The herald., 1897-03-08
F0RREuGOUS I0LERAn0N
A Striking Plea by Burt
Estes Howard
Christianity IS NOT Journalism
Christ Had No Desire to Patent
q Religion
JONAH AND THE WHALE
DR.. Thomson on Its Spiritual and Sym.
boIic Sense
Judge UtIey Continues His Lecture on
Mohsmmed
Or. Day Considers the Place and Duty OF tho
Individual In the world David
Walk at East Eighth
Street
Christ Had No Desire to Patent
q Religion
JONAH AND THE WHALE
DR.. Thomson on Its Spiritual and SYM
bolic Sense
Judge Utley Continues His Lecture on
Mohsmmed

ri-
In spite of the muddy streets very
large congregation greeted Burt Estes
Howard, the pastor, at the FIRST Fres'
byterian church yesterday morning. Ihe
text was Luke ix:49-5o, "And John an
swered and said, Master, we saw one
casting out devils in thy name, ana we
forbade him, because he followeth not
with us. But Jesus said unto him, For
hid him not. for he that is not against
YOU is for YOU" The following is syn
opsis of the speakers line of thought;
Jesus had no desire to patent re-
Iigion. He did not come to establish
spiritual monopoly. or to put the
sources of the water of Life" in the
hands of an ecclesiastical close corpo-
ration. In fact, there is no evidence
that Jesus had any idea Of founding
religion at ALL that is. religion IN the
ordinary acceptance of the term as
a thing of forms and ceremonies and
set beliefs. He was exceedingly care
full to organize no institution, and he
seems to have sedulously avoided every
thing that might lead to mere formal
ism. True enough, he did ordain the
sacraments of the Supper and Baptism,
but in both these instances the heart Of
these things lay in the spiritual reali-
ties they stood for. and not in the mode
in which they were administered.
NOT CREEDS, BUT MEN.
For mere preservation of modes and re-
the mere preservation of modes and re-
ligious conventionalities Jesus had little
anxiety. With the spirit that insisted
on the observance Of ceremonial pro-
prieties- while forgetting the crying
needs of men for release from their
sins and miseries, he had no patience.
Jesus did not come into the world to
save religion, or any form of religion
He came into the world to save men.
Whatever religion or theology or
method he had was subordinated to this
one mighty purpose of casting wrong
and sin out of human life. Whether the
method by which this end was secured
ran counter to the opinions of anybody.
or conflicted with the tenets of anybody's
creed or way of doing things he had no
concern. He was a thousandfold more
concerned about the casting out or
devils than he was about preserving the
integrity of a system of theology, or the
customs of the ecclesiasticism of his
day. If man needed healing on the
Sabbath day, he proposed to heal him on
that day, the tradition of the elders not
withstanding. He exalted. above all
else, the value of a human being, and
there was nothing which the world held
that could be weighed over against
mans life. The first thing Jesus cared
about was the salvation of men from sin.
The last thing he cared about was the
~ which this QnnOD1f1li csh
ed In every case the man was larger
quantity than any special type of the
ology or custom. That the Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the
Sabbath" was his way of putting sig
nificant principle.
With this spirit and viewpoint Jesus
could not endure the spirit and view
point of JOHN as displayed in the Incl
dent from which our line of thought Is
taken. A man had been found doing
good work in the name of Jesus, and the
disciples had stopped him for the petty
reason that this unknown benefactor
had not allied himself organically with
their group. We have no information
as to the name of the man or the way in
which he came to be going about doing
his fellow-men service. Perhaps he
himself had been healed and in a spirit
Of love had started out to relieve the
distressed. Whatever 1t was, ii is GER
tain that this man was no dilettante re-
ligionist, intent on a form of righteous
ness and a mode of administration, nor
was he one Of those persons who chase
frantically after every wandering evan
gelist who promises to give them 4
boost into some higher state of emo
tional or pietstical disqualification.
He could not even spend time to join the
company of those who went here and
there with the master. He was too much
occupied living the same kind Of life
with Jesus
There is such thing as
having too much religion and not
enough Christianity. There is such a
thing as wasting all our energy in seek
ing selfish personal experience at the
expense of practical usefulness. There
is such thing as becoming rich in emo
tional and ecstatic piety and at the same
time beggar in the spirit and service of
Jesus. The Christianity OF Christ does
not consist in running to and fro through
the earth holding conventions and meet
ings, nor is the spirit of it exploited in
tarrying continually in upper chambers
waiting for repe2%sd Pentecosts. When
the group of Jesus followers received
his spirit that day and understood their
function in the life OF humanity, there
was no more lingering in the Pentecostal
cnamper. Ihere was Jealous and res
OAoeS iApilti446 NOh ara the neeQS OF the
world. Too much has the church re-
garded Christianity as a clustered af-
fair, too tender TO be transplanted out
into the heart of the worlds whirlinp
life. 1t belongs Thereon nowhere!
THE SPIRIT, NOT FORMS.
We hear of following Jesus" 1t was
the phrase John used in explaining why
they stopped the man in the midst Of
his helpful service. 1--WE forbade him
because he followeth not with us" That
solitary worker, pursuing his loDely way
through the miseries of his times, laying
helpful hands on the wretchedness of
men, was far nearer to the Master and
following him with closer footsteps than
was John, with all his organic intimacy
with the company that had gathered
about Jesus. Jesus recognized that man
as one of his own, and he acknowledged
his work as an extension of the work he
himself was trying to do. For when
Jesus called men to follow him it was no
invitation to narrow, sectarian espous-
al of tradition, or to a slavish aping of
certain methods. To folloS' Jesus was