The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1918-07-25
yesper Service on Bloomfield Com.

The second Of the series Of out
door vesper services al the First Bap-
fist church was held on Bloomfield
Common, last Sunday evening. The
extreme heat Of the day made the
cool lawn under the big elms an ideal
spot for worship at the sunset hour,
and the service was one of great
beauty and impressiyeness. The mu-
steal program consisted Of the favor
ite old hymns Of the church sung
by the chorus led by Mrs. Philo
Steward, with Mrs. J. Abbott Kendall
at the organ, and a solo by Mr. Rich
ard Turner, Come Unto Me-. DR..
o. H. Tracy delivered an eloquent
sermon on the subject Some Signi-
ficant Tendencies of Modern Religious
Thought, taking his Scripture lesson
from Pauls sermon on Mars Hill.
DR.. Tracy said in part:
Every period of development in
the church has been marked by great
achievements thus We have the age
that produced religious art the age
which gave us our great church mu-
sic; the age when men expressed their
religion in building marvellous cathe-
drals; and the age when the great
religious doctrines were formed To-
day We are living in period of trans
ition when men are changing their
of nd aF brie4 iar
ity as men grow to understand bet
ter the real meaning of Christ's mis-
sion and teaching, and it is we'll for
us to pause and consider the trend
of these new thoughts and concep-
lions of religion that are abroad in
the world today.
First, we are learning to think more
of the humanity of God. The attri-
butte of God which Jesus best loved to
mention was His Fatherhood All
the best that we know in motherhood
and all the best that we know In faith
erhood are united in Him. Also, we
are believing more in the divinity OF
man The old doctrine of the total
depravity of man has given place to
this new doctrine. Jesus loved to go
about among men whom Others called
sinful and lost, to arouse the sparks
of divinity in them. God is ever
seeking to incarnate Himself in man /;
we must give the angel that is within
us a chance.
Third. we are coming to realize the
solidarity of the human race. All ma
tons of the earth are "of our blood
and in all essential things are one
Just as poverty, squalor and disease
in one home in a neighborhood Will
affect the entire neighborhood, sc
ignorance and wrong in nation will
affect the whole world. People come
to us from all corners of the earth
and we must see that all are fairly
and Justly treated and are by our
brotherly love and kindness made
real part of our nation, for the whole
nation will suffer from injustice OF
harshness toward them. The race
problem of the South is our problem
too. and unless we help them solve il
we must suffer the consequences with
them. Instead of thinking in terms
of our community or state, we must
think in terms of nationalism The
time has come to think in terms, not
of patriotism, but of internationalism
Last we now believe that character
determines destiny; God does not
arbitrarily decide a mans destiny for
him. but he determines it himself by
his own thoughts and actions. These
four things, the humanity of God, the
divinity of man, the solidarity OF the
human race and the fact that char
acter determines destiny, are the
great thoughts that are foremost in
the minds of men today that show
the tendencies of Christianity.