Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-09-15

not WORD, not Whisper. Auo1nei
man, just as good, prefers by gesticula-
ton and exclamation to express his de-
votional aspirations. One is just as good
as the other. every man fully per-
sueded in his own mind. "
George Whitefeld was going over q
Quaker rather roughly for some of his
religious sentiments, and the Quaker
said: George. am as thou art l am
for bringing all men to the hope OF the
gospel. Therefore, If thou will not
quarrel with me about my broad brim'
/ will not quarrel with thee about thy
black gown. George, give me thy hand. "
A Cause of Bigotry.
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 1t wrong to caricature
and jeer the peculiar forms of religion
i in the world and denounce other scots
and other denominations. 1t 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 l 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 denoml-
nations. But 1t is often the case that
bigotry starts in household, and that
the subject of it never RECEIVERS. There
are tens of thousands Of bigots 10 years
old.
think sectarianism and bigotry also
rise from too great prominence of any
ono denomination in q 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 infuen-.
tial, and it is "our" church, and our
religious organization, and "our"
choir, and "our" minister, and the man
losses his head and wants other denoml-
nations to know their places.
1t is a great deal better in any com
munity when the great denominations
Of Christians are about equal in 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 o
barn with Christ in the mangcr than a
cathedral with magnificent harmonies
rolling through the long drawn aisle
and an angel from heaven in the pulpit
if 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 q bigot 1t is the man
who thinks he knows great deal,s
does not That man is almos+~ IS q
bijgos?.t The whole .tesancy 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 obellsk,
and one side Of the obelisk was white,
another side Of the obeiisiz was green,
another side of the obelisk was blue
and travellers went and looked at that
obelisk, but they did not walk around
II. One man looked at one side, an
other at another side, and they camo
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 1t
was blue, and when they were III the |
very heat of the controversy moro IN
telligent traveller came and said: Cen
tlemen, I have seen that obelisk, and
you are all right, and you are oil wrong. |
Why didn't you walk all around tho
obelisk?"
Look out for the man who sees only
one side of q 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
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. 1haye
set before you the origin of this great
evil. What are some of the baleful eff
feotsP First of all. it cripples investiga-
ton. You are wrong and am right
and that ends 1t. 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,
blind mole under cornshock. 1t 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 a
war barrack. People are afraid of q
riot. You go 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'll
go around the block. I" 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, 1 guess I'll take the broad
xoad. There is SO much shaTpshoo11 III
on the narrow road L 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-