USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > Foundation stones, of the Church of the Unity, Evansville, Indiana > Part 6
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MRS. ANN MAIDLOW.
sleep of death stands between them and a larger sphere of life for the soul, there is the sweet approval of God, the joy of true service rendered to humanity, the consciousness that life has not been lived in vain. I wish I could fully set before you the wealth and glory of such a life, and then compare it with the poverty of one who never takes hold of these things with any earnestness of feeling or purpose. For though our faith touches the infinite in its hopefulness, we cannot but see that there are great sad losses for some lives misspent-voyagers coming in at the close of life without a cargo ; those who should have brought from the rich fields of opportunity abundant fruit, bringing in their hands nothing but leaves. But notice, briefly, a few of the added possessions of those who live such a life as our sister. Money is not held by them for its own sake, but for what can be done with it, for good. No such soul can be shut up in the narrow prison of the miser. They have learned that it is more blessed to give than receive. To them, also, is given the genius and sympathy of a true liberality. While they set the highest value upon their own faith, they yet see the spirit of true wor- ship that lives behind the letter of others. They are not among the dogmatists over no dogma, as some are proud that they are not proud. The better the heart the better the world. The reason why, with some, every one else is all wrong, is because they are all wrong. To such is also given, though unsought for, truest happiness. Happiness is always the reward of the good.
" Wouldst behold beauty Near thee-all around ?
Only hath duty Such a sight found."
Happiness is intensity and largeness of life-a balance between that within and that without ; the consciousness that makes life a grand thing in its possessions and opportunities ; that lifts it out of the hum-drum and kill-time sphere of many into all loss of the jarring, rolling wheels of time, giving even here the full throbbing consciousness of the soul's immortality in this realiza- tion of the eternal. It also gives to them large faith in the fu- ture. They work not as though to-morrow is the " be all and end all." And so they sow, even though not expecting to reap.
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IN MEMORIAM OF MRS. ANN MAIDLOW.
Faith in God and the soul's love of the eternal right has lifted them above the mutations of time. What if the work they do give themselves to never amounts to anything or gets any credit while they live-if it is a thing that ought to be done, they are going to do it, whatever may be the consequence. Put along- side of such a life as this one who simply thinks of their own happiness, the amount of money they have at the bank, or how they shall out-shine this or that person in dress, that knows no large mental or moral vision, so concerned are they about what their neighbors think of them or how they shall get on in business, and it is like comparing the bat, which comes out only in the shadow of night, to the eagle that flies in the open face of the sunlight.
My friends, let us not lurk in the gloomy conventionalities of life, but fly upwards on the strong wings of faith towards the glorious sunlight of God's eternal truth. Let us open our heart constantly to all hope and promise ; look lovingly and constantly into all that reveals the glory and goodness of God, until our lives reflect the same. Give ever-gracious welcome to the truth --- from whatever source it may come-so that, like her of whom we have remembered to-day, we may be cheerful and intelligent in our religious faith and yet earnestly devoted thereto. As she labored not for to-day, so let us rise above our craving for present glittering success into the eternal; the love and patience to do the thing that is right-not because of any hoped for or promised re- ward, but because it is right. We have given ourselves here to the work of building a church that shall stand with open doors for all; that shall despise no truth or goodness ; that shall be in the time that is fast approaching a rock of refuge to flee to in the midst of the yielding sands of dogma that are so fast losing all power to hold up the hopes of men's souls. Let us not falter or grow weary ; for, "in due season, we shall reap if we faint not." Though all men pray the sun to stand still, it shall not; neither shall the world be turned back in its orbit.
"Our course is onward-onward into light. What though the darkness gathereth amain, Yet to return or tarry both are vain. How full of stars when round us dark the night- Whither return ? What flower yet ever might, In days of gloom and cold and stormy rain, Enclose itself in its green bud again, And hide itself from tempest out of sight."
*OUR WORK AS LIBERALS.
