The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-07-21


religious instincts 10 God. and religious
worship is essentially a personal com
uunion with God, and in such form
and place as is best suited 10 the wor-
SHIPPER and most in accordance with the
viii of God.
Hence. YOU will see. one of the prime
characteristics of the church triumph
ant is perfect liberty. Get religion
said Augustine. "and do as you please"
by which he meant IL YOU truly get re
ligion YOU will always please Ia do
right Paul means the same thing
when he SAYS, III We be in the spirit
We are not under the law" And Jesus
meant the same when lie said, Make
the tree good and his fruit will be
good" Aud hence, the ideal Christian
life Is perfectly pontaneous. obe-
dience il not by compulsion OF law. but
by impulsion of love. "All the law ~
fulfilled In one word Thou shalt
love
We have heard not little about
"the consent of the governed and We
are likely 10 hear more. The state
ment as IL stands i'm that famous docu-
ment will not bear literal application.
But there H. good reason 10 believe
| that our fathers knew what they were
talking about. II they had said. gov
crnmeut derives its potency from the
| consent of the governed they would
have been utteriug the exact truth.
| Statutes are imperative until the sub
jects consent. Perfect society implies
perfect acquiescence H. the viii Of the
| superior or law making power. The
more society progresses toward unity,
| the simpler and more aQuahlc VIII gov
ernment become. because th" more gen
| cral Will he the consent or acquiescncc
in the government. Paul says. u con
sent unto the law that IL Is good and
| in the perfect society Of Johns vision
each man enjoys perfect liberty be
cause the will Of the governor and the
| governed are In perfect correspond
ence. Each individual does n he
| pleases and at the same time does as
He pleases
And consequently there Is perfect
community. There is no discord, no
battle for individual or sectional rights.
Each ones right Is the oilers good.
| The community IL dominated ana
| guided 10y common genius. Some
years ago u famous Hungarian orchcs-
| ira visited this country. u was n
musical prodigy. Not only could they
| play giCat quantities of the finest
! classical music withodt notes, hut
could improvise from some simpl, mu
steal theme given them, each man eh-
| temporizing his part 10y n sort of com.
mon genius. producing marvellous
piece of impromptu orchestration as
perfectly ms II they were reading
IL from the printed page. They had
played so long together tina: they came
| TO have common musical genius.
And yet each man played his own in
strumcnt in his own way.
In some such way the perfect com
| munity Is characterized 10y perfect
unity without uniformity. Each per
| forms his own duty In his own way,
| but Is all the while III perfect har-
mony with his neighbor Again in the
| perfected society there is no distinc-
tion between the religious and the sec
ular. Here we have our times and
places OF religion. We gather here In
this house of prayer, believing that
! God is present here as lie is not In
| other places, as. indeed. He has prom
ised 10 be. IL is Gods concession To
our limitations and infrmities. But
| il Is far from the ideal. We are apt
| TO identify religion with the means of
religion, rather than religion itself.
| We get grace 10y our religious exercises
| 10 keep Gods commandments In all
our walks of life. and that is religion
| The members Of the church triumph
ant are equally religious every day of
| the week and every hour Of the day,
and hence, church going IN our sense
OF the word, is forever abolished. In
that society. one does not need to say
1 a.. 10 l.Y IA IA I nrh IA
all shall know Him from the least 10
the greatest. There is no more preach
ing. mo temple therein
Once more: IL is obvious that the
more faithful ana devoted we are TO
the means Of religion here the sooner
we shall he fitted 10 do without them.
Your child, learning 10 play the piano,
finds IL hard labor 10 spell out note by
note. conforming 10 the rules and rudi-
ments Of practice. By and by she will
| go beyond the rules. She will acquire
the genius Of the skilled performer.
And the more diligently we observe
our religious duties here the sooner
we shall get beyond them. The more
| faithful we are now 10 the times and
places OF religions worship the sooner
shall we he ready for That society
where all life IL religious.
Zachariab had tnat vision ages he
fore John had IL. when he saw "IIoli-
ness 10 the Lord" Inscribed on the
bells OF the horses and tlic pots In
| the Lords house as sacred as the
| bowls Of the altar; yea. and every pot
| In Jerusalem az holy as the vessels OF
| the sanctuary. That was NJ least a
| glimpse Of the templelcss city of God.
And now shall we not keep before
| ms that idcalf Let us not be discOur-
aged by the great disparity between
| that far-On perfection and present
reality. The poet well expresses our
! feeling:
gah's height
Can behold thy stretch OF peaceful
bowers,
Thy golden harvest flowing out Of
sight.
The nestled homes and sun-iilumined
towerS--
Gazing upon the sunsets igh.heapes
gold.
! Its crags Of opal and of chrysolite,
It's dccps on deeps Of glory, that un-
fold
still Frightening abysscs,
And blazing prccipices,
WbeDce but scanty leap IL seems 10
heaven.
Sometimes n glimpse is given
OF thy gorgeous realm, thy more un-
stunted blisses.
Gazing upon that vision. let us bc
faithful 10 our temple duties here that
we may be fitted for that city whore
there is no temple, for the lord God