["A Man's Religion," from the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., April 1, 1923]

God is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Of course neither He, nor immortality, nor the reality of the spiritual world, nor the laws that govern the universe and mankind are changed or affected by the ideas of man in regard to any of them. And our ideas of these things grow with our growth, and enlarge with the enlargement of our knowledge. Neither the "Great Spirit" of the savage, nor the merely superman gods of the old Greek and Roman,—no, not even the Jehovah of wrath and inexorable vengeance, the conception of the ancient Jew, nor the provincial and partial God of the modern junker Prussian—none of these expresses the idea of God entertained by the real follower of the Prince of Peace. He has grown beyond all these primitive ideas of a Supreme Being. He knows God as an all-pervading Spirit; a constant presence; the source of all power and wisdom, free from all semblance of human passions, selfishness, and injustice, and full of love and tenderness; the perfect embodiment of all spiritual strength, beauty, and sweetness. . . . Yet it is most important that we all come as near as possible to correct ideas concerning God and His attributes, the future life and things religious, because our conception of these things largely determines our ideals, and has a most powerful influence in the molding of our characters and the shaping of our lives.

[From the Canadian Churchman, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 22, 1923]

Two encouraging features of practically all youth movements are their altruism,—for their voice is raised not for themselves,—and their complete fearlessness in the pursuit of truth, justice, and honesty. They are impatient of the ways and theories of the past, and not least of its dogmas. But they are not irreligious; no holy zeal could more completely take hold of life than has their passion for the betterment of the world. That is the keynote of their creed. They are primarily concerned with their present life, and the raising of it to a higher plane; and all their religion must be related to that task. They do not think so much of the future. . . . They are impatient of dogma, because they feel that too often it is not related to the problems of this life. They feel that they must choose between a vital religion and a cold, seemingly empty doctrinalism. And if the dilemma with which they find themselves confronted is a valid one, the choice they make is right enough.

[From the Bee, Omaha, Nebr., March 25, 1923]

A general revival of religion appears to be in progress of development, not only in America, but generally throughout the world. One of its most hopeful aspects is that it partakes of the fundamentals rather than the creedal elements that involve the negligible forms of belief. In a general way, it may be said to be the acceptance of the first and great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." . . . Another of the hopeful aspects of the apparent revival is the effort on the part of all to apply the teachings of the second of the great commandments, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Many who listen only to the surface din may doubt this; but the hubbub of strife and dissension is caused by an insignificant minority, when the whole world is surveyed, and ample proof is available that never before was the majority so concerned to help all the rest. Cain's question is being answered everywhere in the affirmative. "I am my brother's keeper" is the thought uppermost in the mind of man to-day, and the effort to discharge this sacred charge is shown in such profusion of ways that it would be difficult to present them all. One generalization will serve: Never in all the world's history was the humanitarian impulse so strong as it is now; never did men give so freely to undertakings for the lessening of human suffering and the increase of human happiness. . . . Men are turning to God, and the world is being made better, because some of the ideals, old as the race, perhaps, are beautifully embodied and expressed with crystal clearness in that answer of Jesus to the lawyer, who asked what are the great commandments.

[From the Literary Digest, New York, N. Y., Feb. 3, 1923]

Does this new idea of progress mean that we must abandon the old creed, abandon Christ as the Saviour of the world, or can we interpret the creed in terms of the great idea? Rev. G. Studdert Kennedy believes that we can and must so interpret it. He believes that "the new idea comes from God, that it is new light which brings out the essential meaning of Christ's teaching much more fairly and fully than the old could ever do. . . . What is one to make of it? Well, there is one thing stands out: all these peculiarly human gifts have one result; they enable men to unite, to cooperate, to share a common fund of knowledge, of truth and beauty. They break down our isolation from one another, and draw us into a closer unity. They tend to make men, millions of men, into the race, the human unity. They are means of increasing love. There is not a single peculiarly human gift that has not got that tendency; they all tend to make unity possible; they all tend toward love.

. . . That is what the process seems to be groping toward—the brotherhood of man in love. That is what it does seem to be moving to, but under whose guidance? By what power? By what accident? . . . By necessity? . . . There must be something behind it as big as that which has come and is coming out of it. There must be some one behind it who has in him the brotherhood of man. God the Father? Yes, that does it. I am driven to discover behind it God the Father—a power that means the brotherhood of man."

