The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-12-08

tinguishes man from an snima and a ma
chine that he IL on end IN himself His
aim IN life IL not 10 get somev here. bit
10 be something. His purpose Is not 10
get into Heaven but TO get Heaven into
him His mind can make a Heaven OF
He'll. a Hell OF Heaven
Furthermore the doctrines OF reward
and punishment appealed TO the basest
instincts In men Reward appeals 10 mans
selnshness Punishment arouses hts cow
ardice
Browning once said in reply 10 a letter
from lady asking him the meaning OF
poem he had written:
when I wrote that poem both God ard
myself knew what n meant. Now Goo
alone knows" How the appeals Of the
last century effected the results claimed
OF the realm OF character only God and
those regenersted In those times knew.
We may safely say that since the great
majority oy the regenerate OF those days
have fallen asleep. that now God alone
knows the Interpretation OF this miracle
The ideal OF life In the church has ceased
10 be Calvinlstic, legal and has become
Christian. living.
But an ideal has no validity unless IL
can be worked into practice. Your Ideal
OF life will be OF no service IL BY It's nature
YOU cant live A.. The idealist must be
an opportunist as truly as the opportunist
must be an idealist.
MAKE THE IDEAL GRIP MEN.
III the church has for its nrst purpose
the presentation OF an ideal II has In the
second place the necessity OF making that
IDEAL grip men. You may believe IN she
power OF electricity; but unless YOU can
demonstrate what electricity can DO YOU
Will 1nd difficulty in getting men 70 or
Rani,e into company and buy stock.
If the Christian church has an IDEAL then
20 convince men Of its validity they must
make the ice,. bear fruit. To do that IL
must he Interpreted In terms that are In
telligbIe that Is TO say. IL must he ex-
pressed In terms OF today ard IN such
terms OF today that the common people
will understand II. Furthermore, the ifeai
must be applied In a way that vii, meet
the needs OF this day and generation Jt
the church is 10 mean anything to men or
today n must meet the evils OF TO-DAY and
not those OF the 18th century You VIII
say that sin II always sin, thst the sell
fshness OF man today is Of the same ma
ture az the selnshness OF men In the time
OF Christ. True Yet just as goodness
manifests itself under new forms, from
century 20 century, evil has I'm this day
| it's peculiar and special characteristics.
The church must know these and if II IN
/ 10 be force In the social life that now
1 is II must nght these forms Of evil and
! help rescue men from them. But here Ia
| the rub. The church By it's nature Is the
most conservative OF institutions. The
| ideaIist here IL an extremist and the OPP
! portunist 10 in a minority. There 10 only
| one thing worse in many of our churches
| than new interpretations or old thought
and that Is the getting out OF old ruts
| into new lives OF action. II the church
| pursued a certain line OF policy 81 years
/ - -. 70. my mi t dc
| why we should pursue II today and for
ever.
We FORGET that New occasions make
new duties, time makes ancient good un-
| couth" We are blinded too often TO the
| fact that Just because the church meant
| one thing TO our fathers II ought TO mean
something different TO us. We shall never
! be able 10 define what the church ought
| TO be today until we state the evils or
today which the church must meet. II Is
| against these hard. stern realities that
our ideai must clash and lustify itseh ny
Its power 10 conquer.
EVIL. OF INDIVIDUAIIsM.
Tn. 4rst great evil OF modern society
I 4. indivldualism. When society threw on
the yoke of feudalsm and pspacy
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
st threw of the only bonds thet
held men together. From that time unul
the Wrench revolution individuslism ruled
in poetry. in philosophy end in the prao-
ticsl affairs OF life The French revo'u-
ton was II death knell Rut so tena-
cious was its spirit that " has lHsten
down until the present time despite the
EFFORTS made in the last century 20 over
come It, Says recent writer; The idea
that has vitality now IL rather thst OF
humanity as On organic whole that ioea
I l. -
ton and tina, his life has meaning
only in so far as ne shares In a larger
M. than his own" The effort OF hu-
msnity TO overcome individualism has
been shown IN many practical ways IL
4. witnessed. TOO. In the trust and labor
w,-ion. In the vast increase Of fraternal
orders. in the multiplying Of charitable
Institutions and In IN. growth ~ the
Christian church.
No. Rhode Island has no monopoly on
indy idualism. though we grant N has It's
share. II ha. been q disease and dis
temper OF the times. II the student Of
society calls II individualisn the pupil
may term n atheism In theory and sell
n.hnes. IN practice. A man to become
an atheist has only TO forget that there
is any one In the world except himself
and no has only 20 practice that creed
20 become the chief OF sinners. The
a race become materiaiistio when their
natural and material development exceed
and run ahead OF the moral and spiritual
life. Men today are slaves to machinery.
Is IL character that counts now or gold
Is n statesmanship or money that makes
our laws and through white-hsifed. silk
en- robed judges execute thsm7 Are they
executed In the interest OF the toilins
masses or the wealthy cisssesf Is our
aristocracy an aristocracy OF intellect
and manhood or ap aristocracv founded
on a bank accouuk
Does q man lose svcfni cast In our
cities because hs loses his character or
his wealth. Money will DO anything
| has PASSED into n proverb. This spirit
has intoxicated our youth. become the
motive of mature manhood and 'he sign
BY which grey hsirs shsll b~ deemed an
honor or disgrace. "vrsis philoso.
ph.." says Df. Gordon. and thsoor