Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-03-10
CHRISTIAN AND CHURCH
Sunday Discourse By the Rev. Robert
Macdonald.
10 be>A, Bellevez In Christ is Not Different
From Beins a Believer In Man.

from DelnS beueVer IN man.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-"Christans outside
the Church" was the subject of the SER
mon Sunday morning by the Rev. Robert
nue. Baptist Church. 1t was the first of a
series of five sermons. The text was from
| John X: 49, "Other sheep | have which
are. not of this fold" Mr.. Macdonald
| SAID:
So important and many sided subject
4 as this must be looked at from more than
one view point. Numberless are the ques-
\ tions to be considered. Numbellcss the
opinions favorable and unfavorable, true
and faise to be confirmed in these SER
mons or rcpudiated, Numberless the peo-
pie interested in 40 practical and personal
a question, SOME OF whom love the church
better than life; others of whom hate the
ehurcn more than any other institution
III existence; some who trace their loftiest
separations, their deepest motives, their
hottest desires back to her as a fond moth
sr, who lives to nourish her children with
her own rich life; othsrs who have never
received the least benefit therefrom, OF
which they are conscious and boldly AS
sert that little benefit to humanity ever
emerged from her portals. Some 90 so far
as so make the church synonymous with
h1lst's EIhgdop, and maintain that to
be a member of the one is to be member
OF the otber, and consequently yed to her
= fanat'2p reverence Others swing clear
TO the other extreme and consider the
church nothing better than the product
OF lenous rivalry for pre.emnence over
qfher Institutions Of earth, else the OK
pressinr in wood and stone of overwrought
sensihllaes. Therefore, the monument of
\ mrost irrational superstition. While. an
inTnmcra6e many identity themselves
vhtt the church because they believe it to
be beneticent institution ordained OF
God, without which the world would be
morally and spiritually impoverished. aud
Through which the spirit is working for
the redemption Of humanity in which di
Wne strength can be had for the lis OF
life.
| desire that our starting point in these
discussions should be in favor of religious
toleration As love is the centre of the
Christian system, so must it be the motive
IN every church claiming to be a Christian
chruch. As Christ our Master was torr-
ant of and charitable toward those who
were not numbered among the Twelve
disciples. and forty apostles, so must we
as HIS followers be tolerant i'll thought.
word. act, to those not Of our number, and
outside our communion. There is greater
need OF liberation to-day than at any pre-
Mous period of the words history. The
church of to day is more advanced than
the church OF yesterday. Its intelligence
Ia greater; Its light clearer; its affinity
with the Holy Spirit more personal; its
hold upon the cross Of Christ, that power
of redemptive love, sacrificing Itself even
unto death, stronger The church Of the
twentieth century ought to be. and shame
upon us II 1t Is not, more spiritual than
the church of the thirteenth century, or
even than the church Of the nineteenth
century.
But not only in view OF our superior
spiritual enlightenment, also in view OF
our peculiarly complex state of living
should We be tolerant II is the age OF
differentiation and OF classification. Every
significant fact OF lre has been forced to
submit to division and subdivision to an
amazing extent Look, for instance, at
education. Trace it through the modern
university curriculum. Contrast it with |
the most comprehensive collegiate lnst,tu- |
tion of a century ago. You are over.
whelm@t with the multindnous depart |
ments, and subdepartments and branches |
OF instruction, and professional chairs, All !
these necessary, You say. to educate the |
youth. To Adequately impart knowledge, |
to meet the ever increasing intellectual de. |
pand? 1es. The renaissance that called |
Europe from its dark ages OF intellectual |
slumber has not yet spent its force. Meas |
ure the term medicine, or surgery with the |
imposing stature of the general practi- |
toner OF twenty years ago. The stature
is no longer imposing. The specialist of
single bodily function is more imposing
now. And for the human body the work
of the one has been divided into the skill |
OF the hundreds and each unit in the vast
aggregate is more authoritative than the
one, The term philosophy no longer rec
ognizes the old vague divisions of mora
aud intellectual. Each division has been
differentiated, and each differentiation sug-
gests to the mind content and comprehen-
slveness>, richer and more compact than
the original classification from which it
sprang: Metaphysics, thesm, idealsm.
empricism, economics, sociology, psychol
ogy, biology, and many more are the terms
now familiar to our thought. And how
vast the field of consciousness covered by
any one of these significant terms. Eco
nomics, very modern term for instance
postulates for us; the land question; the
tenement house problem, the theory Of
ist,c and communistc relation.
he same in Jurisprudence, in commerce
and trade, in everything OF worth The
difference between the big department
store and the little trader illustrates the
idea. Yet how surprised we are that we
should have wandered reigious}y far
aheld from the primitive apostolic church.
with our highly differentiated credal and
ritual expressions, our numerous ecclesias-
tlcal orders, our multiplicity of organi
cation. Bless you, it only shows We are
alive and growing and anxious to apply
the gospel of Jesus to all sorts and condi-
tons of men. The worldly minded claim
that denominati tionalism is distracting and
sigh for Christian unity that will swal-
low mp all religious divisions. But, believe
me, denominationalism makes more for
the glory of Christianity than for its
shame. The only shame about it all is
that denominatonalism at times nurtnres
q spirit of Phariseeism that sees no God
in any other division of the Christian fold
than its own. 1t has been only a few
years since the medical students of Har-
yard fellowshipped the aspirant for veter
mary honors. The term ''horse Doctor
was the, term of salutation. The veterin- /
ary student, as the student of dentistry
was occupied with such inferior subject
matter. Yes, but necessary subject mat
Jer. So of the ANGLICAN churches and the
of England. The one is ,
poor stuff to the other, tolerated only at
the point Of taxation to support their
schools. Similar intolerance was felt to- ,
word the great Booth movement in Amer
ca by all the churches, because that move I
nent ignored their cut and dried eccles- /
astical methods and brought into requi-
'ition the public square and the secular I
lall if by any means they might save some /
;he churches could not reach. The same
Intolerance is now characterizing us to- :
ward that growing so called, Christian :
Science movement. When will we see the !
powers for good" that are ordained of :
God? When will we believe that any move :
nent, however erroneous in nineteen ,,
points of test, if adapted in its twentieth !
,oint unto the blessing of men, is worthy 7
VI our tolerance, even our sympathetic re- r
,ard.
Even religious bodies quarrel among {
themselves in defining orthodoxy, and de. a
respectabity, instead of v