The herald., 1896-02-03

upturned cornucopiae OF shining dollars
poured in their laps. = { :
The church has different kind of help.
| When Peter and John went up to the
temple to worship at the Gate B eautiful.
| they saw O begger. Peter took him by the
hand and said, '.Silver and gold have I
none, but such as have give unto you.'
| and the cripple arose and worshiped God.
Benevolence does not consist alone in the
giving of silver and gold. Give yourself 10
humanity and lead men to the Christ OF o
rich inner experience which is the 'un-
speakable gift"
Free Lance
Prof. Fred Bell gave the flrst Of series
of lectures at the Los Angeles theater last
evening on the subject: If Christ Came TO
Los Angeles. The speaker said:
If Christ came to Los Angeles the chances
are you would not know il. However, you
might read in an obscure corner of one or
the other of the daily papers that another
ments were duet covered and his feet
bleeding, as they often were when he trod
this earth before. it is moro than likely he
would be arrested by the police and tum-
bled into that relic of barbarism, the open
patrol wagon. The police court would be
the first and only temple in which the
matchless voice of Jesus would be heard.
The speaker thought that Jesus would
spend much of his time down around Ala
media street, around Chinatown opium
dcns. He would teach those poor crea-
lures, who are not yet risen, the law OF
cause and effect, or whatsoever We SOW
that shall ye also reap" Jesus!wculd not
drive that leprous element out of q certain
locality to contaminare the entire city. He
would tell those erring ones to go apd sin
no mo:e. That distressing district around
Second and Los Angeles streets. where the
tramps, and honest workingmen who have
been reduced to the level of tramps, con-
the sympathetic Jesus. He would try to
help and cheer this down.trodden, poverty
cursed slum element. If one thinks of all
the human suffering, there IL very little
peace in lives surrounded as we are by the
thought atmosphere of want and woe. In
the still watches of the night, if your bed
room window opens on the city street, you
can hear now and again the slow hating,
shutting, tired step of the penniless. home
less wanderers who have not where 10 lay
their heads.
l am afraid Jesus would find kingdom
of strife with King Bcodle on the throne, ia
stead of a Kingdom of love and human
brotherhood, which he came nineteen CEN
turtles ago TO establish. Instead OF love
and justice pervadin1 the municipal affairs
of this and other cities, Jesus would find
jobbery and thievery-people murdered by
poor water and bad sanitary arrangements.
For there are more little white hearses pass
through an average city street because of
the open sewers which breathe out poison
than from all the other causes put together.
Yet Doodle ordinances continue TO be
crowded through by supervisors, aldermen
and councilmen. Methinks Christ would
see all these injustices and turn again to
those in high places with this command:
"Go to the primaries, never mind the prayer
meetings; concentrate your forces for the
redemption of the city,
Church Of the New Era
At the Church of the New Era Professor
Bowmsn's topic was: "What Is God, and
What Interest Have We in Him?" He
spoke substantially as follows;
Our question assumes general belief in
something called God. Is this assumption
we'll founded? Traditional authority can
give no answer to u. mind not dominated
by theology. The answer must como from
original -sources--the facts and laws of ma
ture. The whole question OF Cod, both as
to his existence and character, must be de-
termined in the rational mind, not by
faith in traditional revelations, but by
the state of facts and phenomena
of the universe open alike to tho obserya-
ton of all men. II from these facts and
phenomena the reasonable intellect logic.
ally infers that there is supreme being,
and that the character of this being is ex-
pressed in nature, two results follow. First,
no reasonable mind will doubt the exist
ence of O God; and secondly, no claim of
special revelation as to the character of
that being can be entertained, especially if
the revealed" character is in conflict with
the character indicated in nature. In this
appeal to nature my own mind is com.
PEELED to recognize a supreme being on two
principles-that of causation and that of
unity. The facts, laws and phenomena of
the universe are too orderly, intelligent and
wonderful to admit of an origin in any
cause short of supreme mind
of infinite power and knowledge.
So far, there is no necessary conflict be-
tween the God of nature and the God of
revelation. But when it comes to the de-
tails of the divine character and attributes,
nature and revelation part company.
Natures God is not a being separate and
apart from the universe, but one with it, 4
not being who merely permeates the uni 4
verse, but is the universe. The God of ma
turc is not simple. but a complex being,
comprising in his. infinite personality
every entity and every quality of the uni
verse-physical, mental, moral, spiritual.
Man, the microcosm, has all these attri-
butes because he was made in the image of
God, the macrocosm.