Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-11-17
WHAT Is REVELATIONS

The word revelation conveys to a
large class of mind, born and train
ed within the confines OF theologi
cal influence, no idea save the vague
and unexplainable notion which
hovers about it in connection with
the Hebrew and Christian Scrip
lures. These books, the Old and
New Testaments, it is said, were a
direct and mysterious revelation from
God to the inspired beings in hui
man form-it is sacrilege to call
them men-who transcribed what
God dictated. Thus far orthodoxy
has permitted its children to ques-
ton, but beyond this was forbidden
ground. The what, how, why,
when and where of this revelation,
must not be asked: reason was i'm
pertinent and sinful when it impor-
tunity pressed over the borders
which theologians drew as safe
guards for their mysteries.
What an insult this is to mans
Godgiven and God-ordained guide
from the low-lands of ignorance
towards the heights of intelligence
-Reason! Without it the human
race would still slumber in the pit
eous helplessness of brute instinct.
Reason made man; it is the all that
divides him from the brute; it and
it alone gives him dominion over
quadruped and biped beasts. The
wonder grows, as one contemplates,
that even inherited reverence for
authority should SO long have had
power to hold it in subserviency in
SO many human minds. The first
step toward freedom; the first step
toward knowledge of true revela-
ton can not be taken by any soul
until it breaks the letters that tie it
to forms. Servile Reverence for
theological authorities must be trans
formed to spontaneous reverence for
Reason; then new revelations will
begin to food the mind and the re-
violations of old will dawn upon the
inward vision in their true light.
This is no wonder. Every soul no
matter how poor or weak or un-
taught, is part and parcel Of the
great intelligence that makes up the
universe, and if it will only be
courageous enough and content to
let every thing go, if need be, which
it has been taught to hold in rever-
ence, new teacher, even the very
Christ (or Reason) of all nations,
will take possession of his long
usurped affairs and rcveaI inwardly
and satisfactorily the things which
are imperishable, and toward which
reverence may eternally lift her
head. This is the way through
which all Revelation has come; this
is the way the ancient prophets and
psalmists attained it; this is the way
the prophets and singers of the
present walk to receive their mont
tons. A free and sincere soul can
not be without its revelations.
What Is revelation independent OF
any technical significance? Web
ster says it is the ssact of revealing
or disclosing or discovering to 9TH
ers, what was before unknown to
Them" This is its widest and truest
significance and the only sense in
which it is proper to use the unqual-
flied word. A Scientific discovery
is revelation just as much as an
ethical discovery, and the disclosing
of hidden social law is revelation
quite as much as the scientific dis.
coyery. The knowledge that the
chemical constituents of the sun are
the same as those of the earth is a
recent revelation to man through
the agency of the Spectroscope; the
the fact of the earth's sphericity
was more ancient revelation in
possession of the Moors thousands
of years ago; whether they were
the first to whom the knowledge
was made definitely known or not,
we cannot say; some time it was a
4.