The Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, GA.) 1906-1907, December 08, 1906, Image 15
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN,
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1906.
ippm
WHAT IS RELIGION?—V
By REV. JAMES W. LEE,
PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH
>•••••■••••••<
In dosing the last chapter of this
I, .Uirv It was declared that for thou-
l!^d» of years man lived in the very
I psence of every equipment he needed
I Trills physical and social well-being.
I that he failed, until within recent
I Hr* to find It, because he sought to
I Ijrstand the material facts around
through theories spun out of his
I wail nation. rather than through such
I is court he obtained by the study of
1 M farts themselves.
' He falls Just as sadly to find the
I truth storeh away for him in religious
I farts, because he continues to approach
I , h „„ for the most part with concep-
I H . U n out of his Imagination, rath-
Irrthan with the Ideas formed In the
I ntlnd from a patient study of the re.
Illgious facts themselves. To Illustrate
I ,,-hat Is meant let us consider one of
self-devlsed mediaeval theories
I with which he has approached man
I himself In whom Is contained one-half
1 the facts of religion. The working con-
I rertlon ol man he has chosen to meas-
I are him by Is that ho Is totally de
praved. The hypothesis has been that
11- plum's fall we sinned all and hence
I every one according to tlio theory has
I i*en under the necessity of ridding
I himself, not only of Ills • own sin, but
l a l„ of Adam's sin: every person car-
I rieii in his soul a double outflt of
| min that the first man deposited In
I Hi, life and that accumulated by his
1 wrong doing. This conception of
I nisn rendered the moral condition of
I the sinner hopeless. He was not
I even thought to be a child of God until
had squared the debt left him to
v by the federal head of the race and
| (hen secured forgiveness for his Imll-
I vidua! transgressions of the laws of
I God. He wus not a child of Ootl es-
| initially and constitutionally and In-
Iherently because created In His Image,
I but because a child of his Father by
| romethlng ho did or was required to do.
If a -inner he was not a child In rebel
lion: he was not a child at all. He was
It hopeless w anderer and orphan wlth-
Inui father or mother, an outcast with
I nothing left him but to eke out a mls-
lerablc existence In the outlying regions
I upon which Satan had established his
I kingdom. The image of God accord-
ling lo this view was not Inwrought in
I the very constitution of man; It wns
I more like a clock to be put aside when
for C „ h r. t0 le , av ,® ,he father's house
for a season of riotous living In a far
Why It was that the spirit
rU he *f" ,er “"fated to seek the
child and to find something In the
wanderer to appeal to, with the Iniuge
?.»s ' th ?, badge of relationship to the
father relinquished and left behind.
i,5°* eeeur to the leaders to ask.
Nor did a occur to them to remember
that If man ceased to be a child of God
by transgressing His law he was uble
then by an act of his to disrupt and
When ft „L rea,lvc S ct ot the Almighty!
men bi. a °?u CI 5 ated nlan and breathed
Into him the breath of life he became
a living soul with the Imago of God
w mp £ , i ln ver >' flbers "I his he-
Inip The colors with which he Nva:
lighted were eternally set In the struc
ture of his life. Even the fires of hell
ca ” never bum them out. Forever
and forever anywhere and everywhere
he will continue to be a child of God.
If lost because of iVlIful, sinful per
sistence In the ways of evil, he will be
a lost cnild of God. If paved because
or faltnrul compliance with divine
condition* of eternal blessedness lie
will be a redeemed child of God. The
power of choice was an awful and per
ilous prerogative, but it will not do
to claim that this Invests him with
the capuchy to do away with and leave
behind him the very constitution of his
personaIItJy. That is his birthright
and inevitable inheritance to ail eter
nity whether he pursues his unending
career with the redeemed in heaven, or
with the permanently disobedient Ir.
outer darkness. That man Is a sinful
belnic all history testifies, but he did
not drop out of himself by sinning. He
disrupted the unity of himself as a per
sonal spirit in harmony with God by
fulling Into phases of himself as body
and mind. Hut broken and fragmen
tary and Impotent us he came to be
by his disohedieifre he never lost the
Ideal framework and lineaments with
whicli God created him. He lost the
power of restoring himself as divided
to himself as a spiritual whole again In
communion with God without divine
aid, but he never lost out
his life the touch and col-
of Ids Father’s Image. If he had
lost this by his sin then the first
man’s disobedience would have eter
nally bankrupted the human race, for
there would have been nothing left
In the center of his soul to which his
heavenly Father could any more ap
peal.
