, 1873-04-07
REASON AND TRUTH.
Tho Spiritual and Rational Processes
Compared.
Reason and It's Limits---Faith; It's
Objects and Aims.
Prof. Swing ut nacVic1zor's Thea
ire, Yesterday.

Tho following, ono Of tue eorlcs Of discouraos
Oh "skoptiosm" now being delivered to tho
congregation Of tho Fourth Presbyterian Church,
worshiping in McVlckor'a Thoatro, was proacl.-
oil ycstorlay morning by tho pHstor, the Rov.
Prof. Swing, to worry largo audience:
Dlessol they that hayc not acen and got have boz
Geyel-john 20 -: 20.
It has always boon to mo q grayo question how
much eyidonce ono should expect or await III tho
fold Of religious bolof. Whit amount Of proof
It ia n1anly to wait wllat absence Of proof Ia
credulouB or superstitious arc questions difficult
Of solution. And yet In MI ago wlloBo tendency
Ia toward rntionalisn, tho question wl,nt should
DO tho limit Of this tondency ia practical aud
almost 1nomentouH question.
Reason may lo tile larallel Of flro-a good
pervant, but . bad mnstor. The fro tint cloors
tho heart md around which grandfathcrs. and
fathers, and motlors and aistora gather In tho
winter eye, may be before morning larid ilamo
Many Of tho boautifll things Of oarth hnvo o
dirk sido. Tho wind that 1ana tho chcck on
row sweeps awny village or ? forest in a ainglo
moment. Tho water Which dolighta us in cos
cadc, and r,yulot, nnd placid soa, 10 tho eane TINT
few days ngo beat 4 vessel upon tho rocks md
buried 900 hoarts into tho aleop OF doGth.
Reason may thus 10 q good servant, but
want, have no doubt but whether liko simple
fire upon ono's llcarth it will turn into conila-
grafton or like zephyr win tnrnnto tornaao
nnd grayost solicitudo; A prlori, wo should
from virtue to a., vice. Loyo thns
h il 5 o5Rosfoa ~ a,s,on to ps1bi Int It. as o.tos It's
Of rocklcaanoas Religion has it's mania In.
duBtry often works it's. subject to death and
Pleasure itsolf becomes at last apain its goal
o1ccss. Hence, standing amid thceo transitions
Of tho good to the bad, we may feel quito cor
q blindness to tho worry soula to which 1t began
rs d light.
do not geo any limits rnt to this hungerihg
for evidence, mud honce fear TINT M human oye
tossos itsoIf about until it reacloa tic mailnesa
Of Socialism or Mornlonism and as tho religious
sentiment works itself up into frensy like TINT
Of tho Dervishes, Or FH1irs Of India, thus may
Rationalism work beyond bounds, and, setting
world OF darkness.
AZ servant, great and faithful has Ronson
boon. Oh, what errors and follies 1inyo dis
solved at it's touch All the new impulse which
Inventions rovoal in our day comes from tho re-
generation Of reason in tho ngo Of Lord Bacon.
Ho invited mon to observe tho notual facts
around thoin, and then raiso inquiry whether
any bettor arrangement Of facts could bo Do
wagon dragged up stocp bill, they used their
reason. They saw. for tile first tino the folly
Of such transportation. They loyolod tho hill.
Afterward, they substituted wooden mil for
tho wagon aftorward au iron rail subsequent
inquiry gave uh tho train OF cars.
It was tho gae1e employment Of ronson, the
same observation IT facts that transformed tho
sickle into foaplng-mnchino, and tho nngors Of
Poor Children into toinning Thus all
tlat covers our world to-day rs tho grass covers
tho prairies, is tho outgronih Of hunlan rcason
quicaened into life by the nov Daconian pliloa-
ophy. .........-
democracy Of Europe, tho freedom OF slayes,
tho emancipation Of woman, tho dpo1;ne Of an
perBtitiou, arc all results flowing from the use
man has mado Of his faculties IN tho last CEN
The whole world once worslipod only
thomes. and made no Htndy, Of facts. Tho
words "they say" wore i. al the evidence 1l, man
kinds Of leaves will cure q poisonous wound.
Tloy eay there is chemical agent TINT will
transform stones into gold. They SOY thero is
viii novor die. Thus, a theory no matter whoro
received as inspired. Tioro was no inquiry into
its nctual merits. II the Church assorted that it
hold in its cathedral tho boneH Of Adm, or tho
fixion, thoro was no public disposition to go
back Of tho theory. AL tho crowd 1ouged for
.was to SEQ to those bonoe, that rudder, those
nails. ..
The Investigation Of facts md the deduction
of valuable lassons began under Lord Bacon,
md waa carried forward By the French aud Amor
Jeans and Englishmon. We bchold now rc-
doomed worlds world from which tho bones Of
Adam, and the pieces Of Noal,'s Ark, and the
which has como tho freedom Of man and wo-
H1an aud tho reconstruction Of religion. And
thia grand work Of reason is still going forward,
removing chan from wheat.
f.rn nr1 frHtn n3SH $r' fx4n4-
great brotherhood by exalting tho largo and de-
pressing tho small and In the Catholic Church it
is producing such rovolts as that OF Dollingor
and HyRcinthe, aud Is each yoar coneigning to
tho dust some old relic Of tue garrett Or the BRAIN
Now, this reason which is 10 grand n friend OF
mankind mny also become a droadful master.
It may spread liko the Are from tho hearth, and
become n dtoadful conf1agration. spread like a ro-
ligioua enthusiasm, Which ofton becomes 4
Ths Investigation into facts drove tho dovout
Hugh Miller into iueanity md suicide. Others
It has led into ntheiGnl the most blank, for
!hore aro boundaries over which reason cannot
pass, aud the mind having no other roso1ycea,
coming to theao limits, boats against thcm like
an imprisoned bird.
II viii not do to shut the soul up to any ono
path, be it love Or reason, or gain or ambition.
Thoro must be different paths 30 that the brain
nnothor.
Whon in tho days OF tho ascotIcs tho mind
Ind turned its attention Hpon self-lonial alone,
1t each yoar demanded creator sovoritios, until
aftor generation had passed tho denial OF yes
torday WAS nothing to tho new torture Of to-day.
Tho poor Rainta at laat went for three or
four days without food, and Homo roachod tho
raro virtue Of only ono meal woek. TO the
mind woddod to ouly one narrow path, death sets
In in itn awtul form Of imbocility or madness.
twill always be thus. Love, lived for, turna into
msnin., nlchea, lived for turn into poverty.
There is self-donial that becomes consump-
4ion, and reserve that becomes ice.
II is not probable that Nature has exempted
reason from this law. Indeed, wo know that
God hnB aaid to it what He las said to tho SEQ
s'Thns far shalt thou como, and no further. uore
shalt thy proud wave be stayed"
Whnt tho analogy OF things might ioad us to
auBpoct, tl,o actual events Of tho world reveal,
namely TINT thore In following Of roason that
leads to IN eclipse of all faith and to death Of
tho soul. unleas VIC arc as God, knowing all
things there will bo bounaartca which ne cannot
pass The difrorouco botwoen man ard Dolly
must liz in tic oxtent Of tloir moral and mental
confines. God III the world; man iB MI island
npon Its bosom. The only difference botwoen