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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." ■:::: . lIMHIMHtlllHIIII IHMHINMHINIIMHIIIMIIMHHHIIHIIHIUHIHIIIIIIIHHHIIIIIHIIMII itggggtegggf••#•••••••#••••••••••••••••••!••••••••#•••#••••••« IHHtM ■••••HIMHHMI 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.