The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-04-08

God! When will we believe that any move
ment, however erroneous in nineteen
points of test, if adapted in its twentieth
point unto the blessing OF men, is worthy
of our tolerance, even our sympathetic re-
gard.
Even religious bodies quarrel among
themselves in defining orthodoxy, and de-
nominational respectability, instead OF
praying together for the salvation of the
world No wonder Christians outside the
church pass bv on the other side of the
road when Christians inside the church
forget the purpose of their existence. The
thumbscrew, rack, fagot and stake are
looked back upon as relics of barbare
age, but their spirit still lives Every one
of the leading denominations have within
ten years either prosecuted, else made 1t
very unpleasant for some intrepid thinker
who saw more clearly and spoke more
fearlessly than the rank and file. The
Methodist Church in our leading New Eng
land city is to-day exalting the spirit of
the Pharisees instead of the spirit of the
Wesleys in trying to excommunlcate its
leading scholar, just as Presbyterianism a
few years ago In prosecuting ITS chief
scholar went back dangerously near the
standard Of $50 years ago, raised by its
illustrous ancestor, John Calvin, who in
1853 burned Servetus at the stake in Cen
eva for doubling the equality of the per
sons of "the Trinity" and the validity of
infant baptism. Christ dealt more loving
ly with heretics. To Thomas He unveiled
His side and loved him into the necessary
belief Phariseeism, on the other hand,
crucifed Christ and stoned Stephen to
death. Loving as brethren those within
the church, tolerant as Christians toward
those without is the ideal that should rule.
How refreshing to reflect upon such a
passage of Scripture as that which stands
at the head of this sermon. 1t is q plea
for religious liberation and sets before us
a standard of religious liberty it would be
we'll to live up to. We are so inclined to
become narrowed in our views of truth;
we are so prone to live under the shelter
of some creed that the vistas OF truth
stretching ahead of us everywhere become
narrowed and hidden, and before we are
aware of it the peculiar dogma we cherish
or the certain fact we advocate is rfiagni-
fled into identification with the truth it
self. There is at least danger here. Thus,
how needful to be often carried out into
the broad field the Gospel opens up. Look
at the scene revealed here. Jesus is hav'
ing another of His oft-recurring talks with
the Pharisees; but, as of old, they do not
understand Him. He is q fanatic, or at
best, stubborn partisan, who, while pro-
Tossing to lead them into larger freedom,
seems only to break up their honored in
stitutions. So this peculiar saying falls
from His lips. AS He speaks how precious
the outlook. There He leads His follow
ers through the old loved fields, out under
the blue sky, their life and His identified,
bound together by a common fidelity OF
truth. But even this freedom seems mar
row in view of what is yet to come These
are My sheep, He says, and for them l lay
down NV life; but also other sheep have
which are not of this fold, and as we con-
template the words, the range of our Wis
ion is extended, the fields through which
they pass widen, the visible horizon that
hemmed US in lifts, the blue dome OF the
heavens expands until we see all truth
| loving souls everywhere, known by many
different name, coming in as the sheep
| fold opens to receive them. And we turn
our steps homeward, resolving in future to
be more tolerant for the Masters sake.
A few weeks ago an attendant upon our
church, a lover of truth, a believer In
Christ, but who had never made an open
profession of religion, asked me what |
thought constituted a Christian, and If
did not think it meant to be church
mesaber, and Baptist Church member. It
was that earnest question that called forth
these sermons. What constitutes Chris
tan? No progress can be made in our dis
cussion until we settle that question. Is 1T
to be communicate of any church! Is 1t
to subscribe to any creed? A hundred
times not All trustworthy sources make it
to be believer in Christ. What do
you mean by belief in Christ? Well, what
do you mean when you tell person you
believe In him, that you believe he is a
good citizen, faithful husband, a loving
father? You may believe in him as all
that, yet not be willing to trust him with
dollar out OF your sight, or open your
home to him as friend. You honor him
not most unless willing to trust him with
money uncounted, your, good pane, the
very secrets of your heart. A belief that
does not express itself in confidence does
not count for much. All else is cold, i'm
personal opinion. You must not offer
Christ less than you would your friend. A
belief in the historic Christ only never
saved SOM, any more than belief in
Caesar or Luther or Washington, even
though you believe Him as more than a
teacher sent from God, more than pro-
Just as friendship is more than an intellec-
tual opinion, even a possession of the life:
Just as love, the divine essential in all
true living, without much society, is
self-centred, Northumberland conglom-
Grafton, and the home den,. denying its
own existence is virtue of the heart in
stead Of secretion of the brain; SO rehg-
ion has It's abiding place in the heart, else
nowhere in the life at all.
To be believer in Christ then is no
different than to be believer in man.
Tell him whom you profess to call your
friend you believe in him. When you will
not confide in him, when in perplexity you
seek another's counsel, and in sorrow an
others sympathy, and you have insulted
faith, and friendship has become in your
hand an empty name. If you believe in
man trust him as all men demand You
should. You say you love? Show 1t by
loving and manifestng the self-denial love
demands, else your profession is sound
ing brass, an empty name, dastardly af-
| fair