The divinity students come according to appointment and pass the day.
It is gratifying to be sought by thoughtful young persons, especially
by young divines, and a hopeful sign when graduates of our schools
set themselves to examining the foundations of their faith; the
ceilings alike with underpinnings of the world's religious ideas and
institutions, their genesis and history. Plainly, the drift of thinking
here in New England, if not elsewhere, is towards a Personal Theism,
inclusive of the faiths of all races, embodying the substance of their
Sacred Books, with added forms and instrumentalities suited to the
needs of our time. The least curious observer (I tell my visitors)
cannot fail to see that at no previous period in our religious history,
had so profound and anxious inquiries been made into the springs and
foundations of spiritual truths. The signs of our time indicate that
we are on the eve of a recasting of the old forms. Always there had
been two divisions in the theological as in the political and social
spheres,--the conservative and the radically progressive. This division
marks itself at the present, so sweeping is the wave of religious
speculation, not only among professed Christians, but among the
thoughtful outside of churches. Wherever we look, earnest men are
pondering in what manner they can best serve God and man.
Let us discriminate religious truth from mere opinions. The fruit
of temperament, culture, individuality, these are wont to be local,
narrow, exclusive. The planting of a church to which all men can
subscribe, demands a common bond of sympathy, the feeling of
brotherhood, mutual respect, peculiarities, culture, respect for old
and young. Such is the bond of union for the New Church. The essence
of all creeds is God, Personal, Incarnate, without whom a church and
divine worship were impossible. Not to enter into the metaphysics of
creeds and philosophy of systems, let us sketch an outline of our Ideal
Church.
Our forms are of the past, not American. Times modify forms. The
world of thought moves fast; what is good for one time may ill suit
another. The culture of past ages is stealing into our present thought,
deepening, widening it. Sects are provincial, geographical; the coming
church is to speak to every need, every power of humanity. A revelation
is not a full revelation which fails to touch the whole man, quicken
all his powers into beauty and strength of exercise.
First, of the architecture. Let this represent the essential needs of
the soul. Our dwelling-houses best typify the tender domesticities
of life; let the church edifice embody more of this familiar love.
In the ordering of the congregation, let age have precedence; give
the front seats to the eldest members; let families sit together, so
that the element of family affection be incorporated in the worship.
An arrangement of the pews in semicircles will bring all more nearly
at equal gradation of distance from the speaker, whose position is
best slightly elevated above the congregation. Pictures and statues,
representing to the senses the grand events of the religious history of
the past, may be an essential part of the church furniture; the statues
embodying the great leaders of religious thought of all races. These
are not many; the world owes its progress to a few persons. The divine
order gives one typical soul to a race. Let us respect all races and
creeds, as well as our own; read and expound their sacred books like
our Scriptures. Constituting a body of comparative divinity, each is a
contribution to the revelation made to mankind from time to time. Could
any one well remain exclusive or local in his thought from such studies
and teachings? Christianity, as the religion of the most advanced
nations, is fast absorbing the beauty, the thought, the truth of other
religions, and this fact should find expression also.
Let there be frequent interchange of preachers and teachers, since few
can speak freshly to the same congregation for every Sunday in the
year; only the freshest thought, the purest sentiments, were their due.
Let the services be left to the speaker's selection. Let the music be
set to the best lyrical poetry of all ages, poems sometimes read or
recited as part of the services. As for prayer, it may be spoken from
an overflowing heart, may be silent, or omitted at the option of the
minister.
Let the children have a larger share in the religious services than
hitherto; one half of the day be appropriated to them. Who can speak
to children can address angels; true worship is childlike. "All
nations," said Luther, "the Jews especially, school their children
more faithfully than Christians. And this is one reason why religion
is so fallen. For till its hopes of strength and potency are ever
committed to the generation that is coming on to the stage. And if this
is neglected in its youth, it fares with Christianity as with a garden
that is neglected in the spring-time. There is no greater obstacle in
the way of piety than neglect in the training of the young. If we would
reinstate religion in its former glory, we must improve and elevate the
children, as it was done in days of old."[24]
[Footnote 24: It appears from "Letchford's Plain Dealings concerning
New England," that the church in Concord was the first in the colony
that adopted the practice of catechising the children on Sundays. "The
unmarried people," he says, "were also required to answer questions,
after which Mr. Bulkeley gave expositions and made applications to the
whole congregation." And this practice soon found its way into all the
churches, became a part of the Sunday service in the church, in the
family at last. From these it passed, subsequently, into the schools, a
part of Saturday forenoon being devoted to recitations, and where the
parents were of different persuasions, the teachers heard these from
the Westminster, or Church of England catechisms, accordingly. Some of
us remember committing both to memory, and having the benefit of so
much comparative divinity as these furnished at that early age.]