RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 65, 16 March 1907, Page 10

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

■y—/: - ~:yy~.. . — Cathedral. "" -,jy «uT_*! ?^Sß?tt ßWß and rea *' ot St. Paul is here saying that he heeded no other testimonial to the truth of what he had taught the Corinthians than their lives. No written letter of commendation would'be so invaluable to him as the speaking evidence of the regenerated and enlightened lives of those who had in any way come under his influence, joined in his crusade against impurity and ignorance and all-that was inglorious. He felt that his ideal had- been high and the methods by _which he had tried to realise it ennobling. Instinct reads readily the application of tie text.

The Apostle might have asked: Have I by my teaching raised the true standard of manliness— that manliness which brings with it refinement and purity; not the spurious thing begotten of coarseness and sensuality? Have I by my life tried to show forth the glories of unselfishness? Have I cultivated in my brother man the sweetness and transparency of simplicity? I will speak now rather of what ought to be the religious, the spiritual, characteristics of those who have imbibed the best influence of a high moral and intellectual training.

.Sow it seems to mc that there is the uprising oi a new school of thought on religious matters among young men, and one that is full of hope. You belong to a generation which has had fax greater advantages than ours. It is possible for you to approach questions in a calmer spirit; the ground has been cleared of many errors that prevented us from making much progress, or made it very difficult. The true issues on many points of doubt are now disclosed.. It is possible. now to see your way. The only fear is that the calmer spirit should become indifference, and that, haying the ground cleared of errors, shoul be thought to remove the necessity of bard thinking. It is increasingly-clear that the progress of knowledge of truth is one continuous progress; that it is not revolution that is wanted, either of ideas or institutions, but much patient study; that men will not suddenly come on the truth by shaking off the old and starting on an entirely new path in any direction, still less by blindly retracing steps, but by incessantly extracting the. deep spiritual truths that underlie the revelations and the history of the past.

You may take as a true maxim the noble saying of Edward Irving, that there never was any error that was widely spread that did not so spread because of the truth it contained, and you may add to it that there never was any truth that did not speedily gather round it an accretion of error. Your business is always to look for the underlying truth. To discard any old truth as valueless is to discard the one really hopeful source of further insight. This is, I believe, becoming more *.nd more plain. ~But the young and the critical and the self-reliant, as well as the vain, are in danger of forgetting this. They forget,'or they do not know, the demonstrable, continuity of. human progress in truth. Nothing is more certain, I think, that that the hopes of the theo- ; logy and religion, of the' future will be got. rather .by extracting the obscured -truths of the- past than by inventing novelties.- I don't care who he is, only once let him attain the firm conviction -that the spiritual truth which underlie religion are unaffected by all such things as method or adjustment —that nothing modifies or touches the supremacy of conscience, the paramount law of duty, and the relation of the" human soul to God, the unapproaehed ''perfection of the life 'of Jesus Christ —then the change of attitude, is an intellectual and not a spiritual .change. " '..:.".

Let mc also remind you that there i are two strong cunrents of : thought which prevail in our time. One, the revival of meiliaevalisni, of which the es- j sential doctrine is that the Church is the channel of sacramental grace. The other is'tha. strong tendency to look oh the"m_terial side of everything, and resolutely deny the supra-human. Let it be our characteristic that we grasp the truth that underlies all the mistakes and exaggerations of each and enter into the spirit-of men who give-up their lives to thie service of God and man. To attain this" power of seeing truths held by opposing parties will make us men at once, wide and keen in our intellectual sj-npatkies. Of course, the difficulty will constantly present itself to us of combining width with real earnestness; and .this is, I believe, the note of the new school of . religious thought, which will not be content, as sme great writers have been, with understanding enthusiasm without possessing it; sym-. pathising artistically with beliefs, they do not share, and approving of work for o-reat causes in which they cannot trouble themselves to co-operate. The mark I long to see on young men of promise of tbe rising • generation is the firm resolve to see the truth in all creeds, not the errors only; to harmonise truths while others press their contradictions, and with this intellectual attitude to combine an enthusiasm for work in all good causes. "Ye are our epistle, known and read of all men," and I would that men may read in you the lessons of reverence for all things sacred, of fearlessness in pursuit of truth, and of persevering philanthropy. England greatly needs to-day sash reverent and truthloving workers- 1 ™ fact, the great lack of the world to-day is men of this temper. O. young men of the generation to which we who are older look with eyes of hope and confidence, what will be your work in the world? Will ye also go away—drifting away into empty selfindulgence, into aimless money-makmg, into narrow cliques,- into .slothful and carping and despairing apathy? Or will you not rather show in your lives that rou, too, have learnt the' lessons of keenness and sensibility to great causes that mark the man of true education; the largeness, the liberality that comes of enlightenment; the self-control and loyalty that comes with the consciousness that each of you has a part to play in life which may 'some day become conspicuous? Will you not rather show the toleration that comes with study of principles and the'courage and perseverance that alone win honour here? lo whom else shall we look if not to you? The great men of the generation in front are passing away, and. all eyes turn to the hopes of the future. "Ye are our epistle, known and read 'Of all men. .Will men read, in you the of lwpe. and BteßDgthy.and f* ■ **" < T ar "