The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-03-16
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
SUBJECT: :"WhAT ARE THE PERMA
NENT ELEMENTS OF RELICloN2"


An Eloquent and Forceful Discourse by
The Rev. John NJ. Davidson-Man's In
1erest il the Incarnation-A Striking
Thought About the "Divinity of Man.
BRooKIYN, N. Yin the Fourth Uni
tartan Church. Flatbush. Sunday morning,
the pastor, the Rev. John NJ. Davidson,
preached on What Are the Permanent
Elements of Religion" He said: =,
In this period of questioning, when ola
structures of religious faith are being torn
down and new ones are taking their places,
when what seems the very foundation OF
faith is being removed here and there 70
make way for new material, II is WeiI
worth our while to ask the question that
is consequent upon such condition, What
elements of our religious faith are perma-
nent and are likely to resist the tendency
to change? 1t is question that Is agltat-
ING more people than ever before In MS
tory. We have been told that there Is a
growing indifference to religion, that men
are abandoning the churches, that pagan
ism has re-absorbed large sections OF the
country. even Puritan New England snar'
ing in the general dissolution.
No one can deny that the influence OF
the church is not as great as 1t was when
almost the only educated men were MIN
listers. We who occupy the pulPlts TO-
day frankly recognize the TACT that tne
occupants Of the pews are not only our
equals in intellect, but are capaple OF CIV
ing us instruction in many departments OF
thought wherein the minister OF old time
was held to be supreme. The minister OF
TODAY must recognize his relatively
changed condition. He addresses MINDS
at least as well informed and as bright as
his own-and on many subjects more 80.
And he is woefully mistaken and unalert
if he does not welcome the change as an
advantage to himself and his work rather
than a detriment. Nevertheless, Tor the
time being, this condition tends to Drlng
down the church attendance hgures an1
to lessen the church's influence. 1t Will
continue to do so until the church hnds
men who are leaders lit not IN intellect
in the effort for social amelioration: They
must he SPECIALISTS and authorities IN
their field. as the physicians and lawyers
are in medicine and Jurisprudence.
That the temporary falling. of IN the IN
fuence of the church as an institution ar
cues for an indifference to religion DC
not believe. The church has not yet
learned it's work 1t is still delving IN
theo;ogies and philosophers, when men
are no more interested III the one than
the other. Both theology and philosophy
are vital matters, but the old manner oi
discussing these subjects cannot now inter
est men who are touched by the splT1'
of the scientific age. Until science ana 'tne
whole new method OF thought that 1oi
lows upon recent scientific discovery, nave
entered into and vivifed- theology and phil
osopby. they will cease to interest or In
huence man. They have no point OF CON
tact with his interests. But men are In
terested in religion. This very question
ing and unrest proves it. Even the return
to papanism, as it has been called, that
trend, particularly noticeable in rural Ne"
England. away from the formIhsm Oh the
church and back to nature, it not Sc
alarming as appears at first glance. We
are learning to see that, although for cen
turies we have called certain peoples pa
gans," thinking to give them bad name
and 80 to avoid more tedious investigator
into the character of these same Pagans,
we have much. to learn about rellglon, ano
we may not seldom sit with profit at the
feet of many a pagan prophet Men are
asking whether, after all, a comparatively
small sect is right and all the rest wrong
or whether there is not bit of truth in
them all. They go further. They ask
now whether that truth may not make all
peoples free; they are wondering whether.
after all, salvation is to be found with one
and universal destruction with the other,
whether the Creator of all nations ls like
" to make one of them His favorlte, to
give that one true and final revelation
and to withhold it from all others. Men
are going even further than this IN their
questioning. They are putting the. Tellg'
ions side by side for comparison. Ihey
are inquiring whether or not the truth
that is in one may not be found occasion
ally in another, and they are hndIng
through this comparative study OF Tehg,
ions that, at bottom, all are alike. Great
areas of parallel beliefs and aspirations are
found making the claim of exclusive reve'
lation ridiculous. In fact, when 1T is
found that every single form of religion
on the face of the earth lays claim to an
exclusive revelation of some sort, and we
find that the term "heretic" is merely an
expression # one mans, or group OF men 6,
point of view, we begin to open our eyes
to the fact that our own past claims IN the
matter may not carry so much weight as
we had thought.
The discoveries that we have made dur:
ING the last century about the habit OF
life and the character of thought of the
other half of the world, the scientific meth
ods of investigation into the subject OF re-
ligion, it origin, rise and-ottenTlts de-
cay, into religious literatures, and among
them our own Bible, are broadening IN
view, even while, and perhaps because,
they disturb our complacency:. Religion 's
given a new interest. we find that we
Christians are not the only members OF
Gods family, and that there are others
who care for Him as much as we do end
whom He loves as greatly as He loves US.
l say that this is the tendency OF men
minds to-day. Hardly do the most OF us
admit the changed point of view as an
accomplished fact, even to ourselves, and
in many localities the old exclusiveness is
as imnenetrable as ever it was in the dark
ages. Universally, where religious eXclu,
siveness is found it is accompanied, bred
and safeguarded by some form OF claims to
final revelation or final authority for truth
some artificial guarantee that the doc
trine preached in that church in the be,
ginning is now and ever shall be preached
without change, world without end. That
such claim is manifestly impossible to sub
stantiate has never deferred the church
from making it. 1t is one recognition
though a weak one-that absolute truth
is Interchangeable, and every religion and
every church that claims to have final
and true revelation must, of course, claim
to possess knowledge of that absolute
which Spencer calls 'unknowable;"', Not
one such body could step forth boldly and
lay hold on the great affirmation of to-day.
that the faith of to-day is but the stepping
stone to the faith of tomorrow: that rev.
elation is not sealed; that truth is iv-
ing thing, growing as we grow; that man a.,
kind is saved through perpetual evolu-
tion from lower to higher, or, in other
words, by fulfilling one meted destiny OF
becoming perfect as the Father in Heaven
is perfect. Our business to-day is frankly
to admit that the final revelation is ye:
far of and that we have by no means
found the 'absolute'' truth. The kn- wi
edge of to-day is but little section Of that