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individual life) contented, and ceasing to struggle upward, starts backward upon the path of Reversion, of Degeneration, or of "Eternal Death" and carries all its offspring downward with it.

Such are the risings and fallings of Man. To be contented and to cease struggling upward is to revert, to degenerate, to die; to aspire and to struggle upward is to have life, and to have it more abundantly. This, in both an individual and a corporate sense, is a law seemingly universal, eternal and inviolable. To neglect it is to be "dead in trespasses and sins"; to conform to it is "the Resurrection of the dead, and the Life of the world to come. Amen." Moreover, to proclaim it, everywhere and unceasingly, is to "preach the Gospel to every creature"; to refuse to thus proclaim it, is to be "disobedient to the heavenly vision" and to perish with "them that perish.”—“Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into enduring punishment."

From this point of view, common to both Scripture and Science, all the evolutionary interpretations of the Universe and all the ever-alternating facts of History are clearly explained. An inviolable law of Aspiration and of upward Struggle; conformity to this law brings ever-unfolding life and peace, non-conformity brings the opposite.

This explains all. All the holy precepts of Holy Books, all the lofty maxims of Sages and Saints, all the wise inductions and deductions of Philosophy and of Science as well as of Theology point to this one law-lead to it, and confirm it.

"Not to the born saint, but to the sinner becoming a saint the full length, and breadth, and heighth, and depth of life's meanings are revealed."

Not the absence of vice, but vice there and virtue holding it ever by the throat, seems the ideal human state."

The wretch languishing in the felon's cell may be drinking draughts of the wine of Truth which are untasted by

the so-called favorites of fortune who, content with luxury and selfishness, have ceased to struggle for a higher existence -both for themselves and for that Humanity of which they are an essential part.

The ascent and the descent of man, the joys and sorrows of life, the achievements and failures of the human race, and all the processions and recessions of sentient forms of existence beneath the sun are natural consequences of conformity or of non-conformity to Nature's inviolable law-Thou shalt struggle and help others to struggle upward, and forever upward.

2. Jesus the Fruitage of the Ages, and the Product of His Environments.

THE century which opened the Christian Era was in every way remarkable. Being such it could not fail to produce remarkable men; and, among the many remarkable men, one most remarkable of all. It was the Harvest of the Ages. The great saints, sages, and prophets of Israel; philosophers, poets, and artists of Greece; law-givers, legislators, and heroes of Rome; mystics, dreamers, and "wise men " from the East (Persia, India, China) had all combined to scatter the seed which, in the first Century came to an abundant harvest. Jesus the Christ was its "first fruit," its finest product: and his Religion became its "Garner." The antecedents and environments of Jesus could not fail to produce him (in a lofty sense) any more than those of Moses, David, Isaiah, Sakya Muni, Confucius, Socrates (and hundreds more who sprang loftily forth from the teeming soil of teeming ages) could have failed to produce them.

The first Century was not only one of the Golden Eras but the Golden Era: the Era of Universal Empire, Peace, Culture, Refinement, Toleration, Intellectual Vigor,—of Dogmatic Decline and Religious Resurrection, of Ecclesiastical Decay and Ethical Renewal. Judea was the centre of it all; through it were travelling and in it were dwelling "devout men, out of every nation under heaven."

Out of this best prepared soil of Humanity and most teeming life of History, what a miracle it would have been had not at least one miraculous product issued,-one, as far superior to all others as his Era was superior (in remarkable antecedents and environments) to all the Eras which preceded and succeeded it!

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Such a product was Jesus, miraculous and yet entirely natural; the supreme and yet the typical and prophetic fruitage of all the ages.

3.-External Prosperity and Internal Decay.

The sharp eye of him who "knew what was in men and needed not to be told" detected in individuals, and also in the institutions of Church and of State alike, the "dead men's bones" within the "garnished sepulchres "the unreality or the "uncleanness" beneath gilded and glorious exteriors. Such individuals, with whom the Temple and the Synagogues were thronged, he constantly rebuked and scorned as "hypocrites"; and such institutions, never more glorious with external prosperities and pieties, he unceasingly predicted would he completely overthrown so that "not one stone should remain upon another."

