The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-06-07

\ of Mount Vernon church, Beacon street,
| Boston. His text was Luke VII, 1928,
\ verses which relate to the visit of two disci-
| pies of John the Baptist to Jesus. with the
| inquiry whether he was the Messiah or
| whether another Messiah was to be expect
| ed. The answer of Jesus was, that mira cles
| were proofs of his Messiahship, Especially
| the miracles of benefieence. The preach
| er's theme was 1.-THE Gospel of the King
| dom; it's Aim, it's Method, and its Results
| He said that the Bible recorded the faults
of its heroes and that John the Baptist was
| conspicuous instance of faltering faith.
He came very near to looking upon Christ
| as many in these days are looking upon
| Christianity, a dismal failure. Christ
aroused no enthusiasm or reform in Govern
ment or Revolution in the State. By or
| mary human measurement, he was making
no great headway in any direction. 1t has
been remarked that among the moral causes
which in the present age are laying Chris
tian belief open to attacks of intellectual
inquiry, there is none that more widely and
more deeply undermines oul spiritual cour-
age than the contrast between the splendor
of the promises of Christianity and the pow
erty of their actual realization. With al
| most every decade, some new facts OF some
new series of facts, in science, in archaeol-
! logy, in history, in criticism, in social life,
seem to offer new basis for inquisition in
to the value of the Christian belief and the
church is summoned anew to give reason
for the hope which in is her. The questions
of speculative unbelief which for a genera
tion have been at the fore have subsidized in
to comparative unimportance. There is
a truce for the most part between religion
and science. Even criticism has no terrors
at least for the part of Christendom which
is friendly, but other facts are brought in
to emphatic prominence. .We live In an in
tensely commercial and practical time, the
age of the dollar and the yardstick. Men
are complaining if something is not return
ed for all kinds of outlay, mental, physical,
pecuniary. Even the spirit of sacrifice in
religious matters is largely vitiated by the
Immediate and unblushing question,
''What shall we have therefore, Returns
are demanded that shall be large, immedi-
ate, impressive, sensational. Results are
demanded that shall not only be commenso-
rate in amount but in accord with some pre-
conceived type as to form and some pre-
tablished standard as to quality. as though
men were driving bargain with God and
were likely to be outwitted in its consum
nation.
The vast and rapid movement of our time
have made the human race conscious as
never before of it's own solidarity. Socie-
ty feels its Wilderness and unity. Socialism
in the literal meaning of the word Is coming
to be as intense as individualism has been.
And inevitably resultant from this
impatient and eager desire for some whole
sale sweep of victory over large areas, some
iy,cf for of i,, h.
mass, which reveals itself in the spasmodic
and loud voiced condemnation of the
church as an institution, in criticism of it's
methods and contemptuous minifying of it's
efficiency. Such criticism whether it come
from within or without, will do good, if it
disturbs the spirit of sself-satisfaction. The
church might remind her critics that, from
the beginning, anticipation has seemingly
been rebuffed by facts. In every age the
progress of Christianity in the world has
been attended by the same disparity be-
tween expectation and fulfilment. This has
been true in the most triumphant periods
of her missionary zeal and devotion. The
challenge which the church has to encoun-
ter in the name of her master does not
essentially differ from that which has been off
cred to Himself. Perhaps the response
which he deemed sufficient then ought to
be sufficient.
He emphasized his free untrammeled and
most varied exercise of benignant power.
Institutions come after while to have
conventional value which is entirely inde-
pendent of their original purpose. 1t seems
hardly possible for any good institution to
sxist for any length of time without develo-
ping sooner or later the vice of institution
alism, regard for the institution itself