Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-06-20
Is THERE A GOD
HISTORICAL PROOF THAT CAN NOT
BE REFUTED.

So Says Max Muller, the Great German
Saskatchewan History Teaches-An
Exceedingly Good Argument on a
Great Subject.
To my mind the historical proof of the
existence of God, which is supplied us by
the history of the religions of the world,
has never been refrted; and can not be
refuted. 1t forms the foundation of all
other proofs, call them genealogical,
theological, or theological; or, rather, it
absorbs them all, and makes them all
superfiuous. There are those who declare
that they require no proof at all for the
existence of Supreme Being, or, if they
did, that they would find it in revelation.
Suppose they wanted no proof them
selves, would they really not care at all
to know how the human race, and how
they themselves, came in possession of
what, suppose, they value as their most
precious inheritancep Do they really
think that in this case an examination Of
the ancient title deeds might safely be
dispensed with, while with regard to
much less precious holdings it is con-
sidered plain duty to guard these docu-
ments with the greatest care? An appeal
to revelation is of no avail in deciding
questions of this kind.
The history Of religions teaches us that
the same appeal to a special revelation is
made, not only by Christianity, but by
| fha 1afoaIn,., - D~nL,..n -
astrianism, and of Recommendation,
and where is the tribunal to adjudicate
on the conflicting appeals Of these and
other claimantsl The believer in the
Vedas is as thoroughly convinced of the
superhuman origin of his ancient hymns
ns the Zoroastrian of that of the Gathas
and the Mohammedan of that Of the Su-
rahs; and the subtle arguments by which
each, but more particularly the Brahman,
supports his claims, would put some Of
our ablest casuists to shame. The fol-
lowers of every one of these religions de-
clare their belief in the revealed charac-
ter of their own religion, never in that
of any other religion. Many persons be-
lieve, and believe honestly, in visions they
have had themselves, never in the visions
claimed by other people. We may up
peal to revelation in the court of our own
conscience, but, before the court of uni
versal appeal, we require different proofs
for the faith that is in us.
Our belief in God as the author of all
that exists, whether we call him father,
or creator, or supporter Of the world, has
its deepest, its only living roots in that
ancient, universal stratum of thought
which postulated an agent in the sky, the
sun, the fire, and the storm wind; which
was not satisfied with the mere play of
appearances in nature, but yearned to
know what it was that appeared; which
felt the limits of the finite in all its SEN
suous perceptions, and in feeling the
limits, felt at the same time the presence
of something that was beyond those
limits. This dissatisfaction with the
finite, this struggle after the non finite,
this search for an agent for every act, of
mover for every movement, whatever
shape it took, whatever name it claimed,
forms the primitive and indestructible
foundation of mans faith in God. If it
is taken away, people may indeed have
dogma, and may have creeds, but they
can not have their own ineradicable con-
viction that there is and that there must
be God. Dogma can supply no argu-
ment against atheism. Dogma is what
my excellent colleague at Edinburgh,
Mr.. Hutchinson Stirling, has very truly
called mere Vorstellung which requires
for its philosophical foundation the Beg
riff. But that Begriff has history, and
it is this history o. the Begriff which to
my mind is the true, because unanswer-
able, answer to all atheism.
should go so far as to say that the his
tory of religion is the best proof of
religion, just as the growth of the oak
tree is the best proof Of the oak tree.
There may be excrescences, there may be
dead leaves, there may be broken
branches, but the oak tree is there, once
D for all, whether in the sacred groves OF
: Germany, or at Donona, or in the Hima.
layan forests. 1t is there, not by our own
4 will, but by itself, or by a higher will.
, There may be corruptions, there may be
2 nntiquated formulas, there may be sacred
. writings flung to the wind, but religion
: is there, once for all, in all its various
representations. You can as little sweep
away the oak tree with all its millions Of
seeds from the face of the earth as you
can eradicate religion from the human
heart, The history of religion teache:
us that the one everlasting conviction or
which the whole Of natural religion has
been built from the beginning of the
world is true. That is the conviction
that there is an infinite behind the finite
that there is an agent behind all acts
there is God in nature Professor F
F Max Muller, in the Christian World.