Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-02-25
FULFILLS HER VOW.
MRS. MARY F. LEASE sIGNALIzEs RE. JbRNED HEALTH BY PREACHING.

Vast Multitudes Throng to Listen fin u.r
 Many Unable to Gain Admission hiIe
 She Preached Her Husband hid Rrs,.
 ness.
 Some weeks ago Mrs, Mary E. Lease, who achieved much political notorietv by her vigorous campaign as candidate for mayor of Wichita, Kan, fell danger ously i'll. While on her sickbed she vowed that if she recovered she would signalize her return 10 health by preach ing pure doctrin:ll sermon as the best public means of expressing her thank fulness. She fulfilled that VOW by de- livering tho following sermon at the Central Christian church of Wichita Kan, the other day, and the multitude that went to hear her not only crowded the building, but extended out into the middle of tho avenue. It was said that evgybody was there except the husband of the new preacher, who shocked the religiously inclined by opening his store on main street during the sermon of his wife and proceeded to do business as if it were q week day. Among the at tendants at church was a delegation o+ deaf mutes, who had the sermon inter- preted to them.
 Mrs. Lease took for her text the twen ty-seventh verse of tho ninth chapter of St. Mark" But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. , After reading the text she spoke as fol- lows:
 "More and more it is dawning upon the hearts of men that Christianity is not the passive acceptance of mere theo- logical dogmas, but tho living of life. It is not dream, a faraway, earnestly wished, ideal condition, but living, ey- eryday reality, tho solitary and sublime iSnetions which alone make men equal fb their duties and responsibilities. It is not complicated, tiresome network of creeds and isms, that needs must be contracted or expanded, patched or re- paired to suit the ever varying moods of men, but a doctrine so simple, so wise and so beneficent that all may un- derstand. Nowhere in the teachings of Christianity do we find mystery; mo- where uncertainty as to the meaning of life or perplexity as to its duty; no where balancing between probable ol improbable, but everywhere direetness, clearness, simplicity. God is tho Father. All men are his children The human race is one great family. Love is the one duty, the fulfillment of the law; the one command upon obedience to which hang all the law and the prophets. For long centuries the church atum- bled and struggled through strife and
 error, laundering forth but half truth, Thou shalt love thy Lord with all thy heart, shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind,' and while this half truth was preached to the world the robes of religion were stained with blood, the Sabbath air was yexed with hairsplit- ting theological controversies, and Il yawning sulphurous hellw was ever ready, lEo which an awful averaging God might consign tho hapless mortals who, falling to appreciate his Fatherly kind ness, should fail to loye him properly. It is hopeful sign for tho future that z man made ereeds and theological rub # bish are being banished to the world s # garrett, where wo sometimes pensively gaze upon them with the same degree # of solemnity and reverence that we be- < stow upon tine spinning wheel and dis
 tatf of n colonial grandame They serve # the purpose of humanity in all undevel % oped condition, but better things have taken their place, and the human race is x striving toward higher ideal. The # world is to be congratulated that the
 number of ministers is daily growing a who have tho courage to break away 4& rom dogmas and doctrine, and who # preach Christ and the lovo which Christ
 taught. The world is to be congratulate z* ed that that other command to which V the first is but introductory and prepar # atory, the other half of the truth, is be- # Ing presented. Thou shalt love thy K heghbor as myself, and with the pres
 entation of the whole truth--truth and
 love combined, invincible and forever.
 An angry God, an endless hell, tor |s Nentlng flames and martyrs groans sink # peioW, down the low horizon of the # lass Strange that we had not discover
 edN sooner, but tho whole structure of |
 christianity Is based on love. The won X urous warp and wool of the life and
 reaching of Christ is woven through and |
 through with that vivid, golden strand. It |. IS tho helpful sympathy, the loving
 Aindness of Christ, that endears him to
 our hearts and makes his memory a
 uenedlction radiating through 2,000 '7ars or ignorance and wrong.
 It IS this love, as preached and prac-
 uceu by the Great Exemplar, that dis
 .mgulshes the religion of Christ from
 sne religion of Buddha, Brahma, Con
 .uclus and every other religion tho
 Morid has ever known. Buddha, said a
 s'uuent of religious philosophy, taught
 "oinan great scientific truth He |
 @aght her that the law of life is death,
 suu III doing so conferred more benefit
 sgoh the race than Christ could have
 nut let us look at tho other picture
 sowlth broken hearted mother bear