Article January 30, 1902 Issue

Religious Items

with contributions from ERASMUS, H. G. WESTON, HORACE MANN, HENRY G. SPAULDING, F. W. ROBERTSON, MARTIN LUTHER, ROBERT W. WALLACE, LUCY LARCOM, BROOKS FOSS WESTCOTT

It was a teaching of some of the wise men of ancient time that in intellect and morals every person gives shape to his own character, becomes the architect of his own fortune. The wise men of all the ages have taught practically the same thing. The Scriptures of both Testaments have many precepts and exhortations to the young and to those at every stage of life to take heed to their ways, to ponder the course of their feet, to choose and walk in the pathway of virtue, of wisdom, of uprightness. Modern literature teems with this sort of counsel. From first to last it is assumed that man has the power of self-direction. This conclusion is reached by every one who consults his own capacities and who analyzes the causes which have led him along the lines which he has pursued.

The highest type of life, of manhood or womanhood, is that which is self-directed toward high ideals, and which consequently expresses the greatest measure of truth and goodness. The life of Jesus is the most conspicuous and perfect illustration of this truth. He saw the evil and the good, and he steadfastly chose the latter and faithfully adhered to it. To the extent that they have been worthy followers of the great Leader, every good man and woman has made the same choice. They have carefully examined themselves in the light of life's circumstances—its opportunities, its enticements to evil, its possible honors—and they have decided for the right, have determined to walk in wisdom's ways and to employ their gifts in such manner as would honorably advance themselves and helpfully minister to the world.—The Universalist Leader.

A certain amount of simplicity is desirable. In our church work we are apt to get formalized,—to fall into a worship of the logical. It is not improbable that we need an occasional break-up of method, as well as of creed,—an invasion of novelty. The Salvation Army at first shocked propriety. It never will please the more conservative and cultured; yet General Booth carefully avoided the unseemly and gross, while recognizing the needs of simpler minds that never can be guided by categories and demonstration. What is wanted, always wanted, and what must be brought home to all classes, is the sympathy of love and the beauty of righteousness. These great living facts are not brought home to us by excitement or by terror, but by quickening in us attention to the claims of right and truth as against the false and wrong. Human nature at the very worst is in alliance with God. While, then, we do not dare to stand out against simple, homely, even crude ways of preaching God's love and the gospel of Jesus, we dare not do otherwise than condemn the gross caricatures practised by peripatetic emotionalists. An element of hypnotism is in all such exercises. It is liable to create a social craze. It is possible to repeat the manias that overran Europe in the Middle Ages.

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