The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-09-14
black gown George. give me thy hand
A Cause OF Bigotry.

uehi OF III COMES from wrong educatlO
In the home circle There are parent
who do not think it wrong to carioatur
and jeer the peculiar forms Of religio
In the world and denounce other sect
and other denominations. 1t Is very OF
ten the case that that kind of educatio
acts just opposite to what was expected
and the children grow up, and afte
awhile go and see for themselves, an,
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 e
and join those very churches l coul,
mention the names Of prominent minis
tiers OF the gospel who spent their who'll
life bombarding other denominations
and who lived to see their children
preach the gospel in those very denomi
nations. But it is often the case tina
bigotry starts in household, and tina
the subject Of it never RECEIVERS. Their,
are tens Of thousands of bigots 10 year,
old.
/ think sectarianism and bigotry alsC
rise from too great prominence of any
one denomination in community. AL
the other denominations are wrong, ant
his denomination is right because his
denomination Is the most wealthy, OF
the most popular. or the most influen.
tial, and it is "our" church, and "our''
| religious organization, and ''our''
choir, and ''our" minister, and tho man
losses his head and wants other denomi.
nations to know their places.
1t is great deal better in any COM
munity when the great denominations
OF Christians are about equal in power,
marching side by side for the world s
conquest. Mere outside prosperity, mere
worldly power, is no evidence that the
church is acceptable to God. Better a
barn with Christ in the Manager than a
cathedral with magnificent harmonies
rolling through the long drawn aisle
and an angel from heaven in the pulpit
II there be no Christ in the chancel and
no Christ in the robes.
Bigotry the Child of Ignorance.
Bigotry is often the child of ignorance.
You seldom find man with large in
tellect who is bigot. 1t is the man
who thinks he knows great deal, but
does not. That man is almost always a
bigot. The whole tendency of education
and civilization is to bring man out
OF that kind of state of mind and heart.
There was in the far east a great obelisk,
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 at 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 at only one side,
and they happened to meet, the story
says, and they got into 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 were in the
very heat Of the controversy more in
telligont traveller came and said: Gen
tlemen, I have seen that obelisk, 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 religious truth. Look out
for the man who never walks around
about these great theories of God and
eternity and the dead He will be a
bigot inevitably-the man who only sees
one side. There is no man more to be
pitied than he who has in his head Just
one idea-no more, no less. More light,
less sectarianism. There is nothing that
will SO soon kill bigotry as sunshine
Gods sunshine.
So have set before YOU what con-
slider to be the causes of bigotry. Ihave
set before you the origin of this great
evil What are some of the baleful eff
fects? First Of all, it cripples investiga-
ton. You are wrong, and I am right,
and that ends it. No taste for explora-
ton, no spirit of investigation. From
the glorious realm of Gods truth, over
which an archangel might fly from eter-
nifty to eternity and not reach the limit,
the man shuts himself out and dies, a
blind mole under cornshock. It stops
all Investigation.
Wasted Ammunition.
Another great damage done by the
seotarianism 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 a
war barrack. People are afraid of
riot You 60 down the street, and you
see an excitement and missiles flying
through the air, and you hear the shock
Of firearms. Do you, the peaceful and
industrious citizen, go through that
street? "Oh, no, you will say; "I'n
30 around the block. . Now, men come
and look upon this narrow path to heav-
en-, 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
IN the narrow road guess I'll try the
broad road!'
Francis so hated the Lutherans that
he said that if he thought there was one
drop of Lutheran blood in his veins he
would puncture them and let that drop
out just as long as there is so much |
hostility between denomination and de-
nomination, or between one professed
Christian and another, or between one
church and another, SO long men will
be disguised with the Christian religion
and say, IF that is religion. want
none of it.
Again, bigotry and sectarianism do
great damage in the fact that they him
Ter the triumph Of the gospel Oh, how
much wasted ammunition, how many
men of splendid intellect have given
heir whole life to controversial disputes
when, If they had given their life to
something practical, they might have
'een vastly useful Suppose, while !
peak. there were common enemy
coming up the bay. and all the forts
'round the harbor began to fire into
zach other, you would cry out: INA
ional suicidel Why don't those forts
'iaze away in one direction, and that
against the common enemy?" And yet
sometimes see in the church of the
lord Jesus Christ strange thing going