Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-06-14

sat down to count the cost. (Applause)
They say 1t will fail. 1t may, but by its
failure 1t will make 1t easier to succeed
"They say it has no great, fundamental
moral principles behind 1t. Let me sub
nit my answer to you and IL you say there
Is no great principle back of this move
ment, / am ready this hour TO go back
/ see a great array of churches and a
multitude of men and women on whose
weary shoulders the burden of life grows
heavier and whose pathway approaches
ever nearer the trembling abyss. They cry
for help. They turn to legislatures. to agi-
tators, 20 reformers; not 10 the church,
for, alas the church long ago turned away
from them.
"If there is any enthusiasm In an am
bition to help; If there is an inspiration
in the everlasting a~ugustness of right, in
holding out the inexorable punishment
that follows violation OF law, in ale
waiting the suffering that follows trans
gression-if, l say, there is any inspiration
in these things, then this movement will
Applause.) The Christ Of the churches
gave up much. He was not wise. He
failed, a wretched. dismal, darkened fail
ure. We can afford to give up a little OF
the luxury, certainty and responsibility OF
our church for the good of that humanity
for which that Christ died.
Has Hauled Down No Flag.
81 would not. 1 will not, I do not. haul
down any one flag. Let II float. 1t is sac
red for what it ,symbolizes and for the
sake Of the hands. now turned to dust,
that raised II. But l would haul up an
other flag, on whose field shall be every
star of hope, to CLEAN and glisten for the
longing eyes of men, on whose broad and
ample folds there be inscribed: This is
sacred TO the universal brotherhood of
man! prolonged applause)
They tell us that there is a great white
thorne and on one side sits Christ waiting
the approach of the people of the earth.
Suppose 1t is all so and we came there and
the great judge would be about to condemn
us because we had been a little lax in our
orthodox theology, a little reckless about
church forms. Then the NaZarene would
turn to the Great Judge and plead for us
Great Lord, they ministered unto the
least of Thine and if they loved Thee a
little less il was that they might love Thy
In discussing the religion of the past and
present in the earlier portion of the ser
mon DR.. Roberts said:
Man, the latest conner upon this planet,
Is the only animal that stands erect and
the only one that gets upon his knee. He
gazes upon the mystery with awe. He
is still. Man does not create the religious
sentiment. He findS IL. It is one of the
hierarchy of moral forces whose sum is
the world and man 1t grows into relig-
lens. is hewed into pagodas, mosques
and churches and blossoms into Bibles.
Like other forces it operates along the line
VI lGdEl ItElSIdHCt. L we ndu Deem DOIn
in Spain we would have been Catholics,
in India Buddihsts, in Arabia or Persia
Mohammedans.
'In order to understand the religion of
the past, its method was an appeal to the
supernatural, by inspired book or prophet,
or specially ordained institution. or sacra-
being distant and doubtful. II He were
angry, to appease Him on mans behalf
was its supreme mission; # He was indif-
attention back to His child of earth. The
religion of the past has done its work and
done it well. II suited the time in which
1t was. 'Tis finished now.
The religion of to-day is quite a differ
ent thing. For hve centuries of the Chris
tan era there was not very much harmony.
Ecclesiastical controversies were submitted
for arbitration to the p~relates of the larg-
est cities. First Alexandria was the city
and later Rome. This simple fact placed
the church of Rome at the head of all
those which had grown out of the teach
ings of the Nazarene- Then came the de-
there was a semblance of harmony. With
this harmony all religions spontaneously
died out and the church lived for loo
years in a starless night, with all indi-
viduality reduced to a dead level OF uni
formity under a centralized power.
The Reformation settled not so much a
monk was brave enough to put upon his
shaven head the crown of intellectual SOW
ereignty was the true significance of the
did the rest. First came John Calvin, and
there was one church; then Wesley, and
there was another, and then Roger WILL
and John Clark, and there was still
another. At first the differences were fun
but later they became more and
more trivial until all the great divisions
were subdivided again and again. The Ro-
Catholic church is perhaps the only
organization that has resisted
this tendency.
Most OF the early departures were
around a great personality. Later Il was
insistenee upon some new idea or upon
old idea. The giants had not depart
ed, but the multitudes had grown nearer
to the stature of the giants. The first
great ideal departure was around the mag
nihcent declaration of the Universalists,
that there is no endless hell. The majesty
of an idea had been conceded once, and
the next majestic idea was that of the early
Unitarians. that reason should reign and
supreme