1916
By H. Symonds, D. D.
God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. — John iv. 4.
I. If we should ask this question "What is the most characteristic and significant difference between the modern and the old way of looking at religion and Christ in particular in its varied manifestations?" I think the answer would be something like this: In the past men thought of religion as some kind of completed system and order of things. A scheme or plan completely fashioned and framed, perfect from the start, handed to men, and by one generation to be transmitted to another unchanged, unimpaired, complete.
It was of course admitted that this ideal had never been realized. From the beginning there were disputes, controversies, heresies, schisms. Nevertheless the conception of religion as a completed scheme was adhered to. The watchword was this: That is true, and that is to be regarded as orthodox and Christian which has been held "everywhere, at all times, and by every one." This conception, mark, was not only the conception of the Catholic, but also of the Protestant. The Protestant thought the Catholic had been false to the principle; that he had introduced many new things. Hence he said we must go back to the New Testament and begin all over again. The fundamental error of the reformers — an error, however, which in their time was unavoidable — was the supposition that the New Testament must contain a complete system of belief of organization of worship. Only find that, they said (and they believed with enthusiasm that it could be found), and all Christians will unite. But alas! — we know how false were these hopes. It might have been supposed that if the New Testament did contain such a scheme, then at all events the true Scriptural organization of the church would have been discoverable.
But it was not. As you know, three different forms of ministry were discovered, each defended as divine and necessary, and with equal learning and logic — the Episcopal theory, the Presbyterian theory, and the Congregational theory.
That was the old way of looking at Christ — a way which has not yet died out, although it is so perfectly clear that something is wrong with it.
The new way of looking at Christianity is to regard it, not as a completed system of belief, worship, or organization, but rather as in the beginning the revelation of a life — the life of Christ in whom was gathered up all that was truest and best in the long preparation of the Old Testament. Behind the actual visible life of Christ was the Spirit and mind of Christ, by which one means the desires, the mo[tives of Christ; it] is this Spirit of Christ that is important. We can not imitate Him in His daily life of act, but we can seek after the motive or the Spirit in which He lived and worked. So, then, to-day we think of Christ not as having given a creed, or a government, or a system of worship, but as having lived in the world His life, and as having bequeathed to the world His Spirit.
But this Spirit comes into conflict with the spirit of the world, the spirit of what we call the natural man. It is not realized all at once; it is not even understood all at once. And so we think of Christianity as something progressively realized as the ages roll on. And as we look at so-called Christian nations, as we contemplate the selfishness, the corruption, the inequalities, the oppressions that still exist, we awake to the fact that even yet Christianity is not perfectly understood, that, e. g., what Christ meant by loving our neighbor as ourselves is not comprehended as yet by any class of society.
Again, although Christianity is primarily and fundamentally a spirit, the Spirit of Christ, yet we know that pure Spirit does not and can not be in this world. We ourselves are body and spirit. We can not express ourselves except by means of our bodies. So the Spirit of Christianity took to itself a body, and that body we call the church. Naturally those who became Christians asked many questions about Christianity. Out of those questions of necessity there came a creed. Naturally those who became Christians sought to give outward expression of their devotion to and adoration of Christ. Hence sprang up, and was gradually systematized, Christian worship. Naturally those who were Christian brethren gave outward expression to their fellowship and unity, and out of that desire sprang the organization of the church. Thus the church did not begin — no society ever did — with a system imposed upon men from without, but it began with the Spirit of Christ, and out of that Spirit came the church with its creed, worship, organization.
And these, too, developed, grew, changed with changing times and circumstances. Let me give one example, taken from that department of Christianity supposed to be least variable — the department of creed. If you asked of a young student of divinity this question, "When was the Nicene Creed composed?" he would probably say: "In the year 325, at the Council of Nicea, from which it takes its name." And yet that would be about as misleading an answer as could be given. The Nicene Creed was never composed; it grew. And it was more than three hundred years in the growing. The Council of Nicea had something to do with it, but very much less than is generally supposed. It existed almost in the form in which it left the council, before the council met, and it was further developed during fifty years subsequent to the meeting of that council.
Let me then sum up this part of our subject by saying that the old thought and conception of the New Testament was that it came into the world as completed creed, worship, and organization. The new thought of it is that it is first a spirit, but a spirit which takes to itself by degrees an outward form. It develops, it grows, it is modified here and there by changing circumstance. And is not this new conception of a development more in accord with our Savior's own teaching? The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which indeed is less than all seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becometh a tree.
II If these things are so, then you perceive at once that the subject we are considering is of very practical importance, for we may expect still further modification, growth, development. Only dead things never change. Living things are subject to continual change, the constant adaptation to an ever-changing environment. And so there is nothing we should dread as much as standing still, nothing so fatal as changelessness. The institution which can not adapt itself to new environment is doomed.
In the future, then, we may expect that less stress will be placed upon creed and upon the particular forms of worship, and a great deal more stress will be placed upon life, and especially the spirit of a man's life. In other words, religion will become more spiritual and less formal. Right opinion will count less than unselfishness. To give $100,000 for foreign missions will count less than justice and righteousness. The lust of money will be accounted a worse thing than staying away from church. And in in all respects religion will be getting back to Christ, — to that Christ who said God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth; to that Christ who said that to love our fellow man — not to exploit him — was a commandment that ranked with the love of God; to that Christ who said, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, but do not the things that I say?"
Are we then — some of you may be asking yourselves — are we then to suppose that church worship and doctrine are going to disappear altogether? Some there are who think so. But these we may safely say are wrong. They have reacted too violently against the excessive value placed in the past upon church-going and orthodoxy. I think this point is of sufficient importance to dwell upon for a moment or two.
Did it ever occur to you that in the Old Testament church creed was almost non-existent? "Hear, O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord" sums up the Hebrew creed. But worship or ritual was everything. The details of worship were laid down with the utmost rigor. Every sacrifice had to be offered in exactly the right way, the ritual was carefully prescribed, and to vary from it was an offense scarcely thinkable. In other words, religion was cultus or ritual.
Christianity began without ritual or definite creed. But when it spread among a highly intellectual and philosophical people like the Greeks, it naturally developed doctrine or theory, and doctrine and theory hardened into dogma. In other words, religion ceased to be primarily right cultus or right ritual and became right doctrine. And we may freely admit that this was a step in advance.
But what I want you to notice is that because the religion of doctrine replaced the religion of ritual, it did not follow that ritual disappeared altogether. It still remained, and occupied a very important tho not the first place. And just so, altho I can not conceive it possible that right thinking or doctrine will ever again occupy the place it has in the past, yet it seems certain from many considerations that both doctrine and worship must have a permanent place in the Christian church. Only just as to-day we do not stigmatize because he offers extemporaneous prayer, or preaches in a black gown or a black coat, or per contra prefers a surplice and the Book of Common Prayer, so neither shall we in the future inquire too particularly into the exact opinions of any one upon predestination or original sin, or the relations of the divine and human in Christ, or the double procession of the Holy Ghost. All of them are for some of us important as well as interesting questions; but because men differ from one another about them, they will no longer stigmatize each other as heretics. We shall rather judge of soundness by Christ's test: "He that heareth these saying of mine and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock." In one word we say this: "The religion of the spirit is the religion of liberty."
