Newspapers / The Pinehurst Outlook (Pinehurst, … / March 15, 1913, edition 1 / Page 12
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THE PINEHURST OUTLOOK 12 PAGE THE PINEHURST CHAPEL Sermon by Rev. T. A. Cheatham Points Out its Purpose and Mission An Important Part It Plays in the Solution of Christian ITnity A Masterly Treatise EXEMPLIFYING as it does the purpose and mission of the Pinehurst Chapel, the ltev, T. A. Cheatham's sermon showing how it is point ing the way to the solu tion of the great prob lem of Christian unity, is one of widespread interest which it is a pleasure to print in full. T Ephesians iv, 13 : " Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a full grown man : unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. " No thoughtful person can stand today, and look out upon the life of our world without realizing that the times are filled with responsi bility. IT In all ages some souls have attained freedom of thought and speech regardless of consequences, but surely never before has such freedom of thought and speech been possible for us all as is the case today. IF The wonderful possibilities for general information and the free discussion of all matters, religious and other wise, make it evident that the last few years have brought about changes that are remarkable. The divided Christian world is facing a tremen dous transition period; men no longer delight in the old religious discussions and arguments and fine denominational distinctions; certain ele ments of the old religious life which were con sidered important are passing away and instead of an over-emphasis on the belief Bide of Chris tianity, men are stressing a religion of practical ralue to struggling, suffering, groping humanity. Many of the leaders are telling us that a true revival of Christianity is to take the place of bigotry and prejudice, and it is claimed that never before In the history of Christian thought has there been visible such an effort to realize the actual life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. Men are approaching Christianity Avith an open mind, ready to listen to the message of the Gospel. They want to know if we are serious when-we profess a Christianity which is a life as well as a belief because they are becoming con vinced that Jesus Christ gave us the true phil osophy of life that His vision was not the thought of an Idle dreamer but that He really knew the way to the world's peace. If then, we are taking ourselves seriously we cannot look out on the situation In this country today, with all Its complex questions and difficulties, its political uncertainties, its social unrest, its labbr difficulties and its race problems, without serious questionings and equally serious mis givings. Is there away out and who will find it ? Are we growing greater or weaker ? What has the Christian religion and the Christian Church to say in the case ? Has it any solution to suggest any help to offer ? To this condition and these questions we believe that the Pine hurst Chapel Is lending itself. As far as the religious life is concerned we are facing a new situation. There Is demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt an almost world wide dissatisfaction with present coaditions In the religious world. The old belief as to the value of denomlnationalism and its kindred view as to the usefulness of " religious competl tlon" has practically disappeared from among intelligent men everywhere. The dreadful weaknesses of the present divided and subdivid ed conditions are apparent to all who are big enouKh and wise enough to prefer the progress of the faith to the growth of some particular form of denomlnationalism. This acknowledge ment comes from all quarters as attested by the fact that practically all denominations hnv signified officially their desire for a " World Conference on Faith and Order." It is generally recognized that there never was a time when it was more needed for Christianity to present an undivided front, if it is to convince the world of its divine mission. For Christendom to have reached this position, where the trouble is recog nized and acknowledged and where genuine and prayerful effort is being made to find a common standing ground, is a tremendous advance on the condition prevailing only a very few yea's ago. IF One reason for this splendid advance is that we are beginning to find each other out. To get to know and work with very noble Chris tians who are not in communion with us Is the true road toward future unity and the real foe to unity is the man who gets up in one church and tells of the sinfulness and narrowness of another church. For a great many years the Christian world has forgotten that the first and great commandment spells love and we have fought among ourselves, we have almost gloried in prejudice and we have hurled our anathemas at each other, and behind it all has stood the wise devil, smiling his satisfied smile, because he knew that the unbrotherliness of Christians meant success to him. Then we went to the foreign mission field and began to tell it out among the nations that the Lord is King, that His Kingdom was one of love and peace and fellowship and brotherhood. The heathen wanted such a religion but be wanted to be sure that we were telling him the truth, and after his investigation he said " Why is it that your religion of love and brotherhood produces the fruits of division and prejudice ? " And then we saw that we must begin afresh and we are beginning to see that these foundation principles of love and tolerance are more im portant than some of the outward tinsel and show-work of fine theological distinctions and differences, and