The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-06

dONOLULU, MONDAY, AZ
iy sheer lunaey, emotional or melan
! choly insanity This is what h
/ writes Of love, and your heart erie
out, Tt IS false
Marriage. he says. has become /
! our civilization an agreement in whic
/ there is no more room for love tha
IN the partnership of two capitalists
Love, ne says. is a chemical process
of nature. As hunger ceases after. tax
ing food, SO after the birth of a chill,
marriage is in most cases an empt-
TORN and a lie How many here know
that all this is fearful falsehood.
nave quoted Nordau to show to wha
lengths one can go who denies God.
Il dealt with Jesus Christ in M
last lecture. The Apostles Cree,
states the facts of His life and death
theories about the relationship o,
these to human life rise and fan. Tht
facts remain. He is the Rock of Ages
The fourth essential element is the
Holy Spirit. God brooding over chaos
bringing order, beauty and life. God
moving in the chaos of mans heart
sringing harmony out of discord God
in the hearts of men. bringing progress
IN the uplift Of the race towards God.
"Fhat Power not of ourselves that
works for righteousness, as Matthew
Arnold calls it.
"A dear friend of mine. an agnostfc.
once said to me: There is one thing
do believe What is ito I asked.
1t is the Holy Spirit, he said, rever-
emily
But you say, you bring in here
the mystery Of the Trinity. I reply
that the word does not occur once in
the New Testament nor in early liter
ature
Some people think of the Trinity
as sort Of mathematical puzzle Cal
vinism came perilously near tritheism
in its definitions. It is no wonder that
so many of Calvin's followers en-
braced Unitarianism in order to es-
cape from the horrors of his system.
There is one God, one love, one will
| am not going to give a treatise on
the Trinity. But bear in mind the
catholic truth. God came in the flesh.
The Word. which was God, the Word
always imminent in the universe, took
upon Himself humanity. Remember
that Plato from the standpoint Of pure
reason said that God could not be con-
ceived as a solitary unit. The Chris
tfan doctrine does not consist of spec
ulations. It expresses the fact that
God revealed Himself in the Son. and
works in the hearts of men by His
IAf,r
transitory; the fact remains. Man is
will, intelligence, love- So is God.
Man is made in the image of God.
There is no more mystery in one than
the other. God has revealed Himself
to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Huxley said that the mysteries of re-
igion are nothing compared to the
mysteries of science. The mystery
does not impair the truth.
The fifth essential element of the
Christian religion is the Church. I
shall deal with this in another lee
lure, but let me point out that the
Church Of Jesus Christ, the Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church of the
Creed, has gone on its way during
nineteen centuries. despite human
'railties and the hindrance of sin, and
9 still going on, a fact in the worlds
ife, a living witness of God in Christ
n spite of all sin, the gates of hell
lave not prevailed against her, nor
will they ever do so.
These are the essential elements of
he Christian religion. If there had
,een no Church there would have been
10 Christian religion. The Church
arried the truth and preserved it.
Il have pointed out as the essential
dement's immovable facts which no
can touch Men can dispute
bout the Bible and about opinions. |
But If we grasp the fundamentals, the |
hange of the temporary attendant !
will not disturb US. This, |
elieve. men are coming to see more I
learly. The Church is always in the |
midst of a great conflict; the need is /
Of Christian force. Take /
lesson from warfare ancient and |
lodern. The old three-decker man
f-war carried several hundred guns
| modern man-of-war carries say.
wo or four powerful cannon. In the
asst long confessions of faith served,
suppose, a purpose The need now
i a doctrinal way is few and heavy
uns. I know that some think there
hould be no guns. no doctrines at all.
his would reduce Christianity to
agueness. To renounce the essential
Iements would be suicide. Men are
OF satisfied with vagueness. The
gns Of the times are that men are
filling to submerge opinions and
tand together on the simple confession
{ faith. the Apostles Creed, on which,
8 Beecher said, all Christians were
nee united, and on which only they
an be united again.