GEORGE CHAINEY.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus .- Phil. 31 : 13.14.
I have read to you these words of Paul as a text simply to give to us an example of the true way to honor the past-that is, by planning for the future. One year ago to-day I stood, at your request, in this pulpit for the first time, and preached the first sermon in this church to an audience about one-third the size of the present one. I might find much to speak about of interest concerning the work we have done, but I prefer to look at that which yet remains for us to do. In doing this, I have no desire to commit myself, or you, in any way that will hinder our freest and most spontaneous thought. I am quite willing to acknowl- edge that if, one year from to-night I speak from this pulpit, it is quite probable that I may contradict some things I shall say to-night. This is the genius of our liberty. We are free to shed the old when the new life comes out. We always leave the dead past to bury its dead. No man can tell to-day what his duty will be to-morrow. It is because of this we fight for the liberty of the soul. No matter what you promise to do to-day, if to- morrow you see that it is wrong to fulfill your promise, break it if you would be true to the interests of your soul. The spirit before the letter, always. But while there are many things that remain uncertain about to-morrow, in spite of our most confident expectations, there are always some things that stand out in the clear sunlight of truth. I know of nothing more certain than the fact that there is need, in this very place, of just such a church as ours. When I came down here, live men around, Chicago said to me : " For Heaven's sake don't go down there to start a church.
*First Anniversary Sermon preached in the Church of Unity, April 14th, 1878.
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They are fifty years behind the time !" Others said: "A border city is the last place in the world in which to look for defenders of a new faith that is yet in the days of its childhood." But in the light of your hope and promise of eager devotion, I paid little heed to such warnings. But if there was any truth in them, all the more reason is there that we should have a church here for such who are not willing to profess one thing and believe another, who find no help or fellowship in any other church. No doubt there were many in the days of anti-slavery agitation who hated slavery ; felt it to be a monstrous wrong; who yet, for fear of in- juring their trade or loss of social position, failed to lift their voice against it. Doubtless the seed sown then will bear like fruit to- day, now the battle for a fresh emancipation is upon us. But all did not keep silent in those days that tried mens' souls, nor will they to-day. The fires of the old faith are fast dissolving. I meet men every day almost who tell me that it no longer warms their hearts as of old. No doubt there will be much smoke raised that will blind thousands through fitful efforts to kindle them again. Many a zealous soul, lacking the mental condition to see the inexorable conditions and necessity of their extinction, will endeavor vainly to withstand the tendency to build anew and kindle other fires. The wave of reversion from orthodoxy may be somewhat tardy in reaching us, but it is bound to come and that speedily. No one can stay it any more than they can stay an earthquake or get out of the way of a thunderbolt. Shall we neglect to build a fort that is sure against its destructive power ? Shall the rising generation be left to think that the church has no life save under that form which they hear their parents make a subject of mockery during six days of the week and on the sev- enth reverently sustain and honor ? In a city of forty thousand people, situated in the corner of three great States, sending out an influence for good or bad in scores of other towns, shall there be no church here that stands for the largest liberty of the soul, that honors and has faith in man. that builds for the future instead of worshipping the past? Yea, verily, there is such a church, and shall continue to be. I am sometimes asked : What are you trying to do at your church? Because we have no revivals nor don't expect to save souls as brands from any eternal burnings, and have no creed to which we pledge our adherents, the cause
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of our existence and character of our work seems to some to be a standing mystery. I have no doubt that the largest number of orthodox people in the place who think of us at all, simply think of us as deniers ; as a church that is built on denouncing as false what they believe, or profess to believe, is true. Now I do not despise this. Next to knowing what is true is knowing what is false. I honor the man who, not knowing what the truth is, after thinking about these doctrines of a cursed world, wrathful God and eternal hell, feels that there is no truth in them; and who then, though all his neighbors shun him and call him a liar, dares to say the thing is false, and so help me God, I'll have none of it! I would proudly welcome any such man to the fellowship of