III. Our next point is this: The religion of the future, because it will be the religion of the Spirit, will seek more earnestly and more thoroughly than has ever been done before to embody itself in act and deed. They that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in reality; must translate spirit into visible good, just as you translate thought into spoken or written word. Neither the religion of cultus nor the religion of dogma is of necessity moral. Morality may be and, we may most thankfully admit, has been superadded to them, but morality is not of this essence. But morality, being conformity to the laws of man's relationship to God, his fellow man, and himself, must be of the very essence of the religion of the Spirit.
The religion of the Spirit will seek most earnestly to establish right relations between men. It will not rest satisfied with merely negatively morality, "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not commit adultery." But it will seek after positive justice, positive mercy. It will be altruistic. It will refuse to be happy while any part of the social organism is compelled to live in unsanitary conditions, is condemned to a life of ceaseless grinding toil, has no vocations that are wholesome and elevating.
The prime virtue of the religion of dogma is assent.
But the prime virtue of the religion of the Spirit is love.
We shall call no man atheist who loves his fellow man. But no matter what he professes to be, we shall regard him as atheist who does not love his fellow man. "For he that loveth not his brother man whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" The religion of the Spirit will greatly prefer a Charles Darwin to a Charles II.
The religion of the Spirit will bring to an end the long conflict between science and theology. Theology will frankly admit that science has earnestly and purely sought after truth, and endeavored to translate truth into action. But all truth is of God. Science in its reverence for law, in its faith that this is an intelligible universe, is truly and deeply religious. It is the ally, not the enemy, of the religion in spirit and truth.
The religion of the Spirit will bring to an end divisions of Christendom. We shall see that variety of worship and thought is consistent with the Unity of the Spirit. Truly it will perceive that all variety that springs out of an honest and sincere mind and heart enriches religion, adds to its strength and its beauty, just as the one energy of the universe unfolds and manifests itself in endless forms of entrancing beauty.
Two principles will underlie this new unity, this transformed catholic church. The principle of liberty, which will give variety, richness, and beauty — the centrifugal force of the spiritual world; and the spirit of love, which will bind together into one communion and fellowship all the varieties of worships and believers. Love is the centripetal force of the spiritual world.
IV. And in this religion of the Spirit, what is to be the place of worship and doctrine?
Worship! What is it? Is it the groveling of man before a Deity who longs for flattery? Is it the attempt to bribe a Deity with forms and ceremonies? The prophets Isaiah and Micah answered that question long since.
Shall we not say that it is the going out of the infinite part of ourselves in adoration and love to the infinite source of all things? Shall we not seek by worship to be purified from low thinking, and to be inspired to high thinking? Shall we not hope to gain from it an infinite desire to be holy, desires and longings which shall he translated into deeds on every day of the week? Perchance to those worshiping thus in spirit there shall be revealed, as once many hundred of years ago there was revealed to a youth, a student, the Lord, high and mighty sitting upon His throne, and they shall hear, as He heard, the seraphim crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the fulness of the whole earth is the glory of Jehovah! And out of that vision may there come, as there came to Isaiah, the call to live for infinite ends — to do the will of God among men on earth. Worship is no worship that does not lead to action.
And doctrine? Doctrine will continue just as worship will continue; only it will not be dogma, opinions to which men are compelled to assent, whether they understand them or not. Doctrine is the presentation of what the thinker, the student, the teacher, believes to be true; and believing it to be true and beautiful, will yet only ask men to accept so far as they themselves perceive it to be true and beautiful. We shall no more seek to compel men to be orthodox than we now compel them to worship in this way or that way, or than we seek to compel a man to love his neighbor as himself.
Christianity may have long to live in human society before it attains to its ideal; but we are not therefore of despair. This religion of Spirit and of truth, which I have so inadequately sought to set forth, is already in the world. There is no reason why we should be despond or pessimistic. Optimism is to some extent, no doubt, a matter of temperament. Yet I think the optimist can give good reason for the hope and faith that are in him — the faith that we are living in a truth-loving and liberty-loving age. And truth and liberty are of the essence of that God who is a Spirit. Looking back twenty-five years it is not difficult to detect a growing reverence for the religious side of human experience, so that the beautiful aspiration of one of the poet prophets of the nineteenth century is even now being fulfilled.
"Let knowledge grow more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell,
That mind and heart, according
May make one music as before."
—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 5.
Note: The phrase in brackets I supplied, since a few words were missing in the original newspaper.
Showing posts with label spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spirituality. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Trying to Keep Out
1901
A sick man who was really near to death could not resist the temptation to have a little fun with his spiritual adviser. He had a lingering malady, but his days were certainly numbered by a few weeks at the most. He had not been known as a man of strong religious convictions, and yet there was little if anything which could be said against him. It was one of those delicate cases in which it is hard for the minister to do anything. Some one suggested to Rev. Paul Weyand, then stationed at Morningside, that he make a call upon the patient.
Going to the house, he found the man propped up in bed to relieve a smothering sensation. The sick man could scarcely talk above a whisper, and Rev. Mr. Weyand began to make subtle inquiries about his spiritual welfare. The invalid's answers were all noncommittal and evasive, and finally in despair the pastor asked:
"Do you really want to go to heaven, Mr. Blank?"
"Do I want to go to heaven?" repeated the dying man in a hoarse whisper. "Why, that's the place I've been fighting so hard to keep out of for the last two years." — Pittsburgh News.
A sick man who was really near to death could not resist the temptation to have a little fun with his spiritual adviser. He had a lingering malady, but his days were certainly numbered by a few weeks at the most. He had not been known as a man of strong religious convictions, and yet there was little if anything which could be said against him. It was one of those delicate cases in which it is hard for the minister to do anything. Some one suggested to Rev. Paul Weyand, then stationed at Morningside, that he make a call upon the patient.
Going to the house, he found the man propped up in bed to relieve a smothering sensation. The sick man could scarcely talk above a whisper, and Rev. Mr. Weyand began to make subtle inquiries about his spiritual welfare. The invalid's answers were all noncommittal and evasive, and finally in despair the pastor asked:
"Do you really want to go to heaven, Mr. Blank?"
"Do I want to go to heaven?" repeated the dying man in a hoarse whisper. "Why, that's the place I've been fighting so hard to keep out of for the last two years." — Pittsburgh News.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Saying Grace
1910
I own that I am disposed to say grace upon 20 other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts — a grace before Milton — a grace before Shakespeare — a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the "Faery Queen?" — Charles Lamb.
I own that I am disposed to say grace upon 20 other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts — a grace before Milton — a grace before Shakespeare — a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the "Faery Queen?" — Charles Lamb.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Words of Wisdom
1902
Pride spells peril.
Deeds are indelible.
Every effort educates.
The call of duty never contradicts itself.
Paint cannot make a picture by its own power.
Charity seldom crawls out of a crowded purse.
It takes much misery to make some men seek mercy.
Obscurity furnishes a good pedestal for lasting fame.
Poverty makes a goodly frame for the picture of purity.
The waiting work furnishes us sufficient warrant to do it.
It doesn't take much gold-leaf to cover the pupil of the eye.
He cannot consecrate his gift who fears to have it consumed.
It is possible to smother the fire of zeal by too much fuel of effort.
Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things.
No amount of culture could make a cabbage grow out of an oak.
If you use a mirror to find your own faults you will forget to use a microscope for those of others. — Ram's Horn.
Comment: I think this one is pretty profound: "Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things." That's today's moment of Zen.
Pride spells peril.
Deeds are indelible.
Every effort educates.
The call of duty never contradicts itself.
Paint cannot make a picture by its own power.
Charity seldom crawls out of a crowded purse.
It takes much misery to make some men seek mercy.
