The Penn's Grove record., 1905-05-19
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. E. E: NEWBERT.
Subject: Reality in Religioo.

lighted a large congregation last Sun
day with an eloquent sermon, entitled
Reality In Religion" He took for
his text: "The hour cometh, when
neither in this mountain, nor yet in
Jerusalem, shall We worship the Father.
The hour cometh, and now is, when the
true worshipers shall worship the
Father in spirit and truth" John iv.,
81, %.
These are great words. 1 do not
come, however, to interpret them. /
quote the text because Of the spirit it
breathes. | quote it al a protest
against the Limitation of worship, as an
answer to the creeds Of Christendom.
l quote it because 1t denies formal re-
llgion, and places emphasis on truth
and life. 1t does us good to come upon
a thought like this, maybe half for
gotten. And to find it, after having
been made to believe in the little words
of a sectarian faith, is like coming out
of the fog of the lowlanG to the hills,
to find the sky clear and the sun shin
ing. Or it is like following q foul
stream to find its source in a mountain
spring. Indeed, it is refreshing to
throw off our load of belief and fear
and doubt, and think for an hour of
life as it is. 1t is inspiring to think of
religion as without bounds or name or
division, just a splendid ideal of life
and a daring thought of the eternities.
In passing, l think of q great picture
n its poor copy. l turn from the
copy, badly done, to the original. Its
setting is the quaint life and quiet
scenes of Galilee. At once we think
of the night prayer in the hills and the
teaching on the mount, the central
figure that of a man who speaks to the
people of the realities of life. But we
must not linger with the picture. 1t is
enough to catch its spirit. Life is
swift, and its course is onward. Re
ligion is a present reality. 1t is every
where abroad in the life of the modern
world. In worship? Yes. In good
living? Yes. Hunt for religion in the
beliefs of men, and you lose it. Bind it
and Bound it, and you have only husks.
Live 1t, and you know it for what it is.
Go where life goes, go where the great
worlds work is done, and you will find
real religion. Is the church its audible
voice? Then it should bear the live
coal upon its affairs. 1t should be in
love with truth and in touch with life.
1t should be modern, with a message
to modern man. 1t should lead, COM
mand, advance. It should worship the
living God, not learn ritual or humble
over relics in the sepulchre of the dead.
So long poorly taught, we can hardly
think Of religion apart from the church,
its rites and dogmas. Baptism, for in
stance, awaits US at the outer gate.
Shall it be the condition of our passing
through? Does the kingdom of God
wait for baptism? Is the rite a vital
part of religion? Men have been bap-
tized; but what of humanity? What of
the round world? Are the unbaptized
outside the gate? Baptism? Oh, go
out some summer morning, and stand
uncovered in the fields. Wait reverent-
~ for the sunrise. Be tenderly affec-
toned toward the world. Be thankful
for life and not afraid of death. Let
nature be to you a sanctuary, the world
a holy place, Invite the dew of the
morning to wet your head; and in that
hour of stiffness, reverence and joy, you
will receive a baptism, the end of all
novitiate and probation.
Or what of the ordination of a min
lister of religion? Does the candidate
stand in the apostolic line? Has he
had the hands Of a bishop on his head?
Has he been consecrated by a rite
which separates him from his fellows?
Is his Office holy? Are such questions
of grave Importance? Or do they con-
Germ anybody in this busy world but
the ec~clesiastic? Indeed, what is a
minister of religion more than a man?
Or what can ceremony add to a man?
Not by any miracle can a priest be
made a man if he be not first a man.
Fools and knaves have been ordained
to the priesthood, but neither bishops
hands nor the most sacred rite can
make a fool learn wisdom, or teach a
clown to be serious, or put an honest
soul into a knave.
And then there are the apostolic peo-
pie. These form an exclusive set in
the kingdom of God, a sort of chosen
people. They have gone through the
gate, and have shut the gate behind
them. Nothing of ceremonial or belief
has been left undone. They have taken
out insurance for eternity. But what
of humanity? What Of the round
world? Where stand the majority of
men and women? In the Winnowing of
souls, why so few grains Of wheat? AS
l try to answer, even in part, l think
of those who are doing the worlds
work. l think of the men and women
who are fighting the worlds battles
and winning its victories. l think of
the shoulders beneath the ponderous
wheel of progress, now rolling on, now
down to the hub in the mire. I think
of those who are lending a hand in the
gigantic world struggle for the suprem-
acy of righteousness. l think of those
in the vanguard who light watch-fres
on the hills, who are educating, human
izing, l%iberating. Or l think of the
gentle hands, the swift feet, the tender
hearts, the angels of mercy and peace,
in whom dwell sweetness and light.
Who are they? BY what name are they
called? To what church, If any, do
they belong? Idle the question, i'm
possible the answer. Sufficient is it
that they establish q Christian civiliza-
ton. No, not an exclusive set, not a
small division of humanity, but these
lovers and comrades and workers who
walk together, constitute the kingdom
of God. If this be not so, woe unto the
world, hopeless u human lot!
Humanity has made many expert
ments, and from failure learned wis
dom. All that the e~cclesiastic would
to-day teach has been tried, and it has
failed. At least for 1000 years the re-
ligion of dogma and ceremonial ruled
the world. These ten centuries are dis
tinguishable by the supremacy of a
blind faith. For 1000 years men knelt
to the ecclesiastic, and in death turned
to him as the arbiter of their eternal
destiny. l do not forget that this abb
solutism of the church forbade prog
ress. l do not forget that it made
scholarship a dangerous calling, that it
set a price on high intelligence, that it
stamped every new thought as heresy,
that it burned the thinker and hated
the truth. And all this was done in
the name of religion. 1t was done in
defense of the faith. 1t was done for
holy church and God. The experiment,
however, was a failure. The abso-
lutism of the church was checked.
Humanity broke the letters that bound
it TO little things, and the awakening,
wondering world started for freedom.
We boast a modern age, we talk of