this church. But such is far from the end of our work, though it may be the beginning. In this church we want and must keep open house for all. While every other church shuts up its doors and only unfastens them to such as can pronounce some arbitrary watchword or swear by some creed, we want to keep open house for all. We want it known there is, at least in Evansville, a church that is as broad as humanity-and humanity is only another name for Christianity-and as generous as God's free air. When any man wants companionship along the path of life-desires to find courage and sympathy to help him lead a better life, I want that he shall be able to say: "Yonder is a church that not only believes in God, but in me also." The church is not to separate us from the world, but to unite us to it. If we are true, then, to our duty as believers, we will see that we not only maintain the church, but maintain it in such a way that all will find here a generous and cordial welcome. This is the genius of our liberality. Some people seem to think that liberalism is an excuse for taking one's ease ; turning life into one long holiday ; making its aim consist in having a good time at any cost ; but such meaning is as far from it as the East is from the West. True liberality is a new grace that has sprung up in our time to meet the fresh need of the hour. The distinctive virtue of the early church was charity, or love towards each other. To- day charity, with many, means pity. Perhaps the grace of charity is better than none. I remember well how, when I broke away from the old church, some of my friends, whom I had loved in- expressibly, came to me overflowing with this grace ; but in the
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tear in the eye and the tremor in the voice I saw and heard them saying what a pity that he should cast away his Saviour and lose his soul. Now this new grace of liberality is one that confronts, with open eye, the problem of the soul's life and destiny ; looks beyond all outward relations and professions, and finds the king- dom of God within; sees that the source and fountain of happi- ness is in the motives and affinities of the soul; that Heaven is the simple love of the true, good and beautiful, while hell is just the opposite state of mind and heart. This new plant of liber- ality is the latest and most perfect plant that has appeared in the garden of the soul. It combines, in perfect harmony, all the excellencies of Faith, Hope and Charity. Its blossom is the universal Fatherhood of God and its fruit the brotherhood of man. Its fruit is the same as that which grew on the tree of life, while its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Since this new plant was discovered the grace of God is no longer supposed to be confined either to one age or one nation. All forms of religion are seen now to be but the different outward expressions of one universal principle of life. The church that devotes itself to its culture knows no line of division between saint and sinner, but keeps open house for all. Herein is the chief difference between us, who lay claim to being liberals, and those who go no farther than the grace of charity. I meet sometimes with blear-eyed, bloated, thoughtless, besotted, lust- consumed men, who say : "I believe in your church ; that's my religion." Now I would rather such a man feel that way, than to have him think that we believed if he should die in such con- dition that he would find no mercy in the infinite heart of God; that for him eternity must be one long, bitter wail of despair- one unbroken night of fiery pain and blackness of darkness ; for liberality looks beyond the deformity and sees that there are powers, even in such a soul, that make a hopeless state impossible. But I boldly challenge the world to find me nobler souls, with more untarnished honor, devotion to truth and beauty of charac- ter, than are to be found in the liberal ranks. Hence we do not keep open house, as a church, because we have nothing to give, but because it is only by being thus hospitable that we can be true to our divinest aspirations. As liberals we have also a great work to do in showing the oneness of truth. The church with-
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out liberality is hostile to what is known as scientific or natural truth. They are not willing to trust themselves to the nature of things, but stand on the infallibility of Pope or Bible. But the true liberal is sure that there can be no opposition here. His vision at once comprehends the fact that the stability of the uni- verse is a greater good than a Bible full of miracles. When science comes in and says these things are monstrous and im- possible, nature knows no such thing any more than eternity admits of an end, he not only perceives it to be true, but finds consolation in the assurance that all things, from the smallest grain of sand to the largest planet, are alike girded about by un- changeable law. That there is antagonism between the teach- ings of science and theology there is no longer any doubt; but the work of the liberal is to show that while the fires of truth are burning up the old myths and fables of