The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-10-27

church can be true to Its calling that
does no more than provide comfort
able place for its own members to
worship in and dismisses its duties to
others by an occasional collection for
some charity. We must rejoice in the
advent of the institutional church;
that among us there is to be more
and more of thoughtful consideration
given to the problems presented by
poverty, and vice andignorance. The
heart of every true Christian shall
sing with joy as he hears OF and
mingles in the busy activities that
are to flow from the church like heal
ing streams into the seas of misery
and crime as the new opportunities
open before us. For one | cannot
believe that we have more than be-
gun to prove the power of the church
in this direction, but this ministering
to the physical needs of men must
not absorb the whole energies of the
church; to carry out these wider
plans large sacrifices will have to be
made. The church that shall hear
the call to this larger sphere of duty
and attempt to walk in its path is
preparing to call upon it's members
for more generous offering of mon
ey, for greater sacrifice of leisure,
for more enlightened consideration
of duty than ever before. To give
these things, not as wearisome bur-
den but as holy joy, requires that
spiritual culture be not neglected. If
we are to move against the vice and
ignorance of our day, in more solid
column, in greater force, it will need
the high inspiration of mighty faith.
The labor will be done and the means
supplied by those who have the loft
lest ideals of duty.
Let us prove these newer plans
with all the power and enthusiasm we
can muster, but let us hold fast also
the we'll tried means of spiritual cul-
ture the regular service of the church;
nothing but that faith which fills the
life with love to God and love to man
shall be sufficient to inspire the sac
rifces which must be made if the
church is to undertake these larger
duties. And where else shall we
look for laborers to go work in this
vineyard, if not to the workers of the
Christian church, How long has
much of her energy been wasted in
selfish efforts to induce men to save
their own souls?
Let us avail ourselves of all the
means which the institutional church
shall supply, but let us remember
that they are means and not ends.
The Christlike life alone shall over
come these evils, and how shall they
to whom we are sent live such a life
without the same faith and conf
dence in God, as was Christ's? To
win them to such life is the church's
work. She will neglect no way that
promises aught of help for the weak
nesses and wants of men, but when
mems physical needs are relieved,
when their minds are instructed, they
will still need the inspiration of faith,
to keep them from sinking again to
the same low level.
Another proving to which the
church is challenged, is the author
ship and authority of the sacred
books. One party wraps itself around
with the dogma of verbal infallibility,
pronouncing anathema against all
who call in question its teachings.
Refusing to put its faith to the test,
it considers itself invulnerable by re-
fusing to see the breaches in it's ar
NOR. While at the other extreme are
those who likewise shut their eyes to
all the spiritual teachings and moral
beauties of this collection of writings
which is still "The Bible" In their
ardent questioning of the letter they
too often seem more anxious to prove
some preconceived theory, as unreas-
enable sometimes as that of verbal
infallibility, than to arrive at the truth,
while the great body of the church
moves on, not blindly worshipping
the letter, still catching inspiration
from the spirit, needing with respect
full attention the conclusions of the
critic, weighing, proving, accepting,
somewhat conservatively perhaps at
times) but ever striving to hold fast to
that which is good with an eye and
ear reverently open to every new
truth it still finds in the old writings,
the message of eternal love, and holds
fast to the Gospel of our Lord as its
chart and guide. Nor do we mourn
the departure of the old theories.
What if the Bible can no longer be
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