The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-08-18

Among the uncivilizsd races, relig-
ion is largely a superstition, fear,
dread of the unknown. Ia the child
hood period of acknowledgment it is
largely objective, sensuous, pictorial.
Under despotic forms of government,
it is allied to the civil and the military
powers, and is often cruel and oppres-
sive. In an age of beauty, religion ap-
peals to the aesthetic, and finds express
sion In art, in paintings and statuary,
the temples and great cathedrals. In
periods of credulity, it becomes an I'M
questioning faith; in time of debate,
it becomes a dogma; creed; and in
an age of reason, it becomes a philoso-
ply. Generally speaking, the great re-
ligions of the East have been mystical
and credulous, passive and inactive.
The religions of the West have been
more practical and aggressive. But in
every condition and age, whether saw
age or civilized, in the Orient, or the
Occident, in the distant past, or the
nearer present, religion, in some form,
has never been far away from any part
of our world. Where men journeyed,
there religion journeyed also; where
men tarried and built cities, there re-
ligion lifted up her temples and her
affairs.
And the thoughts and sentiments of
religion are not far from any one of US,
nor from the millions Of our world TO-
day. In our hurrying life, in all our
planning and achieving, in our social
and political struggles, the great ques-
lions of religion somehow find their
way to the public mind and heart.
And they are felt to be, after all, the
questions of the most transcendent in
terest and concern. They add to, or
take from all other considerations and
values. And hence it is, that our age
feels 50 deep an interest in the religious
discussions that fill 50 large place in
the current literature-the books, the
periodicals, and the papers of our time.
1t may, at first thought, seem strange,
that after thousands of years of study
and debate and experience, the great
questions of religion are still unsettled;
but the reasons have already been sug-
gested. They belong to the nature OF
the case. The superstitions of the I'M
civilized races-the fear Of natural
forces, and the dread of the unknown,
must give place to more intelligent
conceptions; the giving up of the old
and passing on to the new may be the
work of centuries. The childhood per-
iod that finds help in the objective and
the pictorial, must give place to reason
and the int uitions of the spirit, must
pass from outer sacrifices to inner
duties, and those states of mind and
heart that constitute character. And
as the progress goes on, religion must
pass from the external and coercive to
the authority of right. But this again
is a slow process, and may seem like
losing all that had been gained.
The unquestioning faith of credulity
must sometime listen to the voice Of
reason, and look upon the facts OF
science. The medi@ val ages taught
that the earth was fat and stationary,
and the sky roof, and the stars gems.
And we can hardly conceive now, how
utterly incredible must have seemed
the statements of the new astronomy.
1t is hardly strange that the church
fought for the old theory; for to give
up that, seemed like giving up all. In
periods of debate, religion became a
dogma; creeds were formulated and
placed before the people to be accepted
upon pain of persecution or excommuni-
cation and eternal death. But as the
authority to enforce beliefs weakened,
the better thinkers cana to larger
views.
AS a result of all these debates and
transitions, the rational and moral fac
ulties have been called into use; and
hence religion is becoming with many,
in our day, more reasonable. And
thus the debates still go on; though
they have changed somewhat in char
acter.
Fifty years ago the controversy ragged
between Methodists, and Presbyterians,
and Baptist5, and between Protestants
and Catholics. Now, all these are
making common cause in the defense
of the old orthodoxy against the new.
Catholics and orthodox Protestants
are not now debating any essential
questions of theology; for, on these,
they are substantially at one. They
all accept the Latin theology in its
theories of the fall of man, and of the
atonement, built upon that fall-a
moral insolvency provision that ex-
pires by limitation; the only difference
being that the Catholics extend the
benefits of this provision, for some, and
for time at least, into the future life;
whilst the orthodox Protestants fix the
limitation at the moment of death;
whether that be at the age of twenty
years or of eighty years; and beyond
this, there is no possibility of reforma-