history ; that all the grand, essential truths of religion remain the same yesterday, to-day and forever, without variableness or shadow of turning ; that man is finite and the universe the temple of the infinite in which, by the necessity of his being, he must ever stand to question, wonder, adore, worship; that wherever and whatever the seat of life may be, there is that about us which we call spirituality ; that whether this lives on or dies with the body- duty, happiness, progress, peace, all things true and good make its cultivation the first law of life ; that above the real world, which is recognized by the senses is an ideal one, the province of the imagination, through which religion best leads us to quaff the soul-inspiring nectar of love, listen to the soul-stirring music of hope, and rest in the wide-reaching prospect of truth in its myriad forms of beauty. The duty of the liberal is to take re- ligion out of the prosy, hum-drum sphere of realistic dogmas, mechanical and commercial plans of salvation and exalt it into this higher world of the ideal. But in doing this we must show that this idealism is something more than a will-o'-the-wisp; that in its own true way it has the substantiality of truth. When this is done there will be no more conflict between religion and science ; the noble disciples and students of nature shall no longer be called infidels, but believers of the most devoted sort. There must be no shrinking here. The truth before all things. If we find a new truth, we best honor the past by working for the
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future in its acceptance. All that nature is, is the truth of God. But while we do not despise scientific truth, neither must we forget this other sphere ; for as the health of the body depends on knowledge and obedience of scientific truth, so does that. of the soul on this spiritual truth. If a community makes war against the purity and sanctity of the home, it pulls destruction about its own head ; but it is just as certain to do this if it de- spises the church. The young man who wastes his early man- hood in the service of lust is laying up regret for future days : but if the claims of religious thought and devotion are despised. you shall just as surely reap the fruit of a still more bitter regret Men are finding, in this day, that religious truths have come to us along the same path of evolution or growth as those of science. But the most important thing for us to find out is that they are alike inexorable ; that ignorance of the truths taught at the school-house will no more surely impoverish the life than ignorance of those taught at the church. Another feature of our work as liberals is, to show that all goodness is one. Hith- erto the church has taught that there are two kinds, one of na- ture and the other of grace, one hated and the other loved by- God. The church having committed itself to the doctrine of total depravity, it had to cast discredit upon all goodness in the the lives of those who made no profession of being partakers of its grace by declaring that it all rooted in selfishness. According to its theory everything done, without ascribing the merit thereof to Jesus, is sin. Thousands upon thousands of unselfish mothers, toiling on day after day through the weary routine of constantly returning duties, full of anxious thought how to make two ends meet and make the children happy, fathers working patiently, with the same end in view, beneath the hot, scorching sun or by the sweltering fires of the forge, or burning out the candle of life at both ends in their eager devotion to business : children pressing their good-night kisses on the lips of loved parents ; friends nobly helping each other in the hour of need : young men arming themselves and rushing into battle in the de- fense of home or liberty ; young women patiently and trustfully waiting their destiny in the strange lottery of life-all' this, the church says, is sin; and if these souls go out of this life without a profession of faith in Jesus they shall never again cast a bright
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thread through the pattern of life; for them there shall be no. more any smiling Heavens or blooming flowers; never again shall the joy of love or of expectant hope come to sweeten life ; nevermore shall they know the happiness of patient toil for the good of others. Now, as liberals, we are to show that all good- ness is Divine; that the church has no patent-right on saint- ship; or, rather, that this is the true church, the goodness of all hearts, the innocency of all childhood, the hopefulness of all youth, the care of all man and womanhood, the patience and trustfulness of old age. The natural heart of man must no longer be looked upon only as a garden of weeds, but of useful and beautiful plants, which only need patient attention to be kept in the ascendency. We must also show that these truths are an inspiration to our own lives. Unless they develope within our own lives the graces and fruit of goodness, our advocating of so large and generous a faith will be of little worth. It is only as these truths have taken such vital hold upon our lives