East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-10-30

/ 80 WV SCloolS HoT III lne nOneS, IL
must come from the church, the only
remaining available source. This en-
! larges the function and responsibility
of our great institution. Sometimes
we hear the criticism that the church
/ mas lost Its usefulness. This comes
! from those lacking an appreciative
sense Of the facts of the past, the
needs of the present or the possibil-
tiles of the future. Time never was
in the history of American civiliza-
ton when more important work was
left the church to do. The entire
field Of religious education, now prac-
tically abandoned by state, school,
and home, left to the mothering care
Of the church without competition!
But / am not unaware that religious
education means to some people only
the perpetuation of fanaticism, super
stition, and dogma. And | can only
say in reply that, while / cannot carry
the responsibility of what any other
church is now doing or ever has done
in the past, ! declare emphatically
that it Is the teaching of this pulpit
and the purpose of this series Of sun
day evening studies,-as / believe 1t
Is of every other modern protestant
pulpit,-not to foster, but to dispel
/ fanaticsm, superstition and dogma.
Notwithstanding the occasional ves-
I tige of seventeenth century thinking
which, now and then amazes modern
! intelligence with its protrusion, the
1 Christian church as a whole today is
the enemy of superstition and dogma
/ TO be sure, some institutions are still
befogged with mental mildew and
manticled with cob-webs of credulity
and creed. Occasionally we hear Of
some efficient minister compelled to
resign his pulpit because he refused to
perpetuate an ancient dogma, so mar
row and stupid in its nature as to dis
grace modern intelligence. But these
| cases are becoming more scarce. The
weird hags of creed and dogma are
| fast retreating in ghost-like panto-
mine across the background of the
worlds great stage. Let us not re-
gret their departure. Let them stink
back into the dark and haunted grot-
toes from which they came,-back in
to the ignorance and credulity which
gave them birth.-let them vanish in
/ the bewildering confusion of days
| forever gone: let them rest in the
eternal sleep of their Potters Field
amid the dead forms of antidated
conceptions and out grown ideals.
Moreover, intelligent religious in
structon is the only guarantee that
these dogmas will never again be res
urrected for contrary to current OPP
inion. this is not the age of doubt, but
rather the age of credulity. Men are
eager to believe. There never was a
time when men were carried away
with cults and isms and Science
falsely so-called' more than they are
today. Even in this day of enlight-
eminent many a once-eXploded theory
reappears. SO many are the conflict
ing voices today that few know defi
nitely what they believe. Conse-
quently men cease to be positive for
ces. Hazy religious convictions are
not salubrious to strong moral fiber
Confusion begets pusilanimity, and
faith h-bewilderment engenders moral
flabbiness.
We are persuing these studies, there
! fore, in the interests of clearly de-
fined and established convictions con-
corning the essential teachings of the
| Christian religion. We shall seek to
distinguish between the essentials and
the non essentials. between the cer-
! tainties and the theories of faith, be-
| tween the things that are incidental
and the things that are vital. between
the things that are temporary and the
| things that are eternal, between the
| things that are of man and the things
that are Of God. In short, we are 60
| ing on a hunting excursion, as many
have done before, looking for the
| Truth. Moreover, we can afford to
exercise at least a reticent tolerance
Of all differences of opinion which do
not conflict with matters of votal
Importance, in order that we may en-
phasize those deeper things upon
which character and destiny depend
and upon which we believe intelligent
men can agree.
To obtain that peace which our
fathers enjoyed in their religious ex-
perience and which many of the more
emotional folk of our day still pro-
foss, we must penetrate deeper strata
OF truth which shall be adequate 20
meet our growing intellectual de-
mands We may strike water be-
times in the upper strata of earth and
At first !t may seem gushing and full
OF promise. But later it will be found
to be easily eXhaused in supply and
impure Of quality on boring down to
bedrock, however, we strike an eX-
haustless flow and clear as a crystal.
Likewise in the persuit of truth we
sometimes arrive at what looks like
a solution of our problems and we
formulate conclusions which appear
TO be ultimate, only to learn as life
deepcns and the horizon widens that
what we once rested upon now fails
to sound the depths of our expert
ence.
We may not be able to give com
plete definition of truth, but we are
certain that it is a profound and vi
tai principle of unity, harmonizini
and co-ordinating all the factors %
mans entire personality. If Hookeri
definition of law is correct that 80
law there can be no less acknowledg
ed than that her seat is the bosom
OF God, her voice the harmony of tn
world" we may say of truth that he
voice is the harmony of the spiritua
H.,