Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-06-02

are simply phrases; simply names OF
ignorance. Nobody knows what makes
the river run, what makes the trees
grow, why the fiowers burst and bloom
nobody knows why the stars shine, ana
probably nobody ever will know.
There are two horizons that have
never been passed by man-origin and
destiny. All human knowledge is con-
fined to the diameter Of that circle. All
religions rest on supposed facts beyond
the circumference Of the absolutely
known.
There have been certain myths uni
yersal among men. Gardens of Eden
have been absolutely universal-the
golden age which is absolutely.the same
thing. And what was the golden age
born of? Any old man in Minneapolis
will tell you that fifty years ago all peo-
pie were honest; fifty years ago all peo-
| pie were sociable-there was no stuck
up aristocracy then. Neighbors were
neighbors. Merchants gave full weight.
Everything was full length; everything
was a ward wide and all wool. Now
everybody swindleS everybody else and
! calls it business. Go back fifty years
and you will find an old man who will
tell you that there was
TIME WHEN ALL WERE HONEST.
Go back another so years and you will
find another sage who will tell you the
same story. Every man looks back to
his youth, to the golden age, and what
is true of the individual is true of the
whole human race. 1t has its infancy,
its manhood, and finally has an old age.
The Garden of Eden is not back of us.
There are more honest men, good wo-
men and obedient children in the world
to-day than ever before. We find the
myth of the judgment almost universal.
| imagine men have seen so much in
Justice here that they naturally expect
that there must be some day of final
! judgment somewhere.
Nearly every theiSt is driven to the
necessity of having another world in
which his god may correct the mistakes
he has made in this. We find on the
walls of Egyptian temples pictures OF
the Judgment, the righteous all go on
the right hand and those unworthy on
the left The myth of the sun god was
universal. Hercules was a sun god and
so was Sampson. Johan, too, was a sun
god and was swallowed by a fish. So was
Hercules, and wonderful thing is that
they were swallowed in about the same
place, near Joppa. Where did the big
fish go? When the sun went down I'M
der the earth it was thought to be fol-
lowed by the fish, which was said TO
swallow it and carry it safely through
the under world. The sun thus came
TO be represented as the body Of wo-
man with the tail Of fish, and so the
mermaid was born. Another strange
thing is that all the sun Gods were
born near Christmas. There is nothing
original in Christianity.
The man or genius knows within him
self the history of the human race, he
knows the history of all religion. The
man of imagination, of genius, having
seen leaf and drop of water, can
construct the forests, the rivers and
sea. In his presence all the cataracts
fall and foam, the miStS rise and the
clouds form and float. To really know
one fact is to know its kindred and its
neighbors. The man of imagination
has lived the lives of all people, Of all
| IlC HdS hAClu WlOA al dllQ lCdu
at every prayer: has felt the consola-
ton and shuddering fear; has seen all
the devils; has Knocked and worshiped
all the Gods; enjoyed all Heavens, and
felt the pangS of every hell.
The imagination has stage within
the brain, wherein he sets all scenes
that lie between the morn of laughter
and the night of tears, and where his
players bring forth the false and true
the joys and griefs, the careless Shad-
ows and the tragic deeds of human life.
Through with the myth-workeiS, we
now come to the wonder worker. There
is the difference between the miracle
and the mYth-a myth is an idealSm Of
a fact, and miracle is counterfeit of
fact. There is some difference be-
tween a myth aud a miracle.
There is the difference that there
is between fiction and falSehood and
poetry and perjury. Miracles are prob
ably only in the far past or the very re-
mote future. The present is the prop
erty of the natural You say to man.:
'"rhe dead were raised four thousand
years ago" He says: THAT is reason
able" You say to him: SIN four million
years we will all be raised" He says:
THAT is what l believe" Say to him:
"A man was raised from the dead this
morning." and he will say: you are a
liarm Miracles never convinced at the
time they were said to have been per-
formed.
There is no possible relation between
the miraculous and the moral. The
miracles of the middle ages are the chill
dren of superstition. In the middle ages
men told everything but the truth and
believed everything but the facts. The
middle ages-a trinity of ignorance,
mendacity and insanity. There is one
thing about humanity; you see the
faults of others, but not your own. A
Catholic in India sees the Hindoo bow
ing before an idol and thinks it absurd.
Why does he not get him a plaster of
paris virgin and some beads and holy
water? Why does the Protestant shut
his eyes when he prayS? The idea is
souvenir of sun worship. 1t is the most
natural worship in the world.
Religious dogmas have become alb
surd. The doctrine OF eternal torment
to-day has become absurd, low, grove-
ing, ignorant, barbarc, savage, devil
ish, and no gentleman would preach
them. Silence, thou art a great magi-
clan. Thou alone performest the true
miracles. Thou alone workest the real
wonders Fire is thy servant, lightning
is thy messenger. The waves obey
thee, and thou knoweSt the circuits of
the wind. Thou art the great