The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1903-03-28

THOMAS
LECTURES
Delivers a Most Eloquent Dis.
course
Makes Some Broad and
Sweeping GeneralizatiOnS

DR. II. w. Thomas, of the Peoples
Church Of Chicago, lectured Friday
evening at Unity church to very fine
audience, there being ministers OF
other denominations present.
He was introduced by Rev f. A.
Powell Of the Unitarian church. Mrs.
Hinges led the singing. and. after
scripture reading and prayer. the lee
ture began.
DIR. Thomas was in his happiest
mood. was overlooking with infiu-
ences that make him one Of the great.
est Of American pulpit orators.
"And now abideth faith, hope. love.
And the greatest of these is love"
From this text he discussed some OF
the things which abide
He said the mind OF the educated
man was always thoughtfully serious.
To many minds the thought OF the
brevity Of life was painfully serious.
Living In the transient there was a
natural longing for the permanent.
The vision Of the Now as the Abiding.
the Eternal. was more satisfactory.
Men die. but Truth and institutions
live. Our lives we're part OF vast
universal purpose. a factor in a cease
less order Of change. an ever.becom.
ing process.
In the world OF mind and OF spirit
We found the only abiding things We
pass from the perfect to the imper.
feet Mind in Itself is an entity a
something permanent with It's own
laws and constitution.
The human family had always had
a faith, as the vast other half' of our
existence tells u.s. All humanity be.
lieved In higher life. a belief In God
We differed only IN our definitions
This belief in God was within us. and
the struggle OF all races for It's cor.
rect Interpretation was the one unan.
swerable argument for the existence
OF the divine. The highest spiritual
Interpretation came through Christ
lie referred to the teachings OF
Socrates through Plato. as the prepa-
ration for Christs coming, the Greek
philosophy which interpretated Chris
tanity for three hundred years Hence
came the impulse Of civilization "a
conserve the good and drop out evil.
The appreciation Of the good was
IN the constitution OF the mind as d.
vlnely created. The life OF divine
goodness. with faith In the eternal
truth was the manifest ideal Of the
age.
lie reviewed the newer criticism OF
the bible showing that portions were
now considered mythical, portions leg
endary and portions historically in.
sufficient when judged by the tests ap.
piled by dlscriminatlye criticism
He held that the Hebrews before
Christ had better sociology than was
In existence today As race they
had held onto the living God and right.
eousness held onto learning and
teaching. standing for an idea and a
principle.
In the fourth century there had
been adopted a doctrine Of the fall OF
man. Total dopravlty, endless pun
ishment and atonement. that were
never taught in the first three centur'
les OF Christianity and that was the
Orthodoxy OF today.
In the substantial features Of It's
Orthodoxy. so-called, the Protestant
and Catholic churches stood on exact
ly the same ground They differed on
some minor points only The Catho-
lic church was better IN one respect In
that IL held out the hope Of purgatory.
East OF the Rocky Mountains there
was no longer any teaching Of eternal
punishment The consequences OF
evil were being held up 10 the world,
more than the cry OF endless suffer
The appeal was not so much 10 fear
as 10 love and hope. that the mind
which was In Christ was 10 be In us.
In the centuries Of war that fol
lowed the reformation. theologians
lost faith In humanity and they sol
emnly declared. we will bind these
creeds upon the generations 10 come.
They had not faith enough 20 trust
the people In the future, no faith In
the powers Of human reason. So the
bondage OF the past was sent forward