The record-union., 1899-10-25

! lI1IS-II6 LHOQSul llldl we OuSC NOAA
ceived of as being settled beyond per-
adventure-that there are those VINO
are wandering in gloom and doubt, and
some who feel as though, almost, the
very foundations themselves had been
removed; and with tears running down
their faces, they say: They have taken
away my Lord, and I know not where
, they have laid Him"
Now, I am one who believes that this
is a broadly religious age; and where
the religion is not expressing itself
| and it certainly is not, for the most
part. under the old forms-it is seeking
new forms. We have widened our def
inition of religion. 1t is not exclusive,
as it used to be. We used to have an
idea that religion touched the world
just at one point as a sphere might
touch a sphere; but we are beginning to
see now that religion is the impulse
of all life and of all existence, and
that there is nothing that is irreligious,
and nothing that could be irreligious.
| in the universe.
Do you wonder, if our old friend Paul
We're here tonight if he would feel
that he could still say what he said in
that matchless hymn of love some
eighteen centuries ago: And now re-
maineth faith, hope, love-"
Faith-there are those who tell US
faith is dead Hope-there are those
who discern signs of decay and degen-
eracy on every hand. They speak OF
the cries and clamorous strife, and the
seeming distraction Of the worlds brain
and the worlds heart I believe there
never was so much faith: that there
never was so much hope; that there
never was SO much love in the world,
as on this Sunday night on which we
are gathered in this temple. I believe
there is more rational faith in God,
and faith in man, and laith in men,
than the world ever knew before. And
when 1 use the term faith" l mean
three things I mean faith in God, and
faith in man, and faith in everything
that is not man, and if there be any
thing that is not God. then faith in
| that also.
And what do I mean by faith in God?
I mean this: If you speak of a man who
has been accused of dishonesty, and
say, II believe in him." you mean that
you think he is an honest man. If you
speak of one who has been accused of
some other dereliction and say, Il be-
lieve in this man." you mean that you
| think he is not guilty Of the charge
against him. If, without any qualif1ca-
ton, or any previous conditions, you
say, "I believe in that man." you mean,
Il think that man is what that man
ought to be-" Well, that is the kind
of faith in God that amounts to some
thing.
We have had too much faith in a god
that is not a god We have had too
much worship Of a god that is only
worthy to be regarded at all because
of the hardness Of our hearts; and we
need to come to the place where we
will be so jealous Of our God that we
will believe that God is what God ought
to be; that he is as good as the best
and as great as our greatest thought, and
beyond our greatest thought And III
that kind of a god there is more faith
to-day than the world ever knew; and
some of the seeming revolt against re-
! ligious form, and some of that which
to-day even passes for irreligion, is
simply in it's essence-a magnificent
expression of faith in real god and
only unfaith in that which was an I'M
itation of a god that was what God
ought to be.
We have come in our time, for the
first time, to have faith in man. I
mean man, now. as a unit-man as a
race. Your fathers and mine did not
believe in man. I do not criticise them
for that. They never heard Of man. /
do not mean that there was not a
philosopher here and there who did
not have some conception Of the hu-
man race as race-of the fact that
we were interviewer so that we were
members one of another, and that If
one member suffered. all the members
would suffer. and that if one would re-
ceive advantage, all would receive ad-
| vantage. There have been some great
souls that have always lived in the in
finite space. and in Gods great future
and eternity; there have been some
who have always seen this, but not
the ordinary people But the time is
coming and is already here when, for
the first time. the human race believes
in itself.
The expressions about the unity of
the race, about the solidarity of the
race, are the coinage of our generate
we might say of the decade in which
we are now living-thiS whole concep-
tion that man, the race. is not like the
scattered grains of sand upon the sea-
shore, nor even like some great build
ing planned by a. wise architect and
erected by a master builder; but the
race is one, a living organism-that, as
the great prophet says: Humanity is q
man. that lives and learns; that men
live and die, but they only live so far
as they promote the good of humanity.
This is a .aith of our own time, and
no other-faith in man. This has been
a kind of canon-faith in man-until
we have come to that. place where, if
we have a right-minded conception of
our opportunity and Of our privilege,
and of what we are. and of what our
brothers are. there is no man so low
but that We recognize in him the in
finite possibilities that are in US, or
in the highest of the race. And there
never was a time when individuals were
SO laying their great. warm, loving
hearts upon the hearts of other in
dividuals stirring them into a great life
and holy hope, not only for a time.
but for the ages of the ages; and a faith
in all things. Do YOU know I covet
that more than anything else-to be
able to say-really to say: Il believe
all things, all things" Tt is easy to
believe some things; it is easy to be-
leye the things that seem pleasant
and good. and that minister 10 our
taste and that are refreshing and com
forting; but really to believe all thingsi
| shall not try to predict what the