The "ignorance" of pagan times Society under the Roman government The forbearance of God New responsibility under the gospel The positive and absolute command of God. What this requirement meant To the heathen To the Jews To mankind in general RIGHT LIFE. LECTURE FIRST. Entroductory Considerations. JER. 6 16: Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. R IGHT LIFE-life properly directed, life con ducted to its true goal and happiest consummation is the subject called up in these words. It is the subject I have announced for a course of special Sunday evening lectures which I hope to make interesting and profitable to all, but which I intend particularly for young people who think, and for all people who doubt or have difficulties about the elements of faith and Bible religion. I am impressed with the fact that we have fallen on a period of great mental disturbance and doubt, and hence of great danger to souls and to society. Perhaps there never was a time of more general mental activity, more tangled conflict of opinion,. more unsettlement of ideas, or more uncertainty and con fusion in people's thoughts. This is not only in one direction, but in all directions. We are not troubled with invading armies, but every domain is invaded with revolutionary doctrines, beliefs and unbeliefs, particularly with regard to the verities and claims of true religion. Within a generation or two past there has come in an utilitarian philosophy, occupying itself chiefly with physical things and interests, but with results so brilliant and beneficent that it is now pressing for the supreme dominion of the human mind, to the depreciation and displacement of everything which does not fall into its train or move in harmony with its ends. It is not so much a theory or a system as a spirit. We cannot say that it is a bad spirit, for it has been doing the world a vast amount of good. It lengthens life; it mitigates pain; it lessens disease; it builds bridges; it tunnels mountains; it guides and utilizes the lightnings; it illuminates night with the splendors of day; it accelerates motion; it annihilates distance; it facilitates intercourse; it conditions war; it enables men to bring up treasures from the bowels of the earth; it helps us to traverse continents in cars which whirl without horses, and the ocean in ships which push forward against wind and tide. All this is very good. It is not to be sneered at or undervalued. It is a conve |