that we can really or succesfully do this work. In all hives there are drones, to all armies there are stragglers; but it is the workers that gather the honey, the soldiers who bear the brunt and shock of battle who gain the victory. But the question which now arises is, how shall we do this work? Men sometimes see plenty to do, but fail at the same time to see how to do it. I have no doubt that there is much honest effort wasted through a failure in this direction. First in this work we should be aggres- sive. Our devotion to it should be eager, self-sacrificing, enthusiastic. The Christian thought proves its superiority to other religious systems through its missionary spirit. If our faith is what we profess it to be, we shall never be able to keep it to ourselves. Our purpose in sustaining a church will not be simply to have a good, pleasant time among ourselves. We will be anxious to say a word, whenever possible, that will bring others beneath the same influence. If by toil and sacrifice we can plant a church of our faith in an adjoining town, we will find in it occasion for rejoicing. We must be self-reliant-have all confidence in the value of our thought. If timid souls complain that we endanger their peace of mind, we must not, for a moment, flinch in our devotion to the truth. To bear witness to the truth, as we see it, and to live by it, must be the first
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thought of our lives. The work we are doing needs no apology. The truth we proclaim is its own defense. With thousands drifting on the sea of life, without chart, anchor, compass or definite port to sail for, the light of Heaven hidden behind the thick fogs of doubt; others tempted into living the soulless, cheerless life of the hypocrite for the love of gain or the good- will of society ; the power of the old faith to win either the love or respect of the rising generation fast departing ; all the old theological doctrines undermined by the truths of science and tottering before the sentence of their final doom, as much real goodness out of the church as within, is it not time for us as liberals to bestir ourselves-to become the aggressors instead of simply defenders? Yea, verily! Never, in all the history of humanity, were the calls of duty so imperative to any people as they are to-day to us, commanding us to go forth and to conquer. If we are faithful to our duty, we shall not only live to see the glorious success of this church, but also churches of like faith and vision springing up all around us. At Boonville, where I have been lecturing a number of times, the leading influence is with us; and I believe that before long we will have a regular organized church there. Just as soon as possible I intend to visit all the surrounding towns, and I shall not rest satisfied until we have churches in them all. I believe in this faith of ours. I am willing to live in it and die in it. To me it is the rising hope of the age-the pole star that is leading us from bondage to liberty-the arbitrator that is to end the war between religion and science ; the life that now is with that which is to come, and bring in that bright day of peace and universal brotherhood for which all hearts hope. But while we are aggres- sive, we must also be consistent in our faith and spirit. A faith like ours can never be advanced by a quarrelsome spirit. We must not forget that there are many good and true hearts who still find inspiration in the old. Whatever we say against the dogmas that are fettering so many souls must be done in a spirit of love to them. Doubtless some will denounce us as enemies of God and man, but we must be careful not to return raillery for raillery, evil for evil. True liberalism will always endeavor to overcome evil with good.
One word more and I am done. We must have patience.
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One year of our united life as a church has gone, with its record, into eternity, though in the light of its experience next year will be different, I am not ashamed of the seed that we have sown as a church. I believe that we have cast bread on the waters that will return after many days. But as we enter upon another year, I can say, truly, I do not expect as much for it as I did for this ; and yet I believe that if we all live that we shall come to our next anniversary with more satisfaction and cause for rejoicing than we have to this. Still we have need of patience. Our work is so in harmony with nature that we find full analogy between its method of growth and ours. Through nature, then, let us find rest in nature's God. Whether we live to see the harvest or not, let us be faithful to the springtime, sowing patiently the fruitful grain of our liberal faith. Since we entered upon this year, two, whose hearts beat with warm and eager devotion for our cause, have been called from labor to reward. We cannot say who among us will be in the ranks on the other side when another year shall have rolled around. But let us all sow in faith and patience, for both those that sow and those that reap shall rejoice together in the glory of the harvest home.
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