we are seeing further that our divisions involve not only a waste of resources but a loss of moral power. And so we stand today, " after all the strife of battling creeds, the tumult and the crash, the moral and mental con fusion, the theological bewilderment, the ecclesiastical estrangement, and find the great Christian Church now as never before reaching out its helping hand to the human life about it, and with all the strength it possesses, trying to gather up that human life about it and to make it one." That is what this Chapel stands for and that Is why we say that here we are working out the greatest problem that Is before the Christian world today. Some of you refer to the chapel in the other end of the building as the Catholic " Chapel but surely we have here as Catholic a chapel as can.be found in the world. IT This splendid congregation, filling the building every Sunday to its doors, made up of people of so many religious affiliations, some believ ing in one kind of church government, some in another, believers in the theology of John Calvin or John Wesley, believers in eternal punishment and believers in universal restora tion, believers in one mode of baptism and in the other differences of perhaps every kind but uniting In this hearty service and all of us agreed in a very sincere desire to learn the truth of life from Jesus Christ and to do His work in the Christ spirit, united not by a common theological agreement but by a common purpose and a common spirit. We hear much in these days about Christian Unity as though it were a thing to be constructed and put together. Some of us have thought that it would come ( if it ever does come) by representative men of every denomination getting together and formulating a platform upon which we all can unite, but it will never come by legislation, even though the most influential men of all the communions framed the platform. Legislation will be in order after it comes but it will not assist materially in bringing it about. Neither will It come through " federation, " though that may help in bringing It about. IT Religious unity is not a thing that Is to be formulated and agreed upon but It is a thing that must grow. IT As people grow up into Christ they grow up into Unity. It ought to be as natural and spon taneous as any other growth. It has been likened to the ascent of a hill from various sides: at the bottom there Is confusion, and wild growth; one cannot see his neighbor and each one pushes on hoping to find the short est, easiest, way up. As each one gets higher he sees better, and at last when each approaches the top he approaches his neighbor, and there on the summit they all stand close together and it Is all one view. As long as we groped and struggled amid the dense brushwood of religious differ ences and prejudice we lost sight of each other, but as soon as we beglnXto mount the heights of Christian vision we begin to come closer to gether and see the great world from the same view point. IT Do you say that this would not happen until the journey was finished and we were ready for the other life ? Jesus Christ said, " Father make them one that the world may know that Thou haft sent me. " This does not mean that we ever reach abso lute uniformity, variety is the law of life: we Would not destroy individuality but with our inherent differences we recognize the necessity of breadth and comprehensiveness, the spirit of large toleration and generous allowance for differences, n The mistake has not been in having our differences, but in thinking that our differences ought to divide us. Is any family life broken up because they do not all think exactly alike ? So it should be in the spiritual family. The common relationship that we bear one to another binds us together and then our different views, like the different pieces of an orchestra, unite to make the more perfect harmony. From many points of view the present age is one of destruction In the Christian Church many elaborate theories are becoming mere idle words but we are only get ting rid of some of the superficialities. IT We are trying to make our religion simple, friendly, helpful, necessary. Trying to pay less attention to trifle and more to fundamentals. IT As Bishop Brent said, preaching in Westminster abbey : " There are two classes of people in the world, those who gesticulate and those who do not. It is largely a matter of temperament. Those who gesticulate are the ritualists. Those who do not are the non-rltualists. The subject is unworthy of much attention. Fairness recognizes that the City of God is a city of magnificent distances. Its height and length and breadth are the same limitless. In it are great extremes, not contra dictory but complementary. He who lives at one extreme reaches his largest liberty when he can visit the opposite extreme without losing his way. If, however, he goes only with abuse on his lips and missies in his hand, in God's name let him keep to his own corner of the city. It Is not safe for himself or others to walk abroad. The beauty and proportion of the city is spoiled when you narrow Its boundaries. It Is of the essence of unfairness to read out of the city a fellow citizen because he lives in a distant street with which you are not acquainted. " This, then, is the spirit of the new Christianity not that the Gospel has changed but we are applying it differently and this chapel, which at first glance might not seem to stand for any thing at all tangible and definite, is really en gaged in something wonderfully tangible and definite. If I may beexcused for being personal I would say that this work here has given me a very different idea of the