The Washington times., 1894-04-22
a Lay Sermon for
Sunday Reading.

"Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord" Whatever may be the I'M
mediate result Of this war OF words about the
errancy or inerrancy of the Bible, it will sur
vive all these petty conflicts OF opinion and
prejudice 1t is one, at least, OF the sacred
books OF the world-sacred because it, as n
whole, has to do with the subject Of God and
the human soul No one will deny that for
centuries 1t has been much like a bundle of
colored worsteds, from which may be pulled
that particular shade of color that will fit the
pattern. the worker, the preacher, the COM
mentator keeps continuously before his eyes.
The theological school of whatever creed
seems to be place where the young and
| devout mind may be trained In the under
standing of the pattern to which all the
colors must be made to harmonize and from
which the errant thought should never stray
| The real difficulty seems to be that the dis
putants fail to consider that words and
phrases ara mere tokens of exchange, having
no lasting intrinsic value, while ideas are i'm
mortal. Thought alone is the body, while
| words are but the clothing used to fit the era,
| the climate, the temperament and more espe-
| cially the receptive intellectual conditions OF
| the person or persons addressed; consequently
| all these factors would have to be brought
| into the equation; and lastly, most important
| of all. the translator from one language into
another must be OF like mind, temperament,
| and spirit OF the original writer before we
| could be absolutely certain that underneath
the verbiage we had gotten down to the bed
rock OF ideas.
All thoughtful students must feel the truth
of this, whether they express it or not, and,
perhaps, the closest definition we could give
| of the currently used terms atheist and ag-
nostic would be that the former aggressively
| proclaims his thoughts, while the latter keeps
| his own counsel. Be this as it may, there are
certain portions Of the Bibls which pass cur
| rent as fact among all creeds, the jew, the
| Romanist, the Protestant, the Christian
| Scientist, and the Spiritualist.
$50 God created man in HIS own image; in
| the image of God created He him; male and
| female created He them" These words have
been accepted universally throughout chris
tendon as containing the truth, but the ques-
| ton remains: What truth, what immortal
| idea, is to be conveyed to the consciousness?
1t is evident that the thought that is con-
veyed is that form Of concept that the evolved
| consciousness can assimilate.
An anthromorphic God was a necessity to
| any consciousness incapable OF conceiving
of life apart from this body. lien so con-
/
and SO long as this condition of thought re-
mained this teaching was orthodox. because
| it was then the highest that had come to the
light in man. Consequently, what was then
| true of mans idealism expressed itself IN de-
| scriptions of the visible ''giory of God" the
| ''throne OF God.' 1.-THE heaven where He
dwcleth. 1.-THE streets of gold, !" ''the walls"
1.-THE gates Of pearl"
| But the poets. the singers, the seers, or
prophets Of that far-of time. under the inlu-
ence of the divine fire of thought, the enthusi-
asm. the God within them. felt the significant
| consequences of omnipresence; the form faded
| from before their mental vision. and they saw
| 'God is Spirit" land they that worship Him
must worship Him in spirit and in truth"
| Now if the theory of evolution be true, the
advance from the thought working chaos
into fire mist through the infinite changes OF
| form to the present visible universe and the
| that dwell thereon must cover periods OF
time as much beyond our conception as the
| distance between US and the nebul8 Of Orion
| is beyond our comprehension, but there must
| have been all along that line continuous IN
ceasing change, transformation, the eternal
! Thought working itself out in matter, in
| things, in forms and in substance-substance
in its true sense, that which stands under
| that which is apparent-this was the thought
| expressed in what We call ''life, because
| We can in no way define it.
As this life went on its resistless way, ever
| developing into higher forms, more complex
| organisms there must have been at all times
| and under all conditions variations in species
| involving single individuals more advanced
| than the majority of their fellows. The fish
| that first became an amphibian must have
| been one who enjoyed from some cause life
| near the surface of the water, the in
breathing OF large and oven larger bubbles of
upon his progeny. and they again upon theirs,
that new order of being ensued.
The first troglodyte TO leave his cave and
climb up the rocks to the land of sunshine
and flowers must have been one who had
tired of darkness and fighting over the divis-
ion of food. and when he had discovered
the delights of q higher life. and returned to
'.tell men so,'' he was doubtless erucified.
and later on most likely was canonized as u
saint.
But we still havo flshes-we still have the
troglodyte. If everything in nature is part of
every other thing If all processes are analogous
then we have no right TO assume that the evo-
luton of consciousness proceeds 10y any other |
law than did. and does, the evolution OF form. |
Consequently. if every human being will |
think. his real belief will always be that to |
which the present condition OF his evolution |
has prepared him 10 perceive the eternal |
truth of life and being.
So it would seem after all that the disputa-
ton about crecGs is the different state or con-
dition OF consciousness when each disputant |
concluded he had arrived at the iuilness of |
being-whcn he was satisfied to let thought |
die within him and enshroUd himself in the |
cerements of conclusions. The defense of |
creed Us against spiritual life and aspiration |
is the defense of ''statu quo" as the only |
safety. So thought the community of troSIo- |
dytes: so thought the Greeks when they or
deIed the hcnlock for Socrates; so thought |
the Jews when one of their own race went up |
into the mountain tops of His divine con- |
sciousness and taught men SOL And they
said Cruelty Him" We have no reason 10 |
hope or expect more rapid or more uni |
yersal advance in conscious man than in any
antecedent species.
Consciousness, thought, is ever evolving
through and in organism. The charging
brain capacity in man must be Tor purpose
as surely as the growing wings on the species
of reptiles that became birds. Those wings
were the organs thrown out because of func-
t:onal development requiring the occupancy |
of the air as well rs earth. So mans devel-
opment will ever be along the line of his
aspirations. the enthusiasm. the God working |
within him.
There is a thought of vast importance that |
is. in fact, a part Of this original one. Out |
from among the many commands given to or
through Moses for his race. christendom has
selected ten and embodied them in the
'canon, viz: Thou shalt not make unto thee
any craven image, or any likeness of any
thing that is in the heavens above, or that is