The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-09-07
REOPENINe THE CITY CHURCHES.

The first Sunday OF September this
year fell on thefirst day of the month.
1t is the time for the reopening of our
churches after the summer vacation.
Among the city churches which re-
sumed services with the pastors in
the pulpit, were St. Paul's and the
Church of the Redeemer, of our own
denomination. At st. Paul's DIR.
Garfield, refreshed and invigorated
by his summer among the Berkshire
hills, preached to the largest congre-
cation assembled during his pastorate
at the opening of the season of church
work. The subject of the sermon
was "The Nature Cure for Vanity and
Social Pessimism," from the text,
Daniel iv. 33: He was driven from
men and did eat grass as oxen, and
his body was wet with the dew of
heaven, till his hairs were grown and
his nails like birds claws" The
following shows the drift of thought:
THE quaint story of Nebuchadnezzar
contains seasonable lesson for all those
who are confused and benumed by men,
tai stress and physical exhaustion which
breed morbid views OF life and destiny
In our highly articulated city society
there are many persons who, finding no
novel prizes or unworn joys. are weary
Of the ordinary round of existence and
envy the contented oxen of the fields.
Somehow they fancy they have exhaust
ed the sourcee of human interest. The
victims Of this state of mind need to take
a vacation, not at fashionable watering
place, but upon the bosom of mother
nature for season.
Mature, in proportion as she is
watched by loving spirit through a
poetic eye. grows living, beautiful, prec'
ious, and inspiring. The art of obser-
walton is the highest and most inclu
sive of all arts. The master of this fine
art soon learns that immortal youth is
the basis of nature and that fresh life is
the law of souls.
"a sound and wise man has no busi-
ness to go whining through the world.
The disease of pessimism is unnatural.
1t springs from an overcrowded civiliza-
ton. In contact with his fellow men a
man has no right to complain, but ought
to take his part and bear his load and
fight his fight and meet his fate manful-
ly, with good pluck and good cheer"
At the Church of the Redeemsr,
Warren avenue and Roby street,
Rev. t. B. Gregory, late of Halifax,
N. S., preached his first sermon as
the pastor of the church, his topic
being 1.-THE Immutable Christ" He
is reported as follows in the Tribune
of Monday:
consciously or unconsciously, Jesus
uttered scientific truth when. eighteen
centuries ago. he declared: Heaven and
earth shall pass away Science assures
us that from the nebulous to the solid
all things came and from the solid to
the nebulous all things are returning.
So rapidly as time can bring it about
heaven and earth are passing away.
But, continued Jesus, my words shall
not pass away
1.-THE major part of our present Chris
tianity came not from Christ. but from
the Augustines, Calvins and Moodys,
and it is the wretched caricature fabri-
Gated by the theologians rather than the
actual teachings of the Master that is
passing away.
Mature is full of power which is, at
bottom, nothing else but love. And this
love power is seeking, in all its dispense
tions and disciplines, the end called
righteousness or. as Jesus chose to call
it, the kingdom of Gcd which is within
YOU
1.-THE great thing is not form and cere-
mony, or creed and dogma, but charac-
ter; the power of appreciating. loving.
and obeying the right for it's own blessed
sake. In his idea of righteousness Jesus
struck the keynote Of the ages. There
is much evil in the world and no little
skepticism, but despite all our badness
and unbelief we instinctively bow rever-
emily before the thought of the moral
law.
1.-THE theologies are perishing, but the
instinct of the spiritual in humanity, the
hungering and thirsting after righteous
ness, the royal design of our full and
proper adjustment to the moral law,
which we feel to be the source of our
noblest dignity and truest life. is des
tined to endure; not only to hold its
own, but to grow and gain stronger
and livelier hold upon the consciousness
of mankind"
One of the most interesting and least
bnour Dor,ar ~aI;oo ~ T,ap6ap ia tho