Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-12-09

cially to emphasize is that our reli-
gion is not going to come out of this
war unchanged. 1 believe we are go
inE 10 have purcr faith. Il broader
| vision and a more willing spirit OF ser
vice than ever before. ] believe we are
going TO lay less stress OH the little
nothingS Of denomination differences
and more on the great fundamentals Of
| COO. Christ and the soul. In DR.. Motifs
description of the y. NJ. G.. a. work
at the front. what puzzled. and still
puzzles. me is that while the Y. NJ. c..
a. over there has obliteratcd all crccdal
distinctions and is treating all men
alike on the ground OF their common
humanity. the y. VI. e. 4. over here
Fhas crccdai test. admitting 30 mem
| bership only the so-callcd eyanSeiicals.
and refusing admittancc TO Catholics
and Unitarians 1 see the Same spirit
! in our churches. / find people over
here threshing the old straw of de-
nominational prejudice. while their
| sons and brothers and friends are go
ing to fight against unti-Christ for the
common heritage of all Christian peo-
pie the world over. If ever there was
time when we should be thinking
| only of the big and not OF the little
things. il is now. II ever there was a
| time when we should emphasize the
things that unite and not divide, II Is
/ the present hour. IL passes compre-
/ hension how any one can be Interested
in these petty quarrels inherited from
the past when the very existence of
the things that wc prize more than
| !!fe itself are at stake. When your
mouse is on fire. arc you going to save
your trinkets or %our wife and chill
drcn? When world is in flames are
you going TO chop logic about forms
pf baptism. etc. that have no conceiv-
able relation to the business OF the
hour. and only serve TO distract the
Christian conscience Of the world from
the one thing needful?
And after the war is over. what are
we to expect? Are we TO expect that
when every other institution has un-
dergone profound change for the
better. the church alone shall continue
TO travel in the same old ruts. having
learned nothing and forgotten nothing
Is our religion to remain the same i'm
potent thing that it was in the years
before the war, powcrlcss 10 prevent
| the recurrence of similar world
| tragedy? Are we 10 be forever tithing
mint, anisc and cummin of theology
and ritual and ecclesiastical! precedent,
when there will come out OF this war
a world eager for spiritual leadership.
Z
inarticulateiy, hut none the less really,
saying with the Greeks in the gospels:
'Sirs we would see Jesus" 1t Is He
the world wants. not our human inven-
tons about Him. The soldiers at the
front and the nations that arc really
III this war 1--WE are not in il yeti are
! teaching us the real meaning of the
| cross which we have been preaching
only from the lips out. Shall they re-
turn TO our churches. after the war. nd
find only the same old windy verbiage
about the cross. and not the crucified
Savior Himself-the example and in
! SEPARATION OF all heroic cndeavor of all
nnselfsh service, of all self sacrificing
! love?
VIII we have the courage to do as
da Ninci did-to obliteratc at one
stroke all that draws the thoughts and
! irnaginations of men away from the
central figure OF our faith. and let
f! them see Him and Him only?
believe We shall cannot believe
otherwise. God will surely make His
church anew. The new politics. the
which will only be the same old relig-
ion OF salvation through Jesus Christ,
better understood. more truly valued,
more lpyally obcyed.
The tides Of God are running. II
cannot lie but that they will lift His
church from the sandbars OF narrow
ness and self complaisance on which
for so long it has been stranded. and
bear II out into the ocean of a fuller
and freer life!