New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-12

...o,o,,sneas inst as the name of plant in |
Id, the blade ~ well as the fruit " the evolu-
tom NJ religion be a normal phase ia the develop
ment of mankind, there must be at the root of it
that grand and measureless Power which is the in
eyitahle complement of the conception Of evolution
All evolution implies dvy.e Power, but religious
evolution has to do with, the dim apprehension OF
that Power in consciousness Mr.. Herbert Spencer,
to continue the asoning of the author has
been much blamed by many religious thinkers
for making thes reconciliation between science
and religion TOT lie in the recognition on po'h
sides that %the Power which the Universe
manifests to- us is utterly inscrutable" iet inc
very person. who most strenuously object to this
suggestion are in the habit of quoting the words OF
Scripture which declare tho unsearchable mystery
ofthe Divine Nature. Those words are used to re-
buke the arrogance Of philosophy. But when phil
osoohv learns the lesson, its humility is condemned
a. willful blindness. The true philosophy OF gnor-
nee however retains as an indestructible element
of human consciousness an apprehension OF some
thing beyond all fragmentary existence the ADso-
lutte Being, at once the only true substance ana the
One that constitutes a Universe from the phenom-
email world. 1t is inevitable that attempts should
be made to give practical expression to this feeling
And in such efforts we find the first germs OF religion
The forms in which these germs are developed Ia
the progress of experience are Complementary
summed up.as follows: -
anstS arising M the present day unsetlement OF
religious opinion is caused by an lnsunulouT vhereas
When once that essential nature realized, II Is ieit To
he indestructble. For u Is distinctive OF mau, t,ar
the unity and totaty of being. In vain MaterailsIn
fixes its microscope and invites us 70 sec 20 oe rr
moecnlsr atoms the ultimate reality OF existence no.
the wondering mind in them only depta pey0nu
depth Of understandable mystery In VAN Iylsd
asoIra M
or measured. weighed. The tendency 10 see oeSen9
| beneath the vision of the world alfcomprehen-
sive Life. is rrepressble and surely as true 20
OF the eve for color or of the for beautiful sounds
II may be feared indeed by those who think tmdy OF
ms ture that the breakup OF old FORMS for which no
precisely equivalent substitute can be found must IN
evitablg be followed by the weakness o. e9ncton so
such gloomy prophets forget that much OF the distinct
ness which they attribute tnT more 'ngf tSmiary
| OF language than de1niteness OF thought. DO
the transcendent Majesty they Worship Do they know
what they when they speak, Tor instance OF Ruu
nersons OF Deyi Does any effort of imagination ena
Die them make real to themselves the enshrining Of
words which PROFOUND the RELIGIOUS dogmas referred to
familiar, and confidently used giving talse nnPres
istence 1t is long habit it s the receptions through
welwOrn channels, OF the inspiring emotions that come
from sense of our nearness to God this. and no dis
tinctness of conception about supernatural belng ~
change Of form, though It may sometimes disturb
| us by revealing the vagueness which 1t by
Rh G me means Sery sSoek r. gives. arouse ~ to
feeling OF reality far deeper than we had before IL is
even conceivable that the cessation OF reliance on a
thoritatve forms may compel to feel out for our
selves toward the Divine Life in which we live and
move, And soul well regret the subsan-
sal conclusion of the whole matter, which would seem
TO be that God more wildly manifest 10 any
generation of our fathers than he is to us Strange
sights they may have seen; but never 10 them was
there unfoded the ilimabe vastness Of the heavens
or the deeper mystery Of organic life Ihey saw as we
may verify believe IN strange uDaceounable vson the
eyes In new humanity rises from the OF the
past God Himself dawns not IN such mysterious por
tents yet with wide-shinng and sefevident spendOr,
which gathers up the whole progress Of revelation
In declaring his conviction Of the truth of Chris
| tianity the author announces his belief that the
ultimate form of religion the highest expression of
the divine life in man, will take the direction OF
what he describes Christian pantheism. What
ever may be the fate of the theological specuatons
which have sprung up during the Christian era, es
peciay in the early age, the spirit of Christianity is
mmaterial The author does not make this assertion
as a vague and evanescent sentiment "FOr st. Paul
declared this to be the spirit of power and of love,
and of sound mind 1t is the spirit of reverence,
which owns in silent worship the transcendent
reality of the Power that pervades, and actuates,
and Yields the totally of things 1t is the of
calm strength gained by loyal trust in the self-con
sisent measureless Might which grasps at once the
beginning and the end, and makes all things work
together for good 1t is the spirit of happy trustfu
ness that feels at the heart of the universe un
speakable benefcenoe, Of which all human love is
but FAINT and trembling ray. 1t is that spirit of
charity, which in the little round of daily life re-
fleets the all-harmonizng goodness of the Infinite.
II is the spirit of courage, which faces the
facts as they are and viii not distort them for any
theoretic ends. 1t is the spirit OF sefconro which
knows the bounds imposed on human knowledge as
hmm vuhi xuill itsa1f Will
idle ambitions that border inpious rebellion.
And this spirit of power and of love- and of sound
mind alone can cope with the sicizy doubts, and
binding mlSts, and hideous dreams, which threaten
the spiritual future of humanity with dire eclipse
1t is but just that VIC should give the authors
explanation of what he understand and what he
would have his readers understand, by Christian
pantheism. AS he expresses it, it is that theory of
the world which sees in ali the phenomena Of the
Universe only the fragmentary and partial nantes
tations of an inefable unity beyond them. Nor is
this unity merely negative the abstraction of this
OF that finite form. 1t is The sense Cd everything
which is; not in the sense of aggregate, but in
the sense Of Absolute Being. OF this unity we can
net speak with adequate significance. Asst is the
of all beauty, goodness ipOwer, We may well
such words as carry our thoughts farthest toward
infinite perfection Our thoU ghts of personal life
Of will, and counsel and love, and mercy, and JUS
tice, are the warmeet and brightest tbatsTe know
1t is inevitable, therefore, that in the grandest
forms they can assume they should be transferred
to our dreams of the Absolute Being whom we call
God. The Christian pantheisn sees God ii every
thing and is taught, in part by the beauty of the
world, to think of him as the spkndo of all things
gathered into unity and expanded to infpite to-
tally.
Pantheis1 does not that Col is this that, but
that he Is All in all. And conversely we cannot aud
ought 10 say, OF a mountain tree, even OF
good OF the starry heaYen that this "a Cod.