The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-12-07
PULPIT AND PEW.
NEWS AND COMMENTS oFiNTER'
esTTO CHURCH PEOPLE.

The Young Man Of the Period-His SELL
Compracency-The Demon OF Agnosu-
c,sm-The Voyage Of Doubt and Discov-
ery-spsaking on PARALLELS.
The young man Of the period Is fuii
of doubts and problems and question:
ipes. and the beliefc OF his grandmoth-
ers and maiden aunts are but as pap for
his soaring intellect, which he feels re-
quires stronger victual. His self-com-
pIacency Is flattered land the agnosti.
cism now 80 fashionable is largely the
product Of intellectual vanity by the
notion that the old ideas, while good
enough for ordinary persons, are I'M
suitable for men of superior mental
calibre. Hence it is that mankind now
adays are ever on the lookout for some
new thing in matters spiritual: but az
most people are incapable of construc'
ting a new creed on their own
account, they must turn to some
other person to do it for them.
You. my dear sir, for whose instruction
and benefit these pages are written.
will be that person. With you it rests
TO satisfy the spiritual cravings and as
pirations of an inquiring age. with
YOU il rests to minister TO the disease
peculiar to this nineteenth century, that
so called "earnestness which, too Otter
begot Of q morbid and unhealthy ego
tism, daily furnishes recruits TO the no
BILE and ever-increasipg army OF prigs
For, as old Teufelsdrockh would have
it. Beneath your hideous coverlet OF
problems and doubts and earnestness
and questionings, what a fermentipR
vat Of priggsm lies simmering anc
hidlr Prigs in trousers galore. AND
prigs, ali me, lackadsyl in petticoat'
too. For the ladies, dear things, are
being drawn into the vortex of ration
alism and speculative inquiry. Some
of them write novels mildly sea
soned with unbelief, and they all reac
Robert Elsmere," The demon Of
agnosticism" has invaded all sectionI
of polite society, and he is nowhere
more at home than in the gilded saloons
of the great. Nor does he now, al
formerly, confine himself to the smok
ing room and the other purleus of the
male sex,i but growing holder, like
goosey -gander in our childhood le
gend, he wanders where neither OF
them has any business to intrude) iii
my lady's chamber" Here his horns
and hoofs have long since ceased to ter
rify and familiarity with him has bred
not contempt, but conviction thai ht
is not so disagreeable an imp after all.
Timidly at first does the far inquirer
set forth on her voyage of doubt and
discovery. Wasn't the world really
then, made in six daysp' she anxious
ly asks, cloud Of mystification set
ting on her brow. "Oh but when the
Bible saws days it really means ages,
don't you know" is the ready answer
of some friend of advanced ideas. ,
This is the first fatal step down the
primrose path which leads 10 the abyss
of Liberal opinions. Dark doubts
are next cast upon the oratorlcal capa
biIities of Balaam's ass, followed per
haps by such queries as the following
Don't you really believe that Joshua
made tue sun and moon stand still
, in the valley of the Ajalon Z
"Oh. yes. my dear" replied the ad
vanced lady 10 her superior way; "bu
these things are all allegorical, yol
know. Nobody, for instance, nova
days. takes the story Of Jonah and thu
whale in literal sense" And lee M
here observe that this tendency to put
; symbolical construction upon per
fectly plain and explicit passages o
scripture is phase of modern thought
of which due note should be taken
The familiar process of torturinl
words and sentences out of their OBJ
vious import is a highly con
= venient one, as thi1gs can il
this way be made anything the reader
pleases. Symbolism. however strained
possesses a fascination for the female
mind. and the agnOstic ladies', as wei
as all other seekers after new truths lol
shall we say old truths in new lightsI
will derive comfort and consolation
from the astonishing interpretation
you will place upon texts which cid
fashioned people have hitherto beer
content TO take literally. Moreover
symbolism, be it remembered, is the
keynote to occultism, and our new re
ligion will be nothing if not &C
cult. Theosophical canons of con
struction differ from most other:
in the free scope they allow the
imagination. and in your role OF
agnostic or Christian mystic you will be
able to give your powers Of invention
full rein. la hermetio literature and
conversation nothing is to.be taken
literally. but in the sense in which 9
person of disodered brain would under
stand it. Therefore you will speak large
ly in parallels, If it be objected at any
tine that you are talking undiluted non
sense (which in indeed highly probable
you can always reply, with rabbi
Maimonides. that 1.-The greater the alb
surdity Of the letter the deeper the
wisdom of the spirit. "-Blackwood