Telegram-herald., 1890-11-06
= THOUGHTS oEsA -cRAskS
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Dl4 Us

naoE1lnK - read "A one q eur eziy
dsiss report of Dr. s4ekson's seE-
nasn sa4e1 m2ds sim s&y TAI @'Tslizlca
I'll ehAHge And hn4lly de" . Snd Also
skss "gsl glon 81 advance step - step
gREl eaAlly sc III not wAnt Il say
loegeEs.-~' fte sesx asxt day, hoseseF,
a g1s sams paper, hs claimed be hsa
nos b<en psoperly reported, and | VA
glad of L, ss & dla not seem possible
ghxt bread minded clergyman would
utter such sentinSnls. fer they MI
hardly bear calm investigation.
Pesziuisss, IN al ages. have been de-
elaring that religion wAs dying out, or
would eventually die out They saw
their own petty sect dwindling away
and As they really felt that their sect
held n rs pany hands the eternal
truths OF God, the snnlhilatlOn of their
sect uast, OF course, involve the very
lie 0f religion. Their peculiar notions
have long slnee been forgotten but the
w0IiA has gone right on building
temples, and lAyishlng rs choicest
treasures IA support OF pubic worship,
ana UouhEiess Will DO 50 while the wOtld
continues 10 be the abode OF man.
We can sympathlEe With the wor-
Slippers OF Aharamazda. Ptah, OsTls,
B&al, AshIar0Ih, ASshur, Dyans, lndra,
BFahma, and the muluIudes OF other
gods, as they saw men cease 10 worship
their fAyorite deity. To the deyOut be-
lever 10 Was a wonder that the thunder
bolts OF wrath did not come down out
OF heaven; yet the truth WAS, the TALL Of
each deity from hls throne indicated
that the world had made a step IN ad-
vance. Ssets have perlshed, but re-
| lgiOn never has, and never Will.
I trust your readers will be pleased 10
have YOU give crank q little space for
the consideration of the question:
What Is Religion? Doubtless every
sect IN existence feels that il, and il
alone, can give us the proper answer.
NV experience has been that the more
| ignorant man was OF everything else,
the more he thought he knew about
religion.
Scholars tell us that the word rose to
the surface thousands of years ago, but
was not used by the Jews until after the
sprung from the Latin word religio,
| but the Roman scholars did not seem
| to know what its original meaning was.
Cicelo, it is said, derived 1t from re-
| legere, 10 gather up again, 10 take up,
| 10 consider, TO ponder; while others de-
rived II from re-llgare, TO fasten, TO
| hold back. People" says Cicero,
"were called religious, because they
i ~ - md
sidered carefully whatever referred to
the worship of the gods" Doubtless,
they were rationalists endeavorlng TO
weed out the grosser errors of their
time. Another ancient author makes
religion and superstition nearly ldentl-
cal. he being doubtless q skeptlc. These
facts show us that ages before Christ
men could not agree what religion
really meant.
According TO Kant, religion is moral
ity. Fitcne, his immediate successor,
takes the very opposite view. With
him religion is knowledge. That great
German theologlan, Schlelermacher,
defines religion as consciousness OF
absolute dependence. On the contrary,
religion, according to Hegel, means
freedom. Feuerbach, another German,
defines religion as the knowledge and
service of man. Comte, the great
Frenchman, had much the same opln-
ion. Thus, there seems tolbe almostas
many definitions of religion as there
are religions IN the world, and one may
well despair as he seeks for Informa-
ton among all these ciashIng opinions.
/ have read that q reporter Of one of
the great Chicago dailies land these re-
porters are very mischievous set, and
make the preachers, especially, lots OF
trOuble) represented himself as a
searcher after the way of salvation, and
III that way visited some scores OF the
Chicago clergy propounding the ques-
ton, "What shall | do to be saved?
and received different answer from
each clergymanl These answers were
published and presented an impressive
| commentary upon the great diversity
of opinion prevailing even among the
doctors of divinity, as we'll as among
the doctors of medicine. When even
the doctors disagree, who shall decide,
especially when each one is sure that
wisdom will die with him2
Being "a crank" II Is to be expected
that | will have some cranky" ideas
about this much mOOted matter. /
seldom feel competent, however, to
evolve from my inner consciousness
any specially new notions about
these great matters; and although you
may not expect 1t from Unitarian,
yet am fain to declare II TO be my
profound conviction that James, the
"Bishop of jerusalem" has given us
definition of religion, which has not
only stood the fire OF criticism for over
1900 years but will remain unscathed,
and unimprovable during all coming
generations.
This is his definition: "Pure Re-
ligioa, and undefiled before our God
and Father is this, to visit the father
less and widows IN their affection, and
TO keep himself unspotted from the
world"
have read a great many sO-called
definitions of religion, some of them
very eloquent, and some Of them very
profound, but have never met with
any definition which seemed 70 COM
pare with this. IL Is the only definition
Of religion IN the Bible, for the reason,
I suppose. that one perfect definition
was enough. Christ's life just matched
this definition.
The idea Of the souls relation 70 its
Creator is fully stated. tand l believe
no human s0ul has ever utterly lost
this consclousuessl. but the emphasis =
put on personal purity, and practical
benevolence. Now. Il this Is s correct
definition Of religion, = there The least
danger that "r hgi0n vii finally d. >
VII the G. me ever come when ~ sha u
not want it any l0nger' ! DO not thif 4
so. but / DO thins that any mar who
hnds ault With this kind Of relikIoo
wnn.nar In t-a Inurrl OF ont OF p