The Penn's Grove record., 1915-01-15
UPON FAITH
True Religion Cannot Be Defined
in Any Terms of Class
or Creed.

fty, has the widest of affnities.
No part of society, nc individual in
society, is outside the pale Of the re-
ligion that works the will of God.
This is the region of sentiment and
the religion of universality. The dilu-
ton of religion today comes from the
effort made by small men to strain
the strong essence of this vast soul
solution through the fine meshes of
their little plans for the reformation
of society or such elements In it as
they are disposed to patronize. Reli-
gion has the strongest of affiliations
with mankind. But it knows no class.
It is social in it's efforts, but it has
the widest affinity for the individual.
1t is as much folly to seek to limit the
scope of it's relations al to limit the
range of the atmosphere. Those who
would harness it to specific tasks to
the denial of it's efficacy for the en-
tire work Of mankind are without
any serviceable idea of the univer-
sal need of men for the agencies of
religion and the universal adaptation
of religion to the life of the soul.
Basic Faith of Mankind.
Faith in God is universal simply
because the race is of this character
and the ends of the race are of uni
versal scope. Religion as the science
of human destiny must be coordinate
with the scope of human destiny. It
is therefore a cheapening and weak
ening of the power of faith to seek to
define it in terms of any class or
clan. Christian socialism is a term de-
scriptive of a human program rather
than divine process. The same may
be said Of any other form of differ
entiation of religious activities to bear
upon some propositions of sect or
some school of social reform. The
basic faith of mankind is the faith
that works for salvation through the
individual, thus controlling the mass.
Creeds are SO many scraps of paper,
like treaties. They profess to be
contracts between God and men
whereby the latter claim the bless
ings of the former in terms of these
agreements. There is no proof of
their ratification at all by God. AS
for their subscription to by men,
they have been violated time and
again in the interests of the armies
of classes of men who have sought
to usurp the field of divine opportu-
nifty opened to mankind by means Of
creeds.
1t is not a dilution of faith to
give it universal effect. Z Religion is
the one medium known to men that
does not get thinned by extension. 1t
means in reality saving it from the
in~fltrations of human opinion and
human passion and human prejudice
and human interest. The faith of
GOd is universal and only as it oper
ates in this way can it do the full
work of grace and goodness for the
human race.
Looking Toward the Ideal.
Were there a real democracy of re-
ligion there would be no wars and
strifes between men. Were there a
universal acceptance of the precepts
of Jesus Christ there would be no oc-
casion for uprisings and revolution.
Were the truths of faith held to by
all men-the unformulated accept
ance of the sovereignty of Almighty
God and the acceptance of the teach
ings of Jesus Christ as the most ade-
quate working expression of faith
there would be no classes and divis-
ions and strifes and envyings among
men. The ideal must come with the
rise of human intelligence to that
plane at which it can grasp ade-
quately the idea of God in human so
ciety and divine direction in human
affairs.
No matter how worthy, no matter
how idealistic any propaganda or
creed may be, if it delimits the oper-
alton of Gods grace and sets the seal
of divine purpose only upon the cor
rection of some passing ills of society,
it thereby tends to lessen reliance
upon faith as the corrective for all
the evils of mankind. The individual
is the unit of the race and of re.
ligion, and his redemption will solve
all the problems of society. 1t is diff
cult to apply a unitary system to the
mass.