The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-30

/ oIllS TWO OF 11U parishes winch we nav
! IN New York city
! And yet with all that we have touch
! ed upon ever and anon. men gravel,
tell us that the Christian religion mus
/ give way to some mystic cult, or t.
+ some system which has no Jesu
Christ, or relegates Him to a place
among many teachers. No weakness.
/ or corruption in the Church can pu
aside the truth of the power of Chris
| IN the world. In fact, the betrayal o
| Christ is a constant proof that the
| Christian religion is divine, inasmucl
as it would have been killed by mer
long ago if it were not divine
In summing up the whole of human
evolution in social life, Kidd writes
Human reason alone can never in the
nature of things provide any effective
sanction to the individual for conduct
which contributes to the furtherance
of this process, for one essential fea.
t'lre of this cosmic process is the sac
rifice of the individual himself-no:
merely in the interests of his fellows
around him, but in the interests of
generations yet unborn. The intellect
uncontrolled by ethical forces of the
kind we have considered must always
in society be individualistic, disinte-
grating, destructive" Nothing can
be more obvious he writes. than
that the moving force behind progress
is not the intellect" Then he goes on
to prove that the movement is and has
been Christian
The Bishop here gave some statis-
tics to show that the enlightenment
of the mind alone did not lessen. but
increased, crime
He then said that he would not take
much time in speaking of the relation
of Christ to the individual
At one time a scientific school as
serted that mans conduct was deter
mined by heredity. When facts We're
carefully collected it was found that
the large majority of boys in reforma-
tory institutions were the sons of in
dustrious and honest parents.
Then others asserted that environ
ment determined conduct. Penolo-
gists now show that where conditions
of life are economically the highest.
there crime reaches it's highest ratio
Good birth is a, valuable asset, good
environment is most helpful, but
neither one determines the character
of the individual. In much settlement
work the idea seems to be that con-
ditions will make people better. With
out something which will give settled
convictions of right and wrong and
good and evil, improved conditions
may, and often do, simply make vice
less repulsive. William 1. of Germany
said once: without religion. .educa-
ton and refinement only serve to make
men more cunning than the beasts
What is the determining factor of
conduct? 1t is not reason for reason
will often show US that a certain line
Of conduct is to our advantage when
conscience tells US it is wrong. The
determining factor is faith. When men
and women in any age have stood for
the right, they have been empowered
by faith. Faith is above reason
it be faith in a human being,
DR. in God. Faith like love has a
knowledge Of its own. You can not
prove that the little child, flesh Of your
flesh, who looks up into your eyes
loves you. You say ST know" That
Is faith. Faith is the heart and mind
going out to a living truth, or a living
person.
Directly person loses faith in
right and goodness there is and must
De a decadence in conduct. Faith lies
back of the worlds real progress
Faith in order to lift a man to a high
plane must be a high faith. The high
est kind of faith is in a person Here
les the strength, the life, the constant
y reviving power of the Christian reli-
yion. Christians have faith in good
ness, truth, purity, justice, love, SYM
oathy, incarnate in the living loving
person Jesus Christ.
The Christian Religion is faith not
n law, not in the principle of good
1ess, it is faith in the Good One the
Perfect One, the One who revealed God
% man. 1t is faith in this person
Jesus Christ that constitutes the rela-
ion of the individual Christian to
Christ.
There are many pure souls who have
difficulties. They are living
ike Ernest Renan on "the perfume of
L broken vase" But there are signs
1t times that with loss Of faith the
moral fiber is weakening. George Ell
lot and John Stuart Mill when they
,eased to believe in an eternal law and
/ Righteous Lawgiver, made a law
or themselves as was natural. A judge
said to me some years ago: st have
been thinking lately of my children.
What character l have I owe to the
my Christian parents gave
ne. l give my children none. Win
hey have the restraining principles
which I have? This is the question
4 hiph 1iGf1JrhS have lived
see that his fears were well grounded.
We must never forget that those who
Ire living without a positive faith IN
Christ owe all that they prize in life,
n law, in liberty, in moral ideas, to
Jesus Christ. Such are the consumers
md not producers of the, deposit of
Christian power.
OF course the question will arise:
How am I to have this faith?" Hear
he words of Christ: HE that doeth
nv will shall know of the doctrine
whether it be of God" The crucible Of
experience is the final test Of
aith
The Christian should seek honestly |
o get near to Christ, to understand |
Him. OF course a large number are
nominal Christians. Christians by. in |
leritance, name, custom. These are
.asily overturned by onslaughts on the |
aith and sometimes. by attacks on