The fathers of the church based the
doctrine of depravity upon the fact that
man was an animal, and as such In
herited the acquired characters of pa
rents. They failed to recognise the
truth that man Is essentially and con
stitutionally spirit and not animal. Tho
animal element in him is temporal and
passing and perishing, while the spir
itual element In him is eternal and
abiding and divine. As an animal, he
does come down from his ancestors,
and were he nothing more, would con
tinue to live on the animal level as his
parents did. looked at from this point
of view, his kingdom would be that of
the lion’s, or the tiger's, or the mon.-
key’s, who, through all the ages, have
inherited and transmitted to their off
spring their animality. But It will not
do to apply this view to man, for It
conceals the fact that spiritual life Im
plies relations to other than the physi.
cal environment. It conceals the fact
that man ns spirit reacts on the spirit,
ual reality that encompasses him, and
In each individual Is a new beginning.
Kach new elephant Is an old elephunt
duplicated and repeated, and hence ele
phants keep to elephant level through
out all time and never rise above It or
advance. Modern monkeys are nothing
more than new editions of old mon
key.*;. There Is nothing more In the
squirrel of today than there was in tho
first squirrel that over climbed a tree.
8qulrre)ho0<J in the same nimble, sport
ive, animated activity throughout all
time. It comes down to us from the
past, but on a straight, level line of
descent. The movement of man through
the ages, however, has been upwaril*
and. upward because, being a self-
conscious, self-determining, self-active
spirit, made in the image of God, ho has
been reacting throughout his entire
earthly career upon the Infinite self-
conscious, self-determlnlng, self-active
spirit by which he fs environed.
The poet sings:
“Ka/ih day is a fresh beginning,"
but God tells us In the structure of our
being that each child is a fresh begin
ning. The poor law inspector of Glas
gow. Scotland, sends every year to
different orphuns* homes numbers of
little children, found in the streets,
picked up selling newspapers between
the knees of drunkards in public
houses, un being asked how far these
children, born almost Invariably of the
worst parents, suffered from their in
heritance, his startling reply was:
“Provided you get them young
enough, they cannot be said to suf-
DR. J. W. LEE.
fer at all from this cause."
He supported this conclusion by sta
tistics which showed that out of (130
children sent out and kept tinder close
observation for years only £ome 23
turned out bad. The ores who turned
out bad did not roach the homes early
enough.
The theory of total depravity In
the sense It was formerly held has
had its day. It has wrought mischief
enough. Dr. Thomas J. Barn&rdo, be
lieving that God’s Image wns liu every
child, and that every child properly
trained, properly Instructed and spirit
ually environed would grow Into a
useful and beautiful man or woman,
rescued from the streets of English
cities 60,000 waif children and edu
cated them and brought them up in
the nurture nnd admonition of the
Lord, and had the happiness before
| he died to know that only about two
I per cent of them proved to be failures.
1 When ln conversation with Luther
Burbank, who is accomplishing such
wonderful results with plants and
flowers, I mentioned to him that only
2 per cent of Barnardo’a children failed
under his treatment to make good
men and women, he exposed surprise
that even so many as 2 per cent should
have gone*wrong. He accounted for
it on the grounds that perhaps some
of the children did not get into Bar-
nardo’s home early enough. He re
marked In tho same connection that
plans owed everything to heredity, while
children owed everything to environ
ment. His theory was not .one he had
found In books, or constructed by his
Imagination, It was one he had formed
by observation and experiment with
plants and children. His conviction
was that every child should grow up
good end true and beautiful and would
If properly environed. But he ob
served that the spiritual realities to
which the child Is related must be
kept around Its opening life as con
stantly as truth must be kept close
to its thought, and food and atmos
phere close to its physical needs. He
declared that a new era would dawn
for the human race when our concep
tions of childhood were formed from a
study of young life, and were not re
ceived reads® made from those In the
past who manufactured their theorlus
without reference to facts.
VI.
