The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-21
NOT ON ITS MIRACLES
APPEAL TO HU-
MANITY IS MADE ON JESUS
TEACHINGS
CREDENTIALS OF DIVINITY
fOrmance of Miracles, but the
Life, Spirit and Precepts of the
Man of Nazareth-EvOIut Is
Defended in a Sermon by Rev.
DIR. Smith, of Peoples Church.

DIR. Smith, of Peoples Church.
The Rev. Samuel G. Smith, pastor of
the Peoples church. preached sermon
last evening on Evolution" in the
course Of which he defended that doc
trine and declared that Christianity
would hive to recognize 1t and conform
to it or pass into a driVellng senJimen-
tally. He said:
The immediate future and interest of the
world are bound up in the conviction that
man is son OF God. There will be just as
many reccnstructions Of theological thought
as changes Of the thought of man and nature
1t is impossible for US to be modern in scien-
tifc thought and medieval in theological
thought. The time has come when Christian
tty must face its age and answer whether 1t
can absorb the reality of modern knowledge
If Christianity cannot do this it must drift
from its age and appeal less to men, and it
VIII be driven into drivelng sentimentaiity
Comparative religion meets us here and asks
are the customs familiar to Christianity
analogous to other religions? Therefore there
Is no foundation for religion. The theologian
is often too eager to accept the battle ground
selected by his adversary as the issue is made
The theologian says that evolution is false
and the materiaist must oppose him and be
not even an agnostic, because he finds evo-
tuition true. AS long as evolution may be
true theologians should not make it an is
sue.
Il take issue with he-theoiogian of the old
schooi and with the materialist of the new
school. It is necessary for both to reconcile
;ne3r differences. 1t is said that Christ was
porn in the fullness of time. You have heard
that God prepared the world for Chrlsts
coming. yet the men who argue in favor of
divine revelation are horror-stricken at the
thought of God working at the heart Of ma
ture.
'.The anthropoIogist says religion began In
fear; that in the beginning men made gods OF
everything they saw, and II religion had such
an igRoble beginning it csnont be true. Be-
cause painting began with men daubing them
selves with yellow streaks is art false? Chem
istry began in magic and looking for the
philosophers stone. but does this fact de-
stroy the value of the modern crucible? Ig
noble beginnings have nothing to 90 with
modern results. Religion has not been the
invention of politicians. but Of universal hu
man experience. There would never have
been home if there had not been church.
The fundamental foundation OF religion in the
world is responsible for all development.
"All things are bound together. says evo-
luton. The first way is unity, the second Is
continuity and the third is progress. Unity,
continuity and progress is the trinity which
furnishes the theory of evolution. What has
miracle to say? II miracles be defended as
a contradiction of law break in the order
Of nature special outside interposition, then
of course a miracle is impossible; and when
we find that miracle canont happen we ma
the truth for it is inconsistent with God.
II God be seIf-consistent the world must go
along on the lines he set down fer it, accord
ing TO His methods of divine activity.
Traditional theology has platform that
there are three elements that make up reli-
gious thought-man, nature and God-and that
man is independent of nature and nature is
independent OF man and God is independent
of both This is the platform on which the
mechanism of the old theology is built. Is
this true? In the first place man himself is
not an element of nature. He is rational
being He is a thinking being because He
finds in nature something to think about, and
science is to bring the meaning OF nature TO
man and identify him with nature. orderly
fhOughf In nature uulckens man ana the
thought and light of man is the thought and
light of nature. They cannot be separated.
arabIy The thought that God made nature
out Of Himself Is evolution religiousy in-
terpreted Nature is Gods living garment
woven at the loom Of time, by which we see
Him and through which know Him.
Religion is an effort to get at the heart Of
God. Man es little child must seek the nm
known with God. So nature and science have
an object to bring man and nature and God
into a lasting and blessed unity,
I'VE are told that we believe in Christ be-
cause He worked miracles. | affirm that just
the opposite is the fact. We credit miracles
because we believe in Christ. miracle is
the measure OF a mans Ignorance. II there
be no adequate reason in Christ's miracles
they were no miracles at all. If a Sioux medi-
cine man gave us miracle and had a pas
sage from the Sioux scriptures TO prove 1t, We
would not believe It or become of the same
faith as the Sioux. Christ is accepted be-
cause OF His appeal 10 the spiritual nature of
men, His mission was to bring men TO the
the refuge of the world. He is still appeal
ing to the thought and conscience of the
race It ia not because Lazarus was raised
from the dead, but because Of Christ's words
that He appeals to US today.
Herbert Spencer teaches evolution, and he
understood It as a divine power of God. Men
build their faith al the expense OF the rspu
tstion Of God, When / see God pictured in
this and that form of faith 1t seems beautiful
and vet infinitely pathetic, for men are work
ing upon the assumption of the presence OF
God Every nation has been the chosen peo-
aBrahminlsm began as a nature worship.
hut IL grew up into g recognition OF one
god though under many different names, and
out of that grew Buddhism. There was sim
ilarity in the development Of that religion and
CHRISTIANITY but does that prove that Budd-
hism and Christianity are OF the same value?
Rv no means. Phidiss chiseled images in
marble and g South Sea Islander carved hg-
iIree in wood but does that make the wood
carver equal to Phidias? Shakespeare and
savage loved music, but does that make the
savage equal to Shakespeare?
The world has been rising higher ana
higher. Out Of an ignoble past have come
eree{er things The career OF Christ was the
6{rhest manifestation of the divine in human
character. The world found nothing finer.
hut the world did not stop when Christ died.
me manifestation Of the kingdom OF God
is- something vastly higher and more divine.
If snecial miracles be the real credentials OF
divinitv then you can measure the size OF
The truth by the size OF the miracle. Yet the