, 1876-12-02

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gradually to insurmountublc pressure
That current will not cease for name,
for love, for a prejudice, for an edict
or law. One nation cannot make it
pause; the dcCrccs of kings cannot turn
its course; the will of nations cannot
suppress its influences. There is such a
law, and its power Is mighty. 1t is the
law OF material atVhy. 1t works by the
unerring process of induction. The
Saxon race is its highest exponent, and
through that race it will regencrate the
material, political, and moral character
of the world. The logical characteristic
of this material utility is positivsm. 1t
proves all things, and accepts nothing
which is not proven. This is the in
tellectual result, and it passes beyond
the intellectual into the molal sphere,
and applies the same positivism to the
problems OF religion.
A habit Of mind in the investigation
of truth is the result of education. This
habit is inexornble in its hold upon the
man; it cannot be changed by the will.
No man can force himself to believe that
which is not proven to him. His edu
Gated and habitual mode of coming to
conclusions must be pursued at all times
when subject is presented to him for
investigation. His will cannot emanci.
pate him from the dominion of his in
tclect; rs far as his conclusions are con.
cerned, he is the slave of his intellect.
The swift energy of the age, the un.
compromising determination in all men
to grow rich, to acquire wealth and
power. have made them trust nothing
which they could not prove to he per-
manent. This habit Of mind will in
trude itself upon the subject of religion,
and nothing in the divine sphere will
be accepted as true, without the prcsen-
tation of positive evidence. This ac-
counts for the scepticism of the age to
great extent. Men apply severe tests to
all propositions touching the other life.
They will believe in nothing that is not
proven. Doubt comes to be the natural
state of mind. All things lisc up in
antagonsm to it, and it will accept none
as friends until they are stripped of
caprice or ignorance.
No man will believe that the balloon
and telegraph will work miracles in con.
veying intelligence, and no man will be-
Iieve the Jewish cosmogony until the
material evidences presented are beyond
all contradiction: men will believe the
modern geologist, with his facts placed
before them, sooner than the ancient
historian.
Therefore freedom of religious opinion,
as well as freedom in all the other mat.
ters of politics, science, and material
life, must be conceded. Theology stands
still while the race is advancing, only
falls into neglect first, and contempt
afterwards it ceases to be living
stream and regenerator Of social life,
or q pillar to the State
The ancient fetters forged by men less
intelligent than ourselves are fast being
broken science has dissipated the pres
tigc Of superstition; natural philosophy
has eliminated truth from a multitude of
false beliefs; and political liberty has
unsettled the old despotism that was
founded on the accidents of BIRTH
Everywhere the people are advancing to
new light and to higher thought In
theology alone do we find a despotism
that is unyicldng, power inexorable,
persecution malignant for the sin of
Uphaliaf