spirit of unity than was mine before. And a woman wTho has attended our services faithfully for five years, said to me a few days ago that she could never go back to what she was before that time. IT The special doctrines of herchurch have never been attacked nor even alluded to for there is no denomina tional teaching or criticism indulged in here (and please do not understand me to infer that I have brought this about) but you have by your large charity, your generous tolerance and your hearty participation in the worship here, made this chapel seem a place of friendly fellowship where God comes to meet with those who are " in one accord at one place. " If there is to be a separate church to emphasize every particular view of the Christian religion there will always be confusion and misunder standing, but the way to do away with derision is not to attack those who think differently from ourselves but to show the larger, richer, truer Catholicity, the comprehensive unity In which all stages of Intelligence, all aspirations and all temperaments may find expression in inspiring worship and service. IT It is this spirit of unity that will make us wonder that we conld have been satisfied ' before; and then in God's good time will come the outward unity. When Emer son stood at the grave of Longfellow, feeling that the time of his own death could not be far distant, he looked at the grave and then said : " The gentleman who lies here was a beautiful soul but I have forgotten his name. " Emerson distinguished the essential thing about his friend when he saw the beauty of his soul. In the won derful years that the great Church of God is destined to see the essential thing Is not that each denomination is to perpetuate its name, but that it must reach out Its helping hand to the human life about, and with all the strength that it possesses, to try to gather up that human life about it and to make it one. Asa last word thU sermon is summed up in a little clipping that have found (Written by Rev. R. F. Horton, D. D.): " The faith of the Gospel is like a beautiful and simple strain of music, which floated down from the heavens centuries ago, entered the world and took captive the spirit of man. At first the strain was echoed 1b the hearts of those who heard, and all wanted to hear It for them selves. 1T But little by little men began to think it necessary to write down the score of the music and as they wrote it down there were certain variations In Its notations, in Its harmonizing, in its orchestration, and when the differences were observed, they began to dispute about them and each man declared that his notation was the notation, and as the conflict grew louder men ceased to play the music at all or listen to it; they were entirely engaged with the scores. "When it occurred to'them that they must bear the message to the heathen, they took their score books and each assured the heathen that his was the correct rendering of the music that came down from heaven, but the progress was marred by the conflict of the men who have different scores of the music, and who try to persuade the heathen that they are each right and the heath en do not care about the scores but they say Why do you not play the music ? ' Give them the symphony, let it ring out the same glad sound that came into the world centuries ago, and all men will hear and be glad, they will listen and be ravished by the music that fell from heaven, the ' peace on earth and good will to men ' the coming of the Lord of light and life and peace. " 11 This is the way the Kingdom comes. " Father make them one that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me. " AT Till: COtlTY 8CIIOOI, Domentic Science Department la it Mont Attractive Feature The County School for the native white children is perhaps one of the most interesting novelties of Pinehurst. Start ed in a humble way, it severely lacked what seem necessary requirements for a school of our modern day, but through the generosity of the Village Club nu merous beneficial and valuable additions have been made which now make it one of the most improved and sanitary schools in the State, fit is under the supervision of two efficient teachers who take a deep personal interest in the chil dren and their work. One of the most distinctive features is the Domestic Science department, meet ing, as it does, a special need. The in struction includes training in household duties cooking and sewing. Owing to the extreme youth of the pupils, only the preliminaries of cooking are dwelt upon. They are taught to make bread, biscuits and simple deserts, in addition to the selection of meat, its preparation and cooking. They are also drilled in the food principles, such as proteids, fats, minerals and carbonates in simple form, and taught to prepare a well balanced home fare meal in the most appetizing and tempting way. In the sewing class bewildering yards of goods are cut, basted and put into shape by mere youngsters. Great enthu siasm over the work is manifested. Many of them experiment at home, and if successful, the next school day proudly flaunt their wondrous accomplishment before the envious eyes of the more ama teurish. ITwo afternoons in the week are devoted to the mothers. The more complicated dishes and mysteries of household arts are studied by them, thus offering an opportunity to make their homes brighter, healthier and happier. Visitors are always welcome at the School, which is located at the left as one approaches the Livery Stable. II!
The Pinehurst Outlook (Pinehurst, N.C.)
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March 15, 1913, edition 1
12
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