The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-03-29
4 HE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON 6Y
THE REV. /. L. TAYLOR.
Subject: "SQuare Deal in Religion"

Subject: "Square Deaf in Religion"
Brooklyn, n. Y.-As the subject o.
his sermon Sunday the Rev. Livingston
L. Taylor, pastor of the Puritan Con-
sresational Church, spoke on The
Square Deal in Religion" He took
two texts: Proverbs Xii. %: They that
deal truly are His delight" and Psalm
xii: The righteous Lord !oveth right
eousness." Mr.. Taylor said:
The kingdom Of heaven is square
deal on earth. From the night visions
Of the shepherds to the day dreams OF
st. John it is peace and good will on
earth, among nen. which the hosts or
God are seen bestirring themselves to
promote. And He who came from
heaven lived brother to all men. that
they might ever after dwell as breth'
ren here. But there can be no kingdom
of brotherly men on earth with an!
other throne set up than that of Il faith
erly God in heaven. The square deal
has its vertical lines as we'll as its horl-
zontal. The horizon never limited
Christs vision. He lived for the day
when men would treat God right. III
that day no man will have anything
to fear from any other man. The
thinking world is coming around more
and more to Christ'S estimate of reilg-
ion as the power that must set things
right among men. But in His day and
in ours the problem Of the square deal
involves religion itself. 1t has always
been hard to get square deal for re-
ligion. 1t has always been hard to
maintain a square deal in presenting
the claims Of religion. 1t has always
been hard to keep square deal at the
heart OF religion. These things should
be borne in mind by us all as we enter
upon the special religious activities anu
privileges Of the Lenten season.
The square deal in religion involves
n square deal for religion. And t1ls III
turn involves two things: first, a fair
minded attitude toward religious phe-
nomena, institutions, doctrines and per-
sons. and second, determination to
deal fairly with our own religious ma
ture, q determination to give the soul
square deal.
Men deal more fairly with the fact
OF religion than they used to. Ihey
are settling down to the conclusion that
the race is 'incorrigibly religious.
They are beginning to understand that
fhe worlds history could not have bee"
what it has been if men had no capac-
ity and need for religion. Religion
must be recognized as a legitimate hr-
man interest unless We want to throw
out of court the most persistent OF ali
classes of facts. Religion must be rec
ognized as one of the great human in
terests if we are to maintain any sort
Of proportion in our view OF human LIE
as a whole. Religion must be recog-
nized as the supreme human interest II
we would be consistent with any rea-
sonahie definition of religion. IT relig-
ion is an affair Of the soul in its reia-
tions with the infinite nothing short OF
this is reasonable or right. We should
expect to see men, as we do. striving
TO make religion supreme, not content
with anything short of the religious IN
teypretation Of the universe and OF hu-
ma. life, determined to have some sort
of religious system, spending ana DelnS
spent IN the service of religious institu-
tions. their churches. their missions.
We should deal as fairly with these
facts as We do with the facts Which
convince us mat it is natural FOR men
to have music, that 1t is natural TOT
men to express themselves and to ind
plea sure in the varied forms Of art,
that it, is natural for men to concern
themselves with the right and wrong
of things and of their own lives.
But fair dealing with the fact OF re-
lision requires that we should recog-
nize the limitations and the inevitable
tmperfection of all the forms in which
the religious aspirations Of men ma
expression. It is nothing to the DIS
credit of religion if our best enorts 10
embody it fall short of those visions OF
its glory with which our souls are
blessed. It is no less a treasure BE-
cause we have it in earthen vessels
Religious systems are confessedly i'm
perfect. Religious persons are full OF
faults. But they exist. They are
facts. And they are as good evidence
of mans religious nature as they are
of the imperfection Of all things human.
But how about our own religious ma
4ure YOURS and mine? Have we been
treating it fairly? In 1876 George Ro-
names, a brilliant young British scien-
tist, came to the conclusion that ne
had no right to soul or God, and
that it was his obvious duty to stife
all belief'' and to discipline his intel
:lect with regard to this matter into an
attitude OF the purest skepticism." Il
am not ashamed to confess" he wrote
at the time, "that with this virtual ne
CATION Of. God the universe to me has
lost it's soulof lovelfness." And n" was
oppressed by "the appalling contrast
between the hallowed glory Of that
creed which was once mine, and the
lonely mystery Of existence as now
find it." A little less than twenty
years later George Romanes became
convinced that in seeking to deal un-
finchiagly with the facts of physicai
science he had ignored the most signifl-
cant Of all facts, the most directly
known, the most completely attested OF
oil facts, the facts Of his own religious
nature. He came to recognize that it
is reasonable to be a Christian believ-
err" Before his untimely death he had
returned "to that full, deliberate COM
munion with the church Of Jesus Christ
which he had for so many years been
conscientiously compelled to forego."