Let us consider further the self*de
vised theological conception with which
ipan was accustomed to come to the
consideration of God from the time of
Augustine to that of John Wesley. Hla
Idea was that by the decree of God,
for the manifestation of His glory some
men and angels are predestinated to
everlasting life, and others arc fore
doomed to everlasting death. His theo
ry wus that God. by an eternal and
Immutable counsel, hath once for all
determined both w hom He would admit
to salvation and whom He would con
demn to destruction. He held that this
counsel was founded completely on His
gratuitous mercy, totally Irrespective
of human merit, that those left to de
struction were not given over to eter
nal torment because of their wrong do
ing, nor were those chosen to eternal
blessedness selected because of any
foresight of faith or good wpijcs on
their part. According to tho theory God
was anxious to maintain both His glory
nnd His justice. So through the power
of His grace He forced elected sin
ners to come to terms of forgiveness
that they might share His mercy and
sustain Hla glory, while the non-elect
sinners who were just as promising
specimens of humanity as the ones
chosen were left to writhe forever in
hell and thus sustain His justice. Ac
cording to some of the old fathers one
of the highest and keenest joys re
served for the saints In glory would be
to lean over the ramparts of heaven
and watch the sinners rise and fall
and alternate between agony and de
spair In a seething lake of boiling fire.
Such a continual' exhibition of per
petual heart-rending pain, it was
thought, would add depth and seat to
the happiness of the redeemed.
With a conception of man that held
him to he totally depraved, and with
a conception of God that held Him to
he loving and considerate In His re
lation to the elected part of the race,
while merciless, Indifferent and heart
less to the non-elect, we can readily
see that tho working theories of even
religious men were as completely
turned from the truth as It is In man
and God, as the old theories of caloric
were turned from the real truth of
heat, or as the old theories of the al
chemists were turned from the real
nature of the atoms. Theories of na
ture, man and God were formed with
out reference to the facts, material,
human or divine.
VII.
The science of a thing, then, Is sim
ply 'the Idea of It the mind gets by the
study of It. It Is the relations of It
and the thought In It converted into
verifiable, valid knowledge. It Is the
theory of a fact the mind finds Im
bedded In the fact Itself, and after
wards gets out to use ln manipulating
It and turning it to account. It is tho
light In a fact, kept burning by its re
lations, the mind finds by the light of
Intelligence and transfers from the out
side to the Inside of Itself. All facts,
we may say, whether material or re
ligious, are aflame with the Are of truth
kindled In them by the eternal Intelll-
K nee. When man gets the light in
cts to beaming in his own thought
he has the science of them. The Lord
Is the light of the universe and the
spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.
Bcienco Is the radiance that Illuminates
the mind when the candle Is lit by
rays from tho eternal center and source
of all light. Science Is to the mind
what the sun Is to the eyes, the latter
discloses the outer surface of things
and the former makes known the hid
den meaning of things. When we 1 have
the science of a thing wo have the Ught
by which to see the entire content of
It. Science Is valuable, therefore, as n
burning hand lamp in a mansion is
valuable to show un where the tilings
are an$ what the things aro belonging
to different sides of our life. Science
creates nothing: It only reveals the
nature and value u>t what is.
The mind has three modes of ener
gizing—through the intellect, through
the desire and through the will. The
Intellect Is the mode of energizing by
which the human mind deals with tin-
relations of facts. The desire Is th<*
mode of energizing by which the mind
deals with the values of facts. The
will is the mode of energizing by which
the mind performs the> work:necessary
to the appropriation of tMe 1 values of
facts. Relations are the wrappers in
which facts arc bound'Up. It Is the
province of the Intellect to untie the
pacages, thus disclosing to life the
contents and values of the facts. When
this is done the side of life to which
the value Is related will call for It. If
the package contains food for the body,
hunger will call for It. If the packnge
contains mathematical relations sim
ply without any content, the Intelli
gence will call for It. If the package
contains a mixture of atmospheric vi
brations, tho musical sense will call for
If a mixture of ether waves, the
sense of beauty will call for It. If it
Is a bundle of laws for the regulation
of conduct, the conscience will call for
It. If It Is a religious package, the in
tellect unwraps the spirit will call for
It In this way the huma inelf.
standing In the presence of the uni
versal store house In which all kinds
of bundles are wrapped-up and packed,
away, by means of its faiultltk, intel
lect, desire and will, untie* them, wants
them and appropriates 1 them for the
equipment and furnlslunent -of the.
whole of life. Humanity has been so
busy for the post half a century un
wrapping the packages which contain
values for the material well-being of
man that the moral and religious bun
dles have been largely Ignored. The
time has come to take down from the
higher shelves of the environing mer
chandise the values which rebate to
the spiritual well-being of man.
