Morning journal and courier., 1886-06-28

great mass of men in Christendom who, after some sort, have trusted and hoped in the living God; or the cultus of the polished Pharisee, who plants himself at the cor church-going crowd as he looks, if he does not speak the prayer, 70, Lordl I thank thee that I am not as other men are."
 We repeat that atheism and agnostieism are religious creeds as truly as are theism and matic Christianity. Either can be taught directly or indirectly; directly by formal and open inculcation, which, in either case, may defeat itself; indirectly by gentle or sarcastic insinuaGion. The one or the other can be taught unconsciously in subtle ways of inn pression even by an instructor who may hon. estly strain to withhold the slightest sugges- tion of his faith or his feelings. Each of these faiths, in the germ or ripened fruit, tation among pupils or teachers in every considerable college in this land. Holding, as we do, that positive Christianity is intellectually more philosophical, and morally more attractive, than either atheism or agnosticism, we willingly accept the alter native to teach the better of these religions as earnestly and as legitimately as we may.
 AS we have thus far conceived of the Christian college in the ideal, let us for a moment imagine one that had become thor. oughly un- Christian or anti Christian, and follow out the inner and outer life of such an isolated and self-contained community of pupils, especially when separated from their homes. Such college would have no place of common worship. The place where chap el once stood has become vacant, or, if the edifce remains, over it's portal is writ ten, "To us there is no God, the father Of spirits, and no Christ by whom we know him." or, perhaps, there is emblazoned the inscription that describes the object to which the so-called piety of science offers it's dazed
 -1zz.. LIo and unknowable." Nor prayer nor anthem are ever heard within these enclosures that are consecrated with an anchorite's vigor to the severe austerities of narrow intellectual insight and of culture to whom no sin Is mortal except it offend against decorum. In the studies of such an institution the funda- mental unities which science presupposes forsooth, they should raise ques- tions concerning God and require answers that savor of positive religion. The philosophic range of such an institution must be narrow, whether it forbids us to speculate about God, or whether it dogmat- izes that only women and priests accept 8 God who thinks and cares for men. Wheth- CT theism or agnosticism is the prevalent ceeed that is secretly cherished, each is held on narrow grounds; for theological declara- tions are not tolerated except in the form of imaginative flights that are admired for their suggestive imagery, or of orphic utter ances that fit well to music. Psychology would naturally sink into philosophy be- cause spirit, as usually conceived, would make God rational and even necessary, and would also provide for responsibility and immortality. More over, spirit has of late been pronounced by all scientific men whose opinions are worth considering to be but function of matter; and ethics, politics and social science are now Daat ayI11a nn6 aG ha that omnipresent and all producing mecha- nism which, under the name of development, has not yet been branded with the title of 8 theological theory.
 To appeal in defense or enforcement of any truth concerning God or immortality to the hopes and desires, to the aspirations and longings of the heart, or to the guilt and fears of the conscience, is to commit the sin of sentimentalism which the intellectual tone of this house of spiritual death will never pardon.
 Thank God there is no such college in this land, because people in this land do not desire such for their children. Even in those institutions upon which State necessity imposes narrow restrictions, or in which a secular theory strives to be lo9ical, the Chris tian convictions of the people Nquire that in some form or other there shall be more or less positive recognition of God and duty and immortality-both the teaching of these
  tifc grounds, and the practical response to them in services of Christian worship.
 We are we'll aware that all our arguments and representations will be confronted with this comprehensive reply: "The ideal which you describe and defend cannot be made real. However desirable it may be to combine in the same society an ardent zeal for science and culture with fervent religious activities and aspirations, these elements are incompat ible, or at least, they cannot be provided for in the theory and practice of numerous and richly provided college or university such as our modern life imperatively de- mands. Your ideal, and the reasons which impel to it's realization, are against the ten dencies of modern thought. The drift of modern practice, as founded on modern ex perience and determined by the more com plicated character of modern life, tends to narrow the sphere of Christian influences in the formal teaching and public arrange ments of our teaching colleges, and to make their eternal spirit more posi- lively secular and simply intellectual" That this tendency is inevitable, and that the drift cannot be resisted, is argued from the following reasons:
 1. The spirit of the age requires that our investigations should be unbiased and un- trammeled by any traditional creeds. When ever Christian doctrines or religious inter ests prominently considered, investiga- tion cannot be absolutely free. The financial tendency of theory or conclusion must al- ways limit the freedom of thought and dis turb the coolness of the judgment. Science can only thrive when one passion is supreme, and that passion is de- ditions and prejudices, whether amiable virulent, are inconsistent with or hostile to this devotion. It is for this reason that science thrusts them aside, and even drives them out from the arena from which thought achieves it's coDquests.
 To which we reply: The love of truth is then acknowledged to be the supreme duty. Science, then, appeals to the conscience for help, and conscience is a religion of itself, or supposes religion which enforces its be- nests. To the supremacy of duty many in- terests and desires are opposed. The Chris tian faith is properly defined as the loving belief of Christian truth, because it is true. Moreover, similar passions hinder the accept of scientific and Christian truth-as the love of tradition, the pride of opinion, a received watchword, a name, a party or 8 school. The great leader of tue Christian church declared: ''To this end was I born, and to this end came forth, that I might here witness to the truth. Ev- eryone that is of the truth heareth my voice." In theory, then, there is no conflict between the two impulses. Lord Bacon had the insight and magnanimity to declare that a man must become as docile as child if he would enter either the kingdom of science or the kingdom of heaven.
 We do not affirm that all Christian scient- ists and Christian universities are wholly faithful to this spirit in their search after either religious or scientific truth. We are quite confident that all scientists are not But this we do affirm, that a Christian college is neither very nor very Christian which does not found it's teachings on evidence; which does not give reasons for it's opinions; which does not challenge the opponents of it's sci enti6c or religious creed to open combat on grounds of reason; and which does not con- fer upon it's students the duty fearlessly to search for truth of every sort in the fear and love of God. Those who speak so contempt uously of theologians as the necessary and natural antagonists of free inquiry and sci entifc progress, and argue that Christian in college or university must necessarily hinder freedom of thought, do great dishonor to the multitude of Christian among the dead and the living, whose scientific researches have been of the purest and the ablest, and for the reason that they have been conducted in a conscien- 5ious spirit under the eye of the living God Prominent among men of this sort was the | late Dr. Alexander Duff, who was as distin- l zuished for missionary zeal as he was for the