Obscurity furnishes a good pedestal for lasting fame.
Poverty makes a goodly frame for the picture of purity.
The waiting work furnishes us sufficient warrant to do it.
It doesn't take much gold-leaf to cover the pupil of the eye.
He cannot consecrate his gift who fears to have it consumed.
It is possible to smother the fire of zeal by too much fuel of effort.
Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things.
No amount of culture could make a cabbage grow out of an oak.
If you use a mirror to find your own faults you will forget to use a microscope for those of others. — Ram's Horn.
Comment: I think this one is pretty profound: "Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things." That's today's moment of Zen.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Pentecosts and Conversions
1910
When a revival has obtained many converts we commonly call it a Pentecost. The three thousand converts to Christianity were a result of what happened on that famous fiftieth day after the Great Passover, but they were not an essential of it; nor are Pentecosts always attended by conversions, though they are likely to be.
The narrative of that first Christian Pentecost is very simple and very wonderful. The conditions were these: A risen Christ, fully apprehended in his divine majesty, ardently loved for his marvelous gifts to men. His followers united in this understanding and love — not in a theological system, since there had been no time to form one, nor in ecclesiastical bonds, since there was happily as yet no ecclesiasticism to separate them; but they were united in love and in faith, which alone can unite men. Finally, Christ's followers, thus united, were all in one place, the physical basis of the spiritual miracle that was to follow. Those conditions being granted — and they are possible anywhere where there are Christians, If only two of them — what are the essentials of Pentecost? They are three.
First, Pentecost consisted of a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the houses where the disciples were. What is essential in this? The sound of the wind? We can get it any day when the wind is blowing. We can imitate it any day when the wind is not blowing. The essential is that "from Heaven." The essential is the feeling of the other world, of supernatural power, of the divine moving upon the human.
The One Essential.
Second, Pentecost consisted of the mysterious light filling the room, centered in tongues of light flaming from each head. What is essential here? The actual vibrations of the ether? Surely not. Every living body, as the scientists are beginning to prove, gives out some light. What is essential is the spiritual clarity, the divine illumination, in the radiance of which men see what they have not before seen of themselves and God and God's universe.
Third, Pentecost consisted of the speaking with tongues. What is essential in this? That each heard his own language spoken from those previously one-languaged men? No, for they had heard their own language before, and would hear it again. The essential was that they heard "the wonderful works of God." It was what the disciples said that brought conviction, rather than the exceptional fact that each heard it said in his own tongue.
If these are the three Pentecost essentials, as I think they are, then we can have a Pentecost in any prayer meeting or Sunday school class or in the church on any Sunday morning, though only Christians are present, and only three or thirty of these and nowhere near three thousand. We can have a feeling of God's presence, and a clear vision of divine truth, and a free utterance of our spirits in view of God's presence and this new vision.
Same Joys Are Ours.
I am not denying the reality of the supernatural occurrences on the day of Pentecost. I believe in them wholly. I am not "spiritualizing them away." They may not occur to us in the same outward form, but I do believe that everything most precious and valuable in them occurs to us, and that the first Pentecost is a paradigm of the Pentecost that may be yours and mine today.
Nor will our Pentecost be less marvelous than Peter's and John's. To realize the presence of God is more wonderful than to hear the wind blow, though it blow from the skies of paradise. To see God's truth is more wonderful than the aura of any saint, and to speak of God's wonderful works in the English language to any set of Americans is as great a deed as to speak in a single breath all the tongues of Pentecost.
—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 20, 1910, p. 3.
When a revival has obtained many converts we commonly call it a Pentecost. The three thousand converts to Christianity were a result of what happened on that famous fiftieth day after the Great Passover, but they were not an essential of it; nor are Pentecosts always attended by conversions, though they are likely to be.
The narrative of that first Christian Pentecost is very simple and very wonderful. The conditions were these: A risen Christ, fully apprehended in his divine majesty, ardently loved for his marvelous gifts to men. His followers united in this understanding and love — not in a theological system, since there had been no time to form one, nor in ecclesiastical bonds, since there was happily as yet no ecclesiasticism to separate them; but they were united in love and in faith, which alone can unite men. Finally, Christ's followers, thus united, were all in one place, the physical basis of the spiritual miracle that was to follow. Those conditions being granted — and they are possible anywhere where there are Christians, If only two of them — what are the essentials of Pentecost? They are three.
First, Pentecost consisted of a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the houses where the disciples were. What is essential in this? The sound of the wind? We can get it any day when the wind is blowing. We can imitate it any day when the wind is not blowing. The essential is that "from Heaven." The essential is the feeling of the other world, of supernatural power, of the divine moving upon the human.
The One Essential.
Second, Pentecost consisted of the mysterious light filling the room, centered in tongues of light flaming from each head. What is essential here? The actual vibrations of the ether? Surely not. Every living body, as the scientists are beginning to prove, gives out some light. What is essential is the spiritual clarity, the divine illumination, in the radiance of which men see what they have not before seen of themselves and God and God's universe.
Third, Pentecost consisted of the speaking with tongues. What is essential in this? That each heard his own language spoken from those previously one-languaged men? No, for they had heard their own language before, and would hear it again. The essential was that they heard "the wonderful works of God." It was what the disciples said that brought conviction, rather than the exceptional fact that each heard it said in his own tongue.
If these are the three Pentecost essentials, as I think they are, then we can have a Pentecost in any prayer meeting or Sunday school class or in the church on any Sunday morning, though only Christians are present, and only three or thirty of these and nowhere near three thousand. We can have a feeling of God's presence, and a clear vision of divine truth, and a free utterance of our spirits in view of God's presence and this new vision.
Same Joys Are Ours.
I am not denying the reality of the supernatural occurrences on the day of Pentecost. I believe in them wholly. I am not "spiritualizing them away." They may not occur to us in the same outward form, but I do believe that everything most precious and valuable in them occurs to us, and that the first Pentecost is a paradigm of the Pentecost that may be yours and mine today.
Nor will our Pentecost be less marvelous than Peter's and John's. To realize the presence of God is more wonderful than to hear the wind blow, though it blow from the skies of paradise. To see God's truth is more wonderful than the aura of any saint, and to speak of God's wonderful works in the English language to any set of Americans is as great a deed as to speak in a single breath all the tongues of Pentecost.
—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 20, 1910, p. 3.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Is Prophet of The Highest
1908
Qualities That Are the Attribute of the Ideal Minister
As the touch of genius lifts the master above the mere musician, so this sense of the unseen lifts the ideal minister above the mere preacher of sermons. It is the investiture of a priesthood verified not by tradition, but by experience. It is immediacy of access to the eternal fountains of salvation. He lives among men as one of them, simple, unselfish, human, hopeful, yet they know that he walks with God.
"And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended."
He is a scholar, but criticism has never violated that shrine of the spirit where the pure in heart see God, says a writer in The Atlantic. The unfading newness of everlasting truth gives to his speech the freshness of springtime. The unsearchable mystery of infinite holiness gives to his thought and conduct gravity and reserve, as one who has beheld things which it is not possible for a man to utter. The demands of social service have not stamped him with the professionalism of a reformer. The ardor of churchmanship has not made him an ecclesiastic. He remains a prophet of the highest. When he speaks men feel that he is standing on holy ground. When he prays men perceive that he is prostrating himself before the risen Christ.
Thoughts
No man ever succeeded in walking one way when he was looking another.
Beware of the man whose own dog will not trust him.
