The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-10-20

pN ucSus OF KINDNESS ana love tue iutai
can be realized. In other words, the
meaning and the necessity OF conduct.
j have been impressed I'm my study ana
ministry I'm New England with two facts.
That Unitarianism starts with the ny
pothesis, that can not be denied. that
OF the Sunday school IL 10 teach that'
In so far as the scholars follow this they
become men. We give the ideal too often
I'm the orthodox church. teach theories
about that ideal and II the scholars re-
main true 10 that teaching the most that
can be said Ia they are orthodox.
II they think for themselves they TOO
often lapse from their orthodoxy 10 be-
come infidels and agnostics. May the IN
finite Spiriteof Truth bapuze our Sunday
schools
SO much for the nrst OF these by paths.
The second that has led us far from
the truth concerns itself not with the
church. but the world II 1t has been
the function OF the church 10 look at life
from the point OF view of religion alone,
IL has been the world that has given its
attention 70 morality 1t has been obliged
20 do this by the very instinct OF self
preservation.
IMMORTALITY UNDERMINES.
II is not war or pestilence or famine
that undermines national life IL Is I'M
morality This has been emphasized TO
so universally proclaimed that the danger
TO religion today would seem 10 be not
a defeat at the hands OF sinners. but
complete pushing into the background or
religion at the hands or moral saints.
or what use Is your church and your wor-
ship and your God since many men live
stronger. more upright lives outside the
church and entirely apart from the teach
ings OF religion than many men who are
extremely devout?
To a large per cent Of men and women
this statement seems conclusive. There
are facts that go TO prove IL. This feeling
has penetrated the church and there are
few men OF intelligence who have not
PASSED through such phase OF doubt.
or course. there are some people who
never doubt anything because they never
think. The doubt here Is fundamental.
There is involved here one OF the most
fundamental questions in relation TO the
Christian religion. There have been vol
umes written upon the subject and most
OF them have been assigned back to the
limbo from whence they ought never TO
have emerged.
But within the last few years sound
philosophy and a sane ethics have taken
hold upon this question and thrown on IL
the light OF day. In the light OF the best
thought of the present / make bold TO
state this thesis which is not to be denied:
There is no true religion that is severed
from morality.
This also Is true Not that there is
no morality without religion, but there
is not nor could there be any morality
without the conditions that necessarily
and logically Lead to religion. l defy any
consistent materalistic theory OF the
universe TO furnish sufficient ana ade-
quate ground for moral conduct.
LIKE A DROWNING MAN.
The moral man who denies the existence
OF God Is like a drowning man being
pulled out of the sea by rope and deny
ing all the time that there Is any one
at the other end. Morality involves two
things. One. the one-hand moral truth.
1t must not only be moral truth, but IL
must be absolute truth. IL must be more
than social convenience; II must be
imbedded in the h~ ~rt OF the universe.
This is what we mean when we say that
ethics Is based on metaphysics. But there
Is more INVOLVED than truth. Morality
presupposes moral beings. But these be-
ings are not isolated. There is like
mindedness among men that binds them
together in unity. There Is a mutual
dependence.
These things grow out OF the nature OF
men who are not only members of
family and OF society. but are related to
a great world order. To find the unity
that explains this lke-mindedness this
mutual dependence, this source OF abb
solute truth, one Ia forced back step by
step by the Irresistible force OF logic TO
mind back Of IL all, that has and Is Great
ing all this.
IL is no longer a question In the minds
OF the intelligent clergy of today whether
modern Biblical scholarship in its inter-
probation OF the Bible is correct on the
traditional conception. That is settled.
The question is how shall these things
be taught in the church and Sunday
school so that we shall escape the peril OF
finding ourselves rs years hence without
either Sunday schools or faith In the
Bible.
PRACTICAL QUESTION.
The question is a practical one. The
question Is relation TO morality
and religion is not whether there
is a God to be worshlpped or a morality to
be obeyed. but whether we shall begin
In our education to work down from
religion to morality or to work up from
morality TO religion.
repeat. these cannot be separated.
They are the same thing viewed from
opposite points of view. But II Is neces-
sary that we place more emphasis In the
beginning on one than on the other. Is
IL more important TO teach the child its
duty 10 God than II is TO It's associates?
To endeavor 10 make IL see the large first
and the small after? or is II more i'm
portant TO help 1t see the large in the
small? In other words 10 teach first Its
duty to man and. to teach II In such a way
that out of this II will begin TO compre-
hend its duty TO God.
What are the facts? The child today Is
taught theories OF inspiration, doctrines
Of the Trinity and Atonement II is told
that II must believe these things or perish.
The truths IL could comprehend are two
often utterly ignored. Ii is the same
principle as teaching a child calculus
I'm the hope that some day after having
learned higher mathematics IL will know
the multiplication table.
The instruction that Is given To children
is we'll illustrated by remark made To
me few days ago by profess. In
Brown university. scholar In the
Sunday school asked her teacher, What
is Evolution?" She replied that IL was
the theory that men were descended from
apes. That woman is a teacher I'm one
OF the best women's colleges In
this country will quote
a definition from the Consregauonallst.
1t stands for the fact that there Is