New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-15
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

MAN AND NATURE.-Principal Dawson Is
delivering an admirable course of lectures
before the students of the Hartford Iheol0g-
icai Seminary In the last, which treated oil
mans relation to nature, he SAID: =" may
regard man in respect TO his anatOmlcai ted,,
TONS his physiological relations, psych0loglchi
relations. and lis higher spiritual nature.
Anatomicallv, man presents the characteristics
of the vertebrate mammal, but III form Pc
culiar to himself and giving him original as
function. hysiOlogically, man resembles otnet
animals in the possession OF the Tour great
functions of nutrition, reproduction, locOmorc
tive power and sensation; yet, the balance or
the senses in man is such that, physlOl0glcaly
he excels other animals IN many respects
PsycholOgicay, by which Is meant all thaI
belongs to the animal soul as distinct rom lne
higher power, man and the lower animals
agree very nearly with one another. let there
are marked differences on the WHOLE man Is
not very much superior in this respect. spirit
ually or pneumatcally, man Is somewhat
higher than all other animals, and TINS Is tIe
power that lies at the foundation OF all those
new departures that man makes, different
from the other animals. The possession VI
these higher endOWmentS ny man proves that
they must he also in the Creator, and hence
man forms q connecting link between nature
and the Creator.
ave can imagine an organism as much
higher than mans rs his is higher than lower
animals. We can even conclude that sucn an
organism might he desirable, Tor man mas
higher spil itual endOWmentS which are NOT sat
isiied by his present physical frame. his III "a
is realized TO rs in revelation. Angels are not
disembodied spirits, but possess physical organ
isms higher than ours; they may be INK Oe-
tween us and the Creator. There is better
link than This, for we have the link OF the son
of God. Even redemption, therefore, comes
into the system OF nature. When our natnrai
science comes To be worked ont llttle more
and a little uettcr it will be found that nature
tells the same story as revelation, as Tar rs IL
goes"
TIE SoNG or SoLoMoY.-Tho religious
people of st. Louis are excited by newspaper
controversy about the book III the BihIc known
as " The Song of Solomon he more cOnser-
vative among the clergy say that it Is as much
inspired rs any other book in the Bible; tbat
Solomon wrote il ; that II Is an alIegOrlcal PIC
ture of the mystical union of Christ ana Ills
Chnrch and that every one who denies iheSe
statements is Il rank hereto One OF these
the Rev DR.. BrOOkes, TINS explains the meal
inc of the book: :" Ii is called the Song of Sol
omen elsewhere we read that lie made over
thousand songs, but this was prc-enlnentiy MS
setting forth IN the z lowing language oi iI!e
Orient tho all-cOnsumlng love of God Tor MS
people Ii has always been 80 UNDERSTOOD
and the lovcliest and purest Lessons have been
drawn from meditation upon 1t. 1t Is true IL
has suffered somewhat at the hands OF the ola
translators, away back in King JameS's time.
They used language that was harsh and
Iough, wOrds that are not permissible IN the
polite parancc of to-day
The Rev. John Snyder who represents the
opposite view, says: There Is no evidence To
show that the hook is the work OF Solomon. II
was most probably written by Northern
poet, who had no great regard TOR SOLOMON OF
course the great king mentioned IN 1t Is solo
mon. The North was always restless under
SoOmous reign, and IT 1t PAD NOT been Tor MS
great executive ability rebellion would have
broken out before his death. The people
there had no fancy for paying taxes for can,
ital which they never saw, ana when he ditu
and his son came TO the throne thpy .alu ;
We'll have no more of tins sort OF thing ana
as he would not make them tie concessions
thew asked. they seeded. All this talk about
mystical or nlegorical Interpretation Is non
sense. II is as though yOu were to say al lam
let or any other work, that the author did not
intend to describe actualltes, but t. set i0rth
certain philosophical or other principles under
the guise Of play poem on other VII ting
PETER COOPER AND TIE BTSHor.-A cor
respondent of The Chicago Tribune SAYS that
in a talk ,ylfL pc.or CO0yer "A short time ago
the venerable phianthropist told him OF the
following incident: have just had i curious
calleT-an Episcopal Bishop, who Canc To see
if would not join some evanEcllcl church
so that when ! came to die nobody should
say that the Cooper Union was established 10y
an atheist or infdcl. ! told him was not an
atheist or inidel was a Unitarian in belief :;
knew no object of worship except the one
living and true God and | considered rclig-
ion nothing more nor less tnan science 10y
which the movements of the material and
moral world could bc regulated and that
knew no better teacher than the opinions ol
mankind. lie politely said that he perceived
that | was a scholar. This compliment was
obliged 10 decline, and told him had never
been to school more than three or four months
in all my life. II / had my way, told him,
the worst of the human race, the most de-
PRAYED wretches, should wake NJ in another
life, not in torment. but in the midst OF loving
friends and beautiful tLings. The good
Bishop did not even try 10 convert me 10 any
better theology, but he went away with every
expression of kindncss-kiudness which / am
sure Le felt
THE DANGER or k1TCALIsM.-A writer in
The IVdtchmdR believes that Ritualism Is the
coming dnngcr in the religious world. lie
says | had lately the pleasure of listening TO
the Rev. DR.. CuthbertsOD, of the Free Church,
London He had words OF cheer that will be
welcome TO every Christian heart. But though
the day of doubt is on the wane in England, lac
thinks that there and here there is a grave danger
threatening-that of Ritualism. In Oxford and