Qualities That Are the Attribute of the Ideal Minister
As the touch of genius lifts the master above the mere musician, so this sense of the unseen lifts the ideal minister above the mere preacher of sermons. It is the investiture of a priesthood verified not by tradition, but by experience. It is immediacy of access to the eternal fountains of salvation. He lives among men as one of them, simple, unselfish, human, hopeful, yet they know that he walks with God.
"And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended."
He is a scholar, but criticism has never violated that shrine of the spirit where the pure in heart see God, says a writer in The Atlantic. The unfading newness of everlasting truth gives to his speech the freshness of springtime. The unsearchable mystery of infinite holiness gives to his thought and conduct gravity and reserve, as one who has beheld things which it is not possible for a man to utter. The demands of social service have not stamped him with the professionalism of a reformer. The ardor of churchmanship has not made him an ecclesiastic. He remains a prophet of the highest. When he speaks men feel that he is standing on holy ground. When he prays men perceive that he is prostrating himself before the risen Christ.
Thoughts
No man ever succeeded in walking one way when he was looking another.
Beware of the man whose own dog will not trust him.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Religion, Science, and Facts
1911
Science Does Not Stop With What Can Be Demonstrated
"Nothing else has to do with so many facts and so great facts as religion," says the Advance of Chicago, "and to call only those things fact which physical science considers and to ignore the facts which fall within the sphere of religious faith and action is to be blind to the most important thing of life.
"What is more absurd than to see in the wall which houses a hospital a fact and not to see a fact in the spirit which prompted and pervades the institution, or to see a fact in the chemical change produced by an experiment in a laboratory and not to see a fact in the change wrought in a community or an individual life by a revival or other spiritual influences?
"But it is said that Christian faith reaches beyond facts into the unknown. This is not disputed. There is no need to dispute it. Science does the same thing. It never yet discovered a fact great or small which did not carry it over into the unknown. Indeed, notwithstanding all the claims to the contrary, science does not confine itself to facts. 'Any one who is practically acquainted with scientific work,' says Mr. Huxley, 'is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely ever get so far as fact.'
"Indeed, science brings its followers at last to the borders of the unknown, where hope and fear quiver at the thought of the mystery beyond. But here faith takes the believer up in its arms and bids him look to the everlasting Father, who holds all things in his hands."
Science Does Not Stop With What Can Be Demonstrated
"Nothing else has to do with so many facts and so great facts as religion," says the Advance of Chicago, "and to call only those things fact which physical science considers and to ignore the facts which fall within the sphere of religious faith and action is to be blind to the most important thing of life.
"What is more absurd than to see in the wall which houses a hospital a fact and not to see a fact in the spirit which prompted and pervades the institution, or to see a fact in the chemical change produced by an experiment in a laboratory and not to see a fact in the change wrought in a community or an individual life by a revival or other spiritual influences?
"But it is said that Christian faith reaches beyond facts into the unknown. This is not disputed. There is no need to dispute it. Science does the same thing. It never yet discovered a fact great or small which did not carry it over into the unknown. Indeed, notwithstanding all the claims to the contrary, science does not confine itself to facts. 'Any one who is practically acquainted with scientific work,' says Mr. Huxley, 'is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely ever get so far as fact.'
"Indeed, science brings its followers at last to the borders of the unknown, where hope and fear quiver at the thought of the mystery beyond. But here faith takes the believer up in its arms and bids him look to the everlasting Father, who holds all things in his hands."
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Living the Life of Self-Surrender
1902
There will come to every manly man times in his life when he will see that there is something which is legitimately his, something which he has a right to, something which nobody can blame him if he takes and enjoys to the fullest, and yet something by whose voluntary and uncompelled surrender he can help his fellow man and aid the work of Christ and make the world better.
Then will come that man's trial. If he fails and cannot make the sacrifice, nobody will blame him; he will simply sink into the great multitude of honorable, respectable, self-indulgent people who take the comfortable things which everybody says they are entitled to, and live their easy life without a question.
But if he is of better stuff, and makes the renunciation of comfort for a higher work, then he goes up and stands humbly, but really, with Jesus Christ. He enters into the other range, that other sort of life where Jesus Christ lived. He is perfectly satisfied with that higher life. He does not envy, he does not grudge, the self-indulgent lives which he has left behind. He does not count up what he has lost; he does not ask whether he is happier or less happy than he would have been if he had kept what everybody said he had a right to keep.
It is not a question of happiness with him at all, but gradually, without his seeking it, he finds that the soul of the happiness which he has left behind him is in him still. Like fountains of sweet water in the sea it rises up and keeps him a living soul. He has left the world's pleasures and its privileges only to draw nearer to its necessities, which are its real life. So what he gave he keeps a thousand fold in this present time, and eternity is still before him, in the end everlasting life. — Phillips Brooks.
There will come to every manly man times in his life when he will see that there is something which is legitimately his, something which he has a right to, something which nobody can blame him if he takes and enjoys to the fullest, and yet something by whose voluntary and uncompelled surrender he can help his fellow man and aid the work of Christ and make the world better.
Then will come that man's trial. If he fails and cannot make the sacrifice, nobody will blame him; he will simply sink into the great multitude of honorable, respectable, self-indulgent people who take the comfortable things which everybody says they are entitled to, and live their easy life without a question.
But if he is of better stuff, and makes the renunciation of comfort for a higher work, then he goes up and stands humbly, but really, with Jesus Christ. He enters into the other range, that other sort of life where Jesus Christ lived. He is perfectly satisfied with that higher life. He does not envy, he does not grudge, the self-indulgent lives which he has left behind. He does not count up what he has lost; he does not ask whether he is happier or less happy than he would have been if he had kept what everybody said he had a right to keep.
It is not a question of happiness with him at all, but gradually, without his seeking it, he finds that the soul of the happiness which he has left behind him is in him still. Like fountains of sweet water in the sea it rises up and keeps him a living soul. He has left the world's pleasures and its privileges only to draw nearer to its necessities, which are its real life. So what he gave he keeps a thousand fold in this present time, and eternity is still before him, in the end everlasting life. — Phillips Brooks.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Sparks from the Anvil — "The Only Sure Cure for Worry"
1894
Bright Sayings from the Columns of the Ram's Horn
Faith in God is the only sure cure for worry.
What a little god some very big people worship.
Doubts are like bats; they can only live in the dark.
St. Paul never carried a stick in which to notch his converts.
No man can give in a way that pleases God without becoming rich.
The devil walks beside the man who goes to church with a long face.
The man who does no praying at home often prays too much in church.
God is not in the religion that is not using both hands to lift up men.
If big sermons could save the world the devil would soon be discouraged.
When a wicked man makes up his mind to do right he is certain of God's help.
Sin may try to hide its head, but it can not cover up its tracks.
The man who tries to deceive others is himself deceived by the devil.
The Pentateuch seems to trouble some men today, but John 3:16 defies a criticism.
Religion has begun to starve whenever it begins to walk with its hands in its pockets.
You can generally tell how much religion a man has by measuring it with his own half-bushel.
Do not fool yourself. If the first man was made with eyes and ears, his Maker can both see and hear.
The man who does no good with his money helps the devil every time he puts a dollar in his pocket.
There would be more success in life if more of us were willing for God to tell us where and how to work.
If you are over seventy years old you are living on an extended note. It may fall due at any moment.
The reason so many Christians are lean in soul is so few of them hunger and thirst after righteousness,
There isn't any use in going into the church to work for the Lord, if you let the devil hold your purse.
