The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-04-19
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. /. L. TAYLOR.
Subject: "Square Deaf in Religion"

BROOKLYN. \. Y.-As the subject o;
lis sermon Sunday the Rev. Livingston
l.. Taylor, pastor Of the Puritan Con-
egational Church, spoke on The
Square Deal in Religion" He took
two texts: Proverbs xii.:22: "They that
deal truly are His delight" and PSALM
Xii: The righteous Lord !oveth right
cousness.' Mr.. Taylor said:
The kingdom of heaven is a square
deal on earth. From the night visions
Of the shepherds to the day dreams or
St. John it is peace and good will, on
earth, among men, 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 faith
erly God in heaven. The square deal
has its vertical lines as we'll as its horl-
zontal. The horizon never limited
Christ's vision. He lived for the day
when men would treat GOD right. In
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 relig-
ion as the power that must set tnlnSS
right among men. But in His day and
in ours the problem of the square deal
involves religion itself. It has always
been hard to get a square deal 1or re-
lision. It has always been hard to
maintain a square deal in presenting
the claims of religion. It has always
been hard to keep a 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 and
privileges of the Lenten season.
The square deal in religion involves
a square deal for religion. And this in
tprn involves two things: first, fair
minded attitude toward religious phe-
nonena, institutions, doctrines and per-
sons, and second, determination to
deal fairly with our own religious ma
ture. a determination to give the soul a
square deal.
Men deal more fairly with the fact
of religion than they used to. Iney
are settling down to the conclusion that
the race is 'incorrigibly religious. -
They are beginning to understand that
the worlds history could not have been
what it has been if men had no capac-
ity and need for religion. Religion
must be recognized as legitimate hu-
man interest unless we want to throw
out of court the most persistent OF all
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 lire
as a whole. Religion must De recos-
nized as the supreme human interest II
we would be consistent with any rea-
sonahie definition of religion. II reilg-
ion is an affair of the soul in its rela-
tlons 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 i'll
terpretation of the universe and OF nu-
ma. life, determined to have some sort
of religious system, spending and being
spent in the service of religious instltu-
tions, their churches. their missions.
We should deal as fairly with these
facts as we do with the facts which
convince us hat it is natural for men
to have music, that 1t is natural FOR
men to express themselves and to ma
pleasure in the varied forms or 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-
lieion requires that we should recog-
nize the limitation and the inevitable
imperfection of all the forms in which
the religious aspiratio of men find
expression. It is nothing. to the dis
credit Of religion if our best efforts to
embody it fall short Of those visions OF
it's glory with which our souls are
blessed. It is no less 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
t1,re. 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 he
had no right to a soul or God, and
that it was his obvious duty to stife
all BELIEF and to discipline his INTEL
lect with regard tc this matter into an
attitude Of the purest skepticism." II
am not ashamed to confess" he wrote
at the time, that with this virtual ne
CATION Of God the universe to me has
lost its soul of loneliness" And b" was
oppressed by 1.-The appalling contrast
between the hallowed glory of that
creed which was once mine. and the
lonely mystery Of existence as 1 now
find it," A little less than twenty
years later George Romanes became
convinced that in seeking to deal un-
fiinchingly with the facts Of physical
science he had ignored the most signifi-
cant of all facts, tine most directly
known, the most completely attested OF
all facts, the facts of his own religious
nature. He came to recognize that it
is 'rea asonable to be Christian believ.
er." Before his untimely death he had
returned ito that full. deliberate COM
munion with the church Of Jesus Christ
which he had for so many years been
ron nsciontionsly compelled to fOregO."