Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1894-09-29

side for the world. conquest. Mere outside
prosperity, mere worldly power. Is no ev.-
denee .hs, the church IL acceptable to Goo. |
Better a barn with Christ in the man2er |
than a cathedral with magnificent harmo-
MES rolling through the long drawn aisle
AMI an angel from heaven in tho pulpit IL
there be 10 Christ IN the chancel and NO
Christ in the rutes.
Biro.rs Is often the child OF ignorance.
You seldom fni a man With large INTELLECT
who .s a bicot. It IL the man who thinks he
knows a great deal. bu. does not. That man
is almost always a bigos. The whole ten
dency o. e1uration and civilization IL TO
bring a man out Of that Kind o. state OF mimi
AMI heart. There was Ia the far east q great
7oHei!sk. and or- side Of tho ooelisx Was
white, another side ofthe obei!sk was green.
another side OF the obeiisk vas blue, and
travellers went and looked at that ooe!isk.
but they did not walk around IT. One man
looked AZ one side. another ut another side.
and they came home each one looking at
only one side. and they happened to meet.
the story saws. and they get into q rank
quarrel about the color Of that obelisk. One
man said it was white. another man said II
was green. another man said II was oiue,
md when they were in the very heat o. the
controversy a more intelligent traveller came
and said Gentlemen, Is have seen that
obeiisk. 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 only sees 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. II" will be a bi2ot inevitao'v-the
man who only secs one side. There is no
man more to be pitiel than he who has in
! his head Just one idea-no MORE, no less.
| More light, less se"tdrianism. There is notE-
ing tina, will SO soon Kill bigotry as sunshine
| Gods sunshine.
so ] have set before you what l consider
to be the cause Of bigotry. J have set before
you the origin Of this great evil. What are
some Of the bale:ui effects? First Of all, it
| crippses Investigation. You are wrong and
| am right. and that settles it. No taste for
exploration. no spirit Of investigation. From
the glorious realm OF God truth, over
which an archangel might fy from eternity
TO eternity and not reach the limit, the man
shuts himself out and dies, a blind mole IN
! Jera cornshock. 1t stops all Investigation.
Another great damage done by the sectar-
! ianism and bigOtry Of the church Is thatft
disgusts people from the Christian religion.
Now. my friends, the church of Go1 was
never intended for IA war tarra,k People
are afraid Of n riot. You 90 down the street
and YOU see an excitement and missiles fly
ing through the air and you hear the shock
OF firearms. Do YOU, the peaceful and i'll
dustrlous citizen. go through th-t street!
III, NO YOU VIII sly II Ky 'IooId kiIb
block Now. men come and look upon this
narrow path to heaven. and sometimes see
the ccclcsiastlcal brickhat flying every
whittier. and they say We'll. I guess II!
take the broad road. There is SO much
sharpshootinS on the narrow road l guess
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 denomination, or between
one proiesScd Christian and another. or be-
tween one church AID another, so long men
will be disguised with the Christian religion
and say. IF that is religion, l want none Of
it."
Again, bigotry and sectarianism do great
damage in the fact that they hinder the
triumph OF the gospel. Oh, how much
wasted ammunition. how many men OF
splendid intellect have given their whole lite
to controversial disputes when. Ii they had
given their life to something practical, they
might have been vastly useful. Suppose,
while | speak. there were Il common enemy
coming up the bay. and all the forts around
the harbOr began to fire into each other, YOU
would cry out National suicide! Why
don't those forts blaze away in one direction,
and that against the common enemy. And
vet ! sometimes see in the church OF the
Lord Jesus Christ Il strange thing going on
church against church, minister against
minister. denomination against denomina.
ton. firing away into their own fort. or the
fort which ought to be on the Same side, in
stead of concentrating their energy and Civ.
ing ono mighty and everlasting volley against
the navies Of darkness riding up through the
bay
What did intolerance accomplish against
the Baptist Church? Ii laughing scorn and
TRADE could have destroyed the church, It
would not have today a disciple left. The
Baptists were hurled out Of Boston in olden
times. Those who sympathiZed with them
were imprisoned, and when a petition was
offered asking leniency in their behalf all
tho men who signed il were indicted. Has
intolerance stopped the Baptist Church
The last statistics in regard to it showed
Is 1000 churches an 1000. 900 communicates
Intolerance never put down anything.
In England n law was made against the
Jew. England thrust back the Jew ant
thrust down the Jew and declared that nc
Jew should hold official position. VIVA,
came Of it? We're the Jews destroyed? Was
their religion overthrown? No, Who be
came prime minister OF England? Who wa,
next ID the throne? Who was higher thar
the throne because he was counselor ane
adviser? Disraeli. a Jew. What were. ",
celebrating in all our churches as we'll as
s~ynagogues only n few years ago? The on,
hundredih birthday anniversary OF Monte
fore. the great Jewish philanthropist. In.
tolerance never yet put down anything.
But now. my friends. having. shown 20,
the origin OF hicotry or sectarianism, ant
having shown YOU the damage it does,
want briefly to show you how We are to wa
against this terrible evil, and / think W
ought to began our war by realizing our owl
weakness and our imperfections. II W
make so many mistakes IN the common al
fairs OF lie. i il not possible that we ma,
make mistakes in regard to our religion
affairs! Shall We take "A man by the throa
or by the collar because he cannot see re-
ligious truths just as W. DO? In the light o
eternity IL Will he found out. think, ther,
Was something WRONG III all our creeds an,
something right III ali oar creeis. But sine
We NAV make mistakes III regard TO thing
of the world 30 not iet u. he SO ~ego,istlc an
50 pufet uD As 10 nave an liea that We car
l44t max any mistake II regard 10 religion
theories. Anil then. | ihinS. we will do
Srsat deal - overthrow m" sectariaa irov
car hear; and tnr e+ciarianisn ron ia
wprlt * chiefN .nr1r-'" II those things !
which we agree rather than those in whic
We differ.
Perhaps l might iorce!ully illustrate tn
:. truth by calling your attention 10 An inc
; dent which took place about twenty yea