Man cannot live by bread alone; that
Is the tangible and material word of
God. He needs for the enrichment of
his entire self every word that pro
ceeded out of the mouth of God, that
Is, he must take the words spoken for
the ethical and spiritual nature cm woll
as that spoken for the physical.
WHAT IS IT TO BE SAVED?
“Ths life I now live in the flesh I live
in faith—the faith which is in the Son
of God who loved me and gave Him
self up for me.”—Galatians ii: 20.
IIHHMItHMHMMIMI
*•••••••• •••••••••!
i L
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH
IIMMIIiMHIlHItHIHtMII
W IAT la it to bo saved? "The
word ‘salvation,’ ” some one
“ays, “Is a word which, like a
I well-worn coin, has been so passed
I from hand to hand, that It scarcely re-
I mains legible.” I know a man of ln-
I telllgence nnd of exceptional morality,
I who Is not a Christian, and who has
I very little use for the conventional re-
I liglous teaching with which he has
I been himlllar nil his Ilfs. A friend one
day urged him to give, himself to the
I Saviour. ”1 know you do not believe
| you can save .yourself and I have rea-
[ ion to know that you are not satisfied
as you are,” he said to him. "Do you
I know of any other Saviour than Jesus
I Christ?"
The man thus urged faced his friend
squarely and said: “May I ask you a
question? What do you mean by being
| saved?"
Th, question was asked so earnestly
and delivered with euch short-arm,
I point-blank directness that the friend
I of Chiist realised that he had to con-
I elder more carefully than ho had ever
I done before what he tlld mean by being
| "saved."
It was a fair question. Tho man had
I the right to ask It and to require
lan answer that would do him some
I rood. There are many people, I am con-
I vlnced, Loth In the church and out of
I it, who would confess themselves per-
I Mixed nnd troubled by their indefinite
land unsatisfying understanding of the
I matter of personal salvation. "What
Idoyou mean by being saved?”
The Answer That Misses.
■' teal source of confusion Is. that
I were Is more than ono way In which
I the question may be answered and yet
■ answered truly.
I There la the theological answer, am-
I Moling technical terms with technical
I ?fiu ru f y ln 'ugleal keeping with the
I authorities and tile proof texts. Such
I an answer as the professor would make
I cl!U * °f theological students.
I , ls tl,e answer also In the care-
I | , wo rda of sound doctrine fit
I ;° r ' nrlatians of a mature mind, which
properly artlculatea their creed und an
chors them to exact conceptions of
Christian truth.
For ino these answers are most Im
portant. Tho theological nnd doctrinal
facts of salvation are to bo sought out
and systematized by all mature Chris
tians. I have been at pains to do this
for myself and us a teacher I have tried
to set them out- clearly to others. I
believe In the great words of our faith
—Repentance. Reconciliation, Regen
eration and Banctlficutlon, man’s part
and God’s part In our salvation.
Rut when that man to whom the
stock phrases of religion were unreali
ties, stood before Ills friend nnd looked
him squarely und said, "What do you
mean by being saved ?” shall ho tell
him these things In answer?
I do not think so. To answer hint 111
that way la to loso him at once. That
definition of the saved life would do
him no good at all.
Rut Is salvation one thing for one
man and something else for another?
No; not at nil. Rqlvntlon through
Christ is always and everywhere the
same und all uur hesitation here is due
to our fulltire to keep ono tiling clear.
Hulvatlou Is not our work. We do not
save people. Our work is to get men
lo Christ nnd leave the divine work to
tho Divine Worker. We can trust
Christ’, orthodoxy. Paul said that he
was all things to all men If by any
means IYe might save some. Ho meant
that he wus In the work of getting men
to take hold of Christ sufllolontly to
enable Him to get bold uf them, und
that lie wus not bound to any rigid
rule In Ills method of work. The result
wus what he wanted. There is but one
salvation, but more tltun cm- way of
coming to the Saviour.
