North Park union., 1902-02-14
hard for the church in Waldsn

Ia, ~ a
hard for the ehurch in Walden Z
succeed. Z ssi
j Doctor. whom did you ever see any
| thing supernatural in christianity
The editor of this paper has lives
more than half century, and ha
always been on the look out for sup
ernatural things In religion, but nev
er has seea any, nor anything tha
rcsemhled miracle And We vii
say farther that. We never have seen
heard or read of any religion greater
stronger, deepsr or grAnder thar
common humanity, and we never OK
psct to.
Tho elder again says:
"If ministers and people of intel
ligcnce and responsibility, in your
community, are to b, held up TO ridi'
because they believe in Miracles and
the Inspiration of the Scriptures, it
win be very hard for the church in
Walden 70 suocsed."
Six years elapsed Elder, before
the UNION criticized the church ct
Walden, and what has the church
been doing all that time? And> all
that time not . voieo raised against
1t from any source that We know of,
and besides the UNION never has held
and never intends to hold any minis
ter or any person of intelligence and
respectability in our community up
to "ri1licule" because OF their belief.
The UNloN has not made it hard for
the church at Walden to succeed.
We have put nothing in their way to
interfere with the conversion Of sim
ners. And right here Elder, the UN-
ION editor will say, If there il . man,
woman or child, over IA years OF age
in North Park who believes in the
inspiration Of the pible and the work
ing Of miracles, and also in the forms
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, it
is their duty to become member at
once and they are moral towards il
they do not. Gould you put it any
stronger than thatp
But for those who do not believe
that four men and four women could
feed all the animals that must have
been in the ark, that aoated for more
than a year over the most tempestu-
Gus sea, and all shut in by the Lord,
and look out also for the sanitary coz
d,tion of the ark and its vast number
of inhabitants, which, when it at
last rested "upon the mountains Of
Ararat'' were turned loose to 60
each his own way, we must have q
different belief. There must have
been lions. tigers, leopards, immense
wolves, panthers and other carnivor
Gus beasts; was there anything to
prevent them from making meal
Of the sheep, the gazelle, the timid
deer and antelope, and thus destroy
the species? That is a fearful hard
story for an intelligent man to be-
lieve, but suppose We will have to
endorse it, or be counted out Of the
scholarship Of the world. The story
Of Johah and the big fish is another;
but We will have to believe it, or be
censured for ridiculing he'good peo-
pie Of Walden.
Elder, you know that when q man
is dead his fate is sealed, and no
difference how decent a christian bur
ial the minister may give him, he
can't alter his chance for heaven at
all. It would not seem important
to maintain minister at Walden to
look after the burying OF the dead.
Let US haye, fit is possible, some
live preaching to make people better
for this life-and not 30 much talk
about the life which is to come, about
which we know so little. That will
take caro- of itself, Let the little
struggling church at Walden units
all forms of religious belief into one
great effort to kill out sin, and make
men better, regardless Of whether
their orthodoxy comes up to the pre-
scribed standard as fixed by the
Methodist Episcopal church, or not st
to what people shall believe. Let
US get the spirit Of Christ, and do
away With the form only. What say
yeu Elder2 What say you brothe,
Spence? But il what people shall
believe As dictated by the great coun
cils of the church, ls more import
.nA <h.n rood 1;v;rn IN <h;s life