Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-08-01

education, our physical temperament,
our mental constitution, will very
much decide our form of worship
A style of psalmody that may plea Sc
me may displease you. Some would
like to have minister in gown and
bands and surplice, and others prefer
to have a minister in plain citizens
apparel. Some are most impressed
when little child is presented at the
altar and sprinkled of the waters of a
holy benediction ''in the name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost" and others are more impressed
when the penitent comes up out of the
river, his garments dripping with the
waters of baptism which signifies
the washing away of sin. Let either
have his own way. One man likes no
noise in prayer, not word, not
whisper. Another man, just as good,
prefers by gesticulation and exclama-
! ton to express his devotional aspira-
tions. One man is just as good as the
other. Every man fully persuaded in
his own mind"
George Whitefeld was going over a
Quaker rather roughly for some of his
| religious sentiments, and the Quaker
said: George, am as thou art; [ am
for bringing all men to the hope of the
Gospel; therefore, if thou wilt not
quarrel with me about my broad brim,
will not quarrel with thee about thy
black gown. George, give me thy
hand
In tracing out the religion Of sec-
| tarianism, or bigotry, / find that a
| great deal of it comes from wrong edu.
cation in the home circle. There are
parents who do not think it wrong to
caricature and jeer the peculiar forms
of religion in the world, and denounce
other sects and other denominations.
| It is very often the case that that kind
of education acts just opposite to what
was expected, and the children grow
up, and, after awhile, go and see for
themselves; and, looking in those
churches, and finding that the people
are good there, and they love God and
keep His commandments, by natural
reaction they go and join those very
churches. I could mention the names
| of prominent ministers of the Gospel
who spent their whole lives lombard.
| ing other denominations and who lived
to see their children preach the Gospel
in those very denominations But it is
often the case that bigotry starts in a
household, and that the subject of it
never RECEIVERS. There are tens of thou.
sands of bigots ten years old.
think sectarianism and bigotry also
| III, Zoo nf
one denomination in a community. All
the other denominations are wrong,
and his denomination is right, because
| his denomination is the most wealthy,
or the most popular, or the most infu-
entail; and it is ''our' church, and
! ''our'' religious organization, and 'sour"
choir, and ''our" minister; and the man
losses his head, and wants other de-
nominations to know their places. It
is great deal better in any communi-
| ty when the great denominations of
! Christians are about equal in power,
marching side by side for the worlds
conquest. Mere outside prosperity,
mere worldly power, is no evidence
that the church is acceptable to God.
Better barn with Christ in the man
ger than cathedral with magnificent
| harmonies rolling through the long
drawn aisle, and an angel from Heaven
in the pulpit, if there be no Christ in
the chancel, and no Christ in the robes.
| Bigotry is often the child of igno-
rance You seldom find man with
large intellect who is bigot. It's the
man who thinks he knows great deal,
|
bigot. The whole tendency of educa-
ton and civilization is to bring man
out of that kind of state of mind and
heart. There was in the far east a
obelisk, and one side of the obelisk was
white, another side of the obelisk
was green, another side of the
obelisk was blue, and travellers went
and looked at that obelisk but they
did not walk around it. One man
looked at one side, another at another
side and they came home each looking
at only one side; and they happened
to meet, the story says, and they got
into rank quarrel about the color of
that obelisk. One man said it was
white, another man said it was green,
another man said it was blue, and
when they were in the very heat of the
controversy, a more intelligent travel
er came, and said: Gentlemen, have
seen that obelisk and you are all right,
and you are all wrong. Why didn't
| you all walk around the obelisk?"
Look out for the man who sees only
one side of religious truth Look out
for the man who never walks around
about these great theories of God and
eternity and the dead. He will be a
bigot inevitably--the man who only
sees one side. There is no man more
to be pitied than he who has in head
| just one idea-no more, no less. More
light, less sectarianism. There is
nothing that will so soon kill bigotry
as sunshine-God's sunshine.
So have set before you what con-
slider to be the cause of bigotry. !
have set before you the origin of this
great evil. What are some of the bale
ful effects? First of all, it crippies in