The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-10-15

some license for their unrighteous de-
sires and unholy passions, and sustain
ed by specious sophistry, the doubt of
to-day was originated by the discoveries
of science, showing that the old belief
in the creation was without support in
fact, and it is supported only by the an
tagonism of those branches of the church
that still cling to the old doctrines.
The first chapter of Genesis having
been shown TO be Enthusiastically as a
literal account of the creation, and the
whole bibleis thrown aside. A more care
full study of it will reveal the conception
in the mind of it's poet author, as one
that opens with the sublimest grandeur.
When we learn to separate poetry
from prose, and understand what in
SEPARATION is, the bible will be restored
to It's old place as the greatest book in all
the literature Of the world.
The scepticism of to-day is mark,
not of infdelity, but Of intellectual pro-
gress.
The blind instinct of faith in some
higher object than itself, to which it can
cling, has long thrown it's tendrils
around the established dogmas of the
church, bat the intellectual growth OF
the world has found the support insult
ficient for it's needs. It is now seeking
for something stronger, and from It's
faith in its existence comes the unset
tied condition of human convictions.
Learning is the cause of it. knowledge
shall be it's cure.
In the case Of Ericsson it was the faith
in some infinite love beyond him con-
tending against the irrational dognatism
of the Scottish church. He believed in
some kind of God, but not in the God
of De Souls, which was an indolent sort
of being that only damned men because
he was oblige to, not from any ill-wll to-
ward them. Robert, y he said, solemn
II, zone thing is certain if there be a
God at all, He is not like that. If there
be God at ali, we shall know Him by
his perfection, His grand perfect truth,
fairness, love, a love to make Life an ab-
solute good. x Love only could have
been able to create" Speaking of the
clergy, he says "They represent God
who does wonderfully well, on the whole,
after middling fashion. 7 want God
who loves perfectly. He may kill; He
may torture me ever, but if it be for
loves sake, Lord here [ am, do with
me as Thou wilt"
Behold in this the glimmering of
faith, infinite in it's possibilities, yet
weaker than the sophistry that made all
appearance but an unreal phantom. Yet
faith whose feeble chickering's were by
Miss ST. John famed into flame that
warmed up the heart and illuminated
the soul Of the dying man with holy
light that made bright the vistas into
the unknown beyond.
George Elliot has given us another
example of faith shining through the
growing accretions of doubt.
In her "Middlemarch Dorothea is
made to say when in doubt of her mis-
sion, when every religious precept is
misunderstood 81 have belief of my
own, and it comforts me-
'What is that % said VIII, rather jeal
GUS of the belief.
ssThat by desiring what is perfectly
good, even when we don't quite know
what it is, and cannot do what we would,
we are part of the divine power against
evil-widening the skirts of light and
making the struggle with darkness mar
rover"
"That is beautiful mysticism-it is
&c Please not to call it by any NAME
said Horothea, putting out her hands
entreatingly. ''You will say it is Persian
or something else geographical. It is
my life I have found it out, and can
not part with it, I have always been
finding out my religion since [ was a
little girl. [ used to pray SO much
now [ hardly ever pray. try rot to
have desires merely for myself, because
they may not be good for others, and L
have too much already"
If such soul as that is not under the
influence of holy spirit, how will you
explain the beauty Of it's sentiment?
We have hymn written by woman
when in the depth of doubt and septic
ism which is not only sung by every rev
erend doubter as an expression Of it's
own emotions, but it finds it's way into
every Christian collection.
Witness the lifting up Of the soul to-
ward the unseen being who seems to be
so far away:
"Nearer my God to thee
Nearer to thee
Fen though it be cross that raiseth me-"
How is every troubled soul touched by
the pathes of the lines.
Though like wanderer,
Daylight all gone,
Darkness be me,
My rest stone,
Yet in my dreams I'd be
Nearer my God to Thee,
Nearer to Thee
The spirit of such soul is far nearer
heaven than that of the dogmatist whose
dogmas are the beginning and end of
his religion.
I care not how far a man is in unbe-
lief if he is diligently seeking for the
truth. [ wish we could have little
more true dogmatism, but an inquiry
after the absolute is far preferable to
the unsound dogmas of the past. 1t re
quires the highest faith to be an honest
sceptic. The church is full of men who
dare not avow their convictions for fear
their friends will cast them Off. I know
many ministers who dare not preach
what theirlhighest Institutions dictate lest
they should loose their congregations