The Washington times., 1894-05-20

ters' written by Paul to the little scattered
bands OF believers that had gathered abou
him in his sojournings In various places
They were all written in Greek. The wordi
OF Hum on whom Paul rested his faith had al
been spoken many years previous in the
tongue OF the Galilean fishermen, the Syrto
Chaldsic. These words had been handed
down from man to man. and the enlightened
consciousness OF this very real man, Paul
absorbed and assimilated them, and not only
translated them into the fashionable Language
OF his day, but tried to make their essence
and meaning fit the conditions OF his many
little communities OF believers. But when hs
came to Athens, the seat and center OF meta
physical disquisition, he was, too, metaphy.
sician, and in their own tongue and in theil
own thought repeated the fundamental idea
Of the Hebrew genesis and the central idea o.
the teaching Of Jesus.
God, who made the world, and all things
that are in 1t, hath made OF one all mankind
to dwell upon the whole face OF the earth, de-
termining appointed times and limits OF theil
lnhabitation that they should seek God, II
haply they may feel after Him or find Him,
although He is not far from any one OF US
for In Him we live and we move and we are
as some also Of your own poets SAID: "For we
also are His offspring"
And yet after 1900 years OF food and con-
flict the assembled representatives OF the
various forms OF religious belief assembled at
the congress Of religions in Chicago lis
tened to this summing up Of the religious
status Of the world:
"It is not rivers or seas, mountains or des-
erts, language or race that cause the deepest
and widest separations between man and man,
but religion. Differences Of religion consti-
tute the most marked dividing line between
people OF the same language. same race, and
,Nr,N~ D,,& v1Ae m N
meet, no matter what different language they
may speak, to what different races they may
belong, or Of what tint OF color their features
may exhibit, as soon as they know they are
one In religion a profounIedly felt bond OF
sympathy unites them as members OF one
great family, as children OF one great supreme
power"
Thi, Is true as a statement Of the present
condition of religion in its worldly aspect, but
Is 1t true in relation to the profoundly felt
bond Of sympathy" or has 1t ever been true
since the first fishermen bands "held all things
In common" Do all, or any, OF the rich few
owners lie awake nights to find a way to help
their indignant brethren to comfortable
self-respecting Independence? Is this true OF
any church?
It is reported OF Jesus that on one occasion
He said: ''If they believe not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they believe although
one arose from the dead" The Church
teaches not only a miraculous birth. but the
miracle of one rising from the dead. This is
preached In all languages, sung In all forms,
in churches OF every variety OF credal inter-
probation. Everywhere We see the symbol OF
the cross. But the message OF this heaven
sent messenger, the dispatch, certainly should
be worthy the mighty effort of the courier!
"As have washed your feet, so wash ye one
anothers feet" "Let him who would be
greatest among you be servant OF ALL" This
is "My body broken for you." 81 came not
to destroy the law, but to fulfill" Love is the
fulfilling OF the law. Jesus came to bring a
great new thought to a world lost In formal-
ism and dissension. That man served God
only by serving his own kind, finding the
image Of God there. This thought is now
disturbing the entire world because Of its in
verse conception.
For centuries men looked for the second
coming of Jesus of Nazareth in the flesh.
Without a conception of the coming OF the
Christ into the hearts OF. men will not tina:
coming be signaled by the living index finger
coming into the consciousness OF men like
this: Cease to look on my birth and death,
but look on the thought l brought to the
world. That thought you have forgotten in
your vain hope to be saved by miracle.
The great miracle is that Of life and con-
sciousness; that great receptacle of thought.
In the contemplation of this all the assemblies,
all the Briggs, are but the petty incidents OF
the clash and clamor of personal opinion.
Jesus OF Nazareth died by the hand Of ritu-
alism. He was crucifled at the demand Of bib
licist, the custodians, the interpreters Of
what they declared to be the written word
of God. All that portion OF the Bible Ezra
had collected and inscribed, that book which
then declared, as 1t now declares, that in
imam Is the image OF God" they were will
ing. nay, anxious, to destroy the image, be-
cause it failed to reflect their opinion Of what
a book declared God to have said face to face
to one OF his own images. II God is spirit,
how could he communicate His will but
through the receiving spirit that was in man?
What is the invisible wire OF communication
save thought alone. 1t must have been as
true OF Moses as OF DR.. Briggs, las a man
thinketh SO is he,'' and is 1t not true that as
thought Is the life and evidence of conscious
ness, that SO far as thought is restricted SO far
is consciousness dead and not alive.
VETERAN.