, 1881-12-04
Gun your conception or Gen. Garaelds relg-


| ious tcitcf."
- The first 1ime I ever remember to havs
years ago. He began by saytne: Do you
-hetcrodox had i ehoush1 ' myssifs y H be Con CON
able to sec thetn In the same light that used tc
when younger, but had supposed TINT Crete wa:
peculiarly strlight il. ail her~6pinons. re-
mcInhered that her fathor was Que OF the as
socfates OF Alexander CnmpbcIi and had him
| self been pioneer prescher. and / was some
| way Of the imnressp, ,hat hnr ear!y. 1nsrr,.c,
don Ind been SO strict tl,ar il must he thar she
| could never question any Of the Old
| things. At any rate. determined
Finally u change came over the spirit OF nv
dream, even Us Il streak of lightning does some.
| times from cear sky. We had attended churcl,
! on a certain Sunday. The minister mud preached
/ 4 peculiarly 1octrinal Sermon. On tho wuy hume
/ Crete suddenly remarked; II didn't believe u
word Of rhar sermon:' Twas peculiarly aston
| ished, but simply Remarked: 'sWe will see about
t thdt when we get none'' When we did ret home
We sat down and huu II regular old fashioned
| early belief, and what changes had come unnn
| it ind what we thought up to that time. We had
! read the same books, had heard the same SER
mons. hna walked hand ia hund In a our rcg-
/ ions thoughts and action, ana now although We
| had never before discussed tho matter though
We bad poyer m compared notes before, We found
cusiOns, and were rs near alike :1s could he with
the simple exception rs IL seemed to me that
SGe 1A4 gone little further than | had her
line Of thought and investigation This was
doubtless owing to tle fact thar she had Ind
more leisure aud opportunity for silent medit,i-
tion than r.
:. If we're to give yot1 my idea Of t,cn. Gnr-
t fields religious belief It would be as follows:
There Is Il living God. We know this frt,m His
tst form oI organized nature A1tn is tie mini
rcstat,on Of the cut,ninatiou Of the Supreme
Power. The soul is the sum of mans moral
character, high PURPOSES. noble will, grand sentf-
tnents, imagination. This soul ldcmands Il Deity.
The civilized soul demands God to love, tho
baroarous soul demands one Il, rcnr. The con-
ccptlon of Gud is the highest aspiration Of the
sonl. Tue conpieter tho development OF mind
and civilization, tho higher the conception of
God. Even among civilized people no two indl-
y!duuls can Ut found who have exnctly the s.u,t.
conception OF God. 'rhis arises from the fact
.hnt no two men have tho same intcIlcctutl de-
vcloptnent. The belief in IN incarnation is tho
natural out:,row1h or tho belief IN Gol. With
II wurtKe pcople who think of nothing but mus
culur development, God is simply grent strong
who, wnen he is not angry with his people. sees
Dit thar they succeed when they 70 into bnttlc
sary attribute OF humanity There must he Il
ciniu to have none, bur actually mike their
w.tt:t OF religion their religion. So far rs the
world hns gone, the body OF religious thought
purcst, tho hoIicst the best that IS known Il, |
n.ltllugity Its tendencies are ull good II makes
men better and noDlcr. It makes very little |
difference whnt form the religion takes urnyf1efi
tho CONSCIENCE mud soul nTc left free t0 net. |
Special te.ets and church boundaries urs OF |
ticular and others In others The yery fact
ttut it IS possible 10 form 50 many different spcts
from tho sa,nl body of doctrine demonstrates |
bctter tAur anything cIsr can its rur-rcuchinp
nature and the fuct that very few minds urc
able to comprehend it tn its cutjrety rjtc in
terror spirit Of my use Is tho spirit Of God and
no Faith can he living that h,ts t1.,t spirI u,st
it; no church c;,l, DC strong except IN thut :,lII-
uncc. The life Of the time appoints tho crcol
III tho time. and ,nniiios thn rstatlishmr;It t,f