“Baptism and communion are only rites, with a meaning, and well to be observed, but have no power in themselves, and are no more divine than are the various ceremonies among men. I claim that all forms and observances that tend to elevate and bless mankind are in a sense divine, good or Godlike, the one as another. We might say that the light of the sun, or the rain, or the cooling winds, are among the divinest gifts to mankind. So any good impulse in the hearts of men, and every noble deed, is a divine gift ordained or given from God, our Heavenly Father. Why restrict His divine gifts or ordinances to two mere ceremonies, and not include all that is good? The universe is alive with God. The thing that is natural is none the less divine and worthy of our love and reverence. Every scientific fact, or we might say, everything good, all is of divine origin.” He asked, “Don’t you believe that the Church was specially established by God?” “No,” said I, “not more than any other good society. In fact, I have more faith in the divinity of an association that would establish a soup kitchen to feed the starving poor, or one that would clothe the naked, or another that would help them to a means of livelihood, or for the education of their children.” “Does not the church do this?” he asked. “Yes,” I answered, “in a great measure, to its credit, but does this prove that it has the only and exclusive right to help mankind, or by doing so that it was established by God to the exclusion of all other good societies? Just so far as it performs good deeds it is of God, as any society or an individual that does the same kind of work.” He replied: “Then you degrade the church into a mere human society?” “Yes, it is only a society founded by men, but there is no degradation if it does the work of God. It is to be judged as any other human affair by its works, as your Scripture says: ‘the tree is known by its fruits,’ or as Jesus said, ‘not every one that saith Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.’ When God sends His sunlight equally upon all mankind, are you going to confine His spiritual light to any one society, called by men a Church? We should have more liberal views of God’s justice and loving mercy than that. “One of the beautiful expressions of Charles Kingsley is this—“God demands not sentiment, but justice. The Bible knows nothing of the religious sentiments and emotions, whereof we hear so much talk nowadays. It speaks of duty. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. We must live nobly to love nobly.” “God sends His teachers into every age and clime With revelations suited to their growth.”