The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-07-23

realize Theodore Parkers maxim, Live Upon the Past, in the Present. for the Future Any form of faith that denies it's ancestry is not likely to aff1ict the world with a posterity.
 Third, religious personality can be educated only in and through liberty. By no law of constraint can a soul de- velop vitality. Imitation is simply lim- itation. Coercion only enfeebles indi- viduality. Dictation produces a religious belief which is merely a quotation. Apologetics no longer convince. Free dom has its obvious perils; but the world has set up certain standards of | intellectual sincerity which imply a spirit of fearless investigation, a spirit, eXpeccsnt, unfettered, and tireless. Un- i less religious teachers rise to that standard and practice that freedom of thought and speech, they cannot com mand or retain the respect of their fel- low-citizens. They must use that liberty which Is their blrthright as the sons of God.
 The sense of reality, the consciousness of unity and continuity, the use of lib- erty-I name these as the general prin- ciples upon which must proceed the development of the religious personality which is the only complete proof of spir- itual verities The one thing that makes men believe in religion is the sight of and knowledge of a human life mani festly sustained of God
 l pass now to a brief consideration of some of he more specific ways by which we can forge and temper this weapon of personality by which the moral battles of our day may be fought The first thing to say is that personal Iity is developed by action. Spiritual vitality, like physical health, depends largely upon exercise. Not by breeding, not by closet study, not by private ar gument, but by use are spiritual gifts increased To win the promised bless ing a man must not be a forgetful nearer, but doer of the world. He needs acquaintance with human joys and sorrows and perplexities and pains; he needs 70 set his untrained lcapaeity for sympathy in the positions where he must speak and act or own himself coward; he needs to feed his nascent enthusiasm for right eousness until it krows into the per sistent passion of service; he needs to pour himself unreservedly into the lives of others. Love grows in only one way-by loving. It increases as 1t spends itself The multiplying of the objects of your affection as your chill dren grow around you does not dlmin- ish the proportion of your love for each, for your whole power of loving enlarges. There is the significant distinction between material and spir- itual gifts. Material good is lost by giving. You give a man your coat and you have one coat less. But you give a new idea or new hope, and
 while he gains something, you lose mo- thing. On the contrary, your own thought or hope is strengthened by the giving. By healthy, generous action are spiritual gifts increased.
 Next I mention as an incentive to effective personality moderation. That lmay strike you as a strange stimulant; but is not heat greatest when under restraint? The passion that is under control is the most genuine. An effec- tive religious personality needs next I the sense of proportion. Every minis ter has opportunity to do 20 times as much as he is able to do we'll The important thing is to know which 20th to do. He must not squander the en- ergies that should be devoted to few things needful on variety of things less needful. He must fortify his soul against nedless regrets and profitless foreboding. He must not let the mistakes of one day spoil the work of the next day. His life is inevitably full of certain keen discouragements. The resources are often meager, and the achievement far below his ambl- tion or desire. He must not fail how ever, in what Stevenson called Our great task of happiness. A religious teacher works under high nervous ten sion and he needs to know how to play and to enjoy simple and natural recre- ation. He must put worry aside and
 live cheerfully and serenely if he would make his personality the medium of gospel of cheer.
 Again, certain clear and definite con- lvictions are essential to religious per- sonality. An effective religious teach CT must be an expert and a specialist in the things that relate to God, to duty, and to the eternal life. Our de- lpendence in these days is too often on Ia spectacular or secularized religious teaching. Practical preaching is praised and doctrlnal preaching de- cried know very well that theology is not religion, and that learning Is not the measure of spiritual vitality I know that theology must have an in- creasingly broad and inclusive def1ni- tion. It must include the study of social ethics and civic reform as well as the study of opinions. It must in- clude the literature of devotion, of poetic and artistic expression, as well as the literature of dogmatics. But theology, thus broadly defined is the religious teachers specially. His of flee is the maintenance and transmits sion of inspiring convictions and spr- litual life. No mistake chould be great- CT than to suppose that theological Iproficiency means dull preachers. As one of the honored officers of this as- sociation has pointed out: "The simple fact is that the great preachers of the Christian church have been its great theologians, Augustine, Anselm, Der nard, Luther, Calvin, Schleimacher, Chalmers, Newman, Channing-these men at the same time revived the preaching of the church and remoldt
 its theology. The one function did not