Self-denial is about the last thing some people undertake when they start out to be religious.
Bright Sayings from the Columns of the Ram's Horn
Faith in God is the only sure cure for worry.
What a little god some very big people worship.
Doubts are like bats; they can only live in the dark.
St. Paul never carried a stick in which to notch his converts.
No man can give in a way that pleases God without becoming rich.
The devil walks beside the man who goes to church with a long face.
The man who does no praying at home often prays too much in church.
God is not in the religion that is not using both hands to lift up men.
If big sermons could save the world the devil would soon be discouraged.
When a wicked man makes up his mind to do right he is certain of God's help.
Sin may try to hide its head, but it can not cover up its tracks.
The man who tries to deceive others is himself deceived by the devil.
The Pentateuch seems to trouble some men today, but John 3:16 defies a criticism.
Religion has begun to starve whenever it begins to walk with its hands in its pockets.
You can generally tell how much religion a man has by measuring it with his own half-bushel.
Do not fool yourself. If the first man was made with eyes and ears, his Maker can both see and hear.
The man who does no good with his money helps the devil every time he puts a dollar in his pocket.
There would be more success in life if more of us were willing for God to tell us where and how to work.
If you are over seventy years old you are living on an extended note. It may fall due at any moment.
The reason so many Christians are lean in soul is so few of them hunger and thirst after righteousness,
There isn't any use in going into the church to work for the Lord, if you let the devil hold your purse.
Self-denial is about the last thing some people undertake when they start out to be religious.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Prayer and Power
1917
If you want your spiritual life to be more healthy and vigorous, you must just come more boldly to the throne of grace. The secret of your weakness is your little faith and little prayer. The fountain is unsealed, but you only sip a few drops. The bread of life is before you, yet you only eat a few crumbs. The treasury of heaven is open, but you only take a few pence. O man of little faith, wherefore do you doubt?
Come boldly to the throne of grace, where the Father is ever waiting to give, and Jesus stands by him to intercede. Come boldly, for you may, all sinful as you are, if you come in the name of the great High Priest. Come then boldly and ask largely, and you shall have abundant answers, mercy like a river, and grace and strength like a mighty stream. Come boldly and you shall have supplies exceeding all you can ask or think. Hitherto you have asked nothing; ask and receive, that your joy may be full. — Bishop J. O. Ryle.
If you want your spiritual life to be more healthy and vigorous, you must just come more boldly to the throne of grace. The secret of your weakness is your little faith and little prayer. The fountain is unsealed, but you only sip a few drops. The bread of life is before you, yet you only eat a few crumbs. The treasury of heaven is open, but you only take a few pence. O man of little faith, wherefore do you doubt?
Come boldly to the throne of grace, where the Father is ever waiting to give, and Jesus stands by him to intercede. Come boldly, for you may, all sinful as you are, if you come in the name of the great High Priest. Come then boldly and ask largely, and you shall have abundant answers, mercy like a river, and grace and strength like a mighty stream. Come boldly and you shall have supplies exceeding all you can ask or think. Hitherto you have asked nothing; ask and receive, that your joy may be full. — Bishop J. O. Ryle.
Monday, May 7, 2007
The Custom of "Lifting"
1917
Strange English Development of the Story of the Resurrection
It is strange that absurdities should have arisen from what is to Christians the solemn idea of the resurrection or "lifting" of Christ. In one of the English countries a grave divine stepped into a wayside inn one day of Easter week.
No sooner was he seated than two strapping women rushed in and, making what children call a "chair" with their arms, invited him to be "lifted" and carried in state through the streets. With a small sum of money he bought them off and made amends for his evident dismay at what they had considered an honor. On Easter Monday and Shrove Tuesday the people were in the habit of going about "lifting" or "heaving" each other, each three times.
Origin of the Easter Egg
How an Ancient Legend Tells the Story of Its Birth
There fell from heaven one day, long, long ago, an egg of immense size. It rested on the Euphrates, where doves descended and hatched it, when out from it arose in splendid beauty Easter, or Venus, and that explains why eggs are a favorite food during the festival of this lovely deity. When the early Christians made their way north, conquering for Christ, they preserved this feast, but changed its application. "We will maintain your celebration," they said, "but it shall henceforth mean the resurrection of Christ." And that explains why it is that this joyous Christian festival bears an old heathen name. Similarly with the egg. It was retained as a symbol of the day and is thus used to the present time in many lands.
Eggs at Easter
The use of eggs at this season is undoubtedly symbolical of the revivification of nature, the rebirth of life in spring. From the Christian point of view this feast of eggs has usually been considered emblematic of the resurrection and of a future life. But the custom is not confined solely to Christians, as Jews use eggs in the feast of the Passover, and we are told that the Persians, when they keep the festival of the solar new year in March, present colored eggs to one another
Strange English Development of the Story of the Resurrection
It is strange that absurdities should have arisen from what is to Christians the solemn idea of the resurrection or "lifting" of Christ. In one of the English countries a grave divine stepped into a wayside inn one day of Easter week.
No sooner was he seated than two strapping women rushed in and, making what children call a "chair" with their arms, invited him to be "lifted" and carried in state through the streets. With a small sum of money he bought them off and made amends for his evident dismay at what they had considered an honor. On Easter Monday and Shrove Tuesday the people were in the habit of going about "lifting" or "heaving" each other, each three times.
Origin of the Easter Egg
How an Ancient Legend Tells the Story of Its Birth
There fell from heaven one day, long, long ago, an egg of immense size. It rested on the Euphrates, where doves descended and hatched it, when out from it arose in splendid beauty Easter, or Venus, and that explains why eggs are a favorite food during the festival of this lovely deity. When the early Christians made their way north, conquering for Christ, they preserved this feast, but changed its application. "We will maintain your celebration," they said, "but it shall henceforth mean the resurrection of Christ." And that explains why it is that this joyous Christian festival bears an old heathen name. Similarly with the egg. It was retained as a symbol of the day and is thus used to the present time in many lands.
Eggs at Easter
The use of eggs at this season is undoubtedly symbolical of the revivification of nature, the rebirth of life in spring. From the Christian point of view this feast of eggs has usually been considered emblematic of the resurrection and of a future life. But the custom is not confined solely to Christians, as Jews use eggs in the feast of the Passover, and we are told that the Persians, when they keep the festival of the solar new year in March, present colored eggs to one another
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Religion Brings Pleasure, Spiritual Good as Law of Life
1895
What Religion Does
It is a mistake to suppose that religion is designed to eliminate pleasure from life. Quite the contrary is true. It does inculcate thoughts and principles of a serious and important nature. But in doing so it promotes pleasure of the choicest and most enduring variety. It brings mere worldly amusement under due limitation, and employs it chiefly as a relaxation of life.
Religion brings its own pleasure with it. Extirpating nothing innocent, it makes innocence itself a bliss. Discouraging nothing cheerful, it renders cheerfulness itself a common habit by grafting into the heart something to be cheerful over. It regulates the intellectual machinery, gives poise to thought, symmetry to plans, and harmony to purposes.
It enthrones spiritual good as the law of life and imparts qualities of richness, sweetness, and joy to right actions and helpful words. It promotes longevity by inculcating temperate habits and proper care of all the physical organs and powers. It imparts correct and healthful views to our earthly existence by teaching that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be despised, and that it is the privilege of all believers to use this world as not abusing it. It is the normal condition of complete being.
