Some American Evils and Their Remedies; A Series of Five Short Religio-Secular Sunday Evening Lectures Delivered from the Pulpit of the First Christian Church, Emporia, Kansas, in the Summer of 1889 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893. Excerpt: ... LECTURE V. AMERICA'S Denominationalism; Or, Shall We Ignore THE TEACHINGS OF GOD'S BOOK, WASTE OUR SUBSTANCE, AND SO LOSE OUR HERITAGE? 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."--Jesus. THE world is full of religious systems. It is natural for man to worship a being superior to himself. This element finds activity in a multitude of religions. History is replete with the names of great religious leaders. We have Confucius, Zoroaster, Buddha, Moham-" med, and others. All, in some, perhaps many respects, were good, true men; and in their several religious systems may be found numerous pure and worthy doctrines. But this does not prove anything in favor of the divinity of such systems. They would never have been known had man remained faithful to God. Since the fall of Adam, however, it has been natural for man to sin. It is just as natural for him to regret his waywardness, sooner or later, and to endeavor to secure forgiveness and peace of soul. Hence there is no tribe or nation on the face of the globe, however ignorant and undeveloped, which has not some form of religion. But how fearfully and wonderfully different these various forms How conflicting and inconsistent Yet the adherents of each are sincere in their On devotions, sometimes to astounding extremes. Some of these religions are very old. Some of them have many, many millions of communicants. But what of this? Does sincerity of motive, or remoteness of origin, or numerical strength figure anything in an intelligent consideration of a movement or system among men? Confessedly no. If so, why...