The herald., 1896-06-15
YESTERDAY At THE CHURCHES
Some of the Sermons That
Were Delivered
THE EASIEST RELIGION
Theological Bankruptcy Act Explained
at Unity
Sleep and Death, q Theosophical Discourse
at Biavatsky HalI-Knowiedge Of Natural
Law Indispensable to Progress

Yesterday morning the pastor Of Unity
church. the Rev. J. s. Thomson, preach
ed a sermon on The Easiest Religion In
the World, taking the text. Wide is the
gate, and broad is the way that leadeth
to destruction, and many there be that
go in Observation-Disclosures Wills. In part
he said:
A man murders his neighbor in order
to rob him. The murderer has been
liar, an adulterer, corrupter of youth,
a hater of God, and scorner of Christ.
The murdered man has been industrious.
honest, pure. honorable, lover of God.
and a follower of Christ; but he did not
accept the creeds of Trinitarianism, as
Christ's plain teachings were sufficient
for him. According to orthodox specula-
tions, the murdered man goes directly
to hell to suffer eternal torments among
the damned; and the murderer, after he
has consented to accept the Trinitarian
articles of belief, is declared to be fitted
to enter heaven, and to live among the
blessed forever, and his soul flies from
the scaffold to glory. This is surely the
easiest salvation that anyone can imag-
inc. A religion that has no need of vir-
tue, and that declares it a sin to believe
that virtue is an essential qualification
for heaven. is the easiest religion in the
world
Such a religion encourages people to
commit sins. because they may expect
forgiveness at the end of life of black
est crimes. According to this immoral
doctrine of pagan theology Christ came
into our world to teach criminals how to
take advantage of the theological bank
ruptcy act, to WhiteWaSh sinners and
criminals of all kinds. to transform in
a few seconds black villains into angels
and to make it easy for the worst sinner
to escape the hell his life deserves and to
enter the heaven which he does not de-
serve. Great is the power of priests and
ministers that can set aside the moral
laws of the universe, mock God by re-
Versing the law that whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap" and op-
pose Christ, who said that virtue is es-
sential to a life in heaven, and that lived
life of the hardest and grandest virtue.
These clerical pardoners contradict
Christ in his own name and make him
out to be the author of doctrines which
he said he came to destroy. He said
that the Lord. Lord Christians who
did not keep the Fathers will. and who
did not keep his words, were workers of
iniquity. Self-sacrifice, the bearing of
the cross, absolute conservation to the
highest duties were, according to Christ
the conditions of discipleship. All men
are to be judged according to their
works. His demands for conservation
were so great that many of his dis
ciples forsook him. Orthodoxy is the
broad way, the easy way to forgiveness
and heaven, the easiest of all ways to
escape an honest and deserved hell
We all deplore the evils of the saloon,
- fttrft t-rx tt.
of dishonesty in trade. of lies and self
ishness in politics; but If the pulpits of
Christendom had preached the sublime
doctrines of morality and religion which
the gospel contains. we would not have
to blush for the crimes of Christian
lands today. They have preached pagan
doctrines Of forgiveness until the worst
sins are looked upon with Indifference.
The churches have been shops for the
sale of free forgiveness of all crimes.
The awful nature of sin and crime has
been made light of by the churches
When man on a criminal career is
requested to alter his course his reply
is, "Oh, pathetic death-bed repent
ance and few words of the priest, and
then I'll be all right. and go to heaven"
We need to have preached to us Christ's
narrow way of duty and holiness, of
honor, of self-sacrif1ce, of unselfshness,
of cross-bearing.
Cnr1StS S cup mas to be drank by every
one that will enter the companionship
of the blessed. He never said that his
followers would not have to drink their
own cups as he himself had to do. Or
thodox people neither believe nor live
their doctrines. and that is the reason
that our civilization is as good as it is.
Millions of them live as if their eternal
destiny depended upon their own good
works. The spirit of Christ has inspired
them to live good lives, in spite of their
pagan doctrine of forgiveness.
They profess their faith in an
immoral forgiveness, and they
keep moral laws, and this kind of hy-
pocrisy is a blessing. God forgives men
their sins when they earnestly begin to
live such life as will ultimately cleanse
them from all their sins and crimes;
but he never forgives a sinner until he
ceases to sin, hates sin. and begins a
life of virtue. And the dead sinner will
have to work out his salvation in the
hells and purgatories of the next world
The sinner needs hell for his souls
health
The greatest need of the churches to-
day is the Christ of the Sermon on the
Mount. with his high standard of NOR
ais and religion, and not the metaphys-
ical and dissected Christ of paganism.
We need the Christ who shows us how
to work out our own salvation and de-
Velopment and how to suffer for virtues
sake. The pagan Christ is a failure.
but the Christ of the Gospel will lead
the world to heaven along the highway
of morality.