The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-05-07
THE UNCHURCHED
Sermon by the Pastor Of the
Fourth Unitarian Church.

xchuiheoiC iutcTcst anu tlmelluesb, Wnlcu
follows in full. The Fourth Church
Society is working to acquire a church
building, and society and pastor are labor
Ing earnestly to that end.
Rev. MIR. Hoagland's Sermon.
like to think OF the unchurched--t
people who belong to no church-as the
pnes who have right to look upon me
pnd use me as their minister. 1 do not
wish, even II had the power, to get any
One who Is already member OF some other
church to join with us. There are enough
people who do not belong to any
church, to furnish an ample field
tor us to cultivate and draw from.
DO not wish TO be understood as saying
that because one is a nominal member of
some other church or has been, that this
is bar against their Joining this society.
My position is just this: am less inter
ested In exposing the error and false teach
1ngs of the other churches than i am in
declaring the larger truths OF liberal,
progressive, rational and practical reiig-
Jon. i believe that the old creed
churches are dissolving. fast enough.
The chemistry OF progressive
on the inside. There is then the less need
for the outside work of demolishing these
strongholds of error and narrowness of
thoughts and sympathy. There is all the
more need for constructive work OF
faith must be built with base more broad
and "a dome more vast" 1t must be
elofty as the love of God and ample as
the wants OF man." 1t is
the special work OF the Uni
tartan Church to effect q union of the
nnchurched for practical progress toward
the ideal life on earth. The Unitarian
Church is especially fitted, both by its
traditions and its methods, to become
moral training school, as well as school
OF the spirit for all those who no longer
accept without question the teachings OF
churches, priests and creeds. You OBJ
serve that / use the term, 'intelli-
gent unchurched.n This suggests
that the unchurched consist OF
two classes, the thoughtless and the
thinking--the intelligent ana the not so
jntelligent. The not SO intelligent are
those who tacitly accept the fundamental
doctrines OF the churches and who feel
that they ought to be members in order
to be on the safe side, brt who postpone
uniting with the church for various
considerations, none of which are OF any
higher order than those which lead a
person to defer taking out an insurance
policy after he is thoroughly convinced
1t is the wise thing to do.
Thus the not so Intelligent unchurched
mean to become church members some
time before they debut apparently they
wish to make ii as close TO that event as
possible. All of their religious thinking,
SO far as they do any, is after the pattern
of the ancient creeds and antiquated
church doctrines. They say that they be-
lieve that the Bible is Gods infallible rev.
elation to man, they believe that
Jesus was God, they believe the
doctrine OF the vicarious atonement |
by which the Innocent is made to suffer !
In stead of the guilty. They believe in the |
natural or total depravity of human
nature. They say they believe in eternal |
bell-fre for all those who do not accept |
the teaching OF the churches about Christ. |
These people, however wicked they may |
be, do accept Christ or mean to in due |
season. III they accept Him only n few |
hours before the undertaken Is sent for |
they think 1t will not be too late. |
"While the lamp holds out
20 burn the vilest sinner may return"
10 the vicious and criminal classes ration |
sl teaching about religion, duty rewards,
and punishment are severe and unattrac-
tive. What comfort IL must be TO the |
libertine, the gambler or the thief TO think
that all that is necessary In order to es-
cape deserved punishment in the next
world is TO believe in the atoning blood of
Jesus. "Only believe and he will wash
you whittier than snow" Now |
such sue ,,o., .o. gospel u. may nay, indeed indeed
out stirring in them one pure moral re-
solve, one generous emotion, one unset
fish impulse. To be thus saved in ones |
sins is not to be saved TO higher life at alls
Ii is TO the intelligent unchurched /
churched are those who have
thought themselves outside OF the
creed churches. They do not apologize
for not being church members. They say
frankly that they cannot honestly accept
the teachings of the popular churches,
such organizations. The outside OF such
churches seems to them more glorious and
heavenly than the inside.
am not going to say that the mere fact
that person is not a member of church
because he disbclieves in its teachings and
practice is in itself evidence of superior
intelligence or character.
Persons may disbelieve in the dogmatic
teachings through prejudice or sheer
mental inertia or intellectual laZiness.
Though / think that, in general, mental
torpidity is more apt to lead to the tacit
acceptance Of popular teachings, conven-
tional views and doctrines heard in child
hood. As a general thing 1t takes scme
original and Independent thinking to get
out OF the old ruts of opinion. New opin-
ions must be foug hit for, toiled for. The old
opinions come easily into our possession.
like the cast-oh clothing of our elders
and for all practical use are about as SER
vicable and respectable. The present age
IL an age OF thought. We may call it an
nge of steam or electricity, or invention or
progress, but all that is said in one word
when we call it an age of thought In the
past the king did the political thinking
Tor the people, and the priest did the re-
lgious thinking so far as any was
done at all along those lines but even
that, was mostly make believe. Later on
church creeds and state constitutions
oet limits To thought, thus making the
priest and the king less necessary
During the sovereignty of the king and
priest, the chief mental activity CO the
ran m nm TOR nj roI Ifext. /
was to understand what the priest and
king thought or willed. During the
period, when the creed and constitution,
to large extent, took the place of the
priest and king, the people spent
most Of their mental energy i'm trying to
interpret and expound said creeds and
constitutions. But now the third period
Of progress is upon us, and people are be-
ginning to understand that before man
made priests or creeds, Rings or constitu-
tions, great Nature made us men. The
new thought Is that each man is to be his
NUN f,rfeat and King and In In naaIa |