The Saint Paul globe., 1899-04-03
SOUL OF FREE CHURCH
REV. s. G. SMITH SAYS 1T IS
THE SPIRIT OF BASIC
CHRISTIANITY
SOCIAL SIDE OF HUMANITY

Dcmuh0b Ahat the Dtscipieh OA 1esu"
Christ Band Together, and He
Holds That 1t Is Best Expressed
in the Unfettered Organixa-
- tiOn-~ of the st. Paul Peoples
Church.
why I Am Free Churchman." was
Rev. 8. &. Smiths subject last night at
the Peoples church In the last OF a series
of five discourses by leading opponents Of
various faiths on the reasons for their
sectarian affiliations. DIR. Smith said:
1.-The eminent clergymen who have
spoken from this platform on the Sunday
evenings of the past month have spoken
with all the freedom and frankness to
which they were invited.
'In my discussion tonight I shall, Of
necessity. refer to some positions which
have been assumed. but it will be done,
l trust. with that Christian courtesy
which the treatment of the subject de-
mands. 1t happens quite by accident
that this service Is held on Easter even
ing, but, perhaps, 1t is fitting after the
Lenten solemnity of denomina tionaE dis
cussion that We should rise out Of the
grave of mediaevalism into the glad res
direction of the Free church.
1.-THE brethren who have spoken were
each of them born In the communion to
which they now adhere. That is an ex-
cellent reason for belonging to a church;
it shows reverence for family, recogni-
tion for the blessings of Christian edu-
cation, and in the absence of any other
reason 1t is quite sufficient. These
brethren were born what they are, but
l am what L am by the grace of God
and by intelligent choice.
Let us examine the situation: There
are various divisions Of Christendom and
the adherents of each believe that there
Is important reason for the existence Of
their particular division. The substan-
tial life Of all churches is Christian they
have more In common than is contained
in the reason for their separation un-
fortunately the emphasis Is too often
laid upon that which is divisive rather
than upon the common heritage Of all
Christian people. There are saints in
every communion. Every communion, In
some degree, is endeavoring to reverence
the spirit Of Christ and to do His work.
nave no reason to say anything unkind
of any church, for ! recognize the good
in every one of them and believe that
in them all is to be found something Of
lIl0 SuurcH Oh CnTlSC ana SOmeInlng Oh
that church which is to be- More specifl-
cally, l do not think 1t has been recog-
nized so fully as it should be that each
one of them has some historical reason
for it's existence. The Roman Catholic
church was about the only staple thing
| in the civilized world after the break up
of the Roman empire, and each of the
great Protestant movements was some
thing more than the opinion or will of
1 fy,to t.
tence to answer certain spiritual wants
or social necessities of it's time. But
While there have been historical reasons
for the birth of these organizations they
also of necessity have certain limitations
which are equally historical. They have
on them the scars OF battle and the bur
den of provincial thought and tradition.
| Things which divide the churches are
chiefly three: Mode Of church organiza-
tfon, mode of theological thought, mode
of public worship. Every denomination
can probably be explained on one of
these three grounds, but not one Of them
Is essentially Christian ground Mode
OF organization represents the Roman
+ civilization; mode Of thought represents
the Greek civilization, and mode Of wor-
ship represents the Hebrew civilization.
There are none of them Christian To
clear our minds we must ask ourselves:
What was the essential object of the
ministry of Christ in this world? It
/ was to secure goodness in character and
brotherhood in life. All other things
are incidental and subordinate. Organ
| ization is politics, whether social or &C.
clesiastical; schools of thought are phi
losophy or science; modes Of worship are
/ questions of aesthetics, and in none Of
| these did Jesus deal. He came to Sc
cure goodness in character and brother
hood In life by the revelation of the good
oy,I e.
| sessed neither the temperament nor the
desire to write canons for church gov
eminent; he would have made but
sorry figure In any church council AS
Tor modes OF worship he taught that
neither in this mountain nor yet In Jeru-
salem. but simply In spirit and in truth
must God be worshipped. He taught
nelther by formal logic nor systematic
statement but by pictures parallels and
intuitional vision. He was neither an
ecclesiastfc, philosopher nor ritualist, The
same statements are substantially true
of all the apostles. Either Augustine. Or
Calvin. or Luther. or Edwards, knew
more theology than all the apostles put
together and let us be thankful that the
most of 1t was not true.
JESUS NO THEOLOGIAN.
'If we can apprehend the object of
Christianity we may also learn the char
acter Of the church. The church could
not be based upon organization If Jesus
founded 1t, for he was no ecclesiastic: it
could not be based upon theology, for He
was not a theologian. 1t could not be
based upon the prayer book for He was
not a ritualist. The church was founded
upon Jesus Christ himself. Its members
were His disciples, who sought to receive
His spirit and to do His work The
church is an association of those who
have found Christ and have found each
other. It's appeal IS to personal aspira-
ton and the social instinct The pres
ence of Christ as the life center of any
modern organization is the validity and
the only seal of-its churchly character
Jesus said: Where two or three are gath
cred togethr In my name there am / In
the midst of them Such a gathering
constitutes a church for Jesus Christ
CHURCH MUST EXIST.
81 am churchman Every oracle of
religion calls for a social manifestation
of our faith AS a man can neither be q
citizen nor business man nor scientist
nor an artist without recognition Of social
privilege and social duty, so every Chris
tian is called to the social obligation OF
union with those who are like minded
The church has manifold duties to per-
form in the world. 1t is to be the body
of Christ; that IS, 1t must possess or
ganic capacity to be filed with His spirit
I and to do His work. The life Of the
churches, as will be confessed by the
wisest and best, has never measured up
to the ideal Of the Gospel or to the need
of the world, but the church. such as 1t
has been, in spite of pagan survivals
and the cruelties of mistaken zeal has
yet been in these Christian centuries the
chief light bearer to the sons and daugh-