New Britain herald., 1917-12-26

foundation, a religion that conflicts with no scientific truth, that moves abreast of modern knowledge, re" ngion whose cornerstone IS Justice and Righteousness, 8 religion that sees, not the everlasting misery of mankind but the salvation fof all Gods creatures as the only reasonable consummation of the divine purpose, the triumph of Good and not Evil as your theology has 1t.
 The simple teachings of Jesus have been almost lost in the maze of the- ologies of Paul and Augustine and Calvin Jesus cuts sorry figure alongside Paul in the confession, and 1 instead of the liberality of Jesus,. we | have a church that Is every whit as | narrow and intolerant as Mohapme- ] danism, like it, sending to an eternal hell, all who dare to disagree with them. It Is greatly to the credit Of i, the church that few of those under fifty believe much of the confession. They are church-members because 1t is the only place they can go to en- joy spiritual things, and because their parents were church-members. I know much better than the preacher what these people think of these
 
 freely than to the preacher.
 To the outsider, the spectacle Of Christendom in the first place being divided into two camps Catholic and Protestant), apparently hating each other more than they do the sinner about them, then the Protestant di- vided into nearly 200 sects, all based on differences that they all tell you are not essential, yet they Keep it up.
 And they all go to this very &C., commodating book for their authority for their peculiar notions, spending time, money and energy while they profess to believe that all outside are going to Hell. ..ss
 It would seem that . real sensitive man wh0 believed that all outsfde the church were falling into Hell would not sit so comfortably in his uphol- stered seat in church. impatient per- haps at the long prayer. or sermon that probably might make dinner late, but would be working day andYnight to save his fellows from such an awful fate. =
 I have had a large acquaintance in my lifetime with preachers. and tes- tify that they. speaking broadly, are worthy the respect of all men, as be- ing honest, earnest workers for the good of humanity, very much broader and liberal in private than in public, often lamenting the necessity of ap- bearing to approve doctrines that they did not believe, apo1ogizing just as the church-member does who disbe- lieves so much of the doctrines he apparently accepts when joining the church, believing, as pr. Abbott, that to stay and liberalize is better than to withdraw where fewer people can be reached. I have no criticism for such, although never felt that I could be a member quite conscien- tiously, but have supported 1t, worked for it and defended it against unjust criticism all these years, and have been treated by them, with rare exceptions, just if was one of them. . have never concealed my opinions but have been careful not to impose them on others, and I have good reason tc think that more than one preacher and many laymen have had their religious horizon extended greatly by their association with mo. I have lived to .see a revolution in many things in the church. have seen many hymns dropped from the AAJAAlAo<i' ! A0No oooi 6Oou "OIhSs' which were so despised, made the main thing. I have scarcely heard a doctrinal sermon in forty years. was always ready for tilt with the preacher, assuming that he could de- fend himself but with the gray-haired people, I held my peace unless in- vited.
 have always advised people to go to church. that it was one place where one would never be tempted, where he would hear much that would help, and would not be asked whether he believed this and that, but to come