The Washington herald., 1907-01-21

Tells Hearers to Abandon the
Mechanics of Religion.
PLEADS FOR PERSONAL WORK
Declares PrOneness to DO Things by
Proxy Makes 1t Harder to Acorn
Religion of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
CATION Assembled at RHuscber's.

Choosing as the subject Of his discourse
THE Mechanics Of Religion" Rev. DR..
Edward Everett Hale addressed the
Washington branch Of The National New
Thought Center at Rauscher's yesterday
afternoon. DR.. Hale appealed to the large
congregation to abandon the mechanics"
and walk with God" welcome Him in
the sunrise and 10 thank Him in the sun
set"
DR.. Hale opened his address with de
scription of the conditions as Christ first
found them at Jerusalem. There were
the mechanics Of religion" said Dr. Hale.
the peddlers Of doves and oxen At the
Temple gates, the Jew money changers
who would give Jewish coin for Roman,
the latter being considered prOfane and
uniting to put in the Temple contribu-
ton boxes. There he found Nicodemus
wrapped in the cloak of tradition and
the machinery Of religion"
Christ's protests against all this buck
STEERING" were unavailing. and DIT. Hale
said, The first wave of the ocean Of life
has struck against the rocks of mechani-
cal religion and has been flung back in
drops and spray. Jesus is compelled by
the strictness Of the mechanics to go up
into His own Galilee and throw Himself
and His Gospel on the people"
Do Not Advance.
1t is a pathetic thing 10 say. but We
do not advance a step unless We do say
il and know il. that the history Of nine
teen centuries has been repeating the
same experience. So long as you have
the Hussites in the wilderness, the Wal
densans in the Alps, the Covenanters in
the Highlands Of Scotland, and the Pill
grims on the shore at Plymouth-so long
do you have the religion OF the Sermon
on the Mount, the religion Of the Cruel
fixiOn, the religion that says love God
and love man. And on the other hand.
so soon as your Constantine makes court
To your Bishops, OF so soon as your
church goes into this or that political
combination, so soon Satan enters at the
head Of the sons Of God. The danger is
that they do Gods work by proxy, that
they send some lackey 10 run His eTrands.
If 1 were asked TO put the meaning
Of this talk In sixteen words / should
say that the time Of the eCclesiastics is
over. and the time for everybody 10 work
has begun The world has been cleared
of rubbish; it has been dug 10 the foun-
dations; il has been brushing away with
its dustcloth the bacteria and bacilli of
eCcIesiastiCism. OF Titualism. of dogmatic
theology. and other remnants OF pagan
ism. and now there stands clear before
Us the crisis and the question. Who wants
the reign OF GOd2 Who wants 10 work
with God? Who wants 20 seek the king
dom Of God, first, first, first, and not sec
Ond. third. or last.
In addressing the Unitarian confer
enCe at Saratoga in 1902. I said that I
believed the new century would kill &c
CIesiasticism until eCclesiastiCisn should
know that il was dead. that the new
century would advance in proportion as,
instead of ecclesiasticism, Il embraced
Christianity, which means our Father
who art Il means that we children are
TO work together in His work because
lie is our Father And this means that
We children are not to be satisfied with
any mechanism of religion.
All OF Us Are Kings.
I'VE are kings. we are all priests. as
we cannot say too often. When We wake
in the morning. every boy OF girl. OF
man or woman of us is 10 say What
have l to do to bring In the kingdom
this living day? Where do I stand?
What can I say? What can I be? What
can I do? Charity? I will do what can.
To teach young, TO teach old? I viii do
what I can. To worship God? I viii do
what I can. I will not be satisfied 70 do
this by proxy.
If we seek bread and butter. If We
seek good government, we are TO seek
first, second, and always that we walk
with God. We are to welcome God In
the sunrise. we are TO thank Him in the
sunset. we are to ask His advice and
holm I'm eyerv dffcult turning in ottr