In all religions and generations to this day the popular individuals and the popular institutions have been of the same kind; exteriors regarded, interiors unconsidered-appearances, not actualties. This is so because popularity (in its wide or "orthodox" sense) means the judgment of the majority; and the majorities have never yet risen to an intellectual, moral, or spiritual elevation sufficient to enable them to form anything but superficial judgments in these several departments. Taking advantage of this fact, selfseeking individuals and self-parading institutions have always flattered the majority into believing that their vote and verdict is the voice of God. Their vote has always been for externalities, their verdict for superficialities. So, pretentious Hypocricy has flourished, and glittering Emptiness prevailed, in State and Church alike (but in Church far more than in State) to this day.

External glory may be the product of internal decay. A magnificent show of Piety may co-exist with hearts "full of all uncleanness." So that stately temples with thronged courts, gorgeous adornments, grand rituals, impressive ceremonies, and imposing formalities of Worship (even if abundant charities and humanities of the self-parading sort are added) are no certain evidences of vital soul-life in the Christianity of to-day more than they were in the Christianity of the fourteenth century; nor in the Christianity of the fourteenth century more than they were in magnificently decaying Judaism at the beginning of the Christian Era.

Thus far, in the history of every name and form of Religion, "the zenith of formalistic Piety has ever been the nadir of 'Religion Pure and Undefiled.'" If sincerity be not in the heart, intelligence in the head, and love in the life the prosperities, ceremonialisms, and splendors of Religion are "only sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." Sincerity, Intelligence, Love-these three are co-essential; "but the greatest of all is Love."

4.-What Mankind Most Needs.

Thus far, in the history of all Religions and Theologies, the greatest lack has been the historic sense and the logical insight combined by which to discriminate between fact and fiction, truth and error. Blind credulity and readiness to believe "every word that is told him" without criticism, investigation, or caution has been the fatal defect of the overwhelming majorities of mankind. "Its cardinal weakness is to let belief follow recklessly upon lively conception, especially when the conception has instinctive liking at its back. What such people most need is that their beliefs should be broken up and ventilated, that the northwest wind of Science should get into them and blow their sickliness and barbarism away.'

The masses of men have never read the "first and great Commandment" beyond the word heart-" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." It is high time that

Priest-craft should not only permit but urge them to proceed to the next clause-" and mind." Simply this is what Renascent Christianity insists upon. Till the "mind" is reverenced equally and put to use co-operatively with the "heart," in the love and service both of God and of Man, it matters not how much false prophets and hireling-priests of all the degenerate Religions combined may say “Peace, Peace!"—in the name of God and for the welfare of Mankind Renascent Christianity will reply, There shall be no Peace!

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At the date of this writing (May 12, 1897) the New York Times has the following significant and not at all uncommon item: “Mr. is one of the most worthy members of the and gives freely of his means to support it. He is a deacon, and a teacher of a Bible Class. Until a few weeks ago he was a firm supporter of the Rev. church. Recently the Rev. I heard that Mr. doctrine of an intermediate state, and he denounced the theory as heresy. Hot words passed between the men and the controversy has extended until it has involved the whole church.

the pastor of the was inculcating the

The names given by the newspaper are here left blank. The church is located within a hundred miles of New York City and its Pastor is called a Protestant. If it were located in Central Africa or in the South Sea Islands, or if its Pastor were a Romanist or a Mohammedan: or even if such intolerant Protestants were not the rule but rather exceptions, the circumstance might pass without notice.

As it is, the least that can be said of such "Pastors" and " Protestants" is to quote the words of the Master to similar teachers and leaders of his day: "Ye have taken away the key of knowledge, ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.”

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5.-Faith and Works, or Answering our own Prayers.

In a section preceding it was affirmed that Eclecticism (or Renascent Christianity) combines all that is true and good in both of the opposing Systems known as Supernaturalism and Naturalism.

The relative conceptions and methods of these three dif ferent schools of interpretation may be illustrated by the following:-A gentleman calling on friends, found a bright little girl much grieved that her brother was making a trap to catch birds. A few days later, calling again, he asked her "What about the trap?" She said, "I first went out and

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