To put at rest all doubt, make the
effort to find In the New Testament
any uniform dealing by Christ or the
apostles with Inquiring sinners. You
will be Impressed that the Now Testa
ment might almost be called a book
showing the varieties of Christian ex
periences. Several Instances ure re
corded In which the same question xve
began with was propounded to Christ.
One nskod Him what should he do,
and Christ replied: “Give your coat to
him that hath none.” Another at the
same time asked the same question,
nnd He answered: "Exact from no man
more than that which Is allowed to
you." Homo soldiers asked It and He
said: "Do no. violence, neither accuse
any man falsely, and lie content with
your wages." To the young ruler He
answered: "Go soil what thou hast anil
give to the poor und come and follow
Me."
Paul asked the question at the time
of his conversion, and tile answer he
got was not that ho gave to the Phil
ippian jailor who asked It of him—"Re
pent, bellevo and be buptlzed.”
It Is not too much to say. I think,
that Christ’s way Into human hearts
may be blocked by the rigid enforce
ment of conditions made In an honest
though mistaken loyalty to doctrinal
requirements. As a matter of expe
diency. which would be wisely a matter
of our judgment, It might be contended
either one way or the other, but as a
matter of Hcrlpture It Is entirely with
out sanction or authority that men nre
to be brought to Christ through a fixed
formulu.
Dr. W. W. Humllton, an experienced
evangelist, says that he was converted
by being sent Into a secluded room lo
pray, and that be finds hhnself urging
inquirers to go off Into a room by
themselves. It is natural that we should
want everybody else to come at salva
tion just as we cume at It. A certain
brother was converted at tho old-fash
ioned mourners' bench. He thinks that
the trouble with us Is that we do not
have the old-fashioned mourners'
bengli. Another was converted under
the terror of the law, and yet another
was touched und melted by the por
trayal of the love of God. It Is not un
natural that they should be minded to
fix their experience os the criterion.
Hut manifestly It cannot be done. Con
ditions, temperament, environment,
training mid point of view are to be
reckoned with.
So I say thut to the great mass of
people In the church and nut of It who
would ask, "What ts It to be saved?”
DR. JOHN E. WHITE.
the perplexed and troubled people to
whom at times everything seems
muddled and Indefinite, there must be
an answer that Is so fundamental In
Its plainness and adaptation to their
situation that they run take hold of It
and make ut least a beginning ot
Christ.
The Essential Christian Fact
Now for guidance into what seems
to me the csscntlul Christian experl-
... __ alth
which Is In the Son of God who loved
me and gavo Himself up for me.” This
Is the moat deflnlttvo passage about
the Christian life In all the atatementa
of the New Testament. It is a great
Cjirlstlan's definition of what the saved
life Is. He says that tho soved life la
a life here and now tlvod In a personal
union with a trusted Savior. That def
inition leaves out many things which
the mature Christian who has been
well taught might wish to put In, but
It ienves nothing out that Is essential
to salvation. If I understand my case,
and tho case of some who hear me,
when I said to that man xvho asked,
"What do you mean by being saved
that to be saved ts to begin now to live
day by day In a personal, trusting re
lation with Jesus Christ, he would say,
"I am glad to hear you say that. I am
glad you did not say that to be saved
was to be ‘born again,' or that It was
to lay your sins at the foot uf the
cross, or thnt It was to be kept out
of hell herenfer. or thnt It was to be
good and join the church. These tilings
may be, but I am all at sea when I
try to get at them. Rut I feel there
Is reality for me In what you tell me.
I must, to be n Christian, get In with
, Christ for the life I now live In the
1 fiesh, and I suppose that means that
I must believe In Him through and
through and follow Him and consult
Him every day, and do everything ac
cording to Him. nnd leave my salva
tion entirely to His power."
Now, this ls a very fragmentary and
Inadequate conception of what it Is
to be saved when you nre talking to
theologians, but I think It holds just
about what Christ would have said to
a man like that, and It certainly holds
what the great apostle conceived as the
vital fact of his sulvutlun.
Nor Is thero any real slight to the
ology. If there Is one perplexed man
or woman who hears oV reads what I
have said, one who Is Inwardly con
fused by the exacting formulas of doc
trine, I venture to assert It he will turn
straight away from his doubts and lay
hold of this as a personal experiment,
that the life ho now IIvch In tho flesh
every day Is to be lived In a personal
relation to Jesus Christ accepted ami
trusted ias a Master, lie will In a very
short time find himself doing two
things: First, realizing religion as a
real power In hla life; second, himself
coming back to appreciate the great
doctrines and understanding them just
ns they are, as merely the philosophic
formulas of the experience V‘‘ has now
come to knoiV as a flirt,,,Pcopla do not
become sceptics through the fault of
theology, but they become' theologians
because of their experience of the truth.
