The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1913-05-09
What Christians Hold in Com
mon.

Instead OF our usual sermon this weel;
we give an extract from sermon by
Dr. James Martineau, one of the great
est thinkers of the past century:
For the greatest triumphs OF our
faith, we must go where it is matched
with the passions of the heart, the i'm
| pulses OF unregulated nature, and see
how it prunes their exuberance, enrich
es their sterility, purifies their polutions
expands their littleness, refines their
ruggedness. Now these influences are
common TO every form of christianity; its
appeals TO the affections are uttered not
In the vocabulary of sectarianism, but in
the universal language of the human
heart. Some may prefer to deck the
form in the gorgeous colors of an impos
ing ritual; some may throw round it the
ample folds OF mystery; others may love
the grace of its primitive simplicity;
but beneath all these varieties. the same
living figure breathes, the same radiant
features smile. Where is the system OF
christianity that does present TO our af-
fections an Infinite Being, who has shad
owed forth His invisible glories in the
splendors of the universe, who rolls the
silent wheels of time, whose presence.
felt in other worlds, is secretly shed
around each human home, who traces
the tear of grief and lights up the smile
of peace, who has an eye on every heart,
and carries on His parental discipline in
scenes beyond our vision and without an
end? Where is the system of christian
ity which does not lead US TO the Savior
as the image of the invisible God, as the
bright reflection of His character, and
the noblest assurance of His love-which
does not trace to Jesus innumerable
moral blessings, and call us to reverence
him for guidance amid the intricacieS
Of duty, for light in the chamber of
grief, for power of endurance amid the
struggles of suffering nature, and pros
poets of attractive grandeur beyond the
graveg Where is the system of chris
tianity which does not cast upon this
state the shadow of an eternal tribunal
which does not associate with sin the
horrors of an outer darkness, and impart
an infinite value TO every pure tendency
Of the soul, by inviting virtue
TO a never-ending progression replete
with ineffable JOY? What christian has
not enshrined in his memory and his i'm
agination the most beautiful and touch
ing portions of the volume OF our faith?
Is there christian parent that can read
the invitation of the benevolent Jesus,
Suffer little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not?' without a heart of
love TO the Heavenly Teacher, without
a purified conception of that kingdom
which infant docility alone can enter,
without an uplifting of prayer that no
rude world may brush from the mind of
his child the morning dews of his inno-
cence? Is there a christian sister that
has not blessed the Divine Teacher, who,
himself. touched by the sorrows that
he quelled, restored the lost Lazarus TO
his weeping ami defenseless home? Is
there christian mother who has not
fingered with the bereaved Mary around
the cross, wondered at her awful sor-
rows and thought how in the watches of
the night memory would bring back up
on her ear that last appeal, Woman be-
hold thy SOM The tears which flow at
passages ike these, the admiration with
which they burden the heart, the ina
geS of moral loveliness with which they
fill the Imagination, are not the eXclu
sive possession of any sect; they are the
unrestricted boon of God TO the human
soul. In private, then, we all ponder
the same book, gather from it the same
refreshing influence, the same impress
sions of duty, the same impulses 10 pray
er. And on our Christian Sabbath, while
we tread the threshold of differing tenn
Piles, are they not all dedicated to Him?
who dwellelh not in temples made with
hands, and re egardeth not their trivial
distinctions? While the worshipping
multitudes utter various language and
ill-harmonIzing thoughts, are they not
addressing Being to whom language is
but breath, and human thought but
like an infants dream, and who looks
only to that heart of love that animates
both? 1t is an exhilarating thought,
that though on that sacred day Chris