressed when the
penitcnt comes up out of the river, his
garments dripping with the waters of \
baptism which signifies the washing
away of sin. Let either have his own
way. One :nan likes 10 noise in prayer,
not word. not whisper. Another
man. just as good. prefers by gcsticula
tion and exclamation TO express his de-
votional aspirations. One is just rs good
as the other. Every man fully per.
suaded i'll his own mind"
George Whitefcld was going over q
Quaker rather roughly for some of his
religious sentiments. and the Quaker
said: George. am rs thou art. am
for bringing all men to the hope Of the
gospel. Therefore, il thou will not
quarrel with me about my broad brim,
will not quarrel with thee about thy
black gown. George, give mo thy hand.
4 Cause of Bigosry.
In tracing out the religion of sectari
anism or bigotry ! find that great
deal of it comes from wrong education
In the home circle There are parents
who do not think it wrong to caricature
and jeer the peculiar forms of religion
in the world and denounce other sects
and other denominations. 1t is very Of
ten the case that that kind of education
acts Just opposite to what was expected,
and the children grow up, and after
awhile go and see for themselves, and
looking in those churches and find
ing that the people are good there,
and they love God and keep his COM
mandments. by natural reaction they go
and join those very churches. i could
mention the names of prominent minis
tiers of the gospel who spent their whole
life bombarding other denominations,
and who lived TO see their children
preach the gospel in those very dcnomi
nations But it is often the case that
bigotry starts i'll household. and that
the subject of it never RECEIVERS. There
are tens of thousands of bigots 10 years
old.
l think sectarianism and bigotry also
rise from too great prominence of any
one denomination in community. All
the other denominations are wrong and
his denomination is right because his
denomination is the most wealthy, or
the most popular. or the most infiuen-
tial. and it is ''our" church. and 'our"
religious organization, and "our"
choir, and our minister, and tho man
tosses his head and wants other dcnomi-
nations to know their places.
1t is q great deal better in any COM
munity when the great denominations
of Christians are about equal i'll power,
marching side by side for the worlds
conquest. Mere outside prosperity, mere
worldly power, is no evidence that the
church is acceptable to God. Better q
barn with Christ i'll the manger than a
cathedral with magnificent harmonies
rolling through the long drawn aisle
and an angel from heaven i'll the pulpi;
if there be no Christ in the chancel and
no Christ i'll the robes
Bigotry the Child of Ignorance.
Bigotry is often tho child of ignorance.
You seldom find man with large in
| tellcct who is u bigot. 1t is the man
who thinks he knows u great deal, but
does not. That man is almost always
bigot. The whole tendency of education
and civilization is to bring n man out
| of that kind of state of mind and heart.
| There was i'll the far east n great obclisk,
and one side of the obelisk was white,
another side of the obelisk was green,
another side of the obelisk was blue,
and travellers went and looked ut that
obelisk, but they did not walk around
it. One man looked at one side. an
other at another side. and they came
home each one looking Mt only one side,
and they happened to meet, the story
says, and they got into Il rank quarrel
about the color of that obelisk. One
man said it was white, another man
said it was green. another man said it
was blue, and when they We're i'll the
very heat of the controversy y moro in
telligent traveller came and said: Gen
tlemen, have seen that obclisk, and
you are all right, and you are all wrong.
Why didn't you walk all around the
obelisk:"
Look out for the man who sees only
one side of a religious truth. Look ont
for the man who never walks around
about these great theories of God and
eternity and the dead. He will be
bigot inevitably-the man who only sees
one side. There is no man more to be
pitied than he who has III his head just
one idea-no more, no less. More light,
less sectarianism. There is nothing that
will so soon kill bigotry rs sunshine
Gods sunshine.
So have set before you what l con-
slider to be the causes of bigotry. Ihavo
set before you the origin of this great
evil. What are some of the baleful ef-
fects? First of all. it cripplcs investiga-
tion. You are wrong. and l am right,
and that ends it, No taste for cxplora-
tion, no spirit of investigation. From
the glorious realm of Gods truth, over
which an archangcl might fly from etcr-
nifty to eternity and not reach the limit,
the man shuts himself out and dies, u
blind mole under cornshock. IT stops
all investigation.
Wasted Ammunition.
Another great damage done by the
sectarianism and bigotry of the church
is that it disgusts people with the Chris
tian religion. Now, my friends. the
church of God was never intended for Il
war barrack. People are afraid of
riot You 20 down the ftreet. and you
sec an excitement and missiles flying
through the air, and you hear the shock
of firearms. Do you, Ike peaceful and
industrious citizen, 70 through that
street: "Oh. no. you will say; I'm
go around the block. Low, men come
and look upon this narrow path to heav-
Ell, and sometimes see the ecclesiastical
brickbats flying every whittier, and they
say: well. guess I'll take the broad
road There is SO much sharpshooting