GENERAL LIBRARY, UNIV. OF MICH. OfT. 2.1.1899 Published Weekly. Price $1.50 a year, or 5 cents single copy "Some great cause, God's new Messiah " MESSIAH PULPIT NEW YORK 97682 (Being a continuation of Unity Pulpit, Boston) Entered at the Post-office, Boston, Mass., as second-class mail matter Price, Cloth, per copy, 30 cents. Per dozen Unitarian Catechism. With an Introduction by E. A. Horton. Price, Paper, per copy, 20 cents. Per dozen. 1.50 2.50 Mr. Savage's weekly sermons are regularly printed in pamphlet form in "Messiah Pulpit." Subscription price, for the season, $1.50; single copy, 5 cents. GEO. H. ELLIS, Publisher, 272 Congress St.. Boston, Mass. 104 East 20th St., New York. RELIGION, A SUPERFLUITY OR A NECESSITY. AT the beginning of a church year or of my work as connected with it, I like, if I may, to strike some keynote, to deal with some fundamental problem, something that underlies the existence of the Church. So this morning I shall attempt an answer to the question as to whether religion is a superfluity in human life or a necessity of that life. My text I have found in a few words in the fourth verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, "Man shall not live by bread alone." I wonder if I can even partly accomplish the task which I have set myself,- something I would very much like, if I may, to do. Can I make religion seem to you, immersed in the affairs of life, as real a thing as those affairs themselves? Can I make religion seem to you as real as your bank account, as the game of golf, as the theatre, as the novels you love to read, as the business blocks which in this great city overtop even the churches? Can I make religion appear thus real? If I did not believe that religion was more real than these, and more important, I would never ask you to step inside a church again. Indeed, I would not step inside. one again myself, either as preacher or listener, unless on some special occasion when I expected to be entertained. by the speaker as I would be if I attended a lecture. If religion is not a vital thing, then why feel about it, why trouble about it? If it is a superfluity, if it is a whim, if it is a tradition, if it is a luxury,- if it is simply a good enough sort of thing, why not drop it, and give your en |