It Is, of course, a very foolish thing
for one to lose his religious experience
by devotion to doctrines, but no more
foolish than for a man to loso his hold
on doctrines through an Imagined loyal
ty to his religious experience. When
1-hear a preacher say that he loves
flowers, but hates botany, and loves
the stars, but hates astronomy, and
loves God, but hate* theology, t know
what he Is doing. Ho Is deullng In
clap-trap. And yet, no ono will think
of questioning that It Is more Impor
tant to have the flowers than to have
botany, und stars than to have astron
omy, and Und than to have theology,
and to have the experience of Christ In
the heart than correct doctrines about
Him In the head.
As a Little Child.
The helpful truth for us all Is that
If we want spiritual safety for our
souls we must never mistake the farms
of faith for faith Itself, nor belief In
the formulas of salvation for the expe
rience of It. The personal union with
Jesus Christ In the life wc now live In
tho fiesh Is the real thing. It la ele
mental, Indispensable, absolute. When
all else gives way this anchor holds.
o of the most beautiful things In
the world are the faith of a child and
the faith ot an old man. And ths beau
ty of one la the beauty of the other.
It has been noticed by ult that the
child Chrlstluu has no real comprehen
sion of doctrines, but tho thing with
the child ts a- personal affection for
Jesus, a simple readiness of trust nbout
Him and a quick appreciation of what
may please or displease Him. A good
mother came to me with her little boy
and snld: "1 do not know whether my
boy ought to join the church or not. Ho
Insists on doing so. and aaya that he
wants to be baptized because Christ
was, und because He commanded us to
be. I wish you would talk with him
and see If he underatands the plan of
salvation sufficiently to join the
church.” I asked the child some ques
tions. He did not understand the plan
of salvation os the books on my shelf
understood It, but this that boy did un
derstand: He understood that Jesus
was a real person; that He loved and
gave Himself up for boys, and that
Christ was In hla heart aa hla God and
Friend. Now, was that not what the
Master meant when He was speaking
lo grown-up people who had made re
ligion to consist of doctrinal and ec
clesiastical exactions, and said, "Verily
I say unto you, except ye turn about
and become os tittle children ye shall
In no wise sco the Kingdom of God?"
It has been also noticed by all that aa a
Christian man comes to the sunset of
life, that In that rare nnd tender glow
of the evening light he See things In
refracted elemental clearness and sim
plicity.
It Is not always sa marked In his ex
pressions, for ths theological habit
lolds on hard, but If in bis religion he
has made much of Cnrlat os a personal
Master It Is true that the old man
draws In the emphasis on his creed
from the great theological conceptions
which have been his beliefs for a long
time and centers the accent of his fstth
In a personal dependence upon the
dear Saviour who loved him and gave
Hlinself up for him.
Step by step as he draws nearer and
nearer to the end hi* heart concen
trates Its gase upon the Cbrfit. When
the eyelids flutter and close forever the
last earthly sub-consciousness of hlu
soul is simply this, "My Lord and my
cod." ■:::: .
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U/yvr TTT^ T3T^>TOT7' T TTZ^TT^TZ)N By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD,]
1 rlr^ 1 Ivlv^lv Ur IvllDrVrv 11 PASTOR universalist church 1
T ,,k final reaults In the most re-
'.‘■fitly famous ecclesiastical trial,
[T nave served to remind ut that It
is*. ' •’""••We for men to live in
t * ent leth century and think In the
: nth century. Here was an ne-
nMlteil leader and teacher of religion
iJl 1 *' honesty and sincerity had never
' „'!f c been called Into question. His
a " a builder and strengthener of
ha' "‘orals was appreciably felt In
cm, ''""““unity. The regeneration of
individual live* testified elo-
SfhfiY to the power of hla personal
•nun,,'! and the reasonableness of Ills
I'WsUnt accepts.
Wh.