Sin gives no real advantage to anyone, but holiness does. Sin destroys. It mars perfection. It clogs aspiration. It cripples endeavor. Holiness upbuilds. It engenders completeness. It fans legitimate ardor. It crowns all laudable effort with true success. Paul embodied common sense and true philosophy in his beautiful statement that "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
What Religion Does
It is a mistake to suppose that religion is designed to eliminate pleasure from life. Quite the contrary is true. It does inculcate thoughts and principles of a serious and important nature. But in doing so it promotes pleasure of the choicest and most enduring variety. It brings mere worldly amusement under due limitation, and employs it chiefly as a relaxation of life.
Religion brings its own pleasure with it. Extirpating nothing innocent, it makes innocence itself a bliss. Discouraging nothing cheerful, it renders cheerfulness itself a common habit by grafting into the heart something to be cheerful over. It regulates the intellectual machinery, gives poise to thought, symmetry to plans, and harmony to purposes.
It enthrones spiritual good as the law of life and imparts qualities of richness, sweetness, and joy to right actions and helpful words. It promotes longevity by inculcating temperate habits and proper care of all the physical organs and powers. It imparts correct and healthful views to our earthly existence by teaching that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be despised, and that it is the privilege of all believers to use this world as not abusing it. It is the normal condition of complete being.
Sin gives no real advantage to anyone, but holiness does. Sin destroys. It mars perfection. It clogs aspiration. It cripples endeavor. Holiness upbuilds. It engenders completeness. It fans legitimate ardor. It crowns all laudable effort with true success. Paul embodied common sense and true philosophy in his beautiful statement that "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
"A New, Complete Heart"
1895
"It is nothing less than character, nothing less than a new, complete heart, a fulfilled manhood, that Christ is trying to give us. Therefore, we may be patient, and be sure that the perfection of His gift cannot be all at once. He who enters into Christ enters into a region of life and growth which stretches far away before him. He stops across the threshold, and his feet are glad with the very touching of the blessed soil. Christ is so One that all which He is ever to be to the soul He is in some sense already. But none the less there is much which He cannot be until the soul is more, and so can take more of the life to live by. The world cannot give you blessings which will be complete to you at once. It is able and glad to set forth for you at the beginning of the feast the best wine it has. But Christ will take you, if you let Him, into His calm, strong power, and lead you on to ever richer capacity and ever richer blessing, till at last only at the end of eternity shall your soul be satisfied and be sure that it has touched the height and depth of His grace, and say: 'Now I know thy goodness wholly. Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' Oh, at the end of our eternity may those words be ours!" — Phillips Brooks.
"It is nothing less than character, nothing less than a new, complete heart, a fulfilled manhood, that Christ is trying to give us. Therefore, we may be patient, and be sure that the perfection of His gift cannot be all at once. He who enters into Christ enters into a region of life and growth which stretches far away before him. He stops across the threshold, and his feet are glad with the very touching of the blessed soil. Christ is so One that all which He is ever to be to the soul He is in some sense already. But none the less there is much which He cannot be until the soul is more, and so can take more of the life to live by. The world cannot give you blessings which will be complete to you at once. It is able and glad to set forth for you at the beginning of the feast the best wine it has. But Christ will take you, if you let Him, into His calm, strong power, and lead you on to ever richer capacity and ever richer blessing, till at last only at the end of eternity shall your soul be satisfied and be sure that it has touched the height and depth of His grace, and say: 'Now I know thy goodness wholly. Thou hast kept the good wine until now.' Oh, at the end of our eternity may those words be ours!" — Phillips Brooks.
Brevity in Prayer
1895
"The late William Arnot tells us in his diary that, as he grew older, he grew more brief and simple in his closet devotions. He tersely says: 'I suppose there are two kinds of brevity in prayer — one, because you are far off, and one because you are far in.' This is pithily put, and contains a profound truth. No one can judge of another as to just how much time that other needs to spend on his knees. We cannot safely take the example of anybody else as an absolute guide in our own case. Many things need to be considered — our household duties, our business engagements, our special perplexities, our mastery of perpetual prayer. We must not, of course, let prayer be crowded out or crushed down through mere selfishness or worldly absorptions; but neither need we feel it always incumbent on us to spend just so much time in the exercise, or write ourselves down delinquent if we cannot pass whole hours in special supplication like some one we have read about. It is better certainly to be far in than far off, but the former must not despise the latter, nor the latter judge the former. Strength in prayer is better than length in prayer." — Zion's Herald.
"The late William Arnot tells us in his diary that, as he grew older, he grew more brief and simple in his closet devotions. He tersely says: 'I suppose there are two kinds of brevity in prayer — one, because you are far off, and one because you are far in.' This is pithily put, and contains a profound truth. No one can judge of another as to just how much time that other needs to spend on his knees. We cannot safely take the example of anybody else as an absolute guide in our own case. Many things need to be considered — our household duties, our business engagements, our special perplexities, our mastery of perpetual prayer. We must not, of course, let prayer be crowded out or crushed down through mere selfishness or worldly absorptions; but neither need we feel it always incumbent on us to spend just so much time in the exercise, or write ourselves down delinquent if we cannot pass whole hours in special supplication like some one we have read about. It is better certainly to be far in than far off, but the former must not despise the latter, nor the latter judge the former. Strength in prayer is better than length in prayer." — Zion's Herald.
Theosophy in Butte
Montana, 1902Theosophy and its revival of occultism is establishing a firm footing in the philosophy and religion of the western world. Its teachings have been the recent occasion of extended newspaper discussion and very serious attention from the pulpit. The church is almost a unit against it, while writers are divided in opinion as to whether its influence is good or baneful. Even in Butte, where the society has one of its most active branches, theosophy has been the subject of sermons and public discussions. The advocates of the cult claim that those who attack it are actuated by a misconception of its doctrine and purpose, and by a mistaken idea that it is a new religion and antagonistic to Christianity, when in fact it is neither. Wide public attention has been called to the growth of the society by the extended reviews and notice given the new book, "Esoteric Christianity," by Annie Besant, the society's most prolific writer, in which she antagonizes the church by the declaration that there is a hidden side to religion, and that religion in its fullness is not free to all, but that it is handed out in measures as it can be received, or as man is prepared for its understanding and comprehension.
The Theosophical society now girdles the earth, and branches have been established in every country. Its headquarters are at Adyar, India, while the head of the American section is in New York, Alexander Fullerton, formerly an Episcopal clergyman, being its secretary.
Some Eminent Theosophists.
The society counts its membership among all races and in all countries, some very noted men and women being among its leaders. Camille Flammarion, the great French astronomer, is one of them. Thomas A. Edison and Professor Crookes, the eminent chemist of London, are ardent theosophists, and so was Max Mueller during his lifetime. J. C. Chattopadhyaya, a high caste Brahmin of India, is one of the converts to theosophy, and spent some time in the United States, where he delivered lectures on the subject. Annie Besant, the authoress, is a sister-in-law of the late Walter Besant, and her husband was a dean of the English church; A. P. Sinnett was for years on the editorial staff of the London Times until he received a commission in the army in India, where he met Madame Blavatsky, one of the founders of the modern society. C. W. Leadbeater, another prominent teacher and writer, was formerly a clergyman in the English church, and G. R. S. Mead, who has written some fine books on many subjects, is regarded as one of the most learned men in the world.
Origin of the Word.
