Telegram-herald., 1890-10-27

- 49, = $50 So - - A++-t- ~~ts -
TIE Great Commandment Marx
lSsh' es-sl.l Tie nss g.ssos seeass -
b e.sTgynlaa q kiga ozoes. aad !
N4s DaQea bsnsntssa 81 ass a.se0a1se.
lfast nay ee sxeassd fog tae seens-
ing ssols,n a czilDg attsnton - soae
poats there 3, fog lhls fesson A cleE-
-fsi2zl - : Creature ~ n4elt iks otats
leea. Al he las t-esa preae hlag toF =
nUsaeef o- years 3 = tsra ter n3a -
tns.usala perfect silence thereafter,
ever tneUgh he noN has cot what ne
ear call '.0is pulpit" The impulse -
pseaen possesses hlm, snd ke fsal be
otlsn ies.s woe = Ele 4 Pfesea aoti
and ~ I No0ld Call tae attention ut size
pAstog, us people, sad "tas ggeAs c9a-
gFexatlon ~ toe nuecufeaeas % one
po.at Ca particular w0leA ! VAS eager %
hear hua elr2f.y eluc.datrs bat which
he scarcely touched upon, ~. lae
love " God with the mad.
OF course, i i hard Tor us % enter
deeply into Gae sebtie chemistry or
man, anc - divide tae soul. the heart.
anu the Ellnd, Words elaGe rs. Ne
tecl certain things 10 be true aich We
can n0t clearly deline. We feel tAas
somehow there = distinction between
thought and emotion, bat j. is hard 10
separate them. Yet / believe that mil-
hons OF men who 90 not .ack in Tei x
lous emotion, are nevertheless agnOstlcs
IN their mental attitudes toward TIE
popular religious teaching. Iaer
mlnis somehow are not satisfied. They
listen with respect 10 the average clergy
man, yet gO away feeling that some
how he did violence 10 their lutellects;
and u they accept his teaching "a all
they do Il because they feel that II
some way theology, the church and re-
ligon are divorced from the intellect.
They feel certain need they feel their
want OF religious cultivation. and yet
all the time their Inteliects are baulked,
II not quite lnsulted. They chide them
selves Tor their skepticism. and yet see
no way 10 avoid doing violence 10 their
reason.
80 far rs Mr.. Gould appealed 10 sen
ument ms sermon was success; but
the moment he crossed the threshold
INTO the realm of pure thought, he
seemed 10 halt and To retTace has steps.
Let me endeavor 10 make my point
clear. Most mems minds are clear
enough as 10 what their moral conduct
ought 10 be. Their science of ethics is
not specially misty. When the preach
er says we ought TO love our neghbor.
and TO obey the golden rule, the IN
tellcct readily asscnts; but when he
goes step farther and says We ought
10 love God, while the emotions at least
teebly respond, and conscience yields
certain assent, yet when the mind,
lthe imagination Is perhaps q better
word, begins 10 search after something
tangible TO love il is met by wall, if II
has been at all freed from idOlatry.
The intellect feels 1t Will not do for 1t
TO picture great, very old and infinitely
majestic man somewhere up III the
heavens. Astronomy has Forbidden this.
It's revelation of a boundleSs universe
has banished the literal heaven up IN
the skies. Once 1t was comparatively
easy TO worship, and even to love TINS
conception of the good Father, a glO-
rlOus person, sitting on a great VIII te
throne, with the ascended Chrsl, Ills
son, sitting at HIS right hand, and n
somewhat more dim figure Al His left
hand. Earthly courts, and the alle-
gorical descriptions IN the Bible, had
made that conception very real and
comparatively easy; but when Copper
MEMS, Kepler and Newton, and other
compeers, turned their telescopes tnat
way. the vision began TO fade from
mems minds, and III many cases has
now utterly faded away No other
vision has taken its place, and they
now peer into the thick darkness. They
are Just as easy to see as ever, but they
fail to find anybody to give them light.
1t docs not help them TO say, God Is
4 person." that "God loves them," and
all that. The very use of the mascu-
line pronoun bewlders them, because
| they can not imagine person without
giving him form ana shape, and that
form and shape must be located. They
must worship an anthropomorphic God
which their own imagination has cre-
ated from biblical and theological
teachings, or their intellects wander
vainly through the infinite abyss,
searching after God if haply they may
find hlm.
We only insult such men when we
call them atheists, or give them to un-
deTstand they are the 'fools" of whom
| the psamist speaks. They are simply
intellectual searchers after God. Their
name is legion. They are among our
| brightest and best. They would be
towers of strength 10 the church if it
could but satisfy them that it has any
greater know edge than themselves con-
cermug thismatter. Its, of course, easy
| for coarse. ignOcant ranter 10 boast Of
his knowledge OF God, and that he IS OF
| intimate speaking terms with the Gre
at0T and SustSiner of the Universe but
his boasting or bis sneers are not proofs
| q the man gf hfatne who baS Stt1d iat
deeply and long on the great problem,
''What Shall I Worship
True, the cod set forth in the New
Testament, may and does satisfy the
hearts and souls of millions, If one can
| divorce these from the imagination or
mind, or # i be possible to arouse the
emotions, except through the gateway
| Of the mind. which I greatly doubt:
bat IN our age the intellect is almost
abnormally sctive, and the problem Is,
what conception Of God has the mod
eTn church to give the intellect Of the
| age2
Now. il may be (as has beenl private
/ ~ suggested 70 me by certain newspa-
per men, that I am "crank." Cranks
I suppose are blissfully ignorant Of
/ their unfortunate condition: bot | am
sure that there are hundreds of thou
/ sands of Just such "cranks" IN this
country. What light has the clergy to
/ give rs just here7 Beyond man. what
| tangible subject has the intellect TO
| grasp, and yet escape idolatrv?
As "a crank IL seems TO me high
| time % turn men from futile searching
in mythology. or for a glimpse OF 1.-THE
unseen world 70 the study OF man: 10