■" received lit* commission
nil authority to go forth as a tnes-
i"*' i .if Christ and "preach the gos-
H, V’ Bve tT creature,” he curried In
heart the echo of hla Master’s
ti... ., und command, "ye shall know
' “til and th* truth shall make
Doubtless, therefore, he
himself to be henceforth sn
««>■ i a,ld Prophet of truth. In what-
t „, ’-hanging and expanding form ahe
ronstantly present herself to his
j|J?P' " n ' But he was doomed to That
"•PPelntment which is ever the por-
him whose high Ideal and
hi”*' Pursuit of knowledge takes not
ru»nrf Cuns J derat ; <>n th* relentlee* de-
authority and the strong
hand Of conservatism and
He was soon to discover
t, „ ' '“'rad of being commissioned to
•r»r f .’Phct °f truth, to answer whal-
hj,l '"ion hy which she might call, he
ln P!y lieen hired to defend the
i a,i other men, who, sometime,
la-,. !' n engaged In the serious busl-
Tii, r„ ’yawing creed*,
tea r.2 * Perhaps no more perilous
f e ponslble position than that of
the accredited leader of religion whose
Influence Is of considerable scope, V. ho,
while holding even more tenaciously
Uinn before to the fundamentals of the
"faith of his fathers," has yet ex
perienced a decided rhnngi. and devel
opment concerning his acceptance of
certain Incidental belltfs of those same
loved and revered fathers.
Three courses of action seem to be
open to him, either one of which looms
large with possibilities of misunder
standing, misinterpretation und whole
sale criticism and condemnation ut the
hands of his former friends und
laborers.
First. He may withdraw entirely
from his position of power os a leader
and teacher of men, and let his voice no
longer be heard In the councils of
righteousness. Though ho may not
turn a deaf ear to the voice of truth,
yet he may seal up her message In hla
own heart, and by this very policy ad
mit to the world his uncertainty as to
the reliability of his spiritual ears. This
course will probably ivin for him less
of the reproach and rebuke of Ills
friends than either of the others and
for this reason It is often the refuge
of the moral weakling, but It Is al
most certain to stultify Ills B °ul. and
lose for him his spiritual and Intel-
lectual identity, and thus merit the
pity of all virile men,
find u happy solution for his problem,
but let him not hope to escape the
bluer aspersions of Ills fellow-men for
w hom n creed Is an object of worship
rather than n tciujioniry convenience.
Third. He may try to remain In the
theological home of his fathers. He
may elect to continue his work of "tell
ing tho good news of the kingdom” in
that household of faith so dear to him
by memory and lifelong ass -Tatlon.
With euger Joy he may endeavor to
shed Into the hearts of those by whose
•Ides he has earnestly and lovingly la
bored the new light which has gloriflad
his own soul, and In whose radiance he
walks no longer gropingly, but with
Increasing assurance and with ever
more definite purpose. His gratitude
to the God who has led him out of the
house of bondage may seek a practical
expression by assisting toward that lib
erty the captives of his most Immediate
knowledge and association.
History Informs us that this third
avenue out of their spiritual dilemma
has been the one almost Instinctively
chosen by that vast and constantly In
creasing array ot the apostles and
prophets of truth and progress for
whose cataloging we have Invented
the word "heretic.” History also just
os reliably Informs us by many a gory
page and man/ u gruesome finger
mark, how promptly and how Invaria
bly these prophets of truth found their
chosen avenue of progress effectively
blocked by those who forever worship
the going down of the sun and who
Second. He may openly and sin
cerely "go over to the enemy: - he may
Join himself to the force* of the op-
!hos«" wlmse 7heolog?eat view’s most persistently refuse to follow where they
a wox mate those which he have never before been led.
nearly approximate contlmle True It Is that wo have attained
“.I'i.e'ihe function of a prophet and somewhat of refinement In tho cruelty
lawful til the work of building up of our persecution, and the heresy hunt
[he ungdem ifcXand. Incidentally, and Us aftermath U hot so disgustingly
\
REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD.
fall of horror as In former days, but
much of the spirit still remains. "Con
form or be killed,” said the established
ecclesiastical authority of three hun
dred years ago. "Conform or desert
and then be called a traitor,” says the
ecclesiastical authority of the twen
tieth century.