The word "theosophy" is from the Greek and means "divine wisdom." The latter term is many thousand years old. The name theosophy dates from the third century of the Christian era and was applied by Ammonius Saccas, who started the electric theosophical system. Prof. Alexander Wilder, in his new Platonism, says the followers of that school were so called because of their practice of interpreting all sacred legends and narratives, myths and mysteries, by rule or principle of analogy and correspondence, so that events which were related as having occurred in the external world were regarded as expressing operations and experiences of the human soul. The object of this system was, first of all, to inculcate certain great moral truths upon its disciples, hence also the motto adopted by the theosophical society, "There Is No Religion Higher Than Truth." The chief aim of the founders of the ancient electric theosophical school was one of the three objects of its modern successor, the theosophical society of to-day, namely, to reconcile all religious sects and nations under a common system of ethics, based on eternal verities. The theosophists of olden times were large bodies and, like the modern, belonged to various religious philosophies. The mistake is often made that theosophy is a separate religion and antagonistic to other religions. This is not so, according to the claims made by the society. It is antagonistic to no religion. It teaches that all religions are streamlets of the one universal fountain of truth. Theosophy is a religious philosophy, universal in its scope and teaching and all inclusive. Its fundamental objects are: "To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color; to encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science; to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the power latent in man."
Basis of Theosophy.
The doctrine of the brotherhood of man is based on the belief that all men spring from the one spiritual source, and all bodies are from the one mother earth, but theosophy differs from other beliefs as to all men being born equal. Theosophy holds that the true evolution is the unfolding, the growth of intelligence or consciousness through physical forms. Consequently all men are not at the same grade of mental development or evolution, hence all are not equal. For instance, to compare the low intellect of an Australian bushman with the mind of an Emerson illustrates that idea of the difference of unfoldment and development. Spiritually all men are brothers and are from the same spiritual parent. In its study of comparative religions theosophy teaches that each religion has its own mission in the world, is suited to the nation to which it is given, and the type of civilization which it is to permeate. The failure to see these leads to unjust criticism, for an ideally perfect religion would not be suitable to imperfect and partially evolved men. Every religion in the course of time suffers from accretions due to ignorance. It is found in comparative religions that at base they are all one. In all ages of the world there have been great spiritual teachers — Christs or Buddhas — who gave out the truth essential to the demand of the stage of evolution and environment of the people of different nations. Christ was the latest teacher and Christianity the youngest religion. He came to the western world and gave out in a form suitable to the western mind the religion of Christianity. All religions are found to be clothed in parable, allegory, symbol and figure, and when once the key to those symbols and allegories is understood it will be found that there is no disagreement at all in the teachings of the religions of the world. The study of comparative religions naturally leads to a study of comparative mythology, in which it is found that the gods of the ancients are not the mere figures of weird and extravagant tales, but are the personification of forces of nature and intelligences, and that the stories themselves clothe great truths.
Miracles Not Supernatural.
The latent forces in man open a wide and deep subject for study. It is claimed that when once the latent forces are understood the so-called miracles of Christ will be seen not to be supernatural, but the result of the development of powers within the man that enabled him to overcome material forces external to himself. Man is an epitome of the universe, and all forces, powers and laws of the universe are centered in him. It is claimed that lying within the physical senses are senses still finer, more subtle, and that if man is made in the image of God he must possess spiritual faculties that are the root and base of all other faculties. Theosophy holds that the seeming miracles performed by the disciples of Jesus, who were only ordinary men, prior to the awakening of their spiritual faculties, were possible by reason of the development of these faculties by knowledge imparted to them by their master, Jesus. Intuition, it is claimed, is the sixth sense, now being developed to a greater or less extent by men of to-day. The surprises in store for the races are not so much in discoveries of the finer forces of nature, marvelous as they will be, but rather what man is going to find within himself, for there lies in man possibilities undreamed of by the western world. By a method of mental and spiritual training called yoga the Hindoos have developed powers that enable them to control physical forces, and which has caused them to be looked upon as miracle workers. The orientals have always studied these latent powers, while the westerners have studied everything else but themselves. If Bible statements are true men in olden times exhibited powers far beyond the comprehension of undeveloped spiritual man. Witness the statements of St. Paul and St. John, and the story of Daniel in the lion's den, and of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.
What It Teaches.
Theosophy teaches the doctrine of reincarnation and karma. Karma is the law of retribution, the law of cause and effect, the power that controls all things, the resultant of moral action. It is the sowing and reaping, for as a man sows so shall he also reap. All thoughts and acts committed while here on earth are seeds which will produce a harvest for which the sower must return and reap. Reincarnation is the return of the soul time and time again into physical bodies until it has learned the lesson that earth can teach. It learns from experience. Hence the teaching of karma and reincarnation establishes justice in the world and exonerates God of partiality, and shows why one man is born in a palace and another in the slum, why one is born a genius and another a fool, why one is a saint and the other a sinner. It is held that man is the creator of his own destiny. To quote Sir Edwin Arnold, a believer in reincarnation:
"He cometh, reaper of the things he sow'd,
Sesamum, corn, so much cast in past birth;
And so much weed and poison-stuff, which mar
Him and the aching earth.
"If he shall labor rightly, rooting these,
And planting wholesome seedlings
where they grew,
Fruitful and fair and clean the ground shall be,
And rich the harvest due."
—The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, Feb. 16, 1902, p. 19.
Visits to Woman Overdone — Points For the New Curate
1909
Points For the New Curate
Dean Pigou gives a few reminiscences of Doncaster, where at one time be was vicar. Among the stories he tells is this concerning one of his curates. He went to see an old woman with whom visiting had perhaps been overdone. She at once accosted him.
"So you are the new curate, aren't you?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Well, just you sit down on that 'ere chair." It was a three legged stool of most uncertain standing.
"Now, I'll tell you what you does when you comes to see me. You sits on that stool. You then read me, mind, a short psalm. Then you gives me a shilling, and you can go." — London Vanity Fair.
Points For the New Curate
Dean Pigou gives a few reminiscences of Doncaster, where at one time be was vicar. Among the stories he tells is this concerning one of his curates. He went to see an old woman with whom visiting had perhaps been overdone. She at once accosted him.
"So you are the new curate, aren't you?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Well, just you sit down on that 'ere chair." It was a three legged stool of most uncertain standing.
"Now, I'll tell you what you does when you comes to see me. You sits on that stool. You then read me, mind, a short psalm. Then you gives me a shilling, and you can go." — London Vanity Fair.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sentence Sermons
1920
Christ not diffused is Christ misused.
It is a solemn thing to say "tomorrow" when God says "today."
God's choicest plants often live in the shade.
A true Christian loves not the world yet loves all the world.
What your prayers are you will be.
God does not reveal what you yourself can discover.
We cannot trust God with too much or ourselves with too little.
Neutrality in religion is always cowardice.
Pray your pastor up and pay him up.
The present moment is divinely sent; the present duty is the Master's will.
You may know you're going down hill when your way is continually easy.
We can't all be apostles, but we can all be epistles.
The early church was characterized by poverty and power; the present is characterized by wealth and weakness.
Temptations that find us dwelling in God are to our faith like winds that more firmly root the tree.
A man may suffer without sinning, but he cannot sin without suffering.
Be sure of this: if you cannot sanctify your present lot, you could sanctify no other.
Is anything more pitiful than a life spent in thinking of nothing but self?
To deserve praise where none is obtained is better than to obtain it where none is deserved.
Live in Christ and you are in the suburbs of heaven.
Bolted food never unlocks its essences. Meditation is mental mastication.
A bad conscience embitters the sweetest comforts, a good one sweetens the bitterest crosses.
