Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1906-03-29
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: SUNDAY SERMON :
= y y
Il A Scholarly Discourse By r
3 Rev. l.. l.. Taylor. =

Brooklyn, N. Y.-As the subject Of
his sermon Sunday the Rev. Livingston
L. Taylor, pastor Of the Puritan Con-
gregational Church, spoke on "The
Square Deal in Religion" He took
two texts: Proverbs xii. 20: '"They that
deal truly are His delight" and Psalm
xi.:7: 1.-THE righteous Lord loveth right
eousness." Mr.. Taylor said:
The kingdom of heaven is a 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 men, which the hosts OF
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-
rem here. But there can be no kingdom
of brotherly men on earth with any
other throne set up than that of q faith
erly God in heaven. The square deal
has its vertical lines as we'll as its hori-
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 things
right among men. But in His day ana
in ours the problem Of the square deal
involves religion itself. 1t has always
been hard to get a square deal FOR re-
ligion. 1t has always been hard to
maintain square deal in presenting
the claims of religion. 1t has always
been hard to keep square deal Mt 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
turn involves two things: first, fair
minded attitude toward religious phe-
nomena, institutions, doctrines and per-
sons, and second, a determination to
deal fairly with our own religious ma
ture, a determination to give the soul
square deal.
Men deal more fairly with the fact
Of religion than they used to. They
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 MS legitimate hui
! man interest unless we want to throw
out of court the most persistent or all
classes of facts. Religion must be rec
ognized as one of the great human in
tcrests If we are to maintain any sort
| of proportion in our view of human life
as whole. Religion must be recog-
| niZed as the supreme human interest II
we would be consistent with any rea-
| sonable definition of religion. If relig-
| ion is an affair of the soul in Its rela-
tons 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.
| depreciation Of the universe and OF hui
! man life, determined to have some sort
of religious system, spending and being
| spent in the service of religious insttu-
tions, their churches, their missions.
We should deal as fairly with these
| facts as we do with the facts which
convince us that it Is natural for men
to have music, that it Is natural Tor
| men to express themselves and 10 find
pleasure 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-
ligion requires that we should recog-
nize the limitations and the inevltaDle
impcrfection of all the forms in which
the religious aspirations of men hnu
| expression. 1t is nothing to the dis
credit of religion If our best efforts to
embody 1t fall short of those visions OF
| it's glory with which our souls are
/ blessed. 1t Is no less q 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
ture, yours and mine? Have we been
trea ting 1t fairly? In 1876 George Ro-
names, q brilliant young British scien-
tist came to the conclusion that he
had no right to soul or God, and
that it was his "obviOus duty to stifle
all belief" and to "discipllne 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 its soul of loneliness" And h" was
oppressed by "the appalling contrast
between the hallowed glory of that
creed which was once mine, and the
lonely mystery Of existence as l now
find it," A little less than twenty
years later George Romanes became
convinced that in seeking to deal un'
finchingly with the facts Of physical
science he had ignored the most signifi.
cant Of all facts, the most directly
known, the most completely attesteu OF
all facts, the facts of his own religious
nature. He came to recognize that II
is reasonable to be Christian believ.
err" 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
conscientiously compelled to forego.'
In the multitude of his thoughts with.
in him he had secured square deal
for his soul.
Our difficulties may not be his, but
we have them. The things which
make 1t hard for us to secure our souls
their chance may be very different
from the things which made 1t hard
for him. Scientific men of to-day have
less to make them feel as the seeming.
ly triumphant materials Of the sew
enties made young Romanes feel about
having God and soul. But our diff
culties may be of another class entire
ly. Perhaps they are far less credit
able to our intellectual sincerity, less
creditable to our moral purpose, evil
inclinations and the multiplied oppor-
tunities for gratifying them that make
| ,t no ri for thair SoulS to pnf fair hoa r..