[From the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., March 11, 1923]

Unless the statements and promises of Jesus in the four gospels are to be rejected; indeed, unless the whole New Testament is to be discarded as but another of those systems of religion which the world has outgrown, as a mere visionary superstition like the paganisms of the past and present—which God forbid—humanity is destined at some time in the future to entertain, yes, to live a religion entirely above and beyond anything that can be formulated by any creed. Does he not say that we are to do the truth? Is it not promised that when we really become his disciples we shall do his work? Which is in effect saying that his life will then be in us. Indeed, the whole contents of the four gospels lead one inevitably to the conclusion that his disciples are to come into the same oneness with the Father's life in which he lived. He rejected the creeds and intellectualisms of the scribes and Pharisees, and followed the promptings and leadings of his own divine and consecrated spirit, just as he has made it clear that his disciples are to come into such oneness with the spirit that they may at all times have his leading, his wisdom and power to bless and dominate them. May such a blessed day speedily come to Christendom. And how shall one who is thus "walking in the spirit" be bound by the "doctrines of men"? "He that is free in Christ is—must be—free indeed;" free to follow the dictates of the spirit as it speaks to his heart. The Zion's Herald says at the end of its discussion, "Let us have in the creeds the truth as it is in Christ Jesus." But the truth as it is in Christ Jesus lives, moves, and has its being in the purified, regenerated, spiritual, religiously vitalized heart of men. It is beyond and above the statements of creeds. It cannot even be apprehended by the intellect, so the Scripture declares. It must be "spiritually discerned."

[From the Canadian Churchman, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 19, 1923]

For good or for ill our century is impatient of any creed that suggests inactivity. There are things to be done; this is the joy of life. An eternity with nothing to be done would, therefore, be not joyous but grievous. . . . But is the rest of the blessed a heaven of inactivity? Perhaps there is a rest that includes work, and a service that is of the essence of peace! That the life of the blessed is a life of activity is a belief supported both by wholesome Christian instincts and by the pictures given us in the New Testament. This belief is true to that sound conviction that, since any relation to God here that bears not its fruit of service to the brethren is thereby proven counterfeit, fellowship with God beyond will be not less but more a life of loving activity. . . . It would seem reasonable to conclude that our Lord's parables, promising increased chances of service in the future as a reward for duty well done now, are not to be limited in their application to a progression of opportunity in this life only.

[Rev. Robert Hopkin, in the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., April 9, 1923]

The Sermon on the Mount is the only ethical creed in existence, and the only creed upon which Jesus places the seal of his approval. . . . The creeds demand affirmations of certain doctrines, while all that Jesus demands is character. By our good living we are to shed abroad the light that "never was on sea or land." By our upright, busy lives we are to win men to the praise of the eternal Father. When those who call themselves Christians reflect in their daily living the Sermon on the Mount, those who scoff at God will begin to glorify Him. We are to live the Beatitudes . . . for the sake of others. Christ never intended his religion to be a luxury for a favored few who claim to hold certain opinions about him, but a force exhibited in the lives of his followers that will drive the whole world in the direction of the Father.

[H. P. Marchant, in Eenheid, The Hague, Holland]

Time has gone by for what might be called the practice of unbelief for its own value. . . . Agnosticism . . . does not satisfy any longer. In our days . . . we understand . . . that the meaning of the fences put up between the various forms of religion is overrated, and that the exclusiveness roused through this has hampered the development of religious life. . . . The acknowledgment of religion above creeddissension is gradually gaining ground. Presently one will see how dangerous it is for religious life, as well as for each church organization, when childlike faith in the truth and the beauty of its teachings is misused, to protect the material interests of those whose support to the church is deemed essential; because it is this practice that will make the strongest and most beautiful edifice to totter, through her untruthfulness—yea—her deception.

[Dr. William Laurence Sullivan, in the Tribune, Oakland, Calif., April 2, 1923]

Not first a creed, but first a life of zeal to go in the way of Christ—this is simplicity of the Christian religion.