The Washington herald., 1911-03-26
THE TREND OF THINGS
What Religion Really Does,

What Religion Really Does.
The Rev. Edward Judson. the Very
Rev. Alexander P. Doyle, and the Rev.
Francis c. Peabody of Harvard Univer-
sity, are contributing series of Lenten
sermons to the Outlook, which. as is
usual in that journal bear the stamp of
reality and find one at greater depths
perhaps than is usual in sermons of this
character. In the current sermon on
THE revealing of the heart,r DR.. Pea
.Soody, who is always a master of Eng
. lish, as he is also skilled in the interpreta-
tion of the teachings of Jesus, closes
with this remarkable characterization of
the thing which Jesus really does for
for those who follow Him. Says Dr.
Peabody:
There are many things which people
want to get from their religion and which
religion does not seem to bestow. They
want to be assured of their future; they
want to be saved from their past they
want the present made easier; and all
these prayers seem to leave them just
about where they were. The old routine,
the inexorable machinery, still envirops
them, and they begin to wonder what
their religious faith was meant to do.
One of the most striking facts in the
ness in which His disciples were engaged
when He first met them was the business
in which He left them at the end.
They were fishermen tending their nets
al the beginning OF the gospel of Mat
thew; and they were fishermen still tend
ing their nets at the end of the gospel of
John. What, then, did Jesus do for
them? The old life, just as it was, had
become TO them a new life, because they
discovered within it a possible compan-
ionship with the creative work of God,
so that the same persons who had cast
their nets with the dull stolidity of many
a modern fisherman found themselves
called to put forth into the deep and
catch men. That is the miracle which
religion still waits TO perform.
THE work of faith is not to transform
ones circumstances or lessen the pres
sure of routine, but to dIsentangle from
that routine the thoughts of the heart,
as the fingers of Peter and Andrew dis
entangled themselves from the meshes of
their nets as they rose up and followed
Christ. In the midst of the inevitable
routine and detail of the world life
starts up and says: I am not a cog; l
am not wheel; am not
chip: l am a child of God, a par
taker of the divine nature, laborer
with God. joint heir with Jesus Christ
Then experience is transformed from
prose to poetry. and the ideals of life
become its realities, and the secrets of
the heart are revealed; and as one looks
into the magic mirror of God his little
fragmentary fruitless life changes into
some dim reflection of the glory of the
Lord"
Religion at Big show.
Christian forces of the Pacific Coast
have already taken steps to illustrate at
the Panama exposition in San Francisco
i'll 1915 the Christian progress west of the
Rocky Mountains and the part Chris
t:ans of that region intend to play, as far
as they are able. in the world develop
ment that they believe IS TO take place on
the Pacific Ocean because of the opening
of the canal The Rev DR.. William Ra-
GER of the First PRESBYTERIAN Church of
San Francisco. has just preached SER
mon on the subject and his suggestions
have met general approval These in
ClUde an exposition of the religious forces
Cf the Coast, such exposition to represent
Gii religious bodies working there, Catho-
lie and Protestant. The East, and even
Europe, will be drawn upon for great
preachers to be heard during the exposi-
ton both in an auditorium at the eXposi-
tIon and in the Coast pulpits of Seattle,
Tacoma Portland. Oakland. San Fran
cisco, and Los Angeles. and at the uni
Palo Alto. Missionary conferences will
also be planned, aimed &C bring out the
fact alleged by Christian leaders, that a
mighty conflict of world forces is to fol-
low the canal opening, in which conflict
Christianity must play a part
New Gift to Pope.
The 1900 Roman Catholic bishops
rnonsignori, priests, and other clergy in
America propose a new gift to the Pope.
There has long been Peters pence, con-
tributed by all Catholic peoples for the
support of the Pope and his work, but
that is a contribution from the laity.
The new gift is from the clergy, and, so
far as known, is peculiar to this country.
The archbishops will first approve the
plan and then submit il to the other
mittance has not yet been set The clergy
everywhere declare themselves favorable
to it Peters pence from this country
grows steadily, as does also contributions
tC Catholic world missions. The money
is used, of course, not simply for the
maintenance of the Vatican, although
that requires big sums, but for the GEN.
trail administration of the church, the
support of cardinals in the curia, and a
growing amount of missionary work
done by the church itself and not by any
of the orders. If the plan of an annual
gift from the clergy of America be de-
cided upon a central treasurer will be
chosen and the amount sent in lump
sum-
ImmortaIity-A Hebrew View.
The American Hebrew, in commenting
IN the reDiy of Cardinal Gibbons To