Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-01-12

affairs OF Mercury, an Apollo, q Ju-
piter. a Juno and Hephaestus. but
now men are beginning to realize that
while Ii is important to adhere faith
fully to the creeds or their respective
churches the supreme necessity Is that
they give their loyal worship to the
Holy Trinity. OF whom God is the Fa.
ther and Jesus Christ the elder brother
and the holy spirit is the paraclete.
And yet. my friends. there was a time
when Christian people built their Sec
tartan fences so high that they could
not see any good in any church unless
that church belonged to their own
household Of faith.
No sooner did John Wesley come into
touch with the Moravians and get a
broader conception OF Christ than had
the Episcopalians than at once the
chancel Of the Church Of England was
closed against him. To the Episco-
palian he became a spiritual outcast.
No sooner did John Bunyan attempt to
start forth as a nonconformist preach.
er than at once he had to surrender his
pulpit for Bedford Jail No sooner did
Albert Barnes, like st. John, get q
broader vision OF heaven than had his
ministerial brethren than he was de-
priyed OF bis Presbyterian orders, and
the greatest Bible teacher and CON-
mertator OF his generation had TO SIT IN
the pew Of the First Presbyterian
church OF Philadelphia as worshiper
instead OF standing In the pulpit as q
preacher. All the prosecutions OF the
dark ages were due to the worship of
sectarlan creed. All the horrors OF q
ST. bartholomew massacre and the
murderfngs or the Covenanters among
Scottish hills and the fendish works
OF Bloody Mackenzie and of q
Bloody Mary" were due to the wor-
ship at a UNCONVENTIONAL altar instead
OF the cross of Jesus Christ. oh, re-
ligion, religion, what awful crimes
have been committed in thy name! The
demons of the darkest caverns and the
most bestial of sins have drenched
their garments with human gore be-
cause under the helmets of sectarIan-
ism they have been prompted to I'M
sheath the sword of bigotry. But now
all things are being changed. Paul re
revealed the unknown God" to the
Athenians. Jesus Christ has revealed
God to us. Now our religious teachers
have become so broad that they are
ready TO join all Protestant churches In
one great federation for Christian work
as long as the one cardinal doctrine of
those churches Is Jesus Christ the Saw
Jour, who has come to save man, q
sinner"
Christian Federation.
And, mark you, this revelation Of
Christ has not been gladly acclaimed
by the churches during the past centu-
ries, but Only within the last few years
You must think OF this church fellow.
ship as child OF our youth and not
as blessing OF bygone generations. II
was as late as the life OF Patrick Hen.
~, who died In 1899, that the Baptist
ministers OF old Virginia were called
upon to defend themselves In the Grim
inal dock because they were charged
with preaching the gospel OF the son
of God" You who are students OF his
tory recall how the same eloquence
which fired the American colonists for
liberty or death" reused the hearts OF
his jurors when Patrick Henry pleaded
for the freedom OF the indicted Baptist
ministers MY God" he cried, "can II
be that any man should be charged as
a criminal for preaching the love of
Jesus Christi" Then, again and again
he waved the Indictment above him as
he said. For preaching the love of
Jesus Christ" But now, thank God, all
such criminal trials are past God has
revealed himself to us theologically.
We know, and we'll know, that foreor-
dination or Arminianlsm or belief In
apostolic succession is not essential
for salvation. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and be saved" was the
slogan OF Paul and is the slogan OF the
modern Christian pulpits. Sectarian in
tolerance is being rapidly demolished.
We might have chung to our sectarian-
ism in the past as the Atheniaps chung
TO their affairs OF gold and silver and
marble before Paul appeared. But we
cannot, we dare not do 80 now. There
is but one true altar. and that Is the
altar OF Jesus Christ '.And the times
Of this ignorance God winked at. but
now co-smandeth all men everywhere
to repent" Repent! REPENT Repent in
Christ's name or We shall all likewise
perish.
But God has borne with our moral
Ignorance as well as our theological in
tolerance He has been overlooking for
generations the sins OF the fesh which
men have unconsciously committed 90
well as the sins OF false creeds. And
whensl speak thus could roam over n
very vide territory IL would, FOR you
have no more right to Judge q man OF
the fifteenth or sixteenth century BY
the moral standards OF the twentieth
century than you have right to con-
denim the Puritans because they exiled
Roger Williams from Massachusetts, In
1885 or because, under the leadership
Of Cotton Mather, they burned the sup
posed witches of Salem In 1901.
The Abolished Code Of Honor.
1t was only few years ago that
mans moral code OF honor compelled
man TO fight man in the duello. One of
the brayest acts OF that brave man.
George ID. Prentice. was exhibited not
In his Willingness to fight a duel, but
IN his being willing to defy public opin-
ion and refuse to fight one. When one
OF the subscribers OF his paper chal-
ienged him, as Aaron Burr challenged
Alexander Hamilton, he wrote q letter
which ended thus: 1T takes only one
fool to senda challenge, but two fools
to fight. ] am not one of them" Ard
again, to show to what a low state the
mind or man was in reference to the
savage customs OF dueiling during the
last generation. M. de Girardin, the ia
Their OF the present French statesman