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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1895)
THE COUKJER ARE CHRISTIANS HYPOCRITES? Written for The Coukiek. The Rev Dr. McDonald, of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Ascenscion,.New York, made the following statement in a sermon delivered a few years ago: "There is a belief prevalent that the clergymen of io-day are not honest; that they believe things they dare not preach, and that they preach what they do not believe and what they feel certain in their own minds is not true.7' 'there is, -unfortunately for the Christian religion, such a belief prevalent, No one can deny it. And as the regularly ordained ministers of the gospel do but expound tho doctrines of their sev eral denominations, subscribed to by the members of the different congregations, is it cot apparent then, granting the insincerity of min isterial teaching, that church members themselves are liable to the same charge of professing that which they do not believe? And are not both charges well founded? Is it not a fact that modern Chris tians can be justly accused of hypocrisy? The Nineteenth century professor of the Christian religion finds himself shackled with the chimerical philosophy of the dark ages. Against his will, against the mandate of that inner consciousness which asserts itself in ever human being, he is made to accept the vagaries which emanated from the age of sophistry and mysticism. His enlighteneu understanding is allowed no opportunity for shap ing his own religious convictions. As long as he is in the church he must perforce bow in humble submission to the decrees of ancient monks and priests who delighted in making Christ's religion a stumbling block in the way of the earnest seeker after truth. The Reformation did indeed remove from the church some of the ill con ceived dogmas originated in the preceeding centuries; but many barriers were left untouched. The curtain of progress and truth, was but partly lifted, and God's pure sunlight was permitted to suf fuse but a portion of the dark recesses and bywajB of the gloomy past. And even with the sundering of old traditions and heresies came now obstacles in the path of the humble .follower of Christ. Calvin and Luther, with others, fought and conquered the pester ing dragons of fanaticism only to add new burdens to tho church they rescued. Before Luther, before Calvin, before Savonarola, be-' fore Erasmus, thinking men wrestled with their consciences over tho encumbrances of the Christian faith, and in their inmost hearts, rejected the false for the true, turned aside the base covering to pluck the hidden kernel of truth. But those were dangerous times. Men questioned religious teachings at their peril. While inwardly protesting they were compelled to accept what was offered in si lence. A man's liberty or life was the penalty of disbelief in the empirical theology of the day. Thus were men and women forced by canting priests, backed by the awful power of inquisition, to pro fees belief in creeds and articles of faith which their own under standing could not endorse, and a large number of the followers of the disciple of truth were made unwilling hypocrites. True the Reformation affected a change. Its influence was clari fying, and men were left free, within certain specified limits, to ex press themselves in accordance with their personal convictions; but since that time theology has been practically at a standstill. The teachings of the principal actors in the great upheaval were ac cepted almost as inspired precepts from heaven, and these, with so much of the foundation of the mediaeval church as was left undis turbed, have constituted and do constitute the theological founda tion of the new church. In the intervening years the superstruct ure has developed and enlarged, but the bases, zealously guarded by scholastic divines, have not been touched. The modern structure is upheld by decayed foundations planted in ignorance and supersti tion centuries ago. Knowing the habitation to be insecure, Chris tians have keen compelled to live on in silence. To-day the mother church and her lusty offspring are all guilty of hypocrisy. Study the conditions of salvation offered by the different denomi national divisions of the church. There was a time, now long past, when men were told; "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Now man's diabolical ingenuity has interposed new obstructions in the way of a direct path to the presence of the Almighty, and in addition to faith and an endeavor to comply with Christ's precepts, and to follow his example, we are compelled to accept and express faith in the variegated theological doctrines of purely human origin. According to the immutable decree of the church, manifested in its different branches, wecan'reach the goal of salvation only through tho rocks and shoals of baptism, holy water predestination, absolution etc. We do not believe all this; but we must submit if our names are tu be enrolled among the army of the saved. That we do not believe in these things is evident by the spirit of dissent which is now beginning to manifest itself so prominently .throughout the length and breadth of the land. The ministers themselves do not believe in them any more than do the rank and file of the church, as is witnessed by the fact that the doc trinal discourses of one-hundred years ago are seldom heard in the modern pulpit. To-day the Presbyterian minister, in the face of widespread disapproval of the central facts of Calvinistic theology, is loth to preach on the doctrine of predestination or election. It is not so many years since faithful church-goers expected and demand ed learned theological harrangues on some one or other of the dog matic hypotheses which have for so many years been looked upon as the fundamental principles of the Christian religion. Religion was not a simple, loving faith, and sermons on the simple story of Christ's saving grace were not regarded with favor by a people steeped in what they called "orthodoxy." The horrors of a raging hell, the awful punishments in store for tho unbeliever, the importance of the observance of the forms and ceremonies of the church, the elaboration of the nicities of theological teaching, all these possessed far moie interest for the attendant upon divine wor ship than the relation of the Saviour's sacrifice for the salvation of the world and the accompanying appeal for a more Christ liks life. Instead of discourses pointing out the lessons to be drawn from the Saviour's blameless life and urging men to emulate Him, to study His character, dreary essays on harsh and ungodlike theories, originally promulgated by pharisaical ecclesiastical dignitaries, seemed to be most in demand. But today, while the standards of the respective churches retain, to a considerable extent, the old-time doctrines and creeds, minis tern are not given to enlarging upon them. At stated intervals Baptist ministers and Methodist ministers and Presbyterian minis ters do instruct their hearers in the special beliefs of their several churches; but they prefer generally to give such subjects a wide berth. For the undercurrent of popular disapproval of the monkish vagaries and philosophical speculation foisted on religion, slowly gathering in force and power for hundreds of years, has at last assumed a threatening aspect. The pent-up feeling of the mass of professing Christians is already beginning to express itself in no uncertain way, and the ministers knowing this, dare not, if they 60 desired, offend the growing sentiment of the people by the old form of pulpit instruction. Evidences of this as yet not adequately expressed disbelief in the array of forms and creeds and doctrines and observances which have bo long Btifled the church are not wanting. The widespread dissen sion in the various denominations betokens in unmistakable termsa universal protest against the old standards. At home and abroad the spirit of discord is stalking forth. In ever' religious sect trouble over doctrinal points is brewing. There is a slashing and crashing of creeds. At no time since the Reformation has there been such a decided and general objection to the ancient teachings of the church. When the sum of one million dollars is presented to a university accompanied by the following statement, does it not seem that decided exception is taken to the old system of doctrinal teaching? "It is my earnest wish that at proper times and in a proper man ner, I would suggest at least once a week, the attention of the students, at all stages of their course, may be called to the teaching of our Saviour, as recorded in the gospels, as distinguished from the interpretations of theee teachings ly men, as embodied in creeds, catechisms, articles of faith and denominational dogmas." Couched in such language the above really amounts to a proviso. James B. Colgate used these words in notifying the trustees of Colgate University, of Hamilton, New York, of his gift of one million dollars to the institution. When Dr. Briggs, of the Presbyterian church, by the advocacy of liberal ideas which a few years since i cl