St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-06
so SAYS REV. S. G. SMITH.
BELIEF AGAINST REASON A CRIME,
OBEDIENCE WITHOUT BE-.
LIEF NO VIRTUE.
UNBELIEF IS INGRATITUDE.
The Basic Truths of Religion De-
pend Upon the Richness of
Ones Own Life.

interrogatory topic selected by Rev. S.
G.. Smith for his morning sermon at the
Peoples church. His text was:
John ill.,, Sc. "He that believeth on
the Son hath eternal life, but he that
obeyeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.
He said, in substance:
In the confessions, Psalms and ex-
periences of Christendom, belief and sal
walton have gone together 1t has been
a universal formula to say, HE that be-
lieveth shall be saved; he that believetb
not shall be damned" 1t is worth while
to investigate the foundations Of this
formula for our instruction and guild
ance. TO believe statements Of truth
that appeal to our reason does not seem
! TO be difficult, but necessary. There
/ would not seem to be any virtue in be-
lief in harmony with the intellect To
believe against reason would seem to
make future thought impossible It is
intellectual suicide 1t is abhorrent TO
think that self-murder Of the body
would be pleasing to God. Can we ex-
pect Him to be pleased by the suicide Of
| the soul? Belief therefore with reason
IS no virtue, and belief against reason
Is an open crime. Where then lies the
moral element beneath the confessions
of the church?
1t must be plain that the use Of the
no means exhaust the deep and spirit
uai content of this primitive conception
OIL Christianity. This is made evident
still further by the use of the word
OBEY instead of the word believe"
| IN the second member of this text. There
ndS peen an antaSonism more or less
ueHned always existent between two
classes of Christians; the one have said
we must lind out the faith; we must
accept the faith; we must nre-
serve the faith. To practice the
Gospel is not so easy for NOR
tals, out we can at least believe it, and
De saved. These are the mystics. The
U tL tendency may be summed UP by
those who say, 'The problems of life
oeath and eternity, are too great for
our solution, but we can at least seel,
10 90 as nearly right as we can dav nv
Jay. Inc moral ends of life are it's
chlef ends and the whole matter is
summed up in the golden rule. If we
uo the pest we can God will not be hard
on US at any Judgment He NAV hold -
a little closer scrutiny of the tboneh+
ot our author will show that he recog-
iilZeS no Such antagonism, and that he
mas deeper message than seems To
nave been hitherto generally accented
ne doeS not say that he that beIievetb
on ele son snail go to heaven. or shall
Is 9o"pe lleli, put a present faith issues
| on
the Son hath eternal life" and wbe oti
eVef eternal life may mean. it is cIearI,,
stated 10 be present possession u.
IleI ana obedience are not set in oon-
eidst, pQt the one is the resultant of the
pther. lie that believes hath life bnt
-ie RI eiial opeys not shall not see life.
IL is worth while to consider tha m
CASTOR for obscuring and misintarnr Ct
ing tnls deep, yet simple message I'm.
uel tne roman empire men had hea,
trained 10 the idea Of an all persua siIya
corporation; they had been trained ~
.ne need OF authority. When the Ro-
man empire proved too weak for ito
eash ana removed from Rome to Con-
stantlnople it left the church as tha
only unifying power in Eurona IT,
result was that the sense of corporate
power and the sense of authority fool
refuge in the church. This gave rise 70
new conception of doctrines. prior
TO TINS they had been for illumination
or Tor comfort-they were privileges.
ailer thls, they became statutes of
corporate religious authority Thev
became commands and burdens Tbe
corporate power of the church. so far
DIS we can see, seems to have been a.
Socla! necessity. At all events, the civ
lIZatlon of the old world would haven't
lerly per1shed but for the church
Whether 1t has been blessing to pre-
serve the old culture and so embalm
much of the old paganism must al
ways remain an open question, IF was
method of organic life, however. that
was essentially limited and transitory:
II must pass away, and hence the ref
ofmatlon. But the reformation shows
In It's methods and results the tremen-
dous power of the forces of corporate
church life. Instead of a UNIVERSAL
church, it substituted state churches
| nf
formulas of local synods. Instead of
an 1nfall1ble pope, an infallibIe Bible:
and even the Independents claimed
nothing more than that each congrega-
cation had the right to frame doc
tr1nes binding on every member of the
congregation. This last method was
probably the worst Of all, because if
substituted for the play of divergent
forces, which would result in modifica-
ton and compromise, tending toward
simplicity and universally, the domi-
nation of one or a few minds, often as
incoherent as they were intense No
worse creeds have ever been made,
probably, than those which voiced the
| present judgment of a local conerega-
| ton.
1t is only in our time that we have
been able by the freedom of historical
| judgment to reconstruct the idea of
church fellowship and spiritual free
dom as it obtained in the beginning
under the Gospel. The deep ethical
and spiritual nature of the movement
of Jesus has been reconceived It has
been seen at last that the appeal of
Jesus was strenuously to the individ-
ual; that the basis Of the new church
was personal attachment to it's Found
! er; that He incarnated in a method of
life the truths that He would teach.
/ He is only the spiritual teacher of the
world, because He is it's spiritual
master and leader. Thus faith in Him
and obedience to Him are necessarily
individual, and are both parts of one
| transaction.
Man has in himself the data of the
universal. He is member of q great
| trinity. His three stupendous facts are
himself, his world and his God Out
! Of these three facts are born all his
thoughts, his hopes, his dreams No
one member Of the trinity dare he neg
1ect. He must preserve himself that he
may live; he must know and use his
world that he may live: he must come
into harmony with God that he may
live
| Man also mas trinity Of power. He
is able to know, to feel and to act. 1t is
! by the harmonious exercise and devel-
opment of these powers that he comes
| to greatness. If he seeks only to know
he becomes a dreamer. If he seeks to
| feel he becomes an idle enthusiast. If
he seeks only to act he is a disappoint-
ed and mistaken animal. He is in O.
worse state even than other animals.
for they are given a sure Instinct for
| their narrow range Of life; but he with
out guidance is capable OF infinite mis-
| takes. In religion we need also the
| harmonious development of these three
i powers. If knowledge alone be made