The American Missionary — Volume 36, No. 12, December, 1882Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 36, No. 12, December, 1882
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
But, fellow-citizens, what is the especial question which confronts
us at this moment? It has been most ably presented by the eminent
gentleman who has just spoken, but you will permit a few words more
upon some aspects of it which especially strike me. The question
simply is, how shall this path which heaven has indicated to us,
how shall this path of education be broadened into a great highway
worthy of the nation, sure to bring it to a worthy future? Now,
there are various agencies which will co-operate in this great
work. The first to which I will allude is the munificence of
public-spirited and devoted men and women. There seems to be no
limit to that. The scene which some of us witnessed this morning,
the giving over of an immense sum to the endowment of a college in
this city, is but the token of a vast outpouring of munificence
for advanced education such as this world never saw before. There
is to be—mark the prophecy, fellow-citizens—great as has been the
outpouring of wealth heretofore, and the statistics show in ten
years, gifts to the amount of $60,000,000, we are told; there is to
be in this time of revived prosperity an outpouring of wealth far
greater, to which all this which we have seen is as nothing. That
will go to build up the high schools and academies, the technical
schools, the colleges, the universities, perhaps. We can rely on
that. But there is another agency. All this mass of education must
be permeated, must be informed by the spirit of morality, which is
bedded in religion. That can only come from the great Christian
sentiment of this country as voiced in the Christian Church, and
if the Christian Church shall rise to the height of the great
argument, if she shall recognize her great mission, and there are
plentiful signs—many of them have been vouchsafed here within the
last three days—there are plentiful signs that she is to do this;
if she shall stand forth in the panoply of her Master, if she
shall catch the spirit of the sermon on the mount, of the first
great commandment and the second which is like unto it, of that
definition of pure religion and undefiled, as given by St. James,
all this mass of education can be permeated, can be informed by
morality based upon religion. We hear alarm expressed in various
quarters at new phases of thought, at what many, not understanding,
have called the dangers of infidelity. Fellow citizens, there is
never any danger of infidelity in any land where the Christian
Church puts herself at the head of the great forces for right and
justice and enlightenment acting upon the civilization of that
country. Danger comes as it came in France, when the church forgot
its mission and sided with despotism. Danger comes as it came in
England two centuries ago and less when the church sided with a
besotted monarchy and aristocracy. Danger comes as it came not so
many years ago in our own country when the church was led, in some
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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