The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-01-05


education; here is young man start
ing to learn any kind of profession;
he thinks that which is complex, that
which makes a great noise. that
which is bulky, that only is the great
thing, and comes to know, only at
last, that the greatest things are the
simplest things.
So with the ancients. They had
their cycles and epicycles, wheels
within wheels, complex mass with
out any explicitness, until by-and- by
Newton, Copernicus, and Kepler be-
gan to see it all fall in simplest law
and beautiful harmony. So it is with
the Gospel; it is simple; it has been
deemed too simple. 1t has been in
terpreted as complex and deep until
the great mass of the people have
been repealed from it. They have
come finally to feel that religion is
something very hard to get at. re-
peat that religion is the simple truth
that Christ uttered by the wayside,
and lies upon the surface of our BIZ
BILE in it's divine beauty.
Such then being the significance
and Importance of wayside opportun-
tiles, especially in matters of religion,
I ask you, my hearers, in the next
place, to consider how Christ used
his opportunities. He made them
the occasion of great and effective
religious work. How suddenly, how
instantly, before the purpose of his
spirit the circumstances around him
became the cathedral, pulpit, congre-
gation-everything! Christ did not
need outward occasions to consecrate
his work, but with his work he conse-
Grated outward occasions.
The Freedom of Christ
The freedom and spontaneousness
of Christ's teachings ever fill us with
fresh wonder. There is no teacher
there never was-so perfectly indie
pendent of times and places, so per
fectly capable in himself to make all
times and places consecrated and eff
fective. Why was it? Because re-
ligion in Jesus Christ, if l may SO
speak, was a real matter; the spirit
of religion with him was real thing;
with men generally it is the most un-
real thing in the world. People when
they talk about it put on face and
assume a voice which they do not
when talking about anything else.
Indeed, people sometimes think re-
ligious truth can only be conveyed
by sort of holy whine, which has
gone cantering additionally through
the pulpit from age to age, a peculiar
form of speech. In order to express
religion in a different way from any
other great interest, sepulchral
voice is assumed. 1t is properly called
sepulchral voice for the religion it
is used to convey is dead. There is
little of it but husk and emptiness;
it is an empty and useless idea. You
hear man talk about religion and
talk about business, and look at the
different influences of the two sub
iects in his tone and manner Bust
ness is great fact in his life, but re-
ligion is an unreal thing; and he
knows so little about it that he en-
deavors to talk about it in some
strange way. Hear man talk about
his God-the holy, infinite Father
and look at the constrained manner
he assumes. Then hear him talk
about the love to his children or
benefactor, and see how his heart
gushes over his whole face, and
how his features become illuminat-
ed, and his entire expression cor
responds to the thing he is talking
about. Why this difference? Be
cause God is to him an unreal thing.
a mere specter hidden behind veil
of mystery, while the child or the
benefactor are real objects present to
his heart and his thought. Hear a
man speak of great patriot or phil
anthropist, noble man, and see how
differently he speaks when he speaks
of Jesus Christ! Now this unreal
way in which we hold religion makes
religion unreal to others. am will
ing to give men all the excuse they
can have. | think one great reason
why religion is not more prevalent
power and spirit, is because those
who profess religion make it unreal
make it vague. That evidently is
the reason why it has no vital power
over their hearts and lives. Now with
Christ it was real; it was in his heart,
in his soul; it was the great reality of
his whole being; and, consequently,
wherever he was, that reality trans