Though Satan builds a hedge about us, he cannot roof us in and prevent our looking up.
The gospel professed may lift a man to heaven. Only the gospel possessed will bring him into heaven.
The gospel is perfect. It is a crime to add to it; treason to alter it; felony to take from it.
--The Appleton Daily Post, Appleton, Wisconsin, January 5, 1920, page 3.
Christ not diffused is Christ misused.
It is a solemn thing to say "tomorrow" when God says "today."
God's choicest plants often live in the shade.
A true Christian loves not the world yet loves all the world.
What your prayers are you will be.
God does not reveal what you yourself can discover.
We cannot trust God with too much or ourselves with too little.
Neutrality in religion is always cowardice.
Pray your pastor up and pay him up.
The present moment is divinely sent; the present duty is the Master's will.
You may know you're going down hill when your way is continually easy.
We can't all be apostles, but we can all be epistles.
The early church was characterized by poverty and power; the present is characterized by wealth and weakness.
Temptations that find us dwelling in God are to our faith like winds that more firmly root the tree.
A man may suffer without sinning, but he cannot sin without suffering.
Be sure of this: if you cannot sanctify your present lot, you could sanctify no other.
Is anything more pitiful than a life spent in thinking of nothing but self?
To deserve praise where none is obtained is better than to obtain it where none is deserved.
Live in Christ and you are in the suburbs of heaven.
Bolted food never unlocks its essences. Meditation is mental mastication.
A bad conscience embitters the sweetest comforts, a good one sweetens the bitterest crosses.
Though Satan builds a hedge about us, he cannot roof us in and prevent our looking up.
The gospel professed may lift a man to heaven. Only the gospel possessed will bring him into heaven.
The gospel is perfect. It is a crime to add to it; treason to alter it; felony to take from it.
--The Appleton Daily Post, Appleton, Wisconsin, January 5, 1920, page 3.
Sir Oliver Lodge Rushes To The Defense Of Spiritualism
1920
By United Press Leased Wire
London. -- The church should "cast off its hard shell of doctrine" and investigate, or at least keep an open mind toward discoveries of spiritualistic phenomena, Sir Oliver Lodge, famous British scientist, asserts in an article to be published in the next issue of the Hibbert Journal, leading British philosophical quarterly.
Lodge criticizes vigorously the attack on spiritualism which featured the Leister church congress. The church, he says already has discarded its old believes in the "fixity" of eternal fate at death or in two extreme regimes in the hereafter," but has not yet constituted for itself a new creed of equal strength.
The scientist recommends that the church investigate claims of communication with spirits, adding that if "ministers really open their minds to the evidence, if they examine the proofs carefully and without prejudice, they surely will be guided in the direction of truth."
"It will be the miracle of this generation," he asserts, "to find that by the kindly help of living persons who possess certain facilities" we may communicate with the dead.
"Our friend on the other side is not so far away from us," Sir Oliver continues. "He is removed from range of our animal sense organs, that is all. If the truth be as it certainly is -- that death makes no sudden change in personality or character, if existence is continuous and only surrounding conditions change, even that change being not nearly so great as had been anticipated, then there is nothing especially holy,or profoundly painful, or even unduly solemn in the thought of communicating with the dead."
While he recognizes the church is not free to explore new regions of thought, Lodge urges it to investigate and determine its attitude by proofs.
Only the widespread misery of war bereavements induced him to submit to publicity in defense of his belief in spiritualism, Sir Oliver said.
"Invaluably one communicates most by little traits," he said. "Special reminiscences give striking proofs of identify of the spirits," the scientist adds, declaring his own son Raymond, who was killed in the war, maintains close touch with his family.
Sir Oliver will soon leave for the United States on a lecture tour.
--The Appleton Daily Post, Appleton, Wisconsin, January 2, 1920, page 1.
By United Press Leased Wire
London. -- The church should "cast off its hard shell of doctrine" and investigate, or at least keep an open mind toward discoveries of spiritualistic phenomena, Sir Oliver Lodge, famous British scientist, asserts in an article to be published in the next issue of the Hibbert Journal, leading British philosophical quarterly.
Lodge criticizes vigorously the attack on spiritualism which featured the Leister church congress. The church, he says already has discarded its old believes in the "fixity" of eternal fate at death or in two extreme regimes in the hereafter," but has not yet constituted for itself a new creed of equal strength.
The scientist recommends that the church investigate claims of communication with spirits, adding that if "ministers really open their minds to the evidence, if they examine the proofs carefully and without prejudice, they surely will be guided in the direction of truth."
"It will be the miracle of this generation," he asserts, "to find that by the kindly help of living persons who possess certain facilities" we may communicate with the dead.
"Our friend on the other side is not so far away from us," Sir Oliver continues. "He is removed from range of our animal sense organs, that is all. If the truth be as it certainly is -- that death makes no sudden change in personality or character, if existence is continuous and only surrounding conditions change, even that change being not nearly so great as had been anticipated, then there is nothing especially holy,or profoundly painful, or even unduly solemn in the thought of communicating with the dead."
While he recognizes the church is not free to explore new regions of thought, Lodge urges it to investigate and determine its attitude by proofs.
Only the widespread misery of war bereavements induced him to submit to publicity in defense of his belief in spiritualism, Sir Oliver said.
"Invaluably one communicates most by little traits," he said. "Special reminiscences give striking proofs of identify of the spirits," the scientist adds, declaring his own son Raymond, who was killed in the war, maintains close touch with his family.
Sir Oliver will soon leave for the United States on a lecture tour.
--The Appleton Daily Post, Appleton, Wisconsin, January 2, 1920, page 1.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Divorcing Christian Scientist Husband, No Time For Child
Columbia City, Indiana, 1906
ASKS DIVORCE FROM CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST
COLUMBIA CITY, Ind., Aug 13 — Mrs. Ida Creager, residing near Collamer through her attorney, F. B. Moe, of South Whitley, Monday filed suit in the Whitley circuit court for divorce from her husband, Joseph Creager, alleging that he is a Christian Scientist and wholly failed to support her and their twelve-year-old daughter for more than two years past. Her complaint avers that since they removed from this county to Elkhart three years ago she has been compelled to work out in order to secure the means to support herself and child, while her husband refused to labor, stating that he was a Christian Scientist and had no time to devote to his family as he preferred to be alone and without wife and child that he might read and meditate along the line of his spiritual welfare. When she fell ill last fall he brought her to the home of her mother, Mrs. Sisk near Collamer, where she has since made her home. She asks an absolute divorce and custody of the child and $100 of alimony.
--The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 14, 1906, page 6.
ASKS DIVORCE FROM CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST
COLUMBIA CITY, Ind., Aug 13 — Mrs. Ida Creager, residing near Collamer through her attorney, F. B. Moe, of South Whitley, Monday filed suit in the Whitley circuit court for divorce from her husband, Joseph Creager, alleging that he is a Christian Scientist and wholly failed to support her and their twelve-year-old daughter for more than two years past. Her complaint avers that since they removed from this county to Elkhart three years ago she has been compelled to work out in order to secure the means to support herself and child, while her husband refused to labor, stating that he was a Christian Scientist and had no time to devote to his family as he preferred to be alone and without wife and child that he might read and meditate along the line of his spiritual welfare. When she fell ill last fall he brought her to the home of her mother, Mrs. Sisk near Collamer, where she has since made her home. She asks an absolute divorce and custody of the child and $100 of alimony.
--The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 14, 1906, page 6.
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