The herald., 1896-05-04
YESTERDAY At TIE CHURCHES
Some Of the Sermons That Were
Delivered
THE PASTOR OF UNITY
o. the Subject, Christ's Doctrine Of
Reconciliation
A. vsspers III The cathedrai-At the Central
Presbyterian and At Simpson Tabernacle.
Theosophlcal and Spiritual

PHeobytefian ana at simpson Tabernacies
Theosophlcal and Spiritual
church, the Rev. J. s. Thomson, deliv-
cred a sermon on Christ's Doctrine Of
Reconciliation Between God and Man,
taking the text, Jesus the mediator Of the
New Covenant. Hebrews II: "a.
The old theory Of metaphysical theo-
logians was that the human race in the
fall Of Adam and Eve lost the love and
favor Of God, and that the race could
do nothing to restore itself into the d.
vine favor, and that all men and women
deserved eternal hell for this original
sin Of our first parents, and that God
cduld not love US on account of this fall
which happened thousands Of years ago,
and that Christ died to make 1t possible
for God to treat us as his immortal
children, to give God q chance to re-
earthly children; but 1t is curious fact
that Christ never said a word about Sa-
tans cunning Illustration Of Gods in
tentions. and that He never referred
to the theological scheme Of technical
trained in the theological school Of Trim
ixifian dogma. Christ's chief work in
our world was to reconcile man to God,
and not God to man, according to popu-
lar theology. Christ was Gods offer
Ing to man to reconcile man to God. and
rot mans enering to God to influence
him to love bis own children. God Is
wisdom, Justice and love; and anything
that eontradicts these divine attributes
IL false.
whep God Is represented as doing any.
thing That a human father would not do
~ the wise and good treatment of his
children, we have right to say that
God ID falsely represented. II God Gre
etad every creature. he must have ere
eted Satan; and, II Satan were allowed
to enter Eden ana cause the fall Of
no wise and good parent would do, be-
cause no such parent would introduce
into his home, or allow to be introduced
into 1t. II he could help 1t, person that
would corrupt his children. II any par
ont would do SO. he would be held re-
sponsible for the results. God could
have prevented Datan's temptations in
the garden, and he must have foreseen
the consequences Of Satan's schemes;
but he did not prevent the disaster. and.
Of the race But the whole foundation
Of Trinitarianism is absolutely opposed
to Gods wisdom, justice and love. The
parable of the prodigal son Is the strong
est possible condemnation Of the popular
theory Of the atonement; for the parable
cannot be forced to fit into that pagan
theory. In order to make 1t do so. the
parable would have to be changed. The
brother of the prodigal should have con-
sehted to be put to death to make 1t
possible for the father to love and well
dome his returning son; and. after the
elder brother had been murdered through
foreordained set Of circumstances,
then the father would have embraced
the prodiga1. But all this barbarous
>paganism is absent from the parable.
The prodigal suffers. thinks and re-
pents; and he resolves to return to his
father with little speech prepared for
the meeting with his father The father
embraces him before he can speak his
piece. Neither q sacrifice nor a medi-
ator was needed. The father was glad
and not angry: and he was always ready
to receive his son. Genuine repentance
brought father and son together, and
nothing else was required. The prodigal
was reconciled to his fathers love and
his fathers. home The God whom
Christ revealed inspires US with, love.
The God Of Moses was an angry. arbi-
trary and cruel being, whom no one could
love. The cold, harsh and bigoted God
of Mohammed could not win the affec-
tions Of the heart. Moses had to invent
keep his God in good temper; but Christ
taught that God is eternal love, and new
er Is angry with his children. The hys-
terical God of Wesley, with his whip of
hell-fire to drive the unwilling flock into
the sectarian corral cannot command
the love of reasoning and true souls
nor could any love the God Of Calvin, q
being arbitrary, uncertain and without
d decent conscience. The God Of self
2atished, ,conceited and lazy Tripitarian-
ism could not attract the hearts Of spir-
itual and earnest souls. But the God
whom Christ revealed draws the hearts
of men and women. and holds their
hearts in the noblest and strongest 10y
atty forevermore. This God is the at
traction OF hundreds Of thousands of
ra% TrvHta
copalians. Presbyterians. Congregation
alists. Baptists and Unitarians. This
is the great number that no man can
number Of all nations and tribes and
tongues Of the earth.
The God Of infinite and eternal love
shines in celestial glory in the life and
teachings of our Divine Master, to whom
we owe the reverence and loyalty of our
hearts; for He is the mediator between
God and man, the remover OF all misun-
derstandinxs, the representative of God
upon earth. and the light and hope of
mankind. Through him we see the
many mansions in our Fathers house, the
eternal highways Of opportunity, the
heavenly city which has eternal founda-
tions, and the stairways of life on which
the angels ascend and descend.
The sects, denominations and divis-
ions will disappear; but Christ with. the
glory of his Father on his human face
will remain forever the leader of men.
Central Presbyterian
A large audience enjoyed the sermon
OF Rev. DIR. J. X. Fowler at Y. M. G. A.
hall yesterday morning. 1t was sug-
gested by the ordination Of William A.
Henry as a deacon. The text was James
i:27-Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father Is this, to visit the
fatherless and widows in their affilction
and to keep himself unspotted from the
world"
Suppose the question before u.s. said
the preacher" were this What is
first-rate farming 1t might be an
sWered in two ways. The answer might
be: 1T is the observance of such and
such laws as to soil, seed, climate and
seasons But another answer might be: