The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-05

Dr. Alexander Kent pastor of the Peo-
pies Church, took for his theme yesterday
morning Religion and Secularism." He
said, in the course of his sermon, that the
final test of religion must be found in its
relation to life Life, in the large sense
Of the word, is the end for which all else
exists. 1t is the Towering OF the material
universe; that in which the universe has
its only possible explanation.
DR.. Kent continued, saying: II We
strive to imagine for moment the utter
absence of all life on its sensate and con-
scious forms, we shall find it impossible
to conceive of any end which this infinite
system, or any part of It, could serve. We
cannot think of an end or use except as
related 10 conscious being. There must be
faculties of perception and sensation to
which things visible address themselves. or
they can have no possible meaning. If 1t
be said that God made the world for His
own glory and pleasure, we are thinking OF
Him as a conscious being, to whose facul-
ties the universe addresses itself. to whose
enjoyment and satisfaction it ministers,
and in whose satisfaction and enjoyment it
find its reason for being.
There is no possible escape from the
conclusion that life is the end which the
whole machinery of this visible universe
is serving, and that its highest end is to
be found in the highest form of life it is
capable of producing, or to which it min
listers. 1t is not meant, of course, that
the visible alone is capable of producing
any form OF life. The visible does not eX-
ist alone. 1t cannot exist alone, any more
thar our mortal bodies can exist without
the animating spirit the invisible vitaliz-
ing power. The infinite, invisible is that
in which the visible has its being, and by
which all its phenomena are determined.
But all that is phenomenal has its only ex-
PLANTATION in those forms Of life TO which
it ministers, and in those conscious expe-
riences by which living beings come into
vital sympathy and fellowship with the in
visible life-giving power.
Therefore, l say DR.. Kent continued,
that the first test of religion must be
found in its relation to that life which
puts man at one with himself, brings him
into harmony with those laws that condi-
ton his happiness and gives him a sense
of communion and fellowship with the
life of the universe. No one will question
that Jesus made this claim for the reli-
gion He came to teach. He sets it forth
clearly when He says: Il am come that
they might have life, and have it more
abundantly. Not only so, it is the warp
of the whole web of His teaching, that
which holds the woof, or filling, of it to-
gether. And | make bold to say that it is
the highest and worthiest end which any
religion or science or philosophy can pro-
pose. For life in this large sense is the
function of being. 1t is at once the bless
edness of joyous activity, delightful har-
mony, and invigorating repose. The aim |
of true religion. then, is life-life in the |
individual and life in society 1t does not |
propose TO content itself with saving men. !
1t proposes to save mankind II has a care I
not only for the atoms but for the mass. /
Its band of individual disciples is TO grow /
into the organized and all-conquering |
Kingdom of God. 1t aims at something /
more than the rescue of chosen few from |
a social order left in sin; it aims at the /
of the social organism It's /
ultimate end for this world. as elsewhere,
is the reign of righteousness-not the |
of love. the righteousness of
God. The life. therefore, at which it aims |
is the life of the highest. Its injunction
to every human soul is BE ye therefore
perfect. even as your Father in heaven is
perfect. 1t tells us that this life of Cod
the life of the uniyerse-is a continuous
nothing which He has made is so small as
to escape His proyidential care and pur-
pose: that He is kind even unto the un-
thankful and the evil; that not a sparrow
falleth to the ground without His notion
and that we are of more value in His sight
than many sparrows.
In the thought of such religion Infinite
powers and infinite wisdom mean infinite
love and infinite service-infnfte unselish
he 70 IT. |
devotion and service to the lowliest God
rules this universe not for what praise and
glory he can get out of it, but for what
Of himself. his own Righteousness, his own
peace. his own joy he can put into it,
This is the Christ thought of the highest.
and we are to be perfect even as he is per-
feet. The Christ religion, therefore. is first
a theory of life. 1t proclaims the laws of
life, sets forth the conditions under which
life may be realized. 1t presents these as
having their root in the infinite goodness,
and standing in necessary and eternal re-
lations to the welfare of those on whom
duty bears, and thus offers motives to tho
conduct and character it enjoins, superior
10 those offered by any other system. Its
thought OF love as the root of law and the
source OF pain is the great reconciling
power of religion. Its thought of life as
he normal activity of the man in coop
aration with God-the glad experience of
he child going about the business of the
ather-is full of the highest encourage
nent and highest inspiration. So far as
men come under the influence of this
heory of life a spirit of sonship and
animates and controls them,
md this spirit is the very soul of the
loblest human life
But true religion must be more than a
heory of life, and Jesus not only preached
md practiced. He embodied and illus
rated the truth he taught. Life in It's
anger sense was realized in him. In him
vas life, and the life was re-eminently
the light OF meI..'
I'VE may, therefore. define the Christ re-
igion as that theory and practice of right
living set forth in the teaching and life OF
Jesus as recorded in the Gospel"