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Show ae of Intelligence has risen. Bqt whether wheth-er the world has grown better or wiser or not. It ts a world which can no longer look at things through the theological spectaeles of the paat. An Inevitable readjustment is at hand. There are those who are much concerned at what soamp to them to be a religious degeneration. But it Is not necessarily degeneration. It mar be evolution. At any rate the time for a transition ef some kind has arrived. In the nature of thlnge an antidote or a substitute will appear. It la always so. This world Is less topsyturvy topsy-turvy than some people Imagine, even If the devil Is dead. The theory that m man was such a poor stick that ha would never be saved unless he thought Christ was beckoning him en toward heaven with Its glories celestial, while the devil was prodding him from behind. Is fortunately for-tunately giving; away.N We ere beginning to realise thaF It la quite as natural for a man to be virtuous as It Is to be evil. We are beginning to see that It is not so much escape from thle world that la needed as the knowledge and strength to live In it rightly- Religion is not dying. Rather e are today making a new garment for religion. Man has become a new revelation of. himself. him-self. n4 la a sew and glorified creature, not perfect, but far eneugh removed from the creature which groveled before the old gods, fearing; his devil rather more than ho loved his Christ. This new 'man lives In a univeree. Truly he sees a new heaven and a new earth. More Important yet, he discerns truth revealed not as an. edict from a persona rod. but revealed (o him aa law, inevitable and unchanging law. Wo are working our religious problems out Into a kind of ennobled atoiclam. To Marcus Auerllus we add lesua of Nasa-, reth. We-cherish with fine Ideal of self-control, self-control, with tho stem streng-th of the ' stoics, the thourh ot loving; service. It ; cultivates the Individual but also on. ; couragea as a perfectly natural expres slon an altruism quite a lofty. That such a reiUton is not yet formulated formu-lated we may admit. But the yeast of ' its kingdom la working. mightily ia the tr.odtrn world. , i - : - , . SHORT SERMONS - BYg3 MINISTERS , : (BY DR. PERKINS.) " "Think not that I am come to send pesee on earth; I am not come to send peace, but a sword." Matthew x., 34. i This was the Rev. Charles . Perkins' - textert St. Paul's Episcopal ehnreh yes-, yes-, terday. A eynopsis follows: . -' One of the most Interesting t hint's Is A prdox- It Is needless to say thnti there are many-apparent paradoxes In the eaylnfe of Christ. Our test is one of them. It Is only capable of beln- un-' un-' ' derftood from a thorough reading of the otext In which it la found. x The engels her&Med Christ's birth with glad tidings of rood will and peace. The prophets p rods. 1 tried Him as tho Prince f I'eace. 6t- Peter was rebuked by Him ' when he took up the sword against their common enemiea. And now Me telle them, that He la come to send a sword and not rr-e on earth. - - What is this sword? It Is another name for the conflict of C&rlet'a principles with the principles of the world. Perhaps this "conflict la not eo evident today as it was " In the early sjrea of the Christian church. Hut, nevertheleea, it is belnx waed to ray. Sometime it la open, sometimes t la covert warfare. . The early persecutions were more or " ) open. Disciples were martyred. Their bodies were made to lljrht the city of the Caeears. Wild beasts in the arena tore them to pieces. The spirit cf . the worll would not have the eplrii of the Ch'tst 'o rule over It: . . . Tt.e Master had told them not to fesr. ' 'Dm1 are they that are persecuted for rlKlteour.e' auke, for- their'e rl the k ngiim of heavrri." A church father v.tM u? this rrlrlr when h 'mde tint Vie ff the pu.rae. 'Th hloA of Hhe "rr,!rtvrs Is tr 8 ke d of ll.e Church."- These t'cve'.cal persecutions have peeled e ay. Or. y cn. e in a ffreat wi;lJe is tpre an x;;'r!tn'j r;niit the Christians in heatr-en lands. Tl.e srirtt Of pereeu-t pereeu-t . -n l.fi raf!"'l out ft our land. This - l.ria never iroved acythinir. The c : io prffi-ut) Is tKt American in t - y ..