Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-11-17
to be perceived; for these things

stands ready. "Wait until he grows
to their capacity" There is not, or
should not be ony attempt to force
upon him what he has no power to
grasp; when he can receive he will
demand the reserve furnishing laid
away in the store-house for his use.
But the trouble is not to persuade
children to take; they demand more
than the sages can give. A child's
questions are deeper than those of
theology Pity its to blight and distort
their sincerity by evasions OF cramp
their natures into the machinery Of
artificial schools! Pity that child
should ever learn to be discreet
enough not to task ques,ions!" He
is seeking revelations, prompted by
the sacred, inward monitor. Pity
he should ever learn that the word Is
used in narrow, meaningless sense
and that he is expected to conform
his questioning and reasoning to its
say SO. Pity that a child OF a race
should ever learn to restrict Revela-
ton to time and place and veil its
high, bright face with canting tones,
uplited eyes OF bent, distorted
knees. Every true revelation is an
uplifting power. A clergyman re-
proaches America because it sshates
get on it's knees" What mis-
take! America, or any other land,
should be proud of her intelligent
instinct that prompts her to keep out
of he dirt, both body and soul.
Religion requires no soul to abase
itself. What is implied by pietists
by "getting on the knees" is no less
a moral abasement, than is the liter
al carrying out of the phrase, phys
| ical abasement. The abasement of.
the body was the ancient idea of
worship among the heather. Mod
| ern revelation has asserted that the
| exaltation of the body exalts the
spirit. A groveling physique al
ways indicates a groveling soul.
Let men stand erect. Aspiration is
upward, and where aspiration is,
prayer is, religion is. No true Del
ty demands that man should bo7O
before him. Praise is the uplifting
of the soul. It ascribes honor, not
by degrading itself, but by lifting
itself to nearer and nearer likeness
to the honored object. That is
true prayer and praise which trans
lates itself into effort to become like
unto the All-worshipful-that which
is incapable of abasement.
Still further, for all concerning
this word revelation, can not be told
in column, nor yet in volume; 1t
is not, even in its technical sense, pc
culiar to Christianity. The litera-
ture of India, older by tens of cen
turtles than Christianity, is filled
with it to over-howing. The San
skirt name for revelation is ''Sruti,'
which means hearing. Hearing in
that sense in which the old philoso-
pher used the word listening. Walk
ing in the cornfeld one day, he was
observed to be lost in earnest con-
temptation of an ear of corn.
"What are you doing" asked a
friend. Listening" was the reply.
"No one speaks said the friend.
"The voice is inaudible, but intelli
| gible,'' was the response. A good
many people nav learned that 1t is
not ears that listen and the atheist
philosopher was one of them.
So the ancient Indian received his
revelations through listening with
his soul. He transcribed these re-
Violations, and his readers and fol-
lowers pronounced them infallible
in the Vedas. Mueller says ssthe
views entertained of revelation by
the orthodox theologians Of India
are far more minute and elaborate
than those of the most extreme adj
vocates of verbal inspiration in Eu-
rope; the Veda is held to have ex-
listed in the mind of Deity before
the beginning of time, and every al