The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-05-14

OF CHURCH
IS TW0FOLD
Institutions That Educate. Wis
dom Of Old Philosophers.
Address by Prof. Jabobs.

The annual meeting OF the New Church
| club OF Rhode Island was held last even
ing In the vestry OF the Church OF the
| New Jerusalem on Trinity square.
| Immediately after the supper. which
was served about $3.50. the president called
the meeting TO order. and the minutes
| of the last uSeting were read and ap-
proved. The executive committee report
| ed the admission OF one new member. and
| the names of officers and members Of
| the executive committee elected for the
ensuing year were announced by the
| secretary.
INSTITUTIONS THAT EDUCATE.
| This concluded the business portion Of
the meeting and the president then intro
duced az the first speaker Professor Wal
| ter Ballou Jacobs OF Brown university
who took as his subject. institutions
! That Educate" He said I'm part
| "Education is not something given TO
| a man TO carry like load OF riches, but
| II is a molding and making Of the man
himself. 1t is not something external. but
something internal. True education is. a
| good in itself. and not a good for some
| thing. Ruskin makes this very plain in
his Kings. Treasures
"All the institutions OF civilization have
| a part in this molding and forming. Such
| typical Institutions are the family, the
] school. society, the state. and while these
institutions exert great conscious in
| nuence, they exert an even greater un-
| conscious influence.
The school Is not the real world. but
| IL Is more nearly the real world than the
| home. Authority has taken the place
| OF love; justice rises 10 "A position beside
| benevolence. Competition and public
| opinion, the two scornerstones of our
| civilization. make themselves felt. Above
all, the school impresses upon the child
| the need OF preparation for the future,
and the value of what is to come.
Cecil Rhodes relied upon the uncon-
| scious influence of oxford 20 bring the
| English speaking world together.
The education given by society Is for
the most part unconscious. The man
| learns by his vocation 10 narrow his ef-
1 fort, and so improve his product In the
| constitution and actual workings of the
state, he learns the mode of life which
| avoids strife, while still giving him the
| greatest individual freedom. In social
| relations he learns TO avoid friction,
| through politeness and courtesy and the
thousand and one unwritten rules of
| everyday life. If he transgresses, public
| opinion holds him I'm check or buffets him.
INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH.
The influence of the church Is not con-
| fined 10 her teaching. The church edihce
| itself with its spre rising toward heaven,
is symbol. The reverence given 10 her
teaching influences more than the teach
ing itself. Few think out the theology
which dominates the community into
which they are born, but all are in
fuenced for better or worse to an tncal-
culable degree by the practical applica-
ton of that theology.
such is the field into which a con-
sciously directed education would enter.
Its office is two-fold--first. to act directly
in molding and enriching. and second. to-
render the child more susceptible to the
influence of the institutions that edu-
cate"
NEED OF DIVINE REVELATION.
The next speaker to be introduced was
Rev. James Reed of Boston, Mass, who
spoke upon THE Need OF Belief in Divine
Revelat tion." He said i'm part:
1T is a plain teaching of our church
that divine revelation is an absolute ne
cessity for men. Without IL they would
have no. knowledge of God, OF heaven
and hell, OF the life after death, and, still
less of the Lord our Saviour We do
not know these things by intuition. They
must be taught us from some source out
side of ourselves. In other words, they
must be revealed by Him who alone does
know them, that is. by God Himself. He
inscribes on the inmost tablets OF the
heart belief in Him and in the vital
truths OF religion: but this belief does
not there exist in the form of definite
knowledge; II is rather a predisposition
10 accept such knowledge when IL is COM
municated from without The Jewish
church could not have existed without
the law and the prophets. nor the Chris
tian church without the gospel
WISDOM OF OLD PHILOSOPHERS
The Lord has always provided that
there should be a church somewhere on
the earth. There were ancient. prehis-
toric churches before the time of Abra-
ham And to each church was given its
own distinctive revelation. We wonder
az the wisdom Of the old heathen phil
osophers, who declared their belief In God
and immortality, but that belief descended
to them from some preceding divine reve-
lation; n was not evolved from the depths
Of their own inner consciousness.
1T Is not only necessary that there
should be divine revelation, but man
must have faith In 10 as such. IL must
be to him as the voice of God Alas for
so-called Christians 20 whom the Scrip
lures do not speak with authority. The
fact that the Bible In recent times Is re-
garded with growing doubt and mistrust.
and that many OF its teachings are no
longer accepted as divine truth. betokens
a declining state OF the Christian church
and the need OF new revelation. SuOa
revela tion we believe that we have In the
wr tings OF Emanuel Swedenborg They
are not a new Bible nor do they I'm any
manner or degree supersede the old Bible;
but they give us a deeper Insight into the
Scriptures they bring 20 view Internal
or spiritual meanings within the sense
of the letter which were previously un-
known: and thus the word OF God is re-
stored 20 the world as the infallible
book OF life. the source OF wisdom 10
angels and men IL is for us 10 be faith
ful to this new revelation, to order our