- tt the word. There Is no spot . . r !.re mn are more free to , . r,-i rrirJ:r.x to the dictates of jaJi.a Ui-"C3 lo think tfcat by O i tomorrow and certainly before the end of this week, many persons In our midst will find comfort In the saying: "Blessed are they that are persecuted for tirht-eousnees' tirht-eousnees' sake, for thelr's is the kingdom king-dom of heaven."' Each of us has bis Individual In-dividual views of. this particular matter, and I shall not go Into it further. I have one observation to make, however. Wnen we think we are right, and have done "what we believed was our duty, and others criticise us, it is then we feel the spirit of the blessednesa of persecution. persecu-tion. - But do we not see that It la possible pos-sible to be a -persecutor ourselves, and not realize It T Coneotentioua. Indeed, we may be. 8 till that -conscience needs en-lightening-. It wilt take a sword In our own hearts to bring peace that-will toe peace. Indeed. This sword will divide the true rom the fajse. To do this there Is only one Guide who will help us aright. That Guide la the ' Master. - No peace with Him and with the devil ,t the same time. No peace with Him and with evil principles at the same time. His relUrion Is the sword that separatee the -essential - from the i non-essential. 'The' carnal from 'the spiritual. .. i ' ; . , (BY DR. SIMPKINi) "Tho Abiding Element In" Life" was the Bevv P.-Ai Simpkins' text at the Phillips Congregational ehnreh Sunday. "It Is only when the deep forces move that men, realise clearly as they ought the value of the eternal things that are not seen." said heJ "Life's high fortune ia too often measured only by the hours of success and its 'accumulations, when the -truth 1s that-the soul never grips the supreme dignity mo splendidly, never fees thai true vision " so - perfectly 1 as m the hours when things are swept away and mill Is thrust out upon the eternal things that heart-faith finds. . "It Is eueh folly that men will sing with -lefee- oftmeetnees: -- -t. " Oianre und flecav in alt around pec, Ob, : Thau who c&hEgest .not. . . Abj'le with me.' '" and yet forget, tha God. his furnifhed n4 ).e.pd us wuhuhe ahiUng for life a comfort and Joy In . the things not seen of .tiie spiritual which are eternal. The reality of epirltual thlnn la being voui hei anew in t&e . world's most ma-tetlal ma-tetlal tt-e. If rn the one hand men are aaylrg that the spiritual la a eliadow, on the o:l r the very clamor of the soul a own ataertlons gives a dental to that assertion. as-sertion. ' ! 'The sppeal of God to the heart of man has Uea to' this element lUila us which may answer to the abiding because be-cause Itself survives.' Perhsps no argument argu-ment Is at once so suggestive or so satisfying satis-fying in Its logio as that which Is furnished fur-nished by the instinct of the human heart which has voiced the reality of spiritual things and their supreme worth. Persisting Per-sisting throughout the ages with their passion and pain, despite the cynicism of seeming fate, through crudity and cruelty. It has survived to flowers noC only In grotesque credulity and unscientific unscien-tific belief, but in the sane and ordered culture, of the widest science and tho finest fin-est life that the earth has known." (BY DR. EDDY ). The Rev. Frank . Fay Eddy of the First Unitarian society ebose "Tho World, the Tlfsh and the Devil" for his subject. lie said: . The world, the flesh of the .devil, was placed In contrast to bea-ven. the spirit, and Christ. By this view the world was the battle-ground whereon Che forcea ef Patan and of Christ waged ceaseless conflict con-flict for the souls of men. The advantage of position seemed to lie with atan. for unless-a man , renounced 'this world, warred upon his own flesh and deliberately-renounced . the seductive pleasures of this life, he remained a hopeless sinner. This power of choice alone raised him above the position of a mere pawn In the game. ' " " In the .crucible of modern thought the dissolution of such dogmas aa this Is ap- Sarent to every philosophic 'observer. The evil has already passod on Into the outer darkneea. . The. old-fashioned hell has be-v come a curious legend, and the old-fash-lorwd heaven -with It golden -streets and white-robed choral society la cUaaed with It. The Christ who went with this set of doffmas must aso pass Into the shadowy shad-owy nimbus of the unreal. If we do not regard tho world as .belonging to the devil and If we do not despise our Oeah as filthy re. In fact If we do rot N)lve either in tbe d'-vil rr' Irt th essential degrcda-tlon degrcda-tlon of the 'e-arrftrv estate, there is small ue for the kind of a supernatural Christ th relped 'men out of .their -evil plUrht I In a woril which was peculiarly the kitg-1 kitg-1 do-rt of tMe devil, - - The fo- t i. we arc henceforth to, live with a different viewpoint. Humanity will -not be dinrerent. and the environment of thle worlJ will not be rreatly changed. But we will have a chanred vision. In-deeJ In-deeJ we already hre in no small degree begun to uie this new point of view. Is the world growing better? I think eo, -on the Whole. a the world growing Wlsert TTCim. at least In the sense Uat thai a. |