Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-02-26
MRS MARY E. LEASE IN THE
PULPIT.
chrIstIanIty:Based on Love.


hoPeIu Sign OF the Future.
-sa.- by telegraph to the N. Y. HERALD
WICHITA, Kan. February 16-Nis.
Mary +. Lease, the Kansas reformer,
who decided recently. .upon her reo0Y-
cry from q serions illness, ~ apanaoh
| the lecture field for the pulpit OF tne
| Campbellite Church, delivered her nrst
sermon tonight in the Central Churcn
of Christ, and her reception was all
she could wish. Contrary to all eX.
pectations she kept entirely clear OF
sensationalism and spoke with great
force and eloquence upon Love, the
Keystone Of the Arch"
| Thousands were unable to gain al.
| Inittance and the church was crowded
to its utmost capacity She TOOK Ioi
her text the 9th verse of the 9th chap
1 ter of Mark, "But Jesus took him by
| the hand and lifted him up and he
sarose.n
SIT is hopeful sign for the future, y
said she, among other things, that
man made creeds and theological rub
bish are being banished to the worlds
garrett, where we may sometimes pen
sively gaze upon them with the same
degree of solemnity and reverence that
we bestow upon the spinning wheel
and distaff of some Colonial grandame.
BASED UPON LOVE.
ut is somewhat strange that we
have not discovered it sooner, but the
whole structure of Christianity is has
ed upon love. The wondrous warp
and wool of the life and teachings of
Chris. is shot through with that vivid
golden strand.
more and more is it dawning upon
the hearts of men that Christianity is
not the passive acceptance of theolog-
ical dogma, but the living-o of a life. II
is not dream, far away, earnestly
wished, ideal condition. but a living,
everyday reality, the solitary and sub
lime functions of which alone make
men equal to their duties and RESPONSE
bilities.
For long centuries the Church
stumbled and struggled through strife
and error, laundering forth but half q
truth-Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with al
thy soul and with all thy mind; anG
| while this half truth was preached te
| the world the robes of religion were
stained with blood, the Sabbath all
was vexed with hair splitting theolog
ical controversies, and a yawning
sulphurous hell was ever ready, into
which an awful, avenging God might
consign the hapless mortal who, failing
to appreciate His fatherly kindness
should fail to love Him properly.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.
| 1.-THE world is to be congratulated
that that other command, to which the
first is but preparatory-the other hall
of the TRUTHS being presented
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
SELF"
She also compared the love and sym
pathy of Christ, who, when the wo-
man brought to him her child cold in
death, restored the babe to life, with
the cold intellectually of Blddha,
who, when Kisagotami brought to him
her child, sent her forth in fruitless
Equest of ''black mustard seed from
houses where death had never been. y
that he might impress upon her an alb
stract truth. She spoke of that i'm
pressive scene where Christ came down
from the mount and healed the devil
possessed lad who was waiting in the
valley below, and drew from the life
and character of Christ the lesson OF
universal love.
| These were among her characteristic
utterances. A company of deaf mutes
attended the services and the sermon
was interpreted to it's members.