The spirit of Intolerance which lib
erated from their bodies by the fiery
ordeal the souls of Savonarola and of
,Mlchael Servetus, which hounded from
their homes the founders of religious
liberty In this land, and which com
mitted the eccleslustlcal brutalities
which mar the early history of Nen-
England. was simply a more violent
manifestation ot the self-same spirit
which breathes forth In a very able
editorial In a recent Issue of one of our
local papers. Here tho writer most
severely arraigns the Rev. Dr. Crapsey
for his stand regarding the new revela
tions made to his soul, charging him
with cruel deceit nnd dishonesty and
with having mode a studied attempt to
disrupt and overthrow tne very founda
tions of the organization which had
commissioned him as a messenger to
tho people. The writer evidently over
looks the fact that this most recent
addition to th* "noblf army of mar-
tyra” has only attempted to follow In
the footsteps of all those who preferred
truth to creed, since tho beginning of
man's record upon the earth, the at
tempt to effect a reformation of the In
stitution from the Inside. Surely Dr.
Crapeey Is not to be condemned thus
bitterly for allowing himself to dream
that he might be successful where
others hod failed. Think, for a mo
ment, of the long line ot lllustrloua ex
amples whose splendid courage and he
roic devotion must have Inspired him.
Time will suffice but for the mention of
one, and let that be the one whose Ilfs
Is the light of men. Let us throw prej
udice and passion and superstition aside
for a moment and be reasonable men.
Who was Jesus, then, but a heretic, as
judged by the ecclesiastical authority
uf bis day? And, worst of all, In the
judgment of the writer of the editorial ploratlon, but anxious only that hi--
already referred to. He wax a heretic
w-ho Insisted upon proclaiming Hla
heresies while still dsclarfng Hfs alle
giance to the eatabllshed faith. If wo
may trust His own declarations regard
ing tho tnattor, He had no desire to
found a distinct and separate sect, nor
did He .attempt R. Vet He had the
boldness to stand In the synagogues
and proclaim truths-which were dis
tinctly at variance with the accepted
religious teachings of His day. And
certainly the failure of. His attempt to
effect from the Inside a reformation of
tho loved religion ot His fathers, may
not be charged by us today to any In
sincerity ot motive or dishonesty of
purpose.
The escape from physical, religious,
political or spiritual bondage Is always
a proceeding fraught with hardship
and danger. We pay a high price fur
our liberty. Yet what true man Is
there who ever begrudges the price,
when once bu has tasted the sweets
of freedom?
The little child who essays to escape
the thralldom of babyhood and use
his toddling, uncertain feet In explora
tion ot the mysteries of the vast un
known world must know many painful
falls and bruises ere he may send bis
body unerringly where his will directs,
Tet What parent would discourage his
child's attempts to muster the art ol.
walking, because of the tumbles which
are inevitable? And then, maturity
crowfis the fleeting years, the loving
parent urges Journeys into lands un
known to his own experience, fully
mindful of tho dangers of such ex-
son's knowledge of the world shall be
greater than Ills own.
So must we confidently expect that .
our wanderings In hitherto unexplored
regions of religious truth shall bo al
ways rich In possibilities of danger anil :
of loss. Rut of this we-may bo moral
ly certain—for every loss we shall find ,
a commensurate reward. Ifhe new page ;
session will always be ample return
for the Inevitable giving.up of tha old*
time plaything. And of this we may
also be morally certain, the fund.yi. ii-
tals of religious faith shall be Mn-mitfi-
uned and enlarged rather than dimin
ished as the result of our constant and
fearless exploration. The earth ts not
less Holld and real to the traveler who
has wandered In many lands th-m lo
the babv tumbling about his moth-1 s
dooryard. We shall not lose any --f our
faith in the goodness and power of God.
oven though we may perchance change
our minds concerning some ot th.
things which men havegtaught us to
believe about the origin of one ot ills
sons.
it seems strange that men who be
lieve ln progress In oik other conceiv
able knowledge, and who rejoice In tho
fact that in science nnd In art and In
mechanics the heretic of today Is tho
orthodox of tomorrow, should refuse to
accord to religious thought and knowl
edge the same Inevitable law of prog-
teas. . \ * *
* The man who continues to wall nnd
croak dismally about the gradual end
constant departure of many of the the- -
ologlcal notions of our fathers Is Just
about as logical as the chap who sits'
down In a corner and weeps bitterly
because some one ha told him that
Santa Chius ls a myth.