Show RELIGION MUST I I CONVINCE MEN Cause of Indifference to Churches Discussed by Rev William T Brown NEED APPEAL TO REASON HARBORS OF ORTHODOXY NOT CREEDS BUT INSPIRATIONS The Rev William Thurston Brown pastor pas paI pastor tor of the Unitarian church chose as his subject yesterday esterday Authority or Inspiration tion The Decisive Question In Jn Religion In clear language Mr Brown declared that the growing Indifference to the churches Is a failure to appeal to the reason of men and to reach their every day life He said What is the meaning of ot this wide widespread widespread widespread spread and growing indifference to the religion of ot our churches The answer is perfectly plain and it Is this Any re religion religion religion ligion resting on supernatural authority I any religion which directly or indirectly I asks men and women to abdicate their I freedom of ot thinking to smother the voice of reason Is s doomed If It our boys and girls are taught to use their reason in inthe Inthe Inthe the public schools and in all the ordinary affairs of ot their life lite they are going to use It everywhere Nothing can perma permanently permanently remain Immune to reason nothing can finally evade the severest scrutiny of oC the mind of ot man and nothing can can main maintain maintain maintain tain a genuine hold on the loyalty or affection or respect Ct of men which does pot easily and overwhelmingly convince ny and every everyone one of Its truth It t a question of oC convincing a afew afew I few men or even a race of ot men It is 15 a question of ot convincing all sorts and con conditions conditions of ot men of ot satisfying the unlimited capacities and possibilities of the mind and life of ot men Religion based on any authority external to life religion which does not grow out of ot the needs and ca and demands of ot human life now and here and everywhere as naturally as grass and foliage and flower and fruit grow out of ot the soil solia soila a religion that does not do that can only make hypocrites It ItIs ItIs Itis Is a tribute to our human nature that such a tremendous majority refuse to be hypocrites Essence of Religion The very ver attempt to base religion on authority is Irreligious The men who are today universally recognized as the pioneers and founders of religion from Moses and Krishna and Gautama and Jesus down to the last man who has been the Inspirer of his fellows never made any such attempt Without exception they were men who tied themselves to no flied fixed authority they were men who pos possessed possessed possessed In themselves the ver very essence of religion and used the precepts and exam examples examples examples ples of at the past not as anchors to keep their lives moored in some somo landlocked harbor of ot orthodoxy orthodox but as constellations to guide the way of or new and larger adventures adventures tures tums on the boundless ocean of or moral and spiritual possibility What was it that made mado Moses or Gau Gautama Gautama Gautama tama or Jesus a religious man a man in incarnate Incarnate Incarnate carnate with the spirit of ot religion and so an nn inspiration to all nil the after days Just one thing the vision of a great need and a great task The atheism which has cursed the world and curses It still Is la that which fails falls to see and know that any man to today today today day can have the religion of at Jesus only as he somehow gains the vision of his own world which Jesus had of his only as he becomes for the now and here what Jesus became for the then and there There can be no more harmful superstition than that of at thinking that we of at today can rightly or justly or adequately see our world or know its meaning by look lookIng lookIng looking Ing through the eyes of at any man or race that ever lived Every forward step that has been ta taken taken taken ken In science or art or invention or ed education education education has been a step away dway from au authority authority authority Our men of science of or phil philosophy philosophy philosophy of ot the arts and so on have made use of ot all the results of other days but never as an anchorage rather as a point of ot departure In these spheres of thinking and doing we refuse to be limited Every Everyman Everyman Everyman man has to be a discoverer he is of at use only as he becomes a discoverer And all allour allour allour our progress has resulted from that fact We have been conscious of a task to per perform perform perform form and in response to the demands of ot that task the world has been transformed What Is the meaning then of religion I answer it Is the joy jO the courage the hope the enthusiasm the devotion the the reverence the freedom which glorify a life that has discovered something adequate to live for and to tomake tomake tomake make that life a contagion of hope and courage and faith and cheer for all the world That Is what religion Is ls and there Is nothing that can take its place Delusion Is Widespread Does that sort of ot religion cut a man manoff manoff off oft from the vital things of the past Does It make the heroic men and the splendid deeds of the past of at no avail Quito the contrary The men and deeds of the past that were potent and divine Instead of being an authority to such a II aman aman man hardening his life by the pressure of a fixed mold limiting the scope of his life within set boundaries becomes to such a man a mighty and joyous inspiration Inspiration inspiration It would be infinitely ridiculous were It not so infinitely sad this widespread delusion that we can bequeath a religion that God himself can hand down a reli religion religion religion gion through the medium of an infallible book Would you OU give ghe your our son or daugh daughter ter the priceless treasure of religion Would you have the young men and the young oung women of city and country of or street and alley of mine and counting house of saloon and brothel would you ou have these human lives unfold into the blossom and fruitage of religion Would you OU see them Christian in the tho only mean meanIng meanIng meaning Ing of that word that is worth a moments thought You can do that in one way and only one You Tou cannot do It by giving giving givIng ing them Bibles You cannot do It by b Inducing them to accept any creed or the theology theolog theology old or new You cannot do it by getting them to sing hymns or say sa pray pra prayers prayers ers or perform any an set of rites however ancient You can do it only by putting them In the tho way of seeing something ade adequate adequate adequate quate to live livo for some great and needed task to be performed by making them feel teel the pressure on their souls of some sacred cause of at human freedom or right Once let a II man gain a vision Islon of a great task and immediately all the moral re resources resources resources sources of ot past and present become avail available available available able for tor him Once set Bet a human life in pursuit of ot an end so great so imperative so beneficent that he is literally thrown back upon divine resources for its ac accomplishment accomplishment accomplishment and God will nill become a reality to that man and nod he will enter and become a part of ot the fellowship of the prophets and Christs of every ever age Bet Better Better Better ter still he will become becom for his own time and place a moral dynamo a living and convincing witness to the reality of re religion religIon religion ligion |